A quick glance at that render we’d obtained of the rumored MOTOSPLIT had us thinking we were seeing a large, Sholes -style phone with a musclebound OMAP3 core, but hold up — maybe this is a lower-end (and stranger) phone than we’d originally thought. Android Community has gotten tipped with additional details and another supposed render of the handset, and the most notable tidbit here seems to be that the phone is said to use dynamic key labels ( a la Samsung Alias 2 ) to let the user pull out a single side as a numeric keypad or both sides (hence the “SPLIT” in the name) for full QWERTY action. In the QWERTY configuration, there’s apparently a kickstand around back that would help you set the phone on a desk and type with all the ease of the world’s smallest netbook cocked at an awkward 45-degree angle. The wisdom and usability of this kind of setup remains a huge question mark, but the bigger question mark might be inside the phone itself: we’re hearing here that the MOTOSPLIT would use the same core as the Backflip , an old-school Qualcomm MSM7201A. Frankly that seems unlikely at best — virtually every Qualcomm-powered midrange smartphone to be introduced in 2010 from here on out will be using an MSM7227 or 7627 (including Moto’s own Devour ), so we’re going to cautiously assume this particular piece of the intel is incorrect. Please let it be incorrect, Motorola, we beg of you. Motorola MOTOSPLIT to have dynamic key labels, lame processor? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink SlashGear | Android Community | Email this | Comments
It’s not often that you hear about a startup still in deep stealth that has over 40 employees and backing from some of the biggest names in the valley. But that’s exactly the case for Santa Clara-based Kakai , which was founded in May by Chegg founder Osman Rashid . The company has recently closed a $7.5 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Josh Kopelman (First Round) and Ron Conway. Marc Andreessen will be joining Kakai’s board. This brings Kakai’s total funding to $9.35 million, after a $1.85 million Series A earlier this year led by Rashid himself and Mike Maples. Very little is known about Kakai at this point. It was cofounded by Rashid and engineer Babur Habib, who has spent time working on both semiconductors and software at Intel, Philips, and Exponent. The company has been rumored to have something to do with electronic readers, but all reports are vague. I did manage to dig up the following from an old job listing, which seems to be in line with those rumors: “Kakai is a stealth-mode start-up developing an innovative Linux-based, portable consumer electronics product (details available through non-disclosure agreement).” Rashid isn’t talking. He does say, though, that we’ll likely be hearing much more from the company come late March. He also says the 40 person company is actively hiring top technical talent. Don’t bother looking at Kakai’s homepage for more information. It has no details, and appears to have been designed to look as drab as possible. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Well. NVIDIA has to be loving this . Intel has announced today that not only is its Larrabee graphics chip delayed, that chip which promised to usher in a new era of post-GPU computing, but that it’s been downgraded to a “software development platform.” Intel isn’t even saying what that “software development” will be aimed at, though we have to assume it would be some future version of the hybrid GPU / CPU chip. As to when the kit itself might arrive is anybody’s guess, Intel is merely saying “next year.” Meanwhile we can look forward to Intel’s first example of a GPU / CPU hybrid in the upcoming Pineview Atom processor, which kicks those lackluster integrated graphics to the curb and moves everything onto the CPU. Who knows if that will be enough to quell the NVIDIA’s quiet takeover of the higher-end netbook space with its ION graphics, but with Intel’s current track record in the graphics space, we doubt it. Intel’s Larrabee graphics processor delayed, downsized to mere software development platform originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | CNET News | Email this | Comments
Today Intel agreed to pay rival chipmaker AMD $1.25 billion to settle a raft of ongoing litigation going back decades. AMD accused Intel of anti-competitive practices, which s parked an antitrust investigation . By settling now with AMD, Intel avoids paying out billions more down the line and being branded a monopolist by the government for abusing its 80 percent PC-chip market share. The size of the settlement is as close to an admission of guilt we’ll ever hear from Intel. It still maintains its innocence, as any prudent corporation would, but you don’t pay out $1.25 billion just to avoid the hassle of a trial. And while $1.25 billion is an enormous sum which will help shore up AMD’s balance sheet, it amounts to only 10 percent of Intel’s $12.9 billion in cash and short term investments. Just to put the size of the settlement in context, last year Intel’s revenues were $38 billion. Last quarter alone, it was making roughly $104 million a day. At that rate, Intel brings in $1.25 billion every 12 days. It can absorb the settlement pretty easily. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Remember how Intel showed off its new, advanced optical standard — Light Peak — this past week on a Hackintosh ? Well it turns out there’s more to that story than you probably know, and it all leads back to some revealing facts about the connection… literally and figuratively. Engadget has learned — thanks to an extremely reliable source — that not only is Apple complicit in the development of Light Peak, but the company actually brought the concept to Intel and asked them to create it. More to the point, the new standard will play a hugely important role in upcoming products from Cupertino. Continue reading Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010 Filed under: Cellphones , Desktops , Handhelds , Laptops Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
