Back in January, Intel overturned an antitrust ruling by the EU and didn't have to pay the $1.2 billion fine, but it seems like the company isn't satisfied with getting out of having to pay a huge fine, but is now asking the EU to compensate the company for interest lost. As such, Intel has filed for "payment of compensation and consequential interest for the damage sustained because of the European Commissions refusal to pay Intel default interest" with the EU General Court. The sum of money Intel is asking for is based on the European Central Bank's refinancing rate and as the original fine was levied back in 2009, Intel claims they're owed more than half of the value of the fine.

Intel is also expecting further interest on the money, if the payment is late from the EU. It should be noted that the European Commission has already paid Intel €38 million in interest on the fine that was paid back in 2009, but Intel is clearly not happy and is asking for a much greater sum. However, the battle between the European Commission and Intel isn't over, as the Commission is working on appealing the ruling, so depending on the outcome of that appeal, Intel might have to pay back the fine to the EU. For those that don't remember the original reason for the antitrust fine, Intel was accused of giving rebates to certain partners and system integrators to make sure they didn't use AMD products in their systems, among other things.

News that Prey 2 had not been cancelled, but rather delayed, was relieving to fans of the original. However, why has there been such secrecy surrounding the project over the last several months? According to a Shacknews source who asked not to be identified, Human Head was not happy with the terms of its contract with ZeniMax, and deliberately stopped work on the game in November so it could try to negotiate a more favorable deal. While doing that, many on the development team were laid off, with the hope they would be rehired if the contract issue was resolved favorably. The process seemed to be gathering some positive momentum until January when ZeniMax's responses all but stopped, causing some of the laid-off Prey 2 team to wonder if the game would ever see the light of day.

By March 1, the source said, things had progressed a bit, leaving the Prey 2 team hopeful that they would return to work soon. But that quickly soured the following day. The source could provide no further first-hand details after March 2. When contacted for a response, an official at ZeniMax responded that "we aren't commenting on the game's development beyond what was said in the statement that was released this morning." In light of the new information, the official stance that "the delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards" seems to throw Human Head under the creative bus. With development stalled for months, it's no surprise that the game would be unable to meet so-called "quality standards."

The Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau has been doing a bit of investigating and has arrested four engineers working for Intel's OEM partners (names not disclosed) for flogging Engineering Sample (ES) processors on eBay. ES processors are intended strictly for qualification testing purposes for development of new products by OEM's and are only loaned to them under strict non-disclosure agreements, hence putting these on eBay is illegal. The Bureau searched the suspects houses last month and found 178 ES CPU's, worth around $800,000. Note that this value seems to be somewhat high, as it would make each CPU worth around $4,500. We will update this article if new values come to light. Also, this is not a new operation that has been busted, since the suspects had admitted to selling around 500 ES CPU's since 2009. For their efforts, the fab four now face five years in prison.

It should be noted for anyone contemplating the purchase of such dodgy CPU's on eBay or similar places, that they may be overstressed and contain faults, due to the intensive and sometimes destructive testing they go through.

Optical disc drives have been pretty cheap for years now, yet there is enough money in the business, that three executives managed to collude in price fixing of these devices, scamming HP, Dell and Microsoft in the process - and in the end the consumer, who foots the higher prices. The three are from Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. (HLDS) and have reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on price fixing charges for optical disc drives during the 2005-2009 timeframe. According to Security Week, the three executives, Sang Hun Kim, Young Keun Park, and Sik Hur, will each pay $25,000 USD in fines and serve little sentences of seven to eight months in prison at a "correctional facility" aka prison, that is yet to be decided.

Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 crossed the $1 billion mark in sales since its launch on November 8, 2011, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information. Highlighting the trend of interactive entertainment gaining a greater hold of audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 16 days, eclipsing the record set in 2009 by the feature film "Avatar," which reached the $1 billion milestone in 17 days.

While 2011 box office revenue is on the decline - down 4 percent this year at $9.4 billion, compared with $9.8 billion in 2010 -- the number of people purchasing and participating in gaming is on the rise, with no sign of slowing.(1) With more than 30 million gamers, the Call of Duty community now exceeds the combined populations of the cities of New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid.

It looks like the Bulldozer disaster might have been too much of a setback for AMD to recover from. After 30 years of competing with Intel in the x86 processor market, AMD is about to give up, even with the 2009 1.25bn antitrust settlement they extracted from them. Mike Silverman, AMD company spokesman said, "We're at an inflection point. We will all need to let go of the old 'AMD versus Intel' mind-set, because it won't be about that anymore." He was vague on the exact strategy that AMD intends to pursue from now on, though. However, the company is widely expected to make a concerted effort to break into the smartphones and tablets market. The big problem with this strategy unfortunately, is that this arena is currently dominated by many other competitors. On top of that, their arch enemy Intel is also trying to muscle in on this space, hence AMD could find themselves back at square one, or likely even further back. AMD's graphics cards are doing well at the moment though and are quite competitive, so it looks like their expensive purchase of ATI back in 2006, might yet save the company from extinction. If they become primarily a graphics card company, they will inevitably end up a lot smaller than they are now though and that's a lot of lost jobs and personal hardship, along with a monopoly x86 market remaining and all of its negative effects on the market.

Microsoft's first attempt at replacing XP with Vista failed miserably, since Vista had many initial issues and was so poorly received, that the brand was irrevocably tarnished. However, Microsoft's second attempt with Windows 7 has been very successful, since it has always worked very well, even during its development phase and is well liked. Now, if figures from Stat Counter are to be believed, then Windows 7's share of the market has climbed to 41.64%, while Windows XP has dropped to 37.20% - still a hefty percentage and one that Microsoft will be keen to see drop to zero as soon as possible. This means that Windows 7 is now finally the most popular Windows version after almost two years since the retail version was released on October 22nd 2009, with Windows 8 due out likely in summer 2012.

The halting of production of Acer's ultra-thin notebooks, and disappointing sales from all notebook manufacturers for this market segment has prompted Intel to wait until the third quarter to release its new line of Atom processors. Sources interviewed by DigiTimes hint that the release date may be pushed back even further if demand is not high enough by Q3. Notebook manufactures say that ultra-thin notebooks accounted for only 10-15% of their sales for 2009 instead of the predicted 20-30%.

AMD today reported revenue for the third quarter of 2009 of $1.396 billion. Third quarter 2009 revenue increased 18 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009 and decreased 22 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008.

In the third quarter of 2009, AMD reported a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $128 million, or $0.18 per share, which includes a net favorable impact of $54 million, or $0.08 per share, primarily from a $66 million gain from the repurchase of debt as described in the table below. AMD's operating loss was $77 million.

In the second quarter of 2009, AMD had revenue of $1.184 billion, a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $330 million and an operating loss of $249 million. In the third quarter of 2008, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.797 billion, a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $134 million and an operating income of $122 million.

Cooler Master has a full line-up of impressive live demos and products on display at COMPUTEX 2009 Nangang exhibition hall on 1F, I1224, I1323. There is also the private meeting area for customers and the press on 4F, 402a.

The recently released mid-tower beast HAF 922 finally lets loose to show off its unbeatable look and High Air Flow structure. Also from the HAF family is the full tower HAF 932, with live demo to show-off a spacious and thermal superiority by housing a quad graphic card system.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leading manufacturer in high-performance DRAM modules and Flash application products, presenting its entire XPG - Xtreme Performance Gear product line and latest XPG Series DRAM modules with superior conductive technology in Nangang Exhibition Hall during Computex Taipei 2009.

As the success of presenting the leading XPG Xtreme series DDR3-2133X v2.0 DRAM module in the industry at CeBIT 2009, A-DATA presenting its XPG Plus Series v2.0 and Gaming Series v2.0 DRAM module with superior thermal conductive technology and characteristics heat sink design at Computex 2009.

Manufacturers branching out in to different segments seems to be the in thing to do at the moment and XFX is no exception as leaked slides on the forums of Legit Reviews, reveal that XFX are getting ready to announce their first power supply line at Computex Taipei 2009 next month. The first of which has been dubbed the 850 W Black Edition (XPS-850W-BES), which follows suit of many of their Black Edition graphics cards. It is a modular PSU featuring 88% effeciency and sports a 70A single 12v rail capped at 840 W. It would seem XFX are taking this seriously as the combined output across all of the wattage caps is in excess of 1,000 W. According to the slides the PSU features 105°C Japanese brand capacitors, +/-3% voltage regulation, solid polymer caps, and a 135mm ball bearing fan. Using a combination of fixed and removable cables the XFX 850 W Black Edition has 4 PCI-E 6+2 Pin connectors, 11 SATA connectors and 8 Molex connectors.

Futuremark Corporation today announced a new competition for PC overclockers everywhere. The contest will see game, DIY, and overclocking enthusiasts from Europe, Asia and the Americas competing for the "Lord of Overclocking" title for their region. With Futuremark anticipating over 200,000 entries the online contest will be the largest overclocking competition ever staged.
Competition Home Page

The contest will run from May 18th to June 14th with prizes on offer for the top weekly and overall winners in each region. Furthermore one overall top winner will also be invited to attend the MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2009 event in Beijing, China in September 2009.

Laying to rest months of speculation surrounding the launch date of Windows 7, Microsoft categorically stated that it is readying the OS to ship in time for the holiday shopping season (aka Christmas 2009 shopping season). "With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we've received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability," says Bill Veghte, senior VP of the Windows Business at Microsoft. The launch comes ahead of what was earlier speculated, "three years after the launch of Windows Vista", putting it sometime early 2010. Windows 7 launch will be accompanied by the company's release of Windows Server 2008 R2. While the company is yet to provide an actual release date, a recent statement from Acer's Bobby Watkins saying that it would reach retail by October 23 sounds plausible. It comes after the "back to school" season, and weeks ahead of the holiday shopping season.

In a conversation with Pocket-lint, Acer's UK MD Bobby Watkins, has said that Windows 7 will be available pre-loaded on their upcoming All-In-One Z5600 PC from the 23 October 2009. Any of these models which come pre-loaded with Vista which are purchased up to 30 days before this date are also eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7.

"23rd October is the date the Windows 7 will be available. There is a 30 day upgrade time so that customers don't wait to buy a new computer, so if you buy during that 30 day period, you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7", Bobby Watkins, Acer's UK MD told Pocket-lint.

The Z5600 comes with a built-in touchscreen which one would presume is the reasoning behind Acer's decision to start pre-loading their AIO PC with Windows 7, so as to take advantage of the new OS's capabilites. Also mentioned was the fact that the new Asus Eee Top shipping at the end of september will be in store for people to "touch and feel".

There is still no official word from Microsoft on the matter, but although Windows 7 may be released to manufacturing from the end of October, it could still be a long wait to the expected date of January 2010 for Windows 7 to hit retail.

In a move that signals a firm and ongoing commitment to advanced semiconductor technology leadership, IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd., and STMicroelectronics have defined and are jointly developing a 28-nanometer, high-k metal gate (HKMG), low-power bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology.

The low-power, 28nm technology platform can provide power-performance and time-to-market advantages for producers of a broad range of power-sensitive mobile and consumer electronics applications, including the fast-growing mobile Internet device market segment. The favorable leakage characteristics of the HKMG technology result in optimized battery life for the next generation of mobile products.

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter revenue of $7.1 billion, operating income of $670 million, net income of $647 million and earnings per share (EPS) of 11 cents.
"We believe PC sales bottomed out during the first quarter and that the industry is returning to normal seasonal patterns," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Intel has adapted well to the current economic environment and we're benefiting from disciplined execution and agility. We're delivering a product portfolio that meets the needs of the changing market, spanning affordable computing to high-performance, energy-efficient computing."

Talks with potential investors regarding a solution to keep Qimonda in operation will continue beyond the end of March 2009. "Various investors have signaled their interest, but as yet there are no binding offers on the table. As anticipated, it will not be possible to reach a conclusive solution by the end of March," announced preliminary insolvency administrator Dr. Michael Jaffé today after a meeting with the creditors committee.

The employees of the insolvent Qimonda AG and Qimonda Dresden OHG will be able to claim compensation by means of statutory insolvency payments until the end of March 2009. By the end of March, the bankruptcy court in Munich will also have received the preliminary insolvency administrator's report on the basis of which the court will make a decision on whether to open insolvency proceedings.

Deteriorating world economy claims another victim in the tech world: NVISION, the annual flagship visual-computing promotional event by NVIDIA for 2009 is reportedly called off, according industry observer DigiTimes. NVISION draws parallels with MacWorld Expo, an event that showcases Apple technologies.

NVIDIA hosts the NVISION event ideally in the third quarter of an year. NVISION '08 was held in between August 25th and 27th, at the San Jose Convention Center, California, United States. The economic decline has reduced the number of attendees considering visiting the show, says NVIDIA. It was added that the company would hold several smaller forums in the coming fall.

Super Talent is showing off a few new products as well. The Luxio flash drive is a luxury unit and comes in black, silver or wood-grain. Capacity wise, it tops out at 64 GB and features both hardware and software encryption. Super Talent ships the unit with a stylish leather case. Then there is the new Godfather stick in a rubber chasing. We have seen the first of this series at CES and, while the rubber version is not on display at CeBIT, it should be available in retail.Super Talent is also displaying ECC DIMMs. These are intended for the server market and while a lot of companies are showing of DDR2 versions, this is the DDR3 version. Then you will also find triple-channel kits at their booth, with golden heatspreaders.

Corsair is showing off their first case design, a full tower unit with an aluminum front and steel structure. It has a unique layout as well as a lot of one of a kind features. The case allowes for perfect cable management, will be able to fit a triple radiator, has four hot-swap SATA bays including the drive trays and a unique cooling layout. The case should be availble in Q2 for around 300 €. Corsair is also planning a smaller version of the case.Then there is a small new product, which is basically a USB dock, which comes with a backup button and the appropriate software. It can be used with any flash drive, but Corsair has designed it specifically for their own units.

We managed to drop by the Akasa booth as well and they also have several new products. Firstly there is an active notebook cooler, with an adjustable angle. It can be had either with a black metal mesh or silver one. The side holds the power switch, a single USB port and a dial to adjust the fan speed, while the rear has another four port USB 2.0 hub.Akasa is also presenting their newest series of fans, with very unique fan blades, which supposedly push around 30% more air than straight ones. They are rated at a mere 13 db(A) and are currently only available as 120 mm variants. Their "Freedom" series is also being expanded with a CPU cooler and a GPU cooler. The latter is intended for the GT200 series of GPUs and Akasa is actually showing one off in a demo system cooling an EVGA GTX 280.

There are a few things to see at the A-DATA stand. Let us start with the memory modules. The company has three different Tri-Channel kits on display. They range between 1800 and 2133 MHz. The latter comes bundled with a clip-on heatsink & fan top and A-DATA is running it at CL8. They are also offering DDR2 SO-DIMMs aimed at the Gamer market. These come in two versions. One runs 800 MHz at a tighter timing of CL4 while the other uses a mere 1.6 to 1.7V to operate at 800 MHz CL5.

Arctic Cooling has a very open booth at the show and they have a few demonstration to show what their Fusion 550R (550 Watt) power supply is capable of. They are loading all rails and generating around 570 W, still managing to keep everything stable and cooling it with a single 80 mm fan. Then they have a system in which they are utilizing all kinds of different Arctic Cooling products in combination with the Fusion 550R power supply. Lastly, there is a system with two passively cooled 9800 GTX+ inside their chassis.Arctic Cooling is also working on a compact, portable notebook cooler, which should be out in Q2. It is powered soley by USB and also has four USB 2.0 ports and the fan speed can be adjusted with a dial in the back. Last but not least, they are showing off cooling solutions created for specific manufacturers. There is a 9500GT from Axle with an enclosed single slot cooling solution from Arctic Cooling.

Glacialtech is also present here at CeBIT, with a small booth. But it is packed with a few nice new additions. There are two new notebook coolers, one called the X-Wing R1 and the other called Glacial Pad G1. Both are actively cooled and the R1 can be had with different color edges. It also has multimedia controls up front which use the USB connector to interface with the notebook.