Singapore-based company Artivision Technologies has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary ArtiMedia Pte signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with chip titan Intel Corp. This MOU will allow Artimedia's front-end in-video advertising platform and back-end advertisement serving technology to be incorporated into Intel's Software Development Kit (SDK) that has Intel's "Wi-Fi Direct" technology (Wi-Fi Direct enables mobile and other devices to connect directly with each other and to transfer and share content like images, pictures and videos).

A definitive agreement between Intel and Artimedia is expected to be inked once "the first working SDK with Artimedia's front-end and back-end technology is deployed on a demo mobile device." The final agreement will cover the license fee per installation in each Intel platform, an equally-split revenue sharing model and a non-competition commitment. Moreover, Intel Capital will be given the first opportunity to invest in Artimedia.

A scamster has managed to pull off a fake "Intel Core i7-990X" processor. An unsuspecting buyer paid hundreds of dollars for a Core i7-990X six-core LGA1366 processor, only to end up with a badly-done fake. The fake chip is a worthless LGA775 Pentium, on which the IHS markings of a Core i7-990X have been etched. Intel and AMD put tiny windows on their retail processor boxes so buyers could see these markings before breaking open the company seal. At least in the case of Intel's product boxes, the windows aren't big enough to let you see the entire CPU package. In case of this chip, the buyer couldn't have spotted that the chip was an LGA775 (and not LGA1366), and couldn't spot the 3D hologram and serial number sticker that's found on the obverse side of the package, under the IHS. The thread where this fake was reported can be read here.

In a footnote of a slide detailing AMD's Trinity A6 APU for Ultrathin notebooks at the company's Financial Analyst Day event, the new chip's 3DMark performance was revealed. The company was talking about the 17W ULV (ultra-low voltage) variant of the "Trinity" APU in the slide, that's designed for compact notebooks. The 3DMark Vantage performance of the APU was measured to be 2,355 points, in the same test, an Intel Core i5-2537M ULV 17W "Sandy Bridge" processor scored 1,158 points. The AMD chip, hence, emerged with a 103% graphics performance lead.

The slide notes that with an assumed performance increase of 30% by the upcoming "Ivy Bridge" architecture, its 3DMark performance is projected to be 1,505 points. The 17W Trinity chip would still end up with a 56% performance lead. Moving on, AMD even revealed the performance of the high-performance A10 "Trinity" APU with 25W TDP, designed for slightly thicker notebooks. This chip scored 3,600 points in 3DMark, which would effectively make it 136% faster than Ivy Bridge at graphics.

The Ivy Bridge LGA1155 processors inbound for April are mom and pop PC chips in front of the monstrosities Intel has planned for the enterprise (and possibly high-end desktop/HEDT) markets, based on the architecture. An 10-core Ivy Bridge-EP engineering sample, made it to the right hands in Taiwan (wrong hands for Intel), that wasted no time in putting them through some tests.

The 10-core Ivy Bridge-EP/EX chip (LGA2011, 2P-capable) features 10 next-generation cores clocked at 2.80 GHz, with 256 KB L2 cache per core, 30 MB shared L3 cache, and HyperThreading technology that enables 20 logical CPUs. This chip crunched WPrime 1024M in 158.5 seconds, and scores 41.78X relative speed in Fritz chess when just 8 of its 20 threads are put to use. You can also find some pretty screen shots of CPU-Z with its long processor selection list and Windows 8 task manager.

The Wind U180, meticulously crafted by MSI for 2012, marks a new zenith in computer technology, offering both performance and an esthetically pleasing looks. It comes in minimalist black, angel white or lavender, is less than one-inch thin, tips the scales at just 1 kg, and is sheathed in MSI's own attractive IMR color film print to prevent scratches and smudges. Let this highly mobile piece of computer technology add color to your life.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, points out that the MSI Wind U180, a new generation netbook characterized by painstaking attention to craftsmanship and innovation, not only packs significantly more power, it is the ideal solution to meet today's mobile multimedia needs. Its display is some three times more powerful than that of the previous generation, enabling the high resolution LED screen to show much more detail and color. What's more, the HDMI slot allows you to connect the U180 netbook to a large HDTV to maximize multimedia entertainment.

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has promoted Mooly Eden and Richard Taylor to the position of senior vice president. The promotions recognize outstanding performance.

Eden, 60, is senior vice president and was recently named president and general manager of Intel Israel. In this role, Eden is responsible for Intel Israel's operations and strategy, including the Israel Development Centers and Intel's Fab 28 manufacturing facility. In his 30 years at Intel, Eden has held many management and technical positions in microprocessor design, including the Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology. He also was responsible for the development of Intel's mobile PC microprocessors and chipsets, including Intel Centrino Processor Technology, which included a low-power processor and bundle of chips that offered WiFi. This product helped make WiFi a standard, integrated feature on laptops worldwide and is considered a key driver of the mobile revolution. Eden most recently led the PC Client Group, Intel's largest product group.

CyberpowerPC, www.cyberpowerpc.com, a leading manufacturer of custom gaming desktop PCs, gaming notebooks, and performance workstations, today announced it is the first U.S. computer manufacturer to offer Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan, which provides an added layer of warranty protection in the event of CPU damage caused by overclocking.

The Performance Tuning Protection Plan is a chance to experiment with the overclocking features of your CyberpowerPC gaming rig without the fear of what may happen if you push the processor too far. The Plan will provide complete one-time replacement of the processor if you overclock or over-tweak the voltage and the CPU fails.

Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, the European subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., one of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions such as the world-renowned XPC Mini-PC barebones, today announces its new top-of-the-range XPC Barebone model SZ68R5.

It is the first time a Shuttle Mini-PC integrates Intel's Z68 high-performance desktop chipset with Smart Response Technology (SSD caching). An SSD is used here to speed up the boot process and to ensure ultra-rapid application startup. Space-saving mSATA-SSDs can be fitted in the corresponding Mini-PCIe slot on the motherboard.

US chip giant Intel has now added seven new processors to its portfolio, the Core i5-2550K, i5-2450P and i5-2380P targeting desktops, and the Celeron B815, B720, 867 and 797 for mobile PCs.

The Core i5-2550K costs $225 ($9 more than the i5-2500K) and features four cores @ 3.4 GHz (the 2500K has a base clock of 3.3 GHz), four threads, 6 MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 95W. The i5-2450P ($195) and i5-2380P ($177) have similar specs, expect their base clock is 3.2 GHz and 3.1 GHz, respectively.

Japanese build-to-order PC specialists Lesance launched the BTO GSN721GW TYPE-GX reference 17-inch performance notebook featuring NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics. At 17-inches size, the Type-GX serves as a portable desktop-replacement. Its screen packs full-HD resolution (1920 x 1080), the GeForce GT 630 driving it is backed by 1 GB of DDR3 memory. It packs 144 CUDA cores.

Other parts of the Type-GX include Intel Core i7-2670QM quad-core processor clocked at 2.20 GHz with 6 MB L3 cache, 8 GB (4 GB x2, DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM) memory, Intel 510 Series 120 GB SSD, Blu-ray ROM, wireless b/g/n and gigabit Ethernet connections, and USB 3.0 ports. The notebook measures 416 x 270 x 22 ~ 35 mm (WxDxH), weighing 2.99 kg. Windows 7 Home Premium x64 is the OS of choice. This reference configuration costs 101,980 JPY (US $1320).

RealNetworks, Inc. today announced that it has signed an agreement to sell a significant number of its patents and its next generation video codec software to Intel Corporation for a purchase price of $120 million. Under terms of the sale, RealNetworks retains certain rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products.

"Selling these patents to Intel unlocks some of the substantial and unrealized value of RealNetworks assets," said Thomas Nielsen, RealNetworks President and CEO. "It represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to generate additional capital to boost investments in new businesses and markets while still protecting our existing business.

Intel Corporation's board of directors has declared a 21 cents per share (84 cents per share on an annual basis) quarterly dividend on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on March 1, 2012 to stockholders of record on Feb. 7, 2012.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world's computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.

Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Panasonic unveiled new 12.1-inch notebooks under the LetsNote NX and LetsNote SX families. Both feature 16:10 aspect ratio screens with 1280x800 pixel resolution, but buyers can opt for a wider 16:9 aspect ratio screen with 1600x900 pixels. A 720p web-cam and fingerprint reader can also be opted for. Where the NX and SX differ is with the SX featuring a top-loading optical drive, while NX lacks it.

Both models are driven by Intel Core i5-2450M processor. HDD comes standard, while faster SSDs can be opted for, which boot the system in under 9 seconds thanks to Panasonic's QuickBoot Manager software. Connectivity features for both include USB 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, and display outputs that include HDMI.

German company TAROX Systems & Services has today introduced a new, business-minded system, a 21.5-inch all-in-one desktop based around an Intel platform. Seen below, the Business 300 AIO measures 53 x 7 x 40.5 cm and features a Full HD (1920 x 1080) multi-touch display, a 3.3 GHz Core i3-2120 processor, integrated graphics, 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and a DVD writer.

TAROX's machine also has a 1.3-megapixel webcam, a card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, three USB 2.0 ports, and D-Sub and HDMI outputs. The Business 300 AIO runs Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and costs 799 Euro.

While its processor-integrated graphics solutions may not be a match for those from NVIDIA and AMD in terms of client applications such as gaming, Intel thinks it has a shot at the entry-level workstation graphics segment, dominated by the likes of NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 and AMD FirePro V3800 series. Workstation GPUs differ from consumer ones as they are accompanied by more API features, are certified by professional 3D modelling software, and are designed to minimize rendering errors since these renders go on to take shape as millions of dollars worth skyscrapers, for example.

Intel thinks that after the performance success of SNA, it has achieved an acceptable level of performance with its integrated graphics design to take it professional. It is doing so by creating workstation-variants of the "Sandy Bridge" and future "Ivy Bridge" silicons in the Xeon E3-1200 series, and giving their integrated graphics increased functionality. The result is a variant of Intel's HD graphics 3000 series, called Intel HD Graphics P3000 series (P denoting professional). Intel is applying for certification by 3D modeling software developers (it's important, because engineers look for these certifications before picking their hardware). The status of its certification with various vendors is detailed in the first slide below.

At the AMD & HardOCP Game Experience event held in Texas, gamers were asked to participate in a blind test. The test involved gaming on two sets of gaming PCs with two PCs each, in each set is an AMD-powered PC, and an Intel-powered one. Participants weren't disclosed which PC was driven by what, as they were assembled in identical-looking cases (no window), with identical monitors and other peripherals. The first set is of budget single-monitor HD gaming, while the second set is high-end three-monitor gaming.

After gaming on both rigs in each set, respondents were asked to tick on a sheet of paper, which rig gave them a better gaming experience, or if gaming both had no observable difference. AMD went into this exercise expecting that most respondents will select "no difference" as their option, and so that would bring good PR to AMD, but to their surprise, most respondents selected the rigs that was powered by AMD processors.

Intel Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with QLogic to acquire the product lines of and certain assets related to its InfiniBand business. A significant number of the employees associated with this business are expected to accept offers to join Intel.

This acquisition is designed to enhance Intel's networking portfolio and provide scalable high-performance computing (HPC) fabric technology as well as support the company's vision of innovating on fabric architectures to achieve ExaFLOP/s performance by 2018. An ExaFLOP/s is a quintillion computer operations per second, a hundred times more than today's fastest supercomputers.

Intel Corporation announced a number of executive promotions and rotations today that recognize outstanding performance and assign new responsibilities as part of Intel's commitment to management development.

As previously announced by Intel's board of directors, Andy Bryant will move from vice chairman of the board to full-time executive chairman at the company's Annual Stockholders' Meeting in May. In anticipation of that change, Intel is promoting two senior executives, one of whom will take on much of Bryant's prior responsibilities.

Making silicon chips is not easy, requiring hugely expensive fabs, with massive clean-room environments and at every process shrink, the complexity and difficulty of making the things goes up significantly. It looks like TSMC and GlobalFoundries are both having serious yield problems with their 28 nm process nodes, according to Mike Bryant, technology analyst at Future Horizons and this is causing a rash of non-working wafers - to the point of having nothing working with some chip designs submitted for production. It seems that the root cause of these problems are to do with the pressures of bringing products to market, rather than an inherent problem with the technology; it just takes time that they haven't got to iron out the kinks and they're getting stuck: "Foundries have come under pressure to release cell libraries too early - which end up with designs that don't work," Bryant said. In an effort to try and be seen to treat every customer equally, TSMC is attempting to launch ten 28 nm designs from seven companies, but it's not working out too well: "At 45-nm, only NVIDIA was affected. At 28-nm any problems for TSMC will be problems for many customers" said Bryant.

AMD might be a little sore that its "Zambezi" FX processor family based on its much-hyped "Bulldozer" architecture didn't quite meet the performance expectations of a ground-up new CPU architecture, but it doesn't want to take chances and build hype around the architecture that succeeds it. From various sources, some faintly-reliable, we have been hearing that the next-generation of high-performance desktop processors based on "Piledriver" architecture, codenamed "Vishera", will pack five modules or 10 cores, and will be structured essentially like Zambezi, since Piledriver is basically a refinement of Bulldozer architecture. The latest leak comes from the Software Optimization Guide for AMD 15h family (read here), which was picked up by CPU World while most of us were busy with CES.

CPU World compiled most of the features of what it suspected to be AMD referring to its future processors based on the Piledriver architecture, that's "Vishera" (desktop high-performance), "Terramar" (high-density server), and "Sepang" (small-medium business server) parts. The three are not the first chips to be based on Piledriver, AMD has a new mainstream desktop and notebook APU in the works codenamed "Trinity", which is en route for a little later this year. Trinity basically has an identical CPUID instruction-set as Vishera, Terramar, and Sepang, confirming their common lineage compared to today's "Bulldozer" architecture. The most catchy detail is of Vishera featuring 4 DDR3 channels.

Intel Corporation today reported full-year revenue of $54 billion, operating income of $17.5 billion, net income of $12.9 billion and EPS of $2.39 - all records. The company generated approximately $21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.1 billion and used $14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock.

For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.9 billion, operating income of $4.6 billion, net income of $3.4 billion and EPS of 64 cents. The company generated approximately $6.6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $4.1 billion to repurchase 174 million shares of stock.

Just to give you an idea of how big an impact Intel's Ultrabook form-factor will have on the portable computing market, OEM major Acer's chairman JT Wang says that in 2012, just the second year of prominence of the platform, Ultrabooks will make up 25-35% of all notebook sales. In the first quarter since launch, Acer's Aspire S3 sold about 250,000-300,000 units. Despite uncertainty in the European market and slow sales expected in the US, Acer finds markets such as Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and other Southeast Asia to be the prime-movers of growth for this platform.

In an effort to offer some (extra) comfort to enthusiasts who like to overclock their processors, Intel has launched something called the 'Performance Tuning Protection Plan'. This offering basically ensures a no questions asked, single processor replacement, in the event of the 'death' of an overclocked CPU.

To take advantage of the Performance Tuning Protection Plan, which comes as an addition to the standard 3 year warranty (this one only covers CPUs that fail 'under normal usage') people are required to pay a one-time fee between $20 and $35, depending on the CPU model.

Yesterday, we reported on Intel's embarrassing gaffe at demonstrating racing game F1 1 2011 running on a prototype ultrabook with an Ivy Bridge processor, where it was really just a video. Since then, AnandTech has seen that game play on an Ivy Bridge notebook just fine, but the best proof has come now, where they got hold of the actual ultrabook at the centre of the controversy and tested it with that game. The result? It works just fine, like we suspected. It looks like Intel just need a little PR makeover, is all. Video proof follows.

Arctic showed of two nearly-identical CPU coolers, the Freezer i30 and Freezer A30. The two are identical till the point where the i30 is designed for Intel sockets only (LGA2011, LGA1155/1156), while the A30, for AMD sockets only (AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2). The two share a tower-type aluminum fin-stack heatsink design, capable of handling thermal loads of up to 320W.

The heatsink uses four 8 mm thick exposed-copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU at the base, and pass through the heatsink, which is then ventilated by a 120 mm PWM-controlled fan with a fancy-looking frame. Rubber standoffs attach the fan to the heatsink dampening vibrations. The retention clips come attached to the heatsink out of the box. A 0.5g syringe of Arctic MX-4 compound is included, while the coolers' base don't come with the compound pre-applied.