Bumpgate We break out the electron microscope
By Charlie Demerjian: Tuesday, 09 December 2008
WHEN THE NEW Macbooks came out a few weeks ago, Nvidia stated that the chips they provided to Apple did not contain the proverbial 'bad bumps'. Unfortunately for them, an investigation lead by The Inquirer proves that not to be the case. BackgroundIf you recall, Nvidia has been in the spotlight all summer for failing chips due to bad materials and thermal stress. The end result is that bumps, the tiny balls of solder that hold a chip to the green printed circuit board it sits on, crack, and the computer it is in dies. If you want the full technical analysis, read this article (and parts 2 and 3). Nvidia took a $200 million charge over the problem in July, but the firm refuses to support its customers by saying which parts are defective, and what computers they were sold in. You can get some clue from message boards, with Dell, HP, and Apple being prominent victims. Nvidia says that the problem only affects notebooks, HP says otherwise. Nvidia assures manufacturers that their machines won't have problems, manufacturers say otherwise. In the end, what you have is a massive cover-up that keeps affected customer s in the dark. Doing right by them would cost a lot of money, which says a lot about the reason for a cover up. Fixed parts with a new 'material set' - basically new bumps and underfill - were phased into production starting in mid-summer, and the old, defective bumps are being sold off slowly alongside the new.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Android Devices Likely From Sony Ericsson, Asus
By Daniel Ionescu, Dec 9, 2008
Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Asus could launch as soon as next summer new, less expensive cell phones, based on Google's mobile operating system - Android. The companies have stated today their interest in developing devices based on Android, and joined the Open Handset Alliance together with 11 other members. Joining other large handset manufacturers such as Motorola, Samsung and LG in the Open Handset Alliance (OHT), Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Asus are set deploy new Android based devices within the coming year. And looking at the big picture, there's no good reason why they shouldn't. Sony Ericsson (SE) had no prominent smartphone offerings this year - that is unless you count the Xperia 1, which finally got released after almost a year of teasing us with pictures and specs from SE. And now that the Windows Mobile powered phone is out, not many are rushing to purchase it. On the other hand, Toshiba and Asus only released devices based on Windows Mobile, and besides the powerful Asus P565, there wasn't much success in for them either.
Read more here -->Link
Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Asus could launch as soon as next summer new, less expensive cell phones, based on Google's mobile operating system - Android. The companies have stated today their interest in developing devices based on Android, and joined the Open Handset Alliance together with 11 other members. Joining other large handset manufacturers such as Motorola, Samsung and LG in the Open Handset Alliance (OHT), Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Asus are set deploy new Android based devices within the coming year. And looking at the big picture, there's no good reason why they shouldn't. Sony Ericsson (SE) had no prominent smartphone offerings this year - that is unless you count the Xperia 1, which finally got released after almost a year of teasing us with pictures and specs from SE. And now that the Windows Mobile powered phone is out, not many are rushing to purchase it. On the other hand, Toshiba and Asus only released devices based on Windows Mobile, and besides the powerful Asus P565, there wasn't much success in for them either.
Read more here -->Link
Now, it's Sony's turn to take the hit: What it means, and why
By Scott M. Fulton, III, December 9, 2008
Sony was already suffering from internal issues, but now the global economy is forcing the CE giant to consider not only scaling down, but scaling back its innovations for next year. That the global economic predicament should impact Sony, headquartered in one of the hardest hit countries, should surprise no one. This morning, the company admitted that it, too, is taking its medicine. It will cut 8,000 jobs in its electronics divisions worldwide, which is bad but not catastrophic news, and it will reduce temporary or seasonal employees as well. For the corporation that consistently defines the state of global consumer electronics every year, the fact that the world's economy must focus its efforts away from consumer goods and toward infrastructure and durable goods, could eventually mean a long-term shift in strategy. Think of a company which two years ago touted one of its most important contributions to society as being the producer of "Wheel of Fortune," now devoting more of its efforts to helping the world to simply cope and overcome bad fortune.
Read more here -->Link
Sony was already suffering from internal issues, but now the global economy is forcing the CE giant to consider not only scaling down, but scaling back its innovations for next year. That the global economic predicament should impact Sony, headquartered in one of the hardest hit countries, should surprise no one. This morning, the company admitted that it, too, is taking its medicine. It will cut 8,000 jobs in its electronics divisions worldwide, which is bad but not catastrophic news, and it will reduce temporary or seasonal employees as well. For the corporation that consistently defines the state of global consumer electronics every year, the fact that the world's economy must focus its efforts away from consumer goods and toward infrastructure and durable goods, could eventually mean a long-term shift in strategy. Think of a company which two years ago touted one of its most important contributions to society as being the producer of "Wheel of Fortune," now devoting more of its efforts to helping the world to simply cope and overcome bad fortune.
Read more here -->Link
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