The patch corrects a firmware problem that caused the company's hard drives to stop working.
By Antone Gonsalves January 22, 2009
Seagate Technology on Thursday posted its second fix for a firmware problem that has caused the company's hard drives to stop working. The latest patch corrects compatibility problems the original fix had with some Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives. The first firmware upgrade was released Jan. 16. "We regret any inconvenience that the firmware issues have caused our customers," the company said in an e-mailed statement. Customers last week flooded Seagate's community forum with complaints that the 1-TB Barracuda 7200.11 would freeze up suddenly. Seagate determined the problem was in the firmware and released a fix that customers later reported caused the 500-GB version of the hard drive to stop working. Seagate said the firmware problem extended beyond the Barracuda drives to other products based on the same platform, such as the Barracuda ES.2 and the DiamondMax 22.
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Thursday, January 22, 2009
Intel to Shut Four Plants, Lay off 6,000
By Eric Lai, Jan 22, 2009
Amidst a bevy of bad news in the PC market, Intel Corp. took two corrective steps this week, aggressively slashing prices on chips on Monday and announcing Wednesday that it would close four chip plants and cut as many as 6,000 jobs. Analysts laid the blame for Intel's actions on weak PC sales combined with tight-fisted consumers choosing low-cost models such as netbooks. They also said impressive new CPUs from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. were a factor. Monday's CPU price cuts by Intel , as much as 40% on some high-end desktop chips, were aimed at "stimulating demand to consume [chip] inventory," said Ian Lao, an analyst with In-Stat . "Fabs are already scaling back but there is always a buffer effect from when a change is started until we see that change on the street. They are trying to match the fab capacity to help limit job cuts if possible." The price cuts were just the beginning. On Wednesday, Intel said it would close close two assembly and test facilities -- one in Penang, Malaysia, and another in Cavite, the Philippines. It said it would also stop production at two wafer-production plants: Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication plant in Hillsboro, Oregon; and D2, a facility in Santa Clara, California.
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Amidst a bevy of bad news in the PC market, Intel Corp. took two corrective steps this week, aggressively slashing prices on chips on Monday and announcing Wednesday that it would close four chip plants and cut as many as 6,000 jobs. Analysts laid the blame for Intel's actions on weak PC sales combined with tight-fisted consumers choosing low-cost models such as netbooks. They also said impressive new CPUs from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. were a factor. Monday's CPU price cuts by Intel , as much as 40% on some high-end desktop chips, were aimed at "stimulating demand to consume [chip] inventory," said Ian Lao, an analyst with In-Stat . "Fabs are already scaling back but there is always a buffer effect from when a change is started until we see that change on the street. They are trying to match the fab capacity to help limit job cuts if possible." The price cuts were just the beginning. On Wednesday, Intel said it would close close two assembly and test facilities -- one in Penang, Malaysia, and another in Cavite, the Philippines. It said it would also stop production at two wafer-production plants: Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication plant in Hillsboro, Oregon; and D2, a facility in Santa Clara, California.
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Seeing its profits fall, Microsoft to slash 5,000 jobs in first wide-scale layoffs
By Jessica Mintz Jan. 22, 2009
Microsoft Corp. will make the first mass layoffs in its 34-year history, cutting 5,000 jobs as demand for personal computers falls and even one of the world's richest companies gets burned by the recession. The company announced the cuts Thursday as it reported an 11 percent drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Microsoft shares plunged more than 11 percent. "We're certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions," Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during a conference call. With less access to credit, businesses and consumers are spending less and stretching the life span of their existing computers. The biggest names in the technology sector have been no stranger to layoffs lately. Giants such as chip maker Intel Corp. and even Google Inc. are among the companies that have pulled back on jobs to hunker down in the recession. Google also reported earnings Thursday and said its quarterly net profit fell 68 percent, its first such drop ever. The results were better than analysts had expected, however. At Microsoft, the cuts appeared to reflect uncertainty about when times will get better. The company said it could not issue a forecast for earnings and profits for the rest of the year.
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Microsoft Corp. will make the first mass layoffs in its 34-year history, cutting 5,000 jobs as demand for personal computers falls and even one of the world's richest companies gets burned by the recession. The company announced the cuts Thursday as it reported an 11 percent drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Microsoft shares plunged more than 11 percent. "We're certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions," Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during a conference call. With less access to credit, businesses and consumers are spending less and stretching the life span of their existing computers. The biggest names in the technology sector have been no stranger to layoffs lately. Giants such as chip maker Intel Corp. and even Google Inc. are among the companies that have pulled back on jobs to hunker down in the recession. Google also reported earnings Thursday and said its quarterly net profit fell 68 percent, its first such drop ever. The results were better than analysts had expected, however. At Microsoft, the cuts appeared to reflect uncertainty about when times will get better. The company said it could not issue a forecast for earnings and profits for the rest of the year.
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