Apple building chip design capability
Reporting by Gabriel MadwaySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc is hiring new employees from the semiconductor industry and is building the capability to design its own chips, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The iPhone and iPod maker hopes its efforts will lead to new features for its devices and enable it to share fewer details about it plans with outside chip vendors, the report said, citing people familiar with Apple's plans.
An Apple spokesman confirmed the company has hired both Bob Drebin, former chief technology office of the graphics products group at chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices and Raja Koduri, who previously held the same position.
The spokesman decline to comment further. Drebin's LinkedIn page lists him as a senior director at Apple.
The hires were reported or rumored in a number of online outlets earlier in the week.
Apple has been hiring engineers to create multifunction chips that are used in cell phones, the Journal report said. Sources familiar with Apple's plans don't expect internally designed chips to emerge until next year at the earliest, it said.
Last year, Apple acquired P.A. Semi, a designer of low-power microchips, in a move analysts said bolstered its ability to customize key parts for its iPhone, iPod and Macintosh product lines.
Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed up $1.24 at $125.14.
Cablevision rolls out super-fast Internet access
Reporting by Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp plans to roll out super-fast Internet access connections that can allow a customer to download a full-length high-definition movie in less than 10 minutes.
The New York-based cable operator said on Tuesday it is also doubling the speed of its Wi-Fi wireless Internet service -- free for subscribers -- as it steps up its offerings to counter the competitive threat of Verizon Communications' FiOS service.
Cablevision customers will pay nearly $100 a month to use the new high-speed Internet service, which will deliver download speeds of up to 101 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 15 megabits per second. Such speeds can enable the download of up to 750 digital photos or 150 songs in one minute.
The company plans to roll out the service across its entire market starting May 11. Currently Cablevision offers download speeds of 15 megabits per second for $45 to $50 a month.
It remains to be seen how much customer demand there is for new super-fast Internet access, which cable companies charge premium prices for. Comcast Corp charges up to $139 a month for its 50 megabit Wideband service in certain markets, for instance.
"Right now the real demand for 50 to 100 megabits is pretty limited," said Todd Mitchell, analyst at Kaufman Bros. "But over the next two to three years, the number of video applications we all use will grow exponentially so it will become a necessary level of service."
Cablevision will be the first of the major U.S. cable operators to roll out new super-fast speeds to its entire network using a new cable technology called DOCSIS 3.0. Other cable operators like Comcast and Charter Communications started trying out the super-fast access speed in some of their regions last year.
The cable companies are increasing access speeds in response to the launch of advanced digital services from phone companies Verizon and AT&T Inc, and also encouraged by the popularity of Web video services like Google Inc's YouTube and Hulu, a venture of News Corp and NBC Universal.
Faster speeds will make it easier to watch video programing over the Web, but there are industry concerns that they might also make it easier for customers to 'cut the cord' of traditional cable TV subscriptions.
"The cable operators are trying to walk a fine line," said Craig Moffett, analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
Moffett said the challenge for the operators is how to preserve their current technology and speed advantage over phone companies without harming their core video offering.
"They don't want to provide so much bandwidth that they foster the means to bypass their core service," he said.
Cablevision is also doubling the speed of its wireless Internet access to 3.0 megabits per second using Wi-Fi technology. The company offers the service for free to Cablevision subscribers using their laptops and other mobile devices around certain locations in its local area.
HP unveils ProBook laptop line
Reporting by Gabriel Madway
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's top PC maker, is launching a new line of inexpensive business laptops with fresh features targeting users at small and medium-size companies.
The HP ProBook s-series, which starts shipping globally on Tuesday, is the company's new mainstream business notebook, following the release of its higher-end, lightweight EliteBook line last year.
The ProBook replaces the HP Compaq line, although the Compaq name will continue to be used as a master brand name in other PCs.
The ProBook offers users a number of new features, including an optional Linux-based operating system pre-installed -- Novell Inc's SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 -- for those seeking an alternative to the dominant Microsoft Corp Windows platform.
It is HP's first-ever Linux pre-install on a standard business laptop, the company said. The PC maker does offer some netbooks with Linux.
"It's pretty much a natural evolution," said Carol Hess- Nickels, HP's director of marketing for worldwide business notebooks.
"We want to provide a different option ... it's probably a little time yet before we'll know exactly what the demand is, but we did think it was something worth trying."
The ProBooks come with 14-inch, 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screen sizes, with prices starting at $529. In another first for an HP business notebook, buyers will be able to add a color finish -- "merlot" -- if they choose.
Some models will also feature Qualcomm Inc's Gobi technology, allowing them to use a single module to access different mobile broadband network technologies and mobile operators.
HP will also bring higher-end durability features, like its 3D DriveGuard -- which protects the hard drive if a laptop is dropped -- and a spill-resistant keyboard to the ProBook.
HP is the world's No. 1 PC vendor, with a first-quarter global market share of more than 20 percent, according to research house IDC, well ahead of second-place Dell Inc. HP also took over the top spot in the U.S. market from Dell in the first quarter.
The shares of Palo Alto, California-based HP closed the regular session down 35 cents at $35.45 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
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