Joel Hruska
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
AMD released its results for Q2 2011 today and the news was generally good, though not as strong as investors might have preferred. Sales revenue was $1.57B, down two percent from Q1 and five percent year-on-year. AMD notes that Q2 was a 13 week quarter as opposed to the 14-week Q1, but that's...
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There's news from the 3D sphere of both Sony and Nintendo today and neither company sounds particularly cheery. On the Sony front, 3D development chief Mick Hocking has advocated that developers only use 3D when it actually improves the...
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Intel's results for the second quarter of 2011 are a model of strong execution, high performance, and continued market dominance. So much so, in fact, that writing these reports has actually become a teensy bit boring. (Note to Intel: We expect precious little sympathy.) The nature of some of the records has changed, and a few key figures...
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Windows 8's primary feature (at least thus far) is its ability to run on ARM processors and, by extension, its tablet-centric UI. According to analyst firm IHS-iSuppli, official Windows support will give the ARM architecture the ability to...
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One of the downsides to system reviews is that it's usually impossible to evaluate system reliability or performance over an extended period of time. Since boutique builders typically assemble rigs with a focus on solid warranties or top-level components, not being able to properly...
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Rumors that Amazon is planning a tablet of its own have sparked concerns over whether or not the company can properly differentiate between Kindle and a tablet without inadvertently cannibalizing or obviating the former--but what if readers didn't have to choose? Thanks the thinking behind the...
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Programmer/activist Aaron Swartz has been arrested for data theft in connection with an incident that occurred at MIT in late 2010. Swartz is accused of downloading nearly five million documents from JSTOR, an online, non-profit academic journal archive system. The particulars are as follows:...
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The International Trade Commission (ITC) of the United States issued a ruling today that HTC's Android devices infringe of two of ten Apple patents. The ruling could cause major problems for HTC, given that Apple has asked the court for an...
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Up until now, Samsung has handled all of Apple's CPU manufacturing needs, including the A4 and A5 processor. New rumors, however, suggest that TSMC has been tapped for the company's next-generation A6. Apple hasn't committed to actually purchasing chips at this point, but has handed the...
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The launch of multiple high-end titles wasn't enough to reverse declining sales trends in June. That's the latest from the NPD group, who found sales in June 2011 fell 10 percent compared to June 2010. Sales were down in virtually every area, with games down 12 percent, console sales down nine...
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EA has announced it intends to shut down a number of game servers, thus terminating online play for a total of thirteen titles. The company's justification for the move is that it allows the game publisher to focus resources on the most popular products. The recent service update reads: The...
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Copyright troll firm Righthaven is bidding fair to replace TV reruns as a source of summer entertainment. Since the company's case against Digital Underground was tossed in mid-June, the firm's lawyers have turned to increasingly amusing court filings in an attempt to justify their own legal...
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We've seen a number of prominent tablets launch so far this year, including the Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry Playbook, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Hp TouchPad. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but none has managed to hold a candle to the iPad / iPad 2. Whether measured in terms of sales or...
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The tendency of DRAM to become cheaper over time is generally considered a good thing—at least, in the consumer market—but evidence suggests prices may have fallen a bit too much. Current manufacturing costs using 40nm...
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With Bobcat and Llano launched, AMD has one more major product overhaul set for this year. The company's Bulldozer CPU will launch in the next few months, and after years of waiting, enthusiasts and IT industry analysts are both curious to see what AMD has in its high performance pipeline. A...
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About two weeks ago, BGR.com published a letter allegedly written by a Research In Motion (RIM) executive criticizing the current state of the company and asking the dual CEO team of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis to consider how the company has gotten into the jam it's in, (it announced job cuts last month) and what strategies will best...
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Sony will release a new PS3 SKU in the near future, but the upcoming console revision will remove a current feature. According to a leaked (but confirmed) memo, the new "K" series PS3 will no longer output Blu-ray HD video over anything but HDMI. All previous PS3 consoles have been capable of...
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A federal court handed Barry Ardolf, a Minnesota resident initially accused of sending threatening emails to Vice President Joe Biden, a nearly twenty year prison sentence today based on multiple additional charges of identity theft, trafficking in child pornography, and generally being the...
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Netflix unveiled major changes to its pricing plan today, much to the dismay and disgust of the company's customers. Up until now, Netflix has offered a $7.99 unlimited streaming plan with a $2/month DVD plan available as an add-on. As of now, Netflix will offer two separate plans, one for...
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At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference this week, Tami Reller, the company's CFO and Corporate VP of Windows / Windows Live, spilled the beans about Windows 7's adoption rates and some of what the industry should expect from Windows 8. Windows 7, according to Reller, has sold at three...
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The National Sheriffs' Association has announced it supports mandatory logging provisions incorporated into a proposed federal law that would require ISPs to store all customer data for 18 months. The bill (HR 1981) is intended to amend...
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New sales data from the RIAA indicate that record sales are up 1 percent for the first half of 2011 as compared to 2010. Total album sales in the first half of 2011 totaled 155.5 million, up from 153.9 million in 2010. A one percent gain might seem meaningless in any other industry, but we're...
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