2008

Intel warning casts cloud over CES

Intel's fourth-quarter warning is not only bad news but bad timing. With the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off Thursday adorned by all those bright, shiny gadgets, Intel effectively said: gadgets maybe, but not so bright and shiny.

And for an Intel warning, this one was particularly dire. The biggest chip bellwether said it now expects only $8.2 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 23 percent drop from the year-earlier period, and 20 percent from the third quarter. And this comes after issuing a warning on November 12.

So what's happening? The clearest example of the gloom … Read more

iVoice introduces Diamond-X Bluetooth headset

iVoice has just announced the Diamond-X Bluetooth headset, which is purportedly the first Bluetooth headset with the capability to report name of the caller from a phonebook.

The device has a shiny metallic sheen, comes with three different size ear gels, and offers features such as noise-cancellation and automatic volume control. It has a promised talk time of 5.5 hours and a standby time of 8.3 days. It will be available later this month for about $100.

Rest easy with Hidetools Child Control

Even though we were disappointed by its brief 14-day trial period, we found this monitoring tool to be top-notch for blocking specific Internet access from children.

Right away, we were impressed by Hidetools Child Control's well-designed user interface. It's both professionally designed and very easy to navigate. Large command buttons represent different blocking options, such as Block Programs, Block Web sites, and Block Windows. Under the Block Programs option, it's easy to choose from a list of default applications. We were also able to manually add others to the list. Sure enough, all of the applications were … Read more

LG VX8360 details revealed

The LG VX8350 was one of our favorite Verizon phones in 2007, and it looks like LG is getting ready to release its successor, the LG VX8360, according to this leaked spec sheet. It doesn't look like it's hugely improved from the VX8350, however, so we probably wouldn't run out to replace it.

That said, it sounds like a decent mid-range handset:1.3-megapixel camera, VZ Navigator, EV-DO, stereo Bluetooth, and of course access to Verizon's broadband services like VCast Music. It'll retail for around $50 with a two-year service agreement, which makes this an … Read more

Chip sales slump in November

Global sales of chips sank 9.8 percent in November, underscoring the impact the worldwide economic crisis is having on chipmakers, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Friday.

The San Jose, Calif.-based trade group said worldwide sales of semiconductors fell in November to $20.8 billion, a decline of 9.8 percent from November 2007 when sales were $23.1 billion.

Sales were down 7.2 percent from the $22.4 billion in October, according to the SIA.

Memory chips are putting the biggest damper on growth. Excluding memory, there was a slower year-on-year decline of 4.8 percent to $… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 882: Results of 2008 predictions

We take a look at our predictions for 2008 and see how many of them didn't come true. Much to our surprise, we actually didn't do half bad! (Except for the whole HD-DVD thing. That was pretty bad.) Listen now: Download today's podcast

Buzz Out Loud 881: Best of 2008

If there's one thing about doing a daily podcast in 2008, it's this: Clips galore! Check it out. A BIG thanks to all of the listeners that sent in suggestions for this show.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

How'd I do on 2008 predictions?

Update, 1/6/09: Today during the MacWorld keynote, Apple announced that it would offer the vast majority of songs for sale on iTunes without DRM restrictions, and would begin making iTunes downloads available over 3G cellular networks as well as Wi-Fi connections. Six days--I'll take a mulligan, raising my batting average to .350.

Not so great.

Predictions columns are always risky because it's easy to look back a year later and see how wrong you were. For the most part, I was on the right track, but too bold--as a wise prognosticator once said, we tend to … Read more

The best (unheard) music of 2008

This time of year there's no shortage of lists, everywhere you turn you're hammered with Top Ten and Best of 2008 harangues.

Me, I'm not going to waste your time raving about Portishead, TV on the Radio or Vampire Weekend's CDs. Why bother? I'd rather turn you onto great music that slipped between the cracks.

My favorite album of the year was JD Souther's "If The World Was You." JD was most famous for co-writing a bunch of 1970s era Eagles tunes, but this new CD demonstrates the Detroit-born, Amarillo, Texas-raised musician hasn't dried up in the intervening decades.

The new CD, recorded live in a Nashville studio, has a dark, brooding sound. JD's accompanying musicians are serious players. But it's the writing that kept this disc in heavy rotation in my house. There's a bit of the late, great Warren Zevon influence in there, so if you're a fan of 1970s Southern California rock If the World Was You would definitely be worth a listen. It's at least as good as Randy Newman's excellent "Harps and Angels" CD that was also released this year.

A friend turned me onto Lizz Wright's "The Orchard" CD and I couldn't get over her straight from the heart vocals. This woman can sing, this kind of depth of feeling is rare nowadays, but Wright comes from a different tradition. … Read more