Intel Survey Reveals Sex Vs. Technology A Tough Decision For Many

An online survey commissioned by Intel has uncovered that 46% of women and 30% of men would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for the same length of time. Intel's goal was not to necessarily compare these two activities but rather to show how essential the Internet has become to people. Of course the survey was conducted online and that probably skews the results... of course the Internet is important to these respondents otherwise they would not have found the survey in the first place. Other findings, according to the Wall Street Journal "95% of respondents said it is very important, important or somewhat important for people to have devices that allow them to access the Internet, and 84% said they saved money by comparing prices online and finding the best deals before making purchase decisions."

Dell Entering Netbook Market

A BBC article citing Gizmodo as a source is reporting that Dell is about to enter the Netbook market, a market that is being driven in larger part by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, the success of the Asus Eee PC and the availability of low-cost and low power consumption chips designed just for such devices. "I've not seen energy like this from our customers in a long, long time," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini to The Associated Press.

All of the usual suspects seem to be lining up to enter the market for netbooks and Dell is no exception, it would appear. Microsoft recently announced it would be selling XP for sub-notebooks at a price of just $32, keeping the OS alive to stave off competition from linux. HP and Acer are both coming out with low power machines and Asus believes it will sell almost two million linux powered Eee PCs in the first half of this year. While I've seen the OLPC laptop, and it's cute, I'm not apt to purchase one for my own use. The Eee PC, and potentially others like it, are a little more appealing for certain applications however... such as blogging on the go!

Intel's Atom Processor Aimed At The Cost Conscious

Cnet blogs is reporting that Intel's upcoming Atom processor is being heralded by the company as a step towards low cost Nettop computers that will range between $100 and $300. The Nettop pc's will utilize the Atom - "Diamondville" chip and incorporate a number of other cost-saving measures, "no system fans...no CPU socket...(an) optimized PSU (power supply unit)" and "cost optimized OS solutions." The machine's primary use will be Internet based computing and will operate on either Windows or Linux according to the article. I can see myself buying such a device for my 75 year old father, who enjoys checking stock prices, the occasional e-mail, and playing solitaire. Seriously!

Intel Dubs New Chip 'Atom'

Intel's announced today that it is naming it's newest chipset "Atom". The new family of chips has two members, a low-power mobile processor for the next generation of mobile Internet devices and a single-core processor for ultra-low-cost laptops. Cnet has more details here.

Intel backs One Laptop Per Child initiative

Chip maker Intel has decided to take an active roll and support the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation that it once dismissed as a gadget. The foundation founded by Nicholas Negroponte, of MIT Media lab fame, has developed a laptop which was designed to be cheap to make, energy efficient and built to withstand rugged conditions. "It can be hand-powered so it will work in remote locations." Negroponte said in an interview "Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," The machine which uses free and open source software and has other corporate backers, is meant to be offered in South America, Africa, and parts of Asia where children would otherwise not be exposed to the technology. They require 3,000,000 orders to make the foundations production plan work. 7000 prototypes have been tested and the price is expected to be about $175 US. CBC story here.

A noble cause indeed!