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All the entries posted on August 22, 2007.
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Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2007 > August > 22
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
AMD update: Sales chief officially gone
It’s official, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., has announced its outspoken sales chief, Henri Richard, is leaving the company after five years.
Richard, who help oversee AMD’s return to profitablity just to see it recently sink back to a loss, also spearheaded the No. 2 PC microprocessor company’s war of words - and its anti-trust lawsuit - against arch rival Intel Corp.
His departure comes as at a crucial time. The company is about to roll out its much-anticipated Barcelona chip, which it sees as key to regaining ground lost to Intel.
In a news release AMD made a point to say that Richard “departs AMD of his own accord and on completely amicable terms.”
In a statement, Richard couldn’t help but take one last dig at Intel:
“After 20 years in the PC industry - and five of the most professionally rewarding years here at AMD - I have decided to make a move to a different business segment,” he said. “I am leaving AMD at a time when the company is in position to break the monopoly that plagues this industry.”
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AT&T puts iPhone bills on a diet
Apple iPhone subscribers still tallying their lengthy first phone bills, take heart: AT&T understands your pain (and the potential for paper cuts and lower back injury).
The San Antonio-based carrier began sending text messages to iPhone users Wednesday, telling them that from now on they would receive pithy summary bills instead of detailed listings of every call, text message and bit of Internet of data. While customers can still view unabridged bills online or get them in paper form for $1.99, the Big Bill will no longer be the default option.
“Given the fact that some of our iPhone customers are going to be heavy data users - and we like that - we also don’t want them to be burdened by getting tons and tons of paper in the mail, figuratively,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said.
The billing changes also will be true for all new AT&T wireless customers and existing ones who make account changes starting Sept. 28.
AT&T’s news comes about a week after blogs, message boards and video-sharing sites began filling with reports of consumers receiving iPhone bills dozens or even hundreds of pages long. AT&T says the billing changes have been in the works for months and are unrelated to the online chatter.
“We just decided to get going right away on the iPhone customers,” Siegel said. “It’s going to be in a decidedly thinner envelope.”
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Sales shake-up at AMD?
Cnet.com and Hexus.com say AMD will announce this afternoon that its top sales executive, Henri Richard, will step down, effective Sept. 8.
AMD declined to comment on the reports. But if they’re accurate, Richard will be leaving just two days before the splashy debut of AMD’s Barcelona chip, a crucial product that the company hopes will pull it out of red ink.
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San Jose airport to get makeover
Nerd Bird flyers, rejoice: San Jose is going to update its 42-year-old airport, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The city is selling $767 million in bonds to pay for the makeover. But passengers will foot part of the bill in higher parking, concession and rental car fees.
Airport officials say passengers will see little direct impact — except for the 100 percent increase in the rental car surcharge, to $10.
This is a massive project, of course, so the changes will take several years to pull off.
American Airlines’ Austin-San Jose flight is nicknamed the Nerd Bird for all the laptop-pounding techies in the seats.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Texas
Turning off to the tube, turning on to the Web
Unless you also have one eye on the TV right now, you’re part of a trend.
A survey just out from IBM shows that consumers are starting to spend as much of their personal time on the Internet as they are watching television.
According to IBM, 19 percent of respondents to its survey - which was taken online, of course - said they spent six hours or more per day using the Internet for personal reasons, verus nine percent who said they watched six hours of TV a day.
Even more telling, about 66 percent said they watched between one and four hours of TV a day, versus 60 percent who reported using the Internet for four hours a day.
Of course, IBM is in the business of computers, not televisions. And Big Blue has been trumpeting the slow decline of the boob tube for some time now.
But then again, you’re probably not reading this on your television set, are you?
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Red McCombs starts faith-based Web site in Austin
Red McCombs, the San Antonio billionaire, has launched faithvine.com, an Austin-based Christian Web site.
The site will include social networking, user-submitted video, news and discussion forums and Bible study tools.
“We have tools available to use through the Internet that allow us to communicate in ways we haven’t before, ” McCombs said. “Faithvine will be used to capture thought-provoking content with community dialogue.”
David Brown is the editorial director of the new site, which will be managed by Red McCombs Media.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Texas
Austin chip start-up closes on a $25 million VC investment
Luminary Micro Inc., a 3-year-old Austin chip startup, has closed on a $25 million venture capital investment, the company’s third since it was started three years ago.
Luminary develops low-cost 32-bit microcontrollers that run consumer electronics products, industrial control equipment and other electrical devices.
The latest round was led by Adams Street Partners of Chicago, which joined existing investors New Enterprise Associates, EXA Ventures and ATA Ventures in the round.
Tom Berman, a partner with Adams Street Partners, has joined the company’s board.
The company had raised $19 million in two earlier investment rounds.
Luminary worked closely with ARM Holdings Plc of Britain on a new low-power computing core, called Cortex-M3, that was completed in late 2005. Luminary, which had worked with ARM in completing the Cortex design, became the first company to introduce a commercial chip based on it. ARM is an industry leader in developing basic designs that other companies license, modify and turn into commercial products.
The company attracted early customer attention because it offered the higher-performance of 32-bit controller chips at prices as low as $1 per chip.
More to come…