Greg In The Desert

The US Federal Trade Commssion is joining the EU and going after Intel on antitrust charges. Updated: link and text changed to the FTC’s website.

The Federal Trade Commission today sued Intel Corp., the world’s leading computer chip maker, charging that the company has illegally used its dominant market position for a decade to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly.

In its complaint, the FTC alleges that Intel has waged a systematic campaign to shut out rivals’ competing microchips by cutting off their access to the marketplace. In the process, Intel deprived consumers of choice and innovation in the microchips that comprise the computers’ central processing unit, or CPU. These chips are critical components that often are referred to as the “brains” of a computer.

Intel responds. Updated: Link changed to Intel’s official press release.

“Intel has competed fairly and lawfully. Its actions have benefitted consumers. The highly competitive microprocessor industry, of which Intel is a key part, has kept innovation robust and prices declining at a faster rate than any other industry. The FTC’s case is misguided. It is based largely on claims that the FTC added at the last minute and has not investigated. In addition, it is explicitly not based on existing law but is instead intended to make new rules for regulating business conduct. These new rules would harm consumers by reducing innovation and raising prices.”

• Report on DIA jet: "massive gust of wind" – The Denver Post – The captain of a Continental Airlines jet that went off the side of a Denver International Airport runway last December during takeoff said the plane suddenly veered to the left "as if hit by a 'massive gust of wind,' or as if the tires had hit a patch of ice and lost traction," according to a report issued by air safety investigators today. Continental Flight 1404 traveled over fields, an airport taxiway and a raised service road before coming to rest near a DIA fire station.
• Pay-as-you-drive insurance, privacy, and government mandates – Ars Technica – The proposal centers on a simple idea: infrequent drivers are less of an insurance risk. By pricing policies according to the mileage driven, insurance companies can offer discounts to lower-risk infrequent drivers, and put an appropriate cost penalty on heavy drivers. The state estimates that 30% adoption of PAYD insurance nationwide would reduce miles driven by at least 10% among subscribers, and save 55 million tons of CO2 over the next ten years. The benefits of such a system could be quite dramatic, as California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is sure to emphasize.
• Tornado watch in far SW Colorado – The Denver Post – A tornado watch continues in effect until 9 p.m. for far southeastern Colorado, including Baca, Brent, Crowley, Kiowa, Las Animas and Otero counties. An earlier tornado watch for the metro Denver area expired at 7 p.m.
• EU fine gives Intel first loss in 22 years – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel posted a loss of $398 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.6 billion, or 28 cents a share in the same period last year.
• Consumerist – Unruly Teen Charges $23 Quadrillion At Drugstore – Visa buxx – Kids these days! Hawkins writes, "My lectures about financial responsibility appear to have failed: yesterday [my teenaged daughter] charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 at the drug store." You would think Visa would have caught the error and addressed it, if you were high. What Visa actually did was slap a $20 "negative balance" fee on it, of course.
• Scientists Discover Light Force with ‘Push’ Power | Science Blog – A team of Yale University researchers has discovered a “repulsive” light force that can be used to manipulate components on silicon microchips, meaning future nanodevices could be controlled by light rather than electricity.
• Apple rejects bird chirp, search query apps over Internet content | iLounge News – Apple has rejected updates to two more applications—FastFinder from Bananas Design and Chirp! Bird Songs from Spiny Software—due to what the company considers to be an inappropriate rating based on the apps’ ability to connect to the Internet
• ABQ will soon have a loan program for solar energy systems aimed as easing up-front costs – New Mexico’s largest city has made quick work of legislation passed earlier this year to boost consumption of renewable energy — such as the installation of solar energy systems on both residential and commercial rooftops. The key component allows municipalities to create special districts through which loans for installation of the systems are made to property owners who then pay off the loan through a property tax assessment rather than through making monthly loan payments.
• House cats know what they want and how to get it from you – Anyone who has ever had cats knows how difficult it can be to get them to do anything they don't already want to do. But it seems that the house cats themselves have had distinctly less trouble getting humans to do their bidding, according to a report published in the July 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The rather crafty felines motivate people to fill their food dishes by sending something of a mixed signal: an urgent cry or meowing sound embedded within an otherwise pleasant purr. The result is a call that humans generally find annoyingly difficult to ignore.
• This Young House Is No More, And Our Entire Blog Is Moving To Young House Love As Of Now! | Young House Love – On July 7th, as many of you know, we were busy celebrating our two year wedding anniversary. But on July 8th we got a nice little present in the form of a cease and desist letter from a prominent home improvement magazine/TV show which bears a few similarities to our old site’s name (you guys can figure it out, right?). Don’t they know the two year anniversary present is cotton, not paper? Anyway, they basically ordered that we immediately surrender the use of our old name and URL because they believed consumers were getting confused and may think that Young House Love was in some way related to their brand. Picture us scratching our heads. In almost two years of blogging under that moniker not one person has ever asked if we were related to that company.

• FrugalMechanic Gets A Tune-Up With A New Round Of Funding – FrugalMechanic, like a Froogle for auto parts, has gained a niche following of mechanics and consumers as a nifty price comparison tool in the auto market. Founded in July of 2008, the site doubled traffic from December 2008 to January 2009 and boasts over 5 million auto parts from 50 retailers. In an economy where everyone is looking for a deal, FrugalMechanic’s growth isn’t surprising. And when cash and credit are tight, consumers may be looking to repair cars with new auto parts instead of buying new cars.
• Intel CEO On Plan To Invest $7 Billion In U.S. : NPR – (audio interview) Intel CEO Paul Otellini traveled to Washington today to announce a $7 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing plants. Otellini talks about this investment, the role the private sector can play in ending the recession, and what he thinks about the stimulus package currently in Congress.
• Intel CEO supports stimulus plan – Eamon Javers – Politico.com – So grateful was the president for this bit of private-sector economic stimulus that he called Otellini at his hotel room to congratulate him. And he took advantage of the call to do a little lobbying, asking for Otellini’s support in the debate over the economic stimulus package.

  In a conversation after his announcement, Otellini told Politico that he generally supports the president’s economic stimulus plans.

Great! I eat bagged spinach, at least once a week. New Mexico is one of the states listed in the outbreak. They don’t know of a specific brand.

An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach. The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were made ill, state officials said. The outbreak has sickened others – eight of them seriously – in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah, according to federal health officials.

An Apple exec talks about iPod integration in cars, and why Apple wants integration instead of add on stuff.

Borchers explained how Apple wants to steer consumers away from the inelegant mess of cassette adaptors and wires, which is currently the most popular way to rig an iPod into your car stereo. Apple itself has no interest in producing a car stereo, says Borchers, but is working with third parties to improve iPod integration in new cars.

I have such an inelegant mess, a Griffin iPod Cassette Adapter (with an dock connector instead of a mini plug). I looked at new stereos with iPod integration, I wasn’t that impressed.

Not only could I not find one with a bluetooth interface (that was only a few hundred dollars) but the interfaces suck too. I think I will hold off for a while until something really good comes out.

High gasoline prices may dent economic growth, but consumers’ fuel appetite is still strong. Those trends are likely to persist, experts said, as average nationwide pump prices approach $3 a gallon – a threshold once feared to be disastrous for motorists and potentially the economy.

Link.

Oil prices hit a new intraday high near $76 a barrel Thursday in a market agitated by escalating violence in the Middle East and news of explosions on Nigerian pipelines

Link.

This is the sort of thing that drives me to drink soda again. Dam them.

Starting at midnight on January 31, consumers will be able to look for codes under the caps of specially-marked 20-oz. and 1-liter bottles of Pepsi products for alphanumeric codes and a “Free song” message, which provides one free song download from the iTunes Music Store. After redeeming your free song code, you will automatically be credited with one entry in the iPod mini sweepstakes, which will give away one iPod mini every hour (24 a day) from February 2 to April 11, with one final drawing on May 2. Apple said it will be giving away approximately 1,700 iPod minis–all of which will be silver with an engraved Pepsi logo on the back.