Greg In The Desert

PC Perspective was able to tour and take pictures of the Intel Micron Flash Technologies (IMFT) flash factory in Lehi, Utah. I found the pictures inside the factory of interest since this is exactly what the factory I work in looks like. Although no ever ever caries around raw wafers, especially completed ones.

Intel just barely made Forbes “100 Best Companies To Work For” list at number 98. I generally don’t think top-whatever lists are very useful and I would hate to think someone chooses their employment based on a list like this. Having worked for other large companies I can only say this: Intel is a huge company are there are plenty of good and bad places to work within it. There were quite a few comments made. There would have probably been more if it didn’t require Facebook.

From Hector Martinez:

I worked for Intel for 13 years and was recently laid off. I state those facts so I won’t be accused of toting the company line. While it is true that Intel expects much of their employees they also provide great opportunities to grow, as long as you are wiliing to work for them. Not everyone is going to like the pressure but this is a cutting edge company that leads their industry and not a place for those that cannot embrace the pace and the chaos the pace sometimes causes. Overall I had a great time there and would go back there if they ever chose to hire me back. Each person has a different experience even though they may be in the same place. In all those 13 years I only knew of a handful of techs or engineers that turned in their badge and walked out. I think that speaks to the ability of the company to keep talent regarless of the unrelenting pace of the factories.

From Pablo Luengas:

Vlad and Stephen are free to express themselves because, just like I, they don’t work there anymore. There is no risk of reprecautions. It’s not the same for people who are currently working there, who cannot say much because their identity in facebook will get them in trouble. Laurel’s experience -and a few others- she probabbly didn’t work directly for the fabs (factories as Intel call them), and her experience may be different for that reason. Unfortunately the great majority of people working for intel are related to the fabs and know what I’m talking about. they can corroborate what I say. When you work for intel, there is no life outside the company. if you are a process engineer, they will call you at 3am -you are not obligated to answer- but your review will reflect the “lack of cooperation” if you don’t. You are “owned” by them 24/7. I was there 87-01. Intel, keep your profit share bonus, I’ll take my life back. For my family and my own well being, I think is a great deal!!!!

Intel had a display system built specifically for CES which they call Infoscape or “the Intel Cube”. It includes two touchscreen glass walls measuring at 7 x 7 feet (1920 x 1920 resolution). The walls are equivalent to two HD displayed stacked on top of each other but they are a single screen. I can’t image who they got to build these custom screens or what they cost.

These screen are there to demonstrate Intel’s 2010 Core i7 processor and Intel HD graphics chips. Many bloggers were impressed including Engadget but says Intel’s not going to make it a product.

Intel confessed that it has absolutely no plans of commercializing something like this itself — but that’s not to say someone else couldn’t grab a Core i7 and run with the idea themselves.

It’s too bad that some other company has to come out with a impressive product like this. Video of the display can be seen at Intel’s page on YouTube.

• Gallup: America the ‘conservative’? / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com – per pollster Gallup, the nation has grown only more polarized in the past year. By the end of 2009, 40 percent of Americans self-identified as conservative, up from 37 percent in 2008. Moderates clocked in at 36 percent, down from 37 a year earlier. And 21 percent of Americans self-identified as liberal, down a point from 2008.
• Why cheap Chianti is often better than the expensive stuff. – By Mike Steinberger – Slate Magazine – Chianti is Italy's most famous wine, and—given its operatic recent history—it is arguably the most Italian of Italian wines. Back in the 1960s and '70s, Chianti was synonymous with plonk; it was the cheap, insipid Tuscan wine that came in straw flasks (fiascos, as they were aptly known) and was typically found, on these shores, in pizza joints with checkered tablecloths and jukeboxes.
• First Rio Rancho Mayor Accused Of Sex Charges – Albuquerque News Story – KOAT Albuquerque – In February 1981, when Rio Rancho was a fledgling city, William Howden was its first mayor. Now, almost three decades later, Howden is accused of molesting his 7-year-old granddaughter.
• Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigated by grand jury, officials confirm – Two Maricopa County executives said Thursday they will appear before a federal grand jury next week to testify about allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others in his office have abused their power.
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry has toiled to steer clear of George W. Bush’s shadow | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News – "His populist, anti-government definition of himself is one that has more in common with Sarah Palin than it does with George W. Bush" by resonating with the emerging tea-party movement, said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan.
• "Smart" ski tickets lead to more pass-fraud busts in Colorado – The Denver Post – Even though skiers do not need to remove their pass from their pocket, ticket checkers can review a host of data from each pass they scan, including a large photograph of the skier.
• Intel Forced to Remove "Cripple AMD" Function from Compiler? – Agner Fog details this particularly nasty examples of Intel's anticompetitive practices quite well. Intel's compiler can produce different versions of pieces of code, with each version being optimised for a specific processor and/or instruction set (SSE2, SSE3, etc.). The system detects which CPU it's running on and chooses the optimal code path accordingly; the CPU dispatcher, as it's called.
• I am a debunker of 9/11 conspiracy theories. AMA. : reddit.com – I'm a guy who sees a country that's become increasingly hostile to science from both the right (obvious) and the left (all-natural drugs, homeopathy, anti-vax).
• Why didn’t I use pervious concrete for my driveway? – Fresh Dirt – Sunset.com – Pervious concrete is basically concrete without the sand. And the absence of sand creates a lot of void space. 15-30%. That is enough, according to the Pacific Southwest Concrete Alliance, for 3-8 gallons of water per minute to pass through each square foot. That is equal, says the Alliance, to 6,000 to 17,000 inches of rain per day. Even an El Nino won't produce more than that.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced a new product at CES called Intel Wireless Display, or Wi-Di. It consists as an adapter that plugs into a HD TV set and allows streaming video and audio from a computer. That’s it.

Other than purchasing the adapter, I would expect the only requirement would be that the computer has WiFi. I would be wrong.

Processor ONE of the following: Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor, Intel Core i5-540M processor, Intel Core i5-520M processor, Intel Core i5-430M processor, Intel Core i3-350M processor, Intel Core i5-330M processor

Chipset ONE of the following: Intel® HM57, Intel HM55, Intel QM57, Intel QS57

Graphics Intel® HD Graphics

Wireless ONE of the following: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200, Intel Centrino Advanced-N +WiMax 6250, Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300

Software Intel® My WiFi Technology and Intel Wireless Display must be pre-installed and enabled

OS Windows* 7 64-bit, Home Premium, Ultimate or Professional

Not only does it require a computer with the very latest Intel chips, it has to have all Intel chips. I expect completing technologies to come out that do not have technical requirements around a specific brand of chips. Also note: not Mac compatible.

Apparently, Intel sponsors The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien. Here’s part of a segment Conan did (series 1, episode 84) where he interviewed, and subtly advertised for Intel, the co-inventor of USB Ajay Bhatt. I somehow forgot to post this when it aired on 9 October 2009.

Ajay was featured in an Intel “rockstar” commercial which featured a actor, not really Ajay. There are several other Conan and Intel segments but I don’t see they published.

I am sitting here besides myself wondering what the fuck is going on here. Somehow I don’t think it’s real, some sort of advertisement for Larrabee?. Video also available on YouTube.

Hello, I’m Martti Roth from Intel Finland. At Intel, we love trying new things. So, when me and my team decided to create the world’s biggest Intel chime, we used five big cannons, five big tubes and five big heroes with helmets on. Yes, I suppose it was a little bit crazy!

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.”

• KOB.com – Albuquerque non-profit provides protection for women – Imagine having your own personal bodyguard outside your home all day and all night at no cost. That’s what an Albuquerque non-profit group is providing, specifically for abused women.
• The Official Site of Rio Rancho, NM – Outdoor Lighting Task Force – The task force will provide the Governing Body solutions to address existing outdoor lighting concerns, feedback regarding existing outdoor lighting ordinances, and recommendations to regulate outdoor lighting in future development areas while taking into consideration safety, reduction of light pollution, aesthetics and energy conservation.
• 300 competing in Lego championship at ASU – Arizona State University is hosting the First Lego League robotics championship this Saturday where 300 students ages 9 to 14 statewide will be vying for a chance to compete in the national finals in Atlanta.
• Man dies after sitting in recliner for eight months – KSN TV – In March, Webb's 550-pound husband, Tillmon, sat down in a recliner inside their trailer in Greenwood. Wearing nothing but a blanket, the 33-year-old didn't move from that recliner for the next eight months.
• Supreme Court dismisses challenge to Illinois forfeiture law | csmonitor.com – The US Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a victory to the Cook County State's Attorney and the Chicago Police Department when the justices unanimously dismissed as moot a challenge to Illinois' controversial forfeiture law.
• Andy Ihnatko’s Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA) » The Seven Words You Can’t Say In A Dragon iPhone App – Friends, this screenshot represents my g*ddamned best effort to get the Dragon app to properly parse the spotlight lines from George Carlin’s “Seven Words” routine. The seven naughty words appear twice in this passage. In the final sentence, I simply read them naturally. But when I spoke them in the second sentence, I spoke with the measured tones and eloquent baritone of Frasier Crane, enunciating carefully and confidently, over and over again, one word at a time, coaxing the Dragon to do the right thing and giving the software the best chance possible. What you see there in the second sentence is the very best I could do to get Dragon Dictation to correctly transcribe some extremely naughty dictation.
• Intel scraps graphics chip based on Larrabee| Reuters – Intel decided to scrap plans for the graphics card because Larrabee's silicon and software development are behind where it had hoped they would be at this point in the project, spokesman Nick Knupffer said.
• Pearl Harbor Day 2009: three enduring mysteries | csmonitor.com – A better explanation for the enormity of the US defeat might be that the attack was a so-called black swan event: something so far outside the realm of expectations that Americans could not conceive of it occurring.
• Intel: Initial Larrabee graphics chip canceled | Nanotech – The Circuits Blog – CNET News – Intel said Friday that its Larrabee graphics processor will initially appear as a software development platform only.
  This is a blow to the world's largest chipmaker, which was looking to launch its first discrete (standalone) graphics chip in more than a decade. "Larrabee silicon and software development are behind where we hoped to be at this point in the project," Intel spokesman Nick Knupffer said Friday. "As a result, our first Larrabee product will not be launched as a standalone discrete graphics product," he said.

I was really surprised by an AMD and Intel announcement today.

Intel Corp. is paying Silicon Valley rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. $1.25 billion to squash a legal battle over Intel’s sales tactics, a rift that led to antitrust charges against Intel in several countries and was headed toward a costly and nasty trial next year.

Intel still has to face government charges from the EU and NY State but it AMD will stay out of those and not start any lawsuits of it’s own.

Update: TechCrunch says 1.25 billion is nothing to Intel.

Just to put the size of the settlement in context, last year Intel’s revenues were $38 billion. Last quarter alone, it was making roughly $104 million a day. At that rate, Intel brings in $1.25 billion every 12 days. It can absorb the settlement pretty easily.