John G. Spooner

Dell is recalling more than 4 million notebook PC batteries—an action it says is the largest battery recall thus far in computer history—following a small number of fires. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Aug. 14 announced that it was working with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and other agencies worldwide to […]

Intel’s mobile executives are moving upward. Following its second-quarter earnings release, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker told employees on July 19 that senior executives Sean Maloney and David Perlmutter have been promoted, giving them more responsibility over the company’s day-to-day operations. Maloney, who ran the company’s Mobility Group along with Perlmutter, is now Intel’s […]

It could soon be dual-cores in every PC. Intel is redrawing the lines that separate its PC processors in an effort to architect a second-half turnaround. The chip maker, which suffered processor inventory and pricing woes that reduced its revenue and profit in the second quarter, will tout three processor brands. Following the July 27 […]

PC makers are beginning to offer far more aggressive prices, in addition to delivering extras to customers, all in an attempt to weather slowing worldwide PC unit shipment growth. So far, 2006 hasn’t become like 2001—the period in recent history where a tanking economy caused PC shipments to decrease year over year—but the wave of […]

Intel says its plan to lay off 1,000 managers worldwide is a bet on its future. The company began informing those managers affected by the job cuts—which could be the first such action resulting from a broad-based internal review of its business—on the morning of July 13. Intel, which has been under pressure from rival […]

Intel is set to lay off about 1,000 managers worldwide in a bid to streamline its operations. The company began informing those managers affected by the cuts on July 13. The move comes as Intel, which has been under pressure from rival Advanced Micro Devices of late, has progressed through about two months of a […]

PITTSBURGH—Microsoft has robot dreams. The company on June 20 released a community technical preview or beta of its Microsoft Robotics Studio. The company’s robotics software development suite, previewed here at the Robo Business 2006 Conference, is designed to grant robot designers a framework for creating the code that serves as the brains behind the various […]

Despite having been on the market only a few months, ultramobile PCs, the keyboard-less handheld computers capable of running Windows XP, have already been panned by analysts and many reviewers. Now they’re being targeted by the likes of Sony and startup OQO, who are offering their own diminutive computers for businesses. But Microsoft and partners—the […]

Microsoft is making it much more difficult to access and steal a business’s vital data from one of its PCs. The giant software maker will deliver Bitlocker, a hard drive encryption tool, as part of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, which is now in its second beta and is due to large businesses in […]

Microsoft wants PC owners to be ready for Vista. To that end, the software giant will unveil May 18 a campaign designed to help people ensure their PCs can run the forthcoming operating system. The effort, which comes ahead of the annual WinHec (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) that in 2006 kicks off in Seattle on […]

Dell and the channel are secretly growing fond of each other. More and more VARs (value-added resellers), indifferent to shrinking hardware margins and prodded by price-sensitive customers, say they are buying Dell computers for their clients. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker embraced resellers by granting them visits from account representatives, sales support and even […]

David Foss needed new computers, stat. As the CIO at New London Hospital in New London, N.H., Foss had to devise a method for replacing the facility’s entire aging fleet of desktop PCs while better securing its sensitive patient data, easing the systems management load on its technology department and gaining a solid return on […]