Look out, Bluetooth — Ozmo Devices has its eyes set squarely on you. Okay, so maybe this whole thing isn’t as adversarial as advertised, but there’s no denying that the aforesaid company’s latest initiative will target the exact same devices that BT is embedded within now. Ozmo has announced a partnership with Intel at Computex that will extend the latter company’s Cliffside WiFi Personal Area Network (PAN) technology to “low-power devices.” Essentially, WiFi radios that suck less juice nowadays would take on dual roles — accessing WLAN networks and doing the duties typically reserved for Bluetooth — which would enable devices to have one less component stuffed within bulking things up. As of now, there’s been no takers on the design, but word on the street has Belkin already testing the approach out for kicks and giggles (or maybe something way more serious).

[Via DailyWireless]

Read - Ozmo Devices’ press release
Read - WiFI PAN explained

Investigators crack down on illegal tactics against AMD

South Korean antitrust investigators fined Intel Corp. 26 billion won ($25 million), for illegal rebates and parts discounts to manufacturers on condition that they not buy from rival manufacturer AMD.

The fine, which closely mirrors the outcome of a similar antitrust investigation in Japan in 2005, makes Intel the second major global technology company to be disciplined by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, after Microsoft in December 2005.

Intel said it was displeased with the outcome of the order, and is considering appeal.

“We’re disappointed and we completely disagree with the findings,” said Intel’s senior VP and general counsel Bruce Sewell.

South Korean officials hit Intel with antitrust charges last year, working from findings of a two-year investigation wrapped up last September.

Forbes called the rebates a “time-honored practice in the personal computer industry;” identical practices in Europe, the United States, and Japan have since landed the company in considerable hot water. Both European and American investigations are still pending.

In Europe, rumors of a “provisional decision” at the end of last month proved to be false, after European Commission officials dismissed a report that it had gathered sufficient evidence to enter a ruling. Despite that, the Commission promised an antitrust ruling against Intel “as soon as possible,” but refused to provide a specific timeline.

If antitrust rulings against Microsoft are any indication, Korea’s ruling against Intel will be a pittance against the kind of money that European investigators might fine. Antitrust investigations against Microsoft hit the company with a whopping $1.4 billion fine last February – compared to $32 million in South Korea – and EU antitrust rules allow for fines of up to 10 percent of annual sales.

Intel will wait for the dust to settle before it acts, it said, as the official outcome could take between 30 and 60 days and may change significantly during that time. The company can also opt to request reconsideration from the KFTC, or choose to seek a court ruling.

Regardless, Intel denied any wrongdoing with respect to its rebate practices.

“To ask us to cease and desist behavior which we are not doing and never have done is odd,” said Intel representative Nick Jacobs. “We don’t use rebates in an anticompetitive fashion.”

Motherboards with Hybrid SLI finally appear

Foxconn introduced an interesting little PD-S2900 projector at Computex today. The projector is tiny measuring in at only about 4” x 3.6” x 1.4” and it has a resolution of 858 x 600 with 55 lumens of brightness. Foxconn says that a even smaller version is coming with 25 lumens of brightness and a 854 x 480 resolution.

Super Talent showed off its new 1.8-inch SSD at Computex called the MasterDrive KX. The very thin drive will be ideal for UMPC systems and will come in 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB priced at $299, $449 and $679 respectively.

Zotac showed new motherboards today at Computex like the GeForce 9300. This board is special because it is the first Intel board from NVIDIA that features the new Hybrid SLI, GeForce Boost and Hybrid Power features NVIDIA has been talking up since CES. NVIDIA is expected to reveal more details about the GeForce 9300 architecture later this Summer.

The board supports Intel processors up to the Core 2 Extreme with a 1333MHz FSB. Users can run up to 8GB of DDR2800 RAM and integrated outputs include VGA, DVI and DisplayPort. The board uses a Micro ATX form factor.

Zotac also introduced a nForce 610i-ITX mainboard that supports Intel processors up to the Core 2 Quad with a 1333MHz FSB. The little board can hold up to 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM and has an integrated VGA output. Expansion slots on the board include a PCIe x1, dual SATA, IDE, and 8 USB 2.0 ports along with a COM port and a 10/100 LAN jack.
Zotac representatives mention that the 610i-ITX may ship with DVI instead of VGA in some markets, though does not have a firm release date for the board yet.

Check it high-enders. DigiTimes has been milking their Taiwanese motherboard sources for information about Intel’s laptop-class, Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor. They’ve come away with a Q3 ship date and price of $1,038 when purchasing the quad-core proc in bulk. Digitimes’ own sources had originally pegged the QX9300 for a May release. But such is the life of the muckraker.

Check it high-enders. DigiTimes has been milking their Taiwanese motherboard sources for information about Intel’s laptop-class, Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor. They’ve come away with a Q3 ship date and price of $1,038 when purchasing the quad-core proc in bulk. Digitimes’ own sources had originally pegged the QX9300 for a May release. But such is the life of the muckraker.

As part of their investigation into the company’s alleged abuse of its market position at the expense of rival AMD, EU competition regulators have raided chip giant Intel’s offices in Munich, Germany, along with those of Metro AG-owned Media Markt and other unnamed PC retailers. The European Commission has been keeping a close eye on Intel since last summer, when the company was formally accused of offering rebates and making payoffs to customers and retailers in exchange for preferential treatment — charges that Intel has repeatedly, although somewhat obtusely, denied. It’s not clear at this point what material, if anything, was confiscated in these latest raids, which come exactly a month prior to a closed hearing the megacorp faces on this matter in Brussels.

[Via BBC]

He’s already made nice with Microsoft, and it now seems that OLPC head Nicholas Negroponte is extending an olive branch of sorts to Intel as well, despite the all-out lambasting of the company he doled out only yesterday. According to Infoworld, Negroponte calls what happened with Intel “very unfortunate” and says that he hopes “there’s a way of rebuilding it in the future because there’s no interest in OLPC pushing Intel out.” In case you missed it, Intel up and left the OLPC board of directors last week after it claimed that OLPC insisted it give on cooperating with the competing Classmate PC if it wanted to stay in the OLPC fold. Negroponte, however, now says that the idea that OLPC is anti-competition is “ridiculous” and that it wants to “see as many laptops out there as possible and kids have the widest choice possible.” For it’s part, Intel says it’s willing to talk with OLPC, although it maintains that there are “differences” that they’ve so far unable to resolve.

He’s already made nice with Microsoft, and it now seems that OLPC head Nicholas Negroponte is extending an olive branch of sorts to Intel as well, despite the all-out lambasting of the company he doled out only yesterday. According to Infoworld, Negroponte calls what happened with Intel “very unfortunate” and says that he hopes “there’s a way of rebuilding it in the future because there’s no interest in OLPC pushing Intel out.” In case you missed it, Intel up and left the OLPC board of directors last week after it claimed that OLPC insisted it give on cooperating with the competing Classmate PC if it wanted to stay in the OLPC fold. Negroponte, however, now says that the idea that OLPC is anti-competition is “ridiculous” and that it wants to “see as many laptops out there as possible and kids have the widest choice possible.” For it’s part, Intel says it’s willing to talk with OLPC, although it maintains that there are “differences” that they’ve so far unable to resolve.

The last we heard from Japan’s Mouse Computers, it was offering up a cheap’n'easy path to Merom — and true to form, it’s followed that up with a low-cost ticket to Penryn town, the J131. The 1280×800 13.3-inch unit is pretty basic, as things go — 120GB drive, 2GB of RAM, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam — but unlike some other machines on the market, its price is just as stripped-down as its featureset: just ¥119,700 ($1,125). Of course, there’s no word on whether we’ll ever see this hit our fair shores, but those of you headed to Japan soon should be able to pick this up straight away.

[Via MobileWhack]

The last we heard from Japan’s Mouse Computers, it was offering up a cheap’n'easy path to Merom — and true to form, it’s followed that up with a low-cost ticket to Penryn town, the J131. The 1280×800 13.3-inch unit is pretty basic, as things go — 120GB drive, 2GB of RAM, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam — but unlike some other machines on the market, its price is just as stripped-down as its featureset: just ¥119,700 ($1,125). Of course, there’s no word on whether we’ll ever see this hit our fair shores, but those of you headed to Japan soon should be able to pick this up straight away.

[Via MobileWhack]