Hasta La Gadget!

Believe us people, popularity pays off. Just ask Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan, who is reportedly scrambling for ways to spend $80 million of the $500 million Cisco Systems is about to hand over in order to acquire the company. Granted, none of this has been confirmed just yet, but TechCrunch has it that the deal is all but done. Reportedly, Cisco’s interested in bringing the firm into its portfolio in order to further push high-bandwidth using services. Obviously, user generated HD video fits pretty perfectly into that agenda. We suspect we’ll be hearing more on the subject as the work week begins in earnest, but it sure sounds like Linksys is about to get a new cousin.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Cisco said to be buying Pure Digital for around $500 million originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After having to delay the final vote earlier this month due to a lack of participation (d’oh!), AMD has dotted the final ‘i’ in its attempt to spin off semiconductor manufacturing. Said company, along with the Advanced Technology Investment Company, have now secured the final approval necessary to create The Foundry Company. Stockholder approval was the only remaining hurdle to be jumped, and the joint venture transaction is expected to fully close by March 2nd of this year. By the numbers, AMD stockholders approved a proposal to issue 58 million shares of its common stock along with warrants to purchase 35 million shares of its common stock and 35 million shares of the company’s common stock upon exercise of those warrants to an affiliate of the Mubadala Development Company PJSC (perplexing, we know). Now, let’s see if AMD can keep up with Intel’s own $7 billion investment.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

AMD nets final approval to create The Foundry Company originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Wozniak is known for a lot of things: co-founding Apple, pioneering Segway Polo, and seeing Kathy Griffith naked. Now the Woz is getting ready to add one more item to that illustrious list of accomplishments: head of an enterprise storage company.

Fusion-io today announced that Wozniak will be coming on board as the company’s chief scientist, acting as a technical advisor to its R&D group. According to a statement issued today, “[h]e will also work closely with the executive team of Fusion-io in formulating a company strategy that will accelerate the expansion of major global accounts.”

“With the revolutionary technological advances being made by Fusion-io, the company is in the right place at the right time with the right technology and ready to direct the history of technology into the 21st century and beyond,” said Wozniak of the announcement. “The technology marketplace has not seen such capacity for innovation and radical transformation since the mainframe computer was replaced by the home computer. Fusion-io’s technology is extremely useful to many different applications and almost all of the world’s servers.”

You’ve had a nice run, 2G, but the time has come to start looking beyond to bigger, better and (most importantly) faster things. With LTE just over the horizon, NTT DoCoMo is proactively announcing the phase out of its mova and DoPa 2G services. The 2G mova services encompass car phone and Pre-Call prepaid — which got their roots in March of 1993 — while the 2G DoPa packet communication service sprouted up four years after that. Both of these longtime favorites will be disconnected at the close of 2012, with the company noting that “associated services and related billing plans will also be terminated at the same time.” Anyone still relying on this stuff will be contacted sometime over the next three years to ensure that they aren’t shocked and surprised when December 2012 arrives, and they’ll be encouraged to make the not-at-all-painful shift to FOMA 3G services. It’s better in the fast lane, we promise.

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo announces farewell to mova and DoPa 2G services originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Analysts were already anticipating a killer Q4 for Netflix, and unlike practically every other company on the face of the planet, it delivered. The movie rental firm somehow managed to see net income rise to $22.7 million in the quarter, up from $15.7 million in Q4 2007. Revenue was also up by 19 percent, and subscriber growth was pegged at an amazing 26 percent. All told, the firm ended the quarter with 9.4 million subscribers, decimating its own forecast of ending Q4 with 9.15 million customers. Of course, some (Netflix included) are quick to assert that the recession has actually boosted business, with many consumers opting to stay home and rent versus taking the family out for a pricey night at the cinema. Netflix is now projecting to end 2009 with anywhere between 10.6 million to 11.3 million customers, and given all the hardware deals it keeps landing, we don’t see a reason why it won’t get there. Way to buck the trend, Netflix — we needed some bright news today.

[Via AP]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Netflix profit up 45% in Q4, nears 10 million total subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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