Today in Tech: Windows 8 first impressions

• Merrill Lynch calls 2012 'the year of the tablet shakeout'

  Bank of America's brokerage division picks winners and losers for the year ahead

  The tablet market is "still in its infancy," writes Merrill Lynch's Scott Craig in a note to clients Wednesday, with "years of solid growth ahead."

  But that growth is not evenly distributed, and in his report Craig and his colleagues single out seven winners and seven losers.

  The winners: (I quote)

  Amazon (AMZN): We expect strong sales of the Kindle Fire (4-5mn MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 14, 2011 10:05 AM ET
  Posted in: Acer, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Apple, iPad, Kindle Fire, Lexmark, Merrill Lynch, RIM, Tablets, Yahoo

• Open Compute: taking aim at Google?

  Facebook's new cheap, fast, green data center is really a free blueprint for companies that want to chip away at Google's computing advantage. Including Facebook.

  By Dan Mitchell, contributor

  The data center business, as it currently exists, is a little too much like  "Fight Club" (The first rule of servers: you do not talk about our  servers) says Facebook's Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of  technical operations.

  For that reason, Facebook will share the  designs for its MORE

  Apr 8, 2011 12:32 PM ET
  Posted in: Advanced Micro Devices, Data center, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Jonathan Heiliger, MarkZuckerberg

• Today in Tech: AMD CEO forced out, MySpace lays off 47%

  A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.

  Though AMD CEO Dirk Meyer officially resigned his position, some sources indicate he was forced out because the company's board felt he wasn't that effective in improving the chip maker's position in areas like tablets and server systems. CFO Thomas Seifert was named interim CEO while AMD searches for Meyer's long-term replacement. (Wall Street Journal)
  Hot on MORE

  JP Mangalindan, Writer - Jan 12, 2011 8:19 AM ET
  Posted in: Advanced Micro Devices, AMD, Dirk Meyer, iPad, iPhone, Mike Jones, Mobile, MySpace, Verizon iPad, Verizon iPhone

• Today in Tech: MySpace layoffs today, Verizon iPhone launch

  A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.

  As reported a week ago, MySpace intends to lay off 50%, or between 550 and 600, of its staff today under the guise of restructuring and shedding legacy business divisions. Afterwards, it's expected the struggling social network-turned-entertainment hub will look at sale options. Some possibilities: being picked up by a private equity buyer or even being MORE

  JP Mangalindan, Writer - Jan 11, 2011 6:00 AM ET
  Posted in: Advanced Micro Devices, All Things Digital, AMD, Apple, Bob Muglia, Bump Technologies, Dirk Meyer, Groupon, Intel, Jack Dorsey, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Microsoft, Mobile, MySpace, News Corp., Nvidia, Rupert Murdoch, Square, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Verizon iPhone

• CES 2011: There will be tablets

  Dozens of tablets! Dual-core processors in your phone! LED backlighting for everyone! Live in 3D, with the inevitable pounding headache! Here's our preview of what's coming out of Vegas this week.

  Take your typical Best Buy (BBY) store and multiply it by 100,000. Next, throw in quarter-mile long lines for everything food-related. Add the unmistakable arrival of the adult entertainment industry. Combine all that, and you pretty much have a feeling MORE

  Michael V. Copeland, Senior Writer - Jan 4, 2011 11:45 AM ET
  Posted in: Advanced Micro Devices, Android, Apple, Consumer Electronics Show, Hewlett-Packard, Las Vegas Convention Center, Multi-core processor, WebOS