Personal computer

Intel's new 3-D chips: A new level in the mobile fight

The formidable company has been behind the curve in mobile. Can a new way of building chips make it newly attractive to mobile device makers?

FORTUNE -- Intel processors are found in about 80% of the world's computers. But the company lags behind in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, where chips licensed by rival ARM Holdings (ARMH) rule.

That may soon change, if Intel (INTC) can get a promising new technology MORE

Apple took 74% of tablet market in Q1

Counting the iPad, its PC sales grew 187.9% year over year, according to Canalys

"Canalys today announced that the PC market grew 7% in Q1 2011, as the pad market, led by Apple's iPad, continued to bolster growth."

That's how Canalys, the first research firm to count tablets as PCs, began its report on how the market shaped up in the first calendar quarter of 2011.

Thanks to the iPad, Apple (AAPL) jumped MORE

Cisco video conferencing: Now in 75% of the Fortune 500

As John Chambers rebuilds Cisco, enterprise video conferencing is probably one business he won't have to muck with. Now, about Umi...

FORTUNE -- Over the past few years, networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO) has aggressively entered markets as diverse as camcorders, set-top boxes and videoconferencing tools. The result? A company that many say has lost its focus. That's partly why, earlier this week, CEO John Chambers sent out a company-wide memo MORE

Goodnight Zune

After five years of false starts, word is leaking out that Microsoft is giving up on its much-maligned portable music player.

By Mark Horowitz, contributor

Dear Zune:

I gave you the best years of my life, and this is how you repay me, by breaking up? And I had to read about it online. You didn't even have the decency to Skype.

But who am I kidding, Zune, I'll always forgive you, because I MORE

Apotheker sets HP's course: Heading for the cloud

Hewlett Packard's CEO plans to kick the company and its flagging stock back into gear in part by selling apps and services via a new public cloud.

It's been just over eight months since Mark Hurd left HP (HPQ) beneath an avalanche of tabloid covers. In that time, HP's stock has slid just over 10%, leaving investors wondering when and how the world's largest tech company can get back on course.

Hurd's MORE

Gartner: iPad is 'dramatically' slowing mainstream mobile PC sales

The research firm blames devices like Apple's for a 34% drop in its 2010 growth estimates

"We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow home mobile PC sales, especially in mature markets."

That's George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, Inc., giving his clients the bad news that the 15.9% growth his company had projected for notebook computer sales MORE

Goodbye, Best Buy. Hello, specialty retail?

With the big box consumer gadget chain's revenues down, it seems shoppers are heading to specialty stores or online to get their goods.

Though holiday shopping has been surprisingly healthy so far, particularly online, Best Buy is feeling the pain associated with fickle consumer trends. For its third quarter ending November 27, Best Buy (BBY) reported revenues of $11.89 billion, less than the $12 billion the company pulled in the MORE

New c-suite seat: CTO of the cloud

C-level positions don't get created overnight. So what is it about the cloud computing revolution that merits a seat in the executive suite?

The cloud: A once, well, hazy term that describes the increasingly vast array of software, applications, and data storage tools that live not on users' home PCs but on the Internet, is taking form. Cloud computing, as tech companies would have us understand it, encompasses all kinds of MORE

EA founder: I've made the most mistakes out of anyone in gaming

Trip Hawkins went through the wringer, but now the Digital Chocolate CEO is sitting pretty atop the biggest industry trend to emerge in a long time: social and casual gaming.

Trip Hawkins will be the first to admit that his prescience on gaming trends can be both blessing and curse. It obviously paid off in 1982, when he founded Electronic Arts, (NASDAQ:ERTS) which today is one of the largest publishers in MORE

New HP CEO's to-do list

Leo Apotheker is barnstorming the world as he embarks on fixing the culture and focus of the huge technology company. One to-do stands out above all the rest.

Here's what new Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker's to-do list might look like:

Move to Palo Alto
Increase investment in research and development
Build a "strong and viable" software business

The first two tasks should be easy enough to cross off the list. MORE