Roundup: EBay still struggling, the decline of tech on Digg and more
Here’s the latest action:
EBay’s Q1 is good but not great — The company’s net income grew 22 percent to $562 million compared to the same period a year ago, and its revenue climbed 24 percent to $2.19 billion. However, user growth has slowed, and the operating margin fell, largely because eBay’s growth is in its sites with low-profit like Skype and PayPal. EBay is trying to hold it own against Amazon’s auction features; John Donahue… Continue Reading
Densbits, another next-gen flash company, funded by Sequoia
Densbits, a small Israeli company, is working on turning flash, the type of memory used in devices like the iPod Nano, into the world’s standard memory type.
Flash, which is essentially a semiconductor that can store data, is much faster than the magnetic disk drive that currently stores your computer’s information. However, it can’t compete in terms of the large amount of data stored by magnetic drives.
As the name implies, Densbits is working on making flash… Continue Reading
Phiar, a first alternative to the semiconductor industry
Update: Phiar has shut its doors, according to GigaOm.
A competitor to semiconductors would break a 50-plus year monopoly on everything from processing power to communications. Yet that’s exactly what Phiar says it can do, with a new technology called metal-insulated electronics.
The new technology uses a phenomenon called quantum tunneling to achieve greater speeds and efficiencies than semiconductors. It essentially makes low-energy electrons tunnel directly through the insulating material of the electronics, whereas most semiconductors change… Continue Reading