Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said that “you can feel the turnaround taking place at HP” in the company’s earnings call today. She touted that the company hit its earnings per share target, but she ignored that the company’s revenue fell short in her celebratory comments.

But in a conference call with analysts, Whitman took a swipe at Dell, which is amid a struggle to go private under founder Michael Dell. After hours, HP’s stock is up 13 percent on the stock market, at $24.09 a share.

“You saw a competitor, Dell, completely crater earnings,” Whitman said in response to a question. “Maybe that is what you do when you are going private. We are setting up the company for the long term.”

She implied that Dell did that on purpose, since Michael Dell is motivated to repurchase shares in the company as cheaply as possible, and deliberately lowering earnings is a good way to get the share prices to fall. Dell spokesman David Frink said, “We won’t have any comment on her remarks. We’re confident in our strategy, growing our enterprise solutions business and our share in the important x86 server business.”

Whitman is probably more than a little angry at Dell because it and other PC makers evidently competed aggressively on price at the low-end of the PC business, stealing market share away from HP, which saw its consumer PC unit sales fall 29 percent in the second fiscal quarter ended April 30. HP hit its earnings targets, but it fell short on revenue, reporting earnings per share of 87 cents on revenue of $27.6 billion today.

Whitman said she could see the turnaround taking place based on conversations with employees, customers, and partners. But she reiterated that the turnaround is a multiyear journey.

While it isn’t as cool as Apple and it doesn’t make games like Microsoft, HP is a critical piece of the electronics industry, as it straddles both the consumer and enterprise markets across a bunch of product lines. The company has $120 billion in annual revenue (the biggest in the industry by that measure) and more than 330,000 employees. It has made 70 acquisitions in the past 15 years, but its stock price has been hurting lately.

“I must say I am encouraged with where we are,” Whitman said.

She said HP is investing in innovation, bringing cost in line with revenue, improving profits, lowering its debt, optimizing cash flow, and exceeding financial performance. In the call, Whitman said the balancing act was tough when it comes to taking market share or growing profits. At the low end of the PC market, HP lost share and gave up some business rather than lose money on deals. She said the team is evaluating what it can offer at the low end.

She said HP was getting better at electronic commerce, making its e-ordering portal more streamlined in the quarter and reducing cycle time for quotes up to 20 percent in Asia.

Meanwhile, she said she was cautious about guidance for the second half of the year, noting “macroeconomic headwinds” as Europe and China slow down economically. In printers, Whitman said HP was doing well as it moves to high-end printer and ink sales. She said HP gained strength with products like a new OfficePro printer, high-value ink, and multifunction printers. She said HP will roll out a subscription-based service for ordering ink in the home.

Whitman didn’t dwell on HP’s controversial $10 billion acquisition of Autonomy, which is the subject of litigation. She said that the division was starting to generate revenues thanks to turnaround efforts.

But she did say that the $1.6 billion 3Par acquisition is paying off nicely for the storage company, with a revenue run rate above $1 billion. HP launched its Moonshot server at the “hyperscale” server market. The server is 89 percent more energy efficient than HP’s Proliant servers. It uses less 80 percent space, and reduces complexity by 97 percent while costing 77 percent less. That product will take time to grow it sales, Whitman said. HP’s switching revenue also grew in the quarter while its largest competitor declined, Whitman said.

HP reduced its debt during the quarter. Personal systems (PC) revenue was down 20 percent from a year ago, with a 3.2 percent operating margin. Commercial PC revenue was down 14 percent, and consumer revneue was down 29 percent. Total unit sales were down 21 percent, while desktops were down 18 percent and notebooks were down 24 percent. HP is poised like other PC makers to introduce new machines based on Intel’s latest microprocessors, code-named Haswell. Whitman said HP had to do a better job managing the transition from the technologies that powered the past to those that will power the future.

HP has been dealing with a couple of negative trends. The PC market has slowed down because of rising tablet sales. And it has also had to deal with a downward shift in printing habits as the growing use and accessibility of the Internet makes paper less necessary. HP’s financial services business has been growing, but most of the other parts have been weak. On top of that, HP hasn’t been participating in the mobile market at all. She said that signs of interest in HP’s $169 Chromebook device are encouraging.

Whitman said HP saw a slowdown in sales of industry standard (Intel) servers. HP chief financial officer Cathie Lesjak said that Itanium server sales were particularly weak.

HP released its second fiscal quarter earnings this afternoon, hitting its profit targets but missing on revenue.

HP reported revenue of $27.6 billion for the three months that ended on April 30, down 10 percent from $30.7 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were 87 cents, down 11 percent from 98 cents a share a year ago.

While it isn’t as cool as Apple and it doesn’t make games like Microsoft, HP is a critical piece of the electronics industry, as it straddles both the consumer and enterprise markets across a bunch of product lines. The company has $120 billion in annual revenue (the biggest in the industry by that measure) and more than 330,000 employees. It has made 70 acquisitions in the past 15 years, but its stock price has been hurting lately.

Analysts estimated HP would report non-GAAP earnings of 81 cents a share on revenues of $28.08 billion. Analysts had previously expected third-fiscal quarter earnings of 84 cents a share and full-year earnings of $3.49 a share.

Meg Whitman, chief executive, accentuated the positive. In a statement, she said, “We beat the upper end of our non-GAAP diluted EPS outlook for the quarter by 5 cents per share, driven by better than expected performance in Enterprise Services and Printing, coupled with the accelerated capture of restructuring savings and improvement in our operations.”

Last quarter, the company had net income of $1.2 billion for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $1.5 billion in the same quarter a year ago, as revenue fell to $28.4 billion. That translates to $0.82 per share, which is down 11 percent from 2012 but is well above HP’s previously provided guidance of $0.68 to $0.71 per share.

It’s better than HP’s outlook in November, when the company had just reported bad numbers and came clean on its awful acquisition of Autonomy. And it’s much better than the second quarter of 2012, when HP faced its biggest-ever quarterly loss.

Whitman said, “I am encouraged by our performance in the second quarter, and I feel good about the rest of the year. As I have said many times before, this is a multi-year journey. We have a long way to go, but we are on track to deliver on our fiscal 2013 non-GAAP diluted earnings per share outlook.”

HP reduced its debt during the quarter. Personal systems (PC) revenue was down 20 percent from a year ago, with a 3.2 percent operating margin. Commercial PC revenue was down 14 percent and consumer revneue was down 29 percent. Total unit sales were down 21 percent, while desktops were down 18 percent and notebooks were down 24 percent. HP is poised like other PC makers to introduce new machines based on Intel’s latest microprocessors, code-named Haswell.

Printing revenue was down 1 percent, but its operating margin is still strong at 15.8 percent. Hardware unit sales were down 11 percent from a year ago, with commercial units down 5 percent and consumer units down 13 percent.

Enterprise revenue was also weak, down 10 percent. Networking revenue was up, industry standard server revenue was down 12 percent, and business critical systems were down 37 percent. Enterprise services were down 8 percent from a year ago. Software revenue was down 3 percent, and financial services were down 9 percent from a year ago.

HP has been dealing with a couple of negative trends. The PC market has slowed down because of rising tablet sales. And it has also had to deal with a downward shift in printing habits as the growing use and accessibility of the Internet makes paper less necessary. HP’s financial services business has been growing, but most of the other parts have been weak. On top of that, HP hasn’t been participating in the mobile market at all.

Whitman has previously stated that HP will not be releasing a new smartphone until 2014. HP is reportedly working on Android-based tablets and phones.

Nvidia beat earnings expectations for its first fiscal quarter ended April 28.

The world’s biggest standalone graphics chip maker reported non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting practice) revenue of $954.7 million, down 14 percent from $1.11 billion in the previous quarter and up 3.2 percent from $924.9 milllion a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per share were 18 cents, compared to 35 cents in Q4 and 16 cents in Q1 a year ago.

Analysts had expected earnings per share of 10 cents on revenues of $940.6 million. Analysts have been worried about a steep drop in the PC business and the effect that can have on Nvidia’s core business of making graphics chips for PCs. But Nvidia has been diversifying for years into mobile devices with its Tegra line of mobile processors.

As previously mentioned, Nvidia plans to return more than $1 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends.

“The success of Kepler-based GPUs within and beyond the PC helped drive another quarter of record margins,” said Jen-Hsun Huang [pictured], president and chief executive officer of Nvidia. “Kepler is capturing share among gamers, strengthening our workstation and supercomputing segments, and will fuel new growth opportunities for our GRID server graphics solutions. With Tegra 4 devices and Tegra 4i certification on the way, we’re gearing up to return to growth in the second half.”

In after-hours trading, Nvidia’s stock price is up 2 percent. Looking forward to the second fiscal quarter, Nvidia expects revenue of $975 million, plus or minus 2 percent, and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be flat at 54.6 percent.

Nvidia’s Kepler-based PC graphics chips, such as those in the GeForce GTX Titan card, are selling well. Nvidia also said it has engaged with more than 100 potential customers for its GRID VCA visual computing appliance, which helps workstation users become more mobile through cloud technology. Nvidia has also introduced its Tegra 4i chip, which combines a 4G LTE modem with a mobile processor. That could give Nvidia an advantage in mobile devices the future.

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insight & Strategy, said, “Nvidia’s solid earnings came on the back of higher-end Kepler-based gaming and workstation chips and cards where they have been gaining a lot of mindshare. The Tegra business was on a roll in the past few quarters driven by wins in Google Nexus 7 and Microsoft RT’s tablets, but that appears to have receded. While Tegra 4 hasn’t been benchmarked yet by reviewers, controlled bench-set [non-phone/tablet] numbers supplied by Nvidia shown that it performs pretty well, but the challenge will be bottling that into a phone. Project Shield [Nvidia's upcoming handheld game device] could end up being the biggest surprise as it leverages trends in mobility, Android gaming, and will also pull from the console business.”

At the company’s recent investor day, Huang said that the company was investing heavily in its operations now because it has some “once in a lifetime opportunities” in mobile computing.

Huang said during the investor day that those investments are timely because the “PC business declined more in the last quarter than in the last 20 years. Obviously, the computer industry is changing.”

Nvidia has made PC graphics chips since 1993. It is the only standalone survivor in that business, and it competes against processor giants such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (ADM), ARM, and Imagination Technologies (including MIPS).

Huang said during the investor day that Nvidia’s Tegra business is at break-even, even as the company ratchets up the investment to more than $300 million a year. Overall, Nvidia research and development has reached $1.2 billion annually. About $880 million of that is core investment in chip design, while $10 million each is focused on new opportunities including Grid systems and the Project Shield handheld gaming system.

“We increased our operating expenses to invest in once in a lifetime opportunities,” Huang said during the investor day. “These investments are so timely and they must happen now. So our first half is rather muted. We’ll have growth in the second half. The disruption of the traditional market literally happened overnight. That’s why it’s so important for us to keep our foot on the gas.”

This year, Nvidia is investing heavily in the first half in the hopes of achieving growth in the second half, Huang said. He pulled in investments in Tegra 4i, a mobile graphics processor with built-in LTE modem. That investment, he said, “was a good decision by all measures.” That pushed out the debut of Tegra 4 by a quarter, from the first to the second quarter. As a result, Tegra sales will be flat for the year, he said.

Overall, “the exciting thing is the market opportunity ahead of us,” Huang said. The total available market for Tegra chips [with $300 million investment] is $10 billion. The opportunity for Grid computing is $10 billion, and the traditional graphics processing unit (GPU) market opportunity is $6 billion, Huang said. Huang said he thinks the computing business, if not PCs, will continue to grow.

Huang said that GPUs are Nvidia’s “crown jewels,” generating billions of dollars in revenues on the PC thanks to PC gamers and other enthusiasts. Nvidia is in the process of “mobilizing” those crown jewels in products such as Tegra. About three billion devices with graphics chips will be shipping by 2015, at a 12 percent compound annual growth rate. Nvidia is gunning for a sizable share of that.

Huang mentioned that Nvidia has more than 5,000 patents, mostly related to computer graphics. Nvidia is investing in games, enterprise, and computing devices.

With Grid computing, Nvidia is taking that business into the cloud, enabling remote graphics processing and it will lead to multiple users on a single graphics chip.  But Huang said the competition was fierce.

Huang said earlier that Nvidia will return $1 billion this fiscal year to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividend payments, including $100 million in stock being repurchased this quarter. This will bring to $1.2 billion the total capital returned to shareholders since the company announced its quarterly dividend program in November.

Nvidia’s GPU business in the first fiscal quarter had revenue of $785.6 million, dow 5.6 percent sequentially and up 8.1 percent from a year ago. Nvidia saw declines in both desktop and notebook revenue. PC makers continue to closely manage inventory in advance of the Intel Haswell platform launch in June. Tegra revenue was $103.1 million in Q1, down 50.5 percent sequentially and down 22.2 percent from a year ago. The decline happened as Nvidia makes the switch from Tegra 3 to Tegra 4.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Microsoft still faces criticism for its Windows 8 operating system, but despite that, the software giant has sold more than 100 million licenses in its first six months of availability, and important updates are on the way.

“Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change,” Microsoft CMO and CFO Tami Reller wrote in a blog post. “While we realize that change takes time, we feel good about the progress since launch, including what we’ve been able to accomplish with the ecosystem and customer reaction to the new PCs and tablets that are available now or will soon come to market.”

The 100-million milestone for Windows 8 is particularly important for Microsoft because its shows momentum even in an environment where PC sales are down. Back in January, Microsoft said it had sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses. At six months in, Windows 8 is actually keeping pace with Windows 7′s initial sales.

Reller also confirmed that the much-talked-about Windows Blue update to Windows 8 would arrive “later this year.” Windows Blue will likely be called Windows 8.1 or something similar, since Blue is simply a codename. Two things that have been rumored to be coming in Windows Blue are a boot-to-desktop option and a Start button on the desktop that takes you to the Start screen.

“[Windows Blue] will deliver the latest innovations across an increasingly broad array of form factors of all sizes, display, battery life, and performance, while creating new opportunities for our ecosystem,” Reller said. “It will provide more options for businesses and give consumers more options for work and play. The Windows Blue update is also an opportunity for us to respond to the customer feedback that we’ve been closely listening to since the launch of Windows 8 and Windows RT.”

In terms of delivering new form factors and sizes, the next thing we expect to see are cheaper 7-inch and 8-inch tablets running Windows 8 and Windows RT. Recently, Amazon accidentally leaked the first small-screen Windows 8 tablet, the 8.1-inch Acer Iconia.

Image via Microsoft

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said in an earnings conference call today that the world’s biggest chip maker has never been in a better position to address the full spectrum of the computing chip market. But he also acknowledged that smartphone chip sales are not yet generating significant revenues for Intel.

That’s a problem as tablets and smartphones are growing at a fast clip and hurting demand for PCs. Still, Otellini, who is retiring next month, said he remained optimistic about Intel’s competitive position. Intel, after all, is still generating $2 billion a quarter in net income.

“We now compete wherever there is computing,” he said in his last conference call with analysts.

Some of the PC makers that use Intel chips, such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have suffered. But Otellini said that some Intel customers are thriving as well. He pointed to Apple and Lenovo as examples of big computer makers that are thriving.

Otellini said that ultrabook (thin, light laptops) prices will drop between $599 and $699 in the fall, while touch-enabled notebook computers could drop even lower to $199 to $499. (Android tablet prices could be half of those prices). These ultrabooks will sport new low-power microprocessors, codenamed Haswell. Later in the second quarter, Intel will begin shipping Haswell chips, which will enable powerful laptops and tablets.

When it comes to chipmaking technology, Intel is still the undisputed leader, Otellini said. He said that Intel has shipped more than 100 million 22-nanometer chips (the lower the nanometer figure, the more complex and sophisticated the chip). Meanwhile, rivals in the industry have yet to ship a single 22-nanometer chip.

“We put more distance between us and the rest of the semiconductor industry than ever before,” Otellini said.

But being able to make the tiniest chips and to fill the factories with orders are two different things. Intel saw a reduction in excess inventory in the first quarter, and it anticipates an expansion of demand in the second half of the year thanks to expectations for a stronger worldwide economy. Enterprise computing sales may grow in part due to the stronger macroeconomy.

At the same time, Intel reduced its risks by cutting capital spending for the year from $13 billion to $12 billion. It did so by reclassifying short-term spending for the long term. Intel anticipates shipping its first 14-nanometer chips in the second half of 2013.

Intel will be able to diversify its manufacturing by adding foundry customers, or outside companies such as Altera that will use Intel’s factories to produce Altera-designed chips. In a “crawl, walk, run” strategy for the foundry business, Otellini said, “We are past crawling.”

Intel had no update to offer on its search for a new CEO. Otellini, 62, is retiring earlier than Intel’s mandatory retirement age of 65.

Otellini said he is “passing the baton.” But he added, “I know Intel’s story is nowhere near completely written.”

Chief financial office Stacy Smith noted that smartphone chip sales are still not moving the needle in the overall revenue picture.

Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “Once again, Intel managed to do better than and guide better than expected. This is driven by strength of the scale out data center and HPC server business and from a strong Haswell reception.  Haswell could be the first Intel chip that provides PC performance in a thin tablet form factor. “

Market researcher IDC reported last week that first-quarter PC sales dropped 13.9 percent — the biggest quarterly fall in PC industry history — in the first quarter as consumers shifted their purchases away from PCs to mobile and tablet devices. But Intel said today its PC Client Group sales fell just 6 percent, and it did not revise its future earnings estimates downward.

Intel’s earnings per share were 40 cents (down 25 percent) on revenue of $12.60 billion. Analysts expected Intel to report net income of 41 cents per share on sales of $12.61 billion. And before the results, analysts were looking for earnings of 40 cents on sales of $12.9 billion for the second quarter ending June 30. Intel now expects sales of $12.9 billion, and gross profit margins of 58 percent.

Intel has been expecting low single-digit revenue increases for 2013, with gross margins at 60 percent. Those expectations remain unchanged. Capital spending was previously targeted at $13 billion, but that has now been revised downward to $12 billion.

Intel reported slightly worse earnings than expected as PC sales took a vacation and tablets gained momentum in the first quarter.

Intel’s earnings are watched closely as a bellwether for the computing ecosystem. The news isn’t so bad for PC makers, who were braced for the worst. Market researcher IDC reported last week that first-quarter PC sales dropped 13.9 percent — the biggest quarterly fall in PC industry history — in the first quarter as consumers shifted their purchases away from PCs to mobile and tablet devices.

Due in part to weak demand for Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, first quarter PC sales were a disaster, IDC said last week. But Intel evidently doesn’t believe the PC industry is in such bad shape, and it noted its sales were down only 6 percent for its PC client group. Intel is the world’s biggest maker of microprocessors and the chips that go with them inside a computer.

Intel’s results weren’t so bad in the previous period, when it posted better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, as PC sales weren’t as weak as forecast and server chip sales were strong. In that quarter, PC sales fell just 5 percent. Over the past year, Intel’s stock price has fallen 22 percent.

Intel’s earnings per share were 40 cents on revenue of $12.60 billion. Analysts expected Intel to report net income of 41 cents per share on sales of $12.61 billion. And before the results, analysts were looking for earnings of 40 cents on sales of $12.9 billion for the second quarter ending June 30. Intel now expects sales of $12.9 billion, and gross profit margins of 58 percent.

“Amid market softness, Intel performed well in the first quarter, and I’m excited about what lies ahead for the company,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, said in a statement. “We shipped our next generation PC microprocessors, introduced a new family of products for microservers, and will ship our new tablet and smartphone microprocessors early this quarter. We are working with our customers to introduce innovative new products across multiple operating systems. The transition to 14nm technology this year will significantly increase the value provided by Intel architecture and process technology for our customers and in the marketplace.”

Intel also has a strong business in server chips, which accounted for $10.7 billion of its $53 billion in revenues last year. In after-hours trading, Intel’s stock price was up 2.17 percent.

In the first quarter, Intel had previously predicted revenue of $12.7 billion, 58 percent gross margins, and MG&A spending of $4.6 billion.

Intel has been expecting low single-digit revenue increases for 2013, with gross margins at 60 percent. Those expectations remain unchanged. Capital spending was previously targeted at $13 billion, but that has now been revised downward to $12 billion.

Intel is shifting to meet mobile device demand. It has created laptop chips that dissipate as little as 7 watts, and its code-named Haswell processor coming mid-year is expected to be even better at power consumption. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel said it was working with seven major vendors of smartphones who have launched Intel-based smartphones in 25 countries. But the revenue from those deals is a drop in the bucket compared to the revenues Intel gets from the PC chip business.

Otellini, 62, is retiring early from his job (Intel’s mandatory retirement age is 65). His successor has not yet been named.

During the first quarter, the PC Client Group’s revenue was $8.0 billion, down 6.6 percent from the prior quarter and down 6 percent from a year ago. Data Center group revenue was $2.6 billion, down 6.9 percent sequentially and up 7.5 percent from a year ago. Other Intel architecture revenue was $1.0 billion, down 3.9 percent sequentially and down 9 percent from a year ago. Gross profit margin was 56 percent, down 2 percentage points sequentially and down 8 percentage points from a year ago. Research and development plus MG&A spending in the quarter was $4.5 billion, in line with expectations of $4.6 billion.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Nvidia is investing heavily in its operations now because it has some “once in a lifetime opportunities” in mobile computing these days, said Jen-Hsun Huang, the chief executive of the world’s biggest standalone graphics chip maker, Thursday in a talk at the company’s investor day.

Huang said that those investments are timely because the “PC business declined more in the last quarter than in the last 20 years. Obviously, the computer industry is changing.”

Nvidia has made PC graphics chips since 1993. It is the only standalone survivor in that business, and it competes against processor giants such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (ADM), ARM, and Imagination Technologies (including MIPS).

He said that Nvidia’s Tegra business is at break-even, even as the company ratchets up the investment to more than $300 million a year. Overall, Nvidia research and development has reached $1.2 billion annually. About $880 million of that is core investment in chip design, while $10 million each is focused on new opportunities including Grid systems and the Project Shield handheld gaming system.

“We increased our operating expenses to invest in once in a lifetime opportunities,” Huang said. “These investments are so timely and they must happen now. So our first half is rather muted. We’ll have growth in the second half. The disruption of the traditional market literally happened overnight. That’s why it’s so important for us to keep our foot on the gas.”

This year, Nvidia is investing heavily in the first half in the hopes of achieving growth in the second half, Huang said. He pulled in investments in Tegra 4i, a mobile graphics processor with built-in LTE modem. That investment, he said, “was a good decision by all measures.” That pushed out the debut of Tegra 4 by a quarter, from the first to the second quarter. As a result, Tegra sales will be flat for the year, he said.

Overall, “the exciting thing is the market opportunity ahead of us,” Huang said. The total available market for Tegra chips (with $300 million investment) is $10 billion. The opportunity for Grid computing is $10 billion, and the traditional graphics processing unit (GPU) market opportunity is $6 billion, Huang said. Huang said he thinks the computing business, if not PCs, will continue to grow.

Huang said that GPUs are Nvidia’s “crown jewels,” generating billions of dollars in revenues on the PC thanks to PC gamers and other enthusiasts. Nvidia is in the process of “mobilizing” those crown jewels in products such as Tegra. About three billion devices with graphics chips will be shipping by 2015, at a 12 percent compound annual growth rate. Nvidia is gunning for a sizable share of that.

Huang mentioned that Nvidia has more than 5,000 patents, mostly related to computer graphics. Nvidia is investing in games, enterprise, and computing devices.

With Grid computing, Nvidia is taking that business into the cloud, enabling remote graphics processing and it will lead to multiple users on a single graphics chip.  But Huang said the competition was fierce.

“The opportunities are enormous, but so are the threats,” he said. “Some day, every single processor we make will be a Tegra. But this is not about us growing into mobile devices only. This is about inventing the future of computing.”

At the close of the talk, Huang said that Nvidia will return $1 billion this fiscal year to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividend payments, including $100 million in stock being repurchased this quarter. This will bring to $1.2 billion the total capital returned to shareholders since the company announced its quarterly dividend program in November.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Michael Dell put his company in play in his bid to take it private. But with rival bidders now stepping forward, he runs the risk of losing control of the company that bears his name, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.

The Blackstone Group and activist investor Carl Icahn have expressed interest in making a bid for the Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker.Their bid will reportedly top $15 a share.

Dell himself has partnered with Silver Lake Partners to buy the existing shares of the publicly traded company and take it private at $13.65 a share, or $24.4 billion. Shareholders have complained that the price of Michael Dell’s bid is too low.

Michael Dell owns 14 percent of the company he founded as a mail-order PC company in 1984 in his dorm room. The Silver Lake buyout would give Michael Dell majority control and the ability to call the shots as he sees them to revive the company. But if Blackstone and Icahn win, then Michael Dell may be sidelined, the Journal said. Dell declined comment.

Dell’s plan includes spending more money on acquisitions, internal development of corporate software and services, investing in hardware products, and hiring more sales people.

Intel has taken the first steps toward dissolving its PC motherboard production. If all goes according to plan, the entire division will be nonexistent by 2016.

The company told PC World today that it will cease desktop motherboard production shortly after its Haswell ultrabook motherboards start shipping and will continue to support legacy hardware. The Haswell launch itself has been bumped up a few months, ostensibly to “save” the PC as well as the company’s PC-based business.

Intel has struggled to keep pace with its competitors in the PC motherboard category. It has also had to shift much of its focus to tablet and mobile computing devices. Currently, Intel powers seven smartphone designs and is also shipping chips for x86-based tablet computers, worlds away from where its business was even one year ago.

While its most recent earnings statements showed that the PC segment hasn’t quite tanked — not yet, at least — Intel spent the majority of its time at CES focusing on its future of bargain-basement-priced ultrabooks, gestural controls, and touchscreens, touchscreens everywhere.

In addition to keeping up with new form factors, Intel said it will focus on all-in-one system designs and will continue to advise manufacturers on motherboard design. Its PC processor business is still going strong.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Just a few weeks after bringing every Android app to Macs, Bluestacks announced its largest deal ever today — with Lenovo. Bluestacks’ Android app player will now be pre-installed on Lenovo’s Idea-branded PCs, including Ideapad laptops and IdeaCentre desktops, covering around 40 million systems.

Bluestacks app players allow you to run Android apps on your PC by virtualizing the Android environment (similar to what VMWare and other virtualization solutions have done in the past). The company is also developing an app for Lenovo smartphones that will synchronize the Android apps consumers install on their Lenovo PCs.

“While this is the largest distribution deal we’ve struck to date, it is just the beginning of our work with Lenovo,” said BlueStacks CEO, Rosen Sharma, in an email to VentureBeat. “A lot of people don’t know this, but Lenovo is one of the top mobile phone makers in the world. We are planning with them to roll out our mobile app on these devices in Q3, which will then sync with the Lenovo PC.”

By helping to spread Android across a wide variety of PCs, Bluestacks is doing much of Google’s work for it (like many of Google’s Android partners). When it comes to PCs, Google is focused on its web services — not bringing its mobile apps to bigger screens. (Just take a look at Google’s Chromebook PCs, which are entirely focused on the web.) But with popular services like Instagram taking a mobile-first approach, it’s only a matter of time before consumers will seek out a solution like Bluestacks.

Bluestacks says the deal has been six months in the making, and it follows recent deals with AMD, Asus, and MSI to bring Android apps to their PCs. Altogether, the company’s app player will be pre-loaded on more than 100 million PCs this year.

Lenovo isn’t shying away from promoting the deal. The Bluestacks app will be one of the first things consumers see when they boot up their PCs. Lenovo will also feature Bluestacks software on at least 17 systems at its CES booth this week.

Campbell, Calif.-based BlueStacks has raised $15 million so far from Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Venture Management, Citrix Systems, and others.

American electronics business Vizio has released details on its first Windows 8 tablet, with an 11.6-inch 1080p HD display and some surprisingly nice specs.

Vizio has been trying to make a name for itself in the PC market since early last year, when it debuted sleek-looking computers that clearly took some design cues from Apple. The company also took another stab in the hardware arena with its first Google TV set-top box last June.

For specs, Vizio’s Windows 8 tablet packs in a dual-core 1-GHz AMD Z60 processor, 64GB of flash storage, 2GB of RAM, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, micro-HDMI port, and a micro-USB port. The tablet runs Windows 8 Pro rather than RT, so you’ll be able to run older Windows applications rather than just new Windows 8 apps.

Vizio has not announced pricing or availability yet for the tablet, but we expect the company might let those details out during CES.

On top of the new tablet, Vizio also refreshed its line of PCs. All of the company’s all-in-one PCs and thin and light laptops will come standard with touchscreens and quad-core processors, two things that should make the Windows 8 experience on those machines much better.

Top image via Engadget

With the holiday season now in full swing, you may be tempted to replace your old PC with a shiny, new, upgraded model. And if you’re a fan of BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who, we may have found exactly what you’re looking for.

As you can see above, the PC’s case is a small replica of the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), a blue police box that allows the Doctor and his human companions to travel through time and space. The doors don’t open, but the “Police Box” black sign does double as a CD/DVD-ROM drive.

The TARDIS PC is an officially licensed product by the BBC and sold by U.K. company Scan Computer. Below is a full list of specs for this sexy machine, which can be further customized, according the company:

• Intel Pentium G2120 Dual Core, 3.1GHz
• Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3, Intel H61
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz
• 500GB Western Digital HDD
• 300W be quiet! BN133 SFX Micro-ATX PSU
• Sony Blu-ray Writer
• Microsoft Windows 7 Premium 64bit

So how much does the TARDIS PC cost? Well, Scan is asking £936 (or about $1,511). It’s obviously a little more expensive than a comparable machine that doesn’t look like a police box. However, like bow ties, other machines aren’t nearly as cool.

Via io9

Microsoft has charted unprecedented sales figures for its still-fresh Windows 8 operating system in its first month of availability, Microsoft executive Tami Reller said today.

“The journey is just beginning, but I am pleased to announce today that we have sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses so far,” Reller said at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference.

In a blog post, Microsoft claims Windows 8 is outpacing Windows 7 in terms of early-stage upgrades.

Previously, Microsoft said it sold 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in its first three days of availability, so it appears the pace of people upgrading and purchasing Windows 8 PCs and operating system upgrades has kept up throughout the month.

One factor that may be driving Windows 8 licence sales is that it only costs $40 to upgrade a Windows XP, Vista, or 7 PC to Windows 8. The $40 upgrade offer ends on January 31.

Reller, one of two execs tapped to fill Windows president Steven Sinofsky’s shoes after he exits Microsoft, did not announce any additional sales figures. Most notably, we’d like to know how many Surface tablets have been sold to date.

Slow. Kludgey. Expensive. This is how HP PC head Todd Bradley describes Microsoft’s Surface tablet, which he isn’t too crazy about.

“Holistically, the press has made a bigger deal out of Surface than what the world has chosen to believe,” Bradley said in an interview with Citeworld.

These are some pretty damming words coming from an executive of one of Microsoft’s most significant hardware partners. HP so far has been fairly measured with its reaction to the Suface.

“I believe Microsoft was basically making a leadership statement and showing what’s possible in the tablet space,” HP printing vice president John Solomon said back in August. In other words, the Surface is a model, not competition.

Bradley, on the other hand, says that the Surface isn’t competition because Microsoft is keeping the device’s distribution pretty low — at least at first.

The short of it is this: HP may not see the Surface as competition, but there’s no doubt consumers will be choosing between the Surface and HP computers. That’s unavoidable.

As far as tablets go, don’t expect another consumer tablet from HP anytime soon. Bradley says HP is taking it slow on that front, which isn’t too surprising considering that the whole TouchPad fiasco is still fresh in everyone’s minds.

It seems like ages ago when Microsoft simultaneously dazzled and puzzled the hell out of the public when it showed off Windows 8 for the first time in June 2011. Since then, we’ve seen Windows 8 evolve and slowly change perceptions about how it works and what devices it’s meant for. Finally, the OS is now available for purchase.

Just like Windows 8 has evolved, so has my opinion of the operating system. After using prerelease versions of Windows 8 for several months, I still prefer Windows 7, but I have no doubt Windows 8 will be my Windows of choice at some point. Microsoft will likely tweak the heck out of the OS after receiving massive amounts of customer feedback (after revealing yesterday that Windows 8 has seen more than 1.24 billion hours of early testing from consumers). In addition, third-party developers will create software that improves the Windows 8 experience. Sweet Labs’ Pokki app, which re-creates the Start button on the desktop, is one such example. Windows 8 is still evolving, and it will continue to do so for some time.

The future of the PC

Windows 8 represents the future of Microsoft and the PC itself. Essentially, the desktop of old is fading away in favor of ultrabooks, tablets, and hybrid devices like Samsung’s Smart PCs. VentureBeat executive editor Dylan Tweney believes Windows 8 will be a “test of whether the company can successfully manage the transition to a new era of computing.” I agree, and I believe Microsoft has the experience and leadership to accomplish this.

But of course, Windows 8 also faces plenty of criticism. The brash cloud computing visionary Marc Benioff, the CEO of customer-relation management giant Salesforce, recently called Windows 8 “the end of Windows” and claimed Windows itself was irrelevant in the new age of powerful smartphones and tablets.

Benioff might have a point: Windows as we know it is over — but Windows 8 could easily sit alongside iOS and Android as another powerhouse in mobile computing. And its real strength is that it’s not just a mobile OS. Unlike iOS and Android, Windows 8 can also power traditional computers without a sweat.

Microsoft’s Surface tablet, which has lots of personality and some noticeable flaws, is one such device that shows Microsoft’s commitment to reshape Windows. Surface is simply a preview of what’s to come in a year (or less). New Windows 8 tablets will be more cooked and the app ecosystem will likely be populated with all kinds of great software soon.

Beautiful, forward-thinking design

Windows 8′s Start screen (see photo above) replaces the Start button on the desktop as the place in which you launch apps. The Start screen is colorful, fun, and useful, and it looks quite similar to the tile-based design found on the Xbox 360 dashboard and Windows Phone devices. The Start menu tiles are helpful because they show real-time information, such as how many emails are unread, stock market prices, headlines, and more.

While the Start screen is easy to customize and understand, many people will want to retreat into the “desktop” mode. The desktop mode does basically everything you’ve done for years in Windows. The most helpful thing to do in desktop mode is to pin all your important programs to the taskbar so you never have to search for desktop-focused apps.

The easiest way to get back to the Start screen when using a keyboard is to tap the Windows key in the bottom left corner. When using a tablet device, you get back by swiping the right side of the screen and tapping the Start icon. When using a laptop touchpad, you swipe the right edge.

If you need to find an app, simply start typing while on the Start screen and a full list of results will pop up. This search function has saved me time when using Windows 8 because it can often find what you’re looking for faster.

Different feel across devices

The worst experience I’ve had with Windows 8 is on a traditional desktop PC with a mouse and keyboard. I truly believe Windows 8 is meant for touch-based devices like tablets and laptops with touchpads (and touchscreens). So things are a bit more awkward using a mouse and keyboard.

Consider right-clicking, which is now completely different from what you’re used to in Windows outside of the desktop interface. Instead of a menu of options appearing right where you clicked, a limited number of options appear at the bottom of the screen, and you have to move your mouse there to select them. This gets incredibly tedious in Windows 8 apps and on the Start screen.

Laptops are another story. It’s not quite as awkward using a laptop with Windows 8 because you have a touchpad. If you have a fairly recent laptop, the touchpad lets you take advantage of cool gestures that speed up using Windows 8. Moving your finger from the left edge of a trackpad scrolls through all of your recently used programs. Or if you swipe down from the top edge of a touchpad, you get the same options you’d usually get from double-clicking a mouse. You can’t use these slick gestures on older laptops, unfortunately.

The best experience I’ve had with Windows 8 so far was on tablets and hybrid tablet/laptop devices. I’ve played with the Microsoft Surface, Samsung’s tablet hybrids, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga, Dell’s convertible XPS 12, and many others. When you can touch the icons on the Start screen, the OS feels much more natural.

Microsoft likes to say that Windows 8 is a “no compromise” version of Windows, but if you really want to feel that way, you need touch interactions. The emphasis on touch makes Windows 8 primed for the next decade of computing, but it also clearly signals the end of the mouse and keyboard as the ideal way to interact with Windows.

Under-the-hood improvements

One of the best things about Windows 8 is that it boots up and runs faster than Windows 7. An extensive study by PCMag indicates much faster boot-up times, higher benchmark scores, and speedier web browsing. Basically, Windows 8 can make a big difference in the performance department — even on some older computers.

This is one reason why I think some Windows XP and Vista users (yes, a ton of them are still out there) would enjoy the bump to Windows 8: Not only will you get a performance enhancement, but you’ll also get better security with software that’s getting many more updates from Microsoft. Make sure you meet the minimum requirements before even considering that upgrade though, because even “impossibly old” machines are beyond Windows 8′s help.

Apps

One of the most important factors for Windows 8′s success, like every computing platform, are the apps that take advantage of all of its features. (Since Microsoft ditched the term “Metro,” let’s call these “Modern” apps.) Some great apps are already in the Windows Store, but it’s important that third parties pump out fantastic software to make Windows 8 more attractive than iOS and Android.

Some aspects of Modern apps for Windows 8 are problematic, especially for desktop users. As I’ve noted before, Modern apps have a serious screen-splitting problem. In Windows 8, you can only allocate roughly 25 percent of the screen to one app while the other 75 percent is taken up by another app. As you can imagine, this layout is not conducive to multitasking. Thankfully, you can still do a 50-50 split, or whatever tiling you’re used to, in the desktop mode.

Relearning Windows

Windows 8 will require some relearning and retraining. Dell has even been smart enough to feature its own Windows 8 tutorials on the Start screen to hand-hold those who might freak out over the changes.

Here’s the good news — even a 3-year-old can use Windows 8. I have faith that anyone reading this article can also relearn how to use Windows and use it effectively. The question is — will people be willing to upgrade and relearn or will you simply adapt only after being forced to with a new PC purchase?

Should I upgrade?

Windows 8 costs $40 to download and upgrade using Microsoft’s Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. Microsoft says the offer for a $40 upgrade expires on Jan. 31. (You can also purchase a physical copy of Windows 8 in stores for $70.) If you purchased a new non-Windows 8 PC after June 2 and before Jan. 31, 2013, you’re eligible to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $15.

So you’re asking yourself, “should I upgrade?” If you’re normally an early adopter and like the changes described here, yes, you absolutely should give it a shot. If you’re a casual user, I would not upgrade immediately. Try Windows 8 out at a retailer like Best Buy or the Microsoft Store and let Microsoft issue some patches to fix the biggest bugs. Once you’ve tried it and understand how it works, it very well might be worth your money to upgrade.

To truly get the most Windows 8 has to offer, consider waiting until you purchase a new PC. After all, the entire impetus behind Windows 8 is its touch-centric interface and its capability to power new computing devices like the Surface and laptop/tablet hybrids. Given that it’s such a radically different operating system, it makes sense to experience it first on radically new devices.

For more on how to decide if you should upgrade and other must-know things about Windows 8, check out our article 8 things you need to know about Windows 8.

Final thoughts

Windows 8 is vital to the future of Microsoft and the PC market because it blends a touch-centric interface with the Windows we’ve known for years. It’s not for everyone, especially casual Windows 7 users that refuse to relearn Windows. But power users and those who embrace change well will find a lot to like here.

Hewlett-Packard unveiled a bunch of Windows 8 business and consumer PCs today, including tablets, laptops, and desktops.

These all have a consistent HP look and feel. HP today announced availability and pricing details for its new lineup of consumer and business PCs that are designed to work with Windows 8. The products come just a day after Apple drew lots of attention for its holiday lineup and a couple of days before Microsoft launches Windows 8 on Friday.

The new HP products use premium materials and a purposeful design philosophy to deliver a distinct HP look and feel.

But HP still has a long way to go toward establishing (or, rather, re-establishing) its brand in the minds of consumers. The chart at the right shows the media attention that major tech brands have received over the past 10 years. Apple continues to hold the most media attention, followed by Google and Microsoft, according to HighBeam Research. HP, on the other hand, is pretty low in the rankings.

HP’s new PCs include a hybrid PC with a detachable screen, a business tablet with HP Smart Jackets that boost its functionality, and a thin all-in-one desktop.

The laptops include the HP Envy x2, a laptop that doubles as a tablet, at $849. The HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook has a 15.6-inch screen and debuts at $1,399. The HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 has a 14-inch screen and starts at $799.99. The HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14 sells for $499 and a 15-inch version is $579. The HP Envy m4 is $899, and the HP Pavilion dm1 is $499.

HP’s all-in-one desktops include the HP Envy 23 ($999) and the HP Envy 20 ($799). The HP SpectreOne is $1,299. The HP Pavilion 20 is $499, and the HP Envy Phoenix h9 desktop is $899. Business computers include the HP ElitePad 900 tablet, which debuts in January. The HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook is available Friday for $1,049.

Advanced Micro Devices, the second-largest maker of PC microprocessors behind Intel, reported weak earnings for the third quarter that ended Sept. 29. AMD also announced that it would lay off 15 percent of its employees, or 1,700 jobs.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.27 billion, down slightly from the analyst consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. The  non-GAAP loss for the quarter was 20 cents a share, compared to the analyst estimate of a loss of 15 cents a share.

“The PC industry is going through a period of very significant change that is impacting both the ecosystem and AMD,” said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO, in a statement. “It is clear that the trends we knew would reshape the industry are happening at a much faster pace than we anticipated. As a result, we must accelerate our strategic initiatives to position AMD to take advantage of these shifts and put in place a lower cost business model. Our restructuring efforts are designed to simplify our product development cycles, reduce our break-even point, and enable us to fund differentiated product road maps and strategic breakaway opportunities.”

AMD warned Oct. 11 that its revenues would be worse than expected, down about 10 percent from the previous quarter. Previously, AMD had expected third-quarter  revenue to be down only 1 percent. It blamed the slowdown on weaker-than-expected demand across all product lines caused by a challenging macroeconomic environment.

AMD had expected third quarter gross profit margin of 31 percent, down from its previous expectation of 44 percent, due to a write-down of $100 million in inventory. The profits were also hit by soft demand that brought down average selling prices for microprocessors. (Intel’s quarterly revenues were $13.5 billion).

AMD’s actual earnings were weak like Intel’s. AMD reported a GAAP loss of $157 million, or 21 cents a share, on revenue of $1.27 billion. That compared to a profit of $97 million, or 13 cents a share, on revenue of $1.69 billion a year ago.

But Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD has the added problem of being behind Intel on a number of fronts. The warning prompted rumors of layoffs at AMD. The PC market has been losing sales to tablets and smartphones, and consumers are seemingly waiting for the Oct. 26 launch of Windows 8 before buying new computers. AMD had 11,813 employees at the end of the third quarter.

Gartner is also saying that third quarter PC shipments will turn out to be flat compared to the second quarter. Analyst Vijay Rakesh at Sterne Agee expected revenues of $1.27 billion and a loss of 17 cents a share. AMD’s stock market value is down to $1.85 billion at today’s closing price at $2.61 a share. AMD’s stock is up slightly in after-hours trading.

For the fourth quarter, AMD expected revenues to fall 9 percent from the third-quarter level. As for the layoffs, Read said,

“Our restructuring efforts are decisive actions that position AMD to compete more effectively and improve our financial results. Reducing our workforce is a difficult, but necessary, step to take advantage of the eventual market recovery and capitalize on growth opportunities for our products outside of the traditional PC market.”

[Photo credit: Dean Takahashi]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

PC makers are making a big bet on the fourth quarter and Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, but it’s going to be a real crapshoot. Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel, said in an analyst conference call today that the outlook for the fourth quarter is uncertain and depends on the reception of Microsoft’s new touch-oriented software launching Oct. 26.

PC makers are ordering fewer chips, and Intel is accordingly adjusting its production downward. Intel is cutting capital spending in the fourth quarter and will burn off inventory, resulting in under-utilization at its chip factories. Intel is the world’s largest chip maker and its financial results are a bellwether for the PC industry. The third quarter earnings were weak, but better than adjusted forecasts.

Otellini said 140 Intel Core-based Ultrabooks are coming in the next quarter, which are thin and light machines akin to Apple’s MacBook Air. Twelve convertible hybrid laptop-tablets will be coming with Windows 8. And 20 Intel Atom-based tablets are coming from six computer makers using Intel’s Clover Trail microprocessors. Those machines will deliver high performance, good security, touch-oriented user interfaces, and all-day battery life, Otellini said.

Otellini said he was excited about the next technology coming. He said that Motorola shipped its Razr I model, the only smartphone with a 2-gigahertz processor and superior battery life.

Referring to all of the new models of laptops and tablets, Otellini said he had never seen so much creativity among the computer makers and that he was confident Intel would navigate the transition from PCs to smartphones and tablets with alacrity.

“Intel has a history of navigating the industry’s transitions and emerging better and stronger,” he said. “The innovation here is unbounded. I haven’t seen this in a long time.”

Effecting demand in the fourth quarter are concerns about the economy, softness in mature markets, slowing enterprise sales, and a weaker data center business.

“China was strong and it turned weak on us,” he said. “As a manufacturing center, China is cautious. Our OEMs are running very lean now.”

As a result, Intel projects flat revenues of $13.6 billion in the fourth quarter and gross profit margins of 57 – 58 percent (compared to 64 percent in the third quarter).

Intel expects it will spend $11.3 billion in capital spending in 2012, but it does not yet know how much it will spend in 2013. Research and development is expected to be $4.5 billion in 2012.

NEW YORK CITY — Korean electronics giant Samsung has been steadily revealing details about its lineup of Windows 8 PCs and tablet hybrids, but tonight we finally have what appears to be the finalized lineup and prices of these new devices.

“Tablets and smartphones are ushering in a new era of computing mobility,” Samsung America consumer electronics head Tim Baxter said to a crowd of reporters. “New categories will arise as a result of this.”

Samsung’s “new category?” The “Smart PC”, or what you might know as a laptop/tablet hybrid. “The Smart PC is a new category driven by innovation and U.I., with Windows 8 as the lynch pin,” Baxter said.

Samsung senior VP Mike Abary (pictured) then came out to show some of the newest devices, many of which we’d seen beforehand. But now we’ve got pricing.

The most interesting units among the new lineup are the Smart PCs. The cheapest option among these devices is the ATIV Smart PC 500T without the detachable keyboard. That runs for $650. Samsung did not reveal any tablets running Windows RT, but we expect that might come later this year and cost less than the ATIV Smart PC 500T. (Perhaps $400 or $500 to be more competitive with the iPad.)

Here’s the full lineup, most of which will be available on Oct. 26 in stores and online. (We’ll fill this in with more details/specs once we get more info from Samsung.)

Samsung ATIV Smart PCs (hybrid laptop/tablets)

ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T — $1,200
ATIV Smart PC 500T — $750 (with keyboard) / $650 (without keyboard)

Samsung Mobile PCs (laptops)

Series 9 Premium Ultrabook — $1,400 (15 inch), $1,300 (13 inch)
Series 7 Notebook — $1,100 (15 inch)
Series 5 Ultra Touch (13.3-inch touch screen laptop) — $860 (Core i5), $810 (Core i3)
Series 3 Notebook — $450 – $900 depending on configuration

Samsung All-in-One PCs (desktops)

Series 7 All-in-One — $1,700 (27 inch); $1100 (23.6 inch)
Series 5 All-in-One — $800 (21.5 inch)

Check out the gallery below for photos from the event.

Photos: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s taken a while, but Advanced Micro Devices is finally taking the wraps off Hondo, the code name for its processor chip for tablet computers. The new chips could give Intel a run for its money and offer choice to consumers in the coming Windows 8 launch.

The new Z-60 tablet accelerated processing unit (APU) is timely because it will serve as the low-power, high-performance brains of upcoming Windows 8 tablets, according to AMD, which is the largest PC chip maker next to Intel. AMD’s APUs compete with Intel’s new code-named Clover Trail chips, and they combine both graphics and microprocessor components in a single silicon chip. For consumers, AMD says it will deliver great experiences for Windows 8 tablets when it comes to photos, music, streaming video, productivity apps, and games.

The AMD APUs will also compete with Windows RT tablets that use ARM-based microprocessors from companies such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, and Nvidia. But AMD, like Intel, argues that an x86-based chip design — such as those made by Intel and AMD — offers the best compatibility for running full-scale Windows PC applications on a tablet. AMD also offers good graphics performance and 10 hours of battery life on a Windows 8 tablet.

AMD says the Z-60 offers vivid high-definition media performance, enhanced gaming, and accelerated app performance on the consumer side. For commercial machines, it also offers enhanced productivity, security and manageability, and mobility. Windows 8 tablets will run PC apps and connect to virtually any peripheral. The tablets will have options for keyboard or touchscreen input.

The Z-60 consumes just 4.5 watts and it has two central processing unit cores. It has 80 Radeon graphics cores and runs at 1.0 gigahertz. It can support universal serial bus (USB) 3.0 ports and 1080p graphics. In Windows presentation mode, the battery life hits 10 hours. For web browsing, the battery life is eight hours. For video playback, the battery life is six hours. The Z-60 can wake up from sleep in as few as two seconds, and it boots to Windows in as few as 25 seconds. It also syncs to a local network in 1.5 seconds.

AMD has partnered with Bluestacks, a company that has developed technology to run Android apps on PCs, to expose its 100 million Windows customers to Android’s 500,000-plus apps.

AMD is launching the AMD AppZone Player today, which is aimed at Windows 7 and Windows 8 consumers equipped with AMD processors. AMD users will be able to download and search for apps through that site, which currently includes popular games like Fruit Ninja, and run them through the AppZone player. The company says it has optimized BlueStacks software for its chips.

“Our research has shown that for the youngest, newest customers, their first device is mobile,” BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma said in an email to VentureBeat. “Then they get a PC and expect it to have the apps their phone does. This deal positions AMD very well for this fast-growing group of young buyers.”

Back in June, BlueStacks announced a partnership with Asus, but this AMD deal could be far more useful for the startup. Now BlueStacks can easily target Windows 8 computers running AMD processors, which will include tablet hybrids and touchscreen-equipped laptops that are better suited for Android apps. BlueStacks showed off its Windows 8 app in January, so it’s clearly something the company has been thinking about for some time.

San Francisco, Calif.-based BlueStacks has raised around $14 million in funding so far. AMD invested in the company last fall, which makes today’s deal seem almost inevitable.

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini reportedly told employees in Taiwan that Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is being released before it’s done, according to Bloomberg.

If it’s true, it’s a big “whoops” moment. After all, if Windows 8 is a dud, then Intel’s own chip sales will suffer, as Intel is the world’s largest maker of PC microprocessors. Intel hasn’t commented yet to us and declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Update 2:15pm Pacific: Intel said the report was “unsubstantiated” and posted the following statement:

Intel has a long and successful heritage working with Microsoft on the release of Windows platforms, delivering devices that provide exciting experiences, stunning performance, and superior compatibility. Intel fully expects this to continue with Windows 8.

Intel, Microsoft and our partners have been working closely together on testing and validation to ensure delivery of a high-quality experience across the nearly 200 Intel-based designs that will start launching in October. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is on record as saying “Windows 8 is one of the best things that ever happened to Intel,” citing the importance of the touch interface coming to mainstream computing and the huge wave of exciting new Ultrabook, tablet and convertible device innovations coming to the market.

But the wording of the response is not actually a denial. According to the Bloomberg report, Otellini had said that improvements still have to be made to the software. He spoke to a group of employees at a meeting in Taipei yesterday, the report said. Windows 8 has touchscreen features and is aimed at making Microsoft’s user experience consistent across the PC, tablet, and smartphone. It is Microsoft’s answer to the popularity of Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

Otellini’s comments seem like a rare moment of candor. But Microsoft has said for some time that it will ship Windows 8 on Oct. 26.

“With over 16 million active preview participants, Windows 8 is the most tested, reviewed, and ready operating system in Microsoft’s history,” said Mark Martin, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft in a comment to Bloomberg.

Intel shaved more than a billion dollars off its expected revenue in the third quarter, sending shockwaves through the PC industry. The shortfall may be based on simple buying logic. Consumers may be waiting for Microsoft to launch its touchscreen-friendly Windows 8 operating system on Oct. 26.

But the toll could be severe throughout the large personal computer ecosystem, where all sorts of dynamics are affecting the big picture. Every computer microprocessor that Intel doesn’t sell impacts the makers of motherboards, peripheral makers, and PCs. So Intel’s status is a bellwether for the industry means that maybe $5 billion in industry sales could be absent during the third quarter.

“When Intel doesn’t sell an extra $1 billion in chips, that’s a big multiplier effect on distribution, contract manufacturers, PC brands, motherboards, and other suppliers,” said Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies.

That could take a toll on the stock prices of not just Intel and Microsoft, but the likes of Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Seagate, Foxconn, Toshiba, and Dell. Intel’s stock is currently down 3.73 percent at $24.16 a share. That means that Intel is now worth a fifth of Apple, whose tablet computers (which use Apple-Samsung chips) are selling so briskly that they’re stunting demand for PCs.

Intel lowered its third-quarter sales outlook to $13.2 billion in sales, down from its previous range of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion. It also shaved its gross profit margin estimate from 63 percent to 62 percent. That means the September quarter revenues will now be below the second quarter revenue of $13.5 billion. Intel blamed the problem on computer makers reducing their inventory ahead of Windows 8, weaker PC demand, and slower growth in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

Vijay Rakesh, an analyst for Sterne Agree, said that Intel has multiple challenges in the PC market. Ultrabook sales are slower than expected, as are commercial market sales. Ultrabooks are the thin and powerful laptops that resemble Apple’s MacBook Air. Next week at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel will talk about its real solution for that space, code-named Haswell, a new Atom microprocessor that will ship with Windows 8 software sometime next year.

In the meantime, Intel’s Clover Trail processor is the brains of low-power ultrabooks, and Intel is spending heavily to promote the products. Rakesh said believes Intel might need to ratchet down its spending, and Intel said that its capital spending will likely be below the $12.1 billion to $12.9 billion

Rakesh said that rival chip makers Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia will likely face headwinds as well. But he hasn’t changed any estimates yet. Nvidia has been pivoting to smartphone and tablet chips in a big way, so it could avoid some of the PC ecosystem slowdown.

One of the big questions is what will happen with Microsoft’s own earnings, as the two industry giants are often referred to as “Wintel.” Microsoft is trying to diversify into tablets with Windows 8 and its own upcoming Windows Surface tablets.

“The fact that they signaled weakness in the commercial segment suggest that this is not just about consumers waiting ahead of Windows 8,” said Kay. “Windows 8 will likely have a gradual pickup over time. The weakness in corporate PCs and the weakness in emerging countries are disturbing.”

In China, for instance, the economy has slowed down and that has hurt PC demand.

“The economy there is inexplicably drying up,” Kay said. “China has been most of what has been sold in the BRIC countries. India and Russia aren’t that great right now.”

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “Both ARM and now Intel have lowered overall expectations in the marketplace for phones and now PCs.  The good news, if any, is that the new phones, tablets and PCs are compelling in that when the macroeconomic picture improves, demand will get back to normal.”

Kevin Krewell, a senior analyst at the Linley Group, said, “The slow economy in the U.S. and abroad is affecting the ability of businesses and consumers to buy new PCs.  Then there are tablets and smartphones competing for consumer spending. While Intel has positioned Ultrabooks as a way to re-invent and re-invigorate the PC business, it’s still too expensive for the majority of the market. Also, Haswell will offer even lower power and better battery life – but won’t ship until 2013. Of course, there is Windows 8 coming later this year, which could attract consumers to the stores, but the best user experience for Windows 8 will be with a touch display and that will come with a higher system cost.”

HP’s days as the world’s largest PC maker may be numbered.

Lenovo’s share of the PC market has been in a non-stop climb over the past few years, and its latest quarter has pushed it closer to the No. 1 spot.

This jump had some welcome effects on Lenovo’s bottom line: The company reported that profits jumped 30 percent to $141.1 million during the first quarter, slightly edging analyst estimates.

Much of this success came from a 24 percent jump in PC shipments. This is big because it shows that Lenovo’s PC sales are growing even as the larger PC market goes through a slump.

Lenovo’s first quarter revenue climbed 24 percent to $8.01 billion, nearly half of which came from China alone. As Lenovo’s biggest market and home turf, China is a key area for Lenovo, and for good reason: Lenovo wants to grow, and there’s no better way to do that than by targeting a country with a tiny PC penetration rate.

Elsewhere, Lenovo’s sales were similarly rosy: Sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa rose to $1.58 billion, and sales in the U.S. climbed 6.8 precent to $1.18 billion

And Lenovo’s success may have made it a bit cocky. When asked whether Lenovo was concerned by Microsoft’s jump into the PC hardware space, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said the software giant was no different from the likes of HP.

“We are still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors, including Microsoft,” Yang said.

No. 3 PC maker Dell plans to cut more than $2 billion in spending during the next three years as it seeks to focus on making data-center equipment, Bloomberg reports.

The company intends to trim costs by cutting down its supply chain and sales support staff. No doubt other types of job cuts will be included in the mix.

Dell’s PC sales are slowing, so the company needs to find other things it can focus on to survive. The company will work to push sales of networking equipment, software, accessories, and data storage, and it recently has bought other businesses to help in those areas.

To potentially help with lackluster investor demand, Dell also said it would offer a dividend with its stock yesterday. The company said its quarterly dividend will start at 8 cents a share, with a yield of about 2.7 percent. Dell’s stock price is up more than 4 percent today on the news.

Dell photo: Flickr/Dell

Dell unveiled a new line of Inspiron laptops today for back-to-school purchases. The models use some of Intel’s newest family of Ivy Bridge processors, which combine a microprocessor and graphics on a single chip.

The new models include the Inspiron 14z, a thin and light versatile laptop for people on the go.

Dell also has a special edition laptop for remium multimedia performance. The company has three versions of Inspiron laptops. They include a Z series for thin and powerful style on the go; the Inspiron R series for studio-quality multimedia and auido. All of the laptops will use Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors. They come with 13-inch or 14-inch screens, and they have MaxxAudio technology.

“As families prepare to send their kids off to school this fall, they need a laptop with reliability and performance,” said Sam Burd, vice president and general manager of product development for Dell. “The expanded and redesigned Inspiron family helps parents embrace technology and make a smart investment in their childrens’ success.”

Pricing and availability is as follows:
Inspiron 14z: Available today in select countries in Asia, June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, and in select countries in Europe and Latin America later this summer, starting at $699.99 USD.
Inspiron 13z: Available today in select countries in Asia, and June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, starting at $599.99 USD.
Inspiron 15R: Available today in select countries in Europe and Asia, and June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, starting at $549.99 USD.
Inspiron 17R: Available today in select countries in Europe, and June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, starting at $599.99 USD.
Inspiron 15R Special Edition: Available today in select countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, starting at $899.99 USD.
Inspiron 17R Special Edition: Available today in select countries in Europe and Asia, and June 19 in the U.S. and Canada, starting at $1,099.99 USD ($1,299.99 with 3D).

Seventeen percent of personal computers around the world are not using anti-virus software, or as McAfee’s co-president Todd Gebhart puts it, “walking around naked on the Internet.”

The anti-virus creator and research firm recently performed a study of 28 million non-Apple PCs across 24 different countries, finding that one in every six computers has either no anti-virus software installed, or the current anti-virus software has expired. The United States falls into the top five vulnerable countries with 19.32 percent of computers at risk, along with Mexico at 21.57 percent, Spain at 21.45 percent, Singapore at 21.75 percent, and Japan with 19.35 percent.

Finland, however, had the least amount of unprotected computers at 9.7 percent.

This is a surprising statistic as it doesn’t include Apple computers at all. It’s not a secret that Windows PCs are extremely susceptible to malware, and unprotected PCs are almost certain to get a virus over its lifespan.

Indeed, 2011 was widely considered the “year of the hack,” and cyber attacks are only set to rise up in frequency. Not to mention, if this is the number of unprotected PCs around the world, there must be significantly more unprotected Apple computers.

For some time, consumers believed that Mac computers were impervious to the trojans that plague Windows PCs, but this isn’t true. As the market grows, so will the cyber criminal’s interest in attacking the machine.

We’re starting to see malware, such as the Flashback Trojan, crop up for Mac users. The Flashback Trojan used a hole in Apple’s version of Java to infect a computer and steal advertising revenue from Google. At the time, some estimated that the malware creators made $10,000 a day from the scheme. Apple and security research firm F-Secure have both provided detection and removal tools for the virus, and Apple has since plugged the hole in its Java software.

Oops image via Shutterstock

New details have emerged regarding Microsoft’s strategy to get its customers to upgrade their operating systems to the long-anticipated Windows 8.

Details of the company’s strategy first surfaced earlier this month, with Microsoft offering a $15 upgrade option that will give any Windows 7 PC buyer the Pro version of Windows 8 (even if they only get Windows 7 Home or Basic versions). And now, we’re hearing a bit more about the perimeters of this deal.

The upgrade deal will be eligible for anyone who purchases a Windows 7 PC from the Microsoft Store after June 2, according to a report from The Verge that cites people with details of the plan. The deal will run through January 31, 2013, which basically helps snare in all the holiday spending associated with Christmas and the gift cards redeemed thereafter.

Also interesting is that Microsoft will be offering a workshop to anyone who takes advantage of the upgrade offer, according to the report. Essentially, this will be similar to what Apple is already offering in its own retail stores, with employees walking customers through the basics of the new OS. Anyone who participate will also get a $20 gift card to the Microsoft retail store — making your upgrade more or less free.

That’s a decent incentive for the “not-computer people” who don’t really care about upgrading their OS the way an average tech geek (or knowledgeable consumer, I should say) would.

It’s nice to see Microsoft stepping up its game on the OS upgrade strategy. In the past, the company’s lack of effort in getting people to switch over resulted in millions of computers still using Windows XP and (groan) Vista.

Photo via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

In a call with analysts, Whitman said, “I wouldn’t say we have turned the corner but we are making progress. We did what we said we were going to do” in terms of exceeding earnings and revenue targets in the second fiscal quarter.

HP beat earnings by 7 cents a share and has had good growth in some businesses. It grew 22 percent in software sales, but HP’s Autonony group, which HP bought for $10 billion last year, missed expectations. Autonomy’s founder will leave HP.

“We are creating the process to adapt to innovation and product leadership,” Whitman said. HP will take a $1.8 billion charge and it will reduce its work force by 27,000 jobs by October 2014. That will save $3 billion to $3.5 billion by the end of October 2014.

“We’re going after core cost bucket” by simplifying its marketing and sales practices, among other things, she said. HP will reinvest its savings across the business. But turning around the company will take some time, Whitman said.

The PC crapware problem has finally gotten bad enough that Microsoft is now charging users to fix it.

For $99 Microsoft is now offering to strip consumers’ Windows PCs of all unnecessary software pre-installed by PC makers, AllThingsD reports. Affectionally dubbed “crapware”,  the software  is installed by PC makers in exchange for cash from vendors and is almost universally hated by owners of new Windows PCs.

This makes the removal program an arrangement bordering on a racket: PC makers get paid to put the software on computers, and Microsoft gets paid to remove it. Perhaps this questionable situation is part of the reason Microsoft never made it a priority to advertise the offer, even though its been around since 2010.

To be fair, as Microsoft PR pointed out to VentureBeat over the phone, the $99 fee is more than just crapware removal. Also included in the offer are things like Windows 7 and Microsoft Security Essentials installation, data transfer, and 90 days of free phone support.

The program is offered via its Microsoft Stores, of which there are a disappointing sixteen. It’s an expansion of Microsoft’s “Signature” initiative, wherein Microsoft sells consumer crapware-free PCs directly to consumers. That program has been around since 2009, though its never been very well publicized. (Paul Thurott first reported on it back in February.)

A better solution? Prevent the software from being installed in the first place.