Intel shells out $1.25 billion to settle all AMD litigation

Intel sure sells a lot of chips, but man — it sure blows a lot of that profit on lawyers. Just months after it got nailed with a $1.45 billion fine from the EU in an AMD antitrust case, nearly two years after AMD hit Intel with another antitrust probe and nearly 1.5 years after the FTC sparked up an investigation of its own, Intel has finally decided to pony up in order to rid itself of one of those back-riding monkeys. In an admittedly brief joint announcement released simultaneously by both firms today, Intel has agreed to cough up a whopping $1.25 billion in order to settle “all antitrust and IP disputes” with AMD. In fact, the pair went so far as to say the following:

“While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development.”

Aside from AMD’s coffers filling up with cash, the agreement also gives both firms patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement. Of course, we’re betting that this isn’t the end of this exceptionally bitter rivalry, and we highly doubt Intel wrote a check this large while grinning from ear-to-ear. That said, we’re eager to see what AMD does with its newfound cheddar, and if we had our druthers, we’d sit back and watch it invest heavily into beating Intel to the punch with its next few platforms.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel shells out $1.25 billion to settle all AMD litigation originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Boxee Set-Top Box: It’s Coming [Boxee]

Boxee’s fantastic connected media center software has always been just that: fantastic connected media center software. Today, the company says its going to announce hardware—a Boxee Box, even.

Boxee’s post on the box has nothing in the way of details yet, so I’m just going to have to take a WILD guess at what this thing will look like: It’ll be a box, with an Ion chipset, a medium-sized HDD, HDMI-out and a Boxee sticker and a $200 price tag. Why? Because nothing else would really make any sense.

We’ll get to see the box—assuming it’s not just this Boxee-compatible Myka number we saw a few days ago—come December 7th, when it gets the full unveiling treatment. Also interesting, though probably a little aspirational:

* make it easy for users to consume and find content – no matter what the source
* give content owners, aggregators, and developers the tools to create unique experiences with a variety of business models
* enable CE companies to enhance their Connected devices

This will be the first connected device running Boxee, but the idea is to provide consumers with a way to get Boxee in their living rooms, no matter whether it’s on a Connected TV, game console, set-top box, BluRay player, computer, etc.

Multiple Boxee Boxes! Boxee Boxen! [Boxee]

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Our Favorite Lifehacker Posts of the Week [Roundups]

This week Lifehacker has some great tips to overcome the piggy flu, protect yourself from intruders at open airport Wi-Fi spots and a guide to wire your house with Ethernet.

• Polish your shoes with a banana (This is a winner of a headline if I ever saw one)
• The Gaia Desktop, shown above (This is a winner of a desktop too, except that it would be even better if they were reading Gizmodo)
• Find nearby flu shots with Google Maps

• Intro to coding
• Protect your Wi-Fi connection at airport hotspots
• Firefox 3.6 beta 2 download is live

• AVG is Lifehacker’s favorite antivirus (It’s mine too)
• Microsoft’s security tools are good enough to get you to not pay for other apps
• Google Wave’s look and feel might be coming to other Google apps

• Paint.NET has a big update
• Put on a duvet cover without losing your mind, or sweating through your shirt
• How to wire your house with Ethernet

• Five good addons to power your Windows Home Server

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Our Favorite Lifehacker Posts of the Week [Roundups]

This week Lifehacker has some great tips to overcome the piggy flu, protect yourself from intruders at open airport Wi-Fi spots and a guide to wire your house with Ethernet.

• Polish your shoes with a banana (This is a winner of a headline if I ever saw one)
• The Gaia Desktop, shown above (This is a winner of a desktop too, except that it would be even better if they were reading Gizmodo)
• Find nearby flu shots with Google Maps

• Intro to coding
• Protect your Wi-Fi connection at airport hotspots
• Firefox 3.6 beta 2 download is live

• AVG is Lifehacker’s favorite antivirus (It’s mine too)
• Microsoft’s security tools are good enough to get you to not pay for other apps
• Google Wave’s look and feel might be coming to other Google apps

• Paint.NET has a big update
• Put on a duvet cover without losing your mind, or sweating through your shirt
• How to wire your house with Ethernet

• Five good addons to power your Windows Home Server

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US Army Rail Gun Fires for the First Time [Image Cache]

Not to be less than the US Navy, the Army has tested their own electromagnetic rail gun, firing several times at Dugway Proving Grounds. Manufacturer General Atomics calls it Blitzer. I call it Hey Enemy Tank, You Have Been Blended.

Blitzer will continue testing through 2010, until they fire “tactically relevant aerodynamic rounds.” That means shells designed to obliterate enemy tanks, bunkers, and anything that moves on the ground. Looking at it, I can’t help but to think on Cowboy Bebop and Spike’s Swordfish II fighter. Just imaging General Atomics mounting an optimized model in an oversized version of their Reapers. [General Atomics via Popsci]

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Windows Mobile Marketplace Adds Non-Mobile App Store [Windows Mobile]

Microsoft added a few nice new features to its Windows Mobile Marketplace today, including enhanced security and a nice-looking store that can be accessed from your computer’s browser, much like Xbox Live.

The security features are really more like anti-piracy measures, but that’s developer stuff—what about us consumers? Well, the new online portal seems like a solid idea, albeit one that implicitly acknowledges that app browsing is not that great on a WinMo 6.5 phone. You can access the portal from any browser, taking advantage of your computer’s larger screen and faster loading to find apps that much quicker. They’ll be downloaded as soon as you open the Marketplace app on your WinMo device. The site looks nice, too—cleanly organized and easy to use. It’s not a substitute for a good on-device app store, but it’s a nice feature to have. [Windows Team Blog via Engadget]

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Facebook Status Update Clears Teen From Criminal Charges [Facebook]

This is Rodney Bradford. A few days ago, Facebook saved his 19-yo life. Facebook and his status plea demanding the immediate consumption of the very basic food groups every human being needs to properly function in the morning: Pancakes.

Rodney was arrested on October 18 as a suspect in two crimes. He declared himself innocent and Robert Reuland—his defense lawyer—found the key to free him: “Where’s my pancakes?”

That seemingly inconsequential Facebook status update proved crucial when the Californian company confirmed that someone wrote it from his father’s Harlem apartment computer, using Rodney’s user and password at around the time of the alleged crime: Saturday October 17, 11:49am.

Of course, you can argue that anyone with Rodney’s password could have written the status update, while the 19-yo went on to commit two crimes, but his defense lawyer and the district attorney disagree:

This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil.

A spokesman for Brooklyn’s District Attorney said the Facebook update served as the confirmation of the other alibis, namely Rodney’s father and stepmother, who declared he was at their Harlem home at the time.

The most interesting thing in this case, however, is that this seems to be the first time in which social networking has been used to save the ass of someone, rather than nailing a really stupid thief. Some people believe that Facebook and other sites will become part of criminal cases across the country, as they get deeper under society’s skin. Personally, I can’t wait till we are all monitored by automagical retinal scans, and naked bald people in funky swimming pools decide who is a criminal and who is not. Can’t wait, I tell you. [Fort Greene]

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