HP to offer refund for PCs with flawed Intel chip

Hewlett-Packard Co will offer a refund to customers who bought personal computers that use Intel Corp's flawed chips, though the company said only a "small fraction" of its PCs were affected.

HP, the world's largest PC vendor, said customers can return their PC and either "choose a comparable product" or receive a refund.

Intel said Monday it had found a defect in chips used with its new Sandy Bridge line of processors. The company said the defect was discovered after it shipped more than 100,000 of the chips to computer makers.

In a statement on Wednesday, HP said the chip flaw affects only a small fraction of PCs sold or ordered since Jan. 9, when the Intel technology became available commercially.

HP said certain consumer desktops and laptops were affected, along with one commercial desktop PC model sold to small-business customers in the Europe-Middle East-Africa market.

Apple to start Verizon iPhone sales Feb 9

Apple Inc said on Wednesday that it would kick off online sales of the Verizon Wireless iPhone on Feb 9, a day before the device hits its store shelves.

Electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc also said on Wednesday that it, too, would distribute the new version of iPhone 4 in its stores starting on Feb. 10, the device's official launch day. It already sells earlier iPhone models.

Verizon Wireless will start online sales of a limited number of iPhones to its existing mobile customers starting at 3 a.m. ET Feb. 3 for delivery on or before Feb 10.

Apple said people ordering the phone on Feb. 9 can have it delivered or reserve it for an in-store pickup Feb. 10, when both companies plan to start offering the phone in their stores a 7 am local time.

Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, will be the second U.S. operator to offer iPhone after AT&T Inc's more than three years of exclusive rights to the popular device.

Best Buy shares were up 0.8 percent at $34.69 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where Verizon was down 0.7 percent at $36.01 and AT&T fell 0.6 percent to $27.70. Apple was down 0.3 percent at $344.10 on Nasdaq.

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Internet runs out of IP addresses as devices grow

The spread of Internet use in Asia and the proliferation of Internet-connected phones world-wide are causing the Internet to run out of numerical addresses, which act as “phone numbers” to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination.

The top-level authority that governs such addresses will distribute the last batches on Thursday, two people with knowledge of the situation said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement wasn’t planned until Thursday.

That doesn’t mean consumers will suddenly find websites unreachable, though. And if everything goes according to plan, Internet users won’t even notice.

“It will just be ‘business as usual’ if everyone gets their job done,” said John Curran, CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, or ARIN, one of five regional groups that dole out such addresses. ARIN covers the US, Canada and the Caribbean.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the top-level administrator of the system, has called a press conference in Miami on Thursday. One person said its last five “blocks” of Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses will be distributed then. These blocks, each with 16.8 million addresses, will be distributed to the regional registries.

WikiLeaks among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian politician behind the proposal said on Wednesday, a day after the deadline for nominations expired.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee accepts nominations for what many consider as the world's top accolade until February 1, although the five panel members have until the end of the month to make their own proposals.

Norwegian parliamentarian Snorre Valen said WikiLeaks was "one of the most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency" in the 21st century.

"By disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes, WikiLeaks is a natural contender for the Nobel Peace Prize," Valen said.

Members of all national parliaments, professors of law or political science and previous winners are among those allowed to make nominations. The committee declined to comment on the WikiLeaks proposal or any other nominations.

Programmeable logic devices propel technology research

It’s not just the BMWs and Audis which flaunt hi-tech display panels that get upgraded every season to cater to their high-heeled clientele. Very soon, bullock-cart drivers can have a sensor panel attached to the yoke of their bullocks that can track the load the cart is carrying.

This Rs 50 basic device beeps if the animal goes off the road and a small display panel gives back-up information on how much load the cart has been carrying over the last few trips. This device is not ready yet but will hit the market shortly, says Neeraj Paliwal, vice-president and country manager of NXP India, a semiconductor major.

With tech firms stepping up their research pitch to accommodate innovative features, the semiconductor industry is seeing a rush in demand, specially for chips crucial for research – the PLDs.

PLDs or programmeable logic devices are building blocks on which researchers designing 3D TVs, mobile phones and satellites mount innovative features. What differentiates this from conventional chips is that it can be customised. “These chips are used in infrastructure upgrades and new applications. We have been seeing an increase in demand in emerging markets,” says Neeraj Varma, country manager (sales), Xilinx India.

Analysts tracking this sector say that an increase in demand for PLD chips is a sign of growing research activity in the technology sector. $2.4-billion Xilinx, which commands more than 50% of the global market share for PLDs, has seen chip sales revenue grow from $415 million in Q2FY10 to $620 million in Q2FY11 — a 50% spurt.