Fixed Intel chip to ship in mid-February

Intel said today it would begin shipments of fixed Sandy Bridge chipsets in mid-February.

The chipmaker announced a week ago that it had stopped shipments of the "Cougar Point"--aka, the Intel 6 series--chipset that accompanies its second-generation Intel Core ("Sandy Bridge") processor owing to a flaw that can affect, in a small percentage of systems, access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology.

"Intel has started manufacturing on a new version of this support chip. Intel now expects to begin shipping the new parts in mid-February," Intel said today.

The chipmaker also said that after "extensive discussions with computer makers...Intel is resuming shipments of the Intel 6 Series Chipset for use only in PC system configurations that are not impacted by the design issue."

"Several customers [PC makers] still wanted to buy the current [not fixed] version of the Cougar Point chipset to continue Sandy Bridge sales. They will work closely with Intel to ensure 'known good' configs," an Intel spokesman said in an e-mail.

The issue affects SATA ports 2 through 5, not ports 0 and 1. Therefore, some laptops, which use only those two "good" ports, for example, would not be affected, according to Intel. In more technical terms, the affected ports 2 through 5 are 3 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) SATA 2 ports. The "good" (0 and 1) ports are 6Gbps SATA 3 ports. In a small percentage of systems performance degradation may occur on the "bad" ports.

The glitch caught the PC industry and retail channel by surprise. PC makers and retailers, who were just beginning to transition their laptop and desktop lineups to systems based on the Sandy Bridge processor, had to bring sales to an abrupt halt last week.

Retailers like Best Buy had been literally pulling Sandy Bridge systems off the shelves, while PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard had pushed out shipment dates for the first Sandy Bridge laptops until March.

PC makers are eager to ship systems with the latest Intel processor because it offers improved power efficiency and better performance. In particular, it speeds up gaming graphics and multimedia tasks at virtually no extra cost because the graphics silicon is built directly onto the main processor--a first for an Intel mainstream chip.

And a highly-anticipated Sandy Bridge update for Apple's MacBook line is also due. A prolonged delay due to the glitch had the potential for thwarting Apple's plans.

But with Intel's updated schedule of mid-February for fixed chipset shipments, consumers can rest easy that delays will be relatively brief and painless, according to Intel.

Luckily, Sandy Bridge is a new processor line and Intel was able to catch the glitch in the chipset early. And on another serendipitous note, most of the systems with the flawed chipset had been shipping in relatively small numbers, as they were not mass-market but rather pricey, high-end PCs that relatively few people would buy.

Mobile gaming company MoboSpace eyes up MySpace deal

MySpace could be snapped up by a giant US-based mobile gaming startup.

According to the New York Times this weekend MocoSpace, a mass market mobile social networking and gaming company, has issued a statement expressing interest in purchasing the struggling social media site from News Corp. It is believed the two companies are already in talks to reach a deal.

MocoSpace has been gaining ground fast in the mobile gaming industry. It started out as a mobile web social networking tool, and has since moved into producing casual games and smartphone apps, targeting youth audience from around 14 years of age.

One analyst predicted that MocoSpace was the fourth most visited mobile online website, serving up 3 billion mobile web pages each month. It has already raised $6.5m (£4m) in venture capital.

The price that MoboSpace would be prepared to pay for MySpace has not been disclosed. News Corp paid $327m (£203m) five years ago, but considering the site’s struggle against the migration of its core audience to Facebook and Twitter, it would likely be sold for considerably less.

The move is interesting because if a deal is done, MySpace could potentially be repositioned as a mobile network for listening to music on.

News Corp told Myspace employees last month that it was considering selling the site, and has already culled half of its 1000 employees.

Netflix rises as studios' DVD money plunges

Not long ago, ambitious young executives at the six major Hollywood film studios maneuvered to get into the home entertainment divisions.

Nowadays, getting assigned to home entertainment is like being sent to the Eastern front. Better to work in theatrical distribution, international, or maybe studio facilities. Recently, I spoke with an executive from one of the big studios who, while discussing the challenges of working in the film industry, noted there was one silver lining: "At least I don't work in home entertainment."

The home-entertainment divisions at the studios typically oversee sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs as well as Internet distribution. But the DVD has long been synonymous with these units for the simple reason that the discs account for the vast majority of revenues. This week, Sony, Time Warner, Viacom and News Corp., reported earnings and their film divisions continue to see falling DVD sales.

For the quarter ended December 31, Paramount Pictures saw a 44 percent decline in home video revenue from the same period a year ago, according to Viacom, Paramount's parent company (don't people give DVDs as holiday gifts anymore?).

Bad films or dying format?
Time Warner, which owns Warner Bros. Pictures, generated $923 million in revenue from home video and electronic delivery of feature films. That was a 23.5 percent tumble from the $1.23 billion made during the prior-year quarter. Sony and News Corp., which operates 20th Century Fox, don't break out their home video numbers, but they both signaled that DVD sales were ailing. Sony reported that Sony Pictures suffered a 20 percent overall decline in "sales and operating revenue" in the quarter partly due to "lower home entertainment revenues from catalog product."

For two decades, DVDs and before it, VHS tapes, were a huge source of profit for the studios. DVD sales outpaced box office sales between 2002 and 2009. Barry McCarthy, Netflix's former chief financial officer, noted a couple years ago that the DVD was the most successful consumer product launch in history measured by penetration into U.S. households. He said five years after debuting, DVDs could be found in half of all U.S. households. But the garden years appear to be over, as consumers continue to show less and less interest in physical media and turn to the Web for entertainment.

In their earnings report, the studios blamed the poor quarterly performances in home entertainment on the high number of hit films they had during the prior year. The way the studios tell it, they produced a higher number of popular films in 2009 than they did in 2010 and that resulted in lower DVD sales. This explanation, however, doesn't jibe with box-office figures.

Overall ticket sales in 2010 were $10.5 billion, just shy of the record-setting $10.7 billion generated in 2009, according to Boxoffice.com, an online service that tracks theatrical revenue. There was plenty of popular films last year. What this suggests is that in a down economy, people continue to find enough money to go to the movies. What they're apparently cutting back on is DVDs.

Why own movies?
Now, contrast the studios' dismal quarterly numbers with Netflix's performance during the same period. The video-rental service, which mails DVDs to subscribers as well as streams films and TV shows over the Web, added 3 million subscribers in the quarter--largely on the growing popularity of its streaming service, the company said.

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it shows significant numbers of consumers are moving to Netflix, a service that all but eliminates the need to own movies.

Netflix now has 20 million total subscribers, a 60 percent year-over-year increase. If Hollywood wants to know where the DVD money went, this would be a good place to start looking. It shouldn't be hard to figure out that Netflix is thriving because it provides consumers with what they want: convenience, control, and a good price. For $7.99 a month, a Netflix subscriber gets access to all of the service's streaming content. That's just a better deal, when a single DVD often costs twice that amount.

That Netflix offers an alternative to owning movies or paying for cable TV, may explain why Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has criticized Netflix so much lately. Another reason could be that at this early stage, Web-video distribution doesn't appear to be the cash cow that DVD was in its heyday.

The good news is that not everybody at the studios sees Netflix and Web distribution as a threat. A group calling itself DECE--made up of film studios, software, and hardware makers and almost everybody else connected to film and TV--is trying to create a set of standards and specifications designed to make approved digital content playable on a wide range of certified devices. The standards are called UltraViolet.
Supporters say this could help mainstream consumers make the jump to streaming distribution. Critics say this is an attempt to wrest control of digital distribution away from users. Regardless of whether UltraViolet works, it's a sign that some at the studios see the end of the DVD coming and are preparing for that day.

Verizon iPhone versus AT&T iPhone: CNET's data winner is... (video)

(Credit: CNET)

Faster, sexier, more reliable signal. That's the hype propping up the Apple iPhone 4 for Verizon at the expense of rival carrier AT&T. But is the iPhone really that much better on Verizon than on AT&T? The answer so far: absolutely.
To test the phones, CNET Senior Editor Kent German and I traipsed all over San Francisco to conduct our field testing showdown between the AT&T and Verizon iPhones. We compared signal strength, upload and download speeds, and load times between the iPhones on the two networks.
In addition to the results below, you can also check out more connectivity tests, and this roundup of all things Verizon iPhone.

The tests

We ran four tests each in four locations that have given us trouble in the past on multiple networks.
First, we checked the number of bars that appeared in the signal meter. We know that bars are an arbitrary measurement because they fluctuate so often and don't always translate into real-world connectivity. Still, for many people they are a key indicator of service.
Next, we used the Root Metrics iPhone App to measure signal strength and upload and download speeds. Third, we uploaded a photo to Facebook--the same picture for each round for both phones. Lastly, we loaded the GiantBomb.com Web site.

Comparing data speeds on the iPhone 4 (photos)

The locations

CNET's garage served as the first location, a natural fit since the above-ground parking lot is constructed from thick, signal-blocking concrete. Next we drove over to Treasure Island, a slug of man-shaped landfill mounds in the middle of the San Francisco Bay that's removed from clusters of cell towers. Next we stopped on a busy downtown street in the Financial District, where tall buildings and throngs of smartphone users add up to often iffy service. Finally, we climbed into the Twin Peaks neighborhood, a high roost that's home to a dead zone for multiple carriers that's confounded Kent time and again.

How they fared

And the winner is...

	CNET GARAGE	TREASURE ISLAND	FINANCIAL DISTRICT	TWIN PEAKS
Download/Upload	Verizon	Verizon	Verizon	Verizon
Photo uploading	Verizon	Verizon	Verizon	AT&T
Load a Web site	Verizon	AT&T	Verizon	Verizon

*We omitted the "bars" test because that indicator doesn't reflect performance testing.
Verizon devotees scored big points as the iPhone on its network consistently outperformed the AT&T iPhone in all but two tests.
However, before you fly Big Red's banner, keep in mind that these results are indicative of our particular experience. Results in your area may differ, and they may also change over time. Although AT&T's HSPA 3G network is technically faster than Verizon's EV-DO, the results don't always align. Coverage depends heavily on your exact location and even the time of day.
Additionally, Verizon was supporting very few iPhones at the time we tested the phone--performance factors could very well change in San Francisco as well once the number of iPhone users grows on Verizon's network. Yes, there are other smartphones on both networks that impact data load, but Verizon could be gaining a much hiegher percentage of high-data users in the near future if new customers flock to the iPhone--either because they're switching from another network or because they're switching from a feature phone. Either way, we plan to revisit testing in several months when there are more Verizon iPhones on the market.

The detailed results

iPhone versus iPhone

	CNET GARAGE	TREASURE ISLAND	FINANCIAL DISTRICT	TWIN PEAKS
Test 1: Number of bars
AT&T	4-5	4-5	5	1-5
Verizon	5	4-5	5	2-5
Test 2: Download/upload speeds*
AT&T	Download: 40Kbps Upload: 28 Kbps	Download: 189Kbps Upload: 24 Kbps	Download: 116Kbps Upload: 173 Kbps	Download: 120Kbps Upload: 130 Kbps
Verizon	Download: 518Kbps Upload: 149 Kbps	Download: 440Kbps Upload: 66 Kbps	Download: 651Kbps Upload: 55 Kbps	Download: 543Kbps Upload: 174 Kbps
Test 3: Photo uploading
AT&T	12 seconds	28 seconds	15 seconds	4 seconds
Verizon	8 seconds	9 seconds	8 seconds	5 seconds
Test 4: Loading a Web site
AT&T	33 seconds	28 seconds	17 seconds	12 seconds
Verizon	10 seconds	66 seconds	12 seconds	11 seconds

*Measurements taken from Root Metrics test. As we mentioned, AT&T bested Verizon in just two of our iPhone tests--loading a Web site faster at Treasure Island (the Verizon iPhone hung for over a minute) and uploading a photo to Facebook from our Twin Peaks test spot. In all other tests, Verizon came out ahead, but not always by much.
Verizon blazed through AT&T's upload and download speeds, according to the Root Metrics tool, with the largest performance chasm taking place in CNET's garage. But more important than the results of a diagnostic tool are the real-world upload and download speeds we conducted using Facebook and Giantbomb.com, and in these tests AT&T's iPhone fell less behind.