e-Shopping Benefits Coming Soon to a Store Near You

posted by Alison Wesley on March 31, 2009

I really enjoy the convenience of online shopping, as well as the "added intelligence" that Internet-based technologies provide (like making recommendations based on my shopping habits). Often, though, I am disappointed. The package arrives on my doorstep, I open it up with anticipation and then a frown appears as I look at the item and it doesn't remotely resemble what I saw online or it doesn't fit well.


The salesperson in a brick and mortar shopping experience, on the other hand, doesn't know my shopping preferences, my past purchases or what current merchandise would go well with what I already have in my closet. We haven't had the ability to marry the benefits of estores and brick and mortar retailers - until now.

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Netbooks vs Laptops

posted by Annie Frost on March 30, 2009

SmartMoney published a great play on the PC vs Mac series to showcase the differences between Netbooks and Laptops on YouTube a while back...

To help you better understand the differences, Intel published a quick cheat sheet comparing the two products... Hope this is helpful!

Intel's Netbook vs Laptop Primer

 

The Next Generation of Women in Tech

posted by Kiesha Cochrane on March 26, 2009

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You Know You Need to Upgrade Your PC When...

posted by Kari Aakre on March 25, 2009

... you really need your PC to work. Here's my story... (and please share yours, too, if you have one!)

Three weeks ago, we were robbed at home. I won't get into the details of what happened except to say that you should ALWAYS lock your door, even if someone is home and even if you're taking your dog for a quick 5 minute walk around the block. Oh, and don't carry your check book in your purse.

Anyway, my purse (along with wallet, all credit cards, check book, etc.) and my work laptop were stolen. I immediately noticed they were gone and we called the police. I also knew that I had to call the banks and credit card companies. I was too frazzled to recall account numbers and I had to find the phone numbers for all of these cards and banks. But what's a girl to do when her laptop was also stolen? I wasn't about to resort to the old phone book.

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Monsters vs. Aliens Movie Premiere

posted by Michael Brito on March 25, 2009

(See pics from the movie premiere below)

Imagine if you will a paddle ball on a rubber band shooting out and the entire movie-going audience shifting to the right to avoid getting hit.  When Jeffrey Katzenberg said that Intru™ 3D helped deliver immerse storytelling he wasn't joking.  I had the opportunity to take my 5-year-old son to the premiere for Monsters vs. Aliens this past week end.  He sat through the entire movie, first time ever, that should tell you something right there. 

Let me start with the movie premiere.  After deftly explaining to my son why the 2-mile line of press wasn't taking our pictures, we were equipped with 3D glasses, popcorn, cotton candy, foam B.O.B figures and soda cups with monster bobble heads.  This was merchandising heaven - I can't wait until it hits the stores!  Actually I can, but Noah is pretty excited for some Monsters vs. Aliens fruit snacks, pajamas, cereal, t-shirts, Happy Meals* and three thousand other items.  I better start saving now.

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Chris Brogan interacts with a MID @ SxSW

posted by Michael Brito on March 25, 2009

Check out Brogan's review of MIDS (Mobile Internet Devices) at SXSW 2009. He's hangin' with Intel friends Bryan Rhoads, Jeff Moriarty, and Steve "Chippy" Paine from MIDMoves.com. Filmed by the man, the myth, the legend, Ken Kaplan.  My favorite quote ... "You can fit this in your pocket; it's like a wrench."

 

March Madness - WiMAX Style

posted by Bill Kircos on March 18, 2009

What a month for wireless broadband news...and it's only just after St. Patrick's Day.  The press sure loves a controversy, and within the last 20 days or so, we've seen a slew of news ranging from LTE planning some 30 or so cities by 2010 to Clearwire initially facing some press scrutiny -- but then following up with an 80-city rollout plan, including Vegas, Chicago and even Honolulu to many more in 2010. And, bringing a telecom veteran to run the company.

The good news here is, if LTE can get its technology specification done -- and get the money and engineering to start testing and rolling out its network on top of just deploying 3G -- those who crave a super-fast wireless connection will be super-pleased as LTE catches up. 

And the final touches on WiMAX "version 2" around 2010 will further boost things.  No doubt some of the success of WiMAX, and reviews that have exceeded expectations, have played a role in seeing the LTE folks move up their delivery times some 3 or more years.  This is a good thing.

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Thin and Sexy

posted by Bill Kircos on March 17, 2009

Okay, that's a weak attempt to add sex to a headline to get you all to read this post. It could've been worse, I was thinking of some over-used St. Paddy's Day pun.

Big congrats to Dell on their Adamo laptop, it's beautiful. Dell joins the also very thin, light and sexy laptops that the Lenovo X301 and Apple MacBook Air are offering. The ultra mobile era is definitely upon us.

Does the processor matter here? Intel engineers dusted off an R&D silicon prototype and our product design team shaped it into a chip some 60% smaller than our regular laptop processors to help fit some of these laptops. Obviously the low power plus high performance combo contributes in multiple ways on size, battery life and performance.

But as much, so does the process, or manufacturing techniques used. This includes the tinier 45-nanometer manufacturing (and later this year 32-nanometer shift) we use and reinvented transistor formula.

That formula uses a Hafnium-based, high-k formula, which also has a second generation coming.

Now, if only my diet could be re-engineered like this.

 

The evolution of my computer chronology, continued

posted by Michael Brito on March 17, 2009

A few days ago, I asked wrote a post highlighting the evolution of my computer chronology. I decided to ask the question to my friends on Twitter and Facebook and I received some really awesome feedback. Check out the results. Can you find any patterns here?

From Facebook ...

And from Twitter, with the first one from a previous intern here at Intel last summer.  Thanks J. 

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Intel Posse and a Dozen MIDs Gettin' Busy at SXSW Interactive

posted by Ken Kaplan on March 12, 2009

A posse of Intel employees representing Arizona, California and Oregon are heading to the South by Southwest Interact festival from March 13-17.

We’ll be packin’ 15 new Mobile Internet Devices (MID), each powered by the tiny, might Intel Atom processor. If the wireless Gods are kind enough, three of the MIDs will be connected to the Internet through 3G while the others will tap into Wi-Fi available around downtown Austin, TX.

We’ll be there meeting with developers, mobile gadget experts like MIDmoves and many of the talented Intel Insiders like Frank Gruber, Brian Solis, Irina Slutsky, Sarah Austin and hopefully iJustin.

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Culture Cube

posted by Bill Kircos on March 12, 2009

At Intel, our internal employee intranet 'newsletter' is called Circuit. Over the past year or so, Circuit -- and really all of Intel's internal online tools ranging from a very fertile internal blog to our very own wiki (called Intelpedia) -- have been upgraded to be much more 'social media-ized."

One of the more popular daily features allows employees to submit a survey poll, which then the rest of us can vote and view the results. Some are very helpful, such as when I asked employees to vote on how they get their news and from what media and blogs.

Today's caught my eye - it asked: "what is the most annoying workplace cube habit?" The vote buttons included a. loud talkers; b. fingernail clipping; c. stinky lunches; d. too much personal info on the phone; e. loud-ringing phone; and f. too much socializing.

Before I reveal my vote, and ask for yours, two things struck me. First, the question and fact that Intel has a survey and allows questions like this alone provides more than just a glimpse into our culture. And second, it begs the question of whether cubes are effective in a work environment.

If you mostly value your job based on title and/or office size, Intel isn't for you. Cubes have been around forever, and yes our CEO has one. In the PR department, we all carry pretty much the same title, Media or Analyst Relations Manager, whether you're a college grad or veteran.

Cubes were put in by Intel many, many years ago to encourage socializing, discussion and speed of decision-making. Every single day, you will find people in each other's cubes (or yelling over them) debating, proposing and having some fun. We've even taken a couple of floors in Oregon, Arizona and California and are testing concept offices that have zero walls and more temporary areas for telecommuters.

Incidentally, Conan O'Brien was at Intel in 2007 and really had a good time mocking our cube culture. Worth the watch.

So, I voted c - stinky lunches. Almost 15,000 Intel employees voted today. 'Loud talking' is winning overall by almost a 2:1 ratio. So here's where I apologize to my cube-mates: being greek, I don't doubt that I indeed have some weird-smelling food sometimes, and being in PR with a loud voice, I probably qualify for q, e and f, too. Apologies.

 

The evolution of my computer chronology

posted by Michael Brito on March 11, 2009

note: Dates are approximate due to aging and the fact that I don't keep a journal.

The year was 1988 and it was my first encounter with a computer; an Apple Macintosh 2. I remember like it was yesterday. I was in the 8th grade and I would race home in the afternoon to play Dark Castle. This was the first and last time I have ever used an Apple computer; even though I really, really want one.

Eight years later was my second encounter with a computer and I promised myself to never let that much time to go by again. It was a hand me down IBM computer with a 486 processor that my girlfriend (now wife) gave me. I was in college at the time so I mainly used to write papers, play Solitaire and track my Madden 96 football stats.  It was on this computer that I also discovered AOL chat rooms but we won't go there. That computer lasted me several years!

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Intel Science Talent Search Finalists Meet President Obama

posted by Kari Aakre on March 10, 2009

I'm feeling pretty old today. Why? Well, I've spent some time thinking back to my high school days and trying to figure out how excited I'd have been to meet the President of the United States back then. I'm also trying to imagine what it would be like to have competed in a gigantic science fair where I could have won a huge scholarship for college. [Unfortunately for me, science and math were never my strong suits.]

So, its with some jealousy that I write this post about the 40 high school Intel Science Talent Search (STS) finalists who have been in Washington D.C. since March 6 to compete for more than a half million dollars in scholarships and prizes. These kids are brilliant -- literally. They are the nation's top high school scientists and as part of their involvement with the Intel STS program, they got to visit the White House yesterday and shake hands with President Obama. They also discussed with him their views on the role of math and science education in solving some of today's most important and pressing global challenges.

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Intel Science Talent Search

posted by Kiesha Cochrane on March 06, 2009

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Intel Provides a Glimpse into Tomorrow's Technology Today

posted by Alison Wesley on March 05, 2009

Most people have "that" person they go to for advice on technology - "that" person may even by you!

"That" person provides free tech support for the extended family, stands outside in the pouring rain at all hours to get the first iPhone or new Playstation and has every gadget known to man.

I am not "that" person.

I am like many 30-something year-old women. I like technology for what it does to make my life better, easier, more productive and fun. I don't care how it works - I just want it to be up and running at the simple click of a button

.

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Intel Inside Twitter

posted by Ken Kaplan on March 04, 2009

This week, @intel came alive inside the Twitterverse.

A wise employee set up the account a while ago and graciously gave the keys to Intel’s Center of Excellence, a team brain-powered by @bryanrhoads and @kellyrfeller who helped form Intel’s official social media guidelines and Digital IQ curriculum for employees around the world.

My Global Communications teammate @kfcochrane and I (@kenekaplan) will lead @intel into the future with help from Intel employees throughout the company…and others in the Twittersphere interested in Intel.

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25 Random Things About Intel

posted by Becky Emmett on March 04, 2009

Facebook notes have become quite prevalent recently, with quite a bit of attention around the '25 Random Things' list.  In the spirit of keeping up with the times, Intel created its own 25 Things list.  You'll likely discover something new about Intel - we're more than just bunny suits and silicon you know!  As a preview, I've included a couple items from the list below.

• I may have one of the world's largest cube farms - all employees have cubes, even my CEO doesn't get an office.
• My manufacturing employees who spend their days inside the "fab" - or factory - refer to the rest of my employees as "carpet-dwellers."
• My factories reclaim more than 3 billion gallons of water each year, and I am the largest purchaser of green power in the U.S. according to the EPA.
• I live by the motto "bigger is not better."

 Be sure to check out the full list.  Find anything surprising?  Let us know!

 

Innovative Women: Deborah Conrad

posted by Alison Wesley on March 02, 2009

To celebrate Women's History Month, we're bringing you stories about the great female minds inside of Intel's walls, including Deborah Conrad, vice president and general manager of Intel's Corporate Marketing Group.

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And the Winners Are...

posted by Kari Aakre on March 02, 2009

Today we announced the winners of the What's Inside You contest. Congratulations to the top 3 winners and to all who participated in the contest. Thank you for sharing your story about how you're using Intel processors to do something amazing.

Though the contest has come to a close, you can still submit your story here to be featured on the What's Inside You website. We're actively considering future contests and will keep everyone posted through the Inside Scoop.

So, without further ado... read on to learn more about the grand, first and second place winners, as well as about the cool prizes they won.

Grand prize winner: Beautiful as blown glass, made from family photos by MangoCats
MangoCats uses an Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based PC to create "art from photographcs and chaotic strange attractors."
MangoCats won a choice of an Intel Centrino 2-based laptop valueed up to $3,000, as well as $300 in cash and a $200 gift certificate from Amazon.com

First place winner: Blix by Ari
Ari used a Centrino processor technology powered laptop on a home automation project called Blix. He and his teammates created a device that can communicate with any electronic device via Short Message Service (SMS) and the Internet.
Ari won a choice of an Intel Centrino 2-based laptop valued up to $2000, as well as $200 in cash and a $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com

Second place winner: Intel helped me graduate! by Eric Gebhardt
Eric used and Intel Core 2 Quad processor-based PC to work on his architecture projects for school. He recently graduate and says he could not have done so well without the Intel processor.
Eric won an Intel Atom-based netbook valued up to $1,000, as well as $200 in cash