AMD lets go of 1,400 employess, some senior staff included

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will  reportedly lay off 1,400 employees which make up 10% of its workforce. The embattled microchip maker has struggled of late with manufacturing setbacks and its failure to stake a claim in the burgeoning mobile chip market which powers smartphones and tablets. 

A report from the Wall Street Journal disclosed "the moves will trigger about $105 million in restructuring charges, and save more than $200 million in operating costs in 2012. AMD said it will plow some of the savings into newer business areas, including chips for devices such as tablet-style computers, in emerging markets and Internet-related opportunities known as cloud computing."

Managers and lower lever employees are among those who are to be let go. AMD is facing competition from longtime rival Intel in the desktop, notebook and netbook space while being pummeled by ARM in the mobile fron which looks to be gearing up towards the lower-priced desktop space that AMD once thived in. AMD's strongest  products right now are their graphics processors.

Sources: Wall Street Journal Online

Mophie Juice Pack Outdoor Edition powers iPhone 4/4S in the wild

mophie is venturing into the great outdoors with today’s announcement of its new juice pack outdoor edition, a hardware and GPS app bundle that gives iPhone 4 and 4S users access to twice the battery power and more than 650,000 map images for on-the-go navigation.

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Kobo Vox is available in bookstores today

Kobo today announced that the new Kobo Vox eReader, the world’s first social eReader, is now available in stores and online at leading retailers including Indigo (www.indigo.ca), Future Shop (www.futureshop.ca), Best Buy (www.bestbuy.ca), and Kobo.com for a MSRP of $199.99.  Kobo Vox eReader is available online directly from U.S. retailers including Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com) and Fry’s (www.frys.com) for $199.99.

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iPhone 4S battery bugs acknowledged, fix coming in a few weeks

iPhone 4S owners experiencing less than stellar battery life are not alone and Apple has acknowledged that they have found some bugs which will be fixed in a subsequent iOS update. A few tips to manage battery life better include turning off Location Services, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi are just a few of the tips that have worked for some. Buying a Mophie Juice Pack or an XtremeMac InCharge case should double battery life but these cases are somewhat bulky.

“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” an Apple spokesperson told The Loop. “We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.”

On a related note, Apple is seeding iOS 5.0.1 to developers which means that an update is on the horizon.

Affected by the iPhone 4S battery life issues? Let us know.

Source: The Loop