July 1 - 10:25am EDT   Dell on Tuesday introduced the Your Tech Team support option for its PCs. The nationwide service follows a New York City pilot project and gives owners of any Dell-branded device quicker access to technicians, the ability to schedule contact with a specific technician, and the ability to support at least some non-warranty problems. Performance tuning, network setup, and security are also available for a fee during the calls, Dell says. [full story]

June 24 - 5:00pm EDT   Seagate is rumored to be looking into buying out Intel's 49 percent stake in the IM Flash Technologies joint venture between the chip maker and Micron, a flash memory manufacturer, according to analysts. That is just one option for Seagate, but the analysts say the company would be better off buying into SanDisk, as it is not involved with any other companies and is less costly. Furthermore, they maintain that Seagate needs to purchase or team up with a NAND flash memory maker in order to be successful in its solid state drive (SSD) production. [full story]

May 29 - 9:05am EDT   Intel's NAND flash group today introduced the first flash memory to be made on a sub-40 nanometer manufacturing process. Based on a 34nm process, the chip co-developed with Micron holds 32 gigabits (4GB) like the highest-end flash chips but does so in a standard package smaller than a thumbnail; this lets manufacturers build in the extra storage without having to significantly overhaul their existing hardware, Intel says. The company also hopes it will drive the cost down of expanding storage without affecting size. [full story]

April 1 - 7:00pm EDT   Micron Technology today unveiled 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM modules, and announced its previously released 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB DDR3 modules are fully certified to work with Intel's upcoming Centrino 2 platform. The memory, rated at 1333MHz, requires a 64-bit aware operating system, such as Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, or a 64-bit version of Windows XP or Vista. The 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB modules are currently in production, with 4GB modules following later in Q2 2008. [full story]

March 27 - 4:10pm EDT   Memory producer Rambus today revealed that it will petition for an injunction against industry rival Hynix, barring the latter from shipping RAM that allegedly infringes on Rambus patents. The action was requested after a federal court green-lighted legal efforts against Hynix as well as fellow memory producers Micron and Nanya, saying that the move to enforce patents would not tread on US antitrust laws. Rambus has said it would be willing to license the patents in exchange for royalties for memory sold. [full story]

March 11 - 1:20am EDT   Apple is sending worrying signs that it hasn't ordered any significant amounts of the NAND flash memory it needs, say some of its Asian manufacturers. Although the company bought as much as $1.3 billion in memory over 2007, it hasn't started large orders since 2008 began and is effectively forcing its suppliers to sell flash below cost due to oversupply. Even the MacBook Air, which needs a large 64GB of memory for its solid-state drive, isn't enough to help clear stock due to its high price and low volume, according to the reports. [full story]

February 1 - 8:40am EST   Intel and Micron today announced a new, extra-quick variant on NAND flash memory that should significantly alter the landscape for mass storage. By using the new ONFI 2.0 (Open NAND Flash Interface) spec combined with higher clock speeds and a four-level cell process, the unnamed technology transfers data up to five times faster than conventional technology. Where even normally quick single-level cell memory reads data at 40 megabytes per second and writes at 20 megabytes per second or less, the new technology reads and writes at 200 and 100 megabytes per second respectively, eliminating one of the final barriers to outperforming rotating hard drives. [full story]

November 28 - 3:40pm EST   Although long known as a RAM producer, Micron has only just introduced its first SSD flash drives, the RealSSD line. Coming in 1.8- and 2.5-inch sizes, the drives are limited to 32 or 64GB capacities, but bring with them a few distinguishing traits. They use a native SATA II interface instead of a bridge chip for example, and can be removed from a computer without turning off power beforehand. They also consume a mere 2W when active, and less when idling or in standby. Plastic casing is said to cut weight by at least 50 percent over similar-sized HDDs. [full story]