August 11 - 1:40pm EDT   VIA has formally quit the business of manufacturing chipsets for third parties, the company tells Custom PC. The semiconductor company has decided against continuing to make chipsets to support AMD and Intel processors and will instead focus on its own processors and their accompanying platforms, such as Pico-ITX (shown) or full reference platforms like the OpenBook. The move is characterized as the end of a long shift away from building for AMD and Intel as they produce more of their work in-house. [full story]

May 27 - 6:00am EDT   VIA this morning set out its version of the future for micro notebooks with the OpenBook. The 8.9-inch portable is the sequel to last year's NanoBook and earns its name through its uniquely open-source chassis. Unlike most stock designs, the blueprints for the outer panels are put under a liberal Share Alike version of the Creative Commons license: this lets third-party PC makers freely remake the outside of the notebook without the trouble of negotiating for a license. The shift will give many companies a unique PC of their own that gets to market for less money and more quickly than rivals, VIA hopes. [full story]