Intel profits dive 90%

In its fourth quarter earnings report, Intel has posted sharply reduced profits and has refused to issue a revenue forecast for the coming quarter, says Computing.co.uk.

CEO Paul Otellini said it earned a $234 million profit for the last three months of 2008, 90% less than the same period a year ago. Overall for the year, profits were down 24%, at $5.3 billion.

“The pace of the decline was dramatic, with reduced demand and inventory reduction in the fourth quarter,” he said.

Researchers say a remarkable material called graphene could soon be used to make flexible and transparent high-speed electronics, says The BBC.

Graphene's incredible mechanical and electronic properties are well known, but it is difficult to make in bulk.

It consists of one-atom-thick layers of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons.

The state of New York has cancelled a $2.1 billion contract to build a wireless network for use by state-wide emergency workers, reports CNet.

Along with the termination letter to Tyco subsidiary M/A-COM, the state's CTO, Melanie Mayberry-Stewart, complained that M/A-COM had not addressed technical problems in work that was already done.

The newspaper has reported that state officials are close to ending the project because problems with tests of the network had them worried the system would not work properly.