New, slower chips for mobiles

In a break with its tradition of making faster computer processors, Intel`s newest chip, called Centrino, will be slower than current processors. However, the company says it will make laptop batteries last longer and will have built-in networking capabilities. The new chip, previously code-named Banias, is planned for release within the first half of this year.

The first Centrino components will use the 802.11b wireless, or WiFi standard. By the end of the second quarter, Intel will release a version that uses the faster 802.11a standard. [SiliconValley]

Sun Microsystems is throwing cash at its salespeople in an effort to boost software sales. The company is reportedly tripling the commissions it gives its salespeople when the deal involves software.

Much of the software Sun sells stems from the iPlanet project, a sales and development partnership between AOL Time Warner`s Netscape server software division and Sun Microsystems. Until a year ago, iPlanet was a division kept separate from the rest of Sun. In the last year, though, it`s been renamed the Sun Open Network Environment (Sun ONE) and had its independence eliminated. Sun ONE and Sun`s Java software are sold as part of an integrated collection of hardware and software, including Sun`s servers and its Solaris operating system. A key part of this technology merge is adapting higher-level software so it becomes just another feature of the operating system.

The incentive programme is designed in part to encourage Sun salespeople who have focused on selling hardware to achieve "much greater literacy in software", says Barbara Gordon, VP of worldwide software sales at Sun. [ZDNet]

Sony yesterday updated its Memory Stick line-up with three new options: the Pro, Duo and Select products. Pro cards will be produced at capacities up to 1GB, which matches the size of the latest SD cards introduced yesterday. The Memory Stick Pro transfers data at up to 160Mbps, with a minimum data rate of 15Mbps.

Sony also announced the tiny MagicGate Memory Stick Duo, which the company is planning for release later this year. The duo is one-third the volume and half the weight of a standard Memory Stick. The new card is designed for use with smaller digital devices, including cellphones and wearable portable audio players.

The third change to the range is the Memory Stick Select, an option that allows users to select individual 128Mb flash blocks within a larger card. The Select option allows users to designate blocks for office data, personal files or other uses. [ExtremeTech]

Geek.com reports that Microsoft is discussing licensing its Windows Media Player (WMP) technology, now at version 9, to third-parties. This means WMP may become available for other platforms for the first time.

Microsoft is also, of course, attempting to take hold of the entertainment market in which a ubiquitous player would be a great help.

The licensing fees are fairly aggressive, with the decoder costing 10 US cents per licence and the encoder 20c. Together, however, they will cost 25c. Comparatively, the MPEG-4 licence costs 25c for decoder or encoder with pricing for buying just one or the other. [Geek.com]

Sony announced yesterday it had sold 8.5 million PlayStation 2 game consoles during the holiday shopping season in November and December. This is up 24% from a year ago.

The figures, largely in line with analysts` expectations, showed Sony still far out-selling consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo, which hit the shelves more than a year after the PlayStation 2.

Sony`s results also belied signs of weakness in the game sector. "Most are saying the source of weakness is that [Microsoft`s] Xbox and [Nintendo`s] Game Cube underperformed their expectations and that PlayStation was strong," says analyst Zachary Liggett. [Reuters]