Sony rubbishes sale rumours

Sony is looking at ways to improve its chip operations, but has reached no decision, the company said yesterday, denying Japanese media reports that it has a deal to sell the business to Toshiba, reports Business Week.

Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said nothing has been decided on such a deal.

Japan's top business daily, The Nikkei, reported on Saturday that Sony has decided to sell its advanced computer chips production operations to Toshiba, a Japanese electronics maker with which Sony and IBM collaborate to make the Cell microprocessor. The technology is used in Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console and other advanced gadgets.

Google has released a beta version of Presentations, a Web-based clone of Microsoft PowerPoint, reports TG Daily.

Adding to its portfolio of Web-based applications, Google Presentations allows users to create slideshows and share them with the world or with a defined set of contacts.

It can also be used as a free, basic alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint, allowing users to block any outside access to their documents.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini gave investors, developers and its competitors plenty to digest during his keynote address, at the Intel Developer Forum yesterday. He laid out the chipmaker's faster, lighter and more energy-efficient vision for what he called the "next mainstream", says Internet News.

Before delving into Intel's ambitious future plans to reduce the idling power consumption of its chips by a factor of 10 by 2010 and deliver a new generation of graphics-integrated processors developed on its 45nm manufacturing technology by 2009, Otellini clarified exactly what is going on in the here and now.

He confirmed Intel will launch the server and high-end desktop versions of its Penryn generation chips on 12 November and announced the company has completed the design for its radically redesigned Nehalem micro architecture.

Underdog mobile operator Sprint Nextel quietly rolled out an emerging technology to give customers a strong cellular signal and flat-rate calling at home, says PC World.

In parts of Denver and Indianapolis, Sprint started selling a femtocell, a small cellular base station that provides service specifically to a customer's home.

The Sprint Airave, made by Samsung Electronics, costs $49.99 and is designed for people to install in their own homes by plugging it into a broadband Internet connection. They then pay a flat monthly rate - $15 for an individual and $30 for a family - for unlimited local and nationwide long-distance calls while at home.