Intel Stays With LGA Sockets and 2 Dow Movers See Action

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) might stop its use of the land grid array socket package with the debut of its future Broadwell processors, said Internet chatter this week, as Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet obtained confirmation of the decision from an Intel system original equipment manufacturer and a couple of motherboard manufacturers. The competitor AMD weighed in as well, promising its loyalty to socketed CPUs. As a result, Intel was prompted to address such worries, which would severely put off the enthusiast community that thrives on being able to replace a processor in its builds. The firm  spokesperson Daniel Snyder spoke with Maximum PC, saying that Intel has no intention of abandoning the LGA socket for the “foreseeable future.” Completely transferring to soldered-on CPUs was illogical from the beginning, as Chipzilla would be leaving the enthusiast market to AMD when its competitor is reeling.

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is searching hard for a mobile computing win since Windows Phone has thus far fizzled, leaving the tablet market for the firm to get some traction. The research firm IDC thinks that Microsoft should gain ground in the crowded tablet business during the next few years, with Windows-based devices forecast to get approximately 10 percent market share by 2016, which would still represent only a small bit of the market. iPads will constitute almost 50 percent the market, while some 40 percent will consist of Android-based tablets and IDC projects. However, that would be seen as  an improvement over what Microsoft has experienced in smartphones since it introduced the Windows Phone.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) will likely see its deal with YPF close in the first quarter of next year, while the latter could complete an agreement with Bridas Holding before the end 2012, said Miguel Galuccio at a seminar in London. In September, Chevron signed a memorandum of understanding with YPF through which to explore for unconventional energy in Argentina.

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