hewlett-packard

HP: Voodoo lives on, but 'not immune' to layoffs

Amid reports of layoffs at Hewlett-Packard's Voodoo PC subsidiary, the company has decided to be slightly more clear about what exactly is going on--emphasis on "slightly."

Phil McKinney, an HP vice president and CTO of the Personal Systems Group, under which the Voodoo brand falls, weighed in on the official Voodoo blog Wednesday. The Voodoo brand is currently being integrated with the company's larger consumer PC line, which means that things at the little niche PC outfit from Calgary, Alberta, are also changing.

"Voodoo's limited size and focus on North America had limited its … Read more

Rumor: HP shutting down Voodoo?

This blog has been updated with comments from HP.

A rumor is circulating that Hewlett-Packard is closing the gaming PC outfit it bought just two years ago.

The report comes from a blog called Techgage, which cites an "insider close to the situation," who reports an e-mail announcing layoffs is circulating at the company, though the report doesn't include a specific number of jobs being cut. It also reports that Voodoo is returning parts to its supplier.

HP spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said it would be "incorrect" to say HP is shutting down Voodoo, but didn'… Read more

HP's Hurd on EDS, job cuts

Moments after Hewlett-Packard announced plans Monday to chop more than 24,000 jobs, Chief Executive Mark Hurd defended the company's purchase of EDS, saying it will help the company in the long term.

"The enterprise is big," Hurd said at a meeting with financial analysts. "It's attractive for us and it's heading our way."

As for the integration of EDS, Hurd noted that HP has a history of being able to digest large companies. HP announced plans in May to acquire the computer services firm for $13.9 billion. The deal closed in … Read more

HP to slash 24,600 jobs following EDS buy

Hewlett-Packard on Monday announced plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs over the next three years as it digests its recent purchase of EDS.

The company expects to replace roughly half of these positions over the next three years to create a global workforce that has the right blend of service delivery capabilities to address the diversity of its markets and customers worldwide.

HP announced plans in May to acquire the computer services firm for $13.9 billion. The deal closed in August. The company said that, once it has finished with the cuts, it expects the moves to … Read more

Report: HP trying for 'end-run' around Windows

Is the biggest PC vendor in the world looking to give customers an option besides Windows?

An article appearing in BusinessWeek this week cites anonymous sources who say Hewlett-Packard is at least looking into it. "Sources say employees in HP's PC division are exploring the possibility of building a mass-market operating system," the article states.

The operating system would reportedly be Linux-based, but would be tweaked to be more accessible to mainstream users. Those same sources say it's part of an HP plan to become less dependent on Windows, and to compete better with Apple for … Read more

HP says Voodoo Envy 133 now shipping, hints at new product

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday that the Voodoo Envy 133 laptop introduced in June, is now finally shipping to customers.

It's HP's version of the Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air: incredibly thin and pretty to look at. It was introduced as part of an elaborate product rollout at a high-profile event in Germany.

The Envy is a good example of the kind of design chops and credibility Voodoo brings to HP. When HP bought Voodoo a few years back, the enthusiast PC maker became HP's gaming PC unit, which made sense, especially after Dell bought Alienware.

But soon … Read more

HP laptop claims to break 24-hour battery life barrier

Hewlett-Packard says it has achieved a mobile-computing milestone by getting the HP EliteBook 6930p to operate continuously for 24 hours on a single battery charge. The laptop used in the test is, however, rather different from those consumers would pick up at the store, at least for now.

The machine's equipped with high-end components including Intel solid-state hard drives (SSDs), a mercury-free LED display, and an optional ultra-capacity battery.

The cream-of-the-crop components played a crucial role in making the 24-hour battery life possible. HP says the Illumi-Lite LED display, by itself, boosts battery run time by up to four … Read more

Nvidia, AMD gaming graphics buck green-PC trend

There is an ungreen revolution taking place in enthusiast game PC circles.

The eye-opening graphics possible on today's game PCs come at a cost: light-dimming power consumption. The trend, rooted in the perennial quest for more speed, bucks the overall greening of the PC industry.

Green PC designs have become more than just practical; they're cool. Power-sipping Netbooks are in, as are small desktops like the Dell Studio Hybrid and Hewlett-Packard Pavilion Slimline.

This is not the case for high-end gaming PCs, where bigger is better. How far this trend can go isn't clear, but a seminal … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: New details about last Netflix outage

Netflix now says it has traced the causes of a system outage earlier this month--its longest ever--to a hardware glitch. CNET News reporter Greg Sandoval talks about what that information portends for the soundness of the movie delivery system.

And yet another use for Google Earth--determining which direction cows face! Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Hewlett-Packard seals EDS deal

AT&T expands iPhone international data plans

'Tetris'-like iPhone app to be pulled

Drawings of Android phone revealed

Google launches free ad management tool

Google Earth shows cows point north

Hewlett-Packard seals EDS deal

Hewlett-Packard completed on Tuesday its mega-acquisition of computer services giant EDS.

The deal, worth about $13.9 billion when it was first announced in May, is among the largest in the technology industry. It's also the second largest one for HP since its acquisition of Compaq was completed in 2002.

HP executives have said they are buying EDS to expand HP's business beyond traditional computing and printers. HP has been trying to develop its software and services business over the last few years. EDS adds a service component that will help the company compete head-to-head with IBM.

Annual … Read more