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Transmeta reveals secret project

Ina Fried Former Staff writer, CNET News
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
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Ina Fried

For some months, chipmaker Transmeta has said in regulatory filings that it has been working on a special project for Microsoft.

A lack of detail led to all sorts of speculation. Could it be some new kind of handheld PC? portable Xbox? Maybe a hovercraft?

Well, it turns out to be none of the above. The company was developing a chip designed to take advantage of Microsoft's FlexGo pay-as-you-go concept for emerging markets. The company's chip offers hardware support for Microsoft's plan for a PC that can be paid for by the minute.

"The mystery is solved," Transmeta CEO Art Swift told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Once again, conspiracy theory turns out to be more fun than reality. Sigh...