Apple is reportedly on an engineer hiring spree, poaching staff from HTC and other firms in Taiwan, to speed up how quickly it can develop and launch products and new technologies, it's reported. The Cupertino firm's Chinese engineer and operations staff roster is said to have swollen by several hundred over just the past two years, and is now believed to amount to more than 600.
Apple is said to in development on a larger model iPad. This isn't the first time such reports have surfaced, and in this case it looks like the details are calling for a 12-inch iPad. But with that in mind, other reports have suggested Apple was working on a 13-inch model. As with early rumors the details tend to vary, but aside from the specific size, this latest report is coming by way of the Chinese language United Daily News and states that Apple is working with Quanta Computer.
Intel is matchmaking vendors and manufacturers in an attempt to ensure the success of its ultrabook segment, pushing brand names into the embrace of ODMs promising ultraportables as cheap as $599. Epson, Onkyo, ViewSonic, Mustek, Motion Computing, WiPro and Positivo have all placed orders with Pegatron and ECS, DigiTimes reports, after Intel put them altogether for notebook speed-dating .
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) ended 2011 on a high note. AMD stayed competitive against companies like Nvidia and saw sustained sales. It saw a bright year ahead for 2012 with its December launch of the AMD Radeon HD 7970. However, a sticky situation is brewing for AMD to start off the new year.
As you may have heard, Microsoft has a rather large patent portfolio, and over the past few months, they've been pressuring groups working with Google-based operating systems to sign licensing deals with them to avoid patent suits. The newest of these up until today was the Microsoft/Samsung deal which included Android devices and a play to have Samsung paying Microsoft per device produced. A similar situation is now occurring with Quanta Computer Inc, this time the agreement including both Android and Google's Chrome OS.
![RIM kills PlayBook and future tablet plans claims analyst [Update: RIM denies]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/BlackBerry-PlayBook-review-09-SlashGear-580x38812.jpg)
RIM has reportedly frozen production of the BlackBerry PlayBook and axed development of future tablets, according to one analyst, faced with lackluster sales of the QNX slate. The rumor comes from Collins Stewart analyst John Vinh, BGR reports, who cites unnamed sources at Quanta, RIM's manufacturing partner, for the intel. Although Quanta had already confirmed that PlayBook production had been scaled back, this is the first sign that RIM may be rethinking its entire tablet strategy.
Update: RIM has called Vinh's checks on the supply chain "pure fiction"; more after the cut
RIM's plan to cut PlayBook prices next month to stimulate sales of the slate hasn't filled production partner Quanta with confidence: the company has axed 1,000 staff in its northern Taiwan plant. The Canadian company has drastically slashed its orders, according to DigiTimes' sources, after reporting just 200,000 unit shipments of the BlackBerry tablet in Q2.
Hard to believe it, given the torrent of tech yesterday, but Computex 2011 only really kicked off properly in Taipei this morning. Intel delivered the biggest keynote, announcing its Ultrabook platform which, the chip giant hopes, will supplant generic ultraportables and grab 40-percent of the market by the end of next year. Sandy Bridge and, in 2012, Ivy Bridge processors will be inside, with slick sub-0.9-inch chassis and price tags under $1k on the outside. Read on for the rest of our Computex day one wrap-up.
![Qualcomm dual-core Honeycomb tablet outed [Video]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/qualcomm_snapdragon_dual-core_quanta_tablet-820x420.jpg)
Qualcomm's own Uplinq conference may be starting later today in San Diego, but that hasn't stopped the chip company from turning up at Computex with some hardware to play with. Quanta had prepared a 10-inch tablet running on Qualcomm's latest dual-core Snapdragon, NetbookNews reports, running Android 3.0.
The RIM "BlackTab" BlackBerry tablet will apparently be manufactured for the Canadian company by Quanta, with production expected to ship in September 2010 according to DigiTimes. Expected to be priced at $499, it will have both WiFi and Bluetooth, the latter used to tether with a BlackBerry smartphone and access the handset's 3G mobile connectivity.
Touchscreens are the norm today after the iPhone debuted years ago and brought the tech into the mainstream in a huge way. Since then touch screens have been evolving and the number of devices with touchscreens continues to boom. Quanta Computer and 3M have announced a new codeveloped technology at Computex called DST.
![MeeGo gets serious: Wistron, Quanta & CZC tablets spied [Video]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/wistron_w1-tablet-640x420.jpg)
Intel are going full steam ahead with MeeGo at Computex this week, with multiple name-checks for the open-source OS during the keynote and several manufacturers implicated in pushing out MeeGo-based devices. In among the Oak Trail/Canoe Lake information was confirmation that Acer will be developing MeeGo tablets and netbooks, while there are brief details on Quanta's Redvale MeeGo tablet, together with the Wistron W1 and CZC P10T tablets spotted by Carrypad on show at the Intel booth.
Demo video after the cut
