INTEL BUYS INFINIBAND UNIT FROM QLOGIC FOR $125M: SANTA CLARA (AP) — Intel Corp. on Monday said it had agreed to buy Qlogic Corp.'s line of Infiniband adapters, used to tie processors together into supercomputing clusters, for $125 million.
Inifiniband is a networking standard espoused by several companies. It features high data rates over short distances, making it suitable for combining the computing power of many machines into one big supercomputer.
Intel said the acquisition would help it reach the goal of supplying computers that can perform one exaflop, or a quintillion calculations, per second.
GOOGLE'S 4Q LOBBYING BILL TRIPLES TO $3.76 MILLION: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's U.S. lobbying bill more than tripled to $3.76 million in the fourth quarter as the Internet search leader fought proposed changes to online piracy laws and sought to influence a wide range of other issues that could affect its fortunes.
For all of 2011, Google spent $9.7 million on political persuasion, nearly doubling from $5.2 million in 2010.
YAHOO'S 4Q RESULTS EXPECTED TO BE ANOTHER DOWNER:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings report is likely to crystallize the challenges facing the troubled Internet company's newly hired CEO, Scott Thompson.
The results, due out after the stock market closes Tuesday, are expected to mark the 13th consecutive quarter in which Yahoo's net revenue has fallen from the previous year. The downturn has occurred during a time when advertisers have been spending more money on the Internet, a trend that should be working in Yahoo's favor because it boasts an online audience of 700 million people.
Facebook consumed nearly 15 percent of the time that people in the U.S. spent on the Internet as of late last year while Google grabbed nearly 11 percent, according to a Citigroup analysis based on data from the research firm comScore Inc. Yahoo's share of online time in the U.S. stood at 9 percent as of November last year, down from a peak of 14 percent in late 2006.
NETFLIX'S 4Q RESULTS TO CLOSE BOOKS ON WILD YEAR: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings report should give a better idea on whether investors' recently restored faith in the video subscription service is justified.
The results, due out after the stock market closes Wednesday, will close the curtains on a year that started splendidly and ended horribly.
