Apple Announces New T-Bolt, Quad-core iMacs

Apple has announced a refresh for its iMac line, adding in support for Intel’s Thunderbolt technology and next generation quad-core CPUs.

Those of you holding off on purchasing an iMac because you were expecting a refresh any day can breathe easy and prepare for a little shopping, because Apple today announced the new line. The 2011 models marry Intel’s quad-core Core i-series CPUs with AMD Radeon HD graphics and a little Thunderbolt action for good measure. Facetime users will be pleased to note that the new iMacs will ship with support for that, too.

IBM Files Flexible Capacity SSD Patent

IBM filed a patent that describes an SSD that can be adjusted to its capacity as well as drive life.

The basic idea is that users can either choose to leverage the full capacity of the SSD or reduce the size and reserve some of the memory cells as a safety net when other memory cells fail. In effect, less capacity can provide a longer drive life.

IBM envisions that users can configure the desired drive life in combination with a minimum storage capacity, which will be done via the firmware of the SSD: "Based on the user configuration and the utilization, a portion of the SSD memory devices is allocated as available memory, and another portion of the SSD memory devices is reserved as overprovisioned memory, to be used as fallback when available memory devices reach their PE wear out threshold," the patent states.

Hackers Trying to Sell PSN Data, Incl Credit Cards

If you have a PSN account, there's a good chance that hackers who infiltrated Sony's systems in the intrusion this month stole your personal information.

Now there are murmurs on the internet from those who wish to sell the information that they claimed to have come from PSN. Most frightening is that those who claim to have their hands on this information say that they also have credit card data.

Sony assured its PSN users that credit card data was encrypted and did not appear to be stolen, so at this point it's difficult to verify what is the truth.

Panasonic Announces 17,000 Job Cuts

Panasonic has announced a decision to cut 17,000 of its employees.

Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic has said it will cut five percent of its workforce as part of efforts to restructure and streamline the company and recover losses from Japan’s March 11 earthquake. The cuts, expected to take up to two years to complete, will reduce the company’s numbers to 350,000. Currently, Panasonic’s headcount is just shy of 367,000 people. Also on the cards is the closure of up to 20 percent of Panasonic’s manufacturing facilities. 

Next Snapdragon CPU: 2.5GHz, 75% Less Power

Qualcomm has said its next Snapdragon processors will bring console-quality gaming to mobile devices

Samsung made headlines last week when it promised a 2GHz smartphone CPU for 2012. It wasn’t long ago that such a thing didn’t even seem possible, and the news sparked plenty of conversations about how fast the industry is moving. However, it seems Samsung’s lofty promise has already been outdone by Qualcomm, which is planning new single, dual and quad core Snapdragons that will reach clock speeds 2.5GHz.