DRAM makers post massive losses after chip glut, ecomomic downturn

Taiwan's five largest DRAM makers reported massive losses in a slew of earnings reports filed late on Thursday evening, raising questions about how much longer some of them can remain afloat without direct government aid.

The losses call into question Taiwan's plan to restructure its ailing DRAM industry. The government tapped Taiwan Memory Company (TMC) to take the lead in a restructuring and originally offered to invest NT$100 billion ($2.98 billion). But TMC has said it plans to focus on chip design technology and only needs NT$30 billion.

But the original intent of TMC was to restructure an industry that holds NT$430 billion in debt, much of it owed to Taiwanese banks. Rising losses mean companies will not be able to pay back their loans.

An official from Taiwan's economics ministry said a final allotment for the DRAM industry has not been finalized.

TMC did not respond to phone calls nor emails, but Friday was a public holiday in Taiwan.

The DRAM industry sank into the doldrums two years ago as a slew of new factories caused a chip glut, sending down DRAM prices. DRAM chip prices fell to well below the cost to make them last year and have remained below that level. Companies, however, can't stop making the chips because they need money to meet loan payments.

Nanya Technology and Inotera Memories say the first quarter of this year will mark a bottom for the industry, according to presentation material from their investor conferences. Judging by the numbers, it's hard to imagine how things could get much worse without some companies exiting the business.

Combined losses of NT$35.93 billion

The combined losses of Taiwan's five biggest DRAM companies in the first quarter of this year eclipsed sales.

The five companies reported a combined net loss of NT$35.93 billion in the first quarter, up from a net loss of NT$32.51 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue was chopped in half to NT$21.39 billion from NT$46.99 billion.

Powerchip Semiconductor said its net loss in the first quarter narrowed to NT$6.29 billion from a loss of NT$9.74 billion at the same time last year. But its revenue fell to NT$3.92 billion compared to NT$14.84 billion last year.

ProMOS Technologies reported its net loss widened to NT$8.60 billion from a loss of NT$8.05 billion the same time last year. Its revenue slumped to just NT$1.81 billion from NT$7.64 billion.

Winbond Electronics posted a net loss of NT$5.22 billion during the first quarter, up from a loss of NT$1.76 billion the same time last year. Revenue was halved to NT$3.13 billion from NT$6.57 billion.

Only Inotera Memories reported revenue that is higher than its losses. The company's net loss was NT$5.32 billion, up from a loss of NT$4.18 billion last year, on revenue of NT$6.36 billion, which was down from NT$8.80 billion last year.

Nanya Technology reported the worst first quarter net loss, NT$10.51 billion, higher than the NT$8.78 billion last year. Revenue was NT$6.17 billion, down from NT$9.14 billion

What's worse is the companies' 2008 earnings reports, also filed late Thursday with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which showed a fourth quarter record for the worst combined losses for the group, NT$64.74 billion.

Powerchip Semiconductor reported the biggest fourth quarter net loss of the group, NT$25.5 billion, followed by ProMOS Technologies at NT$13.63 billion.

For all of last year, the five DRAM makers reported a combined net loss of NT$159.49 billion, more than a four-fold increase over a net loss of NT$36.99 billion in 2007. Revenue in 2008 totaled NT$179.17 billion, down from NT$255.94 billion.

A bigger problem for some of the companies is keeping up with new technology, according to a report from investment bank Credit Suisse. Manufacturing technology is the name of the game in DRAM, and without money to buy new machinery and upgrade production lines, companies fall further and further behind.

Nanya Technology and Inotera Memories have access to funds through their conglomerate, the Formosa Plastics Group, as well as a US partner, Micron Technology. The other three companies are less fortunate because they either lack the money or access to technology to complete such upgrades, Credit Suisse said.

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Survey: Apple to reap reward of stronger consumer confidence

The first uptick in consumer confidence in 17 months is good news for Apple, market research firm ChangeWave said on Thursday.

According to Paul Carton, ChangeWave's research director, the company's April survey of 3,200 consumers showed a two-point increase, from 6 per cent to 8per cent, in the number of people who said they planned to buy a laptop in the next 90 days - the first gain since November 2007.

If it pans out, the increase means Apple can breathe a little easier. "The economy is finally starting to move in Apple's direction," Carton said during a conference call Thursday. "Overall, laptop sales look like they'll be hopping in the future, and that means Apple is well-positioned going forward."

Carton based his optimism on the fact that, of those consumers who said they would buy a laptop in the next three months, 29 per cent planned to buy an Apple laptop. While that number is down a point from February, it's up two points from January.

That would be good news for Apple, which last month said it had sold just 2.2 million Macs - 1.4 million of them laptops - to report its first year-to-year decline in computer sales in nearly six years.

But netbooks, the smaller, lighter and cheaper laptops that are quickly gaining market share, are the proverbial fly in Apple's ointment, said Carton. Almost one-fourth of the people who said they planned to buy a laptop added that the machine would be a netbook; the 23 per cent who said last month they planned to buy one in the next 90 days was up from February's 18 per cent and January's 14 per cent, a noteworthy surge.

Apple doesn't have a product in the under-$500 range that traditionally defines the netbook category - its cheapest laptop is the $999 (719) last-generation MacBook.

And although rumours continue to swirl about Apple rolling out something to compete in the category this year, nothing has been announced.

"There are some contradictory trends here [for Apple]," acknowledged Carton, referring to the upside of a better outlook for laptops in general but the downside of encroaching netbooks. "Sometimes the world is filled with many shades of gray."

Optimistic about Apple

Mike Abramsky, a Wall Street analyst with RBC Capital who joined the conference call, was blunter, though like Carton, he was optimistic about Apple. "The market is definitely shifting down in price, so Apple may need to introduce products to target that low end," said Abramsky.

"That could show as lower pricing of existing products, or it could be a tablet, but it's not likely that Apple is going to shift away from its existing value proposition." That last phrase is Wall-Street speak for Apple's high prices, and resulting high margins, something rival Microsoft has used to its advantage in recent television advertising.

"How Apple wrestles with this growing netbook category will be important," Abramsky said. "But the Mac franchise isn't dead at all."

Like other analysts, Abramsky added that although Macs will remain a major revenue stream, he's pinning most of his hopes for Apple's growth on the iPhone and App Store business.

"At June's WWDC [Worldwide Developers Conference], we think Apple will introduce a "pro" version of the iPhone, as well as a price cut on the existing iPhone," he said. "The pro won't be as revolutionary as the iPhone 3G last year, but it will continue the advantage that Apple has in the smartphone market."

Contrary to other rumours, Apple won't launch a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone - some have dubbed it an "iPhone Nano," referencing the small iPod - said Abramsky. "We're not convinced that a nano iPhone will be introduced this year, but we know one's in the pipeline for next year," he said, adding that such a model would be perfect as pre-paid phone or as an inexpensive iPhone to sell in countries like China.

"What [ChangeWave's] data shows is that consumer sentiment is improving, and will allow Apple to sustain support for its value proposition," concluded Abramsky.

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French hacker breaks into Twitter, takes screenshots to back claims

For the second time this year, a hacker has gained administrative access to a Twitter employee's account.

On Wednesday, an anonymous hacker going by the name of Hacker Croll posted 13 screenshots to a French online discussion forum, apparently captured while logged into the Twitter account of Jason Goldman, a director of product management with Twitter.

Twitter CEO Biz Stone confirmed the breach in a blog post on Thursday afternoon. "This week, unauthorised access to Twitter was gained by an outside party," he wrote. "Our initial security reviews and investigations indicate that no account information was altered or removed in any way. However, we discovered that 10 individual accounts were viewed during this unauthorised access."

According to the screenshots, Hacker Croll was able to access account information belonging to high-profile Twitter users such as Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher. He could also do things such as add or remove featured users, who are suggested to new Twitter members when they sign up.

The hacker may have been able to access information such as email addresses, mobile-phone numbers and a list of the accounts blocked by these users, Stone wrote. "We have personally contacted Twitter users whose accounts were compromised via this unauthorized access," he said.

Hacker Croll claimed to have accessed Goldman's Twitter password by first gaining access to his Yahoo account. "One of the admins has a yahoo account, i've reset the password by answering to the secret question. Then, in the mailbox, i have found her [sic] twitter password," Hacker Croll said Wednesday in a posting to an online discussion forum. "I've used social engineering only, no exploit, no xss vulnerability, no backdoor, np sql injection."

On Monday, Goldman sent a Twitter message saying that his Yahoo mail account had been hacked.

Twitter has had a rash of security problems this year.

In January, another hacker going by the name of GMZ said he was able to gain access to an administrative account by guessing the password of a Twitter support staffer, according to a Wired report. The password was reportedly an easy-to-guess word: happiness.

GMZ then used that access to take control of 33 high-profile accounts, including those for Spears, US President Barack Obama and Fox News.

NEXT: Twitter hit with several fast-spreading worm attacks

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E-on Software debuts Vue 7.5 3D landscape creation software

E-on Software has detailed the new features available in the upcoming versions of its 3D landscape creation software, Vue 7.5 xStream and Vue 7.5 Infinite, which are due later this year.

Users of the current version 7 with maintenance contracts can download a pre-release version of Vue 7.5.

Vue 7.5 includes many rendering enhancements. There's support of the V-Ray renderer for 3ds Max and EcoSystem painting in Softimage in the xStream plug-in system. The core software gains support for colour and alpha masks of single clouds and cloud layers in the multi-pass renderer, and 'camera mapping' to cut animation render times.

Spherical and planetary procedural terrains can be created with an infinite level of detail, as can spherical cloudscapes - either procedurally, or based on real-world/modified cloud maps. Material painting and effect-driven material mapping has been added to the Terrain Editor, and there's enhanced multi-processor usage for procedural terrains, Dynamic EcoSystems and panoramic rendering.

EcoSystem populations can evolve over time, and cloud layers can cast and receive shadows from other cloud layers and objects in the scene. There's an omproved OpenGL sky and cloud preview, and coloured EcoSystem instance previewing. E-on says that more details on the new features of Vue 7.5 will be disclosed at the time of release.

Vue 7.5 xStream cost $1,495 (1,019), with upgrades from Vue 7 xStream available for $495 (338). Vue 7.5 Infinite will retail for $895 (610), with upgrades from Vue 7 Infinite available for $295 (200). Vue 7.5 xStream and Vue 7.5 Infinite will be available for Windows XP32/64 and Vista 32/64, and on Mac OSX 10.4 and 10.5 as a 32 bit application (as a Universal Binary).

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Free iPhone 101 Revision training app released

London-based Amsys, a leading Apple Authorised IT Training Centre has launched an free iPhone app, 101 Revision aimed at Mac technical personnel.

101 Revision is billed as useful revision tool, designed to help Mac techies test their knowledge of Leopard and prepare for career enhancing Apple Technical Certifications at Mac OS X v 10.5 Support Essentials level.

“Our training delegates have been asking for revision help while studying for Certification exams, and we are delighted to be able to launch this tool,” said Richard Mallion, Amsys Technical Director and creator of the app.

"Users should be aware, though, that the questions are not taken from the exam itself, so there are no shortcuts!," adds Mallion.

A free download from the Apple iTunes App Store, 101 Revision for iPhone and iPod touch requires the iPhone 2.2.1 Software Update.

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CrumplePop offers free Polaroid-style HD photo effect for Final Cut Pro

CrumplePop has released CrumplePop Photo, a free Polaroid-style HD photo effect for Apple's Final Cut Pro.

CrumplePop offers a range of free and paid Final Cut Pro Templates to add hand-drawn elements to creative projects.

You can transform any image into a Polaroid-style snapshot, right on the Final Cut Pro timeline. You can also enter your photo caption, which appears in hand-drawn magic marker, without leaving the video-editing suite.

"The snapshot with a little caption in marker at the bottom - it's especially common in print media. We wanted to use it in our broadcast and film projects, so we created this effect. It turned out really well, with edges that stay smooth at HD resolution even when they're rotated, and a beautiful faded look that captures the weird colour properties of old instant photos," Gabriel Cheifetz, Creative Director at CrumplePop.

CrumplePop Photo is available as a free digital download with three different caption fonts, and with both "faded" and "fresh" photo looks.

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New app locates stolen iPhones

Orbicule has introduced Undercover, an app it hopes will help locate a lost or stolen iPhone or iPod touch.

Billed as a "theft-recovery" device, it tracks the phone or iPod using built-in GPS when outside, while indoors Undercover tracks location based on Wi-Fi networks and cell towers.

Users can then login to their account via www.retrievemyiphone.com to view their phone's location, although getting it back may prove more challenging.

When Undercover is launched on a stolen device, it pretends to be a game. That encourages the thief to wait for the loading 'game' while enabling Undercover to gather the most accurate location possible. This location is then immediately added to the user's account.

Unfortunately Apple does not allow background processes or push notifications yet so Undercover has to be manually activated. This is something Orbicule intends to address with the forthcoming iPhone OS 3.0 update. A full FAQ what Undercover can and can't do is available online here.

Available from the Apple iTunes App Store Undercover costs 2.99 and requires the iPhone 2.2 Software Update.

In January, Orbicule announced Undercover 3, a major new release of its theft-recovery software for Mac OS X.

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