Notebook News: McDonald's Wi-Fi Plans Finalized, Intel Profits up 90%, Cars and Laptop Rests

Wayport Wins McDonald's Contract

McDonald's has been providing the public with a menu of less fattening food options. But Wayport hopes to get fat off of McDonald's, fat with cash that is. McDonald's has chosen Wayport as the provider for wi-fi service is up to 3,000 restaurant locations in the United States. McD's plans to charge $2.95 for hours of access. So, with that $3.00 in your wallet you can either buy two cheeseburgers and a small fries from the $1.00 menu, or two hours of internet. Decisions, decisions.

CNet has the full report

Intel 2004 1st Quarter Profit Up 90% From 2003

Intel Corp today announced that first-quarter net income almost doubled to $1.73 billion as the company boosted sales of its more- profitable Itanium and Xeon processors.

Net income was 26 cents a share, compared with 14 cents a year earlier, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said in a statement. Sales rose 20 percent to $8.1 billion.

Chief Executive Craig Barrett says that "Things are optimistic and upbeat and we're seeing a good recovery in terms of tech spending,''

Intel's gross margin widened to 60.2 percent in the first quarter, from last year's 52 percent. The gross margin likely will be about 60 percent in the second quarter, Intel said.

The company said revenue in the second quarter will be $7.6 billion to $8.2 billion, compared with a Thomson Financial estimate of $8.09 billion. Analysts predict Intel's sales growth will fall to 9 percent by the end of this year from more than 20 percent in the last three quarters.

Once Intel releases their nenotebook chip, code-named Dothan, which was originally scheduled to go on sale last quarter Intel should see a further boos in profits due to the fact Dothan is made using thinner, wires that measure 90 nanometers across; a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Making chips with thinner wires cuts production costs by as much as a third because more chips can fit on a single silicon wafer. Information also moves faster on smaller circuits, boosting semiconductor performance.

New Car Models Feature Laptop Computer Tables

Lincoln'sConcept Aviator has a computer laptop computer rest in the back

We're a site focused on computers and not cars, but we like things that are fast either on the road or processing instructions. Even better when the world of cars and computers meet. In New York this week many manufacturers are showing off their latest concept car models. Lincoln's concept Aviator has a swing out table in the back designed for being able to rest a notebook computer on so the passenger can work away. Problem is, this desk style rest is in the back passenger area. So are we now going to run to get in the back passenger seat and not the front?Calling shotgun on the rear passenger seat just seems kind of odd.

In general these concept cars being shown have a ridiculous number of computer type components built in. Click here for more concept car news.