RealNetworks President and CEO Thomas Nielsen claims:

“Selling these patents to Intel unlocks some of the substantial and unrealized value of RealNetworks assets, …It represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to generate additional capital to boost investments in new businesses and markets while still protecting our existing business.”

Details of the sale allow RealNetwork to continue to use the patented technology in current and future products. The company will continue to stay focused on technology for distributing and managing media on a variety of different devices as well as investing in different avenues.

Stock prices have been rising for RealNetwork. Just thursday they were up 32%!

On the Intel side of things, senior vice president and general manager of Software and Services Group, Renee James comments:

“The acquisition of these foundational media patents, additional patents and video codec software expands Intel’s diverse and extensive portfolio of intellectual property….we believe this agreement enhances our ability to continue to offer richer experiences and innovative solutions to end users across a wide spectrum of devices, including through Ultrabook devices, smartphones and digital media.”

So I think the buzz surrounding AMD revolves around price point, especially since AMD has been “ultrathin” for a long time now, offering miniscule sized components since early 2009. In other words, they have been ready for a awhile, the opportunity to be featured in an ultrathin notebook is just something that has yet to come to light.

For the consumer it means the anticipation of a product that competes directly with the Intel equipped Ultrabooks, but is less expensive. Now remember, Ultrabooks are designed to compete against the MacBook Air, and save consumers a lot of bread. So, buyers will expect any AMD equipped Ultrabook knockoff’s to be significantly less expensive than an actual Intel equipped Ultrabook.

Is this going to happen? And if so, when? And, will it actually be cheaper? The answer is, I don’t know. AMD’s new ultrathin 17mm Trinity processors are on their way to the market and ready to be used. There is no telling who will jump on the opportunity to use them in an Ultrabook competitor or how soon it will be.

The corporation reported full-year revenue of $54 billion, operating income of $17.5 billion, net income of $12.9 billion and EPS of $2.39. The company generated approximately $21 in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.1 billion and used $14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock.

For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.9 billion, operating income of $4.6 billion, net income of $3.4 billion and EPS of 64 cents. The company generated approximately $6.6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $4.1 billion to repurchase 174 million shares of stock.

“2011 was an exceptional year for Intel,” Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO, said. “With outstanding execution the company performed superbly, growing revenue by more than $10 billion and eclipsing all annual revenue and earnings records. With a tremendous product and technology pipeline for 2012, we’re excited about the global growth opportunities presented by Ultrabook systems, the data center, security and the introduction of Intel-powered smartphones and tablets.”

Intel has posted a positive business outlook for 2012 as well.

They expect Q1 2012 to bring in $12.8 billion in revenue, plus or minus $500 million. They expect a gross margin percentage of 63 percent and 64 percent non-GAAP. They expect to spend approximately $4.4 billion on R&D. They see Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles at $75 million. There should be no impact from equality investments and interest. Their depreciation is set to $1.5 billion.

For the full year, they expect a gross margin percentage of 64 percent and 65 percent non-GAAP. They expect spending for R&D to cost around $18.3 billion. There is an amortization of acquisition-related tangibles at $300 million. They expect to see depreciation set to $6.5 billion. Their tax rate will be 29 percent and full year capital spending will be $12.5 billion.

Their Q4 business unit revenue saw their PC client group revenue at $9 billion, up 17 percent year-over-year. Data center group revenue was at $2.7 billion, up eight percent year-over-year. Other Intel architecture group revenue was at $1.1 billion, up 35 percent year-after-year. Intel Atom microprocessor and chipset revenue brought in $167 million, down 57 percent year-over-year. McAfee and Intel Mobile Communications contributed revenue of approximately $1 billion.

Full year business unite revenue saw their PC client group’s revenue at $35.4 billion, up 17 percent from 2010. Their data center group saw revenue of $10.1 billion, up 17 percent from 2010. Other Intel architecture group saw revenue of $5 billion, up 64 percent from 2010. Intel Atom microprocessor and chipset saw revenue of $1.2 billion, down 25 percent from 2010. McAfee and Intel Mobile Communications contributed revenue of $3.6 billion.

Intel plans to report their Q1 2012 earnings on April 17.

Consumers and manufacturers alike will be hurt by the two companies stubbornness. According to a report by DigiTimes, vendors will be likely to choose ARM solutions from Nvidia, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm to reduce overall costs in their forthcoming tablets. It appears Intel is pricing themselves out of the game.

Further supporting evidence that Intel is unwilling to compromise comes from makers of the new Ultrabook (a MacBook knockoff). Reports from these manufacturers say they are also unable to persuade a price break from Intel in order to make their products more affordable.

Intel already announced their new Ivy Bridge platform Ultrabooks at CES. They’re hoping that will bring the price down to a more affordable $799 to $999. AMD, always being one to rain on Intel’s parade, is set to launch their own line of Ultrabooks, creatively called Ultrathin.

Digitimes is reporting that the new Ultrathins are set to be 10 to 20 percent cheaper than their Intel counterparts. The reduced cost is supposedly already attracting HP, Acer and Asus.

AMD is launching their Deccan platform with Krishna and Wichita APUs in June 2012 to compete with Intel’s Ivy Bridge. They will upgrade to the Kerala platform in 2013 with a Kabini APU to compete against Intel’s Haswell.

AMD is pushing their new Trinity-based APU onto the Ultrabook market to increase their 10 percent share in the world CPU market.

There is expected to be 75 new Ultrabooks based on Intel’s Ivy Bridge architecture in 2012 while only about 20 for AMD’s new Trinity architecture. The AMD models don’t offer any significant advantage over Intel’s Ultrabooks except in cost, which has always been AMD’s greatest advantage.

Digitimes is reporting, however, that some vendors fear AMD’s entry into the Ultrabook market will in turn rapidly lower the price of Intel’s Ultrabook models.

Samantha Garvey, a 17-year-old high school senior in Long Island, New York, has been selected as a semifinalist in the eminent Intel Science Competition. That alone would be an accolade worth writing home about except this achievement is about to go from impressive to kicking you in the awesome button:

Garvey is homeless.

A New York CBS affiliate, WCBS 880, spoke to Garvey, who is 1 of 61 students in Long Island in the competition’s finals, ran the story yesterday:

Garvey said she was blown away and started crying when she learned about her place in the competition.

“I’ve gotten a lot of calls. People on Facebook, they’re posting things on my wall and it’s really exciting,” she said.

“I did a marsh study where I looked at mussels in a marsh and I saw that when they were exposed to crabs, they grew heavier shells,” she said.

After that, she introduced the situation to a lab setting.

Garvey’s other impressive stats: plays violin, speaks Italian, 3.9 GPA, all around ass-kicker of science. And if there’s any justice in the universe, you will one day call her Boss.

Razer announced during CES Project Fiona, a gaming tablet that is more akin to a gaming PC.

The device itself looks really weird at first. It’s a tablet with handles on the side featuring dual analog sticks, four face buttons and two shoulder buttons each. It’s designed to play all major current PC games without a hitch.

The actual innards are the most surprising though as there’s an Intel core i7 crammed into its tiny body. This is what makes the tablet perform like a gaming PC and I believe it. The i7 is the best processor out on the market right now and to see it performing in a tablet is mind-blowing.

Some of the best news is that it also performs like a gaming PC in that many PC games out on the market today run natively on Project Fiona. There’s no need to port and specifically program games to run on the device.

“Project Fiona’s combination of high performance Intel-based gaming hardware and innovative tablet design is specifically focused for PC gamers. It will unleash the PC gamer to play their existing and future high-end games in one of the most exciting new form factors – a tablet,” Brad Graff, Director of Partner Marketing, Netbook & Tablet Group, Intel, said.

With its dual analog stick handles, Project Fiona will run gamepad-enabled PC games right out of the box.

Along with the controllers, Project Fiona will also sport ultra-precise accelerometers and a multi-touch screen. They claim it will ensure that current-generation PC games can run on the device while also supporting any games optimized for tablets. To top it all off, the controllers on the device deliver full force feedback.

“While multi-touch screens have become the de facto user interface for tablets, they are not the right interface for serious PC gaming,” Min-Liang Tan, CEO, Razer, said. “The user interface we have designed for Project Fiona allows all existing PC games to be played right out of the box and also provides game developers new opportunities as they develop next-gen games on a highly-intuitive platform. Both developers and gamers are going to love the new user interface that combines the best of a gamepad, multi-touch screen and accelerometers for an all-new gaming experience on-the-go.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This kind of device is far off into the future and will cost a fortune once it is released. You would be right on both counts but only partially. Razer is shooting for a Q4 2012 release with the cost hopefully being below $1,000. While it obviously costs more than any current tablet PC out on the market, Project Fiona isn’t like any tablet PC out on the market.

As soon as they can be pre-ordered, you can bet I’m going to be in line. Are you? Tell us in the comments.

When you’ve defied the medical odds and lived 50 years longer than what medical experts said, devised some of the most important theories in physics and cosmology, and become a multi-million book selling author, then maybe you can have your PC’s delivered to you by Intel personally. Until then we can get a small glimpse into the relationship Stephen Hawking has developed with PC component manufacturer, Intel.

This story begins in 1997, when Hawking was working with AMD to help him with his custom PC needs, due to the motor neuron disease which left him with very little physical functionality. According to Travis Bonifield, the Intel application engineer who works with Hawking personally, the relationship began when Intel’s Co-Founder, Gordon Moore spoke personally with Hawking, “Stephen and Gordon met at a conference around 1997. Gordon noted that Stephen was using an AMD machine. Gordon asked Stephen, ‘Would you like to use an Intel computer moving forward? We’d be happy to build that for you and support it.‘ ”

If you’re wondering what’s powering Hawking’s latest PC, which is updated every 2 years, he’s sporting a Lenovo X220 tablet PC, with an Intel Core i7 processor. What’s really cool about the custom build is how it recognizes Hawking’s commands for his voice synthesizer.

Originally, Hawking would use a clicker which he could highlight various commands or words and then communicate them through the synthesizer. However, the nerve which allowed him the use of his thumbs would degrade which required Intel to devise a new solution. They eventually developed an infrared sensor which hangs off of Hawking’s glasses. The sensor detects light changes as he twitches his cheek, and allows him to select commands. Which is amazing. Watch it in action below.

Bonifield has been working with Hawking since 2001, when he took over the position from a previous engineer. One aspect of the job is having to deliver the PC’s from America to England, where Hawking lives. Bonifield mentions one of the less than glorious aspects of the project, “I actually take two systems out to Stephen [one is a backup]. One year I packed them in cases, checked them in as luggage and the airlines lost them for three days. The year after that I thought I’d ship them ahead of time. They got held up in customs for 3 days. This time I got lucky. My luggage showed up with me [laughs].”

Below is a photo of Bonifield holding up a replica of the custom PC he developed for Hawking, and a video of Hawking’s grad assistant installing it.

According to Technology Review, who were apparently given the prototypes last week for review purposes, the devices are “powerful and easy to use,” comparable to the leaders in the device markets. The prototypes are a meant to be a demonstration of what Intel’s latest chips – dubbed Medfield – are capable of.

Intel’s chips are found in a wide variety of devices, including computers, TVs, and a whole host of others. Nevertheless, the chip maker that has long reigned supreme in the personal computer market has remained woefully underrepresented in smartphones and tablets. Though Intel has chips in some Android-based phones, many smartphones use chip technology developed by, and licensed from, ARM Technology, a British tech company. The iPad 2 and iPhone 4S both use the A5 processor, a chip designed in-house by Apple and based on ARM’s technology. These new devices aim to increase Intel’s presence in the ridiculously lucrative smartphone market.

Near-field communication (NFC) technology has been drawing quite a bit of attention lately. The technology has been making its way into a variety of devices, including MasterCard’s PayPass system, and several recent models of Android-based smartphone. There are a number of applications that use the technology for a variety of tasks, including exchanging files and and contact information. There are also a number of systems either in the works or already available that allow smartphone owners to use their phone’s NFC capabilities to as a mobile wallet, much like MasterCard’s aforementioned PayPass system. Mobile carriers Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are cooperating to bring a mobile payment system called ISIS online, while Google recently released their own Google Wallet mobile payment solution (though not without difficulties).

Rumors circulated widely at the beginning of this year that the iPhone 5 (eventually released as the iPhone 4S) would include NFC technology, however that turned out not to be the case. The iPhone rumor mill is unusually quiet for this time of year – owing, no doubt, to the later-than-normal release of the current iPhone model. When it grinds back into action, however, we can probably expect NFC to pop up again.

There is no information on what exactly Intel intends to do with the technology to which it gains access as part of this deal, however the potential applications are legion. Intel makes chips that go in an array of devices ranging from computers to smartphones and tablets to televisions to in-car infotainment systems. There are a myriad of potential uses for NFC in any of these devices.