qualcomm

Qualcomm announced this week that future Android devices running Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform will have support for streaming television shows and movies through Netflix. The on-demand service has long been a desired feature for phones and tablets.

Currently, the only Netflix option for Android users is to watch through Google TV. According to a press release issued yesterday, the holdup was due to security concerns within the platform. Thanks to its optimized Snapdragon chipset, Qualcomm claims it can deliver dynamic performance and DRM protection to content providers while giving Netflix the necessary security.

There is no indication just yet as … Read more

Today is one of those days when investors who sensed Netflix's potential years ago but didn't buy in may be kicking themselves.

The Web's top movie-rental service today saw its shares soar 7 percent to $247.55, and set a new all-time high for the company. Netflix shares have steadily risen since January 26, when the company posted fourth-quarter earnings that featured big gains in profits and subscribers.

Since then, Netflix shares have climbed more than 30 percent.

Sure, the news today about how Qualcomm will help enable Android handsets to playback Netflix's streaming video had … Read more

Teardowns of Apple's Verizon iPhone 4 reveal a Qualcomm "world mode" chip and redesigned antenna, among other modifications to the heretofore AT&T-only phone.

Both iFixit and UBM TechInsights have taken apart the phone exposing more than a few non-trivial changes.

Foremost of these changes is the Qualcomm MDM6600 chip--a first for an Apple phone. That is the same chip that's being used in the Droid Pro world phone, which enables the Droid to support both CDMA and GSM. But, for now, that capability in the iPhone remains a latent, untapped potential.

Other Verizon iPhone … Read more

Is Apple moving to a new wireless chipset supplier for the next iPad and iPhone?

An unnamed but "reliable" source is quoted by Engadget today saying that Apple is going to ditch the current Infineon chipsets used in both devices and move to Qualcomm instead. The report seems entirely plausible.

Verizon already let it slip that it's going to have an iPad that runs on its network. It's very likely that will be for its CDMA network, and not LTE. The current iPad model only works on GSM networks. Apple probably doesn't want to have … Read more

Mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm has inked a partnership to explore wireless charging technology with Powermat, a specialist in the area.

Wireless charging holds the promise of ridding people of a lot of wires but poses risks that different devices will use incompatible charging methods, so it's no surprise that part of the partnership involves building an industry alliance around the technology.

Qualcomm's current wireless approach, called WiPower and using a method called near-field magnetic resonance technology, is on display at CES this week.

In their deal, the companies agreed to a broad partnership designed to explore the technology … Read more

In a move to round out its wireless and networking product portfolio, Qualcomm today announced plans to acquire Atheros for $3.1 billion, or $45 a share.

For Qualcomm, the acquisition highlights a strategy to move beyond its traditional cellular market into more mainstream computing. With Atheros, Qualcomm gains access to wireless LAN, Ethernet, Bluetooth, GPS, passive optical networking, and powerline technologies. Qualcomm plans to take those products and ultimately integrate them with its smartphone and tablet chips.

Analysts were generally upbeat about Qualcomm's plans. Piper Jaffray analyst Auguste Gus Richard said in a research note that Qualcomm will … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Underscoring two smartphones trends at CES 2011, Qualcomm is getting behind ooVoo to show the latter's video chat app on an Android phone.

More specifically, the two companies are demonstrating ooVoo's multi-party video chat app on a yet-to-be-released, dual-core Android phone running Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset.

This exercise is important for a few reasons. First, as with any hardware change, performance specs only sink in when you can see how much faster or smoother they can execute tasks compared with the previous version. Take dual- and quad-core desktops and laptops, for example. At first glance, they look … Read more

AT&T took another step toward filling out its 4G wireless broadband strategy with the announcement yesterday that it plans to spend $1.9 billion to buy wireless spectrum from chipmaker Qualcomm.

The new spectrum will be used to help build the carrier's next generation LTE network. This is the same technology that Verizon Wireless is using to build its 4G network.

In some ways, AT&T may seem a little late to the 4G wireless party. Competitors Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA have already been touting their fourth generation networks.

Verizon just launched its service earlier this month. … Read more

On today's show, we get a brief appearance of Brian After Dentist, but it's not as fun as we hoped, because the poor guy was actually in pain. So, Donald and I soldier on, discussing how Google TV is probably just plain done for, Net neutrality is under attack from all sides, and how college may be useless for entrepreneurs but it's a crucial nerd breeding ground. Plus, in the future, we'll pay for everything in Jobses. Depressing. --Molly