The torrent of media coverage of Apple's Columbus project stopped a while ago, but Apple Recon just keeps talking about it. In recent weeks they've grown increasingly concerned that Apple was going to kill the Apple Media Player set-top project before the final product could make it into stores. Most recently they claimed the project was as good as dead, and for months now they've been threatening to go public with a photo of the thing to try to force Apple to address the issue publicly.

Well, apparently the news of the project getting shelved continued to grow, because Recon finally posted the picture. First of all, this AMP is big. It's hard to get a good sense of scale from the picture, but it looks almost as big as a Powermac 6100 box. We're reasonably certain that this "set-top box" woudln't actually fit on top of our set, though it might rest comfortably on top of our VCR. (Or maybe under it.) Secondly, it's nice-looking: sleek, grey, and stylish, though not as nice as the new Powerbooks. It's also minimalistic, featuring only what appear to be a power button, seven small controller buttons, and the DVD/CD tray itself. Not overly exciting, but easy on the eyes.

Recon posted the picture with only four small words: "No Comment Needed. No?" And while that's a refreshing break from their customary torrent of verbiage, we actually found ourselves wanting just a tad more info than that. Like, for instance, a clear and concise summary of exactly what this thing does, why we should care if Apple trashes it, and why Recon seems to think that a set-top box is the key to Apple's future success-- for they've stated on more than one occasion that if Apple shelves this product, they're as good as gone. Perplexing. To be honest, we're almost getting a "Lyndon LaRouche" vibe going with Recon these days.

Things aren't looking quite as sunny for Intel these days. Its profits this past quarter fell a whopping 27%, due to lukewarm demand for its processors. In the words of the lovely and talented Katie, AtAT's resident fact-checker and goddess of minutiae, "They must not be shakin' their groove thing." There are plenty of details in a Bloomberg News article.

You may recall the ensuing panic and carnage on Wall Street last month when Intel warned that their earnings would not be up to their usual standards. Yet despite the fact that the final results actually beat analysts' revised predictions, Intel plans to cut 4.4% of its workforce, sending some 3,000 rainbow Bunnymen packing. Ironically, Intel's recent "troubles" (don't we all wish Apple had "troubles" like Intel's?) are due to its underestimating the market for cheap processors to be used in sub-$1000 computers, which now make up almost half the market; chips from its competitors like AMD are more suitable for such boxes.

Once again, a quick dose of perspective-- yes, Intel's profit dropped, but it's still a huge profit. Even with the reduction, they made $1.44 billion in this one quarter, which is almost as much as Apple lost over two years. That makes us wonder why they find it necessary to eliminate 3,000 jobs, which, even at a ridiculously conservative estimate of $100,000 a year per job (like they'd really cut the people with six-figure salaries!), comes to $300 million a year. Since Intel's profits only dropped by $500 million this quarter, it's not like these layoffs were necessary to keep the doors open. I mean, we are still talking profit, here, not a loss. Geez, and you thought the new Apple was overly profit-driven...

In other chipmaker news, raise your hand if you remember Exponential. (Okay, you can put your hand down, now-- you probably look pretty silly, raising your hand while sitting in front of your computer.) They, of course, were the company working on the x704 PowerPC-compatible processor that, at 500 MHz, was supposed to blow the doors off the conventional PowerPC's, let alone anything the PC world could cobble together. Unfortunately, the reality was that they couldn't get the x704 ready soon enough to be competitive; it wasn't appreciably faster, if at all, than the upcoming G3's and sucked down a lot more power. Apple, a primary financial backer, then announced that they wouldn't be using the x704 after all, and Exponential promptly closed its doors.

Soon after, Exponential sued Apple for essentially putting them out of business; that case is ongoing. Exponential also auctioned off its patents for certain technologies that were used in its stillborn x704 processor. That brings us to last Monday-- when Apple filed its own lawsuit against Exponential, claiming a "breach of fiduciary duty." Apparently Apple is trying to prevent Exponential from "disposing" of the money they got from the patent auction, and they want a court-appointed custodian to take charge of the proceeds. A Reuters story has more.

While we're not entirely sure as to what's going on, it sounds like Apple's trying to get a cut of the cash from the patent sale. Given that Apple was in fact Exponential's biggest investor, it does seem possible that they are entitled to their share of the proceeds-- though in light of the $500 million lawsuit they face from Exponential, we can't imagine that a cut of the patent money would amount to much. As usual, time will tell. We're just thrilled to see that courtroom drama will always have a place here at AtAT.