Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, in an open letter sent last week to the company's 80,000 workers, said that there was no excuse for the recent problems, and said he had spoken "bluntly and directly" with senior managers about the need to improve performance. He's called on employees to focus on "actions and attitudes" to halt a string of product delays and manufacturing problems that have frustrated the world's largest chip maker.

PC Magazine has just completed its annual survey of reader satisfaction with PC manufacturers. Apple takes the top spot along with IBM in terms of product quality and tech support... Sony takes a beating with the poorest support of all.

IBM's Microprocessor division is working on a dual-core version of its PowerPC 970 processor, called the PowerPC G5 by Apple Computer Inc. According to sources, the new chip, code-named Antares, will make its way into workstations and servers sometime next year.