MediaTek, Richtek revenues fall short of expectations in May
First-tier Taiwan-based IC design houses MediaTek and Richtek Technology both posted lower-than-expected revenues for May in part due to seasonal factors, according to industry sources.
Read more on Digi Times

Marijuana discussion heats up in Palmer Lake
The Medical Marijuana Task Force Committee met June 2 with concerned citizens of Palmer Lake to discuss amending the ordinance that the Town of Palmer Lake approved in April. Joe Pernarelli and Steve Fetterley would like to put a dispensary in the Palmer Lake Technology Center and have been gathering signatures from business owners in the area that have no objections to having a dispensary there.
Read more on Tri-Lakes Tribune

Building upon the success of the custom ATI Xenos GPU that’s found in the current Xbox 360, Microsoft and ATI have apparently already struck a deal to continue using ATI chips in the next generation of Xbox consoles, according to Fudzilla.

Details are scant at the moment, and Fudzilla is quoting unnamed “industry sources” so take this news with a grain of salt even though it makes sense and probably isn’t that big of a stretch anyway.

The site is also positing that the ATI chip may be of the 28-nanometer variety but being that next generation consoles are apparently not due from Microsoft and Sony until 2012, GPUs by that time could be invisible and made out of unicorn horns and fueled by Sasquatch DNA for all anybody knows. It could happen!

ATI already won next gen Xbox deal [Fudzilla]

Thanks to John for sending this in.

Looks like Acer’s going to be putting more of its mobile eggs in the Android basket next year, with about half of its handsets in 2010 to feature Android instead of Windows Mobile.

According to DigiTimes:

"Acer, while still developing Windows Mobile-based smartphones, has shifted its development policy to focus more on the Android platform, with at least half of new models launched in 2010 to be Android-based, according to industry sources."

The Android-based Acer A1 should be making its official appearance in the coming months, with the WinMo-based F1, L1, C1, and E1 becoming available by the end of the year.

Apple has obtained the rights to offer ready-made ringtones for the iPhone and managers are trying to have them available in time for next week’s press conference, music industry sources told CNET News.

Owners of Apple’s iPhone have long had the ability to create custom-made ringtones for their …

Buckle up. HP is apparently prepping its own 11.6-inch netbook (not pictured above) for release later this year. There’s literally no information about it other than ODM giant Quanta will be producing the thing, so I’ll not fluff this piece too much with superfluous text.

According to Max Wang (best name ever) at DigiTimes:

Quanta Computer will begin ODM production of a new 11.6-inch netbook in August and a new 10.1-inch model at the end of 2009 for Hewlett-Packard (HP), while Inventec will begin producing a revision of HP’s 10.1-inch netbook at the end of September, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

So there you have it. Another netbook to join the sweet spot that is 11.6 inches.

[DigiTimes]

Looks like Sony wants to marry the PSP to a music service of some sort, à la iTunes or Rhapsody. That’s what “music industry sources” say, at least. And if there’s anyone more trustworthy than someone in the music industry I don’t want to meet them.

This hot rumor, first reported by C-NET/CNET/cnet, isn’t so crazy, now is it? We all know Sony wants to remake the PSP into, say, a success, and is looking to do away with that cruddy UMD drive, moving toward an all-download business model. So, why not relaunch the new PSP with a music service while you’re at it, right? Sony could then try to market the device as something that the kids will like (and want!), especially if it’s a lot thinner than the current model. I’m thinking iPod Nano-thin or BlackBerry, or at least close to that.

In any event, this is merely a rumor; Sony, as always, says, “We don’t respond to rumors, buddy. Now take a long walk off a short pier.”

Sleater-Kinney photo from Flickr