Intel in talks to settle FTC antitrust suit

In today's podcast: Intel in talks to settle FTC antitrust suit; Flash 10.1 ready for smartphones; and Intel's Westmere-EX to pack 10 cores.

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Intel may be close to settling the antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission late last year. In a statement on Monday, Intel said lawyers for the FTC and Intel filed a joint motion to suspend administrative trial proceedings while they consider a potential settlement of the case. The motion allows the FTC and Intel to review and discuss a proposed consent order through July 22. The terms of the proposed order are confidential, and Intel said in the statement that it would not comment further.

Adobe Systems plans to release the final version of Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones on Tuesday, but very few people will be able to use it right away. Flash Player 10.1 is designed to offer a consistent user experience across laptops, desktops, tablets, phones and televisions. The player for desktops became available June 10. Users of phones running Android 2.2 will be the first to get the player. The trouble is that version 2.2 has so far only been pushed out to review units of one phone model, the Nexus One. All Nexus One phones, Motorola's Droid and other Android models are expected to get the operating system soon.

Intel's next-generation server processor code-named Westmere-EX will pack in 10 cores, an industry source said on Monday. Each Westmere-EX core will be able to run two threads, allowing the CPU to run 20 threads simultaneously. Intel's rival Advanced Micro Devices will, however, continue to hold an advantage in the number of physical cores included in a CPU. The company already offers a 12-core processor code-named Magny-Cours and is scheduled to release a 16-core server chip code-named Interlagos next year.

As the U.S. enters the summer vacation season, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has launched an educational program to remind mobile-phone customers traveling internationally how to avoid high-cost calls. The FCC launched its Wireless World Travel Week on Monday, and the agency plans to offer new tips about saving money while traveling with mobile phones throughout the week. U.S. residents make more than 60 million international trips a year and many take their mobile phones with them, the agency said.

...And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.