ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Valve (Half Life 2) head honcho Gabe Newell is not very happy with Windows 8-- describing the soon available update on the Windows platform as nothing less than "kind of of a disaster."

"I think that we’re going to lose some of the top-tier PC [OEMs]," Newell tells ex-Microsoft Game Studios boss Ed Fries at the Casual Connect game conference. "They’ll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people."

Newell is not the only games developer expressing negative opinions towards Windows 8--  Blizzard (Diablo 3, World of Warcraft) exec VP Rob Pardo echoes Newell's opinions on Twitter (saying Windows 8 is "not awesome for Blizzard either") while back in March 2012 Stardock CEO Brad Wardall described the OS flawed and lacking a single, consistent environment in an editorial for news site Kotaku.

Which material will lead the post-silicon computing future? Graphene steps forward as likely candidate, as researchers find a means of making the "miracle material" fulfill its promise in electronics.

Discovered in 2004 by two University of Manchester scientists (winning them the 2010 Nobel prize in physics), graphene consists of one-atom-thick sheets of carbon. It can carry electric charges faster than any other material, making it theoretically perfect for use in electronics... but it makes a terrible semiconductor (essential for making transistors) and doesn't take well to metal contacts.

Now scientists at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany and the Swedish research institute Acreo AB have a proposal to solve the problem-- cooking graphene from silicon carbide.

Silicon Carbide is a simple silicon-carbon crystal. Heat it up and silicon atoms rise from the crystal, leaving a graphene layer below. The researchers discovered a means of etching electrical channels into silicon carbide wafers (defining where different transistor parts will be) using hydrogen to create regions with either conducting or semiconducting properties.

The process creates graphene ideal for transistor use.

But will graphene truly be the material of the future? What about "silicene"-- a single layer of silicon atoms with graphene-like properties...

Go Tailoring the Graphene/Silicon Carbide Interface for Wafer-Scale Electronics (Nature Communications)

Go Silicene: Compelling Experimental Evidence for Graphenelike Two-Dimensional Silicon (Physical Review Letters)

Apple makes a rare big purchase-- AuthenTec, buying the mobile security firm for $365 million.

The news comes from an 8K document from AuthenTec, one which at one point (perhaps unsurprisingly) remarks "Authentec cannot comment on Apple's intentions."

Authentec makes fingerprint recognition and NFC chips for mobile device and PC use. It also makes security software-- and recently signed a big contract with Samsung for the use AuthenTecs' QuickSec Mobile VPN Client in new Android devices.

Other AuthenTec customers include Lenovo, Fujitsu and Dell.

What will Apple do with a mobile security firm? Authentec owns around 200 patents covering fingerprint sensors, sensor packaging and software. Not to mention issues involving the security of personal info stored on iDevices and tightening of iTunes and App Store security.

The purchase does raise a simple question-- will Apple follow Google and create its own NFC-based mobile payments system now that it has the means?

Go AuthenTek Apple Purchase 8K

Go AuthenTec Shares Up on Samsung Contract (Reuters)

Struggling mail-order retailer Neckermann manages to prevent collapse following negotiations with suppliers, creditors and the Federal Employment Agency.

The retailer filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month following failure assure owners Sun Capital Partners earlier cost-cutting plans (involving the slashing of 1380 out of 2400 jobs) would result in profitable results.

The situation was bad enough to stop DHL and Deutsche Post from delivering Neckermann packages to customers. In fiscal 2010 (more recent figures are not available) Neckermann paid  €113 million in shipping costs, in addition to €15m worth in catalog delivery postage.

Neckerman now asks for "loyalty and support" from all suppliers and customers, and offers a "loyalty line" in select white goods (namely washing machines, refrigerators, dryers and TVs) via its still-operational website throughout July 2012.

Go Neckermann Initially Stablised (German)

Go For the Time Being Neckermann Can Sigh in Relief (Handelsblatt)