The new year begins like the old year ends: Delays with Windows tablets, bugs in hardware and software and glimpses of new – naturally much better – chips, like Nvidia's Wayne.

The PC market is in a tailspin and many companies have to announce very poor results and yet, we also have some winners. AMD is definitely not among them, a mass layoff looms on the horizon. And, again, take-over rumors are circulating.

The back to school season starts with many new processors, although IBM's large server chips probably don't have much to do with the end of the holidays. And there are going to be a few delays maybe with AMD's Steamroller and for sure with HP's memristor.

It's an old tradition: Where Intel shows off its products and roadmaps, AMD is not far off. At the IDF, Intel could boast the new Haswell processor but its launch is still nine months away. AMD intends to crank it up right away.