HP adds an unusual feature to its latest All-in-One (AiO) PC-- the EliteOne 1000 features construction customers can open to replace storage, RAM, networking and even the display.

Most of the components making the EliteOne 1000 sit inside a wedge-shaped base one can open without a screwdriver. Thus, customers can easily repair it or replace parts. One has to keep in mind the processor or graphics card cannot be replaced, but the upgradeable networking might make it attractive for enterprise applications.

The AiO carries up to an Intel Core i7-7700 quad-core CPU, up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 RAM (with two SODIMM slots), and storage options including hard drives, SSDs, and PCIe NVMe solid state storage. Ports include x2 USB-C, x4 USB-A, x1 HDMI, x1 DisplayPort in/out jacks, and x1 ethernet, and a webcam and IR sensor come integrated in the display.

HP beats Wall Street expectations as it reports Q3 2017 revenues of $13.1 billion, a 10% Y-o-Y increase. However profits are down, slipping from $783 million in Q3 2016 to $696m.

That said, the company remains bullish about the results, particularly since the Personal Systems business sees "incredible" 12% Y-o-Y growth, bringing in revenues of $8.4bn. Commercial revenues are up by 11%, while consumer revenues increase by 14%. In addition, the company reports total shipments are up by 7%, driven by a 12% increase in notebook shipments.

Desktop and workstation shipments are down by -3% Y-o-Y.

The solar eclipse taking place over N. America brings about the launch of the 8th generation Intel Core chips, starting with mobile processors promising a 40% performance boost over the previous generation.

Designed for notebooks and hybrid devices, the "U-series" consists of 4 processors featuring a thermal design power (TDP) of 15W. Intel says the new Core i5 and i7 processors can lead to notebooks and tablets with up to 10 hours of battery life, as well as the aforementioned performance boost.

All the revealed processors are quad-core, with support for 8 threads and updated UHD 620 graphics. This makes them more suited for games, 4K video playback, VR and video editing. The Core i7-8650U and i7-8550U have 1.9 and 1.8GHz base clock speeds respectively (up to 4.2 and 4.0GHz in boost mode) and also include 8mb of L3 cache.

Qualcomm announces the acquisition of Scyfer, a machine learning startup based in the Netherlands, in order to bolster its artificial intelligence capabilities.

“We started fundamental research a decade ago, and our current products now support many AI use cases from computer vision and natural language processing to malware detection on a variety of devices-- such as smartphones and cars-- and we are researching broader topics, such as AI for wireless connectivity, power management and photography,” Qualcomm says.

The company adds its research in AI covers fields including neural network techniques for semi-supervised and unsupervised training such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), distributed learning and privacy protection, network optimisation for on-device applications (including compression, inter-layer optimisations and sparsity optimisations) and specialised hardware architectures to accelerate machine learning tasks.

Intel might still have to officially the 8th generation of Core architecture, code named Coffee Lake, but it has already revealed details of the next generation-- Ice Lake.

Described as the "successor the 8th generation Intel Core processor family," Ice Lake processors will be built using a 10nm+ process. This is perhaps an odd move, since Chipzilla is still to officially detail the first 10nm Core architecture, Cannon Lake. It also throws a spanner in what is a confusing naming convention, what with Kaby Lake (14nm+), Coffee Lake (14nm++),  Cannon Lake (10mm) and now Ice Lake (10nm+).

Chipzilla originally hoped to move to a 10nm process by the end of 2016, 2 years after the launch of the 14nm process. However the technology proved more challenging than expected, probably due to a yield rate not high enough for the company. According to Anandtech, the process also depends on die size, with the first products using it being designed for smaller mobile applications (since yields for smaller parts are better than larger parts at the same defect rate).

Intel announces the date, time and place for the unveiling of the 8th generation Core processor family, known as Coffee Lake-- 21 August 2017, the same date as "the Great American Solar Eclipse."

"Amazing things happen when all things align," the press invitation excitedly states. Attendance is not limited to the press though, as Chipzilla will livestream the event on its Newsroom microsite and Facebook page.

Intel fails the give new information on the upcoming Coffee Lake CPUs, outside of marketing speech. As such, the announcement promises "blazing fast performance," "immersive experience" and "amazing systems designs." Such claims will be verified during the event, as Intel execs, VR creators and imaging pros should take the stage to use Coffee Lake-powered systems.

In addition, the event provides an excuse to view the solar eclipse making its way from Oregon in the West across the US.