AMD CEO Hector Ruiz is out the door. While he drove their burly competition with Intel, he's also responsible for AMD's poor acquisition of ATI and its struggles of late. Taking over is Dirk Meyers, who's more chip geek than businessman. Maybe that's what they need. [Cnet]

AMD CEO Hector Ruiz is out the door. While he drove their burly competition with Intel, he's also responsible for AMD's poor acquisition of ATI and its struggles of late, like losing money for seven straight quarters, leading them to dump their handheld and DTV businesses. Taking over is Dirk Meyers, who's more chip geek than businessman. Maybe that's what they need. [Cnet]

I don't know about you, but I receive far too many emails to be messing around with push email. Those emails constantly chiming in annoy me, which is why I have everything set to manual update. However, that is certainly not the case with everyone. Some people really need to be on top of every email, while others receive only a few emails here and there—so the need for push updates varies. So, I have to ask: What is your take on push email?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

I have been keeping up with the Zumobi browser platform since it was launched last year, but up until now the tile-based UI was only available on Windows Mobile devices. However, the Microsoft-backed company announced today that it will deliver the application for 81xx, 83xx, or 88xx Blackberry devices with OS 4.2 or later. The browser is free, so it is worth trying out at the very least. Hit the Zumobi website to pick up the download. [Zumobi]

Zumobi Now Offers Innovative Mobile Widgets Application to BlackBerry Users

Award Winning Mobile Widgets Now Give Brands Direct Connect to a Broader Mobile Audience

SEATTLE, WASH. – July 17, 2008 – Zumobi (www.zumobi.com), the innovative mobile widget company, today announced the launch of its application for BlackBerry devices. As the profile of Smartphone users expands to include more than just business users, Zumobi has developed its BlackBerry product to enhance the user experience by providing easy access to small “bites” of customized Web content via mobile device. The Zumobi platform, which is ad supported and gives a fully-branded experience to users, is an ideal medium for advertisers and content providers to directly reach consumers in an engaging and highly-targeted manner.

With an already robust library of widgets (Zumobi calls them “Tiles”) to entice users of Windows Mobile and BlackBerry with news, sports, weather, entertainment, games and more, Zumobi now offers even more new Tiles for users including NPR, AP Olympics report, Major League Baseball as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. Users can also create their own Zumobi mobile widgets from just about any Web content with the new Tile Creation Wizard now available on Zumobi's website.

Popular industry weblog BlackBerry Cool will launch a branded Zumobi Tile to extend its brand to the mobile space. “BlackBerry Cool is the first choice for timely news, opinion and reviews of the BlackBerry space, delivered to an audience that expects updates when they are available,” said Douglas Soltys, editor-in-chief of Blackberry Cool. “Until now, there have been few options to do this successfully over mobile. With Zumobi available now on BlackBerry devices, we will be able to reach our audience directly with news that is important to them while they are on-the-go.”

The unique design of the Zumobi application provides the user direct access to what they want, when they want it, with cached content for quicker retrieval of fresh information. This puts content at their fingertips, and allows for a more engaging and immersive experience for brands. In the new age of mobile marketing, this direct contact with consumers is ideal for brands looking to deliver products and services that are tailored to a specific audience.

“By adding BlackBerry as our second major mobile platform, Zumobi significantly expands our reach for brand and content partners. We're thrilled to introduce Zumobi to Blackberry's data-savvy users, and look forward to providing them with a highly-engaging mobile experience,” said Ken Willner, vice president of Market Development.

This announcement follows closely on the heels of the release of an updated application for Windows Mobile announced in June. For a tour of the Zumobi mobile widget platform or to download the mobile widget platform for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry, please visit http://www.zumobi.com or get.zumobi.com on the mobile Web.

Dave Eggers' temporally advanced Time Travel Mart in LA ("whenever you are, we're already then!") just released a fantastic poster set that takes on the look and feel of old Pan Am travel ads to hype several of the historical eras we'll all be hitting in our future DeLoreans—Pangaea to run with the dinos, Tokyo 2.0 where binary is the official language, and so on. LA Artist Amy Martin is responsible, and like everything else in Eggers's novelty shop empire (pirates and super heroes also have their own outlets), the $20 goes to writing workshops for kids. Me want. [826LA Online Shop]

The guys at Tasty Booze may think whoever owns this guy is a gigantic douche, but we know better. This guy is a gigantic Gizmodo fan. You can't fit "Gigantic Gizmodo Fan" on a license plate, so he shortened it to "BIG GIZ". Here's to you, Giz fan—you Pontiac driver you. [TastyBooze - Thanks Blakeley!]

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.If you've been reading all about the Mobile Me rollout with scorn for its Apple-ness, Microsoft just opened up more preview slots for its Live Mesh service that similarly syncs files and info across all of your devices in the cloud (including Macs—later). While the service can be a bit hard to parse at times, its breadth of device coverage and open API look promising. Jump in with your Windows Live account now before spots run out. [Live Mesh via All About Microsoft]

Here it is, my friends: the first trailer for one of the most highly-anticipated comic book film adaptations ever. Yep, it's the trailer for Watchmen that's debuting before The Dark Knight. Directed by Zack Snyder of 300 fame, it's sure to be the biggest fanboy magnet of the decade. The trailer is due to hit the web tomorrow, but Empire put it up early by accident before quickly pulling it down. Not quickly enough! So, what say you? Does it meet your excruciatingly-high expectations so far, or do you already think it's ruined the greatest graphic novel EVAR? It looks pretty badass from where I'm sitting; hit the jump to judge for yourself.

[io9]

The scientific community has been praising graphene as some sort of miracle material for years now—even going so far as to say that it could eventually replace silicon. Well, graphene can now add another statistic to its impressive resume now that researchers have confirmed it as the strongest material ever tested.

Two engineering professors at Columbia University tested graphene's strength at an atomic level by indenting a perfect sample of the material with a sharp probe made of diamond. The results confirm what many had suspected all along—and that will go a long way to bolster the case that graphene would be able to handle the heat produced in future ultrafast processors. [Technology Review]

This week at Uncrate: We race across the Northeast in the Rental Car Rally, perfect our dugout spitting techniques with Zotes Sunflower Seeds, and protect our guitars with the Belkin BreakFree. We also go green with the Lotus Eco Elise, hit the rapids in the Trak Kayak, and keep our facial hair in check with Anthony Action 2-in-1 Shave Cream. Finally, we get a handle on our drinking with the Beerhandle, hit the streets in the Puma Cell Meio, and grill up a feast for neighbors on the Longhorn Steer Grill.