Intel has been talking up its next Atom processor, code named Pineview, and due out in Q4.

Intel says it's shrunk the number of chips it takes to make an Atom netbook or nettop from three to two. Throw in the Tiger Point I/O hub and - poof! - the Pine Trail platform.

By putting the memory controller and graphics on the same piece of silicon it should produce smaller, cheaper, faster devices with better battery life. Widget makers can still incorporate Nvidia Ion graphics, Intel said, even if it wishes they wouldn't.

And then there's the beta of Moblin 2.0, the Intel-sponsored Linux operating system for netbooks and MIDs to go with it.

To succeed, Moblin - which was turned over to the Linux Foundation to foster last month - will have to dislodge Microsoft.

Microsoft owns netbooks because of software compatibility, and IDC estimates that only 4.5% of the netbooks sold this year will have Linux inside. Moblin, however, has price on its side.

Microsoft is currently supplying netbook makers with XP and intends they go to Windows 7 when it gets here.

Moblin will also have to fend off Android, which could show up on widgets other than smartphones beginning in the second half.

Intel claims 20%-25% share for Moblin in netbooks and nettops. It says it's meant to "unify the Linux experience" - memo to Canonical - and is not to be compared to Microsoft.

Anyway, Moblin 2.0's got a customizable Gnome-based user interface called M-zone - complements of OpenedHand, the London Mobile OSS house Intel acquired last summer - for accessing e-mail, instant messaging and social networks and its own zoomable media player. It's also got an optimized Mozilla browser with the latest Flash plug-ins and video embedding.

Moblin is also going to try to play in the phone space.