Worldwide chip sales have slipped deep into the mud over the past year and they’ll continue to do so until year’s end. But they’ll begin to improve after that.

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It has been about two years since Apple last released a major firmware update for its Apple TV platform, so the release of Apple TV 3.0 today will come as welcome news to those who own the device. 3.0 is largely as rumored: Adding support for both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras.

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“I’m Steve Ballmer, and I’m a Windows 7 PC.” With those words, spoken at a big company event in New York City, the Microsoft CEO launched the newest version of Windows, the one he hopes will regain the customer goodwill lost with its predecessor, Vista.

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Microsoft’s first brick-and-mortar retail store isn’t scheduled to open for another few hours, but the software giant is already selling PC hardware and third-party software titles–on the Web. This morning it unveiled an expanded online store that will better reflect its new real-world counterpart.

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Looks like AMD has benefited from the same favorable PC updraft that’s lifting Intel. On Thursday, the chip maker reported a narrower third-quarter loss than expected, thanks to “strong demand” for its microprocessors and graphics chips.

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There was more truth than braggadocio to Acer President Gianfranco Lanci’s claim earlier today that his company would soon overtake Dell as the second-largest PC maker in the world. Because according to new reports from Gartner and IDC both, Acer is indeed the No. 2 producer of PCs in the world.

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Six months. That’s how long it’s going to take Acer to surpass Dell in market share. Speaking at a news conference in London, company President Gianfranco Lanci took a few moments to talk a bit of smack about his rivals. Said Lanci: “Between this quarter and the next, we can finally pass Dell.”

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Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems, the largest in the company’s history, is the first of many such deals, not a simple one-off. In an interview with Bloomberg, company CEO Michael Dell said the PC maker is eyeing more acquisitions as it looks to bolster sales to corporate clients.

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The last time Microsoft was featured in an episode of “Family Guy,” it was the butt of Zune joke. Peter Griffin’s father-in-law asked Bill Gates to help him program his Zune and then taunted the Microsoft chairman, noting that he owns an iPod “like the rest of the world.” This time it’s going to be different. That’s because Microsoft is paying to make it so. The company has teamed up with Fox to sponsor a “Family Guy” special built around Windows 7.

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As the world’s largest maker of computer chips, Intel is considered a bellwether for the wider industry. So the fact that the company’s latest revenue and profit numbers handily beat expectations is a very good sign indeed.

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Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney says Google’s Android OS will claim 14 percent of the global smart-phone market by 2012, putting it ahead of Apple’s iPhone but behind Symbian, which currently runs on about half of all smart phones. While this might seem optimistic, it’s not entirely unreasonable given the distribution deals Google has been lining up. Yesterday, the search giant announced a deal to bring Android-based devices to Verizon Wireless. Now comes word that Dell is building an Android handset for AT&T.

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Approximately 12 percent of all computer-using U.S. households own an Apple machine, and nearly 85 percent of those also own a Windows-based PC. That’s the conclusion of an NPD survey that suggests that Mac households favor multiplatform environments, buy more gadgets and have the higher income needed to afford them.

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