I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but....

Is there a correlation between the forthcoming introduction of AMD's Barcelona and the current surfeit of information from Intel about the MCM dual-dual-core Pentium Core 2 Extreme and future CPUs and technologies?

Do they sense a coming correction in the quad-core space?

I do.

And I think they do as well.

As a result, they are - correctly, IMO - doing what any marketing company faced with an innovative competitor does: shift the marketing gears into damage-control overdrive.

(Their new favorite pal, AAPL does it all the time. So much so that the cattle there have branded Stevie as The Returned!)

I cannot read industry news or blog without hearing about a new ‘revelation’ from Santa Clara. I cannot open any industry fishwrap or glossy without tripping over a new 'scoop' on Penryn.

Homie, please!

OK?

The fear is palpable, and cracks are starting to show.

Tone down this unprecedented (dis)information campaign.

Turn off the noise!