this is the Technology Report.Competition in the world of personal computers is fierce.Computer makers are working on new waysto persuade people to buy PCs.The advertising campaigns could be seen earlier this yearat the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.Mike Fard is a marketing representative at Intel,his company manufactures Semi-conductor chips for computers."This year it's all about touch,we have touch computers based on Windows 8running the Intel processors,but even more exciting than just touch,is the ultra-book convertible.What that means is that you have a standard laptopthat converts into a tabletand we have multiple designs that feature this capability."Yet, sales of personal computers are slow.Recently, research company IDC reportedthat worldwide sales of PCs dropped 14 percentin the first three month of 2013.The company said this was the worst dropsince it started collecting information in 1994.In April, Intel said its earnings fell 2.5 percentto 12.6 billion dollars.Compared to earnings last year,Intel's net income dropped 25 percent to 2 billion dollars.One possible reason for the slow salesis the rise of tablet computers,such as Apple's iPad and other mobile devices.Intel and its competitors have sought to work their wayout of their sale's trouble by offering new products.These include ultra-book,a thin light weight notebook computer which came out in 2011.But the inventions have yet to increase sales.Industry experts are also concerned about reactionto Microsoft windows 8 operating system,it was released last October.Bob O'Donnell, an IDC vice president saidthe Windows 8 launch not only failed to increase PC sales,but seemed to have slowed the market.He blamed Microsoft for developing a programwith what he calls "radical changes",he has criticized the companyfor removing the start button from the operating system.Without reacting to the criticisms,Windows Corporate vice presidentJulie Larson-Green announced this monththat Microsoft will release a Windows 8 update.She expects the first public previewon the update to take place in June.Intel has said it wants to be more influentialin the manufacture of chips for mobile devices.Its chips began appearing in smart phonesfor the first time about a year ago.But critics say Intel's latest technology called “Ivy Bridge”is far behind that of the competition.The company believesthis will change with its new mobile chip designwhich is set for release later this year.And that's the Technology Report,