Intel boffin mysteriously indisposed

WHENEVER WE HAVE a techy query about an Intel product we happen to have on test, our questions are usually passed on to the relevant expert down in Chipzilla's basement. Intel techies are polite to a fault, extremely knowledgeable and very helpful, just like the company's top management.

When we had cause to ask one of our friendly techies a followup question this week, we discovered that he was off work due to an undisclosed illness. When we asked a spin paramedic what had happened to him, we received the rather ominous reply "I was just covering all the bases".

Now it could be that we had our email wires crossed, but could it be that boffins suspected of being too helpful to journos are at risk of a visit from PR minders complete with baseball bats? µ