Clearwire gets $900 million boost from Intel and Motorola

Intel and Motorola have decided to put their money where Craig O. McCaw's mouth is by investing $900 million dollars in his company, Clearwire, the WiMax provider that lost $140 million last year. Intel, having already made a smaller investment in the company back in 2004, is coughing up another $600 million cash, which sounds like a good indicator to us that their Centrino chips with WiMax are on the right development track. Motorola's smaller, but still substantial, $300 million dollar investment includes the purchase of NextNet, a Clearwire hardware subsidiary. All three companies are hoping that this deal brings us all one step closer to keeping us wired -- wirelessly of course -- no matter where we go, and that sounds good to us. As long as they can do it without making us all incredibly sick.