processors

SuVolta emerges with low-power chip technology

A semiconductor start-up has emerged from stealth mode with designs on making processors more power-efficient.

Silicon Valley-based SuVolta is launching today with its PowerShrink low-power platform. The company claims that PowerShrink helps to reduce chip power consumption by 50 percent or more without causing any deterioration in a device's performance.

To achieve such power efficiency, SuVolta addresses "electrical variation of the millions of transistors on a chip." As processors become smaller, transistors require different voltage levels to operate. Those different levels cause power leakage, lending to reduced power efficiency. With SuVolta's technology in place, chipmakers can … Read more

Rumor: Apple to make A6 quad-core, iPad-only

According to conjecture from Linley Gwennap (reported by Barron's), senior editor at Microprocessor Report, Apple's next-generation mobile processor, the A6 chip, should be quad-core but only available in iPads.

Gwennap wrote a piece examining the structure of Apple's current A5 processor found in the iPad 2 and come up with two interesting conclusions about how Apple is using their own processor technology to advance their hardware faster and more efficiently than their competitors.

One conclusion is that Apple:

"has gone for bigger chips than the 'merchant' silicon offered by vendors such as Nvidia because it can get greater performance at the same price: Apple doesn't pay the markup it would have to give to Nvidia or another company. Larger chip, same money, in other words."

When you make your own product, you reap all the rewards--only fair if you accept all the risk of doing so.… Read more

Nvidia touts quad-core Kal-El chip in Android tablet

Nvidia, an emerging power in the world of ARM processors for smartphones and tablets, has published a demonstration game called Glowball the company says shows what can be achieved with its quad-core Kal-El mobile processor project.

In the demo, an internally lit ball rolls around a playing board. With "dynamic lighting," shapes on the ball's exterior casting shadows on stacked barrels, lurking jack-in-the-boxes, hanging rugs, and a creepy clown face. The game's physics engine is wired into the tablet's accelerometer to determine how the ball rolls, the rugs hang, and the barrels tumble.

"All … Read more

Top Intel exec: Apple 'helps shape our road map'

Apple apparently plays a more significant role in Intel's long-term strategy than one might guess.

"We work very closely with them, and we're constantly looking down the road at what we can be doing relative to future products. I'd go as far as to say Apple helps shape our road map," Tom Kilroy, Intel's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said in a Reuters interview published yesterday.

Intel's love affair with Apple started in 2005 when the company announced it would ditch IBM's PowerPC processors in favor of Intel's x86 … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1464: PSN Hackers don't quit (Podcast)

Wilson Tang from the 404 joins us in studio to hack away at all the tech news along with host of the week Mr. Brian Tong. Hackers are threatening a third attack on Sony which may cause consumers to think twice about adding their credit card information onto any site in the future despite the 1 million dollar insurance policy that Sony will take out for every user. The LastPass CEO explains how their system was hacked in detail while video game developer David Braben creates a USB stick sized PC for $25 which we all want. And we find out if the Chrome OS notebook will blend. Will it blend?

Report: Apple to ditch Intel for ARM in MacBooks

Apple has quietly decided to drop Intel processors in favor of ARM-based chips in its line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros, a new report claims.

Citing anonymous sources, technology news site SemiAccurate is reporting that Apple's move is already "a done deal." However, the company won't be bringing ARM chips to its devices anytime soon.

According to SemiAccurate, its sources say that the move won't happen for two or three years, potentially coinciding with Nvidia's release of its Project Denver CPUs. Those ARM-based processors are being developed for everything from PCs to servers and … Read more

Collaborate on the go with Google Docs for Android

The long-awaited Google Docs Android application lets you create, edit, and share documents right from your Android mobile device. It's minimal and intuitive, and shuffling through your documents and collections is as easy as on the full-blown site. Also, the app comes with some nice touches like an optional home screen widget and integrated Google Cloud Print, which enables you to send files to connected printers from your handheld.

When it comes to creating on the go, the Google Docs app is limited to Document and Spreadsheet types. However, this doesn't seem like much of a letdown since … Read more

Report: Apple testing A5 iPhones with game devs

Select iOS application developers have been given versions of the iPhone with Apple's dual-core A5 processor, according to a new report.

Citing an anonymous source, 9to5mac says Apple has given some prominent game developers prototype versions of the iPhone that pack the A5 processor to test their applications. These units are said to be otherwise identical to the current version of the iPhone 4, except for the faster internals.

The A5 processor made its debut within the iPad 2. A successor to the A4 processor, which can be found in the first generation iPad and the iPhone 4, the … Read more

Rumor: Analyst expects A5 and 8MP camera for iPhone 5

Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released a note with details on what to expect in the forthcoming iPhone 5. Juicy features include Apple's A5 processor and a much-improved 8-megapixel rear camera.

According to AppleInsider, Kuo's note says the A5 processor will match the performance of the one currently found in Apple's iPad 2, though no mention of the RAM quantity was made.

"He has also been told that Apple will switch to a Qualcomm baseband for both GSM and CDMA models, along with an improved antenna design."

Echoing other rumors that production on the iPhone … Read more

iPad 2 killer feature: The 2X factor

The iPad 2 is "winning" with two double-your-fun hardware features. Buh-bye iPad 1.

After using the iPad 2 for a few weeks, I can now say the upgrade was worth it. Even waiting in line with the huddled Los Angeles masses, yearning for the iPad 2, was worth it.

Allow me to insert a brief parenthetical by saying I wouldn't be completely honest if I didn't mention there's always a psychological need to justify the purchase of a pricey gadget. Not unlike seeking absolution for a sin. That said, I'm pretty sure this review … Read more