AMD’s first APU for tablets is codenamed “Hondo” and will be built on a 40-nm manufacturing process. APUs combine a microprocessor and graphics on the same chip and feature ultra-low power consumption. The company revealed that the first AMD-toting Windows 8 tablet will be available this year.

AMD will also be refreshing its lineup with Brazos 2.0 chips that feature faster TurboCore and universal serial bus 3.0 built on a 40-nm process. A second-gen Trinity APU will be built on a 32-nm process and feature significant improvements in performance and power consumption. Additionally, AMD will be launching a new stand-alone graphics chip called Southern Islands, which is built on a 28-nm process and should debut this year.

In 2013, AMD will launch a successor to the Hondo tablet chip called Temash, which will feature new Jaguar processing cores. Kabini chip for laptops with Jaguar cores, a third-gen Kaveri APU with Steamroller cores, and a Trinity mobile chip will also be introduced in 2013.

[via VentureBeat]

Qualcomm’s revenues are up 14% over the last quarter of 2011 and up a whopping 40% over this same period last year, sitting them in cool and pretty at $4.68 billion. This puts them up to $1.55 billion in operating income, an amount which puts them 24% and 25% higher than they were last year and last quarter, respectively. Their net income is right up around the O.I. with 1.40 billion, this up 20% from Q1 2011 and 33% from Q4 2011. Things are looking up all around!

In the estimates chart for 3G/4G device shipments you’re seeing here, growth is apparent of course, but what’s more interesting is how tiny growth has been in Japan and Korea compared to every other region. You’ll find North America to be growing at a healthy rate with China and India essentially exploding year over year, and estimates for 2012 hitting a slightly less fabulous percentage growth over 2011, but certainly looking pretty impressive compared to 2010.

In this quarterly total reported device sales chart, you’ll find that it’s been an ever-so-slightly bumpy road since December of 2008, but that December of 2011 is likely to reach nearly double what it was 3 years ago. Compared to the last four quarters, Qualcomm has been growing each quarter by a significant amount, with this first quarter always being the biggest of the year. If this chart holds true, we can expect a bit of a dip in Q2′s total reported device sales, with a continued upward swing until sometime next year.

In other words, Qualcomm is doing quite well right now as chips are up, mobile is up, and everything’s turning up Milhouse for the company that’s made a big showing at CES 2012 and is set to make another big bang at MWC 2012 – seeya there!

It’s set up much like a quad-core chip, but the ZMS-40 adds 96 “StemCell Media Processing” cores that help out the four included ARM Cortex A9 cores. It is not only supposed to reduce battery consumption by half, ZiiLabs claim it will also manage “twice the peak media performance”. When I play graphic intensive games or watch movies on my tablet, the battery drains faster than I can keep up. If the ZMS-40 can remedy that apparent problem – then I hope it makes its way into devices soon.

We may actually see a few tablets with the ZMS-40 chip incorporated at CES next week. If so, we’ll be the first to let you know how it stacks up to the rest. But until then, we’ll leave you with the official press release:

[via Engadget]

Noyce had been employed at Shockley Semiconductor, but left as part of the “traitorous eight” after reportedly growing disillusioned with the company’s approach to research. Noyce and Moore, two of the eight, decided to set up their own company, Intel, with a more holistic approach to management, with scientific endeavor as the primary goal. It was at Intel, supervising Ted Hoff, where Noyce oversaw the creation of the microprocessor.

One of Noyce’s final wishes was to “make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age.” The Noyce Foundation, intended to promote K-12 level physics and mathematics education, was established by Noyce’s family in 1991.

The computer chip uses about 400 transistors to simulate the activity of a single brain synapse, which connects two neurons and is what allows information to flow between them. There are close to about 100 billion neurons in the human brain, each forming synapses with many other neurons, through ion channels that control the flow of charged atoms. The computer chip mimics the ion channels using an analog method instead of binary so that parameters can be tweaked to match specific ion channels of the brain.

Circuits have been built previously that fire off actions but did not take into account the differences in the intracellular processes involving ion channels. Dean Buonomano, a professor of neurobiology at UCLA, says that this new computer chip is a “significant” advancement and that “the level of biological realism is impressive.”

The MIT researchers intend to build systems using this chip for specific neural functions such as visual processing. A system built with this chip could function much faster than digital computers, which can take hours or days to mimic a simple brain circuit even on a high-capacity computer. The analog chip can actually perform even faster than the biological system.

Additionally, researchers can use the chip to build systems to communicate with biological systems, such as to enable control of neural prosthetic devices like artificial retinas. Usage in artificial intelligence is another possibility later on.

[via MIT News]

Another point to make here is that Qualcomm has currently cornered the Windows Phone market with their processors. That’s right, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors power 100 percent of Windows Phone devices on the market right now, and they don’t plan on stopping there! With the Windows Phone 7 marketplace on the rise, its in Qualcomm’s best interest to continue to hold on to the entirety of the platform.

Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Europe, is more than pleased with the situation of course. Salvatori notes that the process from start to finish only took six months, quite a feat for two manufacturers working to optimize eachothers products for one another for market release. “The completeness of the Snapdragon processor and deep integration between Snapdragon and Windows Phone 7 have enabled a unique smartphone experience in record development time for Nokia.” Sounds good and dandy!

Check out our Hands-on with the Lumia 800, our Hands-on with the Lumia 710, and hit up the entire Nokia experience this week by seeking out the Nokia World 2011 portal.

UPDATE: the final release version of this game is out now, check out our follow-up post and hands-on video once you get down reading about it here, then pick the game up in the market!

A third-person shooter is, for those of you that don’t know, a game in which you’re looking over the shoulder of the character that you control, using your controls to then fire all manner of projectile weapons (or in some cases, cutting weapons or even your fists,) at your enemy. Here we’re using our fists to jam on computer consoles to pass through doors and open locks while our trigger finger blasts enemies with nothing less than an Alien caliber pulse rifle-esque supergun. Our enemies are a set of mutated humanoids and their robot counterparts – without getting too much into the story, basically they’re all freakish and you wont have any trouble with your conscience for blasting them into pieces.

There IS a storyline, and you can read it in the hands-on video here if you please, and there IS a reason you’re on this planet with its industrial used-future look and hallways full of nasty customers, but heck, you know why you’re here. Your controls are simple and well-placed, this especially so since you can control where they sit. You’ve got your joystick, gun trigger, view and aim, reload gun button, gun switcher, and settings. Everything else you see there on the gray line below is a result of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 pushing its TouchWiz UX up in our face – forget it’s there for now.

You can move all of your controls around and indeed even the wherever-you-need-it joystick for moving your character can be set in one place if you want it. The game is single player, contains what Madfinger says is 5 hours of play, and contains multiple outcomes at the end depending on how you’ve played your cards. The game ISNT easy for a beginner, and there are three difficulty settings for even the most hardened of shooter-game experts.

You’ll be able to find this game in the Tegra Zone as well as on the Android Market immediately if not soon, just search for that unique word: SHADOWGUN. It’s the only one in there, I assure you. This version is optimized, again, for the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chipset, and there WILL be an updated version for the quad-core Kal-El NVIDIA chipset come this winter. Exciting!

The new S4 class chipset based off the Krait architecture is built on a 28nm process. It will be available in single-core, dual-core, and quad-core versions with speeds up to 2.5GHz and will come with Adreno Graphics, 3D, full 1080p HD, as well as 3G and LTE connectivity as standard features.

The S4 class will be the high-end line whereas Qualcomm will also be offering less powerful chips for budget and mass market devices with its S1, S2, and S3 classes. The chips will be available to manufacturers by year-end and can be expected to ship in consumer devices at the start of 2012. This means that we can expect to see the first 2.5GHz handsets launching at Mobile World Congress in February of next year.

[via Android Community]

The last delay had to do with issues regarding the graphics driver on the Cedar Trail processor. The architecture is built on a 32nm process and has the GPU residing on the same die as the CPU. At the time, the platform failed to attain Windows 7 certification, likely due to media encoding problems.

Now that issue should be fixed, but the platform has also added some new features. Cedar Trail will now support Intel Smart Connect Technology and Fast Boot & Standby, which uses Intel’s Rapid Start technology.

The Intel Smart Connect feature lets your computer periodically check on web apps such as Facebook and Twitter while in sleep mode. This way, your computer is always connected and updating even while you’re away.

Rapid Start lets devices resume from hibernation in less than 7 seconds. These boot times should become standard on all Ultrabooks and will be exclusive to Ultrabooks until Cedar Trail netbooks launch.

[via NetbookNews]

The Red Ridge reference prototype is packed with features to help manufacturers design their own tablets using Intel’s Medfield chip. The tablet features a 1280 x 800 touchscreen display, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, WiDi, NFC, and 3G support.

Much of the customization and optimization of Android 3.2 was the work of Intel, but starting with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Google will be pitching in as it has pledged support for Intel Atom chips in future Android releases. The Native Development Kit for x86 processors is already available with an emulator to come later this year.

[via Thisismynext]

We all want faster data speed when we are on the go so improvements in performance on the chips are welcome. GCT has a new WiMax 2 chip for mobile devices called the GDM7225. This chip is highly integrated and puts the WiMax 2 RF, MAC, and PHY in a single chip. The chip also has 4×4 MIMO system onboard for high-speed communications that are four to five times faster than existing WiMax technology.

GCT is working with UQ Communications in Japan to enhance its WiMax network to support WiMax 2 speeds. The new chip allows for data speeds of up to 150Mbps download and up to 50Mbps upload. The chip supports multiple carriers at up to 20MHz bandwidth.

Citi analyst Glen Yueng says that Intel is currently in talks with Apple about manufacturing the custom A4 and A5 chips, but that the aim is towards a much bigger partnership. Yueng says that Intel isn’t interested in simply being a foundry partner with Apple and that part of the deal that’s being negotiated would have Apple migrate to Intel chips later on for their future iPads and iPhones.

If this deal goes through, it would be a huge blow to ARM. But recent rumors have also suggested that Apple may switch from Intel to ARM for the processors in their Macbooks. But with Intel’s recent unveiling of the 22-nm 3D Tri-Gate chip technology, that will pack in the performance Intel is known for while reducing size and energy consumption, it’s hard to see Apple making that move.

[via Business Insider]

Qualcomm’s program will involve working with developers to optimize the performance of their games to take full advantage of the Adreno GPU in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. The Game Pack will initially come with 100 mobile games that will be available through the Android Market and developer stores. Those same games will also be available to manufacturers working on pre-production devices running Snapdragon processors.

Numbers

There are currently over 125 devices on the market powered by Snapdragon. And, another 250 Snapdragon devices are currently in development worldwide from various OEMs. It’s safe to say that games optimized for the processor will have a rather large market for distribution. Several developer groups have already signed on with Qualcomm’s optimization program, including Babaroga, Booyah, Com2us USA, Digital Chocolate, Eyelead Software, Glu, Guild Software, NAMCO BANDAI Games America, Gameloft, Natural Motion, Polarbit, Southend Interactive, and Tripwire Interactive.

Games

There are also a couple of games that have already been Snapdragon optimized and released, including GT Racing: Motor Academy and Real Soccer 2011 that are both available at Gameloft. Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus is available through the Android Market as well as through V-Cast Apps for the Xperia PLAY. Some other optimized games that will be available soon include Pool Pro Online 3, available through the developer’s website, and PAC-Mac Cart Rally 3D, which was demoed at the event today.

The Difference

Qualcomm’s game optimization program strives to ensure that games will work best with its Snapdragon CPU and Adreno GPU to encourage consumers to seek out devices with its processors for the optimal gaming experience. But like we mentioned earlier, the main difference between Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Game Pack approach and rival game optimization programs is that Qualcomm is not limiting developers to one processor. With already a large market, some successfully optimized games with more in route, and an “open” approach, Qualcomm could certainly become a major player when it comes to mobile gaming hardware.

Press Release:

SAN DIEGO – June 01, 2011 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced the introduction of the Snapdragon™ Game Pack, which is an optimization program initially featuring more than 100 mobile games that represent the first installment of a growing collection of the latest console-quality and casual games optimized and enhanced for Snapdragon-based mobile devices. This significant milestone conveys the depth of support and collaboration among Qualcomm and top gaming publishers and developers that are using the advanced graphics capability of the embedded Adreno™ GPUs in Snapdragon mobile processors to bring a better gaming experience to mobile users. Future phases of the Snapdragon Game Pack will be able to take full advantage of next-generation Snapdragon mobile processors that will feature quad-core Adreno GPUs and will be optimized for larger display devices, such as tablets.

With more than 60 percent of smartphone users regularly playing games on their mobile devices, the demand is clear and the time is right to bring this significant advancement to the mobile gaming ecosystem. These individual Snapdragon-optimized games are accessible to the Android community via the Android Market and developer stores. The next-generation games to be included in the Snapdragon Game Pack will also be made available by the publishers and developers of such games for mobile device manufacturers working on pre-commercial products to bring an industry-leading gaming experience to their Snapdragon powered devices. The Snapdragon Game Pack is also designed to help publishers with more pre-install opportunities for generating new revenue with their existing catalog of games. With more than 125 Snapdragon devices announced and more than 250 in development from OEMs and operators worldwide, the Snapdragon platform is the mobile platform of choice for many publishers.

“We are excited to be leading the way with the top game developers in the industry to bring better gaming experiences to Android and other platforms for everyone to enjoy,” said Dave Durnil, director of advanced content at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “Our in-house gaming team is comprised of lead programmers from major game studios that have launched commercial titles for consoles and mobile. This team is focused on enabling industry-leading gaming experiences for our next-generation Snapdragon mobile processors and supporting developers that are part of the Snapdragon Game Pack.”

The Snapdragon Game Pack and the list of games associated with the Snapdragon Game Pack will continue to grow over time. Some of the Company’s collaborators in this effort include Babaroga, Booyah, Com2us USA, Digital Chocolate, Eyelead Software, Glu, Guild Software, NAMCO BANDAI Games America, Gameloft, Natural Motion, Polarbit, Southend Interactive and Tripwire Interactive.

“We are happy to work with Qualcomm to deliver a great gaming experience on Snapdragon-powered Android devices, with games such as GT Racing: Motor Academy, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus and Real Soccer 2011,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of Publishing Americas, Gameloft. “These powerful devices enable the development of immersive HD games, and we are pleased to work with Qualcomm to take it to the next level.”

“The wide industry support behind Snapdragon helps to facilitate consistency of hardware, even between different manufacturers, and it makes optimizations of our products an easier process,” said Mitri Wiberg, CEO, Polarbit AB. “Working with Qualcomm also gives us the opportunity to attain business opportunities with major mobile industry players that rely on Qualcomm technology to power their products.”

“We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Qualcomm in bringing extremely compelling gaming experiences across platforms,” said Jason Loia, chief operating offices, Digital Chocolate. “Android has the potential to be a key catalyst of the social gaming revolution on mobile, and Digital Chocolate is committed to it as a first-rate gaming platform.”

“We are always pushing the limits of 3D Social Mobile game quality with the goal of delivering a dynamic, console-like gaming experience,” said Giancarlo Mori, chief creative officer, Glu Mobile. “The Snapdragon Game Pack offers top developers like Glu the tools needed to continue delivering this experience on the next generation of mobile devices.”

“The broad adoption of Snapdragon mobile processors in the Android space, along with great developer support from Qualcomm, made a compelling case for bringing our unique MMO experience to these devices,” said John Bergman, CEO, Guild Software Inc.

“As a leading and innovative games developer, we always aim to make the best games no matter what platform, and with the help of Qualcomm and the performance of Snapdragon mobile processors, we are able to do just that,” said Fredrik Erlandsson, CEO, Southend Interactive.

“Snapdragon-powered devices exhibit great performance and impressive 3D graphics for game development, allowing us to maximize the visual appeal of Pool Pro Online 3,” said Dominic Lobbia, senior R&D director, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “Qualcomm has also provided industry-leading tools, including the Adreno Profiler, which has enabled us to fine-tune the 3D performance of our games on the Snapdragon platform.”

“We are pleased to be bringing a number of our titles onto the Android operating system that are optimized for devices utilizing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform,” said Torsten Reil, CEO, NaturalMotion.

“Snapdragon mobile processors with embedded Adreno GPUs make it possible for us to bring rich gaming experiences with wide appeal like Homerun Battle 3D to Snapdragon-based mobile devices,” said Don Lim, General Manager, Com2us USA.

“Collaborating with Qualcomm enables us to bring a better overall experience for players and publishers alike,” said Andreja Djokovic, founder, Babaroga.

“The breadth and reach of Snapdragon mobile processors in the Android Market makes working with Qualcomm a smart business decision, “said Brian Cho, director of business development, Booyah.

“By collaborating with Qualcomm and utilizing their Adreno Profiler tool, we optimized our game to deliver higher performance, richer 3D content and a more exciting mobile gaming experience,” said Nikos Vassiliou, chief software architect, Eyelead Software.

“We are excited to start bringing top-of-the-line PC games to the mobile market, and now we can do it on Snapdragon-powered devices,” said Alan Wilson, vice president, Tripwire Interactive.

Qualcomm’s Adreno graphics technology has long been a hub for mobile gaming. The latest Adreno GPUs allow developers to continue to utilize high-performance Adreno graphics capabilities to drive spectacular gaming and user experiences across all device tiers. Qualcomm’s embedded Adreno GPUs have enabled the largest mobile graphics ecosystems as evidenced by the hundreds of games available on Android, Windows Phone 7, Xbox Live gaming and PlayStation Certified gaming on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia PLAY.

ARM already has a lead in the emerging tablet market, but it hopes to gain more traction when it comes to Windows-powered devices as well. It’s believed that the next Windows 8 will have special versions to work with ARM processors. It was also rumored that future MacBooks may switch from Intel to ARM. The company’s next-generation processor design, the Cortex A15 boasts five times better performance over current smartphone processors while maintaining the same low power consumption.

“Today we have about 10 percent market share [in mobile PCs]. By the end of 2011 we believe we will have about 15 percent of that market share as tablets grow,” said ARM president Tudor Brown during a news conference at Computex, according to PC World. “By 2015, we expect that to be over 50 percent of the mobile PC market.”

The A15 is currently manufactured using either a 32-nm or 28-nm process and has already been licensed out to several manufacturers that are readying prototypes by late 2011 and commercial chips by early 2012. But considering Intel’s recent revelation of a 22-nm 3D tri-gate process also set to launch early 2012, the battle ahead will be quite interesting.

[via VentureBeat]

Building on top of this for their tablet chip offering should yield some pretty awesome results. According to the roadmap, their new chipset will be a Fusion Z-Series codenamed “Desna.” These chips will support DirectX 11 graphics, Adobe Flash Player video acceleration, and smooth HD video streaming. They will also support hardware graphics acceleration for Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft Office 10, and Windows 7 visual effects.

The specs suggest that AMD is targeting future Microsoft tablets. But to truly compete with the next-generation Intel Atom Oak Trail chips or ARM-based processors, the Desna will need to have low power consumption for longer battery life in combination with high power and performance.

[via Android Community]

Silvermont will be a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, like all Atom processors going forward, and like the processors found in smartphones and tablets. Intel has put Atom on a fast track, and will accelerate the Atom processor roadmap at a pace faster than Moore’s Law. That law generally states that the number of transistors on a chip will roughly double every two years. But Atom SoCs are now at 45nm, and are moving to 32nm later this year. The Silvermont SoCs combined with the new architecture will be shipping in two years, so this adds up to three process generations and one new architecture in under 3 years.

According to CNET, “The Silvermont architecture will be designed specifically to take advantage the 22-nanometer technology and 3D transistors, according to sources.” Intel is facing competition from many directions these days, not just from AMD, but also from NVIDIA, especially with that company’s acquisition of Icera. Also, Apple has talked about dumping Intel for ARM in its Macbooks.

We will likely hear more about plans for the Atom Soc at Intel’s analyst meeting next week.

[via CNET]

The MSM8270, MSM8930, MSM8960, and APQ8064 are all based on Qualcomm’s new CPU architecture called Krait. The new chip will be made on a 28 nanometer process and run at speeds up to 2.5GHz, with almost 23 percent more computing power than the Cortex A15 and using 47 percent less power for the same performance. The chip is expected to have speeds up to five times faster than its predecessor in raw CPU power and four times faster when it comes to graphics for “console quality gaming.” It will be able to support not only 1080p and 3D video, but also 7.1-channel Dolby Surround and up to a 20-megapixel camera.

The MSM8960 has built-in 3G and LTE-based 4G hardware and will ship out to companies for testing by end of Spring. The rest of the Snapdragon chips will be shipped by the end of the year, with actual products utilizing the chip depending on when the device manufacturers are ready. This means we could be seeing the chips in mobile devices by 2012.

[via Electronista]

The new ten-core chip supports up to 20 threads and is up to 40 percent faster and more energy efficient. Portions of the chip can be shut down when not being used, such as when there’s only a light load on the processor.

The Xeon E7 chip is based on the 32 nanometer manufacturing process, has 2TBytes of main memory, and 30Mbytes of last-level cache. The chip will be launched in 10 different versions with prices ranging from $774 to $4616.

[via Electronista]

The platform was earlier tied to a MeeGo-powered handset, and can also be used in USB modems, according to Intel.

Intel also announced the multimode XMM 7060 platform will support 2G, 3G, and LTE networks. The platform is paired with the X-GOLD 706 multimode baseband processor and the SMARTi 4G multimode RF transceiver. The modem with be capable of serving up to five LTE bands, five 3G bands, and four 2G bands at the same time. Samples of the chip will ship this summer, and volume shipments will arrive during the second half of 2012.

Both will be exhibited at MWC in Spain, probably in a handset with the Medfield processor. SlashGear is covering MWC live, and will bring you more details as they become available.

[via Electronista]

The leaked image shows the range of AMD’s series, from the 5700, to the 5800, and including the new 6700 series. In the breakdown, we see that while clocked speeds may not be that different from previous models, AMD says the new series will add almost a 60 percent increase to the raw computing power. Accordingly, the Radeon HD 6770 will produce somewhere near 2.3 teraflops, while the Radeon HD 5850 only produces 2 teraflops.

However, it should be noted that both of the new 6700 series models will consume more power, but they will be more efficient, when compared to the performance, versus the 5800 series of chips. As for a release date, that wasn’t included in the leaked document, but it has been rumored that AMD is ready to make a launch announcement some time in October.

[via VR-Zone]

But, just because something gets smaller, doesn’t mean it’s all that great. If you lose the size, but also start losing features, then there’s no real point in making it at all, is there? Thankfully, SanDisk’s new SSD didn’t fall into this trap. The new chip can be connected together through the traditional SATA interface, which means you can chain these little guys together to make even bigger drives.

As for read and write times? They’ve got the new chip clocked at 160MB/sec for sequential read, and 100MB/sec for sequential write times. That’s better than pretty good, especially considering the tininess involved here. And, we’ll just assume that it’s only going to get better. Only unfortunate part is that this isn’t ready to hit mainstream devices quite yet, but hopefully sooner than later.

Press Release

Flash Memory Summit, Santa Clara, Calif., August 18, 2010-SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced the first product in a new category of embedded solid state drives (SSD) that are smaller than a postage stamp and offer higher capacities and performance than existing storage solutions. The SanDisk® integrated SSD (iSSD), the first high-capacity product within this new category, is designed for use in fast-growing mobile computing platforms such as tablet PCs and ultra-thin notebooks.

Computing platforms are responding to consumer demand for highly portable, ultra-thin, anywhere-anytime access to the Internet and their favorite content. The SanDisk iSSD drive is the first flash SSD device to support the industry standard SATA interface in a small BGA (Ball Grid Array) package that can be soldered onto any motherboard, and that is fast enough for use with advanced operating systems in next-generation mobile computing platforms.

“The new category of embedded SSDs should enable OEMs to produce tablets and notebooks with an unprecedented combination of thin, lightweight form factors and fast performance,” said Doron Myersdorf, senior director, SSD marketing, SanDisk.

“With our embedded flash storage leadership, SanDisk believes it is uniquely positioned to deliver the ultra compact SSD solutions needed by OEMs.”

“The ultra-thin tablet and mobile computer markets are expected to experience tremendous growth over the coming years, and new advanced platforms will introduce new requirements for storage solutions,” said Jeff Janukowicz, research manager, solid state drives, IDC. “New embedded SSDs such as the SanDisk iSSD drive, which meet the stringent size requirements of small and light devices while offering greater performance, are designed to enable OEMs to deliver an enhanced user experience in their next-generation designs.”

The SanDisk iSSD offers 160MB/sec sequential read and 100MB/sec sequential write speeds for greater system responsiveness*. With no moving parts, the tiny, robust drive is designed to deliver the durability needed by portable devices that are frequently dropped or jostled. SanDisk iSSD offers a substantial level of design flexibility for OEMs who seek to create the next generation of tablets and ultra thin mobile devices based on the standard SATA interface.

The SanDisk iSSD is available now for sampling to OEMs, and is being evaluated by top-tier manufacturers. Measuring 16mm x 20mm x 1.85mm and weighing less than one gram, the drive uses a BGA form factor and a SATA interface, and is compatible with all leading operating systems. SanDisk iSSD is available in capacities ranging from 4 gigabytes (GB)1 to 64GB, with pricing dependent upon the quantity ordered.

The factory will be completed in 2012 and will be equipped to use a 28-nanometer process to make chips. This is expected to get even smaller to a 22nm process once it moves into full production.

Even though GlobalFoundries is related to AMD, they won’t be restricted to just producing AMD processors. They may also work on NEC, Toshiba and IBM models. This is good news for those hoping for cooler-running and more power-saving chips in the near future.

This is actually the first graphics processor to reach the 1GHz mark, so congratulations are due to AMD! Plus, this boost actually increases the computing power to 1.6 teraflops from the previous 1.36 teraflops.

Interestingly enough, this hasn’t caused the chipset to switch over to required liquid cooling. Fan cooling is still apparently okay, though you can use higher-tech cooling options, if you’d like. The ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics processor is compatible with Windows systems at this point in time.

This is good timing, considering AMD will be releasing their ATI Catalyst 9.5 by the end of the month. So, people that use ATI Radeon HD 2000, 3000 and 4000 series graphics cards can rest assured the new software will make them work completely with Windows 7.

Apparently, this also allows ATI Stream technology. The WHQL certification comes on the very first day of Microsoft opening their certification program. Nice way to jump in there with your graphics driver first, AMD!

Intended to be an affordable processor option, this model allows for faster speeds at the budget level with overclocking ability. You can thank the Black Edition status for that useful function.

Other features include the ability to choose HyperTransport, processor core frequencies and the memory controller by means of OverDrive or other software of its type. It also has 2MB of shared L3 cache, a 128-bit memory controller, PC2 8500 DDR memory support and an 1.8GHz HyperTransport bus. You can get the AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition 2.8GHz processor today for $69.

[via UberGizmo]

The flash memory will be available for mass consumption by July. The new process employed here uses a 32-gigabit chip, which is 4GB, and when stacked 8 tall, you end up with 32GB of total memory in one tiny space.

While we don’t know who will receive the larger flash memory first, it does seem likely that Toshiba will be providing the memory for the iPhone 3.0. The company also notes that USB storage with the new memory capacity will be their first products to carry the 32 nm chip.

[via Engadget]

The settlement is to be paid out over the course of four years and is actually the second time Qualcomm has had to pony up cash to Broadcom for lawsuits. Apparently, all of the hullaballoo is due to patent infringement claims Broadcom filed at the International Trade Commission and court in Santa Ana, CA against Qualcomm, but they’ll now be withdrawn since an agreement has been reached.

Qualcomm’s primary concern here was to have to sit through another sales ban on their chips, which happened in 2007 by the US International Trade Commission. Seeking to put an end to the entire issue, both companies are working in conjunction to put these legal troubles behind them.

This new chip would be mostly used in portable devices like MIDs. What’s really great about these new chips is that they will use 20% less power yet gain 40% in performance when compared to the current 45nm chips.

What’s particularly useful about this is that those using 32nm chips will be able to transition to the 28nm ones easily, without a complete overhaul of the system. Production is expected to begin sometime next year.

The current research shows that a frequency multiplier could be created, which works to double a signal and likewise doubles a processor’s clocking speed. Color me impressed! This idea is not new, but it is certainly new when applied to Graphene, which possesses only an atom’s thickness.

So, what’s so exciting about this? Well, Graphene chips could make for processors that run between 500GHz and 1,000GHz. That’s quite a leap from the current 5GHz chips, wouldn’t you say? We should see a commercial version of this technology within two years, according to MIT.

[via PC Pro]

This new modem is 13 square mm and can fit in any cellphone. But despite its tiny size, it can apparently crank out speeds of LTE. What does this equate to? About 100Mbps for downloads and 50Mbps for uploads. And when this was tested on a Windows Mobile device, it achieved 60Mbps for downloads and 20Mbps for uploads, which is still great.

LTE as a standard could make for cellphone Internet connections that are on the same level as landline connections. That’s impressive! No one knows precisely what LG’s plans are in terms of rolling this out, but they do intend on shipping their first LTE phones in 2010.

Normally, WiFi on cellphones takes up a lot of energy. In fact, it’s often thought of as a serious battery drainer. But this new chip makes it so a 2.4GHz or 5GHz band connection can occur without using as much power. It uses less power than earlier chips that could only manage the 802.11g standard and no higher.

This chip also offers up Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, an FM tuner and a feature called space time block coding, which makes connections on the outskirts of a network more stable. The Broadcom BCM4329 chip is expected sometime in 2009, though no customers for it have been named yet.

NVIDIA demonstrated a 750MHz ARM11-based chipset early this year which was easily capable of encoding and decoding 720p high-definition video and 12-megapixel images.  That became the NVIDIA Tegra, expected to handle 1080p video, output via HDMI and run Quake 3 at 40fps with full filters and anti-aliasing.  Best of all, battery life was pegged at 130hrs audio or 30hrs HD video on a single charge.  This new Socle chipset could even further increase processing power, while maintaining extended runtime.

Socle are currently working on 40nm processes with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing.  Industry observers expect the company to leverage its cooperation deal with ARM to make in-roads into MID development.

Intel will talk about their 291Mb SRam memory array and how they made it in order to test their process. This utilizes high-k and metal gate technology, plus possesses a density of 0.171μm². Their 32nm processors are currently codenamed Westmere and will be released toward the end of 2009. 

However, IBM and TSMC will be there as well showing off their 32nm chips, including a 2Mb SRam chip and a 0.157μm² 32nm SRam cell, respectively. AMD and IBM will team up to display the “smallest functional SRam cell ever made,” which is that 22nm thing we’ve been talking about that has a cell density of 0.1μm².

It works by using a writing arm that’s incredibly small. This arm would use lenses with plasmons to write data in a very compact fashion. With all of the data much more closely spaced together, more data can fit on a single chip, meaning chip size can be reduced dramatically.

These chips could end up being about ten times smaller than those that are currently available, which have 80 nanometer circuits. This new tech could be used in optical storage as well, making for more data written on each disc. All of this would result in compacter, faster products. Production is expected within three to five years.

[via Electronista]

Two separate incidents involving fighter jet malfunction are being unofficially blamed on fake chips billed as Maxim and Xicor products; the two manufacturers have denied any involvement with the shipments.  Yet another incident describes how fake routers, branded Cisco, were used by various military agencies, heedless to the fact that each could have a covert “back door” through which their makers could access classified information.

Over 400 such routers have been seized so far, from use in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines over the past four years.  It’s believed they were part of a shipment of multiple mis-marketed routers sold to the military by a electronics distributor in Texas; the proprietors have since pleaded guilty to misrepresenting their wares.

“Counterfeit products have been linked to the crash of mission-critical networks, and may also contain hidden ‘back doors’ enabling network security to be bypassed and sensitive data accessed [by hackers, thieves, and spies]“  Melissa E. Hathaway, head of cyber security in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

The chips are apparently sourced from Chinese vendors who remove them from obsolete hardware, re-label them to disguise their age, and sell them on with fake branding.  A switch to using smaller brokers to source hardware for American projects began in the early 1990s, as a cost-saving exercise.

[via Guardian]

A press release last night indicated that AMD would be making an important announcement today. It would involve the CEO and president of the company, Dirk Meyer and was said to be a “significant corporate announcement.” This set the blogs abuzz and reinvigorated the rumors about AMD breaking up.

And it was a likely scenario, especially since Meyer himself admitted that AMD would split off into a new company that specialized in the manufacture and fabrication of chips eventually. But late last night it was confirmed by the Wall Street Journal. AMD will be splitting up. Keep your ears peeled for an announcement later today.

[via Engadget]

“As a result of this new agreement, it is expected that Imagination’s IP cores will feature in a number of new SoCs to be used in this company’s future products. Under the terms of the above licensing arrangement, Imagination will receive on-going licence fees as well as royalty revenues on SoCs incorporating Imagination’s IP” Imagination Technology statement

Imagination specialise in graphics, video and display accelerators, together with multi-threaded processors and multi-standard receiver technologies. Their particular expertise in mobile devices has led to speculation that Apple plan more ultraportable computing bridging the gap between the iPhone and the current MacBook range.

Apple recently acquired chip manufacturer P.A. Semi, with the presumption being that they intend to develop their own specialized platforms. This would be in contrast with Apple’s mainstream desktop and notebook line, which shifted from a more unique architecture to Intel-based components.

[via Macworld]