ARM

Intel CEO addresses Microsoft Office on ARM

Intel CEO Paul Otellini characterized the prospect of Microsoft Office running on ARM chips as a potential "downside" during an earnings call today before trying to allay any fears of encroachment into the traditional PC market.

It is axiomatic that Microsoft Office, the worldwide gold standard for office application suites, has been one of the main reasons Windows software and Intel processors have such staying power. So, the specter of Office running on top of ARM processors from Intel chip rivals in the future is no small concern for the world's largest chipmaker. Microsoft said last week at CES … Read more

Intel CEO: How we will compete with ARM

Intel CEO Paul Otellini today spelled out how his company will compete with the burgeoning ARM chip ecosystem, which has taken the lead in tablet designs, during the chipmaker's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

In the call, Otellini was quick to address tablets, a market currently centered on Apple's iPad, which runs on Apple's flavor of the ARM processor design. Motorola, RIM, and Samsung have also based their tablet products on power-efficient ARM processors. He discussed a few ways Intel could ultimately prevail in the tablet and smartphone markets.

Operating system three-fer: "In 2011, you will also … Read more

CES: ARM CEO on Microsoft, tech's rise (Q&A)

LAS VEGAS--The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show may be remembered as marking the year that a small U.K. chip designer began to eclipse the largest chipmaker in the world--that would be Intel, of course.

Warren East, chief executive of ARM, sat down with CNET for a few minutes at CES on Thursday to discuss some of the seismic events that took place at CES centered on ARM.

A flurry of big announcements put the ARM chip architecture front and center this year. Those include Microsoft's intention to move its next major release of Windows to ARM, Nvidia's plans … Read more

Project Denver puts Windows on Nvidia chips

LAS VEGAS--The unthinkable has happened: the tiny ARM processors that power the world's cell phones will assail the Intel-dominated desktop and server segments--with Microsoft making it possible.

Nvidia's "Project Denver" will build ARM processors for desktops, servers, and supercomputers. Significant on its own, but it takes on a bigger meaning with Microsoft moving its next version of Windows to ARM.

"Microsoft's announcement [Wednesday at CES] that it is bringing Windows to ultra-low power processors like ARM-based CPUs provides the final ingredient needed to enable ARM-based PCs based on Denver," Bill Dally, Nvidia's … Read more

Nvidia's 'Project Denver' takes aim at Intel

A shadowy surprise announcement at the end of Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang's press conference at the 2011 CES trade show in Las Vegas on Wednesday teased "Project Denver," Nvidia's first foray into manufacturing a CPU.

Little is known about the project, except that it's a partnership in which Nvidia will manufacture a "high-performance ARM core" for supercomputing and eventually high-end PC use. Collaboration with Microsoft was strongly hinted at, as Huang brought up a slide that displayed a recent BusinessWeek news headline about Microsoft unveiling Windows for ARM chips at CES.

ARM processors … Read more

Windows 8 on ARM, but don't hold your breath

All signs point to the next version of Windows running on ARM, the emerging global silicon standard for smartphones and tablets. But don't get too excited--it won't happen until 2012 at the earliest and just as likely not until 2013.

For now, let's call the next major release from Redmond Windows 8--though I'm hearing that Microsoft will call it something else. More importantly, I'm also hearing that Windows 8 isn't due until the fourth quarter of 2012, at the earliest.

So that means tablets running Windows 8 won't appear until 2013. Microsoft could … Read more

Windows on ARM chips: Intel impact

So, what happens to Intel in the age of a version of Windows running on top of ARM chips from companies like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, Freescale, and Nvidia?

A report today is fueling speculation that Microsoft will bring a more full featured version of Windows to ARM--arguably the most widely used chip architecture in the world. This comes after Microsoft announced in July that it has gotten an architectural license from ARM.

The most obvious impact is that Windows runs on more devices, many of which do not necessarily use Intel processors. The Zune HD is probably the best … Read more

Report: Microsoft bringing Windows to ARM chips

At CES next month, Microsoft will reportedly unveil a full-featured version of Windows that runs on ARM processors--a big departure from the x86 architecture.

Bloomberg, which broke the news this afternoon, reported that sources familiar with Microsoft's plans said this version of Windows will continue to work on x86 processors, but that it should improve battery performance on devices like tablets and other devices that use ARM processors.

Additional confirmation of Microsoft's plans came from The Wall Street Journal, which added that this new version will not be available for another two years. CNET heard similar reports from … Read more

Prank a techie with these fake gadget gift boxes

While holiday shopping, we ran across these hilarious fake gift boxes, purporting to contain an outrageous assortment of high-tech gadgets (and we promptly ordered a two-pack from ThinkGeek for our own holiday pranking).

These are simple rectangular cardboard boxes, each printed with art and copy purporting to tout a fantastic gift-ready gadget. Of course, none of these devices actually exists; these are just dummy boxes for you to use to disguise your own gifts. After getting the iArm tablet forearm mount and the automated PetPetter, we checked out the manufacturer's Web site at prankpack.com and found several other winners, which we present here in handy slideshow format. … Read more