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Will Apple's silicon be good enough for a Mac?

Apple is starting to release some scary-good silicon. But can it muscle out Intel?

Last decade, the question was, will Apple go Intel? After years of speculation, that finally happened in 2006, when Apple dropped the PowerPC for its Mac line.

So are we now on a similar trajectory, as a Bloomberg story speculates, with Apple eventually evicting Intel from its Macs and using its own internally developed processors?

A quick look at the latest Apple silicon shows the company is on the right track. The A6X is a serious piece of silicon that makes the newest gen 4 iPad … Read more

Acer eyes Intel-based smartphone

Intel may be in the process of notching another smartphone win.

Acer could join the ranks of Motorola, Orange, Lenovo, Lava, and ZTE to offer a smartphone based on an Intel Atom chip, according to reports Friday appearing in the Asia-based media.

A source familiar with Intel's and Acer's plans confirmed with CNET that there was a good likelihood that an Intel-based Acer phone would appear in Asia, though the timing is unclear.

Reports are saying, in effect, the same thing. "I think there is the chance [of seeing that happen]," Peter Shieh, an Acer vice … Read more

Intel shows off personal cloud for consumers, small business

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel is getting into the personal cloud storage game with the introduction of its own Atom processor-based storage solutions aimed towards both consumers and small businesses.

Essentially, these are network-attached storage appliances powered by either the Intel Atom D2550 or D2500 processors for securing, backing up and sharing content through the cloud. The cloud technology comes in through an exposed HTML IP address (with a secure log-in), and the end user can access that IP address either through a regular desktop browser or it can look like a drive.

Intel said it has been focused on developing reference architectures … Read more

HP aims for business users with ElitePad 900 Windows 8 tablet

Expect HP's ElitePad 900 tablet to join several other business-focused mobile devices over the next few months. Intel's mobile push, along with that of Microsoft and Windows 8, will ensure no shortage of similar products. Whether HP can differentiate its tablet is another question, but from what we've seen of the ElitePad 900, we can at least say that it's taking the challenge seriously.

In terms of hard specs, the ElitePad 900 offers a 10.1-inch, 1,280x800-pixel Gorilla Glass-coated display. HP says the tablet as a whole will weigh around 1.5 pounds, and comes … Read more

Intel sets Windows 8 tablet event with HP, Samsung, others

Intel is going to kick off the season of the Windows 8 tablet by hosting an event next week attended by virtually all of the major PC players.

The September 27 event will highlight products using Intel's "Clover Trail" Z2760 (PDF) power-efficient system-on-a-chip (SoC) processor.

"A media event to showcase the latest Intel-based tablet and tablet convertibles, and announce details about the next generation Intel Atom processor (formerly code-named 'Clover Trail')," Intel said in a note sent out to journalists.

Intel's Erik Reid, general manager of Application Processor Platforms in the Mobile and Communications … Read more

ZTE debuts Intel-powered Grand X IN

ZTE today used the IFA consumer electronics show to announce its first smartphone to employ Intel's Atom Z2460 "Medfield" mobile processor.

Called the Grand X IN, the handset runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a single-core 1.6GHz processor, a 4.3-inch qHD display, and 8-megapixel camera. Like most higher-end Android phones, the ZTE comes with 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, a front-facing camera, NFC, and microSD expansion. At first blush, the Grand X IN closely resembles its recent Grand X, save for its processor.

Although pricing and carrier details are still unclear, the … Read more

Intel quad-core 'ValleyView' system-on-a-chip coming

Intel's system-on-a-chip design for small devices is slated to go quad core.

Leaked Intel documents dated August 15 have appeared on a Chinese-language Web site that indicate Intel's next-generation system-on-a-chip (SoC) will be offered in configurations that include quad-core, a first for Intel's Atom chip design, according to a report at CPU World.

At the risk of wading too deeply into a codename quagmire, the Atom 22-nanometer architecture is dubbed "Silvermont" and the SoCs are referred to as "ValleyView."

The chips will also get punched-up graphics. ValleyView SoCs will integrate a graphics processing … Read more

Rare footage captures real sound of 1953 A-bomb blast

Odds are that not many folks out there have seen a nuclear explosion up close. And it turns out that most of the films we've seen are dubbed or contain stock blast sound effects, a point I wasn't aware of before coming across a blog curated by Alex Wellerstein, an historian of science at the American Institute of Physics.

Most films of nuclear explosions got dubbed. If they do contain an actual audio recording of the test blast itself (something I'm often suspicious of -- I suspect many were filmed silently and have a stock blast sound … Read more

Atom Ukelele for pickin' and grinnin' with chemistry

The Atom Ukelele is a $700 custom-made Etsy offering with a maple body and neck. It's a four-string uke, but its most outstanding feature is the atomic age design of the body. Happy little red electrons sit in stasis around the nucleus of the sound hole.

Celentano Woodworks is the creator behind this sweet stringed beauty. It's part of a lineup of unusual ukes including instruments that look like a shark, a toy rocket, Pac-Man, and a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot.… Read more