In the effort to find a replacement for today's silicon chips, IBM researchers have pushed carbon nanotube technology a significant step ahead.

Carbon nanotubes are very small structures made of a lattice of carbon atoms rolled into a cylindrical shape, and a team of eight researchers have figured out a way to precisely place them on a computer chip, IBM announced today. That development allows them to arrange the nanotubes 100 times more densely than earlier methods, a key step in economical chipmaking, and IBM has built a chip with more than 10,000 carbon nanotube-based elements.

The new … Read more

Apple was quick to obsolete the "new" chip in the third-generation Retina iPad -- not to mention the iPad itself. So the question is, why so fast?

But before we answer that question, let's look at some of the improvements. Apple says the A6X "delivers up to twice the CPU [central processing unit] and graphics performance of the A5X chip" -- the A5X being the processor Apple just announced back in March when it rolled out the first Retina iPad.

A lot of that improvement comes from the goodness of Apple's new A6 chip … Read more

Apple's iPhone and iPad have emerged as poster children for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs.

Can't Apple make the MacBook, iPad, and iPhone in the U.S.? -- was the plea posed as a question by the CNN moderator Tuesday night -- with both Obama and Romney providing answers relatively lacking in nuance.

So, I decided to ask a different question to IHS iSuppli: How of much the stuff inside the iPhone 5 is provided by U.S. companies -- regardless of where it's made. That's a fair question since focusing on where something's … Read more

After using the new Samsung Chromebook for the better part of a workday, I have to say I'm impressed -- as long as you consider the constraints of its $249 price tag.

Google announced the Samsung Chromebook today along with new ambitions to spread its browser-based, cloud-focused Chrome OS laptop much more widely. Google envisions it as good for an extra machine that lies around the house or as a laptop for students.

I find it a reasonable device for those categories, especially for people like myself who already have their head in the Google cloud with Google Docs, … Read more

Google introduced a new 11.6-inch $249 Chromebook today that lowers the entry price and raises the expectations for its Chrome OS products.

Chromebooks are cloud-computing laptops use Google's Chrome OS, which is built on Linux under the covers but which actually runs applications in the Chrome browser. When Google released two second-generation Chrome OS products, the $550 Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook and the $330 Series 3 Chromebox in May, it aimed for increased processing horsepower.

If the Chromebook Series 5 550 drew inspiration from a MacBook Pro, the new Chromebook did so from a MacBook Air. It'… Read more

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

If Microsoft's long-time partner Intel can't muster up much enthusiasm for Windows 8, how are consumers expected to do so?

The chip giant yesterday posted some pretty dismal third-quarter results, which weren't themselves a big surprise given Intel's preannouncement and all the lackluster PC data in recent weeks. But what's a little jarring is Intel's cautious forecast for the fourth quarter -- a period that should be benefiting from the launch of Windows 8.

Historically, PC demand rises with a new operating system release, and computer makers were expecting the same from Windows 8. … Read more

Amazon could be planning to acquire a mobile processor business, a new report claims.

Texas Instruments and Amazon are currently engaged in "advanced talks" over the possibility of the Kindle maker acquiring Texas Instruments' mobile chip business, Israel-based news outlet Calcalist is reporting today (translate), citing sources. The news outlet didn't say how much Amazon hopes to pay in the sale.

If Amazon buys out Texas Instruments' mobile chip business, it would mark a dramatic shift for the e-retail giant. Amazon uses Texas Instruments' processors in its mobile devices, including the latest Kindle Fire HD. Barnes & … Read more

First of all, don't panic.

If Moore's Law came to an end and computers stopped getting steadily faster, plenty of companies would suffer. But an end likely would come with lots of warning, lots of measures to cushion the blow, and lots of continued development even if transistors stopped shrinking.

The hardest hit would be companies dependent on consumers replacing their electronics every few years and tech companies such as Google whose long-term plans hinge on faster computers, cheaper storage, and better bandwidth. And the continuing miniaturization of computers -- mainframes to minicomputers to PCs to smartphones -- … Read more