chips

Victor Poor, one of the founding fathers of early computer innovation, died Friday at the age of 79. He was one of the handful of engineers who helped develop Intel's first single chip microprocessor -- the 4004. Poor continued to be instrumental in microprocessor and computer advancement throughout his life.

According to the New York Times, Poor died of pancreatic cancer in Palm Bay, Fla.

Poor, who was a self-taught engineer, began working with Intel in 1969 when he met with well-known engineer Stanley Mazor to discuss the idea of building a processor for a programmable terminal, according to … Read more

Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Lenovo, among others, are expected to bring out Windows 8 tablets using Intel's latest system-on-a-chip.

HP and Acer are working on designs, a source familiar with the vendors' plans told CNET. In addition, details leaked today about a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which will also use Intel's Clover Trail system-on-a-chip (SoC).

These Intel-based Windows 8 designs are distinctly different from Windows RT tablets that will use ARM chips. Windows RT devices use a version of Windows 8 that does not offer backward-compatibility with the millions of existing Windows software programs. Intel-based systems offer that compatibility. … Read more

Here's another category where Apple and Samsung go head to head: chip buying. And Apple's dominance is expanding rapidly.

Rip off the plastic, metal, and glass on any consumer device, and it's pretty much all chips. And if you're the No. 1 buyer of those chips, as Apple is, that means you hold a lot of sway over global chip manufacturing.

More sway than chip kingpin Samsung (which Apple, ironically, buys lots of chips from).

"It's well known that Apple has already conquered the smartphone and tablet segments -- but behind the scenes the … Read more

Don't be surprised if the other version of Windows 8 -- you know, the one that doesn't run on Intel chips -- stumbles out of the gate.

We got a taste of this on Friday when Hewlett-Packard confirmed that it won't offer a Windows RT tablet this year.

I heard about these issues in May when a little birdie told me about problems with RT and Qualcomm and Texas Instruments at PC makers. And I wrote at the time (May 15) that HP's Qualcomm-chip based tablet "may not happen this year."

(So, just to … Read more

Piggybacking (waka waka) on Jeff's encounter with a candied bacon ice cream sandwich at the Sony E3 press conference last week, we can't help but indulge in Burger King's new bacon-topped sundae.

And even if Jeff's dietitian won't let him have it, we can still stare longingly at the press shots and tell you about our own favorite encounters with the swine.… Read more

A recent report that a Chinese computer chip used by the U.S. military has a hidden backdoor that could allow the manufacturer to disable devices are overblown, one security researcher says.

Researchers at Cambridge University issued a dire warning today about a security bypass they said they had identified in a nonencrypted chip made by Microsemi in China, and used in weapons, nuclear power plants, and even public transportation.

"We scanned the silicon chip in an affordable time and found a previously unknown backdoor inserted by the manufacturer," security researcher Sergei Skorobogatov wrote in the publication of … Read more

President Obama today made a campaign stop at a major chip research and manufacturing in hub in New York to reemphasize his made-in-America theme.

Obama visited the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany, State University of New York. CNSE is an education and research facility centered on nanotechnology.

The visit was intended to highlight "insourcing" and the connection between education, innovation, and manufacturing in supporting investment and bringing jobs back to the U.S.

The region is home to chipmakers IBM and Globalfoundries, the latter is in the final stages of constructing … Read more

Facebook may venture into the rarified ranks of chip designers, a source told CNET.

Sound crazy? Well, Facebook already makes its own servers.

While designing a chip is a more ambitious undertaking than building a server -- and way outside Facebook's core competency of social networking -- market-leading companies are always looking into alternative businesses opportunities.

"They have chip designers," the source said but admitted that it's not clear what those designers are for. This person also said that it wasn't clear if Facebook was using a design from ARM, referring to the most popular … Read more

A Qualcomm conference call Wednesday, according to Reuters, brought Qualcomm's supply constraint issues to light. CEO Paul Jacobs, addressing analysts on the call, stated, "At this stage we cannot secure enough supply to meet the increasing demand we are experiencing."

That supply constraint could affect many cellphone makers hoping to use Qualcomm's advanced 28-nanometer chips, including Apple. To handle the constraints, Qualcomm is looking for new manufacturing partners, a move that will contribute to raising its operating expenses up to 23 percent, according to Chief Financial Officer Bill Keitel.

"Demand went so far ahead of … Read more