chips

iPhone, iPad boost chip sales for wireless devices

The demand for smartphones and tablets is causing manufacturers to spend more on chips for wireless devices than for traditional computers, says a report out yesterday from IHS iSuppli.

As the tech industry shifts more of its emphasis from PCs to mobile gadgets, the wireless segment is poised to become the leading market for chip buying starting this year.

Manufacturers will buy $55.4 billion of semiconductors for wireless devices this year, a jump of 10.7 percent from 2010, according to IHS. But spending on chips for computers will reach $53.1 billion this year, a gain of just … Read more

Sony PlayStation Vita delayed in U.S.

Skype for Android expands two-way video calling to more phones, Apple's Find My Mac makes its debut on the developer testing version of iCloud.com, and Sony delays the launch of the PlayStation Vita handheld console in the U.S. and Europe.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

PlayStation Vita to miss U.S. and Europe holiday launch New device tests for HIV Gmail offering lower international rates Two-way Skype video chat arrives on more Android phones Find My Mac and iTunes Replay Missouri stops teachers from friend students Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (HD) |&… Read more

Disposable sensor detects heavy metals in humans

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have created a disposable lab-on-a-chip sensor that can test levels of potentially harmful heavy metals in humans in as few as 10 minutes.

Their work, published in the August issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices, is co-authored by assistant professor of environmental engineering Erin Haynes, who has also been studying air pollution and the effects of lead and manganese on residents in Marietta, Ohio--home to the only manganese refinery in the U.S. and Canada. (Manganese compounds are used to make steel and other products.)

Manganese is naturally ubiquitous and considered essential both nutritionally … Read more

PC chip shipments flat, but sales up

Shipments of PC processors failed to gain ground during the second quarter, but revenue still inched its way higher, according to data out today from IDC.

For the quarter, worldwide chip shipments rose only 0.6 percent from a year ago and fell 2.9 percent from the first quarter. Sales reached $9.49 billion, a 5.4 percent rise from 2010's second quarter but a 4 percent drop from the first quarter.

"The first quarter of 2011 was better than most first quarters due to the extra calendar week," Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing … Read more

Different Thunderbolt chip spotted in MacBook Airs

The brains behind the port you'd find on one computer would be similar to the same port on another machine, right? That's not the case when it comes to the Thunderbolt ports on the latest MacBook Airs, which joined Apple's Thunderbolt-equipped club earlier this month.

A report on AnandTech notes that the Thunderbolt controller found on the MacBook Air is a smaller version than the ones found on other Thunderbolt-equipped Macs so far. With other machines, Apple's been using a controller code-named Light Ridge that sports four, bidirectional Thunderbolt channels and two DisplayPort outputs. However the … Read more

New lab-on-a-chip genetic analysis resembles pinball

Researchers have invented a silicone lab on a chip they say could make genetic analysis far more sensitive--not to mention rapid and cost-effective--by routing fluid through microscopic tubes and valves, and allowing individual cells to fall into place much like balls in a pinball machine.

Standard genetic testing involves vast numbers of cells that, when analyzed, provide a sort of composite picture that cannot reveal the behaviors of individual cells.

"It's like trying to understand what makes a strawberry different from a raspberry by studying a blended-fruit smoothie," said Carl Hansen, an assistant professor who led the … Read more

Tilera's 100-core processors take on Sandy Bridge

Tilera has introduced a range of processors with up to 100 cores, aiming to take on Intel in servers that handle high-throughput Web applications.

The chips in the 40nm 64-bit Tilera Gx family, announced yesterday, have between 36 and 100 cores and are intended by the Silicon Valley-based chip design company to compete with Intel's Sandy Bridge range of processors.

"The reason we can go against Sandy Bridge architecture is [Intel's range] was designed for general-purpose [applications], so it has to account for single-thread performance and power-point performance and Windows," Ihab Bishara, Tilera's head of … Read more

Keyport Slide slims down, techs up your keychain

If you're like me and you don't like little sharp metal objects jingling around in your pocket, scratching up your phone, and ripping holes in your pants, you may be looking for a way to manage your keychain. The Keyport Slide aims to do just that, replacing your keychain with a slick looking aluminum chassis that sheathes your keys, creating a solid unit that doesn't jingle around and weighs next to nothing--as long as you aren't carrying more than six keys around at a time.

The Slide measures 4 inches long by 1.25 inches wide … Read more

Microsoft criticizes Intel over Windows 8 comments

The relationship between Microsoft and Intel may have cooled down a degree or two this week.

Microsoft yesterday condemned and rebutted comments made about Windows 8 by Renee James, an Intel senior vice president who heads the software and services group. At an Intel investors meeting on Tuesday, James revealed details about the next version of the Windows operating system that apparently ticked off some of the higher-ups in Redmond.

Discussing versions of Windows 8, James said that Microsoft would release a traditional version of the operating system designed to run on Intel x86-based computers. This version would offer a … Read more

Intel unveils new 3D transistor structure

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel says it's ready to put the first 3D transistor structure into high-volume production.

The structure it has invented is called Tri-Gate and will be first used in chips manufactured using the 22-nanometer process, nicknamed Ivy Bridge.

Continuing along the path of Moore's Law would have been tough unless something changed dramatically, said Intel Senior Fellow Mark Bohr at a press event here today at the SPUR Urban Center.

Instead of forming the conducting channel on a planar surface, it's on three sides of a 3D "fin." The key advantage comes from the gate wrapping around the fin, said Bohr.

The new structure allows Intel to manufacture smaller, faster, and lower-voltage chips and put them into even smaller devices. … Read more