qualcomm

So, does AMD have a solid Windows 8 tablet strategy this year? I'll let the reader decide, but AMD needs to be extra aggressive on the power-efficient chip front because it's not just an Intel-AMD fight now.

Windows 8 will bring ARM chip players like Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Freescale into the market, presenting AMD with plenty of heavyweight Windows competition.

Earlier in the week, I spoke with John Taylor, director of client product marketing and software at AMD, who cited two major chip designs for tablets, Hondo (2012) and Temash (2013). AMD now calls its chips … Read more

Qualcomm, along with Ericsson, has successfully completed a major hurdle that will enable Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE).

The technology, called Single Radio Voice Call Continuity, or SRVCC, enables continuity of service by seamlessly switching to a WCDMA network when a consumer on a VoLTE call leaves the LTE network's coverage area, Qualcomm said.

Qualcomm and Ericsson have completed the first voice call handover from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using SRVCC.

A Snapdragon-powered Ericsson device, using Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 3G/LTE multimode processor, will be on demonstration at Qualcomm's Mobile World Congress booth, Qualcomm said. … Read more

Windows 8 is stable on the ARM chip platform and will be seeded to developers soon, sources told CNET. Devices may be priced significantly less than their Intel counterparts, too.

Windows 8 on ARM should go to developers in February, said one source, who had some hands-on time with a high-profile device from a major PC maker, adding that Windows 8 was impressive and stable.

"In October of last year. [Windows 8 on ARM] scared the industry because it was unstable. But what we are seeing now is quite stable," said another source, who also confirmed an expected … Read more

Qualcomm has acquired display startup Pixtronix, which has developed technology applicable to smartphone and tablet screens.

Andover, Mass.-based Pixtronix's Digital Micro Shutter technology integrates MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) and TFTs (thin-film transistors), providing "differentiation, while leveraging proven manufacturing equipment, processes and materials," according to the company's Web site.

Hallmarks of the technology listed by Pixtronix include low power, high-speed light modulation, Digital TFT backplane, backlight efficiency of 60 percent (a claimed 10-fold advantage over LCD), utilization of existing TFT-LCD equipment, processes and materials, and elimination of high cost, performance-limiting liquid crystals, color filters and polarizers. … Read more

Two years ago, at the 2010 edition of CES, I got all excited about a technology from Qualcomm called Mirasol--a new type of color screen that ran for weeks on one battery charge, was fast enough to permit fluid user interfaces and video playback, and which didn't wash out in direct sunlight.

Mirasol looked like a good fit for Kindle-style e-readers, and Qualcomm said that it expected an e-reader with a Mirasol screen to arrive by the third quarter of the year. It didn't. A whole lot of other stuff did happen, though. Monochrome E-Ink screens got more … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Intel badly needs a way into the mobile business, and it may have found it through Motorola Mobility.

Intel and Motorola today announced a multiyear, multidevice partnership in which Motorola would use Intel's processors to power its Android products. The two companies are planning to show off a device later this year, but they didn't specify whether it would be a tablet or a smartphone.

A tie-up with Motorola is a major coup for Intel, which has struggled to get companies to use its processors for mobile devices. Its chips, which run on an architecture type known … Read more

The "Star Trek" universe may be beloved by millions, but it's entirely fictional. Yet one element of Gene Rodenberry's timeless creation may actually help people with their health care decisions in real life.

The problem faced by millions of people around the world, especially in the third world, and in rural areas of the first world, is that there's not always a doctor around to help figure out what's wrong with you--and sometimes, one isn't even necessary. Sometimes, the right technology could help us determine what's going on in our bodies.

That'… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor will be tucked inside hundreds of new devices, including a smart TV, a new color e-reader in China, a tablet for kids that can offer augmented reality, and mobile medical devices, the company said during its CES keynote address here Tueday.

Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm's CEO, used much of his CES keynote to tout the continually growing mobile industry and ushered a half-dozen guests onstage to show off various devices that use its Snapdragon chip.

The first smart TV powered by a Snapdragon processor is set to arrive this year, a Lenovo executive said during … Read more

Qualcomm wants you to a have home full of smart, wirelessly connected electronics.

The company today at CES announced its Skifta Media Shifting Platform for streaming music across multiple devices and other components aimed at getting home entertainment gear connected.

Qualcomm's Skifta is software that lets people stream media among different devices, such as showing photos from an Android smartphone on a TV or streaming music stored on a home PC over the Internet to another location. It's based on the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) home media networking protocol, which is supposed to ensure interoperability across products … Read more