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Intel's Atom chip is already on a road map that shows its circuits shrinking to an infinitesimally small 15-nanometer scale, according to a presentation given this week at the Intel Developer Forum.

How small is 15 nanometers? One nanometer is the width across a few atoms (while DNA molecules measure about 2 nanometers) so, 15 nanometers would be the width of about 60 atoms.

Processors are typically categorized according to some of the smallest circuits formed during the chip's fabrication process--i.e., 45 and 32 nanometer processes. Currently, the most advanced Intel chips are made on a 32-nanometer … Read more

How badly do you want to see new movies in your home close to the date they're released in theaters? Badly enough to let the movie industry reach through your front door and break your TV? Well, good news for you.

The Federal Communications Commission decided on Friday that the movie industry can remotely disable analog video outputs on your home theater equipment to prevent you from recording certain programs--namely, first-run movies available on demand before DVDs are released or while they're still in theaters.

The FCC ruled that it's "in the public interest" (PDF) … Read more

Updated at 6:40 p.m. PDT, adding Microsoft Windows 7 and Apple Snow Leopard discussion.

Nvidia on Thursday posted a smaller loss than the year-earlier period but the graphics chip supplier is still grappling with costs related to a chip defect first addressed by the company last July.

Shares of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company were up in after-hours trading.

Nvidia reported a second-quarter loss of $105.3 million, or 19 cents a share, better than the year-earlier period when it posted a loss of $120.9 million, or 22 cents a share.

Revenue was $776.5 million, … Read more

Updated at 4:30 p.m. PDT adding Tegra, Intel, and Ion discussions.

On Tuesday, Nvidia Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said at the company's analyst day that the graphics processor will be an equal partner with Intel processors, citing Apple as an early trendsetter.

On other fronts, Huang said that the ARM-based Tegra processor is expected to account for half of Nvidia's business in a few years. He also repeated claims about Intel crimping the success of its Ion processor in Netbooks.

Huang said that "CPU-GPU co-processing" is the future of computing. (CPU stands for central … Read more

Nvidia has its own grand scheme for Netbooks, the tiny laptops that have gained wide acceptance running on software and hardware from Microsoft and Intel, respectively.

At the giant Computex conference starting Tuesday in Taiwan, Nvidia will be showing hardware running on its Tegra processor and Windows CE, the version of Windows used most prominently to date in business-use handheld computers. And, down the road, Nvidia has high hopes for devices based on Google's Android.

Tegra is a system-on-a-chip that integrates a processor based on a design from U.K.-based ARM and Nvidia's GeForce graphics silicon, among other functions. The goal is to bring robust PC-like graphics to small devices such as Netbooks and handheld devices--the latter also referred to as mobile Internet devices.

In a break from Computex tradition, Nvidia will have phone companies in tow. "We're bringing the carriers in. I've got 100 people showing up from carriers at Computex," Michael Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia's mobile business unit, said in a phone interview Friday.

Tegra will be shown at the trade show in devices that manufacturers "are about ready to release into production," Rayfield said.

"The Internet is all about (Adobe) flash and HD (high-definition) now so we've built a platform that can do that," he said. "There are two operating systems we support. Microsoft Windows CE and, as it becomes more interesting for large screens, (Google) Android," Rayfield said.

"We do Android for smartphones and we're working to do hardware acceleration on Android as it goes to larger displays," Rayfield said. In February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nvidia announced that it is working with Google and the Open Handset Alliance to get its Tegra processor into phones based on Google's Android operating system.

Android will likely appear commercially in larger devices, such as Netbooks, by the middle of next year, Rayfield said. "Android, as it stands now, does not do hardware acceleration," he said, referring to graphics-based acceleration of video and other multimedia applications. "We've already got 720p acceleration on Android internally," he said. 720p is a lower-resolution standard for high-definition video.

Rayfield continued. "Android has got a roar ahead of it but I think it's three of four quarters from a large-screen device. And the market wants something interesting before that." … Read more

At Intel's investor meeting Tuesday, CEO Paul Otellini discussed how the company is moving to system-on-chip technology in a big way.

Otellini began by saying that the market outlook remains positive. "A little better than we expected. So far, so good." He said he was "more firm in my belief that we will see seasonality in the second half," alluding to Intel's expectation that the PC market should pick up in the second half of the year. Otellini added that Gartner's forecast of a PC sales decline between 9 and 10 percent in … Read more

Nvidia is looking to its Tegra chip for growth and Windows 7 for new opportunities.

Speaking during the company's earnings conference call Thursday, Nvidia Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said one the company's biggest opportunities is graphics-specific applications on Windows 7. (Nvidia earnings summary here.)

Huang waxed enthusiastic about a technology he called "DirectX Compute"--which taps into the hundreds of processors inside many of today's graphics processors. "Finally it's possible to do video editing...that's not excruciating," he said. "This is going to be one of the major usage models … Read more

Intel smartphone and mobile Internet device concept designs have potential. So, as Intel prepares to enter the smartphone market with LG Electronics and others, will these designs be realized? And would you buy one?

One thing is certain. A re-badged Apple iPhone running Windows isn't going to upset the Apple cart (pun intended).

So, one obvious challenge is for Intel to get its considerable weight behind a new smartphone or mobile Internet device (MID) design that resets the market.

Just so happens there's a design that Intel has been brandishing for a couple of years now (see photos). … Read more

Don't get me wrong-- I think the Intel-TSMC alliance announced earlier this week is a good thing for both companies.

But the official explanation, that Intel wants TSMC's help to make Atom processor cores more widely available to the industry, just doesn't strike me as a sufficient reason for the deal.

Intel hardly needs TSMC's help to make SoCs (systems on a chip). Intel has been making highly integrated devices for the embedded market, as well as PC chipsets for a long time. It already has enough of the building blocks and enough experienced engineers to … Read more