Moore's Law Made real by Intel innovation

ntel co-founder Gordon Moore is a visonary. In 1965, his prediction, popularly known as Moore's Law, states that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years. And Intel has kept that pace for nearly 40 years. Today, we continue to help move the industry forward by delivering:

• A worldwide silicon fab network with seven high volume fabs and another due to open in 2008
• The world's first 32nm silicon technology on-target for delivery in 2009
• The world's first 2-billion transistor microprocessor delivered in next-generation Intel® Itanium® processors codenamed Tukwila
• Revolutionary technologies on a chip, like hafnium-infused high-k metal gate in production today
• Advanced research into tri-gate transistors and silicon nanotechnology

Gordon Moore's original graph from 1965

Innovation that delivers again and again

Intel's commitment to Moore's Law has delivered a massive increase in the number of transistors integrated into Intel® processors and other leading technologies. With steady gains in performance and energy efficiency, our technologies continue to enable industry firsts such as advanced caching, memory and reliability technologies, and hardware-assisted support for data centers and virtualization.

Massive performance gains at lower costs

Processing power, measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS), has steadily risen because of increased transistor counts. But Moore's Law can also mean decreasing costs. As silicon-based technology gains in performance, it becomes less expensive to produce, more plentiful and powerful, and more seamlessly integrated into our daily lives.

With Moore's Law continuing, you can imagine the possibilities:

• Real-time natural language translation. Imagine being able to speak to someone in a foreign country and having your conversation translated in real-time.
• Facial recognition that works accurately and instantaneously. Imagine being able to capture faces as people enter an airport and match them in real-time against a database of known terrorists, and having a turnstile lock if there is a match.
• Auto chauffeur. Imagine a car that takes a verbal command for a destination, driving you there via the least congested route in the safest possible manner.

http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm

Intel's Ultrasmall Flash Hard Drive

The chip maker has announced a drive that could bring the power of desktop computers to handheld devices.

Light as a feather: This flash-memory-based hard drive comes in two- and four-gigabyte versions and weighs less than a drop of water. A two-gigabyte version will be available in small, portable computers, such as tablet PCs, early next year. Credit: Intel

Last Friday, Intel introduced one of the smallest flash-memory-based hard drives on the market. The chip, also known as a solid-state hard drive, competes with similar chips from Samsung, which store data in gadgets such as Apple's iPod nano and iPhone. But the Intel chip comes with a standard electronics controller built in, which makes it easy and inexpensive to combine multiple chips into a single, higher-capacity hard drive.

The move highlights Intel's effort to establish itself as a leader in flash-memory chips and to make them a replacement for the bulky and conventional magnetic hard drives that store data on most of the world's computers. Smart phones and so-called ultramobile computers will require some kind of dense, durable storage system in order to bring the power of desktop computers to handheld devices.

Since it found its way out of the lab in the late 1990s, flash memory has revolutionized consumer electronics. Because flash-memory chips are smaller, more rugged, and more energy efficient than magnetic hard disks, they have been the ideal replacement for hard drives in handheld devices such as MP3 players, and even in some high-end laptops. Flash is a solid-state memory technology, which means that it has no moving parts and stores data using silicon transistors like those found in microprocessor chips. Because it uses microprocessor technology, it also roughly follows Moore's Law, the prediction that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years. For processors, this means that they get faster, but for flash-memory chips, it means that data storage doubles. And the market has responded to flash's burgeoning capacity: in 1999, the flash-memory market was nonexistent, but in 2007, it amounts to $15.2 billion.

At a press event, Don Larson, the marketing manager of Nand products at Intel, showed off the new chip. Called the Z-P140, it's about the size of a thumbnail and weighs less than a drop of water. It currently comes in two- and four-gigabyte versions, which are available to manufacturers for use in handheld devices. The first products featuring the new chips will be available in January.

Since the new solid-state drive has standard control electronics built in, it can be combined with up to three other Intel chips that don't have controllers, for a maximum of 16 gigabytes of storage, says Troy Winslow, flash marketing manager at Intel. While that may not seem like a lot compared with the 160-gigabyte hard drives in desktop computers, Larson pointed out that two gigabytes is enough to run some operating systems, such as Linux, along with software applications. The chip's electronics also allow it to work well with Intel processors, which make it useful for the ultramobile-PC market. And by 2010, Larson said, Intel expects to be able to cram 64 gigabytes of storage into a piece of silicon about the size of the new chip.

Flash has drawn criticism because its memory cells, which hold the electrical charges that represent data, tend to wear out quickly. But Winslow says that in the new chips, a memory cell can have data written to it and erased from it up to 100,000 times. And to ensure that no single cell gets overused, the chips have "wear-level" algorithms programmed into them, which evenly distribute reading and writing. Thus, flash memory could start to show signs of wear in about five years, depending on how it is used. In addition, the static electric field that holds charge tends to degrade over time; data losses in this case could occur after about 10 years.

Researchers at Intel and other companies are looking for the next solid-state technology that could replace flash. Winslow says that Intel is currently testing phase-change memory, a type of memory in which the crystal structure of a material changes in response to heat; particular orientations of the crystal correspond to 1s and 0s. Phase-change memory has many of the benefits of flash, such as its ruggedness and small size. But data can be written to it many thousands of times faster than it can to flash

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19933/?a=f

A New Memory Company

Intel and STMicroelectronics have formed a joint venture that plans to commercialize phase-change memory.

Next phase: This prototype phase-change memory chip has 128 megabits of capacity. Numonyx, a startup that combines memory technology from Intel and STMicroelectronics, will be manufacturing these chips later this year. Credit: Intel

In the era of iPods and smart phones, flash memory rules: it's small and rugged, and it keeps getting cheaper. But on the heels of flash comes faster, even more robust technology called phase-change memory, which is just starting to come out of the lab. Now Numonyx, a joint venture that combines the flash and phase-change memory efforts of Intel and STMicroelectronics, has officially launched its operations. In doing so, the company has taken a leading spot in the burgeoning phase-change memory industry. By the end of this year, Numonyx expects to commercialize phase-change memory, and by the middle of the next decade, the company hopes to make it increase its storage capacity to render it competitive with flash as a solid-state drive replacement.

Phase-change memory, which uses a glassy material, stores information via a change in its physical state, rather than using electrical charges, as in flash. A tiny electrode heats each memory cell; the cell's state depends on the manner in which it is heated, and it subsequently represents either a 1 or a 0.

At a press conference in San Francisco on Monday, Brian Harrison, CEO of Numonyx, said that phase-change memory has all the benefits of NOR and NAND flash technologies. (NOR is used in cell phones to execute code, and NAND has been used as a storage memory.) For instance, said Harrison, phase-change memory can have data read from it quickly like NOR flash, and data can be written to it as quickly as in NAND flash. In addition, phase-change memory doesn't wear out, losing bits of data over time, as flash memory does.

In the near term, phase-change memory could replace the expensive and energy-consuming random access memory in cell phones, and in a few more years, it could potentially become a cost-effective alternative to flash. A customer who uses a phone with phase-change memory might notice extended battery life, said Harrison. "Intel and STMicroelectronics have been working [together] on phase-change memory for more than five years," he said. "We have a product today that we are sampling, and expect to bring it to market this year. I believe it will be one to two years before it becomes widely available."

Numonyx is made of the combined memory assets of Intel and STMicroelectronics, which include intellectual property, fabrication facilities, and employees. With the announcement, the company becomes the leading provider of NOR flash memory, and the third largest provider of nonvolatile memory (technology that retains data when the power supply is off), with a combined revenue of approximately $3 billion. It trails both Samsung and Toshiba in overall nonvolatile-memory market share.

Making memory: Phase-change memory devices are mass-produced on silicon wafers such as the one above. Credit: Intel

In February, Intel and STMicroelectronics announced a new type of phase-change memory technology that doubles the storage capacity of each memory cell. Edward Dollar, chief technology officer of Numonyx, suspects that this improved phase-change memory, which has been transferred to Numonyx, could be ready to be mass-produced by the end of the decade. By doubling the capability of phase-change memory, he says, "it starts to become competitive" with the type of flash memory used in solid-state hard drives.

Samsung is also developing phase-change memory. But Numonyx is in a good position to lead the industry in phase-change memory, says Jim Handy, an analyst at Objective Analysis, a market research firm. "In phase-change memory, there's really only a handful of companies who are dabbling in the technology," he says.

Numonyx is funded by $150 million from the Francisco Partners investment firm, and it makes use of more than 2,500 issued patents; another 1,000 patents are pending from its parent companies.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20492/page2/

Longer-Lasting Batteries for Laptops

New materials improve the reliability, safety, and storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries.

Powerful particles: New lithium-ion battery electrode materials, shown here under an electron microscope, can store more energy, and so do more safely, than conventional lithium-ion batteries in laptops and cell phones. Credit: Courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory

Conventional lithium-ion batteries in laptops and cell phones quickly lose their ability to store energy and can catch fire if they're overcharged or damaged. Now researchers at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL, have developed composite battery materials that can make such batteries both safer and longer lived, while increasing their capacity to store energy by 30 percent.

Last month, the researchers took a significant step toward commercializing the technology by licensing it to a major materials supply company, Toda Kogyo, based in Japan. The company has the capacity to make the materials for about 30 million laptop batteries a year, says Gary Henriksen, who manages electrochemical storage research at Argonne.

The new materials are one example of a new generation of lithium-ion electrode chemistries that address the shortcomings of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Each has its own trade-offs. For example, another material called lithium iron phosphate has better safety and durability than Argonne's materials, but it stores somewhat less energy than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Argonne's materials improve on the safety and reliability of today's laptop batteries, while also storing more energy.

The Argonne researchers have improved the performance of the positive electrodes by increasing the chemical and structural stability of the materials already used in laptop batteries. In conventional lithium-ion batteries, which have cobalt oxide electrodes, a small amount of overheating, caused by overcharging the material or by electrical shorts inside a battery, can lead to rapidly increasing temperatures inside the cell and, in some cases, combustion. That's because, as the material overheats, the cobalt oxide readily gives up oxygen, which reacts with the solvent in the battery's electrolyte and generates more heat, feeding the reactions. The Argonne researchers addressed this problem by replacing some of the cobalt oxide with manganese oxide, which is chemically more stable.

The researchers' next step was to replace some of the active metal oxide materials in the electrode with a related but electrochemically inactive material, forming a composite. This material does not store energy, because it does not release and take up lithium ions as the battery is charged and discharged. (Lithium-ion batteries create electrical current as lithium ions shuttle between positive and negative electrodes.) The inactive material makes the composite more stable than conventional electrode materials, which means it can last longer. One version of the material can last for 1,500 charges and discharges without losing much capacity, he says. That's more than double the life of conventional laptop batteries.

What's more, reducing the amount of active, energy-storing material has the counterintuitive effect of increasing the composite's storage capacity. If too much lithium is removed from conventional cobalt oxide materials, the material degrades and quickly loses its ability to fully charge and discharge. The inactive material makes it possible to use much more of the lithium without damaging the material.

The electrode material can store 45 percent to 50 percent more energy than the best electrodes in laptop batteries. In terms of an entire battery cell--given that the positive electrode represents less than half of the total weight and volume of a battery cell--the total energy storage of the battery can be improved by 20 percent to 30 percent, Henriksen says.

The researchers' next step is improving the rate at which the composite material can be charged and discharged so that it can be used in hybrid vehicles. As it's made now, the Argonne material can be completely discharged in about three hours--fast enough for laptops but far too slow for a car. Discharging rates will need to be at least three times faster, and likely more, for the technology to work in plug-in hybrids, vehicles in which the battery can be recharged from a conventional electrical outlet.

Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of laptop batteries and engineering at MIT, says the new material is "a significant improvement over lithium cobalt oxide" for laptop batteries. "If you think about it in terms of a field that grows 8 to 9 percent per year, you just saved yourself three years. You may have leapfrogged the competition," he says. "I'm sure that anybody who makes cell phone and laptop batteries would be very happy to have that kind of an edge."

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20524/page2/

Smaller Is Better, Say Makers of Ultraportable PCs

But will consumers agree? OQO, Samsung, Sony, and others test the waters.

The OQO 02 (above) from OQO was launched to much attention at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. This and several other new devices put the power of a full Windows PC into a palm-size package. Credit: OQO

If you're itching to upgrade to Windows Vista, the new Microsoft operating system to be launched Monday, January 29, chances are you'll need a new computer, given Vista's hefty hardware requirements. And when you think about spending $1,000 or more on that computer, chances are, you're picturing a desktop or a laptop--not a half-kilogram device with a screen smaller than a piece of toast.

But engineers at San Francisco-based OQO (pronounced "oh-kyoo-oh") think 2007 might be the year when U.S. computer buyers come to think of diminutive "ultramobile PCs" as practical alternatives to the personal computer's beefier desktop and laptop manifestations. Their new OQO 02, launched January 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is 14 centimeters wide, 8 centimeters high, and 3 centimeters thick--small enough to toss in a purse or a large pocket. Yet it's a full Windows Vista-capable computer, with a 1.5-gigahertz processor, an 800-by-480-pixel touch screen, a slide-out keyboard, and three kinds of wireless connectivity.

"If you're a mobile professional, you need to be connected to the Web and access applications as part of your daily life--so your computer needs to be small enough and light enough that you're willing to take it with you when you leave your desk," says Bob Rosin, vice president of marketing at OQO. Laptops don't meet that standard, Rosin argues. "If your computer weighs five pounds and requires a briefcase, that's very different from something you could throw in your jacket pocket."

The company's previous product, the OQO 01, held the title of "world's smallest Windows PC" for two years and attracted business customers who needed small PCs for field inspections and similar mobile activities. But as a general personal-computing device, the OQO 01 was met with mixed reviews and sluggish sales. The new model includes many upgrades recommended by OQO 01 owners, such as a brighter screen, a better keyboard, more-powerful batteries, and a docking station with an optical disk drive, according to Rosin.

Even with such improvements, it's not clear whether U.S. mobile professionals--OQO's initial target market--will be attracted to sub-notebook-sized PCs. The OQO 02 belongs to a new generation of small Windows computers, including ultramobile PCs such as the Samsung Q1, that can run the same software as Windows desktops and laptops but are designed to be used from a sofa, conference room, or airplane seat. Miniaturized PCs have proved popular in Japan, where consumers have shown a willingness to pay extra for high-powered devices in small packages. But the gadgets are still largely untested in the United States, where they're often criticized for their slow performance, their tiny or nonexistent keyboards, and their high prices. (At $1,000 to $2,000, the devices often cost more than laptops of equivalent power.)

Some consumer-electronics watchers say OQO and other companies are beginning to overcome the basic problems that make small PCs tricky to use. For example, U.S. users don't like to type or write on touch screens, so some manufacturers are including real keyboards with improved tactile feedback, while others are simplifying onscreen interfaces so that users can get more things done with fewer gestures and clicks.

"The original version of the OQO had a lot of gotchas," says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group of San Jose, CA, which advises companies on personal technology products. "It was incredibly small, but it was also painfully slow. The new one is a decent machine. I had Vista up and running on it pretty fast, and it performed just fine."

Better performance was one of three specific goals emerging from complaints lodged by users of the OQO 01, according to Rosin and Jihye Whang, OQO's director of product management. "It needed to really feel like a notebook computer," says Rosin. "It had to be a full Windows Vista device, and it had to run applications in a really snappy way, without hesitation." The OQO 02 runs standard Windows programs from the Firefox browser to Adobe Photoshop, and it has enough processing power to run two 1,920-by-1,200-pixel external displays when plugged into its docking station.

Users also pleaded for better ways of connecting to the Internet, says Whang. The OQO 01 could connect only at Wi-Fi hot spots or via a Bluetooth connection with a networked mobile phone. The OQO 02 includes faster 802.11g Wi-Fi circuitry and can also connect to Sprint's EV-DO network, a broadband data service available in most of the same locations where Sprint operates its PCS phone network. EV-DO carries data at 400 to 700 kilobits per second--not as fast as home DSL or cable Internet connections, but much faster than previous generations of cellular data networks. "We're getting closer and closer to true broadband speeds," says Whang.

Finally, users demanded a better screen and keyboard. The five-inch-diagonal touch screen is six times brighter than its predecessor, says Whang, and it incorporates a few new tricks, such as the ability to zoom in on an area of detail and to scroll vertically or horizontally with the brush of a finger along the screen's border, eliminating the need for a mechanical thumbwheel like those on many PDAs. The 58 keys on the OQO 02's redesigned keyboard stick up higher than the OQO 01's keys, giving thumb typists more tactile feedback to confirm that they've struck a key. The keyboard is also backlit for nighttime operation.

The OQO 02's keyboard is indeed "much more usable this time," in Rob Enderle's estimation. And while the device is slightly larger and heavier than the OQO 01, carrying it is "still a hell of a lot easier than lugging a laptop around," he says.

But in the lighter-than-a-laptop category, the OQO 02 could face competition from other handheld devices, such as Sony's Vaio UX Micro PC, Nokia's N800 Internet tablet, and Motion Computing's LS800 Tablet PC, as well as an entirely new category of handhelds, the so-called Ultra-Mobile PCs, or UMPCs. Samsung, Medion, Asus, and several other manufacturers have begun to produce these book-size devices, which look like small tablet PCs and are all based on a reference design unveiled by Microsoft in 2006 under the name Origami. The devices have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and are operated solely via a touch screen (although at least one UMPC includes a slide-out keyboard similar to OQO's). So far, they've been marketed not as office appliances but as entertainment devices enabling users to browse the Web and access videos, music, and photos.

The first group of UMPCs shipped with a plain Windows Tablet PC operating system. But at the Consumer Electronics Show, the company introduced the Origami Experience, a new user interface for Vista-based UMPCs that does away with the traditional desktop environment in favor of a single menu that scrolls both horizontally and vertically, letting users navigate quickly to their media files without a stylus or keyboard. Reviewers are calling the Origami Experience "speedy," "intuitive," "helpful," and "sexy"--terms not often associated with Windows devices. This suggests that the UMPC may have a shot at attracting the same kinds of consumers who shell out for the indisputably sexy Apple iPod.

At OQO, Rosin and Whang say they're not worried about going up against the UMPCs. "We see the OQO 02 as a productivity tool," says Rosin. "The businessperson may want to have some personal stuff on their mobile PC, but our focus is really on the professional user, not on the teenager on the couch wanting to browse the Web with a tablet-type device."

Nor is OQO concerned about Apple's forthcoming iPhone, which is descended from the video iPod but will mimic many of the functions of a full PC, via an advanced touch-screen interface that early reviewers have greeted as potentially revolutionary. "The iPhone is probably the best thing that's ever happened to us," says Rosin. "Everyone is now thinking, ‘We need more than just voice on a cell phone,' and ‘We need more than just audio on small devices.' So there's a lot of interest in this category, and we think that's a good thing for OQO."

The OQO 02 and the other small PCs hitting the market this year do have a few common weaknesses. One is battery life. It's getting longer--four hours in the case of the OQO 02 and three hours for the Samsung Q1--but it's still not long enough to keep a businessperson busy for the duration of a transcontinental flight. OQO's devices and the UMPCs "need a minimum of 8 hours of battery life to succeed," writes Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology consulting firm based in Campbell, CA.

And the screens and keyboards on the new devices, while improving, are still impractically small for some users, especially older users with less-than-perfect vision or dexterity. "My 28-year-old son can use the OQO 02 just fine," Bajarin says. "But for old guys like me with bad eyes and fat thumbs, it's really tough."

But Bajarin's biggest concern relates to manufacturers' marketing strategy rather than to mechanics. He believes consumers will start buying ultraportable PCs only when they're shown to have a compelling application--say, browsing the Web and controlling the TV, set-top box, DVR, and stereo system from the sofa. But as long as ultraportable PCs are marketed as general-purpose devices, software writers won't be inspired to write the killer app that makes the devices take off, he argues.

"With a device of this size, if you take the PC mentality and say, 'Let it be all things to all people,' it will fail," Bajarin says. "But if you say, 'It's a platform for application-specific solutions,' then you're more likely to get it right."

Enderle, however, believes PCs could find a market even without further tweaking or new software. With its faster processor and full Windows capability, OQO's device, in particular, could appeal to "folks for whom a smart phone isn't really enough and a laptop is too much," he says. "That's still a niche group--but it could be a pretty good-sized niche."

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18106/page3/

Nokia's GPS-Enabled Pocket Computer

Computer in your pocket: Nokia’s new N810 is a Wi-Fi-enabled tablet computer, slightly larger than an iPhone, that includes a GPS receiver and mapping tools (depicted above). The company is granting mobile-phone software developers access to the phone, which could result in programs that integrate Web 2.0 applications and GPS, such as location-based games and geotagged blog entries. Credit: Nokia

At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nokia unveiled its latest product, an ultraportable, Wi-Fi-enabled tablet computer called the N810. The new gadget, which will be available in the United States in November for $479, is slightly taller, wider, and thicker than an Apple iPhone, but it features a slide-out keyboard as well as a touch screen, a Web camera, and a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Nokia is also offering a set of tools that let programmers add their own bells and whistles to the device, which could lead to such features as geotagged blog posts, friend-finding capabilities, and location-based mobile gaming.

While the Web 2.0 Summit, a gathering of Internet-software experts, may seem like an odd place to unveil a new piece of hardware, Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager of multimedia, played up the tablet's Internet importance. "Look what happened to the Internet," Vanjoki said in a presentation. "First came Internet search and browsing. Now, Web 2.0 is a social place with media sharing. We believe that Nokia will have a very important role in making the next Web."

The software preinstalled in the N810, Vanjoki said, includes video and music players, as well as Web applications such as a browser, the Internet-telephony software Skype, Gizmo video chat, instant messaging, and GPS-integrated mapping tools. The device's processor operates at 400 megahertz; it has 128 megabits of random-access memory, two gigabytes of internal storage, and an expansion slot that can accommodate up to eight gigabytes more.

At first blush, it's tempting to compare the N810 to Apple's iPhone. But the N810 is not a phone: it can tap into the cellular network only indirectly, through a wireless connection to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. Rather, the device falls into the product category of ultraportable computers, gadgets that aren't as bulky as laptops but have similar capabilities. For years, ultraportable computers have languished in the middle ground between tiny cell phones and larger laptops. But some experts say that their shrinking size has them poised to take off. (See "Smaller Is Better, Say Makers of Ultraportable PCs.") And size is certainly one of the N810's advantages: while slightly larger than many smart phones, it can still fit comfortably in a pocket.

Software developers will be able to create Web services for the device using Nokia's Ovi platform, which has been publicly available for some time. This means that Nokia's community of 3.5 million mobile-phone programmers has access to the new gadget.

Vanjoki believes that this is big news for location-based services and "context-aware computing," since the N810 has a fully functional GPS receiver. "We have integrated GPS in this device and have a nice API [application programming interface--the tools for writing software for the device] that will allow location to become a major context," he said. "Combining location information with the device is a fantastic opportunity to rethink the next stage of the Web."

However, since Wi-Fi coverage is sparse in much of the country, the only way to ensure the N810's constant connection to a network is by keeping it in close proximity to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. As a consequence, the device is likely to prove an incremental step toward true location-based services.

"GPS brings a lot to mobile devices...and it enables innovative location-based Web applications," says Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for the personal systems group at Hewlett Packard. HP is currently trying to hone location-based games--games in which people use GPS-enabled mobile devices to complete different tasks--called mscapes. (See "Your Phone as a Virtual Tour Guide.")

The target audience for the N810 is young adults, so the device's featured applications focus more on fostering social connections and on sharing and playing media files than other smart tablets' do. Vanjoki, however, believes that the N810's Web applications are the types of features that the market wants in an ultraportable computer.

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=telecom&id=19596&a=

Inside Intel's New Chip

Array of Atoms: This image shows the processor wafer on which Atom chips are manufactured. Each chip on the wafer contains 47 million transistors. Credit: Intel

The mobile Internet has been the next big thing for a decade. And while companies such as Nokia and Apple have made great strides with the N-series devices and the iPhone, these gadgets still don't perform as well as computers. For instance, popular sites such as MySpace and YouTube can take tens of seconds to completely load on these devices, and when they do, they sometimes don't work correctly or look right.

The problem with these gadgets, says Vijay Krishnan, a director in Intel's ultramobile group, is their microprocessor. His company's solution is a brand new lineup of small, low-power chips that play well with websites and are also designed to run media, including high-definition content. The chip line, called Atom, which was first announced in March, was displayed last week at Intel's Developer Forum in Shanghai. Company executives showed off slick-looking gadgets, called mobile internet devices (MIDs), that are expected to hit the market by the middle of the year.

"The iPhone is a great example of delivering the Internet in your pocket," says Krishnan. Apple's phone uses a processor from ARM, the company that supplies many of the chips that run on cell phones worldwide. But, he says, there are a few areas that could be improved. For instance, an Atom chip is four to six times faster than ARM chips, which translates into faster downloads and smoother video-watching experiences. In addition, he says, the chip is compatible with many Web programming languages and applications--such as JavaScript and Flash--which makes Atom more compatible with all parts of the Internet. Using a device with an Atom chip, he says, gives access to "all of the Internet, without generating errors."

To build the new chips, Krishnan says, Intel focused on power consumption. The dual-core chips in today's laptops use up to 35 watts. The Atom line, which will offer roughly the same performance as a typical chip in a four-year-old laptop, uses three watts or less. Krishnan explains that one way this is achieved is by creating six separate power states for the chip. Depending on how the device is being used, the voltage the processor uses and clock speed of its components can be varied, while certain components , such as memory cache, can be turned off when not in use. "When we use all of these power states," he says, "we're able to keep the average power on chips to 160 to 220 milliwatts." These low power requirements can noticeably extend battery life, he says.

Another power-saving trick is to change the way the chip reads instructions. For years, Intel has designed chips that can process information quickly, but by completing operations in an out-of-order manner: when a set of instructions can't be followed immediately, the chip processes information from other instructions, allowing it to fill in the gaps when it can. This approach to computing is as chaotic as a "three-ring circus," says Nathan Brookwood, founder of Insight64, an analysis firm. The net result is a waste of power.

Intel streamlined the chip's instructions to use a technology called "hyperthreading," which effectively simulates multicore functions on the single-core Atom chips. In this design, all instructions have their own processing paths, or threads, within the chip. While more than one instruction can be processed at a time, specific instructions are processed in the order in which they are issued.

Atom, which has 45 million transistors and is less than one-tenth the size of a penny, will allow designers to pump out small Internet devices in novel shapes and sizes, says Brookwood. "Intel is enabling smaller form factors," he says. "This is good." However, he notes that the company is not yet able to compete with ARM chips in terms of power and thermal dissipation, two main factors that will keep Atom out of mobile phones in the near future.

Intel's Krishnan says that in 2009 the company will release a next-generation platform called Moorestown, in which the chipset will be shrunk and power will be reduced by "an order of magnitude." But right now, he says, Intel is focused on devices that send and receive data, not voice, over the airwaves. The first generation of Atom-based devices were targeted to people under 30, he says, who spend as little as 15 percent of their time on the phone and about 85 percent on text messaging, e-mail, and Web browsing. "In our view," he says, "there is a void here that 'smart' phones don't give the user the best possible experiences."

Compact computers: The Atom processor (on top of the penny) and a controller hub (in front of the quarter) will appear in pocket-sized computers by summer.
Credit: Intel

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20525/page2/

LG ELECTRONICS UNVEILS FOUR PLASMA HDTV SERIES

LG’s 50PG60 Wins CES 2008 ‘Best of Innovations,
’PG60 Series Features THX Display and ISF Certifications

Slim design, advanced calibration options, wireless connectivity and invisible speakers underscore LG Electronics’ 2008 plasma HDTV innovations. The 50-inch model of the flagship PG60 series is the CES 2008 “Best of Innovations” video display honoree, singled out for its intuitive styling, advanced display technologies and consumer benefits.

All four series, including eight new models, six with “Full HD” 1080p display capability, are being demonstrated publicly for the first time at the 2008 International CES®, LG Electronics booth #8214, Central Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Home theater enthusiasts are continuing to drive growth in plasma HDTVs, specifically in larger screen sizes, and we are committed to serving this market by introducing seven new 50- and 60-inch models,” said Allan Jason, vice president of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. “Our 2008 line delivers what plasma HDTV consumers are looking for – a slim and stylish design with premium picture and an enhanced sound quality.”

LG’s flagship plasma lines, the PG70 and PG60 series, incorporate a slim, elegant single-layer design. The single layer design mocks the appearance of a pane of glass creating a sleek, sophisticated look to complement any home décor. It also has a non-reflective internal cell structure to help minimize excessive glare typically caused by harsh ambient light.

The entire stylish line includes LG’s new invisible speaker system tuned by renowned audio expert, Mr. Mark Levinson, adding to its polished look. This unique system incorporates speaker actuators around the perimeter of the bezel, eliminating traditional speaker drivers and their associated grills. This not only allows for a sleek finished look, but also offers a wider sweet spot by creating a virtual “wall” of sound.

What’s more, LG’s new “Clear Voice” technology automatically enhances the sound frequency range of the dialogue even when background noise swells.

For those seeking an advanced picture quality, all LG 1080p plasma models feature Image Science Foundation Certified Calibration Configuration (ISFccc), providing custom video display calibration to deliver superior picture quality for an enhanced viewing experience. LG Electronics achieved THX Display Certification for its plasma HDTVs (models 60PG60 and 50PG60). As the industry benchmark in video image quality, THX Display Certification promotes an HDTV that can present HD and standard definition video content at maximum resolution with the correct color and light levels. (Please see separate news release for details on picture quality and calibration).

LG Electronics is a founding member of the Plasma Display Coalition.

THE NEW PLASMA: DISTINCTIVE, SIMPLE ELEGANCE

• PG70 Series (Sizes: 50- and 60-inch) – LG’s “Full HD” 1080p wireless-ready PG70 plasma series delivers a high-quality home entertainment experience in 50- and 60-inch screen sizes. With an optional transmission component, consumers can eliminate cords using 802.11n wireless network technology. THX Display certification, while not yet finalized, is expected for these two models, planned for third-quarter availability. Other features include:

o 30:000:1 contrast ratio

o 100,000-hour panel (approximately 30 years)

o Dual XD Engine

o ISFccc Calibration Ready

o THX Display Certification*

o Four HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color, USB 2.0 and AV inputs

• PG60 Series (Sizes: 50- and 60-inch) – As the CES 2008 “Best of Innovations” video display honoree, LG’s “Full HD” 1080p PG60 plasma series delivers a high-quality home entertainment experience in 50- and 60-inch screen sizes. Viewers enjoy startling clarity and unprecedented detail with deeper black levels and superior shadow detail. Slim design and superior picture and sound performance make the PG60 an HDTV that can sit comfortably in any room of the home. Other features include:

o 30:000:1 contrast ratio

o 100,000-hour panel (approximately 30 years)

o Dual XD Engine

o ISFccc Calibration Ready

o THX Display Certification

o Four HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color, USB 2.0 and AV input

• PG30 Plasma HDTV Series (Sizes: 50- and 60-inch) -The stylish PG30 is perfect for viewing sports or the latest action-packed movies. Its “Full HD” 1080p resolution and a 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio provide vibrant colors and deeper blacks. Its slim depth, high-gloss finish and LG’s invisible speaker design augment its unprecedented detail and startling clarity. Other features include:

o 100,000-hour panel (approximately 30 years)

o Three HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color

o Clear Voice technology to enhance dialogue when background noise swells

o Slim Depth (84mm)

• PG20 Series (Sizes: 42- and 50-inch) – Design- and style-conscious consumers will appreciate the PG20’s ability to complement virtually any décor. The units are uncommonly slim at 84mm, and built with LG’s invisible speaker system. The PG20 is loaded with advanced technology and user-friendly functionality, including a 15:000:1 contrast ratio that allows for deeper blacks. Other features include:

o 100,000-hour panel (approximately 30 years)

o Three HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color

o Clear Voice technology to enhance dialogue when background noise swells

o 720p HD Resolution

About LG Electronics USA, Inc.

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of consumer electronics (digital display and digital media) products, mobile phones and digital appliances under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit www.LGusa.com.

About LG Electronics, Inc.

LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 82,000 people working in over 110 operations including 81 subsidiaries around the world. Comprising four business units – Digital Displays, Digital Media, Mobile Communications and Digital Appliances, with 2006 global sales of U.S. $38.5 billion – LG Electronics is the world’s largest producer of CDMA handsets, air conditioners, optical storage products and DVD players. For more information, please visit www.lge.com.

http://www.htguys.com/archive/PressReleases/2008/LGCESII.html

5 New LG HDTV with integrated Digital HDD Recorder

LG announces in Korea 5 new HDTVs with integrated digital video recorder.

The new LG TVs include 37”, 42”, 47” LCD TVs and 50”, 60” Plasma TVs. All five feature an integrated digital video recorder. The new recording HDTVs feature a dual tuner to record two shows at the same time.
With 160GB LG is still keeping the capacity pretty small, compared to the new Panasonic HD digital video recorder that come with 600GB HDD.

That is the problem with integrated solutions. They do not provide the cutting edge that you get when you buy independent components. Additionally you need to throw away the TV if you want a new DVR.

http://www.i4u.com/article7837.html

LG HDTV innovation for 2008

A total of 8 new lines of LCD TV's from the Korean manufacturer LG will showcase three main technological areas of development in 2008.

Building upon existing technological and design innovations LG are focusing on their super slim 1.7in LCD, wireless HDTV models and new LED backlighting technology to forge ahead in 2008.

The LG75 series is a 1.7in super slim design that according to an LG spokesperson, is the "epitome" of elegance. The LG75 comes with a unique 'rose red' tint within the "high-gloss" black finish.

The LG75's LED backlight is partitioned into 128 light-emitting diodes which enables local dimming to provide quick response to changing images. An advantage of local dimming ability is reduced energy consumption.

With 47in and 52in models, the LG71 Wireless LCD HDTV Series makes its debut in 2008. The built-in 802.11n Wireless System comes with separate wireless receiver giving a 50-foot radius giving the consumer more flexibility with the positioning of peripheral items.

LG have made a huge impact on the LCD TV market of late, and their latest innovation will surely add to their growing reputation as one of the leading LCD TV producers. LG's new found quality, performance and style is encapsulated by some of their more recent models such as the 32LB75, and their top end LY series of LCD TV's

Read a full review of the LG 32LB75 here

Read a full review of the LG 37LY95 here

Read a full review of the LG 42LY95 here

http://hdtvorg.co.uk/news/articles/2008012301.htm

CES 2008 HDTV Roundup: Hitachi, LG, HP, Sony and JVC Models

High Definition is all the rage and the first day of the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) reflected that trend. Manufacturers lined the exhibition halls with HDTVs each trying to out do the other. Hitachi claiming the World's Thinnest. Others trying to grab the World's Largest, Absolute Crispest, Most Vibrant, and World's Smallest. No one seemed particularly interested in the claiming the title consumers will likely care about the most, World's Cheapest HDTV.

Here is a sampling of some of the notable HDTVs presented at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Hitachi

Hitachi showed off its 32-inch UT32X802 Ultra Thin plasma display panel coming in at 1 ½ inch in depth, as well as a ¾ of an inch deep LCD panel. Hitachi unveiled 9 new models including 42, 37, and 32 inch models in it;s Director, UltraVision V and S series. To take a virtual tour of Hitachi's booth at CES head on over here http://av.hitachi.com/events/08ces/index.html.

LG Electronics

Continuing the obsession with thinness, LG unveiled it's 42-inch LGX LCD HDTV Super Slim at 1.7 inches deep it is just barley edged out by Hitachi. With 4 new Plasma HDTV displays and 7 other models of LCD HDTVs sporting new features like LED backlighting, and Invisible Speaker design, LG Electronics made a strong showing. The CES innovation awards thought so as well with an Innovations Honoree nod to the LG71 Wireless LCD HDTV Series coming with a separate wireless receiver with a 50-foot radius, allowing you to hang this on just about any wall.

HP

HP, known for its PCs, is making waves with its new MediaSmart Technology. Hp launched a line of 1080p HDTVs with the ability to wirelessly connect to and receive audio and video from PCs and other 802.11 devices in the home. Already have an HDTV? Hp has you covered there as well with its new MediaSmart reciever. Plug it in to you HDTV and instantly stream movies, music, and photos to the big screen from any computer in the house.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/528543/ces_2008_hdtv_roundup_hitachi_lg_hp.html

The COmbined DNA Index System CODIS CONCEPT

The COmbined DNA Index System, CODIS, blends computer and DNA technologies into an effective tool for fighting violent crime. The current version of CODIS uses two indexes to generate investigative leads in crimes where biological evidence is recovered from the crime scene. The Convicted Offender index contains DNA profiles of individuals convicted of felony sex offenses (and other violent crimes). The Forensic index contains DNA profiles developed from crime scene evidence. CODIS utilizes computer software to automatically search these indexes for matching DNA profiles.

The word "index" in COmbined DNA Index Systems is not arbitrary. CODIS is a system of pointers; the database only contains information necessary for making matches. Profiles stored in CODIS contain a specimen identifier, the sponsoring laboratory's identifier, the initials (or name) of DNA personnel associated with the analysis, and the actual DNA characteristics. CODIS does not store criminal history information, case-related information, social security numbers or dates-of-birth. Matches made among profiles in the Forensic Index can link crime scenes together; possibly identifying serial offenders. Based on a match, police can coordinate separate investigations, and share leads developed independently. Matches made between the Forensic and Convicted Offender indexes ultimately provide investigators with the identity of the suspect(s).

CODIS also supports a Population file. The Population file is a database of anonymous DNA profiles used to determine the statistical significance of a match.

CODIS is designed so that forensic laboratories have control over their own data. The system has three tiers (or levels): local, state, and national (fig. 1). The forensic and convicted offender indexes, and the population file may exist at each tier.

Typically, the Local DNA Index System, or LDIS, is installed at crime laboratories operated by police departments, sheriff's offices, or state police agencies. At the local level, DNA examiners use CODIS software on the bench when sizing autoradiograms. After sizing, examiners transfer unknown subject profiles into the local forensic index, where they are searched against other unkown subject profiles. The custodian of the local database can share this data with other CODIS labs within the state by forwarding it to the state level.

Each state participating in the CODIS program has a single State DNA Index System (SDIS). The SDIS is typically operated by the agency responsible for implementing the state's convicted offender statute. At the state level, inter-laboratory searching occurs. That is, the DNA profiles submitted by different laboratories within the state are compared against each other. Forensic profiles developed at local laboratories are also searched against the Convicted Offender index. The state custodian can share this data with the rest of the CODIS community by forwarding it to the national level.

The National DNA Index System, or NDIS, is operated by the FBI. NDIS provides a mechanism for forensic crime laboratories located throughout the United States to share and exchange DNA profiles. The DNA Identification Act of 1994 formalized the FBI's authority to establish a national DNA index for law enforcement purposes.

http://www.promega.com/geneticidproc/ussymp6proc/niezgod.htm

Combined DNA Index System CODIS Program Overview

The FBI Laboratory’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) blends forensic science and
computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. CODIS enables state and
local law enforcement crime laboratories to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically,
thereby linking serial violent crimes to each other and to known sex offenders. Following are
several examples of CODIS in action:

• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, February 1997: In 1992 five women were bound,
gagged and stabbed in a drug house in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma State
Bureau of Investigation developed a DNA profile for the killer in 1995, based on
evidence found at the crime scene. In 1997, the California Department of Justice
used CODIS to match the evidence profile against Danny Keith Hooks, who was
convicted of rape, kidnapping and assault in California in 1988.

• Tallahassee, Florida, February 1995: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
linked semen found on a Jane Doe rape-homicide victim to a convicted offender’s
DNA profile. The suspect’s DNA was collected, analyzed and stored in a CODIS
database while he was incarcerated for another rape. The match was timely; it
prevented the suspect/offender’s release on parole, which had been scheduled to
occur eight days later.

• St. Paul,Minnesota, November 1994: A man wearing a nylon stocking over his
face and armed with a knife jumped out from behind bushes and assaulted a
woman who was walking by. Semen recovered from the victim’s skirt and saliva
was analyzed using DNA technology. The resulting DNA profile was searched
against Minnesota’s CODIS database. The search identified the perpetrator, who
confessed to the crime and is now in prison.

CODIS uses two indexes to generate investigative leads in crimes where biological evidence
is recovered from the crime scene. The Convicted Offender Index contains DNA profiles of
individuals convicted of felony sex offenses (and other violent crimes). The Forensic Index contains

DNA profiles developed from crime scene evidence, such as semen stains or blood spatter.
CODIS utilizes computer software to automatically search these indexes for matching DNA
profiles.

Matches made among profiles in the Forensic Index can link crime scenes together; possibly
identifying serial offenders. Based on a match, police in multiple jurisdictions can coordinate
their respective investigations, and share the leads they developed independently.Matches made
between the Forensic and Convicted Offender Indexes provide investigators with the identity of
the perpetrator(s).

http://www.promega.com/profiles/103/ProfilesinDNA_103_12.pdf

DNA Data Bank

A serial predator is on the loose in Reno, Nevada. He’s already murdered one young victim – 19-year-old Brianna Denison – and DNA evidence connects him to at least two other sexual assaults. As investigators worked to identify this monster, they ran into a huge roadblock. Detectives thought that there might be more attacks linked to the same suspect – and that the predator might be someone who lready has a criminal record. In Nevada, as in most states, every convicted felon must submit a DNA sample. But here’s the problem: in Washoe County, where Reno is located, an estimated 3000 DNA samples were sitting on a shelf, waiting to be analyzed and added to the database. Lack of funds to do all the work had created the backlog. Whether the killer’s DNA was among those 3000 samples – or if they contained evidence matching him to yet another case – the police had no way of knowing. Private citizens, unwilling to accept that, helped raise $160,000 so that the backlog could be cleared. Unfortunately, the answers police needed weren’t in there.

Even more unfortunately, the situation in Washoe County is far from unique. The Justice Department recently admitted that the FBI has a huge backlog of DNA from convicted criminals waiting to be tested – nearly 200,000 samples. And the backlog is growing. There’s no question that the FBI needs more funding for this important job, because I think that we need to expand the bureau’s nationwide DNA data bank, known as CODIS, even further. I’d like to see every state have mandatory collection of DNA from everybody charged with a felony, not just convicted of one. I’d like all of that information in CODIS, so that every law enforcement agency in the country has access to it.

Imagine if there was a national DNA data bank that was up-to-date, not years behind in its work. It would help solve hundreds of crimes – and it would help absolve many accused people of crimes they didn’t commit. We need to be uniformly collecting DNA profiles from both convicted AND accused criminals across the country. And we must make sure that everyone involved, from the FBI to local law enforcement, has all the resources they need to make that happen.

http://www.amw.com/safety/?p=536