Analysts had a variety of opinions to offer on the possibility of Apple moving its MacBook line off Intel processors and onto the power-frugal ARM architecture used in its iPhone and iPad.

Analysts had a variety of opinions to offer on the possibility of Apple moving its MacBook line off Intel processors and onto the power-frugal ARM architecture used in its iPhone and iPad.

Originally posted at Nanotech - The Circuits Blog

“Back to the Mac” wasn't just for software? Today's iPhone Loss of the ability to run open source operating systems, like Ubuntu. Difficulty for developers to port their apps over to the new platform. ARM architecture is not yet fully developed. Do you think it is a wise move for Apple to switch to ARM for ... and more »

Will Apple pull the old chip switcheroo again, and embrace ARM CPUs on its Macs instead of Intel silicon? You bet it might, say new rumors, because it could mean your MacBook lasts pretty much all day on a charge.

Only a handful of years ago, Apple abandoned its long relationship with IBM and the PowerPC line of processors for shiny new Intel silicon. The switch from G5 to Intel caused an upheaval of epic proportions among the user community and for the people who code for Apple software--and even required Apple to nursemaid the transition with special dual-mode compatibility code in its OS X for years. But Apple's never looked back, and thanks to a few early-access treats from Intel, and special treatment like the unique one-off processor designed to make the original MacBook Air such a paradigm-breaking machine, the two have kept working together. That may, according to a new and surprisingly emphatic rumor, all be about to change.

SemiAccurate, a publication that was previously correct in predicting Apple would swing away from using Nvidia GPUs, is the source of the latest rumor. It's based on some insider information, and some smart deductive work: In just a few years, ARM is expected to transition its CPU design to full 64-bit addressing, which would significantly boost the computing power, while retaining the core light power requirements that's a characteristic of ARM's design. A transition to ARM CPUs in two to three years would enable Apple to quickly make use of a whole new class of super-powerful chips that eat batteries much less quickly than competing chip architectures. And it would come just a short while after Apple takes its first steps in incorporating lessons from iOS devices like the iPhone (which runs on an ARM chip) back into its computing operating system OS X, with the latest update into OS X Lion.

And don't forget Apple already has lots of ARM design expertise in-house, thanks to its acquisition of PA Semi for close to $300 million in 2008.

With two more generational tweaks to OS X, and continued development of iOS, Apple could easily make OS X work on ARM chips instead of Intel's. This would also align how code is written for pretty much every device Apple makes. Supplying an emulation system, like it did for the transition to Intel chips inside Macs, wouldn't be difficult, and the fact that Mac apps are now slightly cheaper to buy (thanks to the Mac App Store, and halo effect of the iOS App Store) would mean users wouldn't feel hard done by when, in say four to five years, Apple stopped supporting Intel x68-only software for its ARM-based Macs.

But there's one big reason Apple would want to pull off this trick, which would be timed to the A15 ARM generation: Mobile computing. There's an undeniable move away from desktop PCs that was initially driven by advances in laptop tech, boosted by the netbook phenomenon, and is now being rocketed into the stratosphere by the tablet PC paradigm. Users now expect ever-more powerful portable machines. And though Intel has teased its next-gen low-power 3-D chip solution, the main reason it's currently shut out of the tablet market is that its chip architecture simply can't compete with ARM chips in terms of power consumption.

The iPad works for around 10 hours on a charge, while the new 11-inch iMacs run reliably into four hours of usage, and Apple's existing bigger MacBook Pros can go up to 7 hours with the Wi-Fi on...all with existing tech. Imagine in 3 years' time, with evolutions in battery design, screen technology (so they consume less power when lit) and solid-state memory advances, a MacBook sporting a low-power-consumption, super-fast ARM chip. Hypothetically, that Mac could run for 18 hours or more on a single charge.

If Apple's desktop Macs ran ARM chips, too, then perhaps they'd need much less cooling--leading to quieter, more efficient power needs. And who wouldn't like to run apps on a top-end Mac Pro with four ARM CPUs aboard, sporting up to 32 separate processor cores?

[Image: Flickr user junesey]

Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter and Fast Company too.

Most Innovative Companies 2011: Apple.

A Web site with the wonderful name SemiAccurate is reporting that it’s a “done deal” that Apple will dump Intel chips for ones based on the ARM architecture used in most smartphones and tablets, including the iPhone and iPad–and it’ll do it “as soon as possible.” I tend to be skeptical about rumors of great [...]

Website semiaccurate has been circulating the rumor that Apple was going to dump Intel completely from its line of computers, laptops and desktop, when chips based on 64-bit ARM processors designs will be ready for mass production. This seems like a wild guess, but the site, known for being sometime accurate insists that this will happen.

This raises a number of questions: Is it possible and what would that mean to Apple users? Why would Apple do it? What does Apple need to do to make this successful? Finally, what would that mean for Intel? Let’s try answering these questions.

Apple Dumping Intel Rumor: Why? When? At what cost?, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Droid 2 Review, Google TV Review,

The rumor of the day is that Apple is dumping Intel and its x86 architecture for ARM---at least on laptops. The big question is how much credence do we give to these reports. Here are the key...

Apple is speculated to be moving its entire computing lineup with its laptops and desktops to the ARM chipset and away from Intel’s architecture. The recent rumor being reported by SemiAccurate would mark Apple’s second transition to a newer chipset in its desktops and laptops, first from PowerPC to Intel, and now if true from [...]

Here’s your latest crazy Apple rumor: Sources say that Apple is looking to move towards ARM processors in its laptops, which would replace the Intel chips its been relying on for the past few years, SemiAccurate reports.

If true, it would mean a return to custom chips for Apple, similar to the company’s reliance on IBM’s PowerPC processors before it wisely jumped to Intel in 2006. But at this point, there’s very little reason to believe Apple would dump Intel entirely.

Intel just recently showed off its 3D “Tri-Gate” transistor technology, which will pave the way for more powerful processors that are cheaper to produce and consume less energy than today’s chips. Tri-Gate is a major technological coup for Intel, as it will ultimately allow the chip giant to create more powerful mobile processors and take on ARM’s mobile dominance.

It strikes me as odd that Apple would leave Intel when Tri-Gate has the potential to change the face of computing as we know it. And it will likely take ARM some time before its chips reach the computing levels of Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core chips in Apple’s Macbook Pro.

I also don’t think the company would want to deal with the logistics of another chip architecture move. When Apple moved from PowerPC to Intel, it had to roll out an Intel-compatible version of Mac OS X, as well as rely on virtualization technology to let older Mac apps run on the Intel chips.

SemiAccurate assumes that Apple is holding out for ARM chips to reach 64 bit capabilities (allowing them to address more than 4 gigabytes of memory), putting a potential jump to ARM chips in mid-2013. The site’s sources reiterate that the ARM move is a “done deal” for laptops, although I suspect that even if such a deal existed, it would be seriously reconsidered if Intel lives up to its Tri-Gate promises.

Apple’s A4 and A5 mobile chips, which power the iPhone 4, iPad and latest generation iPod Touch, currently include ARM cores — so the company is definitely familiar with the capabilities of ARM’s chips. The only Apple laptop I could imagine being a good fit for ARM chips is the MacBook Air, which is already impossibly thin but relies on an older Core 2 Duo CPU. (I suspect that will change this year as well.)

SemiAccurate notes that its sources have been correct in the past about Apple’s shift away from Nvidia graphics cards to ATI  — a good win, I’ll admit — but the move to ARM processors would be a far more fundamental change.

Tags: A4, A5, chips, Core i5, Core i7, CPUs, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro

Companies: Apple, Arm, Intel

A new rumor claims that Apple plans to ditch Intel processors to instead adopt the ARM architecture currently found in devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Apple will drop Intel processors from its laptop line-up by 2013, instead using chips based on ARM architecture, according to a report.

Blog SemiAccurate has published an interesting article stating that Apple intends to move its desktop and laptop computer systems from the Intel x86 architecture to ARM-based architecture in the semi-near future. “The short story is that Apple is moving the laptop line, and presumably desktops too, to ARM based chips as soon as possible,” reads the posting. “With A15/Eagle allowing more than 32-bit memory access, things look up, but it seems silly to do so before the full 64 bit cores come in the following generation. [...] Think mid-2013. At that point, Apple can move to ARM without worrying about obsoleting code with an ISA [instruction set architecture] that is on the verge of changing, and no memory overhead worries either.” Apple’s iOS line of

Apple is dumping Intel chips in favor of ARM based chips for its laptops, and possibly its desktops, Charlie Demerjian at SemiAccurate reports.

Demerjian says it won't happen immediately, but it's "a done deal." He predicts the transition happens in 2013.

Apple already uses ARM architecture on its its A5 chips which run the iPad 2. So, it's not out of left field Apple would use the same sort of design on its laptops.

This news will be a blow for Intel, if true. Yes, Apple isn't a huge part of Intel's business, but Apple's Mac business has been outgrowing the PC market for 20 quarters straight.

Last week Microsoft reported weak PC sales for Q1, which was surprising because Intel delivered strong sales in the same period. Microsoft's investor relations manager told us a small part of the reason Intel did well was because of Mac sales. 

Further, Intel has been desperately trying (and failing) to get in the mobile business. It just introduced new chips which want to compete with ARM. But, Apple's move would be another signal that Intel is losing out when it comes to low power chips and the future of computing.

Related: The Most Important Tech Company You've Never Heard Of: ARM Holdings

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• THE APPLE INVESTOR: China Is Key To Apple's Future Growth
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Today's report that Apple could use ARM designed chips instead of Intel chips on laptops in a few years begs the question: are we going to get an iOS laptop?

iOS is the operating system that powers the iPhone and iPad. It's based on the same core architecture as Mac OS X, which runs Mac computers, but optimized for mobile and for ARM chips like Apple's own A4 and A5 chips.

Making Mac OS X run on ARM chips would be possible, but it would be a huge undertaking, because right now it's designed to run on the x86 chips that run all of the world's personal computers.

Apple clearly regards iOS, and mobile generally, as its future. It's in the "post-PC era", and Macs are personal computers.

The latest MacBook Air had a 11" version which is highly portable and closer to a netbook than a full-fledged laptop.

All of this points to the possibility of one day having an iOS laptop.

It would make sense as a small, even more netbook-like laptop with a multi touch touchscreen. Perhaps it would be able to run some MacOS X applications as well or come with MacOS X as an option. Too bad the name "iMac" is already taken.

Of course this is all speculation at this point, but if ARM Macs are years away, that's certainly enough time to make such a device possible for Apple.

Don't Miss: Apple, We DEMAND These Features In The Next Version Of iOS 5 →

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Chip reshuffle coming from Cupertino?

You would have thought that, with the introduction of the new Sandy Bridge iMac range this week, that all was well with the Apple / Intel relationship.

But not so, according to tipster SemiAccurate, who states that the word from 1?Infinite?Loop is that Apple will be ditching Intel chips in the near future in favour of ARM based processors.

ARM chips are produced by Nvidia, and also the likes of Qualcomm,?Texas Instruments, Sharp and Samsung, and can be found in many mobile devices including phones and tablets.

The architecture is?used in iOS devices already, and with 64-bit core chips on the way (by mid-2013) - the move to a new platform could well be on the cards for Apple.

Pocket-lint reported back in January how Nvidia is one of the companies looking to take ARM architecture to the PC, but with Apple and Nvidia having a squabble in the past over faulty?GeForce 8600M GT graphics adapters - it's unlikely that these chips will be finding their way into Apple machines.

Whoever does get the nod though (and it could well end up being an in-house job) it will be a major kick in the teeth for Intel.

Read

Tags: ARM Hardware Apple MacBooks iMacs Intel

Apple to use strong ARM tactics to drop Intel? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 May 2011 10:10:35 +0100

Le groupe américain a mis au point une nouvelle architecture en trois dimensions, qui permet de concevoir des puces plus rapides et économes en énergie. Des qualités indispensables pour s'implanter sur le marché des smartphones et des tablettes tactiles, dominé par ARM.

CNET

IDC lists ARM with Intel as PC chips CNET "For the first time, IDC is forecasting PC microprocessor units by processor architecture, including those based on x86 (Intel and Advanced Micro Devices) and those based on ARM," IDC's Shane Rau wrote in a research note dated Thursday. ... IDC: Worldwide PC Microprocessor Unit Shipments Up 7.4% In Q1RTT News Worldwide PC Microprocessor Unit Shipments Up 7.4% Year Over Year in the First ...Business Wire (press release) all 10 news articles »

While the Inka (Inca) are probably the best-known of the ancient civilizations of South America because they were flourishing when the Spanish arrived, there were many ancient civilizations which preceded them and provided the cultural foundations for the Inka. One of these was Moche who began to flourish about 2000 years ago.  

The Moche flourished from about 1 to 700 CE on the north Peruvian desert margin between the Andes and the Pacific. Their realm extended for at least 250 miles between the Lambayeque and Nepe?a Valleys. In each of the river valleys they established ceremonial centers with large platform mounds. Each of the major Moche settlements seems to have been ruled by hereditary rulers who held religious and political power. Unlike the later Inka, the Moche were not an empire, but more closely resembled city-states unified by common cultural features.

In the river valleys, they were able to transform the land into verdant oasis. The agricultural crops which they raised included beans, cotton, corn, squash, chilies, and peanuts. The fields were often fertilized with guano which they collected from islands off the coast. In order to provide water to their agricultural fields, they developed extensive irrigation networks. One canal ran for 900km.

In addition to agriculture, they also fished and hunted. They fished in the ocean using reed boats and cotton nets. They hunted deer in the valleys and hills. Their domesticated animals included the Muscovy duck and the llama. The llama served as a pack animal and as a source for wool.

Part of the Moche wealth came from their ability to exploit gold and other metal resources. The Moche were expert metal workers. They made jewelry and other ornaments of gold, silver, copper, and alloys. These were often inlaid with lapis lazuli and turquoise. In addition to using metal for ornaments, they also made metal tools, including chisels, spear points, and fishhooks.

They were also experts in ceramics and weaving. In their ceramics, they used molds to cast wonderful shapes which they then painted. Their pottery provides an interesting and realistic insight into their lives. The portrait pots are amazingly realistic portrayals of real people showing a variety of emotions. Much to the chagrin of many American museum curators, their pots sometimes show sexual acts which cannot be shown in many museums.

The Moche maintained a fairly elaborate trading network. Feathers from the Amazon basin in the Moche sites show that their trading connections led across the Andes and into the rainforests on the other side.

Warfare may have been an important part of Moche culture as warriors are often shown in the pottery and in the murals which lined the temples and pyramids.

Moche religion seems to have centered on ideas of dualistic opposition: gold/silver, day/night, land/sea. One of the figures that appears in their religious pantheon is the Decapitator. This god (?) is often shown as part cat (the teeth) and part octopus (the wavy tentacles) with bulging eyes and huge ear spools. His outstretched arms wield a scepter or knife in one hand and an open-mouthed severed head in the others.

Shown above are some of the images of the Decapitator.

Other Moche deities included a goddess who wore a jester-like headdress, and a bird god. One of the principle rituals involved the drinking of blood taken from sacrificial victims. According to images from the pottery and murals, the priests would offer the blood in chalices to the gods before drinking it. By adding the juice of the ulluchu fruit to the blood it would not coagulate.

Moche monumental architecture is characterized by large adobe (mud brick) pyramids with platforms. They often decorated the pyramids and temples with friezes depicting Moche deities. Tombs of the rulers were placed inside the pyramids with elaborate ceremonies which are depicted on the Moche pottery.

Residential areas were located adjacent to the major pyramids and in the smaller towns up and down the river valleys.

One example of Moche monumental architecture is found at the El Brujo Complex, located about 4 km south of the present-day town of Trujillo, Peru. This site contains three large huacas (mounds or pyramids). One of these is the pyramid of Cao Viejo which is about 30 meters (100 feet) in height. This massive monument was built and rebuilt in four major phases between 200 and 650 CE. In each phase, the builders intentionally and carefully buried the previous temple, thus creating an even larger and higher pyramid. Each phase tended to repeat the same art and murals of the previous era.

On the lower level of the pyramid is a mural showing 10 naked men tethered together by a rope around their necks. Some archaeologists have interpreted this as an illustration of war captives, an indication that the Moche were not totally a peaceful people.

One of the major burials excavated at Cao Viejo has been named the Lady of Cao. She was a woman who died in her twenties around 400 CE. She was buried with a host of ceremonial items, including typical Moche gold jewelry and headdresses. In her grave were sewing needles, weaving spools, and raw cotton. She was also buried with weapons of war: two ceremonial clubs and 23 spears. Was she a warrior?

The well-preserved mummy of the Lady of Cao reveals that she had complex tattoos of spiders, seahorses, and snakes which covered her arms. The tattoo designs are distinct from the usual Moche designs. Skeletal analysis shows that she gave birth at least once. Beside her a teenaged girl had been sacrificed by strangulation.

The Temple (Pyramid) of the Sun (Huaca del Sol) at the El Brujo Complex is a stepped pyramid about 40 meters (130 feet) in height and about 350 meters (1,150 feet) in length. It is the tallest adobe structure in the Americas. It has four major platforms and was erected about 600 CE using an estimated 50 million adobe bricks.

The Spanish later mined the Temple of the Sun for its gold and silver objects which they melted down into bars. During this process they destroyed about two-thirds of the pyramid.

The third huaca at the El Brujo Complex is the Temple of the Moon (Huaca de la Luna). This large mound has three platforms and was built in five construction phases between 300 and 600. Its base is 300 meters by 250 meters. There are at least 70 sacrifices within the Huaca: all are adult males with their throats cut. Many have broken arm and hand bones. The pathology suggests the men died fighting: their arms hold crushed shields, their fingers broken with maces. While this seems to suggest actual combat, DNA tests show that the men were related to the people living in the city. Thus, they were not invading warriors.

The Huaca de la Luna is shown above.

The demise of the Moche was brought about by a Mega El Ni?o that led to 30 years of intense rain followed by 30 years of drought.  

CBC.ca

Intel: New Architecture To Sustain Moore's Law 'for Years to Come' Campus Technology Meanwhile, the new architecture also allows for significant cuts in power consumption--50 percent or more, according to the company. Intel representatives at today's press event wouldn't comment on initial clock speeds or other specifications for chips ... Intel reinvents the transistor with Tri-Gate technologyV3.co.uk Is Intel About to Out-Muscle ARM? (INTC, ARMH, AAPL)Benzinga Intel unveils new 3D transistor structureCNET CNN -CrunchGear -PCR-online.biz all 526 news articles »

New 3D 'tri-gate' designs will enable Intel to produce smaller and more powerful processors

Intel has redesigned the transistor – the building block of the chip – to add a third dimension that will let them design smaller and more powerful processors for years to come.

The new 3D "tri-gate" designs announced on Wednesday use a 22-nanometre process with a "fin" jutting up from the base. (A nanometre is a billionth of metre.) The company says chips using them will go into production this year and appear in computers in 2012 in processors codenamed "Ivy Bridge", and allow them to keep improving performance in line with Moore's Law for some time.

The new designs will also use less power. Kevin Krewell, senior analyst at the Linley Group, said a dual-core chip with 22nm tri-gate transistors would use the same power as an existing 32nm chip – or, alternatively, use half the power as a single-core 32nm chip.

The announcement gives Intel its best chance of breaking into the growing market for chips used in smartphones and tablet computers, where it has failed to make any impression because its existing designs use too much power. That field is dominated by chips using designs from the British company ARM. Intel declined to comment on whether it would be able to challenge ARM through these designs. In January, Microsoft announced the next version of Windows – expected in 2012 – would be able to run on ARM designs, implying to some that it no longer thought Intel was the key architecture for the future.

Intel executives said at the announcement they thought tri-gate would be "extremely competitive" with ARM on power consumption following internal benchmarking, but wouldn't say how they compared.

Asked for a date when the chips would appear in smartphones, executives said they had a date – but wouldn't share it.

Normally, transistors on chips are flat, with three "gates" – a base, collector and emitter. Controlling the voltage on the base turns current flow on or off through a "conducting channel" from the collector to the emitter. In the tri-gate design, the 3D "fin" is the conducting channel for the transistor, and the controlling gates are put in each of the three sides of the fin – two on each side and on across the top, rather than one on top as happens with the 2D planar transistor.

Intel has been talking about 3D transistors for nearly a decade, and other companies are experimenting with similar technology. But nobody has previously been able to make them in any quantity.

Transistors are the cheapest manufactured item in the universe: a typical chip, consisting of a few "gates", can contain a billion transistors and cost about a hundred dollars. Their only function is to regulate the flow of electricity inside chips. Gordon Moore stated his famous "law" in a paper in 1965, forecasting that the number of transistors on a chip would double every 12 to 18 months. But as transistors get smaller they fall prey to quantum effects where electrons "leak" between the gates; it had been thought that that would bring Moore's Law to an end in around 2015. The announcement suggests that it will be able to continue further because it lowers the voltage at which the transistors operate. That in turn reduces the leakage across the gates.

The advance doesn't mean Intel is building a second layer of transistors on the chip. That remains a distant but hotly pursued goal of the industry; "cubic" chips could be much faster that flat ones while consuming far less power.

Analysts briefed on the work called it one of the most significant shifts in silicon transistor design since the integrated circuit was invented in the 1950s.

"When I looked at it, I did a big, 'Wow.' What we've seen for decades now have been evolutionary changes to the technology. This is definitely a revolutionary change," said Dan Hutcheson, a longtime semiconductor industry watcher and chief executive of VLSI Research Inc.

Previous major changes to transistor design have focused on new materials that can be used for transistors, not entire redesigns of the transistors themselves. "People have been trying to avoid changing the structure," Hutcheson said.

Other semiconductor companies argue that there's still life to be squeezed from the current design of transistors. Hutcheson agrees, but said Intel's approach should allow it to advance at least a generation ahead of its rivals, which include IBM Corp and Advanced Micro Devices.

The reduced power consumption addresses a key need for Intel.

The performance expectations and power requirements for PCs are much higher than they are for phones and tablet computers, so Intel's dominance in PC chips doesn't necessarily lead to success in mobile devices. Even Intel's Atom-based chips, which are designed for mobile devices, have been criticised as too power-hungry.

Technological leadership alone won't guarantee success, however, as Intel has learned in repeated attempts at cracking the mobile market.

Other chip makers such as Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc have entrenched partnerships with cellphone makers, and there is suspicion about the performance of Intel's chips in mobile devices.

"When it comes to the mobile market, they have their work cut out for them," Hutcheson said of Intel. But "this gives you the transistors to build the next great system."

Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Desktops, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, ebooks

Over at BlackBerry World 2011, Kobo is demonstrating its new eReading app for BlackBerry smartphones. The said app which is also touted as a social reading application uses the new BBM Social Platform curerntly available in beta. The said platform was put out by RIM to allow developers to build apps that take advantage of BlackBerry smartphone’s social features as well as the push architecture of the BlackBerry platform. The Kobo eReading app for BlackBerry specifically will allow you find out which of your BBM friends have the book that you are planning to buy, chat with friends in real-time about books you have in common in your digital libraries, browse friends’ libraries to discover books that may be of interest to you and control privacy and visibility settings to determine who gets to see your digital library.

Todd Humphrey, EVP of Kobo Business Development arm said that the BBM Social Platform fits perfectly into Kobo’s strategy to ignite social interaction among readers. “Our integration with BBM is a powerful new way for consumers to share their love of reading with friends, their extended families and everyone in their BBM social network.  It gives readers a fun, easy and exciting way to dive deeper into reading,” said Mr. Humphrey.

The new Kobo social eReading app also supports the BlackBerry PlayBook, In fact, the app comes preloaded on new units of the BlackBerry PlayBook so you can experience social ereading as envisioned by the folks at Kobo.

via [Kobo]

Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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CA-Santa Clara, MIPS, PowerPC, ARM, x86, SPARC architectures, CPU pipeline, CPU architecture, Level-1, Level-2 cache

AMD and ARM recently got into the spotlight with rumors of AMD thinking to potentially adopt the ARM CPU architecture. This was fueled by the fact that a senior ARM executive will host a keynote at AMD's Fusion 11.

Plans to stick with its x86 chips

PCR-online.biz

AMD won't licence ARM architecture Computer Business Review Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has dismissed reports that it is pursuing a license for ARM CPU technology, adding that it will continue with the x86 architecture for tablet computers. AMD is set to enter the mobile market supported ... AMD Refutes ARM Speculation With x86 PledgeeWEEK Europe UK AMD will not licence ARM achitecturePCR-online.biz AMD to resist ARM and enter tablet space with proprietary Fusion APUThe Tech Herald EE Times India all 6 news articles »

Advanced Micro Devices shot down rumors that it is pursuing an ARM license, saying it will stick to developing chips for tablets around the x86 architecture....

AMD UnARMed: Company Has No Plans to License ARM Architecture. X-bit Labs Advanced Micro Devices said that it had no interest for ARM architecture and it would keep "x86 everywhere" strategy. The firm believes that its accelerated processing units (APUs) which combine x86 processing cores with ATI Radeon ... and more »

DailyTech

ARM Cortex A15 Processor-Powered Tablets & Phones by 2012 GizmoCrave The new Cortex A15 architecture is expected to come powering tablets and smartphones either at the end of 2012 or in early 2013. The company plans to roll out dual core processor designs first, while later migrating to quad core models to quench the ... ARM Cortex-A15 Mobile Devices To Ship In 2012InformationWeek ARM's Intel challenger set for 2012 releaseRegister Phones with 2.5GHz ARM Cortex A15 processors coming late next yearAfterdawn.com CRN -Tom's Guide -DailyTech all 12 news articles »

DailyTech

ARM's Intel challenger set for 2012 release Register ARM Holdings' high-performance, low-power Cortex-A15 processor design will appear in products in late 2012 or early 2013, when it will begin to muscle in on territory long dominated by Intel's x86 architecture. "With our upcoming Cortex-A15 processor, ... Phones with 2.5GHz ARM Cortex A15 processors coming late next yearAfterdawn.com ARM: Cortex A-15 Design To Double Mobile Device PerformanceCRN ARM Predicts First Cortex-A15 Devices Late 2012Tom's Guide DailyTech all 10 news articles »

Advantage is pleased to announce that they have been granted Apple’s MFi developer’s & contract manufacturing license allowing them to develop and build products utilizing Apple platforms including accessories that connect to the “i” family of products. For quality assurance purposes, Apple keeps a very tight rein on what it allows to interact with and leverage the infrastructure of its iPod, iPhone and iPad product line. Plain & simple, hardware developers and/or manufacturers must have an official license from Apple to design or build anything that utilizes their products directly or as adjunct technology.

Licensed hardware developers gain access to Apple certified components, technical documentation and Apple provides compatibility labs to assist in product development and testing. The rules for products that use Apple’s platform are strict and developers receive technical specifications describing the communication protocols used to interact with iPod, iPhone, and iPad. When these electronic products pass Apple’s strict testing and review, a developer and/or manufacturer earns the right to use Apple’s certificated logos on these products. The iOS license allows for the development of software applications which must be written and compiled specifically for iOS and the ARM architecture.

Advantage obtained the distinction of being licensed to develop, design and build products using the latest Apple technology with the development of an intuitive new medical device. The license is expected to contribute to broadening capabilities of the products developed and built by Advantage in the very near future. In addition to the current application the firm already has two more high-end instrumentation products under development, utilizing the world’s most advanced mobile platform including one in the field of energy efficiency.

For the release of its first Apple-licensed product, Advantage plans to leverage the Apple iPhone infrastructure to manage sophisticated sensing elements utilized in a highly anticipated medical device, which is a patented, disruptive technology in the field of prosthetics. The system unites advanced embedded microprocessor technology and features the ability to capture real-time analytical information and relay it to clinicians who then monitor and make decisions as to the patient’s care … an ability never before possible.

Advantage president and CEO Jody Singleton states "The Apple iPhone/iPod iTouch/iPad platform is a real force shaping technology today. Leveraging it offers an extraordinary way to implement sophisticated technology, shorten development time and add a real "wow factor” to a product. We sought this license because it gives Advantage greater flexibility, which expands our options when we are creating innovative electronic products for our clients. We anticipate that the MFi & iOS licenses will serve as a bridge to enhance our product development capabilities and is a natural next step for our manufacturing capability.”

About Advantage Electronic Product Development: In business for 17 years, Advantage develops designs and manufactures innovative electronics systems for the aerospace, energy & medical industries. The custom electronics developer has specialized in instrumentation for, energy/smart grid systems, high-voltage safety, photonics instruments and wireless controls and sensor solutions.

Intel will ship its Oak Trail chipsets in tablets running the Honeycomb version of Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform, giving more definition to the company's plans to take on ARM Holdings in the mobile market.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call that Intel is making sure its chips run on tablets based on Honeycomb, MeeGo and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows. "We're heads down on a number of designs on tablets, on all three of those operating systems," Otellini said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.

With regard to Honeycomb specifically, Otellini said Intel has received the source-code and is "actively doing the port on that and expect to be able to ramp those machines over the course of this year for a number of customers."

Intel has vowed to make a splash this year in tablets and smartphones to counter the dominance of chipset makers using architecture from ARM--those vendors include Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Nvidia, Samsung and Texas Instruments. However, Intel's ambitions took a hit when Nokia (NYSE:NOK) shifted emphasis away from MeeGo, which it had jointly developed with Intel, to focus on Windows Phone 7.

"In terms of phones, obviously, we lost Nokia, which took a lot of wind out of the sales for phones this year," Otellini said. "We've redirected those resources onto a number of other major accounts, focusing on carriers who want their own devices and also on handset manufacturers."

The Intel chief added that "the limit in terms of them getting to market is going to be the interoperability testing of the networks at this point in time. So I think I would be very disappointed if you didn't see Intel-based phones for sale 12 months from now."

Meanwhile, ARM has indicated that smartphones and tablets using its upcoming Cortex-A15 processor will be available starting late 2012 or early 2013, according to IDG News Service. The company unveiled the new core, dubbed "Eagle," in September. The Cortex-A15 can run at speeds of up to 2.5 GHz.

For more:
- see this MarketWatch article
- see this Seeking Alpha transcript
- see this IDG News Service article

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ARM ups ante with new mobile processor core

ARM's US mobile division head James Bruce said in a conversation late Tuesday that the first phones and tablets using the Cortex-A15 architecture should be available by the end of 2012 or early into 2013. The much improved chip design will start out cautiously with dual-core designs before moving on to quad-core later on. The performance leap over the A9 was such that he predicted to PCWorld that phones like the Motorola Atrix were part of a larger trend towards mobile devices used for desktop-level tasks....

Microsoft has launched its Office 365 public beta, repeating the company's well-worn pattern of soliciting widespread feedback ahead of a general release. Public betas also help spread the word about a new product months before it hits browsers or store shelves.

In this case, Microsoft needs that word spread as far and as wide as possible. Office 365 (the beta is available in 38 markets and 17 languages) bundles Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in a cloud-based platform for a starting price of $6 per user per month. On top of that, Microsoft is launching the Office 365 Marketplace, with more than 100 productivity apps and 400 professional services.

For many months, Microsoft has publicly embraced an "all in" cloud strategy. CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives regularly espouse the cloud as the future for both businesses and consumers. In doing so, the company not only hopes to open new business channels, but blunt the competitive threat presented by the likes of Google and Salesforce.com, which offer their own cloud platforms.

That being said, Microsoft's enthusiasm for the cloud has yet to translate into anything resembling significant revenue. As with Bing and other initiatives, the cloud represents a long game for the company: You pour in hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development, and hope that paying customers eventually take to what you're offering.

To further promote its cloud ambitions, Microsoft is also partnering with Research In Motion to integrate its cloud offerings into BlackBerry devices, with the latter providing cloud-based BlackBerry service in support of Office 365. RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise servers will connect "cloud to cloud" with Microsoft's data centers to host Office 365 on users' BlackBerrys.

RIM's new PlayBook tablet (which I reviewed for eWEEK) will be able to port and display Office 365 data from any user's BlackBerry, via the BlackBerry Bridge tethering service. As mobile devices enjoy broader adoption by businesses and consumers (the projected tablet numbers for the next five years, as predicted by research firms like Gartner, are pretty insane), the cloud will likely assume greater importance as a means for porting user data from one gadget to another. Rumors are already flying that the next version of Windows, which will support the ARM architecture underlying many mobile devices, will include a substantial cloud element.

A number of government entities and larger corporations are already moving in limited ways to the cloud. Consumers have also shown an interest, mostly in services such as Amazon's Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. And competitive pressure from Google will ensure that Microsoft keeps pushing money toward its own cloud initiatives. But as the "all in" strategy takes yet another step, with Office 365 ramping toward release, I'm starting to wonder about Microsoft's strategy for making all this pay in a substantial way.

Windows 8 is coming. That much is certain. The bigger questions are what will be in it and when will it arrive. Microsoft itself has released few official details about Windows 8, but the company's reticence seems only to have increased the buzz surrounding Microsoft's next major operating system, the follow-on to the wildly popular Windows 7.

Online communities, alleged insiders, and the blogosphere are bristling with details, however, many of them based on allegedly "leaked" screen shots from an early-stage version of Windows 8. Here are the potential features that are generating the most excitement.

ARMed and Ready

The one official tidbit about Windows 8 is that it will, or should be, compatible with ARM processors, which are notably used to run many tablet computers. That's directly from the mouth of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, speaking at a tech conference earlier this year.

The addition of an ARM-compatible version of Windows 8 would represent a bold move for Windows, which has always been designed for the x86 processor architecture that runs Intel- or AMD-based personal computers. While energy-saving versions of the latter do run Windows-based tablets currently, the x86 technology is no match for ARM-based machines in the power efficiency department. Adding support for ARM-based devices would allow Windows 8, or some variant of it, to propagate more successfully throughout the growing world of tablet computers, perhaps offering some decent competition for Apple, which currently dominates the space.

Faster Startup

Microsoft has promised -- even boasted -- about faster startup times with each new version of Windows. Unfortunately, the reality has always failed to match the hype. While Windows 7 boot times have improved somewhat over the glacially slow pace at which a fully loaded Windows XP proceeds, most people still have to wait far too long for their Windows 7 systems to go from...

TG Daily

ARM targets x86 architecture with Cortex-A15 TG Daily ARM has consolidated its control over the lucrative mobile space and is moving to challenge x86 architecture in markets currently dominated by Intel and AMD. According to ARM exec James Bruce, Nvidia's recently announced Project Denver and Microsoft's ... and more »

I had never been to Budapest before this month. With its history as complex and spicy as a pot of Hungarian Goulash, I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect. In a country of just over 9 million in population, Budapest is the home to 1 million. I read and studied the guide books which show the grand architecture, tell of the layers of history and suggest hotels and restaurants, but you still need to be in a place to feel the vibe of it. I was glad I was there.

Historically, during the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Budapest underwent an unprecedented civic development that is still seen today. The grand palaces, castles, churches and official buildings are awe inspiring. Geographically, Budapest is divided by the Danube River and became one city from the 3 cities, Buda, Pest and Obuda after the Compromise of 1867. It sits on hot mineral springs and the name Pest, comes from the Slavic word, oven. I can't wait to go to the thermal baths that are one of the main attractions of the city, and confirm that translation :-) There are many thermal baths scattered around the city with one of the more opulent being at the Gellert Hotel. Politically, Hungary shed its communist ruling in 1989, which in historical context is very recent. Then during the economic buildup of Budapest, the recent worldwide downturn put a big hiccup into the growth process. My airline is the only airline to once again begin flying into Budapest from New York year round. This should be a big economic shot in the arm to the city and the country. When we arrived on our first trip to bring the inaugural flight back to New York, we were met with excitement and respect. Our hotel sweetened the pot with trays of pastries and coffee to welcome us. We then decided to take a bus tour of the city, getting off at certain spots to acquaint us to the lay of the land. It was the first bus tour I've ever taken of a city, but it was a wise decision. As we drove around, we passed by diverse architecture and stopped at certain landmarks. We couldn't stop and get out at Heroe's Square that day because they were preparing for visiting dignitaries and rolling out the red carpet. It was a windy spring day as we made our way to Castle Hill in Buda. Buda is very hilly versus the flat landscape of Pest. It was also the more affluent of the cities. From Castle Hill there are sweeping views of Pest across the Danube. A café sits at the edge overlooking the magnificent city. There is a Hilton Hotel on the castle grounds that appears so out of place. We were told that when Zsa Zsa Gabor was married to Conrad Hilton, she insisted on having a Hilton Hotel in her native city. Remnants of a monastery curiously abut the modern edifice of the hotel. The golden light of the castle reflects in the hotel's stark windows. After exploring the castle, we were coming near the end of our 3 hour tour. We resisted any souvenirs, and actually the vendors are few and far between. After this long day we were getting hungry and had been dreaming about Hungarian food and its spicy reward. Since we had only arrived earlier in the day, we weren't sure where to have dinner. We knew it wouldn't be the English Pub or the Sinatra Bar. We were looking for pure Hungarian food in this city that is eager to please the western palate. Being the first crew of our airline to layover in Budapest, we were at the mercy of our hotel for recommendations that evening. They suggested dinner at Tigris Restaurant. The atmosphere was bistro-like and the staff spoke English. We found that many people in the city speak English, which we were grateful for. Give me a French menu any day and I'll know what to order, but my Hungarian is nonexistent....I'll try, but don't bank on any fluency! Even with an English speaking waiter, I ended up with a chalkboard special of Stuffed Pepper which wasn't what I thought I ordered at all. Before our meal, we were brought an amuse-bouche of a celery mousse topped with diced duck, which was delightful. My friends ordered Beef Cheek Stew with Sour Cream Noodles that I was eyeing. They graciously let me taste it and I wished I had followed the group and made that choice, too. Ah, I will look for this again! I think next time I'll be searching for a little less refinement and a lot more local flair. I want to taste it all, because it's not just about the palaces and castles. I want to dig in and feel the pulse and heartbeat of this city through its struggles and not just the accomplishments. Although, walking along the Danube at night it was hard to not be dazzled by the majesty of the accomplishments. I'm glad I'll be back.

TechRadar UK

ARM wrestling: Microsoft's big bet on Windows 8 Digitaltrends.com Microsoft's new emphasis on ARM architecture in Windows 8 and IE 10 speed may indicate a new strategy for dealing aggressors like Google and Apple. This week, Microsoft revealed some rather interesting surprises at its annual MIX conference in Las ... The Trustbusters' Last Meal TicketWall Street Journal Windows 8: What's in store?Monsters and Critics.com Microsoft's stealth move onto your TVTechRadar UK PC Pro -Redmond Channel Partner (blog) -TechCrunch all 11 news articles »

Microsoft’s new emphasis on ARM architecture in Windows 8 and IE 10 speed may indicate a new strategy for dealing aggressors like Google and Apple.

We pronounced the netbook phenomenon all but over last year--they're now merely another class of laptop one can buy, at the cheap end. Except that Intel doesn't think so, and wants to lavish high-tech attention on these low end machines. Intel, which was once used to seeing its "Intel inside" stickers on pretty much everything computer-related, is suffering (rightly so) from tablet envy.

According to Digitimes, Intel has "recently adjusted its netbook strategy" and is ready to "cooperate with its partners including Asustek Computer and Acer to launch netbook devices priced below $199 in regions such as the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe." This data comes from sources inside the industry, and it goes on: For markets other than these regions, like Europe, the U.S., and China, Intel will continue to push netbooks using its new Cedar Trail-M chips but will add spice in the form of "new technologies such as Wireless Display and wireless audio" into these machines, to be priced from $300-$500. Notebooks at the low end of the market, around the $200 bracket and below, will "adopt Intel's own MeeGo operating system" and to ensure it all goes with a swing, Intel's "currently working on developing content and applications that suit each region and has already demonstrated engineering samples to its partners." White-box makers are scheduled to launch machines at this price level in the latter half of 2011.

Is this ringing alarm bells for anyone? Intel basically enabled the revolution in Netbooks, machines which were cut-down versions of full-function laptops, with its pared-down x86 chip, the Atom. But the vim and vigor has left the netbook boom (which was probably half motivated by the global recession at the time) and the world has begun to move on to the next genuine paradigm breaker--the tablet PC. And Intel's showing in the tablet market is terrible. Tablets have required a re-think of UI design, hardware design, and user experience design. All those things require lower-power CPUs inside to provide better battery life. Intel's chips just can't deliver in this field, as they're not as revolutionary in architecture as ARM chips are. In particular, industry analysts are singling out Apple's home-brew A5 chip in the iPad 2 as a singularly revolutionary move. So no genuine "tablets" use Intel chips, although they will in the near future (Intel promises).

As a result, Intel is having to chase business elsewhere--by pushing its low-cost netbooks into developing nations, where the price point is attractive. And by trying to make netbooks in developed nations more attractive by adding in high-end wireless tricks that even expensive laptops currently lack. This will definitely earn Intel healthy chunks of revenue, but one could hardly label it as a sustainable long-term business move. What Intel really needs to do is dial its R&D efforts up to 11 when it comes to tablet-friendly, low-power CPUs.

To read more news like this follow Kit Eaton himself and Fast Company on Twitter.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes could be something special. I still believe that, and that’s the general idea I got when I visited the set in Vancouver a few months ago, checking in on production of what was then called only “Caesar” before they switched gears in production and started shooting a lot in an ape sanctuary built by production designer Claude Pare (Night at the Museum, currently Underworld 4) on an interior sound stage. Right now, we’re in the production office and Claude is taking us around the room, showing off some of the very concept art paintings everyone got to see yesterday in the live broadcast event, and everywhere are two logos: one for GenSys (GenSys = Genisis...yeah, not off to a clever start here), the fake bio-research company that James Franco’s scientist character, Will, works for and a Circle with a vertical diamond inside of it. Q: We’ve been seeing this insignia, this logo, can you tell us the significance of the diamond in the circle? Claude: Well what it is that when we designed the attic here, this is a Victorian house from San Francisco and we made some research about the style and everything and we came up with that window which is really an attribute that was common at the time to this kind of architecture. And then because you can see from this illustration here [points to picture of young Caeser looking out attic window], Caesar sits next to and watches the outside world and he learns about the outside world. And then when he’s put to jail – and I’m probably revealing something that’s part of the script… The unit publicist nods, giving Claude the go-ahead. Claude: So when he’s taken into his jail cell what happens is that he takes a piece of stone and he just engrave – instead of making a number and a bar in his jail – he draws the window of that attic and he looks at it as if he’s … he’s remembering the times he could look at the outside world because there’s no windows on his cell. Afterwards, you’ll see in the story there’s an element that plays with that window as well. It’s a dramatical point of view . That was the movie “Caesar,” a story about a monkey who saw how humans behaved, then saw how human treated his kind, then had to grapple with the two concepts in his poor chimp brain. It was a small movie about perspective and memory… through the eyes of an ape. I only assuming this "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is the same movie because I was told so. It seems like the post-title-change marketing push seems focused on promising a man vs Apes showdown. The movie I'm going to tell you about was still called "Caesar" and fittingly so. Day One of our two days of access to director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) on set was while Caesar was busting his ape friends out of the GenSys lab. We’re shuttled past something that looks like a CTU set from 24 – all glass corridors and display screens into a San Francisco suburban house interior. This is the home of John Lithgow’s character, Will’s father. Will’s father has Alzheimer’s disease, which motivates will to seek a cure at GenSys, a process that eventually produces Cesar when a little monkey is taken from his mother (a mother with surprisingly Bright Eyes, for those Apes fans still with me). For the first act, Caesar is raised by this human family, which gives him the perspective on human life that he will need to make the ape sanctuary properly dramatic for the character. He’s brought up in a staggeringly detailed design of a San Francisco house interior. We’re kept in the back yard, a whole bunch of movie bloggers watching a feed from set elsewhere on the sound stage. It’s like a lame barbecue, because the set’s back yard is still decorated with a grill and a weightlifting set in the garage, but instead of a party it’s about a dozen men all huddled around a monitor about one foot wide, watching a feed of higher-paid men in grey suits act like monkeys elsewhere in the room. On screen, Andy Serkis (you should know who this dude is by name now, you lazy bastard) is running around in his grey motion capture suit, freeing a tiny monkey (played by a very tiny woman in a grey mo-cap suit) from her GenSys cage while a few of his already-freed ape pals run amok. It’s pretty obvious that Caesar is leading the other apes at this point, even though Caesar nor any of the other chimps have the ability to talk at this point (or really at all throughout the course of the film). It’s interesting to see people replicate ape behavior on a sound stage over and over again, then to see the exact same shot, but with all the doors opening automatically and things crumpling under the pressure of an invisible Orangutan that was a sweaty guy in a grey suit for the first few takes. This film has some amazing technology that will be at play, especially in the performance capture aspect of it. Each shot is done a few times – a plate with no actors, a plate with the human actors and a plate with the folks like Terry Notary (Avatar) and Andy Serkis. The performance capture data is picked up by tiny cameras built into the sound stage as well as the central camera, allowing the creation of an Avatar-style “volume” on an actual set with actual people. The movie will slowly build it’s trickery, starting with one shot of baby Caesar swinging around the interior of the San Francisco home, moving on to documenting the interaction amidst multiple species of primate in the ape sanctuary, and finally ending on the largest exterior motion capture stage ever conceived: a section of the Golden Gate bridge built in a parking lot and rigged with motion capture cameras to capture the final assault of Caesar's apes on the city. Q: It seems like you’re doing plate shots where Andy’s there and then he’s not there. How does that impact the schedule anytime an ape is in the shot? Director Rupert Wyatt: Yeah, well it adds… Q: What do you call it? Wyatt: the “Roger Rabbit Take” I think (laughter) It’s like a poltergeist. You guys were on set yesterday, weren’t you? When you watch it, it’s amazing to watch because it’s a feat of RAD timing everything, the FX guys timing everything and we have to essentially recreate the shot but without any physical performers or at least the digital physical performers. Q: And the camera movement has to match each time Wyatt: Yeah, yeah, it’s insanely difficult but so far, so good, and it adds about an hour or two max to our day in terms of what we have to achieve. We don’t always have to use that. That can be used as just a reference for WETA in terms of painting stuff back in, but for their workload, it’s a lot easier for them to then recreate the scene within that clean plate, but there are times when I’ve seen that and it hasn’t had quite the same energy as when the actual performance is going on, so we made the demand there to say, “Okay, that’s not going to be used.” Q: Has there ever been a movie where the lead has been a special effect? Obviously, we’ve had supporting characters who are special FX but this is a main emotional character. Can you talk about balancing the technical demands with keeping the humanity in the performances real and present. Wyatt: Yeah, well Andy Serkis really, that’s the answer. Well, it’s like I suppose… we tried to approach it ‘cause you have a lead character that doesn’t speak, and everything therefore has to be told visually, and Rick and Amanda sort of addressed this with the script that if you have a chimpanzee that can use sign language, that’s a wonderful thing to see, but then, we don’t want to make it a foreign language movie with lots of sub-titles, so we looked to really scale that back as much as possible, and though he continues with Will by way of sign language, it’s a very minimal use of it and everything else, we wanted to convey the story by way of visual storytelling, and I suppose with somebody like Andy Serkis, you can get so much in the cock of an eyebrow or some simple gesture that says everything. Therefore the casting is crucial. Q: Have there been issues with the other actors performing against him and has there been an adjustment period for those acting against Andy to get into that? Wyatt: No, I don’t think so. James has experience from Spider-Man. I know that was a different kind of film and different characters and different genre in many ways, but it… Yeah, I haven’t really seen it. It’s interesting for me, because I’ve never worked with anybody in a motion capture suit, and initially, it is a little surreal to have someone in a grey suit with a camera on their face and you’re having to work with them and see them as a chimp, but he’s so easily inhabits that that you don’t even think about it. After more apes are free’d on the GenSys set, we break for lunch and get to talk to Andy Serkis and Terry Notary, both pioneers in the motion/performance capture field. By this point, Andy had been Gollum, King Kong, and had just wrapped shooting Tin Tin for Steven Speilberg, all on motion capture stages. Terry Notary has been a choreographer or movement coach on most everything you’ve liked in theaters, action wise. From Burton’s Apes to Avatar. Q: One of the things we noticed watching playback was the hand extensions. Can you talk about using them and how it affects your character? Terry Notary: Yeah well it’s obviously a lot easier to quadraped with the arm extensions and Weta has figured out a way to make the arms look as though they are hitting the ground. All we need to do with our arm extensions is just fold our wrists and it looks as though the hand is actually, we’re knuckle walking. So that was something we had to get used to was walking on these arm extensions and getting the weight and the balance and the nuance of walking with that anatomy. And we were sore for a few weeks, I’ll tell ya. But it’s really turned out to be an asset in a lot of ways just because we can quadrapad and then we can stand up, we can lose the arm extensions in the shot and then use our hands and the model, the puppet still articulates perfectly so we can reach up and grab something and then put the arm extensions back on and quadrapad away. So they figured out a way to really make it work for this film and what we thought was going to be a big challenge has turned out to be one of our tools that we’re using. Q: Andy, did you look at any of the original films at all in terms of personality of the character? Andy Serkis: Not so much for the personality but for the mythology and to try and see where the writers were coming from in terms of fitting this as a prequel. And there are lots of resonances, there are so many thing which pay off from the original film: character names, character references and just…actually what was really useful from watching those films, there’s an incredible documentary which Roddy McDowell narrates actually about the whole mythology of the five films and that was really useful just to see where we end up by the end of this, really. Which is why, again, the script. I can’t tell you. It landed on my desk and I was on another shoot and it was like, I knew it was going to be happening but I didn’t realize when the writers came up with that draft, they obviously love the franchise, they love the material and found a very clever way of bringing us into that story. So it was useful in terms of plugging into the overall sensibility of the movie Q: Are there any movements you took from the original series? Serkis: Not really movements because they’re much more advanced, they’re much more bipedal, they speak, they talk, they are in effect human beings in many ways and so their physicality, it nods towards it in the films and we’re really the step before that. We’re literally going from quadrapadding apes or with Caesar, he’s a little bit more advanced, but he reaches a level of intelligence which is in tune with where they’re going to be heading. Next, it’s on to a massive interior set: the ape sanctuary, which looks surprisingly like what it’s supposed to, despite the fact that it’s all made with the traditional Hollywood smoke and mirrors. We’re amongst real metal cages in a hallway that feels more like Alcatraz by way of The Rock with Claude again as we all get hard hats so we can enter the set under construction. Claude: [inside the jail cell, pointing to the trap door at the top of the cell and the walkway above]: This is where the ape can climb up to the chute and the chute goes to the atrium. When this film is finished, Brian Cox will be running this “jail,” and Tom Felton (Draco from the Harry Potter movies) will be his son. Both names are interesting in that they are recognizable ones for parts that were never mentioned while we were on set. I have no idea how big these characters are in the scope of the final film. Claude: We’ve been working on this [the bio-dome/sanctuary set] for three months already and that’s after its been designed and decided and everything. With Rupert what we do is we plan everything that has to be done, all the movement; we already know which is one is the hero cage, who lives where according to the storytelling and what do the caretakers do or don’t do when they’re here. So that one things that we’ve done is we built a locking system, because they’re escaping. Right now, the is the circuit has not touched it yet…Caesar’s cage is this one here. That’s the hero cage. And you can see the drawing of the window on the wall here. He’s going to draw the window here, and he’s going to be sitting on this platform here, his bed. The vague picture I’m getting from seeing concept art and these few scene descriptions is that something causes Will to give Caesar back to GenSys, or some circumstance will cause Caesar to be put in this biodome with other apes from different species. Including “Rocket” played by Terry Notary, the Alpha of the group until Caesar supplants him. There’s also a Gorilla, female chimpanzee, orangutan and these are just the characters that have specific mo-cap actors assigned to them. Caesar spends some time in the politics of the ape sanctuary before leading a revolt that takes him back to GenSys, where he frees the apes being experimented on, then they proceed to “Rise.” Or that would be my guess for how the whole movie plays out on the ape side…without dialogue…with a main character who is a special effect. Day Two is an exterior of the GenSys lab where James Franco and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) take Cesar to see GenSys, where his mom was kept until she eventually died. The scene has Serkis in the back seat of a car reacting to Franco laying the hard truth on him. It’s JUST a scene in a car, about the facial expressions of a monkey that will be a CGI creation, some 11 months from now. And of course, the man, James Franco, taking time between takes to lay on the grass and read books, seemingly having the time of his life. The unit publicist continually looks over at him, but isn’t allowed to approach because Franco’s management is on hand, keeping an eye on him. I guess Caesar is a bit behind schedule, so Franco wasn’t even supposed to be here this week. He just flew back from doing Eat, Pray, Love press in Canada. No one is clear if he’s gotten any sleep. But, James Franco is a laid back dude. I say “Hi” to him as he’s in the grass. I’m on my way to the bathroom. He says “hi” back and smiles. For as stressful as his life must be, who wouldn’t want to be James Franco? It seems like a trip. James Franco: Well, this movie, this rendition of the Planet of the Apes series is different in many ways than the other ones but one of the differences is that the others seem to be much more about commentaries on class relations, inter species relations, race relations, all of these things. Where as ours is a prequel and it’s much more of a Frankenstein story where a scientist is maybe in our case not so moved by hubris, but in some ways he is, but he starts messing with nature and it gets out of hand. So I guess my character just goes from a pure science orientated man who has few connections in life, its actually a pretty dismal existence, who doesn’t have much of a relationship with his father and his father has Alzheimer’s so he then starts taking care of him and at the end of his fathers life, towards the end of his fathers life he starts building this relationship with his father that he never had and then this chimp is thrust on him so now, then he starts having almost a father son relationship that he never had in his life. So he goes from a very isolated, scientific, cold kind of personality to a much more humane and caring person. Q : Do you feel the Alzheimer’s issue helps ground your character in this fantasy movie, it’s sort of a reality that’s important to the film working? Franco: Yeah, I mean, it’s certainly the choice that they made. Like I actually haven’t seen all of the Apes movies, I saw the first one a long time ago and then I watched it again and I watched a documentary about the making of all of them. And I guess back in the day they spent a ton of money, at the time, what was a ton of money on makeup and effects. Now I assume the original Apes movie has kind of a cult appeal but you look at the mask and you say, ‘Well…I can’t believe they are having serious philosophical conversations and they’re wearing those crazy masks,’ but it’s interesting on that level, but reality or the idea of apes talking has moved forward. We have a different concept of that now of what is real. So not only have the way that they depicted apes changed and become much more realistic but the storyline, tries to be grounded in a more realistic world where it’s at least conceivable that this could happen. Q: Does that help you as an actor to play this part? Franco: Um, yeah, I don’t know, the crazy thing for me was Kim Stanley who played Stella, or Kim Hunter, who played Stella in Streetcar was one of the apes in the original movies. Malcolm McDowell and Sal Mineo was even one in I think the third one and they all talked about how surprising it was that they could take that seriously so I could probably do it if people were still in masks but I guess playing a scientist that’s somewhat grounded in reality helps. It’s just a type of movie. It would just be a different kind of movie if we went the other way and I as an actor would find myself, find my way into that other movie. It’s not that I couldn’t do that, it’s just a different movie. Q: You mentioned Frankenstein and Dr. Frankenstein is a tragic character, would you say your character has that going on? Franco: Well, yeah, I guess he screws a lot of things up. (big laugh) Not on purpose but he does everything for the right reasons, it just gets out of hand. I can’t remember Frankenstein’s motivation We’re inside GenSys, in the lobby area (in the preview, this is the place where the black guy in a suit looks all worried because there are a whole bunch of apes on all the floors looking down at him), realizing that the name of the coffee shop in the lobby at GenSys is a reference to the original Apes series… …and that’s about when it hits me: the realization that people are going to misunderstand what this movie is, build expectations based on those misconceptions, then take it out on Caesar when those expectations aren’t met. “Man Vs. Ape” is not the central conflict of this film. It’s more like “Ape Vs. Himself” or “What makes Caesar an ape capable of causing a revolution that foreshadows the end of our race?” And that’s a huge question to ask of an audience when your main character can’t talk through acts one an two and well into the climax of the film, featuring a cast of mute apes that have been imbued with “character” through action in an ape sanctuary. Considering every other Planet of the Apes movie would have me seeking out a costume designer to talk to (How do you dress the different species?) or a makeup artist (is it hard to emote though the makeup?) or a prop designer (Apes have bigger fingers, how would they use a human gun anyway?)….all of those questions are moot, because Cesar relies so much on the CGI character WETA creates from Andy Serkis’ performance. Trying to describe it to my roommate, I said: “You felt for Gollum by the end of The Two Towers. Now they want Andy Serkis to do that, but without being able to talk.” I’m very interested to see what Rise of the Planet of the Apes ends up being at the time of release, because until I see a scene where Franco and a full CG Caesar manage to make an emotional connection, I’m wary. If WETA can make Caesar work, the story could be thought provoking and the technology groundbreaking. The end sequence could be jaw-dropping. If it works. If Caesar DOESN’T work and the uncanny valley denies our attempt to de-evolve a man’s performance, this movie has the possibility of being really painful to watch, possibly laughable. I guess we’ll find out August 5th, but I’m hoping to see more that assuages my fears before then. I'm Da7e - on Twitter and weekly at the Operation Kino podcast. Looking forward to looking into this film as August approaches!Source: LatinoReview

How will these developments affect the tablet market?

Over at Microsoft Corp.’s MIX Developer Conference in sunny Las Vegas, Microsoft has demoed a new preview build of Internet Explorer 10 (which you too can take for a spin, if you feel so inclined), and also dropped a little premature Easter egg – the [...]

Computers are both a good news and bad news story when it comes to sustainability and energy.

First, the good news. Computers are a boon to the environment. Rack-mounted servers consume about 2.5 percent of all of the electricity in the U.S. but look at the myriad of services—email, Twitter, online shopping, banking—you get from them. Lighting consumes 22 percent. Yet, you could shut off the lights in your office now and probably continue to do your job.

Teleconferencing systems pay for themselves in a year in avoided airplane tickets.

Now, the bad news. Computers generate waste heat like saunas. Air conditioning can gobble up half or more of the power in data centers. Most of the time computers are in idle mode, but consume about 85 percent of the power that they would while active. Worse, many large web companies and banks say that their utilities have capped their power consumption: without more efficient equipment, their businesses can’t grow, or grow easily.

Luckily, a myriad of startups and established companies are rushing to the fore, making this perhaps the biggest opportunity out there. Here are the main subsegments:

Architecture and Design. Take advantage of the elements. Local Host in Norway hopes to build data centers in abandoned mine shafts while test and measurement expert BaseN built one in a seaside underground bomb shelter in Helsinki. Yahoo’s data center near buffalo needs no mechanical cooling.

Power Loft Services, meanwhile, has come up with a two-story building design that separates cooling equipment from computers. Ideally, this makes cooling less site-specific than the above examples. A 225,000 square foot data center in summery Virginia designed by Power Loft sports a PUE of 1.28.

Others like Oracle-Sun and PDI have devised modular data centers out of 40 foot truck containers. The containers help isolate hot air better.

Cooling. While ambient air is a favorite, other techniques exist too. Facebook through its recent Open Compute Project  designed and now uses taller-than-normal servers to channel air better. The server design, and the design of its datacenter, cut power by 38 percent: both are available to you via an open source license. Many companies have also opted for slower fans with big blades to cut the cooling costs.

IBM has continued to pursue liquid cooling of chips and servers. An experimental datacenter in Syracuse is the latest example. (The Syracuse one also takes advantage of waste heat.) While liquid cooling sounds interesting, it’s an idea that comes and goes: many supercomputers in the 1950s had it.

DC Power. In the usual situation, high voltage AC power from the grid might be converted to DC and back again and stepped down in voltage five times before it gets used inside a computer. Each conversion results in power losses.

Converting AC to DC-powered once at the gateway can reduce power consumption by 10 percent over a state-of-the-art AC datacenter and more than 20 percent over a conventional one. Additionally, DC equipment cost around 30 percent to 35 percent less to buy and install and require less air conditioning.

But the biggest savings come in floor space. A DC datacenter requires 25 percent to 40 percent less square footage than their AC counterparts, largely because computer equipment can connect directly to backup batteries. Rooms full of uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) and other equipment aren’t needed.

Companies such as JPMorgan, Sprint, Boeing, and Bank of America have built DC datacenters already. SAP told us its DC data center saves $24,000 a year.

Validus DC Systems and Nextek Power Systems have created systems that convert high voltage AC and distribute DC through racks in big buildings. General Electric recently bought Lineage Power Holdings, which makes similar equipment, for $520 million.

Conversely, Transphorm doesn’t tinker with the AC power structure. Instead, it has a gallium nitride power converter that is more efficient than silicon converters. Silicon AC-DC converters can be 90 percent or more efficient. Transphorm claims it can tackle 90 percent of that last 10 percent. It’s new, others have tried to work with gallium nitride, and Transphorm will have to compete against behemoths like Texas Instruments, but it’s a compelling idea.

Monitoring and Management. Several startups are mining this area, each with a slight tweak on the formula. Both SynapSense and Sentilla started out as tools to monitor the ambient environment—temperature, pressure humidity—inside data centers and to provide recommendations for optimizing cooling and operations. Now both are moving toward automated, dynamic control.

Sentilla earlier this year moved toward monitoring and managing computers and applications. It’s a big shift. Data like this can also help companies determine whether they should outsource applications or keep them in house. After 45 days with the new tool, one Sentilla customer found a way to shed 18 percent of its load.

Power Assure, meanwhile, started in that realm. It analyzes server loads to optimize use. Many large companies virtualize servers to maximize computing cycles, but sparingly. Too much virtualization can leave you vulnerable to traffic spikes. Power Assure next wants to move into controlling storage devices.

Another twist on the model: Racktivity has created a power delivery unit (a piece of hardware in a rack) that is coupled with management and monitoring tools similar to those from Power Assure and Sentilla. By combining hardware and software, Racktivity says it can give customers a better view into power consumption and reduce overall costs.

On the desktop side, Verdiem has tools that control sleep modes on desktops from a central location. It claims it can save large businesses $30 to $60 a year per PC. We’ve been waiting for Cisco or Microsoft to buy them.

Servers and processors. SeaMicro has created a server composed of 512 or 256 Intel Atom chips. You wouldn’t use this server to render a 3D movie, but it works well for popping up static web pages. The company’s server consumes1/4^th of the power of conventional servers, takes up 1/4^th the space and it can be more reliable because 90 percent of the components have been eliminated.

The secret sauce is a networking chip that optimizes computing loads.

Calxeda, meanwhile  is designing as server chip based around an energy efficient processor core from ARM. Nvidia, Freescale, Marvell and others are doing the same. Microsoft has said it will support ARM in the next version of Windows, so the concept of an  ARM server is more real than in the past. An ARM-based server also provides a function: lower energy consumption. The other non-Intel efforts Microsoft backed in the past—MIPS chips, Alpha—just provided an alternative manufacturer. Thus, this one might have legs.

Storage and Memory. Advocates have said for the last six years that flash memory chips would soon start to replace spinning hard drives in notebooks, servers and data centers. It’s still a work in progress, thanks to the relentless efforts by the hard drive industry to improve their products and some of the inherent technological issues with flash. (PS, that picture, which I took while at CNET, is the first Google storage device ever.)

The picture, though, is changing. Sandforce has come up with a controller that extends the life of flash memory chips. IBM is working with the company. Then there are outfits like Fusion I/O that have improved the overall functionality and performance of flash modules.

Other ideas—phase change memory, racetrack memory, spintronics, spin/transfer torque, carbon nanotubes—exist but don’t hold your breath for them to go mainstream soon.  

Lights and Sensors.Redwood Systems has created an LED lighting system for commercial buildings that makes it easy to dynamically dim lights as well as monitor motion or carbon monoxide sensors. It also reduces natural resources: rather than depend on copper wire, Redwood can link lights and nodes through a communication cable that looks and acts a lot like Ethernet.

While Redwood’s system can be used in any sort of office space, many customers are buying it for data centers first, and for good reason. Data center space can cost $100 a square foot to manage. Regular office space might cost only $25.

Nexttek is in this market too. The Emerge Alliance—which includes Nextek, Johnson Controls, Armstrong Industries and others—has come up with a way to deliver DC power to LEDs (which inherently run on DC power) over the metal frame of the building. Wires, in other words, can be eliminated. A trial can already be seen at the Whole Foods in Berkeley. 

Finally, we have a leaked public download of "Windows 8 M1 Build 6.1.7850" - scheduled for release in 2012 the next major update to "Windows OS" will support system-on-a-chip (SoC) and mobile ARM processors. The very first public leak of the successor to "Windows 7 operating-system" has the following attributes :

Build Milestone : M1
Architecture : 32bits (x86)
Build MD5……..: EA2DCFADA6BBA517A0A0649D15E1EB3D
Build String: 6.1.7850.0.winmain_win8m1.100922-1508_x86fre_client-enterprise_en-us.iso
Total Size: 2.45 GB (2,637,101,056 bytes)

Torrents as well as links from file-hosters like Hotfile, Rapidshare, Megaupload, Duckupload are already available for leaked download of "6.1.7850.0.winmain_win8m1.100922-1508_x86fre_client-enterprise_en-us.iso" and more links will get public as the news spreads.

read more

Plus Microsoft patches 64 vulnerabilities, and Google denies lying about apps' security certification

A quick burst of 13 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Exclusive: The Bleak Financial Numbers From The MySpace Sale Pitch Book >> TechCrunch

"Notably, that pitch book doesn't include any historical financial or user data about MySpace at all. Everything is projected out and forward looking, and even then it's bleak."

April 2011 MS Patch Tuesday - 17 patches, 64 vulnerabilities >> Naked Security

"Microsoft released their security update bundle this morning covering a large swath of products. The most critical fixes for most people affect Windows and Microsoft Office.
"Fifteen of the updates address Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaws. If exploited, these bugs could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim's system.
"Fortunately, all but one of these flaws only allow the code to run in the context of the currently logged in user. Assuming your users are not running as Administrators, this limits the attack to only running code and accessing files on that user's account."

And you're not running as an administrator, are you? Are you?

Pagination comes to Google Docs >> Official Google Blog

We've always wanted pagination on documents we were never going to print out.

MIX11: Windows Phone 7 app wall >> istartedsomething

Remember Apple's "wall of apps" at its developer conference in 2009, where each app lit up when it was bought?

This is like that, but underwhelming. Smaller; doesn't light up; just looks like a poor imitation. Though "Danny" who pointed this out in the comments wasn't very popular.

Data: Bing, Yahoo gain on Google in US >> GeekWire

"Microsoft Bing and Yahoo both posted gains in the U.S. search market in March, lifting their combined market share to more than 30%, according to the latest numbers from the Experian Hitwise market research firm. Meanwhile, Google slipped 3 percentage points, to less than 65% of the market, according to the firm's data.

"It's good news for Microsoft, which powers the Yahoo search results under a partnership between the companies."

Well, we'll see if it's actually good news next week, when Microsoft announces its quarterly results. When it isn't losing hundreds millions of dollars per quarter on search, then its Yahoo tieup can be called "good news".

No, Microsoft didn't rush IE 9 into Windows Update >> ZDNet

"Did Microsoft really rush Internet Explorer 9 into Windows Update in a desperate move to catch up with Firefox?
"Sorry, conspiracy theorists, but the answer is an emphatic no."

London mapping and travel details >> UK Travel Options

"UK TravelOptions offers fast and convenient access to travel information (currently Underground and DLR trains in London). As you fly over London's streets and landmarks with simple finger gestures, just spot your station or stop and click the icon. Our vector maps transfer less data and are cheaper to use than other map based services."

Looks very nice.

Can Intel atomize ARM with new tablet chips? >> VentureBeat

"Intel is taking on arch rival ARM today with the launch of new Intel Atom chips for tablet computers.
"The Atom is a low-power version of Intel's computer chips, and it is aimed squarely at tablets, netbooks, and smartphones. It represents the chip giant's best chance to catch up with ARM, which dominates the mobile space with its power-efficient chip architecture and dozens of chip design partners.
"Code-named Oak Trail, the new Intel Atom Z670 processor will appear in 35 tablet computers and other mobile devices this year, said Bill Kircos, general manager of marketing for Intel's netbook and tablet group, in an interview."

Bear in mind that if you see a headline that ends with a questionmark, it is usually correctly answered with "No".

Google denies lying about Apps' certification >> Computerworld

An intriguing battle between Microsoft and Google over US government contracts which Microsoft is *very* determined not to lose. Now Google is accused of having incorrect security certification. This could become very vicious indeed. Not that it isn't already.

Flip Founder and Former CEO Jonathan Kaplan Talks About Iconic Digital Video Camera's Demise >> AllThingsD

Interesting points from Swisher: (a) Flip was reportedly profitable as a unit, though not if you added on Cisco's corporate fundungles; (b) it had the largest single share of the US camcorder market, at 21%; (c) other companies would have been interested in buying Flip.

Cisco's decision is already looking like the crazed actions of someone (looking at you, John Chambers) who hasn't realised that day-to-day share price movements don't actually *mean* anything to the company itself. They don't affect its cash position, revenues, profits... nothing.

How Twitter Could Bring About World Peace >> Gigaom

"In a study to be presented at a conference in July, a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge and Korea's KAIST show how Twitter can provide users greater access to different political viewpoints and media sources than they might otherwise get."

Bonus point: written by Bobbie Johnson, formerly a writer here.

The Android multitouch story gets even murkier >> Nilay Patel

The iPhone had it. The first Android sort-of didn't. Then it did. Steven Levy's new book might have some details. Then again it might not.

Ex-Microsoft employee charged with stealing $450k from company >> GeekWire

"Federal prosecutors in Seattle have charged a former Microsoft business development director, Robert D. Curry, with three counts of wire fraud -- alleging that he embezzled more than $450,000 from the company in part by fabricating Bing toolbar distribution deals and funneling the resulting payments from Microsoft through an unwitting contractor to a company that he controlled."

Oh, dear.

You can follow Guardian Technology's linkbucket on delicious

syngularyx writes "Over at Microsoft's MIX Developer Conference in sunny Las Vegas, Microsoft has demoed a new preview build of Internet Explorer 10 (which you too can take for a spin, if you feel so inclined), and also dropped a little premature Easter egg – the build of IE10, and the underlying Windows OS, were both running on a 1GHz ARM chip. Sneaky."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Having spent a career in advertising but a lifetime in love with aviation, I couldn't help but stick my (civvy) oar into your ongoing RAF v Royal Navy spending skirmish. What drew me to the debate was the peculiarly antiquated approach of Nigel MacCartan-Ward (Naval air power offers a far cheaper overseas option than the RAF, 8 April). I may not be as qualified in the subject as the "former naval air warfare adviser to the first sea lord" but neither do I have a job title worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan. I pay tax. I own the kit. I have a say.

For me, the "carrier battle group" is the military equivalent of asking someone to stand still while you amble across the room to hit them. Far from standing still, today's world events appear to be moving at a rate of knots (to coin a phrase). In a world where an internet search for the word "sloth" delivers 8 million results in 0.06 of a second, the taskforce of old suddenly has a whiff of second-class post about it.

Granted, there are French carriers in the Med. And today's hotspot is most certainly Libya. But next week's disaster zone maybe South America, and when last I looked, our current illustrious carriers were at anchor on eBay. Things are happening far too rapidly to ask history to hold its horses for a fortnight while we get there. (Oh, and note to sea lords everywhere, the horses are now Toyota Land Cruisers).

I believe that the RAF I'm currently funding is essentially an extended arm of UK government influence. Be that in conjunction with the Foreign Office, via the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid, rations or shelter, or yes, when necessary, a pinpoint laser-guided intrusion into some unsuspecting bad lad's back bunker. Whatever the circumstance, rapidity of response is the key. In fact, getting there fast enough may even deter military action from taking place at all. Preventing a drama becoming a crisis, as we say in my trade. To most, warships off the coast simply reads as war declared.

I'm well aware that the days of skies full of RAF planes are lost and gone for ever, but that is what makes the present and future choice of type so vital. Choosing to stick with a single attack aircraft in the Tornado GR4 has allowed the RAF to retain the (more than often humanitarian) services of C-17, Hercules and TriStar. As well as cargo and passenger support to Afghanistan. Money well spent, I'd say.

And with the remarkable Harrier confined to history (and/or a shed in Lincolnshire), and its planned successor, the hilariously inappropriately named F35 "Lightning", approaching with all the velocity of a gate guardian at Duxford, Tornado really is the only game in town. Perhaps it's time we recalled its original spec: Tornado began life as MRCA, and it remains a genuinely Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. It does indeed do exactly what it says on the tin. And long may it continue to do so.

What our armed forces deserve from government is decisiveness and vision. What they're currently getting is turbulence and short-sightedness. Not qualities one would normally associate with safe flying. RAF, navy or otherwise.

Trevor Beattie

Partner, BMB

• Nigel MacCartan-Ward presents an outdated argument for the Harrier. Warfare has moved on, and although the tyranny of distance is always a factor, it has been eroded and distance is not a strategic problem for air over Libya. His argument for pushing carrier-borne Harriers forward as the UK's offensive air capability, with all the attendant carrier battle group support, does not recognise what air power – rather than an aircraft – is, what it achieves and where it fits in a campaign such as Operation Unified Protector. The relevance of his argument for "Harrier as the answer" is substantially undone by the facts.

Operating from the home base, with full support, the first Tornado strike mission flown from RAF Marham to Libya on 20 March was launched within 48 hours of the UN security council resolution. These missions have continued and are contributing to the deep effect required. The Tornado GR4's speed, capability and range puts it in a different league to the Harrier – which has no radar, now considered a baseline capability for operations. The weaponry and sensors used so precisely by the RAF's Tornados simply cannot be used by the Harrier. The Tornado does not need to "poise" on the horizon on board a carrier, with all the inherent notice required to pre-position and the need for layered defence. The Tornado GR Force also has years of experience of just this type of deep operations – indeed Tornados were operating in Afghanistan in intelligence gathering and close air support of troops on the ground at the same time.

Carriers are undoubtedly useful, but they don't operate in isolation. Campaign command and control is most effectively run from shore and, in this case, much of the supporting architecture is already in place. Carriers have utility if simpler shore-based options do not exist, but a UK carrier-based capability would not be up to the strength, reach, persistence or effect required. This campaign has to merge the full spectrum of kinetic and non-kinetic air power capabilities to shape the battle space for further exploitation and to help achieve the political requirements for peace thereafter.

So far we've prevented a massacre of rebels in the east of Libya; neutralised a proportion of the regime's command and control and offensive capability; restricted provision of supply and materiel; and paved the way for a political rather than a military solution. But, as Sir Stephen Dalton has said, further progress will take time. Control of the air is a precursor to successful and effective operations in all other environments, is achieved through many different methods, defensive and offensive, kinetic and non-kinetic, and is something that has to be worked for constantly.

Air Commodore Julian Stinton (Ret'd)

Shaftesbury, Dorset

• As the government has decommissioned HMS Ark Royal and is threatening to render a number of personnel redundant in all three armed services, I was surprised to find the Royal Navy setting up a mobile information/recruitment stand in Birmingham on Monday. Could this be a cynical way of reducing costs by getting rid of highly skilled and expensive senior personnel and replacing them with recruits on much lower pay scales?

John Smith

Birmingham

La conférence Microsoft MIX 2011 vient de commencer et la première partie de la conférence plénière a été l’occasion de découvrir la Platform Preview 1 d’Internet Explorer 10 !!

Dean Hachamovitch est arrivé avec un nouveau t-shirt annonçant bien la suite ;-)

Dean Hachamovitch a ensuite expliqué que dans de nombreux pays (dont la France), les parts de marché de Windows 7 étaient supérieures à celles de Windows XP. Ceci pour expliquer (encore) le choix de Microsoft de réserver ses investissements sur le navigateur pour des systèmes récents et non pas datant de 10 ans.

Petit rappel sur les balises et standards émergents et ceux encore très (trop) expérimentaux. Avec au passage une petite vidéo façon dessin animé expliquant Websocket, ses changements de versions et sa désactivation par défaut dans les navigateurs de Google ou de la Fondation Mozilla.

Ensuite nous avons eu droit à des nouvelles démonstrations d’Internet Explorer 10 dont le successeur du célèbre FishTank : Fishbowl qui devrait faire ramer un paquet de navigateurs :-)

Une démo avec CSS Grid et Flexbox

Puis nous avons eu droit à une démonstration avec Steven Sinofsky

Démo CSS Gradient Background (avec ici les extensions propriétaires des différents navigateurs)

Steven Sinofsky a alors montré que son IE 10 ne fonctionnait pas sur un OS exécuté sur une architecture Intel (x86) mais sur une architecture ARM (je vous laisse réfléchir à quel OS cela fait référence, moi je n’ai pas le droit de dire le nom ;-))

Plus d’informations :

• Next Version of Windows Will Run on System on a Chip (SoC) Architectures from Intel, AMD and ARM http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2011/jan11/01-05sinofskysoc.mspx

Steven Sinofsky a du coup annoncé la conférence Microsoft PDC 2011 où on devrait parler de l’OS fonctionnant sur ARM sur lequel il a fait sa démo IE 10 ;-)

Petit récapitulatif des démos IE 10

Que retenir sur IE ?

IE10 Platform Preview est disponible en téléchargement sur : http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Info/ThankYou/Default.html

Le site http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/ contient toutes les démos présentées lors du keynote

Bon téléchargement d’IE 10 PP1 et bons tests ;-)

– Stanislas Quastana -

 

It wasn't that long ago that Intel pulled a Dell, Anand Chandrasekher showing off a fancy new thing then quickly hiding it away out of sight. That was a Medfield-based smartphone, an Atom-powered mobile that the company pledges is built on "the most efficient architecture on the planet." Whether that's the case remains to be seen, as we're still waiting on any sort of details on that mystery phone, but according to Businessweek one question has been answered: the manufacturer. Intel is said to be working to design the handset for ZTE, the 32nm processor expected to provide decent performance and high efficiency for a mid-range smartphone. Now, ZTE has certainly been trying to make waves on the US market of late, but we can't help thinking Intel's going to need a somewhat higher profile partner before it really starts hitting ARM where it hurts.

Intel's first Medfield-based smartphone to be a ZTE? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Section: Operating Systems, Mac OS X

March 24, 2001, marks a special milestone Apple's history—the post-beta public release version 10.0 of Mac OS X.

OS X, derived from Apple's purchase of the NeXTSTEP OS developed by Steve Jobs's startup company NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) that Jobs founded in 1985 after his forced resignation from Apple by his hand-picked CEO John Scully that year, now powers all Mac computers, and is also the foundation of the iOS used in the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Originally targeting higher end education, enterprise, and institutional markets, NeXT, Inc. hired Apple Macintosh team alumni Bud Tribble, George Crow, Rich Page, Susan Barnes, Susan Kare, and Dan'l Lewin, and introduced its first NeXT Computer in 1988, with the smaller NeXTstation following in 1990.The NeXT Computer and its object-oriented Nextstep operating system were critically acclaimed, but the computers didn't sell well because of their high prices, even compared with supposedly premium-priced Apple Mac systems.

NeXT terminated production of computer hardware in 1993 and focused its efforts on marketing its NeXT software, primarily OpenStep (NeXTSTEP without its Mach-based kernel), co-developed with Sun systems as a toolkit to run on other operating systems, including an OpenStep Enterprise version for Microsoft's professional-oriented Windows NT OS. NeXT also launched WebObjects, a platform for building large-scale dynamic web applications. The company was purchased by Apple on December 20, 1996, for $429 million, all of which was distributed to NeXT investors, plus 1.5 million shares of Apple stock for Steve Jobs who took no cash himself as part of the deal. Apple got Jobs back, initially in a consultatory role, in the bargain.

Apple had fallen on hard times ("beleaguered" was the descriptor favored by the general media) after Microsoft introduced its copycat object-oriented GUI Windows '95 OS in the eponymous year, and also due to a misbegotten experiment with licensing other companies like Power Computing, Motorola, and UMAX to build Mac OS powered computer systems, which were cheaper, and arguably in some instances better than Apple's own contemporary Macs.

Apple's Mac OS remained much-loved by its aficionados, but had fallen behind Windows in areas like security, protected memory and pre-emptive multi-tasking. Apple needed a modern operating system to compete with Windows, and after a flirtation with the BeOS developed by another startup founded by former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gasse, it settled on OpenStep to become the basis of a 21st-Century Macintosh OS.

Jobs eventually forced then Apple CEO Gil Amelio out in 1997 and assumed the role of "interim CEO" (or iCEO) for several years before making the title official. Over the first next five years following the NeXT purchase, Apple engineers, under Jobs's guidance, worked on porting NeXTSTEP to Apple's then PowerPC architecture, but shrewdly continued development of the Intel port and the OpenStep Enterprise toolkit for Windows, compiling each version of OS X on both PowerPC and Intel x86 architectures, a decision that would loom large in Apple's future. On June 6, 2005 Steve Jobs announced that Apple would base future Macintosh systems on Intel processors, the transition from PowerPC to Intel completed by August 2006. Meanwhile, Apple was also developing a version of OS X supporting the ARM processor it would use in its new iPhone product, and also eventually the iPad.

The Mac OS X development project culminated in the public release of Mac OS X 10.0 "Cheetah" client on March 24, 2001 (a server version had been released in late 1999), with an updated iMac G3 released in July 2001 being the first Macintosh sold with the new operating system loaded up.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Full Story » | Written by Charles Moore for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

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MSI is set to make CES 2011 their playground by showcasing an array of notebooks alongside tablet devices. First of all, we do know that two new WindPad tablets will be on display, with the Wintel-powered WindPad 100W accompanying the WindPad 100A that runs on the ARM/Android platform. Both of them will come with modules including G-Sensor gravity detecting devices, an ALS light sensor, and Wi-Fi connectivity. For the WindPad 100A, that model will not run on the latest Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, relying instead on Android 2.1 Eclair, albeit that shouldn’t gimp it by much with hardware specifications such as a 10.1-inch multi-touch control display, an ARM processor, a digital compass, a GPS locator, a G-Sensor gravity detecting device, an ALS light sensor, and Wi-Fi with 3G support as an optional choice. As for the Windows 7 Home Premium-powered MSI WindPad 100W, this is also a 10.1-incher that has an Intel mobile processor running underneath the hood, not to mention a 32GB SSD for your storage needs inclusive of a G-Sensor, an ALS light sensor and Wi-Fi connectivity.

MSI also has gamers in mind with the debut of their G Series gaming notebooks which will run on the latest Intel quad-core processor, what with the 17.3-inch GT780, 15.6-inch GT680 and GE620 all on display there. Several models will carry MSI’s own Turbo technology, while the highest-end model is capable of using accelerated dual solid state drive (SSD) architecture for superior performance. [Press Release]

MSI notebooks to make a splash at CES 2011, By Ubergizmo, 28 Dec 2010. Top Stories : Samsung Galaxy Tab firmware update touts ‘unhackable’ status, MacBook Air Review, iPhone 4 Review,