bridge

Intel CEO: Strong demand for 'Sandy Bridge' chip

In the Intel earnings conference call Tuesday afternoon, CEO Paul Otellini said the company is getting ready to move quickly to its next-generation chip design, "Sandy Bridge."

Intel reported strong second-quarter earnings Tuesday on the back of corporate demand and high gross margins.

Otellini said in his opening remarks during the earnings conference call that Intel is expediting its factory "ramp" for Sandy Bridge.

"Due to the very strong reception of Sandy Bridge, we have accelerated our 32-nanometer factory ramp and have raised our capex (capital expenditure) guidance to enable us to meet the anticipated … Read more

Google-backed smart grid now on TV 'white space'

The smart grid for Plumas-Sierra County, Calif., is now operating via the television broadcasting system's "white space," software and service supplier Spectrum Bridge announced Wednesday.

The TV white space spectrum is the portion of unused broadcast TV channels that became available with the national switch from analog to digital TV broadcasting.

The space is prized because it can provide a venue for data exchange rates significantly faster than the current standard Internet Wi-Fi, and can be broadcast for extended distances and through obstacles, making it ideal for use in smart grid communications.

For years, Dell, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, and others lobbied the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to open up the space … Read more

New Intel processors: More powerful Netbooks, what else?

It's always a bit hard to tell just from gazing at CPU specs what exactly we'll see in coming laptops, but Intel's leaked road map of upcoming laptop processors, which provides information on products through 2011, does provide a few hints and interesting notes.

Intel's various geographic code names and ultra-detailed spec charts can get a little sleep-inducing for the average consumer. To boil it down, here are the points that seem most eye-opening, and that could truly pave the way for some cooler laptops down the road.

Things to be excited about in 2010:

Dual-core … Read more

The next, big thing for Intel: Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge is arguably Intel's most important future technology. So, what is it exactly?

Intel has been careful to reveal only snippets about the technology over the last 12 months or so. But enough is out there now to understand how the technology moves Intel forward.

In a nutshell, Sandy Bridge is Intel's next microarchitecture, or redesign, of its processors. A chip revamp is the single biggest undertaking for Intel. And it happens every two years. The current design, Nehalem, was introduced in November of 2008 and it pervades all Core i3, i5, and i7 processors (the latter two finally made it into Apple laptops on Tuesday). Its successor, Sandy Bridge, is scheduled to go into production in the fourth quarter.

Key points While Intel Executive Vice President David Perlmutter said he would "not do a deep dive" on Sandy Bridge in his Intel Developer Forum Beijing keynote this week, he did reveal some key points about the architecture.

More efficient: the central processing unit, or CPU, delivers a "significant improvement in instructions per clock," according to Perlmutter, meaning that it is more efficient at executing tasks. Faster on-chip communication: different parts of the chip will talk to each other faster--what Perlmutter called "improved inter-buses." Shared memory: on-chip memory called cache is shared between the CPU and graphics processing unit, or GPU. GPU now part of CPU: Intel combines the CPU and GPU on the same piece of silicon. According to an unofficial photo of the Sandy Bridge chip from Japanese Web site PC Watch, the GPU takes up roughly 25 percent of the processor's real estate. New instructions: Sandy Bridge will be the first chip to support Intel's Advanced Vector Extension (Intel AVX) instructions. AVX accelerates a host of multimedia tasks, including video and audio processing. More intelligent overclocking: and, finally, Perlmutter mentioned improved Turbo Boost--which speeds up (i.e., "overclocks") or slows down… Read more

Intel sets production date for Sandy Bridge

Intel has said its next chip platform, code-named Sandy Bridge, will go into production by the end of 2010.

The architecture will be the first to incorporate Intel Advanced Vector Extension (AVX) instructions, Intel architecture group co-general manager David Perlmutter told the Intel Developer Forum conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"Intel architecture delivers the right combination of performance and power that provides the foundation across all computing devices creating a virtual continuum of computing," said Perlmutter in a statement.

Read more of Intel sets production date for Sandy Bridge" at ZDNet UK.

Building a bridge that's ready for the big one

During the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989, which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge nearly collapsed. Just one or two seconds more of shaking along the San Andreas fault zone, says Caltrans' Bart Ney, and the whole bridge would have come down.

Today, the seismic innovations being incorporated into the construction of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge are far more advanced. The construction is a race against the clock, and engineers say the new bridge, once built, will be secure enough to survive a "massive level earthquake--the largest you would … Read more

Invention to help Brits stop 'glassing' each other

There are many theories as to why some Brits like to drink many pints of beer, smash the glasses, and then jab the jagged edges into each other's faces.

Some blame "glassing" on the disappearance of the Colonial Empire. Some point to the limited licensing hours, which have traditionally encouraged little Englanders to down 10 pints in three hours, until their legs have left them for another paradigm. But what has always been clear is that beer glasses made from glass have led far too often to glass eyes.

Now, however, scientists have discovered a way to … Read more

Google helps envision the future of the Bay Bridge

This week, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced a partnership with Google to bring the planned Bay Bridge to Google Earth. The bridge, under construction since 2002 and slated to be completed in 2013, will be mapped in Google Earth, with the currently-under-construction and completed portions visible in varying opacities.

We rode along with Google Earth co-founder Michael Jones to take a look at the live site construction in the San Francisco Bay. Take a look into the future in Google Earth, here (zipped file).

You can get more details on the new Google Earth feature in our story, &… Read more

Google tapped for new 3D view of the Bay Bridge

OAKLAND, Calif.--Google on Friday introduced an interactive view of the San Francisco Bay Area's Bay Bridge to users of its Google Earth mapping software.

The new view (zipped file), which can be seen by all Google Earth users who have 3D buildings turned on, provides a sneak peak at a completed version of the bridge. This includes a live representation of ongoing construction of the self-anchored suspension span, the final piece that will cross the divide between Oakland and Yerba Buena Island, connecting the East Bay to downtown San Francisco.

Google and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) … Read more