Intel Pulls 45nm Xeon

Intel promises 45nm server processors this year

Earlier today, Intel revealed to DailyTech more details regarding 45nm server products, including launch windows and compatibility.

Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's Server Platform Group, opened his statements with "We were originally in the Q1'08 timeframe. Today I'm happy to announce to report for the first time that our server 45nm Xeon products based on the Penryn core will be available into production for the second half of 2007."more

AMD Releases Final "R600" Specs

Six weeks from now, the world will get the first retail Radeon X2900 XTX


Late yesterday DailyTech was briefed on the final details for the upcoming R600 retail specifications, just in time for everyone to go on vacation for Chinese New Year.

AMD's guidance claims R600 will feature 700 million transistors. By comparison, the Radeon X1900 series R580 GPU incorporated 384 million transistors into its design; the half-generation before that, R520, only featured 320 million.

As disclosed by DailyTech earlier this year, the GPU features a full 512-bit memory interface with support for GDDR3 and GDDR4. R580 was also similar in this regard as it supported GDDR3 and GDDR4.

On March 30, 2007, AMD will initially debut the R600 as the ATI Radeon X2900 XTX in two separate configurations: one for OEMs and another for retail. The OEM version is the full length 12" card that will appear in high-end systems.

ATI guidance claims the X2900 XTX retail card comes as a two-slot, 9.5" design with a vapor chamber cooler. Vapor chambers are already found on high-end CPU coolers, so it would be no surprise to see such cooling on a high-end GPU either. The OEM version of the card is a 12" layout and features a quiet fan cooler.

1GB of GDDR4 memory is the reference configuration for Radeon X2900 XTX. Memory on the reference X2900 XTX cards was supplied by Samsung.view site

Teraflops chip points to future

A chip with 80 processing cores and capable of more than a trillion calculations per second (teraflops) has been unveiled by Intel.

The Teraflops chip is not a commercial release but could point the way to more powerful processors, said the firm.

The chip achieves performance on a piece of silicon no bigger than a fingernail that 11 years ago required a machine with 10,000 chips inside it.

The challenge is to find a way to program the many cores simultaneously.more

Hi-def DVD security is bypassed

The encryption on high-definition DVDs has been bypassed, the consortium backing the copy protection system on discs has confirmed.

At the end of last year a hacker claimed he had defeated the protection on a number of HD-DVD titles, leading to fears the entire system was broken.

But the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) Licensing Authority has said the breach is limited.

"It does not represent an attack on the AACS system itself," the group said.

The AACS group has admitted that a hacker had managed to decrypt some discs and other people were now able to make copies of certain titles. more

Intel Readies New "Tolapai" System-on-Chip

Intel will release its new "Tolapai" system-on-chip by the end of 2007 for embedded markets

Intel expects to penetrate the industrial and embedded computing markets with its Tolapai integrated system-on-chip. Tolapai will be a system-on-chip design that integrates the CPU, north bridge and south bridge functionality into a processor. According to documentation leaked earlier this Intel expects to ready Tolapai by the end of 2007 to take on VIA’s C7 CoreFusion and AMD’s Geode platforms.

Tolapai will feature a cut-down Pentium M-derived processor core with 256KB of L2-cache. Intel will offer Tolapai in three clock-speeds – 600 MHz, 1066 MHz and 1200 MHz. Power consumption will vary from 13-22-watts depending on clock speed. Tolapai supports a maximum of 2GB of DDR2-400/533/667/800 memory in dual-channel configurations.

Intel will manufacturer Tolapai on a 65-nanometer fabrication process. It will feature 1,088-ball FCBGA packaging that measures in at 1.092-mm.more

TV from Apple

Apple TV(ITV) is a set-top box being developed by Apple with a planned release date of February 2007. The Apple TV was announced by Steve Jobs during the keynote speech at the 2007 Macworld Expo in San Francisco on January 9, 2007.It enables digital content to be streamed from any computer running Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows capable of running streamed media via iTunes onto an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV television.more

AppleTV supports 802.11b/g and even 802.11n for wireless streaming, and the device also supports Ethernet. Users can move videos to the AppleTV's 40GB hard drive using iTunes, allowing users to improve streaming support by pre-loading content onto the device. The device can also stream content from other sites like Apple.com. Jobs' presentation made the streaming support look slick. You can auto-stream unwatched movies or recent purchases, and it's all saved on the AppleTV hard drive for later playback.

Specifications:

* Intel Pentium-M "Crofton" Processor (based on Pentium-M "Dothan")
o 1.0 GHz
o 2 MB of L2 cache
o 350 MHz underclocked system bus
* NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 (64 MB VRAM)
* 256 MB of 400 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
* 40 GB hard disk
* USB 2.0
* 10BASE-T/100BASE-T Ethernet
* 802.11 b, g, n wireless networking (AirPort)
* IrDA Receiver, works with Apple Remote
* 720p HDMI audio & video output
* Component Video
* S/PDIF digital optical audio
* RCA analog stereo audio
* Built-in universal 48W power supply
* 7.7x7.7x1.1 in (197x197x28 mm)
* 2.4 lb (1.09 kg)
* Supported video codecs:
o H.264, Protected H.264
+ Baseline profile LC (640x480x30p)
+ Baseline profile (320x240x30p)
+ Main profile (1280x720x24p)
o MPEG-4 simple profile (640x480x30p)
* Supported audio codecs:
o AAC, Protected AAC (16-320 kbps)
o MP3 (16-320 kbps, VBR)
o Apple Lossless
o AIFF
o WAV
* Supported image formats:
o JPEG
o BMP
o GIF
o TIFF
o PNG

Intel's "Montevina" Platform

Intel's focus for 2007 is to deploy its Santa Rosa platform, the Centrino successor to Napa. Intel, along with other partners, is working towards making computers smaller, lighter, and overall more efficient. But this is not to say that many of these platforms will be for home users. In fact, a large portion of Intel's initiative is to enable designs for thin-client computing -- devices geared towards the office space. Intel's roadmap indicates that all of 2007 will revolve around Santa Rosa, but hinted that a new platform will be announced sometime in the second quarter of 2008.

Codenamed Montevina, Intel's successor to Santa Rosa will not be a complete overhaul nor a new design in the way that its predecessor was. Instead, Montevina will build on Santa Rosa, using good things from that platform such as: small form factors, more efficient layout, minimum of DX9 integrated graphics support, HDCP encryption for graphics over all mainstream digital outputs such as HDMI, DVI and UDI, HD DVD and Blu-ray support and Robson solid state technology.

Montevina will utilize new chipsets dubbed Cantiga GM and PM. Both replace Crestline, which was based on Intel's 965 chipset family. Montevina will also introduce ICH9M or ICH9 Enhanced, which replaces ICH8M in Santa Rosa.

Intel will be introducing several new features to Montevina. VT Technology and Intel Trusted Execution Technology have both made its way into the new platform. Intel will also finally show off Robson 2.0, which will allow for high-speed solid state flash memory to be used for booting-up an operating system. Robson 2.0 also supports Microsoft's instant-on and off technologies in Vista. Keep in mind that the Robson technology family is for mobile platforms -- Intel has Snowgrass, which is the same technology for desktop platforms.more

Vista is 'more secure' says Gates

Windows Vista is "dramatically more secure than any other operating system released", Microsoft founder Bill Gates has told BBC News.

Mr Gates said the security features in the new operating system were reason enough to upgrade from Windows XP.

Microsoft launched Vista in London, with more than 100m computers predicted to be using it within 12 months.

Mr Gates also defended the pricing of Vista, which is twice as expensive in Europe compared to the US.

The technology leader called the launch a "big day" that would bring a new digital workstyle and lifestyle.

The new operating system (OS) boasts an improved interface and security tools.

Mr Gates said security in Vista would mean it would be "much, much harder" for malicious hackers to attack computers running the operating system. more