Intel Acquires ZiiLABS from Creative Technology
Intel has been in the news some recently, but this time the story is a little different. The chipmaker has acquired ZiiLABS, a subsidiary of Creative Technlogy, for $50 million. ZiiLABS specializes in system on chip (SoC) technology for tablets and smartphones, especially for Android devices with the ZMS-20 and ZMS-40. According to Creative, $30 million of the deal is for engineering resources and assets to bring ZiiLABS into Intel's fold, while the remaining $20m is for patent licenses. It's believed Intel will use ZiiLABS' GPU technology in Atom chipsets for 2014 and beyond instead of Imagination Technology's PowerVR graphics core. That part remains to be seen, but ZiiLABS' GPU tech has support for OpenCL, which is something Intel is starting to integrate in its GPUs.
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New Antenna Developed with Extreme Speed Light moves faster than electrons, requires less energy than electrons, and can carry more information than electrons. So why do we still use electrons for computers? Because we do not have the technology to take full advantage of photons, but that is changing thanks to researchers at Rice University. Part of the difficulty of dealing with light is that silicon components will not interact with all frequencies of light, so fabrication of advanced photonics is difficult. The new antenna from Rice though is able to work with a wide range of frequencies and is compatible with modern CMOS fabrication technology. The device, a spatial light modulator (SLM), consists of nanoscale ribs in a cavity between two electrodes and doped silicon slabs. By introducing perturbations to the ribs, outside light will couple with the cavity allowing the device to manipulate the waves. Switching an electric field serves to turn the transmission of the light on and off and can be done at much higher speeds than similar, modern devices can achieve. The speed of the device is high enough that a single-pixel camera being developed at Rice, which initially took 8 hours to complete one image, would be capable of recording real-time video. This level of speed and ease of fabrication has the researchers very keen on finding ways to use this device for computing and other uses. Read More ...
AMD Piledriver to Steal Bulldozer's Overclocking Crown Overclocking has become much more popular and accessible in recent years, not only for professional overclockers, but also for PC enthusiasts, with the world record being pushed higher and higher. The current record is held by an AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 running at 8,709.06MHz using liquid nitrogen cooling. Very few of even the most aspiring PC enthusiasts could hope to get even close to this value, even with the best watercooling gear and especially for sustained periods of time. Having said that, AMD’s new Piledriver core is getting very close to its Bulldozer counterpart, with the record set by an FX-8350 currently at 8,470.74MHz. The new Piledriver core, although still on a 32nm die, is no longer drawn by hand, which AMD claim provides the boost that generally accompanies a process shrink. This should in theory provide more overclocking headroom for professional overclockers and PC enthusiasts alike, so we can expect the FX-8150’s crown to be contested soon enough. Read More ...
Time Asymmetry Confirmed Time is something we all live with as it marches on, out of the past and into the future, but in the quirky quantum realm, this is not the case. There a particle should have time symmetry, which means that to the particle there is no difference when time flows forward or backward; it will behave the same either way. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory however have found that this is not the case and that some behaviors do indeed prefer one direction of time to another. The BaBar experiment looked at the decay of B mesons and their antimatter counterparts, B-bar mesons, over the course of ten years. Researchers had previously found that these particles violate charge-parity symmetry, but according theory, if charge, parity, or time symmetry is violated, then another symmetry must be violated as well. After going through the ten years of data the researchers have managed to confirm, with a 14-sigma level of certainty (a 1 in 1043 chance of being the result of error), that the other symmetry violated is time as the particles prefer to decay in one direction over another. This result is very important for potentially understanding the Universe itself. The Big Bang theory cannot explain why more matter was created than antimatter, but if there is a difference between their behaviors, as this research shows, that could explain it. Read More ...
Non-Reversing Mirror Developed and On Display As though people who forget what right and left are had it hard enough already, now they may not even be able to trust the mirrors around them are not tricking them. Researchers at Drexel University have invented a mirror that does not reverse images it reflects. How is this accomplished? It is not by magic but mathematics (though at times they are one-and-the-same). The surface of the mirror has been carefully manipulated so the light that reflects off of it bounces back without being reversed. This is similar to how the blind-spot-less rearview mirror the same researchers patented earlier this year functions. Exactly how this mirror may be used, aside from being displayed in art exhibits, like it is now, is not yet clear. It is definitely an interesting novelty and would make a great toy, but no practical applications have yet been devised. Read More ...
For the Overclocker on a Budget: AMD FX-6300 CPU Offers 5GHz Want an affordable CPU upgrade that's easily overclockable to 5GHz? According to PC Gamer, that's what a budget AMD FX-6300 Piledriver CPU can offer with ease. Sure, Intel's offerings are probably better choices if your wallet could spare a little bit more, but the embattled AMD just might surprise a few folks looking for more bang for their hard-earned bucks. The recently released 3.5GHz Socket AM3+ Vishera chip runs at a rated 95W, and retails for around $140. At stock, its six cores make it a respectable competitor against Intel's i3-3225, but AMD's overclocking advantage takes its edge even further. Unfortunately, while the 1.5GHz boost for the FX-6300 is certainly impressive, the article makes no mention of the cooling options used for successfully overclocking the chip, not to mention the inevitable increase in power consumption which adds to more internal heat. Still, it's a little encouraging to see AMD wiggle some overclocking headroom in its Piledriver CPU lineup, something that enthusiasts will no doubt happily experiment with. Read More ...
New Kind of Nanotechnology Structure Discovered Nanotechnology is a common technology in science fiction where microscope machines are used to do just about anything. In reality though, nanotechnology still has its limits but researchers are constantly working to push those limits with both new technology and new ways to efficiently produce that technology. Researchers at Rice University have recently revealed an unexpected discovery of theirs for producing a new kind of nanotechnology. Initially the researchers were trying to more cheaply produce 'nanojacks,' a quantum dot in the shape of a tetrapod, but were surprised to find spheres instead. It took a while but eventually they learned why the mixture of molten melt salts was forming this structure. The mixture consisted of cadmium nitrate, selenium, and a new surfactant they wanted to test. As the materials were heated the cadmium nitrate melted nanodroplets first and later the selenium melted and formed a shell around the droplets. Eventually the cadmium nitrate diffuses out of the shell, leaving a hole in the center, and what the researchers are now calling a lava dot. These lava dots are different from conventional quantum dots as they are larger and have an odd behavior when near to each other because they compress when packed tightly, but do not actually touch each other. They also differed from quantum dots by demonstrating better performance in a solar-cell test device. Now the researchers are looking for more ways to use lava dots and what other materials they can make them from. Read More ...
Xigmatek's Latest Talon Case Features Sloped Design A casual glance at Xigmatek's upcoming chassis might cause enthusiasts to blink twice, as the whole case is leaning to the front, but not to the extent that it's on the verge of collapsing. Xigmatek has made this seemingly unusual design choice to drastically augment cooling performance, and according to the manufacturer, the elevated perspective makes looking at the case's innards even more aesthetically pleasing. The Talon is aimed at enthusiasts looking for a well-spaced mid-tower case, with a large CPU cooler retention cut-out, drive bay support for three 5.25" and eight 3.5" disks (including optional 2.5 SSDs), along with a preinstalled 200mm front and 140mm rear fan. The Talon can handle ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards as well as 330mm graphics cards. The front I/O panel comes with two USB 3.0 ports, with rubberized side panels to complement the windowed case. The sloped Talon might not exactly be to everyone's taste but if it does improve internal temps, then Xigmatek might be on to something here. Read More ...
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