TechJunction

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) released its latest microprocessor, as the struggling chipmaker looks to plug an important gap in its product lineup. The new Phenom processor gives the company a quad-core processor for the desktop PC market, a year after Intel’s first quad-core chips were released.
AMD unveiled its new platform codenamed “Spider”, with the first [...]

Intel Corp. plans to roll out its newest generation of microprocessors today, flexing its manufacturing muscle with a sophisticated new approach that crams up to 40% more transistors onto a chip.
The world’s largest semiconductor company plans to start shipping 16 new microprocessors — which also boast inventive materials to reduce electricity loss — for use [...]

The first public indication of IBM’s Power6 muscle has arrived courtesy of Oracle.
The Register has spotted four 4.7GHz – yep, you read that right – Power6 chips cranking on Oracle 11i. The speedy chips confirm IBM’s boasting that Power6 would arrive near 5GHz. They also show that IBM’s customers have a lot to look forward [...]

Intel Corp.’s Penryn processors will push desktop PCs to run 40 percent faster for gaming than the latest Intel Core 2 Extreme chip, a company executive said Monday, giving details on the new chip design planned to reach markets in the second half of 2007.

Intel Corp. is launching a quad-core chip for desktop gamers on Monday, continuing a barrage of new products the company has announced in the past week.
Intel Corp. is launching a quad-core chip for desktop gamers on Monday, continuing a barrage of new products the company has announced in the past week.

A custom chip powered a disputed demonstration of quantum computing by D-Wave Systems.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed Thursday that it built a special chip used in a disputed demonstration of quantum computing in February.
NASA engineers used their experience with sub-micrometer dimensions and ultra-low temperatures to build a quantum processor for Canadian startup [...]

Hot Technologies in ‘07
1. Ruby on Rails
2. NAND drives
3. Ultra-Wideband
4. Hosted hardware
5. Advanced CPU architectures

3. Ultra-Wideband: 200x personal-area networking
As it currently stands, personal-area networking via Bluetooth is useful for telephone conversations, data syncing between mobile and stationary devices and, in extreme cases, music. But it doesn’t take much to imagine a type of usefulness — [...]

From next-gen CPU architectures to high-powered personal-area networks, we name the five hottest trends in developing technology.
It seems like every month a new technology emerges with the potential to change everything. Technology writers and analysts get hyperexcited. Everyone starts patting one another on the back and hugging. And two years later, we’re still talking about [...]

What will it take to put thousands of microprocessors in cell phones and laptops?

NOT SO SUPER: A supercomputer in 1996 (top left) capable of calculating one trillion operations per second took up about 2,000 square feet and consumed 500,000 watts. Recently, Intel unveiled an 80-core research chip (bottom right) that achieves the same calculation rate [...]

Advanced Micro Devices released several new Opteron server processors Wednesday, including new low-power models.
Three low-power Opterons and two processors in the mainstream power category were added to AMD’s product list. The low-power chips are said to consume no more than 68 watts, while the mainstream processors consume no more than 95 watts.