LED production has grown tremendously, accompanied by a significant fall in prices that will further propel the sale of this energy-efficient digital-lighting technology. But challenges remain on the road to widespread adoption. Figuring out ways to use power efficiently for lighting will be crucial for a future when the world’s population will likely be much larger. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Naysayers may continue to ignore the trend, but tablets aren’t toys and the tablet market isn’t a fad, as 2012 shipments show. This year, tablets could surpass both desktops and laptops. Read more »
After years of prepping for this moment, the world’s first ARM-based servers have been deployed in a production environment. Chinese search giant Baidu is using Marvell’s chips in a cloud storage application. Read more »
Intel has been super-secretive about its TV service until this week, but the service is already been tested in hundreds of homes. Read more »
Intel’s TV service is real, and will launch later this year. The service will include live and catch-up TV, but also cable-like bundles. Read more »
While they may be selling the “picks and shovels” associated with the internet of things gold rush, the world of connected devices is a rich opportunity for semiconductor companies. Read more »
Intel’s funding of Big Switch Networks indicates that the commoditization of networking hardware is a few steps closer. Read more »
A new report from IHS says microserver shipments will triple this year. The question is, Who will emerge as the leading microserver providers? Read more »
Can a Windows 8 tablet running on Intel’s Atom be a good middle ground between Windows RT and more expensive devices? Take a look at Acer’s W510: great battery life and full Windows 8. Read more »
Forget getting a gigabit in one city in all 50 states of the U.S. The real gigabit challenge is helping the existing ISPs think like innovators, not like utilities. Read more »
Hybrid cloud, software-defined data center, and end-user computing are all in. Other VMware efforts will be out in the upcoming year as the company seeks to regain focus. Read more »
No wonder Dell and HP are exploring drastic options — Dell reportedly looking to go private and HP re-evaluating plans to sell of business units: More of their bread-and-butter server business is disappearing into the ether. Read more »
Microsoft’s Windows RT software had an opportunity to bring limited Windows 8 functionality to low-cost tablets, but that window may already be closing. Intel Atom-based slates with full Windows 8 and long run-times on a single charge have fewer restrictions and cost about the same. Read more »
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
U.S. consumers have one less Windows RT tablet to choose: Samsung has decided not to sell its Ativ Tab, citing weak demand for Windows RT and a lack of product understanding by consumers. That’s OK, the Ativ with full Windows 8 and Intel’s Atom is $599. Read more »
Intel has a packed room for its major press event at the International Consumer Electronics Show and I squeezed in with a few thousand of my closest friends to experience it. Follow along as I live blog the event and hear the news. Read more »
Tablets keep getting thinner, but how thin can they realistically get? Perhaps no thicker than a few pieces of paper. Plastic Logic is demonstrating its PaperTab project, which is powered by an Intel Core i5 and uses a bendable e-ink display. Read more »
Despite the idea that a server is a server, the needs of different computing customers differ widely. For those thinking about selling infrastructure, software or even services understanding the difference in computing and IT styles will help you hone your pitch and find your buyer. Read more »
As the year comes to a close, its time to look back at predictions for 2012. I made 16 of them last December and while I got a fair number right, there were a few clunkers. It’s time to dust off the crystal ball for 2013. Read more »
The “mobile first” philosophy is under way today. That means a new generation of mobile-centric data centers will arise over the next three years, with chips, servers, and power architectures customized for mobile workloads. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facebook’s Frank Frankovsky was onstage at today’s launch of Intel’s first low-power system on a chip for the data center, but it turns out that the social networking doesn’t plan on using the chips. Instead Frankovsky’s role could be seen as validating the microserver market. Read more »
Intel has released its first Atom system on a chip aimed at the data center. The new SoC consumes 6 watts and has many enterprise-class features. But with ARM taking aim at the same market Intel has a totally different type of competition to worry about. Read more »
![MiaSole_0876[1]](http://earth2tech.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/miasole_08761.jpg?w=210&h=140&crop=1)
The lack of greentech hardware success stories points to a potentially missing piece of the puzzle: a Samsung-style intense focus on manufacturing. Read more »
Silicon Image has developed a new, smaller WirelessHD chip to let mobile gamers project their games from their smartphones or gaming devices onto their TVs. Will the same company that pushed HDMI be able to popularize a new wireless standard? Read more »
Intel almost can’t bring itself to call the market for wimpy cores a real market, but since its customers seem to really want them the chip giant is trying to offer products for microservers. But the strain is clear, as is the looming competition from ARM. Read more »
Sales of semiconductors are expected to fall this year. The only sector that didn’t see a decline year-over-year is the wireless business, and in that sector Qualcomm has seen sales grow by 27.2 percent. More proof of the upheaval occurring in the chip biz. Read more »
Microsoft’s Surface Pro arrives in January with a full-featured version of Windows and an $899 price tag. That costs more than the Windows RT version but adds more app compatibility. It also brings half the run-time even though the battery is 30 percent bigger. Read more »
Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini will step down in May. So far no successor has been named, but the transition in leadership will occur as the entire chip industry deals with a transition from high performance general purpose computing to more special-purpose, efficient chips. Read more »
The company behind the popular MongoDB NoSQL database has some big, new backers in Intel and Red Hat. 10gen CEO Dwight Merriman said that shows that NoSQL in general, and MongoDB in particular, are here to stay. Read more »
Texas Instruments will join the slew of chipmakers using cell-phone cores in servers. But it has two twists with its KeyStone architecture — integrated 10 gigabit Ethernet networking and TI’s digital signal processing cores to aid in performing complex math. Read more »
MIPS Technologies has sold it’s business to Imagination, the graphics IP company, while selling more than 500 of its remaining patents to a consortium led by ARM Holdings, a onetime rival. The deals are an example of the huge shifts taking place in the semiconductor world. Read more »
Will Apple replace the Intel processors in its Macbooks with ARM-based chips? In the last week new processor designs from ARM as well as Apple’s desire to merge the iOS and OS X experience have driven a new cycle of rumors. Here’s why they make sense. Read more »
Yet another report indicates that Apple might be aiming to move away from Intel chips in its Mac lineup. Bloomberg says the company wants to get its mobile and PC products on the same chip architecture. Here’s why that could actually happen. Read more »
As Windows computers morph into tablets, expect more such devices to be found in network operator stores. Case in point: AT&T will sell Samsung’s Smart PC with mobile broadband radio for $799 without contract. Is the price too high for what you’re getting? Read more »
Building an ARM-based server is actually not the hardest part of getting ARM into the data center. The real challenge will be getting software that runs on the alternative architecture, and making that software something that enterprises want to use. Here are two effort to help. Read more »
Forget what comes after infinity, we at GigaOm were worried about a smaller problem, namely what comes after a yottabyte. Well now we know the answer to that problem — a 1 followed by 27 zeros (a yottabyte only has 24 zeros), otherwise known as a brontobyte. Read more »
ARM has introduced two next-generation processor cores aimed at spanning the continuum of compute needs today — from mobile clients to the racks of servers supporting our web services. The new A-50 family of cores will appear in devices in 2014 and 2015. Read more »
AMD, which has fallen behind its chief rival Intel in the x86 processor business, announced on Monday plans to make new 64-bit chips based on ARM’s chip technology that will target data center and cloud computing companies. AMD will continue to make x86 processors as well. Read more »
Everyone is jumping on the ARM server bandwagon with Red Hat and Applied Micro the latest vendors to hitch a ride. Cell phone chips in the the data center is a hotly anticipated trend and we’re going to see a lot of ecosystem announcements next week. Read more »
AMD said last week it would lay off 15 percent of its workers, but we hope next week it will announce an ARM license for use in servers. Such a move looks like AMD’s last chance for relevance as the chip world experiences a huge upheaval. Read more »
