Tech — GigaOM

Tech

Japan's K supercomputer is the fastest in the world.

In the past decade supercomputers were dressed-up versions of Intel’s x86 machines, but increasingly supercomputers are borrowing innovations (and silicon in the form of ARM-based chips or DSPs) from the mobile and big data realms to add speed without guzzling too much power. Read More »

Intel is very serious about low power chips, although it won’t have them until 2013. The company showed off the long-rumored Haswell chips at its developer forum on Tuesday, which it says can can run all day and offer a 20x reduction in power. Read More »

 
 

Microsoft and Intel unveiled initiatives Tuesday that show how the Wintel partners are trying to separately navigate a new post-PC world. Microsoft unveiled Windows 8, which will work on ARM-based tablets and computers while Intel announced a partnership with Google to optimize its chips for Android.… Read More »

Mobile phone manufacturer HTC has purchased VIA Semiconductor’s graphics business. The deal is indicative of the need for compelling graphics on mobiles as well as an admission that mobile device makers may get an edge if they can bring some silicon capabilities in house. Read More »

Mobile video is here to stay whether it’s chatting with friends via Skype or streaming movies from Netflix. Even Adobe’s Flash player has a place in the Apple-definedpost-PC era judging by several announcements showing application providers and chipmakers marrying various video codecs to their silicon. Read More »

If you didn’t think computing’s future was both visual and mobile, then Nvidia’s decision to buy wireless radio startup Icera clinches it. The $367 million cash deal is setting Nvidia up for a competitive battle with Qualcomm in the mobile application processor market. Read More »

Nvidia said today Intel will pay the graphics chipmaker $1.5 billion as part of a legal settlement. The agreement shows how fast things are changing for Intel and the computing industry as power efficiency is trumping performance, and entertainment is winning out over productivity. Read More »

Although smartphones and tablets with dual-core CPUs are on tap for next year, LG will offer one this year. The company announced the Optimus 2X with Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip, which will boost overall performance, bring faster webpage loads and offer 1080p video recording and playback. Read More »

After trying get its chips in mobile devices for some time, Nvidia appears to be on the verge of success in both the hot smartphone and tablet markets; its capable Tegra 2 chip will reportedly power the LG Star smartphone and Motorola’s anticipated Motopad tablet. Read More »

After showing off its Tegra line of mobile processors for two years, Nvidia may finally have a big product win as LG Electronics will use a Tegra applications processor in a number of smartphones this year. Is this the first of many Nvidia-powered products to come? Read More »

Growth in tech areas like mobile and cloud computing has been a start contrast from other areas of the U.S. economy, but IT spending, Cisco’s stock, PC buying habits and other indicators show that tech is not immune from the larger bear market. Read More »

And Now Playing, GPU Clouds

Just as general purpose computing paved the way for specialized machines, general purpose clouds are going to evolve into specialized clouds. Like the Nvidia GPU-based cloud, launched today. It uses Tesla GPUs and 3D web services software and is targeting entertainment centric companies and services Read More »

More Must Reads

With its new accelerated processor unit AMD is following its rival Intel down a path to keep x86 chips both powerful and power efficient as computing goes mobile for consumers and requires millions of processor cores running a “cloud” on the server side. Read More »

Nvidia today said its graphics processors will be in a new IBM server used for high-performance computing and webscale deployments. IBM’s iDataPlex servers will combine CPUs with GPUs for faster compute using less energy. As ARM eyes the data center, Nvidia’s success should be a lesson. Read More »

Our mobile devices are getting smarter, faster and mimicking the functionality of a full-fledged PC. As the top wireless chipmaker, Qualcomm has long been the “Intel inside” for mobile phones. But can it compete against a host of new processors with better graphics and more performance? Read More »

The Federal Trade Commission today sued Intel, claiming it abused its market power and cut competitors out of the marketplace — not merely with regard to rival AMD, but also as the graphics market heats up. Nvidia must be thrilled. Read More »

Intel will rethink the market for its Larrabee chip, once destined to be a graphics processor. Does its failure to make an x86-based GPU mean that it’s reaching the limits of x86 computing as we take our devices to extremes on the low and high end? Read More »

loading external resource
Click to log in with: Not you?
Comment as guest:
By continuing you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Submitting comment...