Want cheap high-performance computing at scale like Google? Look to GPUs
New research shows that it’s possible to train Google-style neural networks with GPUs and Infiniband at low cost. The work could help drive further GPU adoption. Read more »
Why Qualcomm is likely to power Microsoft’s next Surface RT
Nvidia’s Tegra 3 was chosen to power Microsoft’s Surface RT, but with Windows 8.1 coming, a tablet refresh is likely in the near future. There are plenty of reasons that Microsoft will choose Qualcomm over Nvidia this time around. Read more »
The week in cloud: FUD and loathing edition
photo: Annabellaphoto
Cloud vendors have a tough row to hoe convincing enterprise accounts to put mission critical data or apps on their infrastructure. A new U.S. government report may not help things. Read more »
$349 Nvidia Shield mobile gaming console is high-powered and premium priced
Nvidia surprised and impressed at January’s CES with its Project Shield mobile gaming console. Pricing and availability details are here: If you were expecting something priced to compete with Sony’s PS Vita, you’ll be disappointed. Read more »
ZTE to use Nvidia’s latest Tegra 4 chip in next-gen phones
photo: Nvidia
Nvidia has scored a design win for its latest Tegra chip. ZTE will use both the Tegra 4 and Nvidia’s modem in its next smartphones due out in 2013. Read more »
Nvidia launches its Qualcomm-killer: The Tegra 4i
photo: Nvidia
Nvidia has launched its first integrated smartphone chip that combines its GPU-based application processor and a modem. The new chip will give Nvidia a processor to compete against Qualcomm’s integrated chips. Read more »
Android this week: Project Shield packs a punch; Optimus G Pro goes big; RunKeeper revamped
This week, Nvidia demonstrated a new game title for Project Shield, showing off Real Boxing while LG is rumored to go big with a 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro. Read more »
Code bits hint at an Nvidia Tegra 4 Chromebook
Could Nvidia’s Tegra 4 chip power an upcoming Chromebook? It looks that way, based on some Chrome OS code snippets adding support for the company’s latest chip. Read more »
Nvidia’s Project Shield in action: Borderlands 2 on a handheld
Nvidia’s Project Shield handheld gaming console surprised and impressed me at this year’s CES. Here’s a closer look on video to explain why. Read more »
Battery startup Leyden Energy raises $10M for its next-gen lithium ion batteries
There’s still some venture capital money out there for next-generation lithium ion batteries. Startup Leyden Energy has raised $10 million to continue to commercialize its tech for tablets and start-stop vehicle technology. Read more »
GigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013
Given how CES is now a barometer for such a wide array of technology segments, GigaOM Research decided to ask our readers which way the tech winds will blow over the next year based on what they saw in Las Vegas. (Subscription required) Read more »
The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
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 »
Android this week: Huawei goes big; Vizio’s got phones; Dropbox shares photos
Android was everywhere at the 2013 International CES, but the bigger names didn’t offer much this time. Instead, companies like Huawei, ZTE and Vizio showed off new phones. Meanwhile, Dropbox gets a nice upgrade on Android and I share my favorite new Android device from CES. Read more »
Nvidia’s got game with Shield, a Tegra 4 Android gaming console
Nvidia’s TegraZone for games gains a new platform: Shield, the Android-based gaming console Nvidia debuted at CES. A powerful Tegra 4 sits at the heart of Shield, combined with gaming controls, fast Wi-Fi and support for a wide number of gaming titles; even from a PC. Read more »
All computing isn’t equal: Here are the four types
photo: Flickr user Keith Ellwood
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 »
Mobile mess: Surface Pro has bigger battery, half run time of Surface RT
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 »
Dude, Dell’s got a Windows RT tablet; the $499 XPS 10
Dell’s XPS 10 is the company’s tablet that runs Microsoft Windows RT and it starts at a reasonable $499. Add the useful keyboard dock though — which also includes additional ports and a second battery — and you’re looking at a base price of $679. Is that compelling? Read more »
Acer takes on Nexus 7 with $230 Iconia Tab A110
Looking for a low-cost, small Android tablet? There are several choices and now there’s one more: Acer’s Iconia Tab A110 launches by month-end for $229.99. Before you get too excited, though, look at the display, which has a lower resolution screen than competing products. Read more »
Microsoft launches Surface RT tablet for $499, cover extra
Pre-orders for Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet have begun and Microsoft is selling the device with 32 GB of storage for $499. That doesn’t include the thin keyboard cover: It’s a $100 option if bundled or $119 to add later. Is the iPad-like pricing just right? Read more »
Intel steps it up on mobiles, gets Jelly Bean on its chips
After watching the mobile market pass it by, Intel is aggressively moving forward. Its newest chips for smartphones and tablets run longer on a single charge and the company now has the latest version of Google Android, known as Jelly Bean, running on those chips. Read more »
Are you ready for the next mobile super chip? Samsung is.
If today’s smartphone and tablets may impress you, just wait until the next generation. A whole new mobile chip architecture is about to enter the game and Samsung’s Exynos 5 is the first to play. No products use it yet, but here’s what you can expect. Read more »
With Miracast, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 enables wireless displays
Streaming video, pictures or even games from your tablet or smartphone to an HDTV without wires is about to get easier thanks to the new Miracast standard. Nvidia is ready to support it with the Tegra 3, turning mobile devices into set-top boxes and gaming machines. Read more »
At $152 in cost, Google’s Nexus 7 leads way for cheaper tablets
That $199 Nexus 7 tablet Google sells directly to consumers costs $151.75 in materials, suggesting that Google is earning a profit on the hardware, supplementing sales of software, ads and services. With a low-cost tablet platform making a profit, others are sure to follow; even Apple. Read more »
Mobile tech’s future isn’t in the phone, it’s in your car.
For the last five years we’ve become accustomed to seeing the hottest tech hit our mobile phones, but that may be about to change. The chip industry is betting on our vehicles as the new platform for innovation and are building more speciality silicon for cars. Read more »
Android this week: Nexus 7 tablet arrives; Jelly Bean is sweet; Apple fights back
For the Android crowd, this was an eventful week, thanks to the many announcements at Google I/O. Here’s my first look at the Nexus 7 tablet and Android 4.1 on the Galaxy Nexus, which is temporarily unable to be sold due to Apple winning an injunction. Read more »
Can Intel reposition itself for the low power server?
Will hyperscale data centers like those at Facebook, Google and Amazon be willing to adopt low power ARM or even Linux based multi core processors in their data centers? Read more »
Acer battles iPad with A700: a $450 full HD Android tablet
Acer’s response to Apple’s iPad with Retina Display is called the A700. The 10.1-inch tablet offers a high-definition screen with 1,920 by 1,200 resolution powered by a Tegra 3 chip and Android 4.0. Priced at $450, it sounds like a good value for Android tablet buyers. Read more »
AMD, ARM, others team up to take on Intel everywhere
AMD, ARM, Texas Instruments and two smaller chip firms have teamed up to create a nonprofit that will try to unseat Intel’s x86 dominance in computing. But this group isn’t just after Intel; it’s taking the CPU — the beating heart of computers today — down a peg. Read more »
Android this week: Toshiba’s small slate; Galaxy S III details; patent wars worsen
Unlike last year’s product launch, the Galaxy S III will hit the U.S. on multiple carriers soon after the product debuts internationally. Five carriers are ready to sell Samsung’s flagship; a single model for all. HTC’s patent woes continue and Toshiba’s new small slate shines. Read more »
Android gamers rejoice: Nyko’s got a wireless game controller!
I hate on-screen game controls; there I said it. As gaming goes mobile, there has to be a better solution than covering up screen to move and play. Nyko has the right idea, debuting its PlayPad products for phones and tablets running Android 3.0 or better. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Who and what to watch in the new era of the living room
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Details of Google’s Nexus Tablet start appearing
Although not officially announced yet, some details of an anticipated Google Nexus Tablet are surfacing online. Our own server logs shows 92 recent visits from Android 4.1 devices in California where Google is based. Here’s what we know and what we expect from Google’s Nexus Tablet. Read more »
See what cloud can do! Dell unveils ARM servers
Dell showed off a box that contains 48 ARM-based servers, joining others making boxes with processors that uses the same architecture as the chips inside your cell phone. The server consumes less power and could find a home in web servers and Hadoop clusters. Read more »
Elemental gets $13M to sell arms in the online video fight
Elemental Technologies has raised $13 million to expand internationally, but the cool story behind this company is that it is selling its GPU-transcoding servers to everyone from HBO Go to Comcast. This makes Elemental an arms dealer in the war over the future of TV. Read more »
Samsung holds 2011 dual-core chip crown; can it repeat?
Only 20 percent of smartphones sold last year had dual-core chips, but among those, Samsung sold the lion’s share: 60 percent of all dual core smartphones sold in 2011 had a Samsung processor. Who’s poised best to challenge in 2012? Only one company for now. Read more »
Mobile chip wars rage on as Samsung debuts its quad-core
Samsung introduced its next generation mobile chip, the Exynos 4 Quad, on Thursday, with claims of twice the processing power with a 20 percent reduction in power use. The company will use the new processor in its next Galaxy phone, debuting in a few weeks. Read more »
How mobility is stressing the chip industry
Qualcomm can’t find enough capacity to manufacture chips designed for mobile phones. These troubles will become more common as the physics that govern how we make semiconductors buckles under the demands of our increasingly mobile lives, where we demand low power and high performance. Read more »
Report: Google Nexus Tablet “a done deal”
The $249 Asus MeMo Android tablet shown off at January’s Consumer Electronics Show is expected to be the first Google Nexus tablet with a price target of $149 to $199. To lower the price, Asus may be dropping Nvidia’s Tegra 3 for a dual-core chip. Read more »
Subscriber Content
The big theme of MWC: How to live in a connected world
The industry has moved beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Android this week: New phones, plus Windows on Android
Mobile World Congress took place this week, and aside from a few Microsoft-related announcements, the show was all about Android. We saw new phones from all but Samsung, with many slated for Android 4.0. OnLive Desktop launched for Android, bringing Windows to tablets and smartphones. Read more »
