arm

Nvidia, an emerging power in the world of ARM processors for smartphones and tablets, has published a demonstration game called Glowball the company says shows what can be achieved with its quad-core Kal-El mobile processor project.

In the demo, an internally lit ball rolls around a playing board. With "dynamic lighting," shapes on the ball's exterior casting shadows on stacked barrels, lurking jack-in-the-boxes, hanging rugs, and a creepy clown face. The game's physics engine is wired into the tablet's accelerometer to determine how the ball rolls, the rugs hang, and the barrels tumble.

"All … Read more

Rumors about Apple developing a MacBook with one of its own chips--not Intel's--were advanced on Friday, based on a post at a Japanese-language Web site. An Intel executive had some thoughts on the subject.

Let's get right to the post on the Japanese Web site Macotakara Kanteidan about the rumored MacBook Air test vehicle packing a Thunderbolt port. In a Japanese-language post entitled "Is an A5-equipped MacBook Air being tested?" the site claims that "according to someone who has seen a model running with [Apple's] A5 processor, the performance is better than had been thought."

Assuming the report is credible, that's a pretty big leap from a frantic rumor about Apple "dumping Intel" to a real system running on the A5, the Apple-branded chip--based on an ARM design--that's used in the iPad 2.

To date, Apple's ultrathin MacBook Air has run exclusively on Intel processors. And that's expected to continue when Apple announces new Airs based on Intel's "Sandy Bridge" processors this summer, based on my own sources who are familiar with Apple's plans.

I asked Intel's marketing chief Tom Kilroy about this latest report early today.… Read more

Not so keen on schlepping your suitcases through the streets of New York City after checking out of your hotel? Hand them over to Yobot, the luggage-handling robot.

The 15-foot bot will await visitors in the lobby of Yotel, which opens June 1 in Times Square and calls itself the "iPod of the hotel industry" for such sleek techno flourishes as touch-screen check-in, flat-panel TVs, purple mood lighting--and, of course, Yobot.

The robotic arm can pick up luggage and put it in one of 133 storage lockers in the hotel lobby in case you want to walk around unencumbered before or after checking in. You get a bar-coded ticket, which you then put into the system when you're ready for Yobot to fetch your stash.

Yobot's luggage lugging costs $2 a bag, so presumably you don't have to tip (although Yobot would probably offer a steely wave of appreciation if you did). You can, of course, store your luggage in most hotels for free, but then you get one less cool photo to show your friends back home in Minnetonka. … Read more

Apple apparently plays a more significant role in Intel's long-term strategy than one might guess.

"We work very closely with them, and we're constantly looking down the road at what we can be doing relative to future products. I'd go as far as to say Apple helps shape our road map," Tom Kilroy, Intel's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said in a Reuters interview published yesterday.

Intel's love affair with Apple started in 2005 when the company announced it would ditch IBM's PowerPC processors in favor of Intel's x86 … Read more

The relationship between Microsoft and Intel may have cooled down a degree or two this week.

Microsoft yesterday condemned and rebutted comments made about Windows 8 by Renee James, an Intel senior vice president who heads the software and services group. At an Intel investors meeting on Tuesday, James revealed details about the next version of the Windows operating system that apparently ticked off some of the higher-ups in Redmond.

Discussing versions of Windows 8, James said that Microsoft would release a traditional version of the operating system designed to run on Intel x86-based computers. This version would offer a … Read more

Intel has revealed a few more details about Microsoft's plan to offer Windows 8 in multiple versions.

Renee James, an Intel senior vice president who heads the software and services group, reiterated at an investor's meeting yesterday in Santa Clara, Calif., that the Windows 8 operating system will launch in versions designed for both Intel-based x86 computers and ARM-based devices. Microsoft had already announced at CES in January that it would support ARM devices in the next version of Windows.

Microsoft will offer a traditional version of Windows 8 designed to run on PCs powered by Intel's … Read more

A technical Web site posted an article yesterday asserting that Apple will not replace Intel processors with an alternative design anytime in the next two to three years.

This follows a report on a chip rumor site last week that claimed Apple is "dumping" Intel and switching to chips based on the ARM design, the same silicon used in the iPhone and iPad. That report said the transition would happen in that time frame.

While acknowledging Apple's history of transitions to new chip architectures and the ostensible motivations for moving to ARM, Real World Technologies' David Kanter … Read more

In the wake of the story from SemiAccurate and other, more concrete indications, it's likely that Apple is on a quest to make its MacBooks more Post-PC-like. So, what could a future MacBook look like?

We have hard physical evidence of this design trend already with the 2010 MacBook Air. Namely, the 11.6-inch model. Though based on ancient Intel (Core 2 Duo) chips, it delivers good-enough performance (with the help of Nvidia silicon)--performance not unlike what a future Apple A series processor may deliver (or future ARM chips from Texas Instruments or Qualcomm, for that matter).

So, … Read more

The rumor that Apple will drop Intel chips and move future MacBooks to the same kind of silicon that powers Apple's iPhone and iPad has got analysts pondering the prospect. Here are a few reactions.

As a preface to the comments below, one analyst cited Microsoft's announcement that Windows 8 will not run exclusively on Intel chips but also on ARM--the same chip architecture that powers Apple's iPhone and iPad. So, in a way, Microsoft is already on record with a transition to ARM.

Smart move for Apple vis-a-vis its developers: "This would be, in … Read more