atoms

Intel expands Atom to home servers

Intel's Atom chip is moving up in the world, from Netbooks to home and small-office servers.

The chipmaker on Thursday launched its first Atom processor optimized for the SOHO (small office/home office) market. Intel's new platform marries the Atom D410 single-core or D510 dual-core chip, along with its 82801IR I/O Controller, to power small servers and storage devices made by LaCie, LG Electronics, and other manufacturers.

The new Atom chips use 50 percent less power and offer better performance than older Atoms, according to Intel, helping them drive more demanding SOHO servers and NAS (network-attached storage) … Read more

Nvidia's next-gen Ion GPU for Netbooks is here

Netbook fans have had their share of ups and downs recently--for example, getting better battery life from the new Intel Atom N450 CPUs, but being herded toward the limited Starter edition of Windows 7 at the same time. Another frustrating problem was the absence of Nvidia's Ion GPU from the latest generation of Netbooks--a situation now rectified by the announcement of Nvidia's new next-generation Ion.

We were big fans of the HD video and modest 3D-gaming capabilities of the Ion when we saw it in fall 2009 in systems such as the HP Mini 311. But changes Intel made to the Atom platform for the current N450 (and N470) CPUs locked the Ion out of newer systems, at least for a while. Until now, the only similar option has been Broadcom's Crystal HD video accelerator, which works well for HD video files, but somewhat less well for streaming Web video (even if you install the latest Flash beta player software), and it also lacks the capability to do 3D graphics.

The new Ion operates differently, as a result of Intel's decision to combine its Netbook CPU and integrated graphics into a single unit. Instead of taking over for the integrated graphics and talking directly to the CPU, the next-gen Atom communicates with Intel's new NM10 chipset, which in turn goes to the processor and then the display.

While it may offer only modest performance improvements over the original Ion (we'll know more after benchmark testing), the new version also works with Nvidia's Optimus technology, which seamlessly switches between integrated and discrete GPUs to extend battery life. That means the Ion chip can switch on when needed, but not drain the battery otherwise. … Read more

Intel to introduce faster Atom chip Monday

Intel plans to release a faster version of its "Pine Trail" Atom processor for Netbooks on Monday, bringing a little extra performance to this popular segment of the laptop market.

Major PC makers are expected to announce--over the coming weeks and months--new products or product refreshes with the new processor, the N470, which will be identical to the current 1.66GHz N450 but get bumped to a speed of 1.83GHz, according to a source familiar with the announcement.

Every little speed increase helps, as Atom processors, compared to their mainstream chip cousins, have always been performance-constrained. Intel … Read more

Capturing atomic images via ultrafast X-ray pulses

Particle acceleration has been the focus of research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center since the early 1960s, but a relatively new project at the U.S. Department of Energy facility at Stanford University called the Linac Coherent Light Source ( LCLS) is giving scientists a unique opportunity to capture images of single molecules. With the use of microwaves, electrons are accelerated along a two-mile path where they are oscillated back and forth, generating radiation and ultrafast X-ray flashes that capture images of molecular events with a "shutter speed" of less than 100 femtoseconds. Creating these molecular movies of … Read more

The Asus Eee PC family tree

Even though it's only a couple of years old, it's hard to imagine the laptop industry without the Eee PC Netbook from Asus. If one product line can be credited with nearly single-handedly creating the entire Netbook category--arguably the biggest paradigm shift in mobile computing in years--it's this series of low-cost, low-power laptops.

The very first Eee PC we reviewed, 2007's Eee PC 4G (sometimes called the Eee PC 701), shows how far Netbooks have come in a little more than two years. That system had an Intel Celeron M CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, and a custom Linux OS, all built around an 7-inch screen. Was it the first Netbook? That's arguable; we'd already seen similar specs from education-targeted products such as Intel's original Classmate PC, but those were not sold directly to consumers.

Since then, we've been hit by refreshed Eee PC models every few months on average. In fact, we've reviewed eight distinct variations in the last 12 months alone. The current standard is built around an Intel N450 CPU, with Windows 7, 1GB of RAM, and a 10-inch screen at 1,024x600-pixel resolution.

At the same time, we're seeing some Netbooks from Asus and other PC makers that push the boundaries, by moving to 11-inch displays, higher screen resolutions, better graphics, and in some cases, low-voltage dual-core CPUs--although these upscale models are starting to blur the very definition of a Netbook.

For purposes of historical interest, we've rounded up the past few generations of Eee PC Netbooks for easy perusal. This particular collection doesn't include every Eee PC model we've reviewed; instead, we've chosen to focus on versions from the past 12 months, all of which are still available for sale (we'll dig deeper into the archive in a future roundup). … Read more

CNET's spring 2010 retail desktop and laptop review roundup

The latest wave of new laptops and desktops for 2010 is here, and these systems have some important new features to help them stand out from last year's models. We're seeing Intel's Core i3 (as well as the i5 and i7) CPUs, and the new Intel Atom N450processor for Netbooks, along with Wireless Display technologydesigned to easily send a signal from your PC to your TV.

To help cut through the clutter, we've been scouring the shelves of big retail stores to find boxed versions of popular PCs, from entry-level systems starting at $329 to massive $… Read more

Intel taps student's robot for processor demo

While I've always been a little scared of spiders, watching student Matt Bunting's hexapod robot dancing has all but cured me. Maybe it's the combination of the folk guitar and little leg sways in the below video, but all of a sudden, spiders (at least the robotic kind) look so damn cute.

Cuteness aside, the hexapod bot has gotten some attention from high places. Two days after Bunting, a University of Arizona electrical-engineering senior, posted a YouTube video of his bot, Intel ordered two of them to promote its Atom processors at trade shows and engineering meetings. The robot uses Intel's 1.60GHz Atom Z530 and US15W chipset. It runs on the Ubuntu open-source operating system.

Bunting built the as-yet unnamed robot from spare parts as a final project for a UA class on cognitive robotics. A camera mounted on the front of the six-legged creature (each leg has three degrees of freedom) takes successive images, which are used to help Hex determine if it is moving forward, sideways, or backward or tilting.

By analyzing the visual feedback, the 14x17x8-inch robot adaptively "learns" how to most effectively achieve its forward-moving goal.

"One of the things I wanted to explore was the idea of reinforcement learning. What I wanted to do was not preprogram any of those walking algorithms, I wanted it to figure out how to walk straight forward on its own," Bunting said. "It has the ability to figure it out itself."

Bunting's professor Tony Lewis says the bot's learning algorithm can be applied to tasks other than walking. If a leg breaks or a motor gets damaged, for example, it can relearn how to walk. The robot even has foot contact sensors that can be used for terrain adaptation.

"I see that this device might be doing scientific work like autonomous navigation, mapping of different environments, moving over rough terrain and doing exploration, possibly planetary exploration," Lewis said. "I think Matt's robot has a lot of possibilities. It's really not so far-fetched that a robot like this could go to Mars." … Read more

Multitasking: Intel does, iPad doesn't

How important is the ability to multitask on tablet-class devices like Apple's iPad? Important enough that the feature will likely be touted as a trump card for Intel-based smartphones such as a tablet-size phone from LG due later this year.

How do we know this? Watch the embedded CNET video below, which I took at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, and find out. Toward the end of the video (the 2:55 mark), Pankaj Kedia, director of Intel's Global Ecosystems Program for Mobile Internet Devices and Smart Phones, makes it clear that multitasking--in this case using … Read more

iPad gives Netbooks breathing room

For many people, it's a safe bet that the iPad will not replace or preclude the purchase of a Netbook. A quick look at the specifications and it's pretty obvious why.

As this tweet succinctly put it: "What has no webcam, no multitasking, no HDMI port, and (possibly) no Flash, and costs $500? Hint: Not a netbook." This tweet, of course, is referring to the Apple iPad. And, by the way, you can eliminate the parenthetical; the iPad definitely does not support Adobe Flash video. (Also see this post at Gizmodo.)

But specifications aside, here's … Read more