sandy

The next, big thing for Intel: Sandy Bridge

Sandy Bridge is arguably Intel's most important future technology. So, what is it exactly?

Intel has been careful to reveal only snippets about the technology over the last 12 months or so. But enough is out there now to understand how the technology moves Intel forward.

In a nutshell, Sandy Bridge is Intel's next microarchitecture, or redesign, of its processors. A chip revamp is the single biggest undertaking for Intel. And it happens every two years. The current design, Nehalem, was introduced in November of 2008 and it pervades all Core i3, i5, and i7 processors (the latter two finally made it into Apple laptops on Tuesday). Its successor, Sandy Bridge, is scheduled to go into production in the fourth quarter.

Key points While Intel Executive Vice President David Perlmutter said he would "not do a deep dive" on Sandy Bridge in his Intel Developer Forum Beijing keynote this week, he did reveal some key points about the architecture.

More efficient: the central processing unit, or CPU, delivers a "significant improvement in instructions per clock," according to Perlmutter, meaning that it is more efficient at executing tasks. Faster on-chip communication: different parts of the chip will talk to each other faster--what Perlmutter called "improved inter-buses." Shared memory: on-chip memory called cache is shared between the CPU and graphics processing unit, or GPU. GPU now part of CPU: Intel combines the CPU and GPU on the same piece of silicon. According to an unofficial photo of the Sandy Bridge chip from Japanese Web site PC Watch, the GPU takes up roughly 25 percent of the processor's real estate. New instructions: Sandy Bridge will be the first chip to support Intel's Advanced Vector Extension (Intel AVX) instructions. AVX accelerates a host of multimedia tasks, including video and audio processing. More intelligent overclocking: and, finally, Perlmutter mentioned improved Turbo Boost--which speeds up (i.e., "overclocks") or slows down… Read more

Intel sets production date for Sandy Bridge

Intel has said its next chip platform, code-named Sandy Bridge, will go into production by the end of 2010.

The architecture will be the first to incorporate Intel Advanced Vector Extension (AVX) instructions, Intel architecture group co-general manager David Perlmutter told the Intel Developer Forum conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"Intel architecture delivers the right combination of performance and power that provides the foundation across all computing devices creating a virtual continuum of computing," said Perlmutter in a statement.

Read more of Intel sets production date for Sandy Bridge" at ZDNet UK.

Report: DOJ was hours from filing Google suit

It is widely known that Google pulled the plug on the search advertising deal with Yahoo only because it appeared that it would face a regulatory challenge. However, it emerged on Wednesday just how close the company came to facing an antitrust suit from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sandy Litvack, the lawyer hired by the Justice Department to look into the search advertising pact between Google and Yahoo, said in an interview with American Lawyer's AmLaw Daily that the government had a suit ready and was just three hours away from filing it.

"We were going … Read more

Microsoft hires SCO veteran as its Competitive Strategy guru

You can't make this stuff up. Sandy Gupta, whose UNIX experience was thoroughly discredited while at SCO for the paucity of his "analyses" of Linux's alleged infringement of SCO's UNIX code, has been hired by Microsoft as its director of Competitive Strategy within the Server & Tools Division.

From the press release:

Sandy Gupta is the kind of technology expert that Microsoft prides itself on having inside the company.

Well, no, Microsoft. This isn't, or should not be the kind of "expert" on which Microsoft prides itself. Microsoft has does so many … Read more

Webware 100 winner: I Want Sandy

I Want Sandy is an automated e-mail assistant. You simply add "her" as an e-mail contact to get started. Sending Sandy an e-mail with a small message will have the system scan what you wrote and convert into an e-mail reminder or calendar appointment that will be sent back to you at whatever time you note. It also has been designed to work with the popular microblogging service Twitter, letting users remotely set reminders while away from their regular e-mail.

I Want Sandy works for one person or with groups. There's no special sign-up, you just CC … Read more

Top 5 Under the Radar companies

Thirty-two start-ups and 11 established companies pitched their Web-based business products at the Under the Radar: Why Office 2.0 Matters event last Friday. That's a lot of productivity right there. Webware bloggers Josh Lowensohn and Erica Ogg covered all the start-up pitches--click the "UTR" tag beneath this blog to read about them.

From the 31 start-ups, we picked five favorites (see video). They are:

Calgoo has a neat solution for working with schedules from your work and home lives. It's a problem we all have. See previous Webware coverage.

Sandy is the new e-mail assistant … Read more