News Blog

Appropriately, a tiny Intel system board has debuted to match the tiny Atom processor. This could yield more portable desktop PC designs like the Eee Box.

The ultra-compact VoomPC rugged car PC enclosure can take a Mini-ITX board with Atom processor.

(Credit: Voom)

The Intel-made motherboard is based on the Mini-ITX standard, which was originally developed by Via Technologies.

Diminutive desktops based on these motherboards can get as small as a typical notebook PC--a design small enough and light enough to be portable.

Intel is calling this category of desktops that sport an Atom 230 or N270 processor Nettops.

Nettops are designed for basic computing tasks like browsing the Web and sending e-mail and are generally cheap, usually less than $300. They typically offer more expansion options, more ports, and greater flexibility than Atom-based Netbooks, which are essentially small notebook PCs.

(Watch an Intel Nettop motherboard video here.)

Intel Nettops contain tiny desktop motherboards.

(Credit: Intel)

Mini-ITX designs are synonymous with low power and low cost. Intel is adopting the design because of its relative popularity in low-cost markets.

The Intel D945GCLF board includes the 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor, an Intel 945GC Express chipset with GMA 950 graphics, and Serial ATA (SATA) and USB 2.0 connectors for about $80.

Instead of building a box, there are, of course, pre-built systems coming like the Eee Box. It packs an Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz), 1GB of memory, an 80GB hard disk drive, and Windows XP for $299.

Semiconductor sales grew 5.9 percent worldwide in April, a healthy clip given the current sluggish economy, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported Monday.

Chip sales rose to $21.2 billion in April, up from $20.1 billion a year ago and flat with the previous month. The SIA noted April sales were essentially in line with historical industry patterns.

"Despite steep increases in energy costs that have diminished the disposable income of consumers, worldwide sales of semiconductors grew by a healthy 5.9 percent compared to April 2007," George Scalise, SIA president, said in a statement.

Weakness in memory prices weighed on the industry, which would otherwise have posted year-over-year growth of approximately 12 percent, according to the SIA.

"Unit sales of both DRAMs and NAND flash products were up significantly year-on-year, but price attrition resulted in a 14 percent decline in total sales of memory products," Scalise stated.

Chip sales for PC and handsets, however, appear to remain on track. PC and handset unit sales have kept pace with forecasts, with PCs sales expected to grow 10 percent this year and handset sales 12 percent.

Much of that growth in PC and handset sales, which are two of the largest drivers of semiconductor sales, is being fueled by overseas sales, according to the SIA.

Intel's Atom processor was prominently displayed in systems at a conference in Japan. The chipmaker's next-generation X4500 graphics also made an appearance.

Atom logo

(Credit: Intel)

Small systems and circuit boards using the Atom processor appeared on the Web site PC Watch, which highlighted designs at a "Systems Expo" in Tokyo.

A host of small devices with the Atom processor are due in June. The 45-nanometer chip will compete with processors from Via Technologies such as the C7 and upcoming Isaiah processor.

Small PCs and computer systems using the low-power Atom processor included a small embedded computer from Japan-based Dux, a car "infotainment" system from Portwell Japan, and a motherboard for mobile internet devices from Sophia Systems.

Advantech was also showing an Atom-based circuit board as was Nagano. A 1.6GHz Atom-based board from Omron was on display too.

And that's not the only upcoming Intel chip that made an appearance. A board was shown with Intel's upcoming X4500 graphics silicon. The X4500 is slated to be part of the forthcoming GM45 ("Cantiga") chipset for the mobile Centrino 2 platform and the G45 ("Eaglelake-G") chipset for desktops.

UPDATE: Toshiba is expected to release a notebook PC this year that uses a chip based on the Cell processor, the same chip used in Sony's PlayStation.

Toshiba Qosmio G40

(Credit: Toshiba)

The Toshiba Qosmio G40 notebook will sport a SpursEngine SE1000 chip based on the Cell Broadband Engine, which is also used in the Sony PlayStation 3.

The Cell Broadband Engine is a multi-core chip architecture jointly developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. It is derived from IBM's Power Architecture, which was once used in Apple notebooks and desktops. Today, IBM uses the Cell processor in a line of blade servers.

Samples of the SE1000 chip began shipping from Toshiba on April 8. Toshiba has said it expects sales of 6 million units within the first three years.

SpursEngine reference board

(Credit: Toshiba)

The SpursEngine can do high-definition video encoding and decoding of MPEG-2 and H.264 streams, among other capabilities. The four processing elements inside the chip have a clock frequency of 1.5GHz, while boasting a relatively low power envelope of 10 to 20 watts.

Some other features of the SpursEngine: Its multimedia engine can deliver up to 48 GFlops (billion Floating point operations per second) or 12GFlops per processing element. Every element has 256KB of integrated memory. The circuit board (photo) supports a PCI-Express Base Specification Revision 1.1.

Toshiba also plans to release a TV with the Cell processor.

Sun Microsystems has released the first beta for OpenOffice.org 3 for Windows and Mac. The new version of OpenOffice, which is a popular open-source competitor to Microsoft Office, looks to offer users improvements on every component from interface to features to behavior.

OpenOffice.org 3 Start Center

(Credit: CNET Networks)

OpenOffice now natively supports OS X, so Mac users won't have to install the X11 module before running the suite. Full Vista support is also included in the beta, and didn't cause any problems during light testing. Notably, OpenOffice 3 includes filters for the new Microsoft Office document formats such as DOCX and XLSX as well as continuing support for standard Microsoft formats. Support for Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac has been lacking until now.

The user interface doesn't look to have undergone many changes, besides getting a slightly snazzier gradated background and slightly larger icons. However, the new features more than make up for this. Enhancements include support for OpenDocument Format 1.2, a Solver feature, spreadsheet sharing to facilitate collaboration, improved PDF creation and importation, and improvements to the Notes feature in Writer.

The new Start Center should appeal to users who like having a landing page or only want to have one link on their desktop. It opens up a window that highlights all of the OpenOffice tools with big icons. Another of the more exciting OpenOffice extensions also being released is a Wiki Publisher tool that should make uploading wiki information from the program to a MediaWiki server a snap.

In-depth details of the changes planned for OpenOffice 3 can be found at the OpenOffice.org feature list and release notes.

Faster is almost always better, at least when it comes to computers. So what's the fastest way to open a word processor?

You can create a keyboard shortcut to open Notepad, WordPad, Word, or any other word processor on your PC by right-clicking the program's shortcut on the Start menu, choosing Properties > Shortcut > Shortcut key, entering your keystroke combination of choice (be sure not to overwrite one that's already in use), and pressing Enter. I described how to get fast access to all your keyboard shortcuts in a post from last week.

Now press the keystroke combination to open the program, and start typing (or navigate to an existing file you want to open). When you're done working in the file, press Ctrl-S, give the file a name (if it doesn't have one already), choose a location to store it (or accept the program's default storage folder), and press Enter. What could be simpler?

Well, skipping the file-naming and storage location-choosing steps, for one thing. And having access to the notes from any Internet-connected computer, for another.

Web word processors auto-save files
You can create a keyboard shortcut that opens Google Docs or any other Web word processor. Start by opening a new document in the service. Select the URL in the Address bar, and type Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard. Now open Windows Explorer to the Desktop or any other folder, right-click anywhere in the folder, choose New > Shortcut, paste the URL of the service into the location field, press Enter, give the shortcut a name, and press Enter again.

Next, right-click the shortcut you just created, click Properties > Shortcut > Shortcut key, type your preferred keystroke combination for opening the service, and press Enter. Now you can open the service ready to create a new file by pressing that keyboard shortcut.

Unfortunately, if you're not already logged in, you'll have to enter your username and password before you can open the blank file. You can avoid the login step by creating the shortcut to the Writer online word processor that mimics the look of old DOS-based text editors running on a green-phosphor display. (The service's bare-bones look is itself modeled after the free Dark Room word processor, which, in turn, is the Windows version of the WriteRoom word processor for Mac OS X.)

Since Writer doesn't require you to log in--or even to create an account--you need not give your files a name. Just stick with the default, and when you want to reopen the file, select it from your list of documents, which appears just below the text window.

Use the Writer online word processor for instant--and universal-access to your notes.

(Credit: John Watson/BigHugeLabs.com)

Writer remembers your files by leaving a cookie with the identifying information. If you delete the cookie, you lose access to the files, unless you sign up for a free account. The account has the added benefit of providing access to your files from any Internet-connected PC.

Should you find Writer to your liking, be sure to make a donation to its creator to help keep the great services coming.

Monday: get more use out of Windows' taskbar.

Sharp got atomized Monday. The Japanese electronics maker along with Willcom announced the ultra-mobile Willcom D4 "communication device" based on Intel's Atom processor and Microsoft's Vista operating system.

Willcom D4 ultra-mobile communications device

(Credit: Willcom)

Microsoft and Intel were also credited with development of the device, according to the Japanese-language release on the Sharp Web site.

The handheld-size device uses a 1.33GHz Z520 Intel Atom processor and runs Windows Vista Home Premium (with Service Pack 1). Other prototype devices based on similar designs--referred to as mobile Internet devices or MIDs--have also been shown running the Linux operating system.

With a separate headset, the device can also be used as a phone using Wilcom's Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) network, both Sharp and Willcom said.

The device weighs in at 470 grams (about one pound) and features a 5-inch sliding LCD (1024x600/262K colors) with an LED backlight, a 1.8-inch 40GB hard disk drive (Ultra ATA/100), 64-key QWERTY keyboard, a built-in camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a mirco SD card slot, and a USB 2.0 slot.

The D4's inclusion of a 40GB hard disk drive is an indicator that the device is meant to run Windows--because of the operating system's typically larger footprint--not Linux.

Intel Atom technology includes a single-chip with integrated graphics called the Intel System Controller Hub.

Atom will find its way into fit-in-your-pocket MIDs from Gigabyte, Toshiba, LG Electronics, Lenovo, and BenQ, among others. Netbooks (inexpensive, Internet-centric ultra-small notebook PCs) such as Asus's popular Intel-based Eee PC, MSI's Wind PC, and Clevo will also use the chip.

Willcom D4 is slated for a June release and is expected to be priced at 128,600 yen ($1,272).

Intel's upcoming Atom processor is all about cost. And the Atom-based Nettop desktop cuts costs right down to the bone.

Nettop

(Credit: Intel)

Though Atom Netbooks such as future Asus Eee PC notebook models have been described in the press, the Nettop concept is not so clear. So, what is a Nettop?

The Nettop falls under the rubric of Intel's "Basic PC" category, whose underlying thrust is penny pinching. Cost will range from $100 to $299.

The Nettop is centered on the low-cost "Diamondville" variety of the Atom processor but incorporates a number of other cost-saving measures including what Intel lists in a "Business Client Group" presentation as "no system fans...no CPU socket...(an) optimized PSU (power supply unit)" and "cost optimized OS solutions."

Intel also states that "moving from HDD to SSD" (from hard disk drives to solid-state drives) will result in "additional platform savings."

Internet connectivity is what a user will be using the Nettop for primarily. Machines will run either Windows or Linux software.

Intel in the same presentation cites a forecast of 60 million "Basic Nettop" units by 2011.

Nettop market

(Credit: Intel Corp.)

The biggest flops flop big because of hype. Supposedly sure bets get massively pumped up, then poop out fast. Ishtar couldn't lose with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, but it lost Columbia Pictures $40 million. Heaven's Gate was an "epic film" that lost $44 million, forcing Transamerica to sell off United Artists.

Boondoggled technology can be even more of a financial disaster, marketed year after year, at great expense, until one day the company either pulls the plug or relegates it to practical oblivion. With this in mind, I have come up with a few chips that have been hyped far beyond what was delivered. Some are still in the process of flopping (but may ultimately redeem themselves, somehow, as 20th Century Fox's Cleopatra did).

Cyrix 5x86 "M1" processor

(Credit: Photographer: Dirk Oppelt )

First, a short preface. A post was brought to my attention a few weeks ago. The point was essentially this: A decade or so ago, Cyrix's M1 and M2 processors were hyped as the fastest, most powerful chips when they were really no such thing. Reality caught up with the hype, and, to use the author's own words, "Cyrix imploded and National Semiconductor blew I-don't-know-how-many-billion dollars cleaning up the mess."

The author also implies that the press too often buys the hype. Let's see. When I'm faced, for example, with a new chip that looks like a dog, I don't write something the next day saying so. Even if the company's marketing department is knowingly putting lipstick on the dog (or the pig, take your choice) I won't necessarily know this right away. So, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Until I know otherwise of course.

This is best illustrated by, not coincidentally, the Cyrix M1 processor. When I covered Cyrix, I'm sure I wrote stories overstating the threat the M1 posed to Intel. But it didn't take long to figure out that the M1 was not what Cyrix said it was. The moment of truth happened at a San Francisco chip conference. The die for the M1 had recently been released. And it was big. As in oversize. I remember discussing this with a chip analyst and while the exact phraseology escapes me, I believe concepts such "big" and "hot" and "waffle iron" were bandied about. My reaction was this: OK, so the marketing is fraudulent. But the company is small and they seem to be struggling. Plus, they do have one large customer planning to use their chips (why, I don't know) but I won't write a piece tomorrow slamming the waffle-iron-size die, I just won't take them seriously anymore.

So, how many M1s have come and gone over the years? And how many are out there now? That's what I will try to address here, the first of a series of posts focusing on flops. With one very important disclaimer: This is opinion, and opinion only.

Cyrix M1/M2: In addition to what is stated above, let me say this: Even back in the mid-'90s when I didn't know how bad the M2 (the successor to the M1) would be, I would have never purchased a computer with a Cyrix processor no matter how inexpensive. Why? Simple, the chips were slow.

The Intel Itanium : The hype: "This design...will one day replace RISC and CISC. It is a gateway into the 64-bit future" or "I expect Itanium to replace Xeon, but not until 2003." The reality: Development took place over 11 years, from 1989 to 2001. Despite this, when it was released it was not competitive. Not many were sold (some claim only a few thousand original Itaniums) because of relatively poor performance, in addition to poor yields and high cost. Then the other shoe dropped with Itanium 2. In September 2005, Dell said it would phase out its remaining models based on the Itanium--"another sign of the waning interest in a chip that cost an estimated several billion dollars to develop" (The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 15, 2005). In short, AMD's Opteron was a lot better.

The original version of the "Barcelona" quad-core Opteron: This is a work in progress so I don't want to be too harsh. Barcelona may ultimately succeed as the B3 stepping is adopted over the coming months. So here I will simply focus on the initial hype. The hype: "Barcelona doesn't get us back in the game (with Intel), it puts us in a leadership position" (CEO Hector Ruiz, Sept. 10, 2007). The reality: the chip was announced in September but systems (as of March 6, 2008) have yet to appear from Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell, or Sun.

Let's be perfectly frank: the hype surrounding Barcelona before it came out was nothing short of scandalous. Better, faster, more innovative. Let me paraphrase AMD's marketing: the Barcelona is a native quad-core design as opposed to Intel's kludgy chip that cobbles together two dual-core die. Barcelona has an on-die memory controller, Intel does not... I'll stop there. (If you want more, go to AMD's Web site.)

Advice for AMD: Hold the superlatives. First deliver in quantity the actual, viable physical chip that's supposed to do all these things better than the shipping Intel chip (shipping since October 2006). The adage "talk is cheap" has special meaning to journalists. And, I would imagine, special meaning to AMD's waiting customers.