Intel's Itanium chip is hanging by a thread, and after more than three years, the company is now shipping the next and possibly final version of the processor, which is code-named Kittson.The chip is now shipping to test customers, and volume shipments will commence later this year, a company spokesman said.Itanium chips have been used in mainframes and mission-critical servers. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will ship servers with Kittson later this year.Itanium has been dying a slow and painful death, and Kittson will likely be the end of the line. Support for the chip has been dwindling, and software development has stalled.Intel may be happy to see Itanium sink as it looks to drop irrelevant products in its pursuit of profitable markets. Intel has been openly lobbying customers to switch from Itanium to x86-based Xeon chips, which commands a server chip market share of more than 90 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel is bringing more options to improve gaming and virtual reality experiences on Windows PCs with official support for Vulkan APIs (application programming interfaces).Vulkan is similar to DirectX 12 and can be used for many applications, but it is most relevant to visual applications like games.Games and VR applications written in Vulkan will work with GPUs integrated into Intel's 7th Generation chips code-named Kaby Lake and 6th Generation chips code-named Skylake. It will also support the Intel HD Graphics 505 GPU in Pentium chips code-named Apollo Lake.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel realizes there will be a post-Moore's Law era and is already investing in technologies to drive computing beyond today's PCs and servers.The chipmaker is "investing heavily" in quantum and neuromorphic computing, said Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, during a question-and-answer session at the company's investor day on Thursday."We are investing in those edge type things that are way out there," Krzanich said.To give an idea of how far out these technologies are, Krzanich said his daughter would perhaps be running the company by then.Researching in these technologies, which are still in their infancy, is something Intel has to do to survive for many more decades. Shrinking silicon chips and cramming more features into them is becoming difficult, and Intel is already having trouble in manufacturing smaller chips.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
No Intel chip is as expensive as the new Xeon E7-8894 v4 server processor.The US$8,898 Xeon chip has massive horsepower with 24 cores, 60MB of cache and a maximum clock frequency of 3.4GHz. Intel said this is the company's fastest server chip, breaking enterprise application speed records.The company's next expensive chip after the E7-8894 v4 is its other 24-core processor, the Xeon E7-8890 v4, which is priced at $7,174. The chips have similar features except for the base clock speed. The new chip starts at 2.4GHz compared to 2.2GHz for the less expensive chip.The $8,898 chip even outprices Intel's fastest supercomputing chip, the Xeon Phi 7290F, which is priced at $6,401. It is also over four times more expensive than the costliest PC chip, the $1,723 Core i7-6950X for gaming desktops.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
"Every gamer is going to want to have 3D Xpoint. Every single gamer."Those were words from Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich when updating investors on the company's Optane technology, which the chipmaker believes could ultimately replace SSDs and DRAM in PCs and servers.Intel is now shipping the first-generation Optane but is also working on next-generation technologies as looks to increase density in this new class of storage and memory.Intel says Optane is significantly denser and faster than SSDs and DRAM. It is based on a technology called 3D Xpoint, co-developed with Micron.The chipmaker looks at Optane as the Moore's Law of storage. With future generations, Intel wants to make the memory smaller, denser and cheaper, and that's driving the development of Optane.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Upgrading CPU performance hasn't been a priority for Intel in many years, but that could be changing.Intel's upcoming Cannonlake chips will deliver a performance improvement of more than 15 percent compared to its Kaby Lake chips, said Venkata Renduchintala, president of the Intel Client and Internet of Things businesses and Systems Architecture Group.Intel didn't provide exact numbers at the company's annual investor day Thursday, but the projection is based on the SysMark benchmark. Detailed performance improvement numbers will emerge over time.The performance improvements from Skylake to Kaby Lake topped out at 15 percent. The CPU performance boost for Cannonlake should be at least that, Intel said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps the next iPhone 8 will be Apple's next shot at achieving greatness in China.The current iPhones aren't helping Apple gain market share in China, according to Canalys. Markets like China and India are at the top of Apple's agenda to grow the iPhone business.China accounts for a third of worldwide smartphone shipments. Buyers in the market are leaning toward local brands like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, which formed the top four smartphone vendors in China in 2016, according to Canalys.Apple was in the fifth spot, and Samsung doesn't figure in the top five.In 2016, Apple's phone shipments in China totaled 43.8 million units, a drop of 18.2 percent compared to 2015. It's not looking any better for Apple in 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An AMD Athlon or Sempron chip may not drum as much excitement as Ryzen, but loyalty has helped those brands stick around for more than a decade.So what happens to those and other PC processors, like the A-series and FX, when AMD's new Ryzen chips start flooding the market in March? AMD has said the first high-end desktop Ryzen chips will ship in March.For now, AMD plans to make no changes to its lineup of existing chips, a company spokesman said.Instead, the chips will be regrouped to focus on price-sensitive PC buyers.Ryzen-based PCs are expected to be priced at a premium, competing with Intel's top gaming CPUs. The FX chips will not go away once Ryzen arrives, and will be targeted toward budget gamers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich's meeting with new U.S. president Donald Trump was followed by a big announcement: The company will invest US$7 billion over the next three to four years to complete a factory to make 7-nanometer chips.The completion of Fab 42 -- where the chips will be made -- will create about 3,000 jobs in the Chandler, Arizona, area, Intel said. The chipmaker expects to help create 10,000 jobs tied to supporting the activities of Fab 42.Trump has been pushing for more jobs in the U.S. and for bringing manufacturing back to the country. Making the announcement after meeting with Trump amplifies Intel's efforts to promote itself as a jobs creator.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Meet DragonBoard 820c, a supercharged board computer that will make Raspberry Pi 3 look like a turtle.The computer can be used as an Android OS computer and is based on components in premium smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S7.The board is now listed on the website of Arrow Electronics but isn't commercially available so far. The price isn't yet available. The board has Qualcomm's 820 chip, which is used some premium smartphones today. Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon 835, which succeeds the 820 and 821 chips, and next round of premium smartphones with the new chip will be announced in the coming months.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A flaw in an old Intel chip could crash servers and networking equipment, and the chipmaker is working to fix the issue.
The issue is in the Atom C2000 chips, which started shipping in 2013. The problem was first reported by The Register.
In January, Intel added an erratum to the Atom C2000 documentation, stating systems with the chip "may experience [an] inability to boot or may cease operation."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A flaw in an old Intel chip could crash servers and networking equipment, and the chipmaker is working to fix the issue.
The issue is in the Atom C2000 chips, which started shipping in 2013. The problem was first reported by The Register.
In January, Intel added an erratum to the Atom C2000 documentation, stating systems with the chip "may experience [an] inability to boot or may cease operation."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft's program allowing potential customers to try a Surface Hub for 30 days before buying it will start on Feb. 15.The try-and-buy program is available only through Surface Hub resellers in North America, Asia, and Europe. A list of resellers can be found on Microsoft's website.The Surface Hub is a gigantic Windows 10 computer available with a 55-inch or 84-inch screen. The 55-inch model is priced at US$8,999 and the 84-inch model is $21,999.The computer is designed for collaboration, videoconferencing, and whiteboarding. It runs a custom version of Windows 10.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lenovo's ThinkPad P71 is one superfast laptop that can work with HTC's Vive and the Oculus Rift VR headsets.It's technically a workstation and is targeted at professionals creating VR content, editing movies, or running engineering applications. Headsets are needed to create VR content.The laptop, which weighs 3.4 kilograms, has a 17-inch screen and is equipped with Intel's latest Xeon E3-v6 mobile chips, based on the Kaby Lake architecture. It can be configured with an Nvidia mobile Quadro GPU like the P5000M, which aid in the content creation and virtual reality experiences.The laptop will be available in April, starting at US$1,849. The laptop by default comes with an HD screen but can be configured with a 4K screen. It also supports a Thunderbolt 3 slot.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung has scrapped its Raspberry Pi 3 competitor called Artik 10 as it moves to smaller and more powerful boards to create gadgets, robots, drones, and IoT devices.A last remaining stock of the US$149 boards is still available through online retailers Digi-Key and Arrow.Samsung has stopped making Artik 10 and is asking users to buy its Artik 7 boards instead."New development for high-performance IoT products should be based on the Samsung Artik 710, as the Artik 1020 is no longer in production. Limited stocks of Artik 1020 modules and developer kits are still available for experimentation and small-scale projects," the company said on its Artik website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a few months, Bluetooth 5 will finally arrive in smartphones and tablets. But you can already test the technology on developer boards being shipped by hardware makers.Bluetooth 5 is a major step ahead for the venerable technology, which was introduced in 1999 to hook up devices wirelessly. It is two times faster than predecessor Bluetooth 4.2, has four times longer range, and boasts cool new connectivity features.It can transfer data at speeds of up to 2Mbps (bits per second) and has a realistic range of 120 meters. The range could be even longer in a clear line of sight, the standards setting organization Bluetooth Special Interest Group said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At first glance, Intel's Unite software comes across as an anomaly. What future does the collaboration software have in the chipmaker's future?For now, the software is linked to Intel's PC chips, which is a core business. But it's emerging as a component of the company's virtual reality, internet of things, and server businesses, which are all central to Intel's future growth strategy after a massive restructuring last year.Unite, which was released in 2015, allows remote and on-site users to log in to meetings and share documents and whiteboards. It works with Macs and Windows PCs as well as iPads and Android tablets, and it supports software like Skype for Business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lenovo is ditching the hard keyboard for a cool new touch one on its new Yoga A12 2-in-1, which can be an Android tablet or a laptop.
But for those seeking the latest and greatest hardware, there's a disappointment. It runs on an old chip from Intel, which has rolled back its development of Android, raising questions on the frequency of OS updates.
The highlight of Yoga A12 is the versatile touch panel that can be a smartphone-like virtual keyboard. It's a feature adapted from the Yoga Book, which was introduced last year.
The Yoga A12 has a 12.2-inch touchscreen, and a back-lit input touch panel replaces the hard keyboard. Lenovo said the virtual keyboard provides a user experience similar to on-screen ones on smartphones and tablets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nvidia's Quadro GP100 shares many features with the company's most advanced Tesla P100 GPU, but it also brings the superfast NVLink to Windows PCs and workstations.The Quadro GP100 isn't targeted at gaming -- it's aimed more at virtual reality content creation, simulation, and engineering applications. The GPU is based on the Pascal architecture and is capable of supporting up to 5K displays at 60Hz.The new GPU is the fastest Quadro yet, with 32-bit floating point performance of about 12 teraflops via 3,584 CUDA cores. That outpaces the Quadro P6000, which delivers 10 teraflops of performance.The GP100 also delivers 64-bit floating point performance of 5 teraflops via 1,792 cores for more precise calculations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Micron is rushing to release the latest GDDR6 graphics memory by the end of the year, and eSports is a major driver behind the plans.The memory company is speeding up the release of GDDR6 to cope with faster PC and console upgrades. GDDR6 will be significantly faster than its predecessor, GDDR5X, which is still reaching GPUs. Micron had originally planned to release GDDR6 next year.Virtual reality is also driving PC upgrades, but not at the same pace as gaming and eSports, which are forcing faster development of new graphics memory technologies, said Tom Eby, vice president of the computing and networking business unit at Micron.A projected 500 million people will be eSports fans by the end of the decade. Gaming PCs are now being upgraded every three years, which is faster than the previous five-year cycle.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Agam Shah