Breakthrough Speeds Up, Shrinks Chips

Hires hint that company is plotting to create its own, secret circuits

(NEWSER) - Apple has been steadily assembling a team of experts with the capability to design the company's own brand of chips, the Wall Street Journal reports. Insiders say the move—a major shift in strategy—will help Apple design new, exclusive features for its gadgets, and will eliminate the need for the company to share details of its work with outside vendors. More»

Before the iMac, there were mega machines

(NEWSER) - Convenience is a given when it comes to today's PCs, but the machine you're reading this on has come a long way. Major transformations date as far back as the early 19th century. Live Science gives the back-story on 10 revolutionary computers.

1. The Difference Engine, 1822: Designed by Charles Babbage but not built until decades later, today's replicas show this math-table-generating machine to work flawlessly.
2. ENIAC, 1946: This US Army computer weighed 30 tons, used 17,478 vacuum tubes, and consumed 150 kilowatts.

Using light, not wires, to connect chips could make computers 1,000 times faster

(NEWSER) - Sun Microsystems is moving toward connecting computer chips using lasers instead of wires, a move that could make computers 1,000 times faster. The company snagged a $44 million Pentagon contract to continue work that could also mean smaller, more energy-efficient machines. It won’t be easy, though: A Sun researcher told the New York Times the chance of success is 50%. More»

Future products call for chips with many more microprocessors

(NEWSER) - Intel and Microsoft will fund researchers at two universities working on new programming techniques for multicore chips, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The companies will reportedly provide $2 million annually for five years, to speed the development of chips that can contain dozens—or even hundreds—of microprocessors of multiple types. One of the grants is expected to go to UC Berkeley. More»

Tiny microprocessors are intended for mobile Internet devices and low-end computers

(NEWSER) - Intel will push its tinest new chips behind the brand name Atom in an effort to create demand for two emerging types of computing devices. The Atom line includes chips already announced by the company, reports the Wall Street Journal. One, formerly known as Silverthorne, is aimed at cellphone-sized devices that Intel calls “MIDs”—mobile mobile Internet devices. More»