tekHPoynt

Article from Tekla Perry(IEEE Spectrum, Tech Talk) Wed, January 27, 2010

The iPad, the much-anticipated Apple tablet computer announced today, is not going to revolutionize the display industry. It doesn’t sport a bright OLED display; it isn’t wearing the latest Pixel Qi technology that combines normal transmissive LCD technology with a black-and-white reflective version for easy viewing in bright sunlight.

The iPad simply uses a liquid crystal display backlit with light emitting diodes, the kind of display you see today on many flat screen televisions and computer monitors. The particular type of liquid crystal display—in-plane switching—has two transistors per crystal, one more than standard thin-film transistor LCDs. This kind of display needs a brighter backlight, so has been less common in the laptop area, but has a bigger viewing angle.


Apple’s choice to go with LCD technology isn’t particularly surprising; the iPad will be used to display photos and videos, and to do that needs a full-color, full-motion display. So e-ink and its monochrome brethren are out. OLED technology, right now, is just too expensive. And Pixel Qi is a compromise; it gives up a bit in color saturation to pick up that visibility in sunlight. Steve Jobs isn’t one to compromise.

But the choice of LCD technology means that, in spite of the library of e-books that will be available for the iPad, this device no e-book reader. While I’m not an e-book convert myself, the folks I know who carry Kindles with them read them outdoors as much as in, often in sunlight; that just won’t be possible with this LCD display. And, even indoors, they swear that the reading experience—in particular, the eyestrain—is much different than that on an LCD display

The iPad will, however, impact the world of displays, says Jason Heikenfeld, an associate professor in the Novel Devices Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, because, with its ability to allow magazines and other publications to be sold with the ease of an iTunes track, it “will increase the movement to digital media.” This will up the demand for a do-it-all display that can display full color motion video as well as easy to read text, and may speed up the advance of the state of the art.

Over at the FX Palo Alto Laboratory (a subsidiary of Fuji Xerox), a group of scientists looking at how best to read and navigate electronic documents on portable devices is also encouraged by the iPad. While the current reading applications don’t go beyond the state of the art, says researcher Scott Carter, “the form factor coupled with the screen capabilities should facilitate new media-rich reader applications as well as interactive collection browsing apps” that will make all our lives easier.

In the meantime, I won’t be tossing out the pile of books on my nightstand in order to download my bedtime reading from iTunes. It’s not a printed book killer—or a Kindle killer. But, to be fair, it doesn’t have to be to succeed, it’s a sweet computer, certainly more appealing than a netbook.

[ Read more... ]

T
he giant microprocessor chipmaker(INTEL Technology) for computing market released a new series of Xeon Family. It boast its economical power management at-speed functionality.

The Intel® Xeon® processor 5000 series are Intel dual core products for dual processor (DP) servers and workstations. The Intel Xeon processor 5000 series are 64-bit server/workstation processors utilizing two physical Intel® NetBurst® microarchitecture cores in one package.

The Intel Xeon processor 5000 series include enhancements to the Intel® NetBurst® microarchitecture while maintaining the tradition of compatibility with IA-32 software.

Some key features include Hyper Pipelined Technology and an Execution Trace Cache. Hyper Pipelined Technology includes a multi-stage pipeline depth, allowing the processor to reach higher core frequencies. The Intel Xeon processor 5000 series contain a total of 4MB of L2 Advanced Transfer Cache, 2MB per core. The 1066MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) is a quad-pumped bus running off a 266MHz system clock making 8.5 GBytes per second data transfer rates possible. The 667MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) is a quad-pumped bus running off a 166MHz system clock making 5.3 GBytes per second data transfer rates possible.

The new product is build from 45nm fab process technology for ultra-low power consumption in Intel's wafer fab facility.


The standard package of the new developed chip will be on Ball-Grid-Array (BGA) package.

A download of the brief product description can be found here: Xeon Processor 5500 Series

[ Read more... ]

A
Taiwanese manufacturer is selling what is possibly the world's cheapest laptop.
The NPX-9000 costs US$130 when bought in quantities of 100. It comes with a 400MHz MIPS processor, 1GB of Flash memory, 128MB SDRam and a 7in screen, similar to the first Asus EeePCs.

The laptop runs a Linux operating system and the firm is offering a Wi-Fi USB dongle as an optional extra.

The NPX-9000 also comes with a VGA port to link the system to a full-size monitor and an SD card slot for moving files.

The news will come as a blow to the One Laptop Per Child campaign, which is currently charging $188 for its hardware.


SPECIFICATIONS:

1) 400 MHz MIPS CPU
2) 7" Analog Screen
3) 128 MB SDRAM
4) 1 GB Flash Memory
5) 80 Key English Keyboard & Touch Pad
6) Linux O.S.
7) Connectors: SD Card Slot, VGA Port, USB x 3, Mini USB, Microphone and Earphone Jack
8) AC Adaptor and Accessories
9) External USB LAN or 802.11g WiFi dongle (optional)

[ Read more... ]