teknologiauutisia

[iso]HP researchers find solution to replace transistors[/iso]

Palo Alto (CA) - Hewlett-Packard (HP) today announced its researchers have proven that their "crossbar latch" could replace the transistor, the fundamental building block of computers for the last half century. The molecule-based technology could offer new opportunities to accelerate and construct computers in the future.

In a paper published in today's Journal of Applied Physics, three members of HP's Quantum Science Research (QSR) group propose and demonstrate the "crossbar latch," which provides the signal restoration and inversion required for general computing without the need for transistors. HP believes that the he technology could result in computers "thousands of times more powerful than those that exist today".

"We are re-inventing the computer at the molecular scale," said Stan Williams, senior fellow and QSR director at HP. "The crossbar latch provides a key element needed for building a computer using nanometer-sized devices that are relatively inexpensive and easy to build."

The experimentally demonstrated latch consists of a single wire acting as a signal line, crossed by two control lines with an electrically switchable molecular-scale junction where they intersect, HP said.

By applying a sequence of voltage impulses to the control lines and using switches oriented in opposite polarities, the latch can perform the NOT operation, which, along with AND and OR, is one of three basic operations that make up the primary logic of a circuit and are essential for general computing. In addition, it can restore a logic level in a circuit to its ideal voltage value, which allows a designer to chain many simple gates together to perform computations, according to the company.

"Transistors will continue to be used for years to come with conventional silicon circuits," believes Phil Kuekes, senior computer architect at QSR. "But this could someday replace transistors in computers, just as transistors replaced vacuum tubes and vacuum tubes replaced electromagnetic relays before them."

[iso]IBM, Sony set to release details about the "Cell" processor[/iso]

Chicago (IL) - Sony and IBM will provide details about their jointly developed Cell processor next week during the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2005. One of the most anticipated products of the year, the chip will likely make its debut inside the next Playstation and later move into workstation and server systems.

IBM and Sony kept information about Cell, the codename for the processor, on a short leash. This however did not prevent the firms from making a splash with a simple announcement late November 2004 that they had powered on the first prototype Cell workstation. Next Monday, IBM and Sony will follow up and will release more details about the architecture and capabilities of Cell.

According to program of the ISSCC 2005, Cell is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will include multiple streaming cores built on 64-bit Power architecture. The processor is manufactured in 90 nm SOI technology, will offer a "high degree of modularity" and "achieve a high-frequency clock-rate". Cell will take advantage of software that controls data movement and instruction flow to improve data bandwidth and pipeline utilization, IBM and Sony said.

In addition to the processor itself, IBM and Sony are expected to give insight into the memory integration of the platform. Cell will integrate 6-stage pipelined SRAM in 90 nm SOI technology which uses "a conventional 6-transistor memory cell and sense amplifier."

IBM and Sony have created high expectations in the platform by stressing that a one-rack server equipped with a Cell processor system will reach a performance of 16 TFlops - a rating that would put such a system into sixth place of the current Top 500 supercomputer ranking.

"Our collaboration with Sony is leading to a new era of innovation in the semiconductor and computing industries," said Colin Parris, vice president of product management of IBM Systems and Technology Group during a November announcement. "The supercomputer-like processing and performance of the Cell processor-based workstation is just the beginning of what we expect will be a wide-range of powerful next-generation solutions resulting from our joint development efforts."

Sony considers Cell as a potential successor of the current x86 architecture. Industry analysts however are not so sure, if Cell will be able to replace current PC processors. "x86 is now around for 30 years or so. We have seen similar claims and threats in the past, such as RISC. No architecture so far was able to replace x86," said Dean McCarron, an analyst at Mercury Research.

In the end, IBM and Sony will have to deliver on their claims: "It is premature to suggest that companies such as AMD and Intel should be worried about Cell."

[iso]Startup touts touch-less data entry tech[/iso]

Chicago (IL) - A new player has joined the quest for the ultimate data entry device. Ethertouch says it has developed a 3D sensing technology that reduces data entry on virtually any device to hand movements and finger pointing.

One may wonder why researchers spend time on looking for new data input technologies, since keyboards and touchscreens are good enough and do their job quite well in most cases. On second thought, it is quite surprising why there is not more time spent, if the annoyances of traditional keyboards are considered. Then it is quite obvious why data entry tech has a good shot at soon being considered much more seriously than it has been in the past.

Especially cellphones never have been considered as devices for "content creation", mainly because of their small screens and keyboards that offer little functionality beyond dialing phone numbers. New Jersey-based Ethertouch believes it has found a key how to make virtually any electronic device more user-friendly to navigate and allow data input in a "natural" way.

The firm's "3-D Capacitive Sensing" consists of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), sensors integrated for example in copper strips as well as conductive coating on the surface of a screen. In combination with specific software as well as a generated electric field, the technology is able to sense movements in front of the screen and translate them for example into navigation within applications.

A similar approach recently made headlines, when Hutchison Harbour Ring (HHR) released a version of its virtual keyboard: A keyboard is displayed on any surface and a 3D camera follows finger movements and recognizes when a key is intended to be pressed. The Ethertouch technology however works without a 3D camera a completely relies on its sensors and conductive screen coating. According to David Leis, vice president of marketing at Ethertouch, the technology is reliable and accurate: "We can use 10,000 counts of waypoints over any given distance and can determine movement with high accuracy."

Leis sees a variety of applications where data entry is needed but highlighted ATM machines that in future could be equipped without a keyboard and instead could be controlled simply by hand and finger movements through the air. He did not detail an exact range of the 3D sensing, but said that data entry would work well even from a distance of about four feet. "So far devices dictated what we had to do. Now the software is reacting to us," he said.

While ATMs are somewhat limited in unit counts, Ethertouch's technology could have a much greater impact on the cellphone. The ASIC is small enough to be integrated in today's phones and the sensors will have to get more complex, as Leis said. In terms of usability, the technology however could not only assist in moving through the menus of the phone without having to touch it, but could bring various content creation features to the mobile phone. "Right now, we can do drawings by hand and paint them on the screen. We are also working on handwriting recognition that allows users to simply write text in the air and the phone will recognize and it and write it on the screen," Leis said.

There are no specifics avaialble about the technology at this time, but the calculation of coordinates of moving elements consumes "little processing" power and power consumption of the technology is "negligible" even in cellphones, according to Ethertouch. The company currently offers an evaluation kit of the tech for about $500 and said it is in talks with banks and a large cellphone manufacturer to bring the technology to the market. Leis said a market introduction of the technology in commercial products such as cellphones is targeted for Christmas 2006.

[iso]Samsung to Unveil 7-Megapixel Camera Phone at Int'l IT Fair[/iso]

Samsung Electronics will unveil the world’s first 7-megapixel camera phone at a high-tech fair kicking off in Hanover, Germany, Thursday.

The electronics firm said Wednesday that it will introduce the 7-megapixel digital camera-embedded mobile handset SCH-V770 along with a series of other cutting-edge digital gadgets at CeBIT 2005, the world’s largest annual high-tech fair.

The dual-face bar-type SCH-V770 boasts 16-million-color liquid crystal display (LCD), 32-megabyte external memory card, auto focus & optical zoom functions, and digital power amplifier that produces high quality sound and video recording function.

SCH-V770 features functions of high-end DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras that are designed for professional photographers and photography enthusiasts, such as manual focus, shutter speed controller and auto-exposure-lock and manual exposure controller.

Users can also attach a telephoto lens or wide-angle lens on the mobile handset and view picture on the television screen while shooting a photo or video just by hooking up the device to the television set with a cable, said Samsung.

The electronics giant did not disclose when the state-of-the-art mobile phone would go on sale. The company has not fixed the sale price of the device yet.

``Development of the 7-megapixel camera phone is a brilliant, epoch-making feat achieved by Samsung. Our company continually tries to provide customers with new and distinguished handheld mobile devices,’’ said Samsung Electronics president Lee Ki-tae.

Samsung rolled out the 7-megapixel camera phone just six months after it released the world’s first 5-megapixel model last October.

The electronics maker expects hundreds and thousands of visitors and business people will visit Samsung’s five-pavilion exhibit where they can take advantage of hands-on exhibits of a slew of other latest smart mobile handsets, beside SCH-V770.

Samsung, which is the world’s largest liquid crystal display (LCD) maker, will display 420 of the latest digital products including the world's biggest LCD panel, measuring 82 inches diagonally and the world’s largest 102-inch plasma display panel (PDP) television.

It will also showcase the world’s first digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) supporting television and notebook computer and the world’s largest 5-inch bendable transmissive plastic thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel for portable applications.

LG Electronics, Korea’s second-largest electronics vendor, will showcase 220 digital communication and consumer electronics products at the international exposition.

Products to be on display in LG’s three pavilions include DMB mobile handsets, third-generation camera and 3D game phones, the world’s first commercialized 55-inch LCD television, the world’s priciest 71-inch PDP television set adorned with 24-gold-coated metallic strip.

CeBIT 2005 will showcase the latest gadgets from some 6270 exhibitors from 69 countries worldwide. A total of 190 Korean electronics and high-tech companies will take part in CeBIT, which will run through March 16.

More than 500,000 visitors are expected at the weeklong event. Despite a rebound in the global information communication and electronics industries, the number of visitors to CeBIT has fallen steadily since 2001, when 850,000 people attended.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200503/kt2005030917381811800.htm

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