Instant On – Wired News

Instant On – Wired News

For the first time, researchers have created a working prototype of a radical new chip design based on magnetism instead of electrical transistors.As transistor-based microchips hit the limits of Moore’s Law, a group of electrical engineers at the University of Notre Dame has fabricated a chip that uses nanoscale magnetic “islands” to juggle the ones and zeroes of binary code.

Wolfgang Porod and his colleagues turned to the process of magnetic patterning (.pdf) to produce a new chip that uses arrays of separate magnetic domains. Each island maintains its own magnetic field.

Because the chip has no wires, its device density and processing power may eventually be much higher than transistor-based devices. And it won’t be nearly as power-hungry, which will translate to less heat emission and a cooler future for portable hardware like laptops.

Apple ships notebook with Intel chips – ITWeb

Apple ships notebook with Intel chips – ITWeb

Apple Computer starts shipping its first portable computers made with Intel chips this week, after announcing last year it would switch from IBM chips.advertisement
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Apple shares climbed nearly 4% to a session high of $67.22 yesterday, making it the second biggest percentage gainer in the Nasdaq 100 index as the news appeared to calm investors’ worries that Apple’s sales might suffer during the shift to Intel chips.

“Their announcement this morning that they have begun shipment of the MacBook Pro [has] alleviated concerns about speculated delays in shipment,” said Steve Lidberg, analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. “This is a transitional quarter for them and the market is reacting to that.”

Now I am waiting to see how much the iBook replacement will cost. Dual Core is not needed for my use, yet 🙂

WiMax world leaps ahead of SA

WiMax world leaps ahead of SA – ITWeb

WiMax has taken a step towards commercial implementation with the certification of the first complete solution based on the technology, but SA has yet another hurdle to clear.Until recently, international WiMax implementations have been held up by a lack of equipment certified as complying with technology and interoperability standards set by the WiMax Forum, which sees product certification as being critical to the ubiquitous deployment of WiMax.