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Tid-bits
12/6 - Yonah shall be Intel's next generation mobile processor, but the successor to Yonah goes by the codename Merom. The microarchitecture of Merom is to form the backbone for Intel's server and desktop lines as well, unlike today, where separate architectures power Intel's desktop and mobile offerings. "The introduction of the Merom design will be a turning point in Intel's product policy".
Yonah shall be rechristened Core once it is released and shall come in many different flavors. Yonah dual-core, Yonah single-core, Yonah with lots-of-cache, Yonah with not-as-much-cache.
Intel's current desktop Pentium D 800 used to go by the codename Smithfield. Smithfield, from an architectural point of view, may be succeeded by a processor called Kentsfield. Note the similarity between the two names. Just as the current Smithfield is two cores combined into a single package, so Kentsfield may be two dual-cores in one package. "The real surprise about the Kentsfield quad core product is the fact that [it] is taped out already, which means nothing less than all the manufacturing parameters were provided to a manufacturing facility for first silicon".
AMD shall attempt to implement quad-core better than Intel, which if Intel pursues this multichip package approach to quad-core, AMD may be able to do.
I see multiple layers in Intel's lineup—single-core, dual-core, quad-core—and different technologies within each level: dual-core and quad-core multichip packages, unified dual-core and quad-core processors with shared cache, and various technologies overlapping in time to meet the various needs of the market.
Another hard drive uses computer memory rather than magnetic platters. "Both the Gigabyte i-RAM and the HyperOs Systems HyperDrive III will offer a noticeable performance gain when performing everyday Windows tasks such as launching applications. Windows will boot up faster as well". Now, if we could only have a NAND hard drive.
IBM, in announcing a new version of software, steps up to bat for open source and the Open Document Format (ODF) standard. In doing so, IBM takes a swing at Microsoft and Microsoft office applications. "Proprietary file formats force businesses into a perpetual cycle of royalty and licensing fees".
Not only are games being written to take advantage of dual-core CPUs, but the drivers of graphics cards are being rewritten to take advantage of dual-core as well. So far "highest performance gains come from low resolutions without antialiasing".
GDDR4 (graphics double data rate 4) "improves data processing speed by close to two times than that of GDDR3".
The current boom in NAND Flash memory is helping more than just NAND manufacturers, like Samsung and others. The thriving market also assists memory module makers and memory chip distributors. "Strong NAND flash demand should boost revenues throughout the supply chain".
And while NAND may be booming, sales of NOR Flash are up, too. Supply has been lagging demand, "buoyed by surging consumer electronics".
Adobe released bundles of Adobe and Macromedia products on the day that it announced the completion of its acquisition of Macromedia. .
Microsoft is not the only one who does automatic updates. AOL does, too. "Security features are automatically updated".