![[AskAboutComputers.com]](logo_com_305x118.gif){kind=logo}
Tid-bits
1/11 - HP climbed to the number 3 spot among organizations awarded the most patents in 2005, which is pretty good, unless you are IBM, which earned more patents than any other company for the thirteenth year in a row. IBM is using its clout as the one with most patents to push for patent reform, something that the U.S. Patent and Trade Office seems favoribly disposed towards. This reform probably has a lot to do with the patents SCO has asserted against IBM and others, laying claim to certain portions of Linux code. "In 2005, IBM received 1,100 more patents than any other company. This is the eighth consecutive year IBM has received more than 2,000 U.S. patents SATA applies to more than just hard drives. Sony uses the technology in some of its tape drives. Uniting disk and tape combines the best qualities of disk with the economy and scalability of tape. Sony is "one of the first tape drive manufacturers to offer a range of tape drives that support the Serial Advanced Technology Architecture (SATA) interface".
Intel software tools are available to Apple developers to maximize the performance of applications running on new dual-core Intel Macs. Intel has ported its set of software development tools from other platforms to the Mac OS X's Xcode development environment. The Fortran compiler uses industry-standard math libraries. The C++ compiler can optimize performance-sensitive areas of applications. Tools are primarily for the scientific community. Available for purchase in the second quarter, Intel is currently offering "a free trial".
Seagate's latest NL35 Series SATA disc drives are available, weighing in at 500GB, for nearline RAID storage in the enterprise. Seagate NL35 Series SATA disc drives provide the reliability required for nearline RAID applications. The NL35 Series family features both Fibre Channel and SATA interfaces and serves the nearline and secondary storage needs for SATA, SAS, and Fibre Channel. The NL35 Series SATA is direct-attached storage and can be used in conjunction with SAS in a SAS infrastructure. The NL35 Series offers faster backup and lower overall cost versus trape. "Seagate's NL35 Series SATA meets the rigorous requirements of nearline workloads".
2D professional workstation graphics cards from ATI have passed tests and shall be featured in HP workstations for mission-critical work in the financial services and other industries. HP is a leading provider of workstations for financial tading firms. "Most large financial trading firms are running Windows-based dual-processor workstations driving multiple displays on their trading floors".
AMD has released a new dual-core processor for games and digital media processing. The chip is AMD's most powerful PC processor and the first dual-core Athlon 64 FX CPU. Performance shows an average 34% improvement on digital media and 80% on certain benchmarks compared to single-core processors. Graphics companies ATI and NVIDIA have weighed in with dual-core driver support. The Athlon 64 FX line is "the first Windows®-compatible 64-bit PC processor designed specifically for PC enthusiasts".
Not only has NVIDIA weighed in with graphics support for AMD's new CPU, but as a provider of core logic and chipset support as well, "including support for RAID 5 and next-generation SATA 3G/sec".