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>> Postings for July 2006

Go public with Leopard

Thu, 13 Jul 2006

We’ve all had a good laugh at Microsoft’s attempts to ship the next-generation of Windows over the past few years. Even its initial codename, Longhorn, was worth a childish chuckle in 2001. Now named Vista the new Windows was first expected in 2004, then 2005, in time for this Christmas, and now maybe as late as April 2007.

By that time, Apple should have released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard – expect the first public demonstration at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in August.

Simon Jary | Read more...


Two screens better than one

Wed, 12 Jul 2006

Intel and Apple are actually a closer fit than many believed back in the old PowerPC days. Just as Apple has dazzled us with super new innovative designs and ideas over the years, Intel used to float its own out-there hardware designs during its Developer Forums.

Three years ago Intel tried to get everyone to add secondary displays to laptops. Called Newport, the portable design had some cool features, including a small, secondary display on the outside of the case that let users scan their emails, access their calendar, and check network connections. The idea was to give users access to information stored on the notebook while the case was closed.

Simon Jary | Read more...


500GHz IBM freezes Intel

Tue, 11 Jul 2006

Apple’s move to Intel processors might have been a rude shock at first, but IBM had run (slowly) into a brick wall with its initially super-speedy PowerPC G5 chips. A promised 3GHz G5 never showed up, making Apple CEO Steve Jobs glow brighter than a Power Mac without its fan on. Apple has now shifted all its Macs except the Power Mac G5 onto Intel chips, which should run much faster and cooler than the old PowerPC. So imagine the colour of Steve’s cheeks and forehead now that IBM has announced it’s pushed a silicon-based microprocessor to speeds of 500GHz, 250 times faster than that found in a top-end Power Mac.

How did IBM achieve such a feat, without melting the chip (let alone the computer, desk or even the building and surrounding area), when it failed to warm a G5 to just 3GHz? Knowing that extreme video gamers chill their chips with refrigerated mineral oil, the IBM boffins used liquid helium to freeze their microprocessor to 451° below zero Fahrenheit. Nature’s coldest temperature, known as absolute zero, is just a few degrees lower, at minus 459.67°F. They were then able to push it to 500GHz. But IBM claimed that before freezing the chip, it had run at a more than impressive 350GHz at room temperature. The plan now is to blast a chilly chip to 1,000GHz (1 Terahertz), and Steve’s head into orbit.

Simon Jary | Read more...


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