MacBook Pros with Hybrid SLI, Extra Long Battery? MacBook Announcement?

MacNN adds more details and confirmation that the leaked MacBook Pro photos are legitimate. They are also able to add a few additional tidbits which tie together some of the circulating reports.



Most noteworthy is that the new MacBook Pro will support Hybrid SLI from NVIDIA. NVIDIA describes the technology:

Hybrid
SLI® technology, based on NVIDIA’s industry-leading SLI technology,
delivers multi-GPU (graphics processing unit) benefits when an NVIDIA
motherboard GPU is combined with an NVIDIA discrete GPU. Hybrid SLI
increases graphics performance with GeForce® Boost and provides
intelligent power management with HybridPower.

Such a
configuration will also be beneficial when Apple introduces OpenCL with
Snow Leopard in 2009. OpenCL will allow applications to offload
processing to GPUs.



Other features described for the new MacBook Pros include speeds up to
2.8GHz, improved wireless connectivity, 7200 RPM hard drives, HD
displays, 128GB SSD option, user-serviceable hard drive and an extra
long battery.



MacNN also confirms that Firewire will be a feature reserved for
MacBook Pros and the MacBooks will not contain Firewire. However, they
do believe that MacBooks will be announced during the event, despite a curious footnote by Engadget indicating otherwise.



Readers should note that the price list
represents products currently in-transit to the Apple Store. As a
result, those products should have near immediate availability. The low
end MacBook appears to be absent from that list, which may mean it will
not ship until later. At this point, we don't know what the price of
the entry level MacBook will be.



Separately, we have heard that the new DisplayPort technology will
support an adapter for Dual-Link DVI to be able to drive existing
Apple's 30" monitors.

Source : http://www.macrumors.com/

Search Ads Come to YouTube

Quiz: What’s the No. 2 search site?
Answer: If you guessed “Yahoo,” you’re wrong. Internet users now conduct more searches on YouTube (2.5 billion in August) than they do on Yahoo (2.4 billion), according to comScore’s expanded search query report.

So it is not surprising that YouTube’s parent, Google, is thinking of turning those searches into dollars. The company has begun testing video ads that are targeted to specific YouTube searches. The system works a lot like the hugely profitable AdWords system for search ads on Google. Type “Tina Fey” into YouTube’s search box and, along with the search results, you may find a somewhat relevant ad for the movie “W” as well as a significantly less relevant ad for the University of Phoenix. (This is a test, after all.) The “W” ad links to a trailer on YoTube for the Oliver Stone movie and the University of Phoenix ad links to that school’s YouTube channel.

“We are constantly testing a wide range of options to find the right advertising format, for the right content, for the right video experience on YouTube — whether you’re watching short videos or long videos, uploading videos, or even searching for videos on our site,” said Aaron Zamost, a YouTube spokesman. “We do not believe there is one advertising solution for YouTube, but lots of valuable ways for advertisers to engage with our audience.”

For now, only a small number of advertisers is testing the new format, the latest of many that YouTube has experimented with in the past several months. YouTube, which has struggled to monetize the hugely popular site, is still working out its targeting technology and other aspects of the YouTube search ads system.
While this system works like the multi-billion dollar AdWords program, don’t expect YouTube’s video search ads to match AdWords in size. As AdAge, which first reported on the YouTube search ads, noted, YouTube and Google are different animals: “People are often looking to be entertained when they do a video search, which is a contrast to the more varied — and often commercial — nature of searches on Google.com.”

Source : http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/

Windows 7 gets a name: Windows 7

Redmond (WA) – No more rumors about Vista SE: Windows 7 is all about
simplicity and that’s why Windows 7 will simply be called Windows,
Microsoft announced today.      

Mike Nash, corporate vice president for Windows product management at Microsoft, had the honor
of announcing the official name of the new client Windows: Windows 7.
Nash noted that he was excited to show a new product “to the world for
the first time” and that he is “very excited about the opportunity to
tell [people] more about Windows 7 in the coming weeks.” But clearly
there is not much excitement in the name of the new Windows.

According
to Nash, the name “Windows 7” is simple: The company decided against a
date in the name (such as “Windows 2008”) since the company does not
ship a new Windows every year and it decided against an “aspirational”
name (such as “XP” or “Vista”) since it is not really an entirely new
release, but just an enhancement over Vista. “Simply put, this is the
seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense,”
Nash said.

Ok, we get it. But does it have to be that boring? Is
it just us or is this the most boring Windows name since Windows 3.11?
Perhaps all of Microsoft’s creativity got stuck in the current $300
million Windows marketing campaign? If it is simplicity that Microsoft
wants to express, “Vista SE” or “Vista Enhanced” would have made more
sense. But judging by the speed Microsoft is developing Windows 7 and
considering the new name it seems that Microsoft intends to close the
Vista chapter as quickly as possible.

We are sure that Microsoft
will have no problems to sell the new name, but even for a transitional
product that Windows 7 seems to be, the name is a bit out of place and
not consistent with anything Microsoft chose for Windows in the past.
Nash noted that “While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft
when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am
pretty sure that this is a first for Windows.”

Microsoft will provide a first glimpse at Windows 7 at the upcoming PDC 2008 event,
at which the company will be handing out pre-beta releases of the
software. Windows 7 was originally scheduled to be released in 2010,
but apparently has been pulled into H2 2009. According to our sources,
Windows 7 will be available in time for the 2009 Christmas season.

We
previously learned that Windows 7 will be based on the kernel of the
Windows Server 2008 kernel, which is an evolution of the Windows Vista
kernel. Windows 7 will also keep Vista’s driver model. PDC 2008 will
have a strong focus on the new operating system: The majority of
Windows 7 sessions will discuss graphics topics, performance and energy
efficiency as well as communication services.

Source : http://www.tgdaily.com/

First Look: OpenOffice 3.0, office suite

If you need an office suite for the Mac, your choices used to be limited to Microsoft Office 2008 or Apple’s iWork.
Unfortunately, neither option offered a complete solution. Office 2008
can share the latest file formats with Office 2007 for Windows, but the
Mac and Windows versions of Office neither look nor work exactly alike.
If you’re already familiar with Office 2007 on Windows, Office 2008 for
the Mac will seem different enough to frustrate and confuse you.
Apple’s iWork is the only other office suite solution, but it lacks a
Windows version. For a true cross-platform office suite, you can now
rely on the open source OpenOffice 3.0.

This
office suite offers true compatibility across multiple platforms,
running on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. In fact, version 3.0 is the
first version that finally offers native support for Mac OS X (previous
versions required X11 to run on the Mac).



More importantly, this suite also offers file compatibility with the
latest Office 2007 file formats (such as .docx) along with the newest
Open Document Format (ODF) file standards. In addition, you can
directly export files to PDF format as well although it cannot read or
write to the native file formats of iWork.



Where Office 2008 and iWork fall short is that both suites only offer a
word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program (while Office
2008 also offers Entourage as an e-mail client and organizer). In
contrast, this suite offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation
program, vector drawing program, and a relational database.

OpenOffice 3.0 offers five programs

Another major difference between this suite and Office 2008 or iWork is
the way it handles multiple programs. With Office 2008 or iWork, you’re
essentially using three separate programs. For example, if you want to
do word processing, you need to load Microsoft Word. If you want to do
number-crunching in a spreadsheet, you need to load Microsoft Excel.
Having to load and switch between separate programs is acceptable, but
clumsy.



On the other hand with this suite, you only need to load a single
program and then choose which function you need (word processing,
spreadsheet, etc.) through the New command, under the File menu.

Every program feature is available at all times

If you’re using the word processor, choose the New command and then
choose whether you want to open a database or presentation. The suite
opens a window that contains toolbar icons unique to that program (such
as creating a spreadsheet). The menu bar always displays commands for
the currently active window, so if you click on a word processing
window, you’ll see word processing commands and if you click on a
spreadsheet window, you’ll see spreadsheet commands.

OpenOffice 3.0 displays different features inside separate windows

Besides maintaining file format compatibility with Office 2007, this
suite also provides something lacking in Office 2008 for the Mac --
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support. If you have any macros
created in Excel, you’ll find that many of them can run in this suite.
Since Office 2008 for the Mac lacks such VBA support, this suite’s
spreadsheet is actually more compatible with Excel for Windows than
Excel for the Mac.



Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of this suite is the lack of
pre-designed templates. Where Office 2008 and iWork offer dozens of
templates to help you create newsletters, brochures, invoices, and
business presentations, this suite provides the ability to create and
save templates, but just a few pre-designed templates for creating
simple slideshow presentations. Another drawback is that Microsoft
provides a huge library of clip art images for pasting into your
documents. This suite provides none.



If you can live without templates or clip art and want a free, open
source office suite that provides the same interface across multiple
platforms, file format compatibility with Office 2007 and Open Document
standards, and the most popular features found in Microsoft Office,
you’ll find OpenOffice 3.0 more than satisfactory. Chances are good
that even if you have a rival office suite, you’ll find something to
like (such as a database or drawing feature) in OpenOffice 3.0.

Source : http://www.macnn.com/

AMD: U.S. probe of unit ended

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the chipmaker struggling to take on Intel Corp., said Monday the U.S. Justice Department closed its investigation of pricing and marketing practices at its graphics-processors unit.

    
The agency disclosed the end of the probe Friday, AMD said in a statement. The Justice Department began investigating AMD's ATI Technologies Inc. unit and competitor Nvidia Corp. in 2006 as part of a price-fixing probe of the industry.

The $5.4 billion ATI acquisition was AMD's largest purchase ever and now dwarfs the company's market value of about $2.4 billion. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company hasn't posted a quarterly profit since October 2006, when it purchased the business.

AMD rose 4025 cents, or 10.56.6 percent, to close at $4.21 Monday$4.06 at 9:37 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange and earlier advanced as much as 11 percent. The stock previously had fallen 49 percent this year. before today.

Michael Silverman, a spokesman for AMD, didn't immediately return a call seeking further comments before regular business hours.

AMD and Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia rank behind Intel in sales of graphics chips.

Source : http://timesunion.com/

Nokia N96: The second coming of the famous Finnish JesusPhone

The latest hero phone to wend its way
out of the Finnish company’s labs is finally here, and we’ve given it
an exhaustive hands-on testing.

The original N95 was a revelation for smartphone users. Pre-dating the
iPhone, it was one of the first mobiles to feature HSDPA, Wi-Fi and
GPS, and it also packed an industry-leading five-megapixel camera and a
design optimised for multimedia. An update to the N95, the N95 8GB,
added a larger 2.8in screen and an 8GB flash drive.


But
a year and a half later, the features that made the N95 such an amazing
device aren’t as exciting any more, and phones like the iPhone 3G have
really raised the bar for what constitutes an impressive mobile. It’s
in this ultra-competitive environment that Nokia has released the N95’s
successor, the N96.

Design

As Nokia’s flagship
phone, we expected stunning aesthetics, innovative controls, and other
delicious eye candy, enough to make everyone that didn’t own one green
with envy. Alas, the N96 is remarkably plain-looking. It looks like
your everyday slider phone, and it’s chunky besides, measuring nearly
two centimetres thick. It’s available in a single colour, black, with a
champagne-coloured strip around the middle and an in-laid wave pattern
on the back.

Compared to the N95 8GB, it’s slightly thinner and
marginally taller, and weighs a couple of grams less at 125g. It also
uses the same dual slider design, revealing a standard numeric keypad
when slid one way and a set of multimedia buttons at the other end. And
just in case you missed the point about the N96 being a media-centric
mobile, there are also playback buttons around the navigation pad.

Continues : http://apcmag.com/

Nokia N-series touch phone soon

It seems Nokia is keen to foray deep into the touchscreen phone market,
taking on Apple's iPhone. After the launch of its first touchscreen
phone with 5800 Xpressmusic this month, Nokia is now gearing up to roll
out another touchscreen phone as part of its popular N-series.

/photo.cms?msid=3590671
Interestingly, this model too would be rolled out in key Asia-Pacific
markets like India ahead of the US and Europe, according to company
sources.

"We will have a plethora of touchscreen phones coming
up, including an N-series device very soon," admitted Nokia India
marketing director Devinder Kishore.

According to speculation,
the device could come ported with an 8 megapixel camera. Currently,
Nokia phones come with cameras up to 5 megapixel resolution, unlike
many Samsung and LG phones which boast of 8 megapixel cameras. If true,
this will indicate an ever-increasing willingness in the Nokia stable
to take on Apple at one hand and take on its aggressive Korean rivals
on the other.

Source : http://www.itvoir.com/

Asus Eee 1000H Review

Introduction:

It is clear computers are taking more and more space in our lives,
but the way we use them has changed drastically. They used to be
exclusively used by the wealthiest industries and took up hundreds of
square feet as well as weighed more than you could ever imagine. Now,
most of us have at least a desktop computer, but even though it is much
smaller than its predecessors, it is still way too big to carry. With
everyone wanting access to their email, stock or favorite website on
the go, laptops are increasing in market share while continuously
decreasing in size. That has led to ultra portables like the Lenovo
X300 and Macbook Air, but those are quite expensive and definitely not
targeted at a mainstream audience.

Fortunately for the consumer, almost a year ago now, Asus came up
with something that would revolutionize the notebook market - the Eee
PC. The 700 was the company's first attempt in that newly born market.
It featured a tiny 7 inch screen which was, for many people, way too
small and often considered as a kid notebook since the keyboard was
ridiculously small. The form factor created much interest, a full
featured computer in a form factor comparable to a tablet. In the
meantime, Asus was preparing something else for us. Shortly after, the
Eee 900 and 1000 appeared. Those ones were equipped with 8.9 and 10
inch screens, repectively, and a bigger chassis that enabled them to
squeeze a larger keyboard much better suited for everyone. Then came
the plethora of models, four of the original 7 inch, five 900s and
three 1000s. All are more or less similar, some using the Celeron
processor while others opted for Atom, others swapping the traditional
hard disk drive for a solid state drive.

With other manufacturers seeing how much success Asus was having
with its new line of sub-notebooks, or netbooks as Intel decided they
should be called, many, or most now, jumped on the bandwagon and
started designing their own. There's so much choice now, it is
confusing to attempt to choose the right one. Although HP's Mini Note
2133 came out first, it is more aimed toward business users, so MSI's
Wind was the first one to offer some real opposition against the Asus
EeePC. Unfortunately, the Wind's availability was, and still is,
limited so it never caught up. Other big names include Acer, Lenovo,
Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and many others. All of them use very similar
configurations, but one thing that is identical across all the
manufacturers is the platform and its processor – Atom.

Let's now see what this platform has to offer.

Continues : http://www.overclockersclub.com/

Samsung Battles Apple's Air, Asus's Eee

You might remember Samsung for quirky nano-notebooks such as the Q1 UMPC.
Think back, though: The same South Korean company struggled to make
headway in the North American market a few years ago. Now, within the
same week that Apple unveils its new laptop,
Samsung announces several new portable lines of its own. Poor timing?
Maybe, but the sexiest of the bunch, Samsung's NP-X360, is aimed
squarely at the light-as-Air market. We don't have the machine just
yet, but we can give you some initial impressions after seeing the
NP-X360-AA02US up close. (The X360 comes in two preconfigured flavors,
but I'll get to that soon enough.)

Most folks will notice the X360's strikingly slim profile. Measuring 12.2 by 8.9 by 0.6 inches, it's almost as paper-thin as the Air.
In fact, I found myself thinking that it could pass as a PC cousin of
Apple's ultraportable. What makes me say that? A bright 13.3-inch
display capable of 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, a cut-out keyboard,
the optional solid-state drive, and the machine's top-shelf pricing are
just some of the reasons.

All of Samsung's full-featured
laptops will launch with Windows Vista Business Edition (32-bit) and
3GB of RAM. This particular model comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo U9400
CPU.

Unlike
the Apple Air's aluminum aesthetic, the X360's magnesium alloy lid
sports a two-tone red and black finish that's obviously meant to make
you think of premium sports cars. The plastic interior, meanwhile,
feels silky smooth to the touch. And the aforementioned keys have a
satisfying tactile response. It's basically the same feeling as the
first time you test-drove an Air (or tapped away on any high-end Sony
VAIO in the past couple years). The point is, you either love or hate
the cut-out key design. I love it.

Like Apple, Samsung shoehorns
in a 1.3-megapixel Webcam and 802.11 a/b/g/n support--and,
unfortunately, it also omits an internal optical drive. However,
Samsung has a leg up on Apple in that its machine has many more ports;
the X360 has not only a seven-in-one flash card reader but also three
USB 2.0 ports, an RJ45 jack, and VGA- and HDMI-out.

As I said
earlier, PC World doesn't have the X360 in house as of press time, but
spokespeople promise that it will have 10 hours of battery life with
the bundled six-cell battery (we'll see about that). As for the price,
well, let's put it this way: You're paying for the diminutive design.
The NP-X360-AA01 sells with a 120GB, 5400-rpm hard drive for $1899
while the 128GB solid-state version (the AA02) sells for $2499. To put
that in perspective, Apple currently charges $1799 for a machine with
an 80GB, 4200-rpm hard drive.

The X360 isn't alone, though. The
slightly larger X460 (measuring 13.3 by 9.7 by 0.8 inches) beefs up
with a 14.1-inch screen and an internal optical drive. The difference
between the two preconfigured X460 models -- starting at $1,599 --is
minimal (swapping out an Intel Core2 Duo 2.0-GHz P7350 CPU for a
2.26-GHz P8400 and upgrading a 250GB hard disk for a 320GB one), but
the cost is only $100 more for the step-up.

Samsung's Mini-Notebook

The
other bit of "big" news from Samsung comes in the form of a tiny,
2.8-pound mini-notebook. The NC10, Samsung's entry into the sub-$500
market, has many of the same features as we've come to expect from
current-generation mini-notebooks. Translation: It offers a 1.6-GHz
Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and a 10.2-inch
1024-by-600-resolution display.

In short, it sounds (and, honestly, looks) a whole lot like Lenovo's IdeaPad S10,
the main difference being that Samsung's unit ships with a six-cell
battery and costs $499. When I asked point blank about what makes this
machine stand apart, a spokesperson attested to its ample proprietary
software (we'll have to get back to you on how useful--or useless--it
is) and the fact that the entire mini-notebook was constructed from
Samsung parts. Does that mean it's leaner, meaner, and better
optimized? We'll let you know the second one of these new
mini-notebooks shows up in our labs--before it hits store shelves in
early November, we hope.

Source : http://www.pcworld.com/

Video Game Market - Changing Competitive Equation

Oct 13, 2008 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- SNE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- -www.companiesandmarkets.com adds new report: Video Game Market - Changing Competitive Equation

The video game industry has continued to evolve with each passing cycle because of its unique characteristics of being seasonal as well as cyclical. As a result of these characteristics, companies like Sony Corp, Nintendo and Microsoft launch new consoles every few years that are followed by a slew of new games from the software publishers. .

With the introduction of innovative products comes the benefit as the video game industry has grown by 50% in the period 2004 to 2006. The growth in this market is driven by the increased hours of video game consumption that are taking time away from other forms of entertainment, including radio, recorded music, daily newspapers, consumer magazines, and consumer books. .

Also, survey suggests that nearly half of the U.S. population have played videogames. But besides growth in the developed economies, gaming console market is also seeing huge adoption in the emerging economies especially BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries.. With increasing adoption, preferred channels for purchasing video games have changed over the years consumers are more attracted towards mass merchants and consumer electronic stores for their purchases now..

The competitive landscape of the video game industry has also changed with Nintendo and Microsoft threatening the dominance of Sony. In the next generation video game market, Microsoft s Xbox 360 and Nintendo s Wii are major improvements over their respective prior video game console offerings, and for the first time in nearly a decade create respectable alternatives to Sony s video game consoles. .

As a fallout of the changing scenario, it is likely that by the year 2008, video game console market will be evenly divided between the Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony consoles, with Nintendo taking the lead beyond 2008. .

The report is a study of the global video game market covering the growth of the industry over the years. It analyses the changing consumption pattern for this format of entertainment among the different age groups in different regions. The share of the current generation of video game and the next generation has been analyzed and also the market positioning of the leading brands assessed. The report also highlights the challenges faced by the leading players and the potential that lies in the online gaming space.

CONTACT: Mike King, Director, www.companiesandmarkets.com Tel: +44 (0)1933 674 780 Fax: +44 (0)1933 674 780 e-mail: info@companiesandmarkets.com WWW:http://www.companiesandmarkets.com

M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com.
For full details on Sony Corporation ADS (SNE) click here. Sony Corporation ADS (SNE) has Short Term PowerRatings of 5. Details on Sony Corporation ADS (SNE) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.

Source : http://www.tradingmarkets.com/

Sony cuts the noise

SONY has recently launched a new addition to its long line of audio products.

The
Sony MDR-NC500D headphones are designed for supreme audio quality and
the highest level of noise cancellation, according to Sony Malaysia
product marketing division general manager Taku Taguchi.

“The headphones have a built-in microphone that has a digital filter to effectively remove up to 99% of ambient noise,” he said.

“It also gives you a high quality audio experience.”

According
to Taguchi, the noise cancellation is achieved by using Artificial
Intelligence (AI) on top of digital technology. He went on to
demonstrate the AI button feature which triggers a scan of the
surrounding ambient noise and selects the optimum noise cancellation
profile.

High level audio is produced by utilising large drivers and a digital equaliser, said Taguchi.

The digital noise cancelling technology is the first of its kind, according to Sony officials.

The MDR-NC500D is available immediately at a recommended retail price of RM1,499.

++++

www.sony.com.my

Source : http://star-techcentral.com/

IC Insights' opinion on AMD's new business model

USA: As seen in the recent headlines, AMD plans to undergo a major restructuring of its business model beginning in early 2009. The core of the restructuring revolves around creating a new company (now being called Foundry Company) that will be responsible for the IC manufacturing portion of its business. Foundry Company will also enter the foundry segment of the IC market and produce ICs for other companies.

As reported:

1. Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi will form a US-based foundry company (Foundry Company), of which AMD will own a 44.4 percent share and ATIC will posses the remaining 55.6 percent stake. It nice to see at least some petro dollars being re-cycled back into the US!

2. ATIC will invest $2.1 billion to purchase its share in Foundry Company with $1.4 billion going to the new company and $700 million going to AMD.

3. The Foundry Company will assume $1.2 billion of AMD's outstanding debt.

4. AMD will contribute its two Dresden, Germany, fabrication facilities and associated intellectual property rights to the Foundry Company. With numerous long-time Intel/AMD patent cross-licensing agreements in place, Intel has mentioned its concerns regarding AMD's licensing of technology to Foundry Company (stay tuned on this one).

5. The Foundry Company has joined IBM's consortium of companies developing IC processing technology for silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and feature sizes down to 22nm.

6. ATIC plans to spend from $3.6 billion to $6.0 billion in capital investment in the Foundry Company over the next five years.

7. AMD's proposed New York-based 300mm fabrication facility is back in play and is expected to be built as part of the capital spending budget listed above. This facility is not expected to be in high volume production until 2011.

IC Insights' Opinion on Foundry Company

1. This deal is a positive for AMD's balance sheet. Without it, the company most surely would have continued to die a slow death. However, this is a "survival" move, not a strategy that will help them gain marketshare.

2. Foundry Company's 2009-2013 capital spending budget is forecast to be $4.8 billion (when using the mid-point of its announced $3.6-$6.0 billion spending plan). The funds will be used to install capacity to produce devices for AMD as well as to enter the IC foundry business. IC Insights believes that this financial commitment is uninspiring at best. It should be noted that AMD's capital expenditures over this and the previous four years (2004-2008) are expected to total $6.4 billion, and look at what shape the company is in today.

3. Intel is expected to spend $25.6 billion dollars in capital expenditures from 2004-2008, four times what AMD will spend over the same timeperiod. IC Insights believes that Intel's capital expenditures over the next five years will total about $30 billion, which would be five times the Foundry Company's most optimistic plan of investing $6.0 billion over that time!

4. TSMC, the largest pure-play foundry in the world, is on track to spend $11.3 billion in capital expenditures from 2004-2008. Although TSMC is likely to be more conservative in its spending going forward, IC Insights believes that the company will still spend at least $10 billion in capital expenditures over the next five years. It should also be noted that there is a lot more to being in the IC foundry business than hanging out a sign and announcing you are a foundry, just ask some of the Malaysian and Chinese foundry startups about the difficulties of gaining marketshare in this segment of the IC industry.

5. Given that Foundry Company's capital spending budget for the next five years is forecast to be less than AMD's capital spending outlays over the previous five years, it is highly unlikely Foundry Company will help AMD gain additional marketshare. In fact, AMD will be lucky to sustain flat marketshare in the MPU segment. Moreover, a significant portion of the Foundry Company's budget must be allocated to the new foundry business, and this, of course, will take away precious spending needed for MPU production!

The Bottom Line

In IC Insights' opinion, AMD's new strategy and business model keeps them in the MPU game, however, it will not shift the balance of power in the MPU or foundry segments of the IC industry over the next five years.

Source: IC Insights, USA And Ciol

Home > Computing > Article Largest local supercom, KISTI 4 started the second project

KISTI 4’s second project, the largest local super computer has been going on in earnest.



Therefore, system, which has drawn the biggest interest, will be
supplied by Sun Korea and IBM Korea. They will supply MPP system and
SMP system respectively. And It is expected that fierce competition
between Intel Korea and AMD Korea will unfold over supply right of MPP
processor reaching 20,000 core.



　On October 13, KISTI announced that as the establishment of the
first system has finalized, it has begun creation of the second system,
which will operate next year.



　KISTI has asked Intel and AMD to submit technical data in order to
select supplier for MMP second system processor. And in order to create
2nd system operation space, it has begun computation offices remodeling
process.



　Previously, KISTI was under the goal of establishing 286 teraflops
MMP system and 36 teraflops SMP system at total $61 million. With this,
in the first half, it finished creation of 24 teraflops and 5.9
teraflops system as the first system.


　The second project will over the first projects’ cost of
$10million for MPP and $8.5 million for SMP. The second one will be
$20.5 million and $10 million. After preparation process, KISTI will
start SMP 2nd system creation in March next year and start MMP 2nd
system in September.



　Among them, MPP 2nd project will be supplied by Sun Korea only for
server, unlike IBM Korea’s supply of all server process. And other
processor hasn’t yet decided.

　In the first project, AMD Korea supplied 3008 core scale processors but 21,000 core 2nd project supplier hasn’t decided.



　In the early this year, for the second project, Intel seemed to be
likely to be selected as supplier because there were problems for AMD
including delay in chip release. But recently AMD proposed new roadmap
and the industry is paying keen attention on whether there will be any
change in selection. Kim, Joong-kwon, head of super computing center at
KISTI said, “We will select supplier within this year after having
negotiation with Sun Korea, a suppler for BMT and system after
receiving technical data early next month. We will choose a company
that proposes best performing goods at a time of establishment time.”
Intel and AMD showed careful response and said, “It is about clients,
so we can’t disclose our plan including information about proposed
products.”

Source : http://english.etnews.co.kr/