Saturday, September 25, 2010
Without Verizon, iPhone on track to start eating Google's dust
Apple isn?t playing catching up in the mobile space just yet but if things stay at the current tick - and all signs suggest that things will move even faster than expected - Google?s Android will become an even bigger threat to the success of the iPhone.
That?s the word from�Bernstein Research analysts Toni Sacconagh and Pierre Ferragu, who say that Google is on pace to overtake Apple?s share in the next five quarters unless? well, you know unless what. Yup, Apple needs Verizon in the U.S.
According to a report on Barron?s Tech Trader Daily blog, the analysts say that one of the key reasons for Android?s success is because the iPhone is still a one-carrier device in large market countries, notably the U.S. Sure, Apple?s device may be available through nearly three times as many carriers as Android devices globally - but Apple needs deals with some of the world?s largest carriers if it wants to keep from being run over by Android.
There have been rumors for longer than most people can remember that a Verizon version of the iPhone will come to market next month or next quarter or next year. Of course, those days never seem to arrive. And because of that, potential iPhone customers - myself included - grew tired of waiting and discovered Android. Many of us are now locked in among the Android faithful. Still, even if Apple releases a CDMA version of the iPhone early next year (the latest rumor), there?s no guarantee that it will be with Verizon. Why? The answer is in this quote from the Bernstein report:
We believe Apple needs to strike distribution deals with these carriers, even if it has to sacrifice some pricing power since doing so would still be accretive to company gross margins, and take away the strong foothold it currently provides to a potentially formidable competitor.
Even if it has to sacrifice some pricing power? Apple? Steve Jobs? Ha!
It was widely suggested way back when that the iPhone wasn?t on Verizon to begin with because Jobs and company couldn?t cut a deal with Verizon over control over the iPhone?s apps. Has that changed? Is Steve Jobs willing to cut that sort of a deal to get his mighty mobile device on the shelves at Verizon stores? Is Verizon willing to cut such a deal, considering the traction with a lineup of high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Droid 2 and others?
The analysts note that the daily run-rate for Android phone sales has more than tripled in the last seven months, jumping from 60,000 phones per day to 200,000. The estimate is that 53 million Android phones will ship this year and that Android alone will drive the entire sector above its projected growth.
Oh, and the analysts also warn Symbian and RIMM to either step up their game - and fast - or risk ?an accelerating erosion? of customers who will eventually migrate toward other platforms. No mention of Windows Mobile 7 or HP?s WebOS, which it obtained when it purchased Palm.
Artificial 'E-skin' May Soon Help Robots 'Feel'
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new technology that may help robots feel, give the sense of touch back to those with prosthetic limbs, and ultimately help robots do the dishes without breaking them (and while they're at it, maybe make a sandwich without turning it into land of the flatlanders).
The material is built using semiconductor nanowires that can operate using low voltages, and it's more flexible than previous inorganic synthetic skins. This "e-skin" is also stronger than its competing organic materials. Organic materials are also poor semiconductors, and require a higher voltage to operate. The Berkeley group's synthetic skin can either be transferred to another material like a plastic or glass by either directly transferring it over from a flat substrate which is then ?rubbed? onto a polymer film made of polyamide. It can also be ?rolled? onto the surface using a device that works much like a lint roller in reverse; the fibers are deposited to a sticky surface rather than picked up.
The e-skin can detect pressure in the range from 0 to 15 kilopascals, or similar to the pressure needed to perform normal daily tasks. In other words, when your cyber-being goes to clean the wine glasses from last night's party, it won't break them, and when your robot goes to make you a sandwich, it won't flatten it to the size of your silicon microprocessor.
The e-skin will be described in a September 12 paper in the advanced online publication of the journal Nature Materials; co-authors include researchers from electrical engineering and computer sciences: Kuniharu Takei, post-doc fellow; Ron Fearing, professor; Toshitake Takahashi, grad student; Hyunhyub Ko and Paul Leu, post-doc researchers; Johnny C. Ho, grad student in materials science and engineering, and Andrew G. Gillies, a grad student in mechanical engineering.
[UC Berkeley]
More from PCWorld's GeekTech blog...
Fan-Made Mega Man vs. Street Fighter Game Must Be Brought to Light
Spray-On Solar Cell Technology Powers The Future
3D-Mapping Laser Backpack is the Nerdiest Back-to-School Item Ever
Follow GeekTech on:
Facebook
|
Twitter
|
Digg
|
RSS
The material is built using semiconductor nanowires that can operate using low voltages, and it's more flexible than previous inorganic synthetic skins. This "e-skin" is also stronger than its competing organic materials. Organic materials are also poor semiconductors, and require a higher voltage to operate. The Berkeley group's synthetic skin can either be transferred to another material like a plastic or glass by either directly transferring it over from a flat substrate which is then ?rubbed? onto a polymer film made of polyamide. It can also be ?rolled? onto the surface using a device that works much like a lint roller in reverse; the fibers are deposited to a sticky surface rather than picked up.
The e-skin can detect pressure in the range from 0 to 15 kilopascals, or similar to the pressure needed to perform normal daily tasks. In other words, when your cyber-being goes to clean the wine glasses from last night's party, it won't break them, and when your robot goes to make you a sandwich, it won't flatten it to the size of your silicon microprocessor.
The e-skin will be described in a September 12 paper in the advanced online publication of the journal Nature Materials; co-authors include researchers from electrical engineering and computer sciences: Kuniharu Takei, post-doc fellow; Ron Fearing, professor; Toshitake Takahashi, grad student; Hyunhyub Ko and Paul Leu, post-doc researchers; Johnny C. Ho, grad student in materials science and engineering, and Andrew G. Gillies, a grad student in mechanical engineering.
[UC Berkeley]
More from PCWorld's GeekTech blog...
Fan-Made Mega Man vs. Street Fighter Game Must Be Brought to Light
Spray-On Solar Cell Technology Powers The Future
3D-Mapping Laser Backpack is the Nerdiest Back-to-School Item Ever
Follow GeekTech on:
|
|
Digg
|
RSS
LAM RESEARCH LIBERTY GLOBAL LM ERICSSON LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL
T-Mobile G2 pre-orders go live for current customers, available to all on October 6
Just as promised, T-Mobile has started offering its subscribers that "exclusive access" to early G2 pre-orders. There have been a couple of early hiccups with the pre-order page for that select group, but they're being ironed out as we type and there's also word that the rest of us unwashed Android geeks will be able to join in on October 6. One of our tipsters forwarded along a bill for his purchase showing the phone to be valued at $249.99 and an estimated delivery date of September 30. That's quite the steep entry fee, considering Best Buy will have the phone on October 6 as well for just under $200 and Radio Shack is undercutting all with a $150 price on the typical two-year contract.
[Thanks, Justin and Wei]
Update: Our tipster's $250 levy is before the standard $50 mail-in rebate, making for the predictable $200 price when all's said and done.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Jen-Hsun Huang Kicks off GPU Tech Conference
Even before Jen-Hsun Huang?s keynote began, attendees at this year?s GPU Tech Conference had their stereoscopic 3D glasses on, grooving to psychedelic, procedural 3D demos shown on the large projection screen.
Is this the wave of the future--sitting in darkened rooms at every corporate presentation wearing bulky glasses? Probably not--stereoscopic technology is evolving and we may see glasses-free technology in less than a decade.
Of course, even good 3D video doesn?t replace the human presence. Nvidia?s annual lovefest for GPU computing doesn?t focus so much on visual imagery as it does on using graphics processors for parallel compute applications. In fact, a good chunk of CEO Jen-Hsun Huang?s keynote focused on applications that indirectly touch end users. Applications like design simulation application ANSYS and scientific computation application MATLAB are focused on the needs of engineers and scientists who are developing products or conducting research.
Still, there were sexy demos aimed at the hearts and minds of owners of Nvidia graphics cards. Tony Tamasi, Nvidia?s senior VP of content and technology, showed off demos that are well beyond the state of the art of today?s games, but might show up in next-generation titles. Two crash test dummies engage in a duel, with one spewing out noxious green smoke, while the other tries to wave it away with a paddle. The smoke is a volumetric simulation pumping out a billion computational threads.
This demo required three GTX 480 GPUs to render in real time, so it?s still somewhat forward-looking.
Another demo, called ?Infinite City,? flew a virtual camera through a completely procedural city. Objects like highly detailed gargoyles were rendered with only a few polygons. All the actual detail was procedurally generated using hardware tessellation.
On the hardware side, Nvidia announced three more major OEMs to support Tesla based servers: IBM BladeServers, a Tesla addition to the Cray XE6 supercomputer line and T-Platforms, the largest high performance server supplier in the Russian market. HP and Dell are already on board, shipping Tesla-based compute server products.
On the professional front, Discreet and Nvidia partnered to develop a real-time ray tracing renderer for 3dsmax. The really cool part about this is the browser that can run on a laptop. This allows the animations to be published to the cloud, with 32 GPU Fermi servers rendering the animation in real time, and pushed back to the laptop. This frees designers to be mobile when needed, and not need high performance workstations at every location.
Moving to more future applications, Adobe showcased a technology based on plenoptic lenses.
A plenoptic lens is really many small lenses arranged in an array similar to an insect?s compound eye. These lenses all capture slightly different parts of a scene from slightly different angles, onto very large digital sensors. This results in a huge number of small images but the overall image can be huge (in terms of megapixels of data.) Using a GPU allows real time editing of the final image. The neat thing is the ability to digital alter focus. Future cameras built with plenoptic lenses may make blurry, out-of-focus images a thing of the past.
Closing out the session, Huang put up a roadmap of future Nvidia GPU architectures, including code names and rough dates. Following the current Fermi will be Kepler, which pushes performance to double the GigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) per watt over Fermi.
Although Kepler will be built on a 28nm process, Huang noted that process technology won?t enable Nvidia to hit their performance and power targets, so the architecture itself will need to be substantially enhanced. Kepler will also feature more CPU-like features, like virtual memory and non-blocking of the CPU. Kepler is slated for a 2011 release.
Beyond Kepler, in 2012, will be Maxwell. Maxwell will support ECC memory, something needed for large computational servers. Maxwell will be built on 22nm process technology, and Huang suggested performance of up to 4-6 times the current Fermi architecture.
Follow GeekTech on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed.
Is this the wave of the future--sitting in darkened rooms at every corporate presentation wearing bulky glasses? Probably not--stereoscopic technology is evolving and we may see glasses-free technology in less than a decade.
Of course, even good 3D video doesn?t replace the human presence. Nvidia?s annual lovefest for GPU computing doesn?t focus so much on visual imagery as it does on using graphics processors for parallel compute applications. In fact, a good chunk of CEO Jen-Hsun Huang?s keynote focused on applications that indirectly touch end users. Applications like design simulation application ANSYS and scientific computation application MATLAB are focused on the needs of engineers and scientists who are developing products or conducting research.
Still, there were sexy demos aimed at the hearts and minds of owners of Nvidia graphics cards. Tony Tamasi, Nvidia?s senior VP of content and technology, showed off demos that are well beyond the state of the art of today?s games, but might show up in next-generation titles. Two crash test dummies engage in a duel, with one spewing out noxious green smoke, while the other tries to wave it away with a paddle. The smoke is a volumetric simulation pumping out a billion computational threads.
This demo required three GTX 480 GPUs to render in real time, so it?s still somewhat forward-looking.
Another demo, called ?Infinite City,? flew a virtual camera through a completely procedural city. Objects like highly detailed gargoyles were rendered with only a few polygons. All the actual detail was procedurally generated using hardware tessellation.
On the hardware side, Nvidia announced three more major OEMs to support Tesla based servers: IBM BladeServers, a Tesla addition to the Cray XE6 supercomputer line and T-Platforms, the largest high performance server supplier in the Russian market. HP and Dell are already on board, shipping Tesla-based compute server products.
On the professional front, Discreet and Nvidia partnered to develop a real-time ray tracing renderer for 3dsmax. The really cool part about this is the browser that can run on a laptop. This allows the animations to be published to the cloud, with 32 GPU Fermi servers rendering the animation in real time, and pushed back to the laptop. This frees designers to be mobile when needed, and not need high performance workstations at every location.
Moving to more future applications, Adobe showcased a technology based on plenoptic lenses.
A plenoptic lens is really many small lenses arranged in an array similar to an insect?s compound eye. These lenses all capture slightly different parts of a scene from slightly different angles, onto very large digital sensors. This results in a huge number of small images but the overall image can be huge (in terms of megapixels of data.) Using a GPU allows real time editing of the final image. The neat thing is the ability to digital alter focus. Future cameras built with plenoptic lenses may make blurry, out-of-focus images a thing of the past.
Closing out the session, Huang put up a roadmap of future Nvidia GPU architectures, including code names and rough dates. Following the current Fermi will be Kepler, which pushes performance to double the GigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) per watt over Fermi.
Although Kepler will be built on a 28nm process, Huang noted that process technology won?t enable Nvidia to hit their performance and power targets, so the architecture itself will need to be substantially enhanced. Kepler will also feature more CPU-like features, like virtual memory and non-blocking of the CPU. Kepler is slated for a 2011 release.
Beyond Kepler, in 2012, will be Maxwell. Maxwell will support ECC memory, something needed for large computational servers. Maxwell will be built on 22nm process technology, and Huang suggested performance of up to 4-6 times the current Fermi architecture.
Follow GeekTech on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed.
TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES TNS TIBCO SOFTWARE
First Tri-Core 1.5 GHz Processors for Smartphones: They?re a Marvell!
A new three-core processor from Marvell, the Armada 628, is a 1.5GHz processor with three CPUs on one chip. Designed for powering smartphones and tablets, this tri-core processor can purportedly deliver dual stream 1080p 3D video to your mobile device.
Marvell claims this processor will be ?ultra-low-power? and provide mobile devices with longer battery lives, playing back music for over 140 hours. With 200 million triangles per second on a low power setting, the Marvell Armada should provide more than 10 hours of video at 3 GHz of computational power. It should also be able to output to two LCD screens simultaneously, as well as over HDMI.
What mobile OSes would run on the Armada 628? According to Marvell, the Armada supports RIM OS, Android, Linux, and Windows Mobile, as well as full Adobe Flash. It also supports DirectX, Open GL ES 2.0, and Open VG 1.1, giving mobile game developers what should prove to be a powerful platform for creating games for on-the-go. The Armada should also be able to support USB 3.0, which can transfer data at speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0.
The real question: when will these processors start appearing in smartphones and tablets? Marvell says that the ?Armada 628 is currently available for sampling to customers,? and for more details to check Marvell's Website, which hasn?t been updated to reflect the existence of the 628 yet.
What sort of mobile games would you like to see using the Armada 628 as a platform? Let us know in the comments!
Follow Alessondra Springmann and GeekTech on Twitter.
Marvell claims this processor will be ?ultra-low-power? and provide mobile devices with longer battery lives, playing back music for over 140 hours. With 200 million triangles per second on a low power setting, the Marvell Armada should provide more than 10 hours of video at 3 GHz of computational power. It should also be able to output to two LCD screens simultaneously, as well as over HDMI.
What mobile OSes would run on the Armada 628? According to Marvell, the Armada supports RIM OS, Android, Linux, and Windows Mobile, as well as full Adobe Flash. It also supports DirectX, Open GL ES 2.0, and Open VG 1.1, giving mobile game developers what should prove to be a powerful platform for creating games for on-the-go. The Armada should also be able to support USB 3.0, which can transfer data at speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0.
The real question: when will these processors start appearing in smartphones and tablets? Marvell says that the ?Armada 628 is currently available for sampling to customers,? and for more details to check Marvell's Website, which hasn?t been updated to reflect the existence of the 628 yet.
What sort of mobile games would you like to see using the Armada 628 as a platform? Let us know in the comments!
Follow Alessondra Springmann and GeekTech on Twitter.
MICROS SYSTEMS MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY METHODE ELECTRONICS
Samsung Opens Video Store for Phones, Tablet
Samsung on Thursday said it was opening an entertainment store to bring movies and TV shows to its smartphones and upcoming Galaxy Tab tablet.The store, called Media Hub, will offer films and TV programs for rent or purchase, said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, during a U.S. launch event for its Galaxy Tab tablet. The Media Hub store pits the company against Apple, which offers movies, music and TV shows for purchase through its iTunes store. With the Media Hub, consumers will be available to watch movies and TV optimized for the Galaxy devices, Sohn said. Movies and TV shows are available for purchase immediately for Galaxy S smartphones. The service will also be available for the upcoming Galaxy Tab tablet, which will be released in the next few weeks. Consumers have been asking for entertainment on the go, Sohn said. The content available for download will include the latest films and TV episodes, available in the store as soon as the next day. Content will be streamed instantly as they are being downloaded.The company has built a library of movies and TV shows by working with partners including MTV Networks, NBC, Universal Studios and Paramount, said Gavin Kim, vice president of content services and enterprise mobility, at the event. The company will make announcements on new partners over the next few months. The company didn't immediately offer details on pricing for shows and movies. Kim said the pricing would be "competitive" with other content stores in the market. The Media Hub is Samsung's next step in developing an application and content ecosystem that will make Samsung's devices more attractive to customers, said Omar Khan, chief strategy officer at Samsung Mobile.Media Hub also allows users to purchase content that can be shared separately shared with up to five devices.
SUN MICROSYSTEMS STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS
Without Verizon, iPhone on track to start eating Google's dust
Apple isn?t playing catching up in the mobile space just yet but if things stay at the current tick - and all signs suggest that things will move even faster than expected - Google?s Android will become an even bigger threat to the success of the iPhone.
That?s the word from�Bernstein Research analysts Toni Sacconagh and Pierre Ferragu, who say that Google is on pace to overtake Apple?s share in the next five quarters unless? well, you know unless what. Yup, Apple needs Verizon in the U.S.
According to a report on Barron?s Tech Trader Daily blog, the analysts say that one of the key reasons for Android?s success is because the iPhone is still a one-carrier device in large market countries, notably the U.S. Sure, Apple?s device may be available through nearly three times as many carriers as Android devices globally - but Apple needs deals with some of the world?s largest carriers if it wants to keep from being run over by Android.
There have been rumors for longer than most people can remember that a Verizon version of the iPhone will come to market next month or next quarter or next year. Of course, those days never seem to arrive. And because of that, potential iPhone customers - myself included - grew tired of waiting and discovered Android. Many of us are now locked in among the Android faithful. Still, even if Apple releases a CDMA version of the iPhone early next year (the latest rumor), there?s no guarantee that it will be with Verizon. Why? The answer is in this quote from the Bernstein report:
We believe Apple needs to strike distribution deals with these carriers, even if it has to sacrifice some pricing power since doing so would still be accretive to company gross margins, and take away the strong foothold it currently provides to a potentially formidable competitor.
Even if it has to sacrifice some pricing power? Apple? Steve Jobs? Ha!
It was widely suggested way back when that the iPhone wasn?t on Verizon to begin with because Jobs and company couldn?t cut a deal with Verizon over control over the iPhone?s apps. Has that changed? Is Steve Jobs willing to cut that sort of a deal to get his mighty mobile device on the shelves at Verizon stores? Is Verizon willing to cut such a deal, considering the traction with a lineup of high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Droid 2 and others?
The analysts note that the daily run-rate for Android phone sales has more than tripled in the last seven months, jumping from 60,000 phones per day to 200,000. The estimate is that 53 million Android phones will ship this year and that Android alone will drive the entire sector above its projected growth.
Oh, and the analysts also warn Symbian and RIMM to either step up their game - and fast - or risk ?an accelerating erosion? of customers who will eventually migrate toward other platforms. No mention of Windows Mobile 7 or HP?s WebOS, which it obtained when it purchased Palm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)