Intel/IBM unveil new microchip technology

[MadVlad]

IBM and Intel announced a new breakthrough involving new microchip technology. This is awesome news, making microchips unbelievably smaller, using much less power, and, more importantly, wasting much less power. Nano-technology is just a crazy idea that is a reality. Stuff like this excites me for some reason....

CNN Reports

[Snowguy716]

That's pretty amazing. And to think that not all that long ago computers took up entire large rooms using vacuum tubes to perform pretty simple tasks.

[tamias6]

This would mean that the cell phone I will own 5 to 10 years from now will be more powerful than my desktop I have today. Sweet!

[vdogg]

It seems like every couple of years people are predicting the demise of moores law and then whammo, another technology comes along that will extend it another decade. I cannot even imagine what computer technology will be like 10 years from now.

"We do expect that those products will deliver higher performance levels than existing products," said Steve Smith, vice president of Intel's digital enterprise group operations. "What we're seeing is excellent double-digit performance gains on media applications."

[MadVlad]

This really, really is ground-breaking stuff. "Researchers are optimistic the new technology can be used at least through two more technology generations out, when circuitry will be just 22 nanometers." Jesus, how the hell do you work with stuff that small? The real problem lies in making batteries that can hold a charge for any significant amount of time, and make them small enough to do what we need....

[monsoon]

That's pretty amazing. And to think that not all that long ago computers took up entire large rooms using vacuum tubes to perform pretty simple tasks.

[Captain Worley]

Jeez, anyone remember Hollerith cards? I love the forward march of technology.

Just wait til they perfect quantum chips which I hear epands computing power by something like a trillion. Anyone know about that?

[seicer]

Wow.

And I remember the days of Commodore 64, then the Hewlett-Packard (when it was called that) 486x86 PC, and the Sony Vaio...

[Charlotteman]

If ya'll are excited about technology's rapid gains re:computers in the future, just wait until medical technology utilizes these new technologies! We live in fantastic times.

[MadVlad]

Can heavily cybernetic people be far in the future? Nanoscopic circuitry would make it much easier to add mechanical parts to a living being. Again, one would assume that a power supply would be the biggest barrier....

[vdogg]

Not sure if this is related to their most recent announcement or not, but sounds pretty neat nonetheless

Teraflop chip invented

The Teraflop chip uses less electricity than many current high-end processors, making the design attractive for use in home computers. It consumes 62 watts, and the cores can power on and off independently, making it more energy efficient.

Intel says that commercial spin-offs of the chip could see it being used in high-definition entertainment PCs, servers and handheld devices.

Possible uses include artificial intelligence, instant video communications, photo-realistic games and real-time speech recognition, said the firm.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

The singularity is near.

[vdogg]

The singularity is near.