We’re not exactly sure what to make of this, but during this morning’s press conference on the new Core i3, i5 and i7 ULV processors , Intel’s Mooly Eden seemed to reveal that Chipzilla is planning to launch a special “tablet solution” at Computex. No details were given on this “dedicated silicon for the tablet space, ” but we can assume that it’s going to fall into the Atom line up. Whether it will be an extension of the Moorestown family or just be an outgrowth of the Pineview platform found in netbooks and nettops remains to be seen, but you can bet on us listening up for more info when we’re live from Taipei next week. Hit the link below if you want to hear this guy spill the beans. Intel to announce dedicated tablet silicon at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | CarryPad | Email this | Comments
Wi-LAN , a Canadian company founded in 1992 to commercialize wireless networking technology, a couple of years ago decided to refocus its business on “developing, protecting and monetizing patented inventions” when it was facing a fast-approaching bankruptcy. According to its website, its portfolio today includes more than 800 patented inventions, either developed in-house or acquired or licensed from third parties. This morning, Wi-LAN announced that it is suing just about every mobile phone and laptop maker in the world in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that these companies are infringing Wi-LAN’s U.S. Patent No. 5,515,369 by making and/or selling various products enabled with Bluetooth technology. The list of companies that Wi-LAN is targeting is long, but just to give you an idea: it includes corporations like Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, LG, Intel, Texas Instruments, Acer and Motorola. Wi-LAN will be represented in this action by law firm McKool Smith , the same firm that got VirnetX a $105.75 million patent infringement verdict in its lawsuit against Microsoft a couple of weeks ago. It’s also the same firm that in May 2009 helped i4i win a $200 million lawsuit against Microsoft (the awards were later lifted to $290 million after review). We’re trying to obtain more details about the case, but here’s the summary description of the patent, which is titled “Method for frequency sharing and frequency punchout in frequency hopping communications network”, for starters: In a wireless packet communication system having a plurality of nodes, each having a transmitter and a receiver, the receiver at each node is assigned a seed value and is provided with a channel punchout mask. A node uses its seed value and punchout mask to generate a specific randomly ordered channel hopping band plan on which to receive signals. A node transmits its seed value and punchout mask to target nodes with which it wants to establish communication links, and those target nodes each use the seed value and punchout mask to generate the randomly ordered channel hopping band plan for that node. Subsequently, when one of the target nodes wish to transmit to the node, the target node changes frequency to the frequency of the node according to that node’s band plan. Click here for the entire document (PDF).
A quick glance at that render we’d obtained of the rumored MOTOSPLIT had us thinking we were seeing a large, Sholes -style phone with a musclebound OMAP3 core, but hold up — maybe this is a lower-end (and stranger) phone than we’d originally thought. Android Community has gotten tipped with additional details and another supposed render of the handset, and the most notable tidbit here seems to be that the phone is said to use dynamic key labels ( a la Samsung Alias 2 ) to let the user pull out a single side as a numeric keypad or both sides (hence the “SPLIT” in the name) for full QWERTY action. In the QWERTY configuration, there’s apparently a kickstand around back that would help you set the phone on a desk and type with all the ease of the world’s smallest netbook cocked at an awkward 45-degree angle. The wisdom and usability of this kind of setup remains a huge question mark, but the bigger question mark might be inside the phone itself: we’re hearing here that the MOTOSPLIT would use the same core as the Backflip , an old-school Qualcomm MSM7201A. Frankly that seems unlikely at best — virtually every Qualcomm-powered midrange smartphone to be introduced in 2010 from here on out will be using an MSM7227 or 7627 (including Moto’s own Devour ), so we’re going to cautiously assume this particular piece of the intel is incorrect. Please let it be incorrect, Motorola, we beg of you. Motorola MOTOSPLIT to have dynamic key labels, lame processor? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink SlashGear | Android Community | Email this | Comments
It’s not often that you hear about a startup still in deep stealth that has over 40 employees and backing from some of the biggest names in the valley. But that’s exactly the case for Santa Clara-based Kakai , which was founded in May by Chegg founder Osman Rashid . The company has recently closed a $7.5 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Josh Kopelman (First Round) and Ron Conway. Marc Andreessen will be joining Kakai’s board. This brings Kakai’s total funding to $9.35 million, after a $1.85 million Series A earlier this year led by Rashid himself and Mike Maples. Very little is known about Kakai at this point. It was cofounded by Rashid and engineer Babur Habib, who has spent time working on both semiconductors and software at Intel, Philips, and Exponent. The company has been rumored to have something to do with electronic readers, but all reports are vague. I did manage to dig up the following from an old job listing, which seems to be in line with those rumors: “Kakai is a stealth-mode start-up developing an innovative Linux-based, portable consumer electronics product (details available through non-disclosure agreement).” Rashid isn’t talking. He does say, though, that we’ll likely be hearing much more from the company come late March. He also says the 40 person company is actively hiring top technical talent. Don’t bother looking at Kakai’s homepage for more information. It has no details, and appears to have been designed to look as drab as possible. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Well. NVIDIA has to be loving this . Intel has announced today that not only is its Larrabee graphics chip delayed, that chip which promised to usher in a new era of post-GPU computing, but that it’s been downgraded to a “software development platform.” Intel isn’t even saying what that “software development” will be aimed at, though we have to assume it would be some future version of the hybrid GPU / CPU chip. As to when the kit itself might arrive is anybody’s guess, Intel is merely saying “next year.” Meanwhile we can look forward to Intel’s first example of a GPU / CPU hybrid in the upcoming Pineview Atom processor, which kicks those lackluster integrated graphics to the curb and moves everything onto the CPU. Who knows if that will be enough to quell the NVIDIA’s quiet takeover of the higher-end netbook space with its ION graphics, but with Intel’s current track record in the graphics space, we doubt it. Intel’s Larrabee graphics processor delayed, downsized to mere software development platform originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | CNET News | Email this | Comments
