Samsung announces world's thinnest 8 megapixel cellphone module

Posted Mar 18th 2008 3:14AM by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Measuring just 8.5-mm thin, you're looking at what Samsung claims to be the slimmest CMOS camera module of its kind. The 8 megapixel module is expected to supplant the 5 megapixel job found in todays top-end cameraphones sometime in the second half of the year. Fortunately, this isn't just a case of megapixel marketing as the module also features anti-shake, a 1-cm macro, and face tracking technology. It also packs a smile shutter feature to snap that picture just as soon as a smile, or vinegar, is detected.

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Intel's 6-core Dunnington CPU coming this year, Nehalem gets official

Posted Mar 18th 2008 6:42AM by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Quad-core shmod-core Intel, we need 6 cores or more to keep our uh, web browsers snappy. While you're at it, how about tossing in some Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) so that each core can process two threads at a time -- 16 simultaneous threads per 8-core processor or 32 for dual-processor, 8-core rigs. If that sounds good then you're in luck; Intel just went official with its near-term architecture plans which include the 2008 launch of a 6-core Dunnington-class server CPU platform based on Intel's 45-nm Penryn "tick" architecture. On deck is Intel's second generation Nehalem "tock" architecture with SMT and scalable from 2- to 8-cores. We're talking "dramatic" performance and energy improvements, according to Intel, from a microarchitecture bent on delivering an 8 MB level-3 cache, DDR3-800 memory support, 25.6GB per second Quickpath interconnects (so long Front Side Bus!), an integrated memory controller and optional integrated graphics to high-end servers and eventually laptops. Hear that AMD? Tick, tock goes the clock.

P.S. That's Nehalem pictured. What, can't you tell?

[Via BetaNews, thanks Mike O.]

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Eye-Fi SD card cracked, splayed

Posted Mar 18th 2008 8:12AM by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless, Storage

Damn, that's a lot of technology packed into the tiny wireless Eye-Fi SD card. We're used to seeing cellphones and laptops stripped to the silicon bone but this is something special. Just look at that tiny 2GB Samsung NAND chip and even tinier Atheros ROCm 802.11b/g WiFi module. Hit the read link for all the techie gore.

[Thanks, John R.]

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Luxim wants to brighten your block with ultra-powerful plasma lightbulbs

Posted Mar 18th 2008 9:58AM by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we all enjoy a Tic Tac from time to time, but what if that minty Tic Tac were also able to generate the same amount of light as an industrial LED? You probably wouldn't want to ingest that, though according to the company Luxim -- known to us for its work in the A/V world -- you might want to stick it in a streetlight. Apparently, the company has created a micro-sized bulb that uses 250 watts of power, but outperforms a 400 watt LED. Gas inside the tiny bulb is electrified by a component called a puck, which heats the gas into plasma and produces light, allowing a sizable chunk of energy to become light rather than heat -- thus the ultra-bright performance. Inside the mint-sized bulb the gas reaches 6000-degrees Kelvin -- or about the surface temperature of the Sun -- producing 140 lumens per watt, or roughly ten times that of a standard lightbulb. Really, it's quite bright. Still, a Tic Tac would probably be more refreshing. [Via CNET]

Luxim's 250W Tic-Tac Sized Bulb Blows Away 400W LEDs

Luxim's new bulb may only be the size of a Tic-Tac, but this little bugger can crank out way more light at 250 watts than a traditional 400 watt LED. It can achieve this feat thanks to gas that is heated inside the bulb via electrical energy delivered to it by a "puck." As the gas turns to plasma, the bulb is illuminated. However, since most of the energy is not lost to heat, the light can reach a high level of brightness. In fact, it can produce up to 140 lumens per watt which is twice that of an LED and around 10 times that of a standard bulb. Impressive. Hit the link to see the light in action. [CNET and Luxim]

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Intel details the Larrabee next-gen hybrid CPU / GPU

Posted Mar 18th 2008 4:54PM by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Although they've gotten better recently, Intel's integrated graphics chipsets have never gotten a ton of love -- the underpowered 915 chipset is at the heart of the whole "Vista Capable" debacle, for example -- but it looks like the company's about to make a strong play to be your new pixel-pusher of choice with the new Larrabee graphics chip. Based on the x86 instruction set, the new chip isn't just limited to GPU duties, but can serve as a general-purpose processor as well. Early 16-core versions have been developed with max speeds of over 2GHz, but the design can apparently scale to thousands of cores in the future. The plan is first to release Larrabee chips as separate graphics units in Q4 of this year, but early next year we should see both laptop and desktop-oriented 45nm Nehalem processors with the Larrabee tech built right in. That should beat AMD's Fusion processors to market -- looks like the race is on. Read - PC Perspective roadmap article with Intel slides Read - DailyTech roadmap with Larrabee details

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