Silicon Fish, Plastic Chips

The science of making electronics out of plastic has recently taken a huge leap forward with the creation of the first working computer CPU chip – processor – made entirely from plastic. While it may sound like an un-natural combination electricity and plastic can work and the scientific types at the IMEC nanotechnology centre in Leuven, Belgium have produced a simple demonstration circuit. Plastics offer the interesting ability to be printed directly onto a glad wrap like plastic, allowing for cheap computing devices - in the cent per chip or less - that may one day appear in places where the cost and lack of flexibility has always stopped traditional computer chips.

Researchers used 4,000 plastic transistors to build the plastic processor. The device measures roughly two centimeters square and is built on top of flexible plastic foil. “Compared to using silicon, this has the advantage of lower price and that it can be flexible,” says Jan Genoe, lead designer. Read the full article »»»»

Amazons Magic Clouds

Amazon’s attempts to transform itself into a digital media company are starting to light up the cloud. Amazons most recent release Amazon MP3 along with it’s CloudDrive Internet storage service are a two punch combination. Beating Google and Apple to the Web Based MP3 player must have given them some serious satisfaction. Amazons MP3 versions at the moment are limited to Mac, and PC on the computer and Android for tablets and phones. Think of it as a web based iTunes with-out the need to sync and no pictures of fruit.

With Amazon MP3 on your Android the music you uploaded from your PC becomes instantly available to your phone. Any PC you use – as long as it has an internet connection –  can access your collection or files. Uploading your MP3 collection begins with Amazon’s software scanning you PC and cataloging your collection. Once Amazon has done it’s thing, you get to select what is uploaded, the transfer begins, it’s a relatively painless process. The files are actually uploaded to the Amazon Cloud service. Read the full article »»»»

Apple: The Other Computer That Changed The Galaxy

Brief Apple History: On April fools day - April 1 - 1976, the 2 Steves, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs created a little nugget called Apple Computer, Inc. From the first 500 Apple I’s through to the Macintosh of the mid 80′s, Apple rocked the world of personal computing.

The story of Apple is not just a story dominated by one man, Steve Jobs, one man is never enough for a truly interesting story. There is politics, back stabbing and revenge, genius and coprporate stupidity all rolled up into a story about one of the worlds largest technology companies. The plot twists with all of the elements of a  Shakespearian dream.

Apples birth is the story of one of the most legendary garage startups of the late 1970′s. Apple had existed as a company before 1976 with three people on the books, the 2 Steves,  Jobs and Wozniak and a third wheel - Ronald Wayne. Wayne sold his shares to the Steve’s for $800 when Apple become an  incorporated company - 1976 -  Wayne would become known as the man who said no shit sherlocks the most times ever. Read the full article »»»»

Nvidia GeForce GTX 590: The Übervideo Card Battle Warms Up!

Nvidia’s answer to a question that no one can afford has been released, the dual GPU Nvidia GTX 590 is here to challenge the king of Uber video cards the ATI 6990. ATI no longer has the Uber video card market to itself, their 6990 video card  may still hold the speed crown – only just – but the GTX 590 is hot on it’s heals, the king has some competition.

With a card like the GTX 590 a massive budget is required, $700 USD RRP for the video card might scare the hell out of most people but if your still interested then you’ll need to make sure you can supply the right environment, the infrastructure to support it. The parts you put around this video card will help to get the most out of it. Your case needs 30cm of space for the card, a 700 watt power supply is required to keep this bad boy juiced up, the card will chew 365 watts of power during gaming. You’ll need two 8pin power plugs connected just to start the card. Read the full article »»»»

AMD’s 3.5Ghz Bulldozer, The CPU Rumble in The Jungle

The CPU performance battle is about to heat up once more, the Intel vs AMD game of one up-manship continues.

Can AMD finally answer Intels domination of the market or will Intel once again squash them like a bug on the windscreen of the Intel juggernaut. No  matter which one of the two 600 pound guerrilla’s wins we consumers are the true winners, with Uber fast kit coming up and neither AMD nor Intel being able to rest on their laurels.

According to the news announced at the ISSCC - International Solid-State Circuits Conference -  in San Francisco AMD’s new processor – Bulldozer – will run at 3.5Ghz at release. This is quite a surprise as normally a completely new chip from AMD will run at slightly lower clock speed than the fastest of the old generation. The current fastest clock speed for AMD’s quad core CPU is 3.5Ghz so releasing the new chip at that speed is a great sign for the new design. Read the full article »»»»