chip

An entrepreneur says he has a response to the intensifying debate about gun control in the US. He says that by utilizing innovative computer technology, he can ensure that only the rightful owner of a weapon can fire it. The technology requires a ... radio chip in the handle of the gun. The gun's owner would wear a corresponding chip, in the form of a ring or a bracelet. Some observers even suggest the chip could be implanted directly into the gun owner's hand. Robert McNamara, who owns the company TriggerSmart, patented this radio chip technology last spring. Smart Gun Tech Not New Of course, ... (view more)

A major microprocessor company has designed a new chip that requires far less energy to work than more conventional chip designs. The breakthrough could allow millions of non-computing devices to benefit from an Internet connection. The new design ... comes from British-based firm ARM Holdings, which builds the processors used in most smartphones. While PC chips generally require so much power from batteries that they are limited to only a few hours of portable operation, the new ARMchip allows smartphones to run for several days without recharging. Cheap and Tiny 'Flycatcher' Chip Uses One-Third ... (view more)

Popular chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) says it is currently working on a new line of processors designed to power Windows 8 tablets, and hopes to make them available to tablet manufacturers later this year. AMD chief executive officer (CEO) ... Rory Read made the announcement before a group of American analysts this past week. "We have a huge opportunity in front of us," Read noted. "How the world is using processors is changing rapidly. This is about stepping out of the shadows and leading." (Source: pocket-lint.com ) AMD Seeks Opportunity to Trump Long-Term Rival Intel There's no doubt ... (view more)

In computing, the term "chipset" is commonly used to refer to a set of specialized chips on a computer's motherboard (or "main board"), and even expansion cards. North and South Bridges of a Mainboard Based on Intel Pentium-class microprocessors, ... the term chipset often refers to a specific pair of chips on the motherboard: the northbridge and the southbridge. The northbridge links the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to very high-speed devices, especially main memory and graphics controllers, and the southbridge connects to lower-speed peripheral buses (such as PCI or ISA). In many modern ... (view more)

Industry experts are praising a new quad-core processor from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), priced at just $99. The new chip could help reverse AMD's fortunes of late by giving consumers a cheaper alternative when looking to build a Windows 7-capable ... machine. AMD is targeting do-it-yourself "system builders" with the new chip, dubbed the Athlon II X4 quad-core processor. Priced at less than a hundred bucks, the chip, AMD says, blends cost efficiency with performance. (Source: informationweek.com ) Microsoft Impressed Microsoft is also understandably impressed with AMD's attempt to bring ... (view more)

British computer researchers have produced a tiny microchip capable of using light rather than electricity to carry out calculations. It employs quantum mechanics to drastically cut the time taken for computations and could one day mean a ... substantially more secure Internet. University of Bristol researchers say the small size of the chip is the easiest change to demonstrate, but that this isn't its real innovation. And they are open about the fact that it won't replace standard computer processors. But the principle of what it does do is a genuine breakthrough. Exponentially Faster than ... (view more)

iPhone users worldwide are complaining of dropped calls, and it's looking increasingly likely the cause is the phone itself. The problem appears to be occurring with the "3G connection," the fast-access which allows many of the smartphone features ... to operate. Because the phones aren't getting a strong enough connection on the 3G networks, they often need to switch to a traditional phone network in mid-call. This doesn't always go smoothly and is sometimes causing temporary disconnections which are enough to terminate the connection. There doesn't seem to be any strong geographical pattern in ... (view more)

Just a few days after announcing it will be releasing a new line of chips specifically designed for the skyrocketing laptop market, Intel has now revealed it will also be slashing the price of its server and desktop processors. Things are certainly ... looking up for Intel, which last week boasted an impressive second quarter profit jump. All that profitability has allowed the company to slash the price of its most prominent chip, the Core 2 Duo. Intel's top of the line version of that chip, the 3.1GHz E8500, plummeted from $266 to $183, a 31 per cent drop. The lower performance E8400 also ... (view more)