Softkinetic to launch Silhouette gesture-control game
Softkinetic makes software necessary to convert body gestures captured by cameras into controls for video game systems. That’s a nascent market whose surface has only been scratched by the Sony EyeToy and the Nintendo Wii. So Brussels, Belgium-based Softkinetic is now launching its own game to stimulate the market for gesture-controlled games
The strategy is a shift for Softkinetic, which previously focused on making the middleware software for gesture-control systems. It also has plans to ship… Continue Reading
The coolest and scariest things coming in the chip industry’s future
At the Hot Chips chip design conference at Stanford University this week, chip researchers spelled out some of the toughest computing problems of the future and the solutions to deal with them. Hearing these pioneers and visionaries talk was both inspiring and disturbing. They talked alternately about running into technological brick walls, and about ways to get around them. But they warned that the ever-increasing cost of making the newest chips will have an impact… Continue Reading
Browser makers announce support for built-in 3D graphics
At today’s sessions of the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in New Orleans, a group of hardware and software makers that includes browser makers Mozilla, Opera and Google announced their plans to deliver built-in 3D graphics in Web pages that won’t require a plug-in or add-on to the browser. Early adopters may get to try it in a few months. The rest of us will probably see it arrive on our screens the second half of… Continue Reading
Graphics chip rivals race to deliver next-generation chips
The next-generation of graphics chips is due to arrive in PCs sometime this year. Both Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are expected to deliver these chips for the personal computer market this year, but no one knows exactly when.
This change is so important that, depending on which way the rumors swing, it’s bound to drive the stock prices of the rivals involved either up or down through the rest of the year. Because the companies… Continue Reading
Nvidia says 42 Tegra-based web gadgets coming your way soon
Nvidia has touted its Tegra chip for mobile web devices in the past year, but it said today that the chip has more momentum than it previously described.
42 different devices are being designed with the Tegra chip. Customers include 27 different manufacturers as well as 27 different mobile phone carriers around the world. The devices include media players, web pads, and 12 smart phones. Some of them are more like a cross between a phone… Continue Reading
MobileBeat 2009 speakers added: Motorola’s Christy Wyatt, Nvidia’s Michael Rayfield
We’ve added some more speakers at our MobileBeat 2009 conference on July 16.
Christy Wyatt, vice president of software applications and ecosystem at Motorola, is among the executives trying to turn around the company’s mobile phone division — in part by placing some bets on smartphones. The company’s phone division is deep in the red, but Motorola has a history of making amazing comebacks, including when it launched the Razr phone years ago. By capitalizing on… Continue Reading
Nvidia trumpets success of its Tegra cell phone processors
Nvidia is becoming a real player in portable mobile devices as the industry embraces its Tegra processors. The company is announcing today that some of the world’s biggest gadget manufacturers are designing mobile devices using the Tegra chips.
And the interesting thing is, the first major adopters of these chips for mobile Internet devices, or MIDS, are expected to be cell phone carriers, not the computer makers who are Nvidia’s traditional customers.
At the Computex show in… Continue Reading
Nvidia scores first major customer for Ion graphics platform
When Nvidia launched its Ion graphics platform for netbooks and small laptops in December, it landed with a thud. But today, the company is announcing that Lenovo is going to use the platform to create a small laptop with 10 times more graphics horsepower than typical laptops.
Ion is a chip that combines an Nvidia graphics chip with a chip set. It’s meant to be paired with low-cost processors such as Intel’s Atom microprocessor in low-power… Continue Reading
Elemental Technologies’ super-fast video processing could slash costs of video web sites
Web sites such as YouTube get so much traffic for their videos that the processing load can be crushing, leading to huge server and bandwidth costs.
To deal with that, Elemental Technologies is announcing new servers today that take advantage of the computing power of graphics chips in order to process lots of video simultaneously. The result may be much lower costs for video sites and a better viewing experience for consumers.
The Portland, Ore.-based company is… Continue Reading
Intel readies second-generation Atom processor for next-generation, laptop-like netbooks
Intel announced today it has designed a faster and more power-efficient version of its Atom microprocessor, which in the past year has revolutionized computing in the netbook market.
The netbook market has exploded in the past year as consumers opt for the convenient size (smaller than laptop), simple features of surfing the web and reading email, and costs of $500 or less. Intel has sold tens of millions of Atom processors in the past year. It… Continue Reading
Nvidia sees graphics chip market stabilize, but losses continue
Nvidia, which makes graphics chips that go into all kinds of electronic devices, and therefore a good barometer for the tech industry, says its market is stabilizing.
The Santa Clara, Calif. company reported improved financials for its first fiscal quarter ended April 26. Revenue was $664.2 million, down 42 percent from $1.2 billion a year earlier. But sales were up 38 percent from the fourth fiscal quarter.
Along with Intel, Nvidia’s results are closely watched. Its better… Continue Reading
Graphics chips make a comeback in first quarter sales
In a sign that the recession in the PC market may be subsiding, graphics chip sales bounced back somewhat in the first quarter.
Graphics chip sales were up 3.3 percent in the first quarter from fourth-quarter levels.
Graphics chips are one leading indicator of PC sales, since graphics chips are purchased ahead of actual PC shipments to customers, so a recovery in graphics chip sales is a good sign for the overall market, according to market researcher… Continue Reading
Intel’s Larrabee graphics processor draws a crowd at Game Developers Conference
Intel will be launching its Larrabee chip next year — a chip that will live or die depending on how popular it is with game developers. Which is why it saw some serious discussion at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today.
Mike Abrash, founder of RAD Game Tools, which makes video game development tools, took to the stage to pitch the chip to the audience. The chip is a hybrid of a microprocessor and… Continue Reading
Nvidia fires back at Intel with chip set countersuit
Nvidia filed a countersuit against Intel today, alleging that Intel broke contract when it refused to grant Nvidia a chip set license on future Intel microprocessors.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia is asking the courts to allow the graphics chip maker to terminate its own contracts with Intel, which sued Nvidia last month.
The companies signed a license four years ago that allowed Nvidia to make Intel chip sets. In turn, Intel got to make chip sets with… Continue Reading
Intel alleges AMD breached its cross-licensing pact
The chip giants look like they’re heading toward a hot war. Intel said that Advanced Micro Devices has breached a licensing pact that has been in place since 2001.
AMD said in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Intel sent a letter regarding the legitimacy of the pact in light of AMD’s split into two companies. Intel said that AMD’s division into a design business and a manufacturing business, the latter known… Continue Reading
Nvidia launches GPU Ventures Program to foster startups
Nvidia is trying to stoke its own product ecosystem today as it launches the GPU Ventures Program to identify, support and in invest in early stage companies.
The investments will focus on GPU (graphics processing unit) applications such as video programs that tap the computing power of the graphics chip. Through Nvidia’s CUDA programming environment, the GPUs can now be used to handle non-graphics computing tasks and software companies are only just beginning to exploit that,… Continue Reading
Roundup: Ev Williams stumbles to the top, privacy goes obsolete, jet packs are back and more
Cisco eyeing Pure Digital? — The maker of the Flip video camera is in acquisition talks. TechCrunch has more.
Rocketeer envy going strong — The Wall Street Journal looks at the public’s fascination with jet packs, and the shape they’re taking today.
A series of fortunate events for Ev Williams – The Twitter founder recounted his haphazard ascent in the New York Times.
Nvidia takes a run at Intel — The company announced its plan to roll out an x86 microprocessor,… Continue Reading
How ugly can the chip business get?
The semiconductor industry has been through so many ups and downs over the course of more than 60 years. If anyone should know how to get through the turmoil, it’s the chip makers who have become the elder statesmen of Silicon Valley.
But the greatest recession since 1929 is pulling the chip industry deeper into the mud than ever before. Sales fell 28 percent in January compared to a year ago. It’s getting ugly. Not quite… Continue Reading
Is there a Mac mini in the Mac mini box? Will we find out tomorrow?
As rumors continue to mount about Apple closing in on launching some new products, today brings a picture that may or may not once again show the backside of the Mac mini revamp. The picture, posted first by MacRumors on a sub-page of its site because it thought it to be fake, may not be fake after all.
While it seemed odd that Apple would feature the back of the machine on its box, it actually… Continue Reading
Roundup: Yahoo and Microsoft, Eminem sues Universal, and more
YAYED: Yet Another Yahoo Executive Departs — This time it’s Marco Boerries, the executive vice president in the company’s Connected Device Division, ahead of a pending reorganization under new chief executive Carol Bartz.
Eminem aims lawsuit at Universal Music Group — The successful rapper says the record label owes him $1.6 million in unpaid royalties from digital sales. Hypebot has more.
Ballmer: “I don’t want to wind up being known as the Jerry Yang of this market” — Microsoft chief… Continue Reading