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TECH UPDATE
First ‘wireless-internet-on-a-chip’ announced
Intel corporation has announced a new cellular processor that uses advanced “wireless-Internet-on-a-chip” technology. The highly integrated microchip is the first to combine the key components of today’s cellular phones and handheld computers on to a single piece of silicon. Called the PXA800F cellular processor, it is a key component of the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA), Intel’s development blueprint for designing wireless handheld communication devices that combine voice communications and internet access capabilities.
In creating unique “wireless-Internet-on-a-chip” technology, Intel engineers overcame significant technical hurdles associated with combining the different design and manufacturing technologies for processing, flash memory and communications functions. The Intel PXA800F cellular processor is built using a single process to place all key components onto one chip using Intel’s 0.13-micron silicon manufacturing technology.
The cellular processor features a high-performance, low-power processor running at 312MHz based on the Intel XScale technology with four megabytes of integrated Intel On-Chip Flash memory and 512KB of SRAM. In addition, the processor includes a 104MHz signal processor using the Intel MicroSignal architecture with 512KB of integrated Intel On-Chip Flash memory and 64 KB of SRAM, resulting in a complete system on a single chip for advanced GSM/GPRS cellular networks.
Java found ‘impractical’
An insider at Sun Microsystems says there’s frantic discussion inside the company about big problems with the Java platform that, he claimed, “prevent general acceptance of Java for production software within Sun”, reports The Inquirer
One of the problems, he claimed, is that while Java has a lot of benefits compared to C and C++, its implementation on Solaris makes it difficult to deliver reliable applications. Sun engineers think that Solaris gets in the way of implementing many software applications. The problem is widely recognized internally.
The insider claimed one of the problems was that a large number of bugs in Java end up being labelled unfixable compared to a much smaller number for C++.
One problem is that every Java program relies on the installed Java Runtime Environment, and when packages are issued every four or five months, they destroy existing packages and can’t be back-graded to the prior install. The memory footprint on Solaris machines is rather large, it appears.
The problem is worse than this because it means that programmers write applications for one release of Java but may find future releases makes the software senseless.
Visual Studio to be launched
Visual Studio .Net 2003 will have a number of new tools when it’s released next month, Microsoft said at the VSLive conference in San Francisco.
At the same time, the company gave developers a peek at future versions of the development tool.
Among the highlights of Visual Studio .Net 2003, says Microsoft’s Eric Rudder, are improvements in security; connections to non-Microsoft data sources, such as Oracle’s databases; and extensions to take the .Net Framework into the mobile world of phones and PDAs.
Greg DeMichillie, a senior analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a market-research firm dedicated to tracking Microsoft’s products, agrees. “Visual Studio .Net 2003 is essentially taking a series of features that you had to download separately, and integrating them directly into the product,” DeMichillie said last week.
Mac OS X 10.2.4 unveiled
Apple Computer has issued an update for its Mac OS X operating system. The 10.2.4 update addresses issues related to reliability for built-in applications and services, and more. It’s available for download through the Software Update system preference pane.
According to Apple, the Mac OS X update enhances Address Book, Classic compatibility, Finder, FireWire, graphics, OpenGL and Sherlock all feature improved functionality and reliability under this new release. AFP and Windows file service improvements have been made, and audio, disc recording, graphics and printing improvements. — Dawn ScienceDotcom Report
