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Research to expand Moore’s Law
PAT Gelsinger, Intel senior vice president and chief technology officer, outlining Intel’s aim to accelerate convergence of computing and communications through advanced research in integrated silicon, said that silicon-based technologies with integrated computing and communication functions will help to expand Moore’s Law into new areas, thereby delivering new capabilities and customer benefits for at least the next decade.
“We envision a future in which every piece of silicon inside PCs, PDAs, cell phones or other electronic device will include computing technologies but also connect to multiple wireless networks and roam between them,” Gelsinger said. “Intel researchers are expanding Moore’s Law into new areas beyond traditional computing through advanced research and uncovering new opportunities, uses and benefits for silicon technologies that integrate computing and communications.”
Gelsinger described some of these technologies under development in Intel’s research and development labs, including silicon radios and “context aware” computing. Intel is pursuing the development of radios based on the company’s low-power CMOS silicon manufacturing process. Gelsinger said that Intel is closer to realizing its goal of developing “reconfigurable radios” that would automatically identify and connect to a number of wireless networks — including 802.11, Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband — enabling any device powered by one of these chips to have wireless capabilities across many different networks.
Gelsinger also said that Intel continues to make progress on research to make software applications “location-aware” by integrating technologies like global positioning system and wireless LAN. For example, context-aware applications would allow consumers to get the latest information on weather or road conditions, and alter their plans or route instantly and wherever they are.
Through social science research and development of technology prototypes, Intel’s Proactive Health Research team is exploring the benefits that silicon-based technologies could bring to the health and wellness needs of people in their homes and everyday lives.
MS Office beta on the web?
Microsoft mistakenly posted the second beta of the newest version of Office to its Microsoft Developer Network, but yanked it several hours later.
The sneak peek, which several users were able to download before Microsoft withdrew the posting, revealed that the suite will be called Office 2003 when it releases in mid-year. Other tidbits gleaned from the brief appearance include the bundling, in the beta, at least, of the OneNote and InfoPath applications, as well as the inclusion of SharePoint Portal Server 2.0.
Cyber cafe at Everest
The grandson of a Nepali sherpa in the first expedition to scale Mount Everest 50 years ago plans to set up the world’s highest Internet cafe at the mountain’s base camp.
Tsering Gyaltsen, whose grandfather, Gyaltsen Sherpa, was in the 1953 team that helped Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the 29,040 foot summit, hopes to open the cafe next month to cash in on a flood of visitors for the anniversary.
Thousands of trekkers and mountaineers pass through the base camp at 17,400 feet every year and many expeditions carry satellite phones into the Himalayas to run web sites about their efforts and contact friends and family at home. Otherwise, the nearest phones are a four-day trek away.
Gyaltsen, waiting for government permission to go ahead, will use radio and satellite links and solar and generator power. Money from the cafe will go to a project to clear Everest of the hundreds of tons of garbage left behind every year.
Roxio to re-launch Napster
The once-wildly popular Napster song swapping service is to be relaunched before the end of the year, its new corporate parent Roxio Inc said on Monday.
Once the scourge of the music industry, Napster had at its peak in 2000 more than 60 million people using its software that allowed Internet users to copy and share music for free, until the five largest record companies successfully sued the company for copyright infringement.
The record industry has long blamed such services for the decline in record sales. After declaring bankruptcy last year, many of Napster’s assets were bought by Roxio, which makes CD-burning software and plans to restart Napster as a legitimate pay service.
“We’re expecting to launch the service before the end of the year,” spokeswoman Kathryn Kelly told the media. “But we’re not relaunching until we can establish it as a legal service.” — Dawn ScienceDotcom Report
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