Other Sites
Non-Retina iPad mini 2 In The Fall, Retina iPad mini In Early 2014 iOS 7 vs. iOS 6 User Interface Preference Poll Posted Google's Eric Schmidt Says His Company's Relationship With Apple Has Improved Why Even Better Products Fail Against Apple Globalfoundries' $6 billion Upstate New York Chip Plant Could Become Apple's New SoC Fab Globalfoundries To Build R&D Facility in New York to Accelerate Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Global Customers Rumor: Apple Buys Taiwan Fab to Build Its Own Chips iSchool Campus Demonstrates "The Future of Education" to National Association of Elementary School Principals
Non-Retina iPad mini 2 In The Fall, Retina iPad mini In Early 2014
StableyTimes' Phil Moore says the iPad mini 2 will see its release date in the fall of this year after all, but without the highly anticipated Retina display currently found in the full size iPad, a feature that due to manufacturing and supply issues will have to wait until early next year when the Retina display iPad mini 3 arrives.
Moore notes that Apple currently uses the Retina display as a selling point for convincing customers to upgrade from the iPad mini to the more profitable full size iPad, but that even without Retina resolution, the iPad mini is outselling the full size iPad by a three to two ratio.
Nevertheless, he says Apple appeared willing to add Retina to the iPad mini 2 despite the threat of more sales cannibalization of the big iPad, had a supply of panels been ready.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/HvSBW
iOS 7 vs. iOS 6 User Interface Preference Poll Posted
A new website called Neue vs Old asks for your vote on whether you prefer the somewhat controversial "flat appearance" icons used in Apple's upcoming iOS 7 software update, or the current faux 3-D icons in iOS 6.
Taking the survey myself, your editor preferred more of the iOS 7 icons than the oldies, but not by a landslide, my picks breaking 13 new to 10 old.
You can check it out at:
http://www.neuevsold.com/
Google's Eric Schmidt Says His Company's Relationship With Apple Has Improved
Reuters' Liana B. Baker reports that according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, he relationship between Google Inc and Apple Inc. has improved over the past year with the rival tech giants and sometimes partners conducting "lots and lots" of meetings.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/xYLoR
Why Even Better Products Fail Against Apple
Pixobebo's Kate Mackenzie says that while bullet-point feature comparos often favor the competition over Apple's offerings, the iPhone continues to reign supreme because with Apple, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and Apple relies greatly on the overall user experience which isn't easily quantified into a bullet point list, but which customers can figure out rather quickly.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/pDNju
Globalfoundries' $6 billion Upstate New York Chip Plant Could Become Apple's New SoC Fab
CNET's Brooke Crothers reports that Globalfoundries' spanking-new $6 billion semiconductor plant/campus in Saratoga County, N.Y. is ready to make world-class chips for smartphones and tablets, but has no big customers as yet. However, speculation surfaced Friday that Apple is considering Globalfoundries as a possible maker of its chips, or even as a partner in a joint venture.
Apple is expected to dump Samsung, its longtime mobile SoC fabrication partner, next year, and switch in part to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Companymanufactured silicon. However, Crothers notes that Apple could theoretically, switch with relative ease to GF because "Globalfoundries and Samsung have the same technology foundation based on an IBM joint development agreement," according to one source, and that whatever happens, it's probably likely that Apple is seriously thinking about moving some production to GF.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/jcY4M
Globalfoundries To Build R&D Facility in New York to Accelerate Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Global Customers
Globalfoundries has announced plans to build a multi-billion dollar R&D facility at its Fab 8 campus in Saratoga County, N.Y. The new Technology Development Center (TDC) is expected to play a key role in the company's strategy to develop innovative semiconductor solutions allowing customers to compete at the leading edge of technology.
The TDC will feature more than a half million square feet of flexible space to support a range of technology development and manufacturing activities, including cleanroom and laboratory space. Representing an investment of nearly $2 billion, the facility will increase the total capital investment for the Fab 8 campus to more than $8 billion. Construction of the TDC was to begin in early 2013 with completion targeted for late 2014. Since breaking ground on Fab 8 in 2009, Globalfoundries has created approximately 2,000 new direct jobs and that number is expected to grow by another 1,000 employees for a total of about 3,000 new jobs by the end of 2014.
The TDC will house a variety of semiconductor development and manufacturing spaces to support the transition to new technology nodes, as well as the development of innovative capabilities to deliver value to customers beyond the traditional approach of shrinking transistors. The overarching goal of the TDC is to provide a collaborative space for Globalfoundries to develop end-to-end solutions covering the full spectrum of silicon technology, from new interconnect and packaging technologies that enable three-dimensional (3D) stacking of chips to leading-edge photomasks for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and everything in between.
Video Why Globalfoundries at 28nm? here:
http://goo.gl/q49fG
"As the industry shifts from the PC era to a market focused on mobile devices, we have seen increasingly strong interest from customers in migrating to advanced nodes on an accelerated schedule," said Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha. "To help facilitate this migration, we are making significant investments in strengthening our technology leadership, including growing our workforce and adding new capabilities to make Fab 8 the hub of our global technology operations. New York State's continued support of the semiconductor industry has created a strong collaborative ecosystem and helped pave the way for this additional investment. The new TDC will help us bridge between the lab and the fab by taking research conducted with partners and further developing the technologies to make them ready for volume manufacturing."
"This significant expansion demonstrates that the investments we have made in nanotechnology research across New York State are producing the intended returnthe creation of high-paying jobs and generation of economic growth that is essential to rebuilding our state," commented Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. "New York has become the world's hub for advanced semiconductor research and now, the Technology Development Center will further help ensure the innovations developed in New York, in collaboration with our research institutions, are manufactured in New York."
"The future economic prosperity and security of the American economy depends on sustaining the nation's capacity to innovatethat is, to translate our investments in research into new products for the market and new solutions for national missions," said Dr. Charles W. Wessner, director of the National Academies' Innovation Program. "As a major new Academies' reportRising to the Challenge: U.S. Innovation Policy for the Global Economyhas documented, other nations are focused on developing greater capacity to translate research into marketable products and we need to make smart investments to ensure innovation and manufacturing continue to be 'made in America'. New York State's public investments to develop CNSE as a hub of innovation coupled with the private investments of Globalfoundries are prime examples of best practices for public-private partnerships linking research, innovation and production that have made New York a globally recognized center of innovation."
Located at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the heart of upstate New York's "Tech Valley," Fab 8 is being developed as the most advanced semiconductor foundry campus in the world. Construction on the Fab 8 project began in July 2009 and the company has successfully brought up the new fab on schedule, hitting all major development, operations, and customer milestones. Today the Fab 8 campus includes approximately two million square feet of development. In addition to investments in manufacturing production on established technology nodes, Globalfoundries has also been making significant investments in technology development at the Fab 8 campus, and today development is underway at the 20nm and 14nm technology nodes.
The Fab 8 campus is an ideal home for the company's leading-edge technology development activities. The proximity of the IBM Joint Development Alliance activities in East Fishkill and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University of Albany, combined with the growing presence of technology development personnel on the Fab 8 campus, have helped make New York's "Tech Valley" a global center for next-generation technologies.
Globalfoundries Details 14nm-XM FinFET Technology Performance, Power and Area Efficiency with a Dual-core Cortex-A9 Processor Implementation
In February at the Common Platform Technology Forum, Globalfoundries announced results from the industry's first implementation of a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor using three-dimensional 14nm-XM FinFET transistors. Based on the industry standard design implementation flows and sign-off simulations using real process data, Globalfoundries expects that a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor manufactured on Globalfoundries 14nm-XM technology will deliver more than twice the energy efficiency of a similar 28nm-SLP technology based design, while requiring only half the chip area.
Globalfoundries used technical specifications from its 14nm-XM process design kit (PDK) combined with ARM Artisan standard-cell libraries and memories to release a Graphic Database System (GDS) file that has been used to calculate expected performance, power and area metrics. The results were compared to a silicon implementation of a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor manufactured on Globalfoundries 28nm-SLP technology.
Some of the salient aspects ascertained through the simulation are:
• High-performance, energy-efficient ARM processors implemented on 28nm-SLP typically use 12-track libraries. However at 14nm-XM FinFET technology, much higher performance and more energy-efficient ARM processors can be implemented using 9-track libraries resulting in further die-size reductions.
• At constant power, the frequency achieved with 14nm-XM technology based implementation (using 9-track libraries) is expected to be 61% faster than the frequency achieved with 28nm-SLP technology based implementation (using 12-track libraries).
• At constant frequency, the power consumed by 14nm-XM technology based implementation is expected to be 62% lower than the power consumed by 28nm-SLP technology based implementation.
• The performance-power efficiency of 14nm-XM technology based implementation (expressed as DMIPs/milliwatts) is anticipated to be more than twice that of the 28nm-SLP technology based implementation, while using half the silicon area.
"Our deep collaboration with ARM is continuing to pay off as we work together to optimize ARM IP for our leading-edge process technology," said Mike Noonen, executive vice president of marketing , sales, design and quality at Globalfoundries. Our 14nm-XM FinFET technology is designed for the next generation of mobile devices, making it a perfect fit for ARMs energy-efficient processor technology. Our mutual customers will benefit extensively from this partnership as they design a range of products for the mobile, tablet and computing applications of tomorrow.
These preliminary results illustrate the potential benefits of FinFET technology applied to an ARM processor-based system-on-chip (SoC), said Dr. Dipesh Patel, executive vice president and general manager, Physical IP Division at ARM. Early collaboration on manufacturing process technologies allows Globalfoundries and ARM to identify and address SoC design challenges and reduce risks to adoption by our mutual customers.
Globalfoundries is owned by the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC). For more information, visit:
http://www.Globalfoundries.com
Rumor: Apple Buys Taiwan Fab to Build Its Own Chips
Tom's Hardware's Kevin Parrish says that of a new rumor is true, Apple may produce its own A10 chip in a few years., and that despite all the speculation that Apple is striking a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), and/or with Globalfoundries' new chip fab in upstate New York, to produce the A8 chips and later, there's now a rumor that the Apple is working toward making its own chips, thus entering the fab industry thanks to a purchase of an unnamed chip fabricator, but speculation that Taiwan-based chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) is Apple's target for purchase.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/Ombx4
iSchool Campus Demonstrates "The Future of Education" to National Association of Elementary School Principals
"This is the future of education," says principal Jason Cross, referring to iSchool Campus, the leading integrator of Smart School technology, showcasing this week at the 92nd annual conference of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) in Baltimore, Maryland. "In the last two years, iSchool Campus has revolutionized our school and led to student achievement outcomes that have exceeded our most optimistic expectations."
iSchool Campus is presenting its advanced whole school technology systems to the 2000 principals from K-8 schools from across the country that are attending this year's meeting of the NAESP, July 12 and 13.
"We looked at everything," says Principal Cross, who holds two advanced degrees in education technology. "Nothing compared to iSchool Campus, from state-of-the-art hardware to the cutting edge software and analytical tools that tie it all together. Within a week they had our school online, our teachers trained, our students with one-to-one tablet deployments, and it has all worked seamlessly for two years straight. What we found most remarkable is that unlike so many other education programs that come along, iSchool Campus actually made the teachers' jobs easier as they became more effective."
iSchool Campus provides:
• One-to-one tablet deployment on any platform;
• Complete security no matter where the tablet is used;
• Access to assignments, tests, textbooks and other educational materials even when wireless and Internet may not be available;
• Proprietary software that integrates testing, assignments, learning management systems, analytics, instant messaging, textbooks and collaborationall in real time;
• State-of-the-art channel blanket wireless technology on the most powerful network available;
• Comprehensive professional development for teachers, administrators, IT professionals - even parents;
• Classrooms with surround sound audio; Interactive HD flat screen televisions; and, 24/7 ticket and phone support.
"Our technology offers a seamless conduit to advanced digital learning environments that directly speak to the native abilities of todays students," says William Nixon, Chief Executive Officer of iSchool Campus. "We are delighted by the enthusiastic reception of these administrators who have the vision of what technology can do to empower students, teachers and parents. This is an exciting time for education."
iSchool Campus Smart Schools are opening across America as both public and charter schools, providing the most advanced technology platform in the world. Participants at this year's NAESP can learn more at Booth 226 at the Baltimore Convention Center.
For more information, go to:
http://www.ischoolcampus.com
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď iPhone ď iPhone News ď
