think. the next generation of CPUs

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:57:32 GMT

clipped by: luminaeris
clipper's remarks: think of upgrading. again.

why does it seem the present technology is never enough....
suddenly my core duo seemed obsolete. too slow! haha!

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Intel details teraflops-capable chip

Processor can perform about a trillion calculations per second

By Jordan Robertson

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Intel Corp. has designed a computer chip that promises to perform calculations as quickly an entire data center — while consuming as much energy as a light bulb.

The world's biggest chipmaker said Sunday it developed a programmable processor that can perform about a trillion calculations per second, or deliver a performance of 1.01 teraflops. It accomplishes this feat while consuming 62 watts of power when the chip is running at a frequency of 3.16 gigahertz.

A similarly powerful supercomputer in 1996 at Sandia National Laboratories took up more than 2,000 square feet, used nearly 10,000 Pentium Pro processors, and consumed more than 500 kilowatts of electricity.

Intel's latest chip is still in the research phase, but it marks an important breakthrough for an industry obsessed with obtaining the highest amount of performance for the lowest energy consumption.

Semiconductor companies used to focus overwhelmingly on generating faster and faster processing cycles, known as clock speed, and engineers didn't worry excessively about overheating chips. Now the balance between performance and efficiency is considered a quintessential part of Moore's Law, the 1965 prediction by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a chip should double about every two years.

Executives at Santa Clara-based Intel, who will provide details of the chip this week, acknowledge that it might never make it to market in its current incarnation. Building the chip would be a manufacturing marvel, and it's unclear whether there's an operating system intelligent enough to control it.

The breakthrough ratcheted up the competition between Intel and rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which helped IBM develop the technology along with electronics makers Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.

Tags: cpu, intel, microprocessor, chip, technology computer

Robotic exoskeleton replaces muscle work

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:15:38 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Robotic exoskeleton replaces muscle work

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers.

The ankle exoskeleton developed at U-M was worn by healthy subjects to measure how the device affected ankle function. The U-M team has no plans to build a commercial exoskeleton, but their results suggest promising applications for rehabilitation and physical therapy, and a similar approach could be used by other groups who do build such technology.

"This could benefit stroke patients or patients with incomplete injuries of the spinal cord," said Daniel Ferris, associate professor in movement science at U-M. "For patients that can walk slowly, a brace like this may help them walk faster and more effectively."

Ferris and former U-M doctoral student Keith Gordon, who is now a post-doctoral fellow at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, showed that the wearer of the U-M ankle exoskeleton could learn how to walk with the exoskeleton in about 30 minutes. Additionally, the wearer's nervous system retained the ability to control the exoskeleton three days later.

Electrical signals sent by the brain to our muscles tell them how to move. In people with spinal injuries or some neurological disorders, those electrical signals don't arrive full strength and are uncoordinated. In addition, patients are less able to keep track of exactly where and how their muscles move, which makes re-learning movement difficult.

Typically, robotic rehabilitative devices are worn by patients so that the limb is moved by the brace, which receives its instructions from a computer. Such devices use repetition to help force a movement pattern.

Tags: science, research, health, robotics, exoskeleton, muscle, nervous system

Clipmarks | luminaeris's 'technology computer' clips

think. the next generation of CPUs

Intel details teraflops-capable chip

Processor can perform about a trillion calculations per second

Robotic exoskeleton replaces muscle work

Robotic exoskeleton replaces muscle work