Tag Archives: cpu
Solar-Powered Wi-Fi is Here
Our current centralized energy and financial systems often fail the poor. In order to meet the energy needs of people in less developed countries in a sustainable way, a distributed energy framework is necessary. Already we’re seeing entrepreneurs making this vision reality by leveraging off-grid mobile phone penetration to deliver distributed clean energy access. Now entrepreneurs are [...]
Calxeda’s Energy Efficient ARM Technology for Data Centers
Calxeda is an Austin, Texas, company that develops data center efficiency solutions. The company’s EnergyCore technology provides power-efficient data center architecture for large computer environments such as web servers, media streaming infrastructure and cloud storage. Calxeda owns at least one U.S. patent and three pending patent applications. U.S. Patent No. 8,180,996 is entitled “Distributed computing [...]
MicroPro’s Wooden Tablet: Greenest Computer on Earth?
Irish manufacturer MicroPro to launch it ‘Iameco’ wooden tablet computer in September. It will be the first touchscreen computer to carry the EU’s ‘EcoFlower’ label certificate. The computer’s casing is made from offcuts of sustainably sourced timbers such as walnut, solid oak or beech. The Iameco (I am eco, geddit?) comprises 20% materials that can [...]
Power Management ICs: Paving The Way for Greener Electronics
There has been a movement in the semiconductor industry over the last decade to meet the increasing demand for greener electronics for a whole host of applications in the consumer and industrial sectors. The driving forces include: increasing energy demand and prices trending higher, growing concerns over the expanding carbon footprint of energy production and [...]
How Green is Cloud Computing?
At first glance it might be easy to consider that cloud computing is green. The name evokes nature, for a start, but beyond that one might immediately think to saving paper for print outs (as you can access your data anywhere), or not needing power hungry, constantly on servers in your office to back everything [...]
The Evolution of Etch Microcircuits
Etch: A very short word for a hugely important technology, without which there would be no microchips. Etch is the process by which images of circuit features printed on a silicon wafer are engraved into the films below. Put another way, etch makes circuits real. Last week, I blogged about how our latest innovations in [...]
In Focus: 3D-IC & TSV Technology
Improved performance, reduced timing, reduced power consumption and device scaling attributes are key driving forces for the adoption of new microchip technology for mobile devices referred to as 3D integrated circuits (ICs) and through silicon via (TSV) interconnects. Reducing power consumption leads to the benefits of less heat generation, extended battery life, and a lower [...]
FUTUREWATCH: Flash Memory Grows Up
It might be the understatement of the year to say that Flash memory is popular. Every year, we consume nearly twice as many bits as the year before. Consider these nuggets: Today’s smart phones have more Flash memory than a desktop computer’s hard drive from the mid-1990s. Even budget phones can capture high-definition (HD) video [...]
Transistors in the Mobile Era
Transistors are the fundamental building blocks out of which all modern electronic devices are built. Invented in the early 1950s, transistors are the semiconductor switches that control and amplify electronic signals. As demand has grown over the years for greater performance from these devices, chipmakers have responded by packing wafers with twice as many of [...]