The iPhone 3G and iPhoto 8 have something in common, they show us the interest of the GPS, the first allows us to locate ourselves constantly, the second by showing us how much it would have been pleasant if our camera contains a GPS; an all too rare thing. Things could change soon thanks to Infineon.
They announced that they have manufactured the smallest GPS chip in the world, which measures only 2,8 X 2,9 mm. In addition to the fact of being able to save space in the iPhone and to be small enough to be fitted in practically any electronic device; there are no compromises made in spite of its size. Its sensitivity was pushed to the maximum and Infineon even promises that we will be able to locate ourselves inside buildings, at least if there is enough windows that look out on the sky.
Even though the transition towards engraving in 32 nm will begin in a few months time, Intel is already thinking about the future and they already have a very precise roadmap concerning the next reductions in size for engraving.
Thus in 2011 they will pass to engraving in 22 nm, then to 16 nm in 2013 and to end at 11 nm in 2015.
Beyond that is unknown, one will doubtless then need a revolution in the manufacturing process and to abandon the lithography to continue on the way of the miniaturization.
While waiting, we can be quiet for the next few years. We will have processors having more and more cores, Moore's law will not be disturbed. Those that will have the most work will be certainly the developers who will have to learn how to manage this profusion of cores otherwise a good part of our processors will clearly be spending their time doing nothing.
All Mac owners have heard of the GMA 950. It was the chip installed by default in first MacBook and still used in the minis current minis. Its outstanding feature is its obvious lack of power. If one thought that this chip belonged to the past, think again. Intel hopes to recycle it this year in a new product.
We speak of the ATOM, single or dual-core, which will have the graphics chip grafted directly onto it, and it will be the GMA 950.
If this graphic solution is not a great gift for the users, it will have the merit of charming the manufacturers of netbooks who will be able to offer even less expensive products and especially having longer battery life, because this duo in the same chip may save energy by up to 50%.
At least with Apple not launching out on this market, it will not be likely that we will see such a chip in our products. Even the Apple TV is equipped with a more powerful video solution!
Apple offers two software updates
- Java Update 3 for Mac OS X 10.5: 2,9 MB
Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 3 delivers improvements to the security and compatibility of Java on Mac OS X 10.5.6 and later.
Further information regarding this update is available from this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3374
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
- Security Update 2009-001 44,1 MB
Security Update 2009-001 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
