Intel previews next-gen netbook, tablet chips

At a developer's conference in China, yesterday, Intel outlined its netbook and tablet chipset plans, briefing the media on its next-gen Atom "Cedar trail" processor for netbooks and "Cloverview" chips for tablets. The Cedar Trail processor sports improved benefits compared to the older Pine Trail and current Oak Trail processor line.

 Intel's focus is on making the existing Atom processors more power-efficient in future developmental roadmap. The new Cloverview processors will be made from a 32nm manufacturing process as opposed to the existing 45nm.

From this process, the resultant chips for netbooks will be called Cedar Trail, while smartphones and tablets will soon feature an Intel chip codenamed Medfield.

Intel's foray into the tablet and smartphone chip market and its concern over power efficiency of its processors are no surprise, as the company lags behind rival ARM whose chips are more widespread in the handheld devices market, currently.

No word on launch or expected timeline of the chips' release from Intel as of now.

Mobile batteries that charge faster in the offing

The new technology, if materialised, will enable to charge smartphones within 30 seconds!

The Lithium-ion batteries that power our laptops and smartphones can be charged up to 90 per cent within minutes if a new battery technology fructifies.
A research team at Colorado State University has come up with the new method of producing battery electrodes with the help of metal foams.
The process has not been commercialised yet, but if and when it does, it may become possible to charge the smartphones within 30 seconds (another source says 12 minutes, which is still faster than usual charging time). These fast charging electrodes are compatible with a wide variety of battery chemistries.
The speed with which a battery charges depends upon the movement of electrons to and from the cathodes, also called negative electrode. The research team has come up with metal foams which are covered with battery materials. The metal foam provides with the necessary conductivity, and the battery active material stores electrical energy in it.
The battery consists of nanowires, which are collected together like hairbrush bristles, with an electrolyte (chargeable) coating which in turn covered with a Lithium cathode.
Although the final product itself is not ready yet, the laboratory samples are good enough to create news. Some doubt the commercial viability of the product because the manufacturing process is complicated enough to drive the costs upward.

Tags: BATTERIES, BATTERY, CHARGE FASTER, FAST CHARGING, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, NANO WIRES, SMARTPHONES, LAPTOPS