Daily News Brief: AMD Launches Puma Platform

Posted 03/04/2008 at 5:18pm | by One4yu2c

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AMD Roars With Puma

AMD today announced their Puma platform during a live press event streamed over the web. Set for a showdown with Intel's Centrino, Puma is a complete mobile platform with stringent requirements in order to carry the moniker. All Puma branded notebooks will carry a Griffin CPU (officially named Turion Ultra), which are currently dual-core chips containing 1MB L2 cache per core and support both DDR-667 and 800 SO-DIMM memory. Other requirements include the RS780M chipset and a WiFi adapter. More info, including power saving techniques, can be found here.

Nike and iPod Team Up at Gym

Nike has a stranglehold on the sporting world, and Apple's iPod still sits atop the mobile music throne. Together, the two will attempt to become synonymous with working out. There's already a Nike+iPod system in place where an embedded sensor records information stored on the iPod nano, and the two respective giants are working with gym equipment manufacturers to extend this compatibility into the gym. Both 24 Hour Fitness and Virgin Active Health Clubs are on board. With compatible machines, users can plug in their iPod and have their workout data uploaded to Nikeplus.com, which is then converted to CardioMiles.

eyePod?

Flash a wink to that hot number across the room and it might drum up a conversation. Do the same to your iPod and it might fast forward. That's the technology behind Kazuhiro Taniguchi's 'KomeKami Switch', or 'Temple Switch.' Utilizing infrared sensors that attach to headphones or glasses, users can control their iPod with a series of winks. Hold the wink for one second to rewind, use the other to skip to the next track, or close both eyes to pause and play. And according to Taniguchi, the computer can discern between an intentional and accidental blink, even as those around you stare in bewilderment.

Pioneer Pulls Plug on Plasma

Audioholics has proclaimed that "Plasma TV is dead," and helping dig the grave is Pioneer Corp., who according to reports is ceasing production on all plasma display panels. Despite investments of nearly $1 billion on four plasma TV manufacturing plants and two it purchased from NEC, the announcement caused Pioneer shares to jump 11.2 percent. More on this development and Pioneer's future strategy here.

Let There Be Light

LEDs have become a staple in most computer builds in one form or another, and now they're garnering attention for their inclusion in a 285-year-old church known for its lantern-lit steeple. The Old North Church, which aided Paul Revere's warning of incoming British troops, has installed 18 strips of LEDs inside the church's sanctuary. Hidden behind crown molding, tourists won't see the actual lights, and the LEDs will better illuminate the ceiling vaults. As to the lanterns in the famous steeple? They're still sporting fluorescents.

In Case You Forgot...

...HD-DVD is dead. That fact needs no solidifying at this point, but nevertheless, Paramount announced it will release its last HD-DVD titles today, and is in the process of determining its Blu-ray release schedule.