Daily News Brief: Researchers Develop World's Smallest Transistor

Posted 04/21/2008 at 2:10pm | by

5

Comments

Print

World's Smallest Transistor

Forget about Penryn's 45nm transistors and upcoming 32nm parts - British researchers have trumped them all and unveiled the world's smallest transistor measuring just one atom thick by ten atoms across. More than three times smaller than 32nm technology, the new transistor may be the boost Moore's Law has been looking for. It could also mean the end of the line for Moore's Law. Read more about the ultra small graphene transistor here.

David Murphy Gets Up Close and Personal with Western Digital's New VelociRaptor HDD

Western Digital today announced their newest addition to their popular Raptor line, and without missing a beat, Associate Editor David Murphy has already posted a comprehensive analysis of The (new) Fastest Hard Drive Ever. Murphy covers everything from single drive technology to RAID 0 performance and even pits WD's new drive against Mitron's Pro-series 64-gigabyte SSD!

EA Extends Deadline

Not one for rejection, Electronic Arts gave Take-Two until April 11 to consider their unsolicited buyout offer or else face a hostile takeover. That deadline has come and gone, but rather than take matters to the shareholders, EA extended the deadline another month, this time set to expire May 16, which is after the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV title goes on sale. EA said it extended the deadline to comply with a second request from the FTC. Should the acquisition go through, not only would EA own rights the GTA series and Bioshock, but it would also absorb Take-Two's 2K Sports line, giving them a near monopoly on sports games.

Skype to Sell Unlimited International Calls

According to an AP report, Skype will soon offer an unlimited international calling plan for $9.95 per month. The plan will cover land-line phones in 34 countries, including most of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and more. Also included in the plan will be domestic land-line and cell phone calls.

AMD Continues to Lose

AMD last week reported a loss of $358 million for fiscal Q1, with revenues down 15 percent from Q4 2007. Company execs pinpointed the losses on softer than expected demand because of a slowdown in consumer spending. Times are tough in the AMD camp, with the chip maker earlier this month announcing a 10 percent workforce reduction as AMD struggles to return to profitability. More here.

Ebay Unfazed by Boycott

Bill Cobb, president of Ebay North America, drew considerable ire from sellers after announcing changes to the auction site's final value fees and feedback structure. It didn't take long for cries of ' boycott' to reverberate throughout the web, but despite the backlash from sellers, Ebay posted a 24 percent increase in Q1 revenue over 2007, significantly beating analyst expectations. The number of listings increased too, which Ebay attributes to the listing fee cuts.

Apple Stores Going Virtual?

Several online sites caught wind of an interesting patent application published on Thursday titled Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere. The patent, filed back in late 2006, belongs to Apple and has spurred speculation that Jobs and his gang could open up a virtual store in Second Life. Or it could end up another unused patent in a portfolio. Read MacNN's take here.