Hasta La Gadget!

Intel’s processor for desktops and laptops can be a jumble of codenames — Lynnfield, Nehalem or Clarkdale anyone? Add to that a rebranding initiative, unveiled three months ago, that split the same codenames across different chip families, and it can get downright confusing.

With Intel’s developer conference, aka IDF, set to kick off Tuesday, we have created a guide to understanding Intel’s different consumer processors.

Intel currently has three main chip families: Core i7, Core i5 and Core 2. All are based on the 45nm technology that Intel started moving to in late 2007 and are available to consumers now. Eventually the company hopes to phase out the Core 2 line of products and introduce a new entry-level processor, Core i3.

Read on for a more detailed explanation of each family.

Core i7: Codenamed Bloomfield and Lynnfield, Core i7 includes the latest desktop processors from Intel. The CPUs are billed as Intel’s fastest and most advanced processors.

The 45-nanometer processors are based on Intel’s Nehalem micro-architecture. They include features such as hyperthreading technology that gives the chips the ability to execute eight threads simultaneously on four processing cores, better power management and an integrated memory controller. (Read more about Nehalem and its key features.)

The Core i7 desktop family comes in two broad flavors: regular and extreme. Once carrying the Lynnfield moniker, Core i7’s regular edition processors have clock speeds from 2.66 GHz up to 3.06 GHz.

The extreme edition, formerly codenamed Bloomfield, offers two processors with clock speeds of 3.20 GHz and 3.33 GHz. These are CPUs billed for hardened Call of Duty and Crysis gamers and graphics creators. The chips help deliver more realistic game environments for players and are popular among graphics and multimedia creators, says Intel.

Intel also has a Core i7 CPU for laptops in the works, with the codename Clarksfield. The company is expected to announce specification and details of availability for these processors “very soon.”

Core i5: The Core i5 family comprises mid-range processors that have four cores and are available with clock speeds from 2.66 GHz to 3.20 GHz. They were also formerly bunched under the Lynnfield codename. The chips are based on the 45nm lithography process but lack the advanced features of the Core i7 chips, such as hyperthreading. These CPUs are targeted at mainstream PCs that do a bit of gaming and multimedia but not enough to require the blow-out-the-sockets kind of horsepower that comes from the Core i7 chips.

Intel plans to release 32nm versions of the Core i5 chips, codenamed Clarkdale, early next year.

Core i3: There’s not much known about the Core i3 family beyond that it is expected to be Intel’s entry-level processor. The company’s newest chips are always introduced for high-end PCs and then trickle down to more basic computers.

Intel has said that Core i3 chips could be out in early 2010, although the company now promises to have it ready for release at the end of the year. Speculation about Core i3 has so far been focused on the Arrandale and Clarkdale chips. Arrandale is expected to be a 32nm CPU for laptops, while Clarkdale will be the version for desktops.

These chips won’t have some of the advanced features, such as Turbo Boost, but they are expected to offer a step forward from the earlier generation of processors in terms of speed.

Core 2: The Core 2 line of chips come in dual-core and quad-core versions, known as Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, respectively.

The Core 2 Duo, formerly called Penryn, has two processing cores and is available in clock speeds ranging from 2.13 GHz to 3.16 GHz. It is mostly also based on the 45nm process technology, though Intel does still offer a Core 2 Duo chip based on the 65nm process.

The Core 2 Quad processors, codenamed Yorkfield, have four processing cores and offer clock speeds ranging from 2.33 GHz to 2.83 GHz.

Intel offers a version of the Core 2 processors called Core 2 Extreme for laptops. The 45nm Core 2 Extreme processor comes in two-core and quad-core versions with clock speeds ranging from 2.53 GHz to 3.06 GHz.

The chart below explains Intel’s consumer processor families.

See Also:

• Why Intel’s Processors Aren’t Big on Cellphones
• Intel, Nokia To Create New Mobile Architecture and Devices …
• Intel Pushes New Operating System For Netbooks
• Intel Demonstrates Wireless Power Technology
• Intel Launches New Desktop Processor

Photo: Nehalem wafer/ Intel

Well, Sony may still be denying any plans of a 250GB PS3 bundle for the US, but it looks like the rumors just keep on cropping up in Europe, and this latest one is quite the doozy. According to Joystiq, that all too familiar inventory screen above comes from a purported Norwegian GameStop employee, and quite clearly reveals no less than five different 250GB PS3 bundles, including your choice of Ratchet & Clank, Assassin’s Creed 2, FIFA 10, Need for Speed: Shift, or Uncharted 2 for a game. Prices are reportedly the same for each (a 500 kr, or $85 increase over the standard 120GB model), although there’s unfortunately no release dates given for any of ’em. Of course, there is a confirmed date for the Tokyo Game Show, which would seem like a prime opportunity for them to get official, if they are indeed the real deal.

Filed under: Gaming

250GB PS3 bundles aplenty headed to Europe? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nokia has been handing out the N900 for selective “artsy” uses lately through its “Push” program, and the folks at Tinker it now! sure seem to have put their model to good use. They’ve paired the device with all matter of nostalgia, including a Rolodex, FM radio and a 3D Viewmaster. Our favorite by far, however, is the Speak & Spell hack, which puts the gargantuan Speak & Spell keyboard to good use in penning text messages for the N900 — which displays them in the classic font and even articulates your words with a speech synthesis engine. It’s all a testament to the flexibility of Linux, hacker ingenuity and of course liberal application of Arduino, but it’s also a little advertorial-ey, so you might want to leave your gag reflex at home for this one.

[Via Nokia Conversations]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Peripherals

N900 hacked to replace the innards of a Speak & Spell, can never bring back your childhood originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

HTC and Motorola may have done their best to whip Android’s interface into shape, but it looks like the folks at Larva Labs still weren’t satisfied with the options available, so they’ve naturally gone ahead and designed their own UI (with a little help from Ideas on Purpose). While it’s unfortunately still just a concept, the firm’s so-called “Intelligent Home Screen” does bring plenty of interesting ideas to the table, which Larva Labs says should help it “appeal to Blackberry owners and people struggling with information overload.” The centerpiece of the concept is a home screen divided by a (slightly familiar looking) slider bar, which puts personal items like emails up top and general interest stuff on the bottom, with relevant apps accessed by the icon on the right-hand side of the screen, and everything else relegated to a separate menu. Hit up the read link below to check it out in action.

Filed under: Cellphones

Larva Labs proposes ‘intelligent’ Android home screen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Police in Japan are an interesting bunch. There’s certainly the typical “cop” side that most around the world are familiar with (nosy, aggressive, etc) and it’s always best to be careful around them, especially if you can’t speak Japanese.

On the other hand, they’re also quite good at de-escalating situations. In my experience with American police (the ones in Ohio anyway), they’re more often than not looking to poke and prod you into talking back or doing something stupid, whereupon they get the chance to hit you upside the head and charge you with “disorderly conduct” (contempt of cop). I’ve seen Japanese guys literally push police without getting any kind of citation or arrest, and the police simply calmed him down. Except for this guy.

Japan is somewhere in between the “officer friendly” experience that many baby boomers grew up with in the States, and the modern SWAT team, no-knock warrant, looking for a millionth of a gram of illicit substances movement that seems to be all over.At the local koban police box level, the way Japanese police seek to keep things calm is the way policing was always supposed to be, meaning more about “peacekeeping” than “law enforcement”. Beyond the box, however, it’s a different story. I was stopped in Shibuya with my arms full of shopping bags and asked for I.D. because, according to the police, Shibuya is a “dangerous place”.

I’m not always a fan of Arudou Debito, the formerly American, naturalized Japanese activist who spends a lot of his time drawing attention to himself. I disagree with him in his quest to make sure that onsen and bars can’t choose their customers (even though it’s xenophobic), but he’s definitely someone to listen to when it comes to dealing with police on a daily basis.

Japanese law is such that Japanese citizens do not have to identify themselves to police when stopped, but this doesn’t apply to non-Japanese. Debito, being a white Japanese citizen, is in a great position to get maximum fun out of what would be a relatively simple procedure of handing your foreign registration card over for a routine check. Sorry if you can’t understand Japanese, but I can’t help but laugh imagining what was going through the cop’s head in the video (audio only) below when Debito kept trying to explain to him that he’s Japanese.

This is very relevant because Japan, along with its aging population, is also changing ethnically with immigrants and expats mixing with the population and making it more and more difficult to distinguish “Japanese” on sight. What Debito experienced is going to be an increasing problem as more and more dual-culture/ethnicity Japanese citizens come of age in the next decade.

If you spend a lot of time in Tokyo, especially in the backstreets of busier areas, you may notice police randomly stopping young men for searches on the street. Typically it’s because they are carrying backpacks which may contain (horror of horrors!) drugs or weapons. Of course, whenever we see this happening we’re struck by how normal and passive the guys they stop usually are, so it’s clear they’re just easy targets. Finding non-aggressive otaku in Akihabara is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Granted, in most cases the police begin by being polite and patient, but that doesn’t detract from what they’re doing. Most Japanese, when asked if they can be searched, simply consent, which is a mix of respect for authority and lack of knowledge about their rights.

However, with the advent of technology, these types of searches are being brought out into the public eye, though certainly not into the mass media. We’re starting to see more and more videos pop up on YouTube and NicoNico Douga as searchees use their mobile devices to record their interactions, and they’re getting lots of views in the Japanese corner of the web.

Below is a video of a Japanese (I’m assuming) guy being asked repeatedly by a number of hilariously angry police who just want to see his ID, which he doesn’t have to show. No word as to what prompted this interaction though.

Even in front of Shibuya station, a young man is surrounded by police and searched.

Stopped at night, this guy is patient and firm while refusing to show I.D.

I’m pretty sure this is the same guy as above, so he seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder, especially with his KeisatsuKirai (I hate police) channel.

Last but not least, police in Shinjuku spend their day stopping random guys who look suspicious because….well….who knows…

Now the big question is…what’s the law here regarding capturing video of police in Japan? I consulted a lawyer about this, and he said that the “laws are vague”. This isn’t surprising, but I haven’t yet come across an instance of police taking cameras or deleting their contents.

If you find yourself in Japan and being stopped/questioned/imprisoned by the police, this is probably the most useful guide for everyone, regardless of Japanese level.