ChoreMonster: Bribe Your Kids to Set the Table [App Of The Day]

Make the bed, clean your room—chores are no fun, no matter how old you are. But ChoreMonster is trying to make them a bit more enjoyable for parents and kids. More »

HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Review: A New Android Phone That’s Actually Not Huge [Lightning Review]

Gargantuan Android phones are everywhere. But a lot of people just want something smaller. The Incredible 4G is one of the few phones that isn’t the size of a dinner plate, but it also raises a question: Does an Android OS even make sense on smaller screens anymore? More »

Adapter Lets Canon EF Lenses Play Nice with Micro Four Thirds (and Sony NEX Cameras) [Photography]

If you’re not blown away by the selection of lenses available for your Sony NEX or Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera, Kipon has just announced its own adapter that lets photographers use older Canon EF mount lenses, complete with electronic aperture control. More »

Researchers partially automate CPU core design, aim to fast track new PC processor production

NC State researchers automate CPU core design, potentially put new PC processors on the production fast trackTired of the year wait (or more) in between new silicon architecture offerings from Chipzilla and AMD? Well, if some Wolfpack researchers have anything to say about it, we’ll measure that wait in months thanks to a new CPU core design tool that automates part of the process. Creating a new CPU core is, on a high level, a two step procedure. First, the architectural specification is created, which sets the core’s dimensions and arranges its components. That requires some heavy intellectual lifting, and involves teams of engineers to complete. Previously, similar manpower was needed for the second step, where the architecture spec is translated into an implementation design that can be fabricated in a factory. No longer. The aforementioned NC State boffins have come up with a tool that allows engineers to input their architecture specification, and it generates an implementation design that’s used to draw up manufacturing blueprints. The result? Considerable time and manpower savings in creating newly designed CPU cores, which means that all those leaked roadmaps we’re so fond of could be in serious need of revision sometime soon.

Researchers partially automate CPU core design, aim to fast track new PC processor production originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Abstract  |  sourceIEEE Micro  | Email this | Comments