Hasta La Gadget!

What’s a chip maker to do after successfully hawking five million of its Fusion APUs? Why, expand the line, of course! A leaked slide deck from within the lairs of AMD is showing off quite a bit of the company’s upcoming roadmap, and while a good deal of it has already been made public in one way or another, there’s one term that’s causing all sorts of buzz — and for good reason. Desna is the name to know, a Z-Series APU that’s aimed squarely at the tablet form factor. To date, only a handful of chips have managed to slide into slates, and while we always reckoned that a version of Fusion could really give those ARM-based alternatives a run for their money, it wasn’t clear if AMD actually had one that would handle the power and heat requirements. Based on these sheets — dated this month, for what it’s worth — the Z-Series chip will offer Flash compatibility, DirectX 11 support and IE9 / HTML5 acceleration, and that’s just for starters. Head on down to the links below for the full skinny, but make sure you grab a cup of joe and unplug the line first. You’ll need a few, to say the least.

Leaked AMD roadmap reveals Desna APU, bona fide tablet strategy originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As you’ll no doubt be aware, Qualcomm currently enjoys a stranglehold on processing hardware inside Windows Phone handsets. Its Snapdragon chip stars in both Microsoft’s original and updated chassis spec for the platform, but its hegemony may soon be coming to an end. STMicroelectronics (the ST in ST-Ericsson) boss Carlo Bozotti is cited by Forbes as saying that Nokia will use ST-Ericsson hardware to power at least some of its Windows Phones. The dual-core U8500, a long-time Nokia favorite, is touted as the first such system-on-chip to appear, with its successors helping to populate Nokia’s expansive WP lineup in 2012. The only intel we’ve had so far on Nokia’s initial handsets for the new OS revolved around Qualcomm-based devices, so even if ST-Ericsson is indeed going to infiltrate the Windows Phone ecosystem, it doesn’t look likely to be among the very first Nokias out of the gate.

Nokia’s Windows Phones will feature dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500, says STMicroelectronics chief originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 01:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The aftermath of Microsoft’s announcement that it’ll buy Skype for $8.5 billion was filled with speculation about why the price was so high, who Microsoft was bidding against, and who inside Redmond was the driving force behind such a large expenditure. At least one of those queries has been demystified today, thanks to Bill Gates asserting himself as “a strong proponent at the board level for the deal being done.” Microsoft’s Chairman of the Board expressed his enthusiasm for gobbling up Skype in an interview with the BBC — one which UK residents may see in full at the iPlayer link below — and concluded that “it’s a great purchase that a lot of innovation will come out of.” Adding his support to Steve Ballmer’s already public excitement about the Skype takeover, Bill stresses that “the importance of software is higher today than ever,” while also predicting that video conferencing is set to become much better and bigger than we’ve yet seen. We’ve got our webcams at the ready, Bill!

Bill Gates considers Skype ‘a great purchase’ for Microsoft, helped make it happen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know how we said that 780bhp electric pipe dream Jaguar had last year wasn’t going to be anything more than a concept? Well, we were wrong. Sort of. You see, the British automaker has just announced its intention to produce a limited run of 250 C-X75 supercars in partnership with Formula 1 team Williams, however the retail model will eschew the craziest aspect of the original design — the twin turbine engines at the back. Those will be replaced with a four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine, which will aid the four electric motors (one attached to each wheel). Don’t worry, though, this tweak has actually made the C-X75 accelerate even faster, as it’s now rated to go from 0 to 60mph in under three seconds. 2013 is when the earliest production of this road-faring beast is expected to commence, with prices starting at £700,000 ($1.15 million), and there’s even a glimmer of hope that a version with the gas turbines will also be built at some point down the line. Crazy, just crazy. Check the C-X75 out on video after the break, where Jay Leno gives you a tour around its dramatic design.

Continue reading Jaguar will actually build million-dollar C-X75 hybrid supercar in 2013

Jaguar will actually build million-dollar C-X75 hybrid supercar in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Formula 1, the pinnacle of gas-powered racing, is more often at odds with the eco-conscious electric car movement than in tune with it, but here’s an exception to that rule. The FIA, the sport’s governing body, announced back in December of last year a move to a hybrid four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which is still on track to be introduced in the 2013 season, and Williams boss Adam Parr has now enlightened us on some of the benefits of the new power setup. Noting that future cars’ kinetic energy recovery system will be four times as powerful as on current models, Parr says enough electric juice will be available to power each one-seater through its journey into and out of the pit lane. That would mean that at least for the tame, speed-restricted portions of a race, the F1 gas guzzlers you know and love will be humming along in almost perfect silence while using good old electricity. Unfortunately, it’s exactly that lack of vroom vroom that old timers like Bernie Ecclestone and Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo are afraid of, describing the new hybrid stuff as sounding “terrible” and insisting on the sport sticking to its V8 roots. Then again, as Parr says, if you don’t move with the times, the times leave you behind.

Formula 1 cars set to go all electric in the pit lane from 2013 onwards, racing purists outraged already originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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