THE Tech Scoop » Hardware

MacBook Air Docking Station

James Hicks — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:38:50 +0000

Since Apple won’t build it, we have to look to 3rd-party innovation to build us MacBook users that much need docking station.

Now that I have moved over to a MacBook Air I’m especially intrigued by this latest Kickstarter project, that was at MacWorld|iWorld last week. It’s from an organization called LandingZone and after only a few weeks listed on Kickstarter, they’ve reached their target numbers and are going forward with production.

Here are the specs

Total of 4 USB 2.0 ports; no need to attach a separate USB hub
Built in 10/100T Ethernet port; no more dongles for the Ethernet or fumbling with the cable
Built in Mini DisplayPort capable of driving resolution up to 2560×1440
Built in locking port compatible with all the Kensington Locks; now you can secure your MacBook Air
Two models to support either the 11″ or 13″ version of the MacBook Air (2010 or later)
Beautifully designed and engineered for simplicity, elegance, reliability and functionality (patent pending)
Comes with US power adapter which accepts wide range of input voltage (100~240 Vac)

Since they’ve already reached funding goals, the early adopters have gotten the sweet pricing deal. So for the rest of us, it looks like LandingZone is going to charge $200 for both the 13 and the 11-inch models of the dock. Shipping is expected to as early as February for the 11-inch and March for the 13-inch model.

Yeah – I’m getting one of these.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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EXCLUSIVE – Interview with Brook Drumm of printrbot

Lance — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:25:22 +0000

On Friday the 13^th 2012, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down for over an hour with Brook Drumm creator of printrbot . I took a drive a few miles down the road to Lincoln, CA to talk with Brook and see what the hype was all about. And by hype I mean that Mr. Drumm has raised over $800,000 on his kickstarter project since it launched a few months back. Please note that he only asked for $25,000.

Prior to this interview, I had limited exposure to RepRap.org and the details of the various 3D printing efforts going on across the globe. My main exposure to the 3D printing movement has been through paying attention to Make: magazine and the mentions of their own 3D printers but even this was interest at an arm’s length mainly due to budget and time constraints. 3D printers were either too expensive or too complicated for me to put together in a short amount of time. Plus, I assumed some learning curve would be involved with actually telling the printer what to print. That being said, I’m fascinated by the possibilities of 3D printing and had read about some of the models.

When I heard about the kickstarter.com project called “printrbot : Your First 3D Printer” I was immediately interested for a couple reasons – First, I know Brook and learned about printrbot through his facebook post on November 9, 2011. Second, after reading the printrbot site, I thought, this might be something that could reach the masses and not be limited to a relatively small group of do-it-yourself types who have the time and patience to buy and build a fairly complex kit. Granted, I didn’t spell it out like that in my head but when I looked at his page I got that feeling in my gut that told me – this is something big. I believed there was already an interest ‘out there’ and now it was becoming more affordable.

Some background…

I didn’t just want to know about the printer itself but also the process. So I asked Brook to give me some background and tell me, what was the spark that made him want to create your own 3D printer?

Brook: I have always been a guy who makes things… I learned late in life that that you use the right tool for the job, so I just kinda hacked it together, whatever I needed to do…I owned Volkswagens my whole life, things that didn’t work very well so I was always fixing stuff.

So, when I got a little older I thought ‘man I’d love to have the right tools’

And, you know, I knew I couldn’t afford a lathe and a machine shop, you know so, every once in a while I’d buy a cool tool and do something with it but, when I saw the 3d printers and started to read about them in Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and specifically MAKE: magazine …I’ve been enthralled with everything they do. Not everything appeals to me but they guys that make stuff resonates with me so when I saw that one issue that was all about home manufacturing …they had like a computer controlled plasma cutter, they had several things but a 3d printer was one of them, I thought I have got to have one.

Brook started saving money and when one went on sale last year (the cupcake), he put down his saved money and bought one. Through the construction and usage of the cupcack a couple things bothered him. “one was the print area was very small and while most of the time you don’t need anything bigger. [if you do], you start to run in to design constraints.” Plus he found that it was somewhat difficult to build. “I wanted one that was easier to build – it was ok for me to build, but I was trying to put it together with my kids, it was hard for them, and just a lot of parts and it’s overwhelming.”

From there he thought “this has to be easier.” And so, that’s where it started. He said, “maker bot gets credit for sparking my idea”

Reprap origins

Before discussing the specifics of his design, Brook wanted to give me some additional history on 3D printing. He shared information with me about reprap.org and “Adrian Bowyer, he founded the open source version of 3d printing.” Brook told me about the different versions of the printers –

“They called the first one Darwin, it’s this big blocky thing, they are large and complicated.

Then they did a pyramid triangle shape, that’s the Mendel. The original Mendel had many many more parts that what you see there. This is a simplification of the Mendel called the Prusa Mendel. Josef Prusa is the guy that simplified it. So he’s kind of gets the credit for really simplifying it – and that model is probably the most popular model and then they made that one smaller, they called that one the Huxley.

The reason they can call themselves a reprap is because… these printers can print the parts to build another printer, not 100% – you’re not going to print a motor or electronics, yet. I think they might have a shot at printing a pcb board or something that functions like that but they are not going to print a capacitor or a transistor. They’ll never be 100% printed, I don’t think. But they are shooting for 90%.

Knowing that goal and standing behind that organization I wanted my printer to be a reprap”

On to the design

Brook knew he wanted his own design that was simpler, faster, larger and self replicating. He’d been thinking for weeks about design solutions that would meet his requirements and one day while listening to a podcast in his back yard, the idea hit him.

I saw the base, with 3 motors in a row, … we can send the rods up…this will work, it shocked me, gave me a little jolt and I thought ‘no wait that won’t work’ on the Prusa [because] the heated bed slides within the frame. The maximum is basically the frame, but I thought ‘wait a minute’, what if I put the pulleys on the outside of the frame and slide it back and forth.

He ran inside, drew it out and the basic design from that day is essentially what is now called printrbot.

Key Challenges – Parts

With the basic design being complete, finding the right parts became the next hurdle.

Taking the rods for example, Brook explained that he initially looked at some cheap options using cold rolled steel but found problems – it rusts and you have to keep it oiled and the tolerances are not good. It’s not really intended to be used as linear rail. So, he moved to drilled rod which is stronger and as he tried the different materials, it affected other parts of the system as well. What he ended up with is 8mm hardened linear rail. The rail, along with the linear bearings they’re using, ensure the level of quality Brook feels he can support. “What we’re going to ship is the highest quality stuff that I’ve found. Period.” Brook said.

With each part change, other aspects of the design had to change as well, so this was an area that took up a lot of upfront time.

Key Challenges – Volume

In terms of volume, Brook’s design goal of being a true reprap was challenged due to the surprising volume of requests coming in through kickstarter.

He said

“In the course of the kickstarter – the volume that I was getting, [was] much to my surprise, I thought ok – makerbot has an idea here, let’s make a printer that is easier to put in to production. ‘cause the print time on these printers is roughly 10 hours at the speeds I’m running them at and to cut the laser parts for the printrbot+… [it takes] 10 minutes. So, it’s exponentially faster.

Much to my surprise, half of the kickstarter backers jumped on the laser cut model, they didn’t care. All they wanted was a printer.

Brook said “even though my heart is with reprap.org, I was encouraged to do laser cut as well.”

Kickstarter Project Success

When Brook first submitted the kickstarter idea and published the project, he wasn’t convinced he was going to get the initial $25,000 that he requested. He knew he wanted to make this in to a business in some fashion but had no idea that it would become so popular. He shared with me that he had pitched the idea about getting in to the 3d printing with his wife. She’s his barometer for determining whether or not he should move forward with a new business concept. With this idea, she was a little unsure until he included the idea of sourcing the startup funds through Kickstarter. At that point, the idea was a go. However, even with her support, Brook thought the kickstarter would fail. He was wrong. 1,808 backers have proven that to him with their pocketbooks. Quoting from the kickstarter project page “We have brought 3D printer kits down to the beginner level and a better price point simultaneously. “ I really think he nailed it right there with that statement and apparently others did too.

Target market

I asked Brook who he envisioned as his market for the printers. He started by telling me who it’s not. It’s not the ubergeek maker. The tag line on kickstarter says “your first 3D printer” and that gives a clue as to where he’s aiming. He’s trying for the person who does not yet own a 3D printer, who is looking for a cheaper, simpler alternative to what is already out there. He said that he loves the reprap group but didn’t see that they would be the main audience. Personally, I feel like he is aiming right at me or someone like me. I love gadgets, but don’t have the time or inclination to learn how to solder so I can build a printer I might not use. Neither do I desire to go spend more than a thousand dollars for a 3D printer. The trade off and value equation just does not work for me. However at around $550 – this is much more enticing and a realistic possible future purchase. With his goal to have a printer in every home and school – he’s really marketing to a wider audience with less technical skill and to schools and students who can learn so much from the experience of using the machine.

In fact, when we talked about schools, Brook’s eyes lit up when he shared a story about a recent meeting with some 7^th grade students in Berkeley.

See the linked video…

What can you build?

Once you get the printer built (or pay for prebuilt) and set up the software – you can make just about any plastic part that will fit in a 8x8x8 in square. Thingaverse.com has plenty of examples that can be downloaded and tried out for basically the cost of the plastic you’re using to print.

Brook gave a couple personal examples including a knob for his home washing machine and a specialty gate latch he made for a friend. My son is in boy scouts and I’m thinking that for next year’s pinweood derby, I’ll try to print out some accessories to paint and add to our car.

What’s next?

Take a look at printrbot.com and you’ll see that Brook and his team are setting up shop in their Lincoln, CA headquarters. They are busy completing the rewards that go out to the kickstarter backers and, I believe, getting ready to set up an online store. The website has a sign up form that is intended to be used to send updates about when the store goes online and for project updates.

Additional Resources –

http://www.printrbottalk.com – new forum set up to discuss printrbot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing#Vendors_and_services

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/prusa-mendel-visual-instructions/15227669

http://josefprusa.cz/pages/english

Lance

If the computer breaks, the network won’t connect or a cell phone is acting funny, the family calls me. I’ve worked in and around technology development for nearly 20 years. I’m a tech, information and football fanatic with a short attention span who is always trying out new things and sharing information about them with others. In my “free” time, I enjoy drawing, photography, writing, watching anime and spending time with my family. Follow me on Twitter | Facebook

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Logitech Revue Update Coming This Week

James Hicks — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:07:02 +0000

Looks like Logitech is going to give us Revue owners a Christmas present and get our devices upgraded to the new Honeycomb OS before the end of this week.

In a post published on their official blog, VP and General Manager of the Digital Home Group, Ashish Arora wrote that the update will be automatically pushed to your device for free.

Per Arora, some of the key developments include more entertainment choices such as access to Android Market; faster and more comprehensive search and browse capabilities; a simplified user interface, and improvements to the Logitech Media Player.

With the Android Market now available through your Logitech Revue, you’ll get new and useful apps all the time, such as the new Google Music app, making your Logitech Revue the fastest growing entertainment hub in your living room. At launch, the Android Market will feature around 50 apps optimized for HDTV, and we expect number of apps to increase over time.

This is a welcome update and we’ve been anxiously awaiting this to happen ever since Logitech assured owners that the Revue platform was in fact NOT dead and WOULD get upgraded – I saw these things flying off the shelf at my local Best Buy during the weekend after Thanksgiving.

So if you’re like me and have already upgraded your Logitech Harmony iApp and find it presently useless – a few hours/days of additional patience and we will be back in business.

As soon as I get my system upgraded I’ll post a review of the user experience and see if those “50 apps optimized for HDTV” are actually worthwhile.

James Hicks

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Amazon Kindle Fire Could Be iPad’s Biggest Rival

Pat Garde — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:34:23 +0000

Amazon has recently announced the upcoming release of Kindle Fire, a device believed to be the biggest threat to Apple iPad. This phrase has been used so many times before, but none of them stood in the same league as iPad tablet.

So, what exactly can we expect from Kindle Fire?

Learning from other tablet’s mistakes, Amazon made sure that Kindle Fire won’t lack user experience. This particular aspect is what differentiates Apple devices from the rest. Amazon truly understands user interface as no other brand runs an active and diversified website for consumers. Fire is purpose-driven, very easy to use, with access to Kindle books on your library, movie rentals, some free music, and a few Android tablet apps.

The company also introduced a web browser that is exclusively available for Kindle Fire, called Amazon Silk. This browser uses Amazon’s EC2 engine for pre-pocessing and optimizing web pages in the cloud. According to reports, Silk will extend the boundaries of the browser by linking the capabilities and interactivity of your local device with the massive computing power, memory, and network connectivity of the cloud.

Kindle Fire will cost $199, arguably the cheapest relevant tablet in the market to date. Some even think that Amazon might be selling these devices with very minimal profit, almost near a loss. But the way they set up this tablet, expect Amazon to recover everything from their services.

On the downside, this device does not offer cameras, microphone, and 3G connection. In addition to that, Fire only has 8GB of memory. Well, just like Apple said in their TV advertisement, “technology alone is not enough.” Something Apple has proven time & time again, and hopefully Kindle Fire would be successful in following their footsteps.

Amazon is already accepting pre-orders and it will be available on November 15^th.

[via Gizmodo]

Amazon Silk (thetechscoop.net)
Kindle Fire compared to iPad and other tablets (nextbigfuture.com)

Pat Garde

Patrick is the co-founder of GeekyGuide.com which writes about geek stuff and focuses on geek shirts and consumer electronics. Follow Pat on LinkedIn.

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Freebie of the Week: Parts-People.com

Tammy — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:36:34 +0000

I love Fridays. Not enough to write a song about it, but I don’t mind doing a little skip and dance while anticipating the two days off from work. What I love more than Fridays is swag. The highlight of the tradeshows I attend is without a doubt the swag. My swag collection now includes a Microsoft Hotmail coffee mug, stress-relieve pig with wings, Adobe bag, notepads, Blackberry mints, and pens, (an endless number of pens…)

Therefore, it should be no surprise that I’d be all over Parts-People.com’s new swag giveaway. Parts-People.com is a computer parts store based in Austin Texas that sells Dell replacement parts and accessories. They sell parts for you to do the repairs yourself, repair the Dell for you, or you can purchase a refurbished Dell from their website.

They are currently running a campaign on their Facebook page. All you have to do is “Like” them to be entered into the drawing for a Dell laptop. Parts-People.com currently has about 15,000 Likes. Needless to say, I’m one of them. You never know, my MacBook may soon have a new Dell friend.

Tammy

Tammy is a native San Franciscan fascinated with helping companies infuse some chutzpa into their brand and developing marketing strategies for them to take over the world. When she's not watching TV or following the news of ones who lead far more entertaining lives, Tammy is a wannabe marketer in Sacramento, CA.

HP’s New Strategy and Firesale Fiasco

Wayne Dixon — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:35:57 +0000

News came down last week that HP was looking to “Evaluate Strategic Alternatives” for their Personal Systems Group (PSG). The personal systems group includes business and consumer PCs, mobile computing devices and workstations. This would include Business desktops and laptops, consumer desktops and laptops, and all WebOS-based devices.

HP has laid out a couple of different strategies for their PSG. The first includes spinning it off into it’s own separate company. The second would potentially be selling that part of their business to another company like Lenovo, Samsung, or even Acer or Dell. HP did not specifically mention any companies that could potentially purchase HP’s PSG, but there are only so many manufacturers.

Any company that bought HP’s PSG would immediately benefit from HP’s massive foothold in the consumer market as well as their retail distribution partners. HP is considered the #1 manufacturer worldwide of laptops. HP has determined that PCs are no longer a viable-enough business to continue supporting the business with other ventures.

With the decision to rid itself of the Personal Systems Group also comes a firesale of the existing stock of WebOS devices; specifically the HP TouchPad. As soon as retailers were given the go ahead they dropped the prices of the two TouchPad models to $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB model. This set of a firestorm of consumers looking to grab a tablet device on the cheap.

Many retailers were sold out within hours. Some retailers did not even drop their prices (I’m looking at you TigerDirect) and would not price match either. There were some online retailers who still have stock, but have not dropped the price (as of this writing).

I actually have a personal story regarding the TouchPad. I had called around to several Walmart stores in the area to inquire about their HP TouchPad stock. I found one store that had two when I called. I immediately drove to the store. Upon arriving I saw a gentleman who was walking at a somewhat fast pace and I knew he was going to try and get a Touchpad. He briefly talked to the Manager, who was walking past, and the manager said there was only one TouchPad left. We both ran and arrived at the same time.

Since there was only one TouchPad left we had to decide who was going to be the one to purchase it. We discussed it for a few minutes and ultimately I decided that he should have it. Why, you may ask. Because he didn’t want just a tablet, he wanted the TouchPad specifically. To be honest I felt a bit defeated, but still glad since I performed a nice gesture to let somebody else get something that they actually wanted. I did need to grab some items, so I did so and left Walmart.

After returning home I decided to start looking at online retailers who might still have TouchPads available for purchase. I did manage to find one, not through a link or any means except my own thought process.

I had to spent 2.5 Hours dealing with the site going up and down and getting the following error:

Microsoft VBScript compilation error ’800a03e9′

Out of memory

/LM/W3SVC/600510919/Root/dstore/global.asa, line 0

Eventually though I was able to successfully place an order. It cost me a bit too much for shipping, but I guess I rather pay a bit more for shipping and get the item than not get it. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with it, should it actually arrive. I may keep it for myself or I may even give it to somebody.

If I do actually receive the TouchPad and decide to keep it for myself I may put up a review.

What caused such a frenzy and scurry to get a discontinued product? Marketing. Letting it be known that your product is actually available and at a bargain price. I am not saying that HP should have sold every tablet at such a drastically reduced price but look what it managed to do for sales. HP will most likely have only a few hundred TouchPads left, for warranty repairs and the like, instead of the hundreds of thousands that they were sitting on.

I know HP needed to make money off of the product, but selling it at a razor thin margin may have gotten more people to purchase the product. We will see if there is enough consumer demand to keep the product around or convince HP to continue to support WebOS. If they choose to not support it, at least allow it to go into the Open Source Community so others can continue to maintain it.

Source: HP Newsroom

CrunchBase Information

HP TouchPad

Information provided by CrunchBase

Wayne Dixon

I'm into anything technology related. I do some HTML/CSS/PHP development. I like to follow things that most people would find annoying or not worthwhile. I follow Apple, Microsoft, Google, The Cloud, cell phones and even programming. By Day I'm a Systems Administrator for a Library, which has it's own set of issues. Follow me on Twitter.

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Hack Your Logitech Revue

James Hicks — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:25:39 +0000

What’s actually comforting about this news is that there is a planned release of the Google TV 2.0 operating environment.

I have a Logitech Revue and we use it daily (dare I state that my Apple TV sits idle more than the Google TV)

That being said, it was nice to see a post today over on Redmond Pie entitled, “Download and Install Android 3.1 Honeycomb On Logitech Revue.”

Now all of this stuff is not currently officially supported, and the software is still in beta – which means instability should be expected.

Here are the steps to get it done:

Step 1: Download the Google TV 2.0 update from here.

Step 2: Copy the downloaded file to the root of a FAT32-formatted USB drive.

Step 3: Plug in the USB flash drive into your Revue and then completely unplug the Google TV device.

Step 4: Now, plug it back in and wait for a couple of seconds.

Step 5: Hold the connect button. Keep holding it until the Revue logo comes up, the box reboots, your TV loses signal and the Revue logo comes back.

Step 6: The Google TV logo will now show up. Press the yellow FN key and the left arrow button (left of the OK button) on your Revue keyboard. You will now see a recovery menu.

Step 7: Apply update from sdcard:/update.zip. Your Revue set-top box will now install the update and reboot. Once rebooted, it will flash the new kernel along with the system files. Revue will reboot once again!

Step 8: The final boot up takes some time. You will see the Revue logo, then the Google TV logo and another logo of a grey TV over a red glowing ball. Be patient.

Step 9: Go through the initial set-up and enjoy Honeycomb 3.1 / Google TV 2.0 on your Revue!

Again, before trying this – take caution that this is beta, unreleased stuff – don’t blame me if you brick your Revue!

[summarized from Redmond Pie]

Looking to pursue a degree in information technology? Check out Guide to Online Schools.

James Hicks

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Pandigital E-Reader Review

Pat Garde — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:54:13 +0000

The Pandigital E-reader Novel tried to become a full-color, value-for-money, Android-based e-reader which also doubles as a tablet. Unfortunately, it did not meet expectations. Its retail price of $200 is more expensive than Amazon’s Kindle e-reader ($139). If they try to contend with Apple’s iPad, it falls short as it is slower and lacks the flexibility of a real tablet.

Pandigital Novel is really promoted as an e-book reader and you may notice it upon booting as you can see a widget for an e-book store with tabs for bestsellers, new releases, etc. and My Library where you can sort by date, title and author. Every widget shows the book cover though the cover lines are hard to read.

Since the Novel features a 7-inch, 800×600 resolution LCD, you may consider the readability on this tablet average at best. It has a problem on pixilation. The default size of the font is medium though you get more choices and larger size font show expanded pixilation.

This e-reader is made from thick, white plastic which is heavy to carry. Its dimensions (7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches) are just right though you may be surprise of its weight. It also features a built-in Wi-Fi, so you can connect easily from wireless hotspots. Further, it can connect via mini-USB though you have to charge it on the charger included in the set and not on your PC.

Pre-installed apps are a plus. It has Barnes & Noble’s Reader which is the highlight of this e-reader. It also features a web browser, a player for video, music and pictures, email, a shop B&N app, alarm clock, search, calendar and importation of SD card content.

As for the performance, Novel is somewhat sluggish. Navigation and page flipping is not smooth. The resistive touch display may be the reason for its unresponsiveness. This e-reader loads apps and books in a very time-consuming way.

It is hard to justify buying Pandigital Novel but if it was priced a little bit cheaper, we may just forgive and forget its number of faults. For it to be able to compete with the big boys on this e-reader market, they need to create their next device lighter and make the touch screen more responsive.

You may want to consider reading more Ereader Reviews online to find the best E-reader on the market today.

Pat Garde

Patrick is the co-founder of GeekyGuide.com which writes about geek stuff and focuses on geek shirts and consumer electronics. Follow Pat on LinkedIn.

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Facebook Open Compute Project

James Hicks — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:12:52 +0000

That’s what Facebook is calling their new data center build program.

Background

Facebook has been leasing its data centers for the last 7 years, giving it no flexibility — Facebook technical VP Jon Heiliger likened it to living in his first apartment, where the landlord said that he could paint the walls any color as long as it was Aztec White.

For the last year or so, Facebook has been working on its own data center in Prineville, Oregon. The company says it has improved server efficiency 38% and lower costs by 24%.

What’s different about what Facebook is doing, however, is releasing its design information to the public.

In an explanation of why, posted on businessinsider.com, Matt Roseff mentions that Facebook claims it wants to pass its efficiency gains on to the rest of the world and from a hard business perspective, if Facebook can convince it has a better way of designing data centers, hardware makers and other suppliers might adopt these designs.

Makes sense right ?

The hardware was designed by a small team of only three engineers, who worked on it in a small office in Facebook headquarters.

Highlights Include:

A new way of supplying power that leads to 99.9999% (six nines) availability
Cooling — one of the biggest costs in a typical data center — is done entirely with outside air, which is driven through a “misting” system to control humidity. No ducts, no air conditioning
The actual servers are taller so they can use bigger heat sinks to keep them cool, and can be swapped out simply by pulling them out of the rack

They also use blue LEDs, which cost $0.07 apiece versus $0.03 for green.

[source: BusinessInsider.com]

Facebook Data Center: If if won’t run ARM, what will it run? (go.theregister.com)
Twitter’s Expansion Brings Capacity, Controversy (datacenterknowledge.com)

James Hicks

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Intel Announces 10-Core Server Chips

Wayne Dixon — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:19:15 +0000

Intel is known for making some excellent server chipsets with their Xeon line. The Xeon line goes back to 1998 with Intel’s single-core Pentium II Xeon Chip. Over the past 13 years Intel has increased the number of cores, and there by increasing capacity and capabilities, up to eight-cores with their 65XX and 75XX lines. Intel has now one-upped themselves by introducing Xeon-E7 chips which have 10-cores in a single die.

Intel is using this increase in number of cores to emphasize savings since companies can effectively replace 18 dual-core servers with a single 10-core server. This type of replacement would be extremely useful in virtualization environment and data centers where physical space is at a premium and any way to increase server density is lauded.

According to Dell, their new PowerEdge servers running Intel’s Xeon-E7 processor provide a 49% improvement in performance per-watt over Intel’s eight-core chips.

As of late many have speculated on the future of Intel’s other chip platform, Itanium. Intel has reiterated that it has plans to introduce new Itanium processors on their roadmap but they did not indicate a time frame for when these new chips would be introduced.

In addition to introducing the Xeon-E7 chips, Intel has also introduced their E3-1200 series chips. Intel believes these chips are meant for entry-level server market. Each chip in the series is a quad-core processor, with 8MB of L3 cache. The speed ranges from 3.10 GHz for the E3-1220 to 3.50 GHz for the E3-1280. There are also two low-voltage chips that have been introduced, the E3-1220L and the E3-1260L. The E3-1220L is a dual-core chip, has 3MB of L3 Cache, runs at 2.20 GHz and only consumes 20 watts of power. THe E3-1260L is a quad-core chip running at 2.40 GHz and is rated at 45 watts of power.

This new offering from Intel is going to make it more difficult for AMD to keep up and introduce competitive chips. AMD has been known to come back and we will await what the future holds. Regardless of what AMD releases, competition for Intel is a good thing.

[image via Intel]

Wayne Dixon

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THE Tech Scoop » Hardware

MacBook Air Docking Station

EXCLUSIVE – Interview with Brook Drumm of printrbot

Logitech Revue Update Coming This Week

Amazon Kindle Fire Could Be iPad’s Biggest Rival

Related articles

Freebie of the Week: Parts-People.com

HP’s New Strategy and Firesale Fiasco

Hack Your Logitech Revue

Pandigital E-Reader Review

Facebook Open Compute Project

Related articles

Intel Announces 10-Core Server Chips