The microprocessors that power today’s computers are running out of space. For decades engineers have found ways to shrink the circuitry that’s etched onto each chip’s surface, but that trend will soon collide with hard laws of physics. Intel engineers may have found a way to continue the relentless march toward ever-faster computers: 3D circuitry containing tiny fins of silicon that rise above the chip’s surface. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/science/05chip.html
Tag: Intel
Intel co-invented USB. Apple invented FireWire. Now the two companies have collaborated to produce Thunderbolt, a fast, flexible technology that may eventually make both of those earlier technologies obsolete. Born in Intel’s research labs, Thunderbolt first appeared earlier this year in Apple’s Macbook Pro. Thunderbolt will provide lightning-fast connection speeds for monitors, hard drives, input devices, and other types of peripherals, once those peripherals are redesigned with Thunderbolt interfaces.www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm