Qualcomm is getting high on 64-bit chips with its fastest ever
Snapdragon processor, which will render 4K video, support LTE Advanced
and could run the 64-bit Android OS.
The new Snapdragon 810 is the company’s “highest performing” mobile chip
for smartphones and tablets, Qualcomm said in a statement. Mobile
devices with the 64-bit chip will ship in the first half of next year,
and be faster and more power-efficient. Snapdragon chips are used in
handsets with Android and Windows Phone operating systems, which are not
available in 64-bit form yet.
The Snapdragon 810 is loaded with the latest communication and graphics
technologies from Qualcomm. The graphics processor can render 4K (3840 x
2160 pixel) video at 30 frames per second, and 1080p video at 120
frames per second. The chip also has an integrated modem that supports
LTE and its successor, LTE-Advanced, which is emerging.
The 810 also is among the first mobile chips to support the latest
low-power LPDDR4 memory, which will allow programs to run faster while
consuming less power. This will be beneficial, especially for tablets,
as 64-bit chips allow mobile devices to have more than 4GB of memory,
which is the limit on current 32-bit chips.
The layout of the Snapdragon 810 chip. (Click to enlarge.)
The quad-core chip has a mix of high-power ARM Cortex-A57 CPU cores for
demanding tasks and low-power A53 CPU cores for mundane tasks like
taking calls, messaging and MP3 playback. The multiple cores ensure more
power-efficient use of the chip, which helps extend battery life of
mobile devices.
The company also introduced a Snapdragon 808 six-core 64-bit chip. The
chips will be among the first made using the latest 20-nanometer
manufacturing process, which is an advance from the 28-nm process used
to make Snapdragon chips today.
Qualcomm now has to wait for Google to release a 64-bit version of
Android for ARM-based mobile devices. Intel has already shown mobile
devices running 64-bit Android with its Merrifield chip, but most mobile
products today run on ARM processors. Qualcomm licenses Snapdragon
processor architecture and designs from ARM.
Work for 64-bit Android is already underway,
and applications like the Chrome browser are already being developed
for the OS. Google has not officially commented on when 64-bit Android
would be released, but industry observers believe it could be announced at the Google I/O conference in late June.
Qualcomm spokesman Jon Carvill declined to comment on support for 64-bit
Android. But the chips are “further evidence of our commitment to
deliver top-to-bottom mobile 64-bit leadership across product tiers for
our customers,” Carvill said in an email.
Qualcomm’s chips are used in some of the world’s top smartphones, and
will appear in Samsung’s Galaxy S5. A Qualcomm executive in October last year called
Apple’s A7, the world’s first 64-bit mobile chip, a “marketing
gimmick,” but the company has moved on and now has five 64-bit chips
coming to medium-priced and premium smartphones and tablets. But no
64-bit Android smartphones are available yet, and Apple has a headstart
and remains the only company selling a 64-bit smartphone with its iPhone
5S.
The 810 supports HDMI 1.4 for 4K video output, and the Adreno 430
graphics processor is 30 percent faster on graphics performance and 20
percent more power efficient than the older Adreno 420 GPU. The graphics
processor will support 55-megapixel sensors, Qualcomm said. Other chip
features include 802.11ac Wi-Fi with built-in technology for faster
wireless data transfers, Bluetooth 4.1 and a processing core for
location services.
The six-core Snapdragon 808 is a notch down on performance compared to
the 810, and also has fewer features. The 808 supports LTE-Advanced, but
can support displays with up to 2560 x 1600 pixels. It will support
LPDDR3 memory. The chip has two Cortex-A57 CPUs and four Cortex-A53
cores.
The chips will ship out to device makers for testing in the second half of this year.
Ara, for those who aren’t familiar, is a modular smartphone project that would allow users to swap out interchangeable parts to give their device a different sensor load out, a better camera, more battery power or anything else your heart might desire. You source new sensors from a store that would operate similarly to a hardware version of the Play mobile software marketplace, and theoretically upgrade your phone piecemeal instead of having to buy a brand new one every few years just for a few new highlight features.
This is the first in a planned series of Ara dev conferences for 2014, Google says, and this event will focus specifically on the alpha release of the Ara Module Developers’ Kit (MDK) which will hit the web in early April. The free platform will offer developers “everything [they] need” to get up and running building Ara hardware modules, ATAP promises.Limited in-person attendance is available, with a $100 fee ($25 for students) covering food and a special social session. Google is approving these based on the strength of your application, so make it a good one.
Ara is meant to be a one-size fits all solution for smartphones, offering anything to any potential user in the world with its range of modules. That’s a hugely ambitious goal, of course, but in ATAP’s own words, they “like epic shit,” so that aim seems within its scope.
City populations grow by 7,500
people per hour and mobile data traffic is expected to grow ten times by
2019, increasing the need for sustainable lighting and enhanced mobile
capacity and coverage in cities
New connected
street lighting model solves two issues simultaneously: offering city
officials an innovative way to afford next generation energy efficient
LED lighting to meet sustainability goals, and enabling network
operators to offer improved city-wide mobile broadband and app coverage
Called
"Zero Site" by Ericsson, connected lighting solution integrates telecom
equipment into light poles enabling telecom operators to improve mobile
network performance while reducing urban clutter
Citizens
will benefit from improved mobile network coverage for data
communications and enhanced safety with brighter, well lit streets
Ericsson
(NASDAQ:ERIC) and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), the global
leader in lighting, have jointly launched an innovative new connected
LED street lighting model. The partnership solves two major issues that
cities are facing today: providing citizens with improved network
performance in dense urban areas as well as high quality, public
lighting that is energy efficient.
Philips and
Ericsson combine the benefits of mobile connectivity and LED lighting in
a ''lighting-as-a-service'' model for cities. It allows city
authorities to offer space within their connected lighting poles to
network service providers for mobile broadband infrastructure.
Philips
will now offer cities LED street lighting that can include mobile
telecoms equipment from Ericsson. Mobile operators working with Ericsson
for mobile broadband infrastructure will be able to rent space in the
poles. In this way, mobile network operators will be able to improve
data coverage and capacity for citizens, resulting in enhanced mobile
broadband services. The model also accelerates the payback time for city
infrastructure, by making the up-front costs of installing and managing
these systems more affordable, so reducing the strain on city budgets.
Philips
LED street lighting can generate energy savings of 50 to 70 percent,
with savings reaching 80 percent when coupled with smart controls - as
validated by a study conducted by The Climate Group in 12 of the world's
largest cities. The study also showed that citizens prefer the white
light of LED lighting, citing a greater sense of safety and improved
visibility compared to the orange glow of traditional high pressure
sodium systems.
Ericsson President and CEO Hans
Vestberg says: "This is a tremendous solution using ICT and partnerships
to address the megatrend of urbanization. City populations are
increasing at the rate of 7,500 people per hour, but our world is not
geographically expanding. Meanwhile, our ConsumerLab research shows that
internet connectivity is one of the top five factors for satisfaction
in city life. This Zero Site solution is the kind of innovation that
offers a way for people to succeed in the Networked Society."
Frans
van Houten, President and CEO of Philips, says: "This new connected LED
street lighting model is another example of us bringing the Internet of
Things to life and demonstrates the capabilities of light beyond
illumination. We are offering lighting as a service that scales with a
city's needs and enables city officials to offer their citizens a more
connected, energy efficient and safer urban environment, while
preserving existing budgets and resources to improve the livability of
their city."
To meet the demand for coverage and
capacity, mobile operators need to improve, densify and add many more
radio cell sites in dense areas. The new connected street light pole,
designed to house Ericsson's cutting edge suite of small cell products,
offers network operators new possibilities to find the right site
location. It will also help to scale the deployment of mobile broadband
technology beyond traditional sites - a key enabler for evolving
heterogeneous networks.
Gaming accessory maker SteelSeries has partnered with Tobii Technology
to develop a device that will let gamers use their eyes to control game
play.
SteelSeries expects to announce further details about the partnership
and products over the next several months. But the Tobii EyeX
Controller, which will be demonstrated at International CES, will show
how eye-tracking peripherals can look and function.
SteelSeries is sure eye tracking will play a big part in the future of
gaming, because it expands the number of ways players can interact with
games, company CTO Tino Soelberg said in a video announcing the partnership.
The prototype EyeX hardware.
Danish SteelSeries and Swedish Tobii have several ideas about how
players will be able to use their eyes to control games. It makes
accessing menus easier, and makes games with complex controls easier to
learn, they said. Developers can also let gamers aim a flashlight or a
weapon by looking at a target, and then use regular controls to shoot.
Another idea is to let gamers select the player they want to pass the
ball to by looking at them.
Developers who want to be part of the first wave of games with eye tracking can preorder the Tobii EyeX Developer Kit for $95 during the show, according to Tobii.
The kit includes hardware, middleware and a development framework, and will start shipping in March.
MarkerBot opened this store in Boston on November, 22 2013. There is now 3 such stores in USA (New York, Greenwich and Boston). You can of course buy MakerBot 3D printers, filaments, but there also some 3D printed gifts and some workshops seem to be regularly organized as well.
The shop is located in one of the most famous street for shopping in Boston (144 Newbury Street). Beyond the fact that the MakerBot outlet is contiguous to fashion boutiques (being the only computer hardware shop for miles around), the idea is mainly to democratize the ownership of a 3D printer, trying to morph 3D printer into the fridge of the 21st century.
On Friday, Microsoft released its 3D Builder app, which allows Windows 8.1 users to print 3D objects, but not much else.
The simple, simplistic, free app from Microsoft provides a basic way to
print common 3D objects, as well as to import other files from SkyDrive
or elsewhere. But the degree of customization that the app allows is
small, so 3D Builder basically serves as an introduction to the world of
3D printing.
In fact, that’s Microsoft’s intention, with demonstrations of the MakerBot Replicator 2 slated for Microsoft’s retails stores this weekend. Microsoft customers can buy a new Windows 8.1 PC, as well as the $2199 MakerBot Replicator 2, both online as well as in the brick-and-mortar stores themselves.
One of the selling points of Windows 8.1 was its ability to print 3D objects,
a complement to traditional paper printing. Although Microsoft is
pitching 3D Builder as a consumer app, the bulk of spending on 3D
printing will come from businesses, which will account for $325 million
out of the $415 million that will be spent this year on 3D printing,
according to an October report from Gartner. However, 3D printers have made their way into Staples,
and MakerBot latched onto an endorsement of the technology from
President Obama during his State of the Union address, recently
encouraging U.S. citizens to crowd-fund an effort to 3D printers in
every high school in America. (MakerBot also announced a Windows 8.1
software driver on Thursday.)
MicrosoftMicrosoft’s 3D Builder includes some basic modification options.
Microsoft’s 3D Builder app could certainly be a part of that effort.
Frankly, there’s little to the app itself besides a library of
pre-selected objects, most of which seem to be built around small,
unpowered model trains of the “Thomas the Tank Engine” variety. After
selecting one, the user has the option of moving it around a 3D space,
increasing or decreasing the size to a particular width or height—and
not much else.
Users can also import models made elsewhere. Again, however, 3D Builder
isn’t really designed to modify the designs. It’s also not clear which
3D formats are supported.
On the other hand, some might be turned off by the perceived complexity
of 3D printing. If you have two grand to spend on a 3D printer but
aren’t really sure how to use it, 3D Builder might be a good place to
start.
In June 1977 Apple Computer shipped their first mass-market computer: the Apple II.
Unlike the Apple I, the Apple II was fully assembled and ready to use
with any display monitor. The version with 4K of memory cost $1298. It
had color, graphics, sound, expansion slots, game paddles, and a
built-in BASIC programming language.
What it didn’t have was a disk drive. Programs and data had to be
saved and loaded from cassette tape recorders, which were slow and
unreliable. The problem was that disks – even floppy disks – needed both
expensive hardware controllers and complex software.
Steve Wozniak solved the first problem. He
designed an incredibly clever floppy disk controller using only 8
integrated circuits, by doing in programmed logic what other controllers
did with hardware. With some
rudimentary software written by Woz and Randy Wigginton, it was
demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1978.
But where were they going to get the higher-level software to
organize and access programs and data on the disk? Apple only had about
15 employees, and none of them had both the skills and the time to work
on it.
The magician who pulled that rabbit out of the hat was Paul Laughton,
a contract programmer for Shepardson Microsystems, which was located in
the same Cupertino office park as Apple.
On April 10, 1978 Bob Shepardson and Steve Jobs signed a $13,000
one-page contract for a file manager, a BASIC interface, and utilities.
It specified that “Delivery will be May 15?, which was incredibly
aggressive. But, amazingly, “Apple II DOS version 3.1? was released in
June 1978.
3D printing may have an image problem. It’s sometimes seen as a
hobbyist pursuit—a fun way to build knickknacks from your living room
desktop—but a growing number of companies are giving serious thought to
the technology to help get new ideas off the ground.
That’s literally off the ground in aircraft maker Boeing’s case.
Thirty thousand feet in the air, some planes made by Boeing are
outfitted with air duct components, wiring covers, and other small,
general parts that have been made via 3D printing, or, as the process is
known in industrial applications, additive manufacturing. The company
also uses additive manufacturing with metal to produce prototype parts
for form, fit and function tests.
Whether it’s the living room or a corporate factory, the underlying
principle of 3D printing—additive manufacturing—is the same. It’s
different from traditional manufacturing techniques such as subtractive
or formative manufacturing, which mainly rely on removing material
through molding, drilling or grinding. Additive manufacturing instead
starts from scratch and binds layers of material sequentially in
extremely thin sheets, into a shape designed with 3D modeling software.
Please, we call it "additive manufacturing"
Boeing has been conducting research and development in the area of
additive manufacturing since 1997, but the company wants to scale up its
processes in the years ahead so it can use the technology to build
larger, structural components that can be widely incorporated into
military and commercial aircraft.
For these larger titanium structures that constitute the backbone of
aircraft, “they generally fall outside of the capacity of additive
manufacturing in its current state because they’re larger than the
equipment that can make them,” said David Dietrich, lead engineer for
additive manufacturing in metals at Boeing.
“That’s our goal through aggressive new machine designs—to scale to larger applications,” he said.
Boeing’s use of 3D printing may seem unconventional because of the
growing attention on the technology’s consumer applications for things
like toys, figurines and sculptures. But it’s not.
In industry, “we don’t like to refer to it as ‘3D printing’ because
the term additive manufacturing has been around longer and is more
accepted,” Dietrich said.
For consumers, some of the more prominent 3D printer makers include
MakerBot, MakieLab and RepRap; industrial-grade makers include 3D
Systems, which also makes lower-cost models, Stratasys, ExOne and EOS.
The cost of a 3D printer varies widely. 3D Systems’ Cube, which is
designed for home users and hobbyists, starts at around $1,300. But
machines built for industrial-grade manufacturing in industries like
aerospace, automotive and medical, such as those made by ExOne, can
fetch prices as high as $1 million.
The average selling price for an industrial-grade 3D printer is about
$75,000, according to market research compiled by Terry Wohlers, an
analyst who studies trends in 3D printing. Most consumer printers go for
between $1,500 and $3,000, he said.
3D printing or additive manufacturing offers several advantages over
traditional subtractive processes. The biggest benefit, some businesses
say, is that the technology allows for speedier, one-off production of
products in-house.
At Boeing, the team handling additive manufacturing in plastics has
cut down its processing time dramatically. While it might take up to a
year to make some small parts using conventional tools, 3D printing can
lessen the processing time to a week, said Michael Hayes, lead engineer
for additive manufacturing in plastics at the company.
The company can also more easily tweak its products using the
technology, he said. “You can fail early,” Hayes said. “You can make the
first part very quickly, make changes, and get to a high-quality part
faster.”
Far beyond the hobbiests
NASA is another organization that is using 3D printers to experiment.
The space agency has been looking at the technology for years, but over
the past six months, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been using
the technology more frequently to test new concepts for parts that may
soon find their way into spacecraft.
Located in Pasadena, California, the lab has a dozen 3D printers
including consumer models made by companies such as MakerBot, Stratasys
and 3D Systems.
Make the virtual world tangible.
Previously, 3D printers were too expensive, but the revolution now is
their affordability, said Tom Soderstrom, chief technology officer at
the lab. JPL uses the printers as a brainstorming tool as part of what
Soderstrom calls their “IT petting zoo.”
So far, the program’s results have been good. This past summer,
mechanical engineers used the printers to create concepts for simple
items like table trays. But an actual stand for a webcam was produced
too, to be used for conference calls. And engineers realized, using the
3D printers, they could incorporate the same swivel mechanism that was
used for the stand into their design for a new spacecraft part for
deploying parachutes.
“That was the ‘aha’ moment,” Soderstrom said, that the printers could
be used to conceive and print parts for actual spacecraft. The swivel
part, which has been designed but not manufactured yet, would provide
wiggle room to the parachute to reduce the torque or rotational impact
when it deploys.
Another advantage of having a 3D printer in-house is that it can give
a company an easier way to fine-tune designs for new products,
Soderstrom said. “It can take you 20 times to get an idea right,” he
said.
Soderstrom hopes that eventually entire spacecraft could be printed
using the technology. The spacecraft would be unmanned, and small,
perhaps a flat panel the size of an art book. “Not all spacecraft need
to look like the Voyager,” Soderstrom said.
For consumer-level 3D printers, the technology is still developing.
Depending on the machine, the printed objects are not always polished,
and the software to make the designs can be buggy and difficult to
learn, Soderstrom said. Software for generating designs for 3D printing
can be supplied by the printer vendor, take the form of computer-aided
design programs such as Autodesk, or come from large engineering
companies like Siemens.
Still, Soderstrom recommends that CIOs make the investment in 3D
printing and purchase or otherwise obtain several machines on loan. They
don’t have to be the most expensive models, he said, but companies
should try to identify which business units might see the most benefit
from the machines. Companies should try to find somebody who can act as
the “IT concierge”—a person with knowledge of the technology who can
advise the company how best to use it.
“Producing a high-fidelity part on some of the cheaper 3D printers
can be hard,” Soderstrom said. “This concierge could help with that.”
Certain skills this person may need could include knowing how to work
with multiple different materials within a single object, he said.
Companies don’t have to be as large as Boeing or NASA to get some use
out of 3D printers. The technology is also an option for small-business
owners and entrepreneurs looking to make customized designs for
prototypes and then print them in small-scale runs.
A new take on 3D printing
One company making strategic use of 3D printing is shipping and
logistics giant UPS. The company, which also makes its services
available to smaller customers via storefront operations, has responded
to the growing interest in the technology with a program designed to
help small businesses and startups that may not have the funds to
purchase their own 3D printer.
A poll of small-business owners conducted by UPS showed high interest
in trying out the technology, particularly among those wanting to
create prototypes, artistic renderings or promotional materials. So, in
July the company announced the start of a program that UPS said makes it the first nationwide retailer to test 3D printing services in-store.
Staples claims to be the first retailer to stock 3D printers for
consumers, but UPS says its program makes it the first to offer 3D
printing services like computer-aided design consultations in addition
to the printing itself.
Currently, there are six independently owned UPS store locations
offering Stratasys’ uPrint SE Plus printer, an industrial-grade machine.
A store in San Diego was the first to get it, followed by locations in
Washington, D.C.; Chicago; New York; and outside Dallas. In September,
the printer was installed at a location in Menlo Park, California, just
off Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley, a street known for its
concentration of venture capital companies backing tech startups.
3D printed fashion via Shapeways.
The UPS Store will gather feedback from store owners and customers
over the next 12 months and then will decide whether to add printers in
additional stores if the test is successful.
So far at the San Diego store, costs to the customer have ranged from
$10, for lifelike knuckles printed by a medical device developer, to
$500 for a prototype printed by a prosthetics company. The biggest
factor in determining price is the complexity of the design.
The customer brings in a digital file in the STL format to the store.
The store then checks to make sure the file is print-ready by running
it through a software program. If it is, the customer gets a quote for
the printing and labor costs.
Sometimes the digital file needs to be reworked or created from
scratch. In such cases, the customer can work with a contracted 3D
printing designer to iron out the design. Depending on how this meeting
goes, it can be a several-step process before a file is ready for
printing, said Daniel Remba, the UPS Store’s small-business technology
leader, who leads the company’s 3D printing project.
So far at the San Diego store, there have been several different
types of customers coming in to use the printer, said store owner Burke
Jones. They have ranged from small startups to engineers from larger
companies, government contractors and other people who just have an
interesting idea, he said.
One customer wanted a physical 3D replica of his own head, Jones
said. There was also a scuba diver who printed a light filter for an
underwater lamp and a mountain biker who printed a mount for a camera.
For early stage companies, Jones estimates that the store has printed
roughly a couple dozen product prototypes. In total, the store has done
probably as many as 50 printing jobs for various types of customers, he
said, producing 200 different parts.
In Menlo Park, the store has completed about 10 jobs with the printer, with at least 25 other inquiries pending.
A virtual physical enterprise
There are other online companies that offer 3D printing services. Two sites are Shapeways and Quickparts,
which take files uploaded by the customer and then print the object for
them. But the UPS Store project is different because it’s more
personal, Jones said.
“We get to know the people, and their vision,” he said.
3D Hubs is another company
betting that there are people who are interested in 3D printers but
don’t own one. The site operates like an Airbnb for 3D printers, by
helping people find 3D printers that are owned by other people or
businesses nearby.
3D printing is already a crucial element in some large companies’
manufacturing processes. But for smaller companies, the technology’s
biggest obstacle may be a lack of awareness about when it’s right to use
it, said Pete Brasiliere, an industry analyst with Gartner.
Though the desktop machines may not be as advanced, their popularity
within the “maker” culture could provide that knowledge to the business
world. “The hype around the consumer market has made senior management
aware,” Brasiliere said.
Motorola has unveiled Project Ara,
an open-source initiative for modular smartphones with the goal to "do
for hardware what the Android platform has done for software." The
company plans to create an ecosystem that can support third-party
hardware development for individual phone components — in other words,
you could upgrade your phone's processor, display, and more by shopping
at different vendors.
Motorola will be working with Phonebloks,
which recently showed off a similarly ambitious concept for modular
smartphones; the Google-owned hardware manufacturer says that it plans
to engage with the Phonebloks community throughout the development
process and help realize the same idea with its technical expertise.
Project Ara's design comprises
of an "endo" — the phone's endoskeleton, or basic structure — and
various modules. The modules "can be anything," says Motorola, giving
examples ranging from a new keyboard or battery to more unusual
components such as a pulse oximeter.
"We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software."
The company will be reaching
out to developers to start creating Ara modules, and expects the
developer's kit to be released in alpha this winter; interested parties
can sign up to be an "Ara Scout" now.
15.10.13 - Two EPFL
spin-offs, senseFly and Pix4D, have modeled the Matterhorn in 3D, at a
level of detail never before achieved. It took senseFly’s ultralight
drones just six hours to snap the high altitude photographs that were
needed to build the model.
They weigh less than a kilo each, but they’re as agile as eagles
in the high mountain air. These “ebees” flying robots developed by
senseFly, a spin-off of EPFL’s Intelligent Systems Laboratory (LIS),
took off in September to photograph the Matterhorn from every
conceivable angle. The drones are completely autonomous, requiring
nothing more than a computer-conceived flight plan before being launched
by hand into the air to complete their mission.
Three
of them were launched from a 3,000m “base camp,” and the fourth made
the final assault from the summit of the stereotypical Swiss landmark,
at 4,478m above sea level. In their six-hour flights, the completely
autonomous flying machines took more than 2,000 high-resolution
photographs. The only remaining task was for software developed by
Pix4D, another EPFL spin-off from the Computer Vision Lab (CVLab), to
assemble them into an impressive 300-million-point 3D model. The model
was presented last weekend to participants of the Drone and Aerial
Robots Conference (DARC), in New York, by Henri Seydoux, CEO of the
French company Parrot, majority shareholder in senseFly.
All-terrain and even in swarms
“We want above all to demonstrate what our devices are capable of
achieving in the extreme conditions that are found at high altitudes,”
explains Jean-Christophe Zufferey, head of senseFly. In addition to the
challenges of altitude and atmospheric turbulence, the drones also had
to take into consideration, for the first time, the volume of the object
being photographed. Up to this point they had only been used to survey
relatively flat terrain.
Last week the dynamic Swiss company –
which has just moved into new, larger quarters in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne –
also announced that it had made software improvements enabling drones
to avoid colliding with each other in flight; now a swarm of drones can
be launched simultaneously to undertake even more rapid and precise
mapping missions.