Peace Through Technology

Long time rivals AMD, Apple and Intel working together to build you the best laptop money can buy? That’s the rumor that is floating around by way of tech review site Engadget. If you’d asked me about this possibility three years ago, I’d have told you to lay off reading The Inquirer for awhile, but today the idea is not so far-fetched.

It started with the Apple-Intel alliance, where Apple became so fed up with heat and production issues of the latest IBM-based PowerPC processor that it finally followed the prophecy of former Apple CEO John “...turning down x86 was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made…” Scully and joined forces with Intel.

Next came the acquisition of ATI by AMD, filling the chipset gap in AMD’s product line and driving Intel CPU-based notebook makers into a quandary. Not to mention the decision point that Apple is now at: Continue to sell ATI, now AMD graphics paired with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs (presuming they will get along) or switch to Nvidia graphics. Uh, in case you’re thinking the Intel graphics will work here, forget it. Intel makes integrated graphics solutions, not dedicated graphics processors, and lest you forget, Apple fans are all about great graphics processing. And switching from Intel CPUs to AMD-based designs as some suggest will happen is likely to be a challenge for Apple, requiring a new board design to support the hypertransport bus. But imagine it, if you will: The fastest Intel processors paired with the best graphics from AMD wrapped up in the Apple coolest designs! Sounds so good it almost makes me weep!

Via Engadget

Windows on your Toaster?

Sorry, not yet. That promise of the future uttered by the pre-dot-com optimistic geeks of years past has still not come to fruition, much like jet packs and flying cars. But take heart, there is some progress in the area of technicizing your breakfast. Melitta is now offering an MSN-based coffeemaker. The Melitta Smart Mill and Brew Programmable Coffee Maker is out now, just in time for your holiday shopping. It includes an FM radio that receives MSN data related to your coffee-brewing morn: the weather and sunrise and sunset times, and …well, that’s it. Oh, it makes coffee, too.

Some may remember (but many have forgotten) the MSN Fossil watch of a few years back that was supposed to receive equally valuable data and display it in a monochromatic LCD display on your wrist. Apparently you can still buy one of these, but I’ve never seen anyone, geek or not, wearing one. It seems that Treos and Blackberries are worth the inconvenience of not being strapped to your wrist in exchange for a color display and worthwhile content.

If you absolutely have to have one of these coffeemakers now and don’t need steamed milk or the traffic report, then by all means go out and get this. Amazon.com has it now for a mere $200 and free shipping! The rest of us will wait for our Windows toaster and listen to the forecast on our AM radios in our cars while we wait in traffic and dream of jet packs.





Via CNET

The Sony Faithful

As the countdown to launch continues, lines are forming outside of stores such as Best Buy. Despite delays and compatibility issues, there is still strong demand for Sony's PS3 game console due to launch in the U.S. tomorrow. It's a good thing, too, for Sony, since it has so much invested in this, from the new Cell fab venture with Toshiba and IBM, to its proprietary Blue Ray DVD format. PS3's limited supply won't help either. It means that Sony will miss a lot of holiday sales that could be picked up instead by the Nintendo Wii, which is coming up fast from behind and is due to launch on Sunday. Will Sony's faithful who can't get a PS3 of their own convert? We'll find out very soon.


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