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  • The Paradox of Consumer Choice
    A few years ago I read a book called The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More by Barry Schwartz. His anecdotes were insightful and pointed to truths about the amount of choice the free market has laid on us as consumers. Of course free markets and consumer choice should be good things, but there are certainly experiences I have had where the overwhelming sense of having too many options made it difficult to actually make a decision. I related to much of what the book was saying, particularly with the experience of picking out a DVD to watch from my massive collection. I recall staring at a wall of DVDs and having the most difficult time deciding what to watch. The decision-making process when faced with so many good choices was simply immobilizing.  
  • The Future of PC and Mobile Processors

    I've spent a lot of time with a number of hardware manufacturers recently, trying to get a glimpse into the next generation of processors and the ways in which they'll impact future gadgets and PCs. In all my meetings, one term has arisen time and again: SOC, or system-on-a-chip.

    Traditionally, chips have been created independently and then coupled together to provide multiple computing features. For example, a manufacturer would create a core processor like an Intel Centrino with a built-in Wi-Fi radio, and then attach that to a systems board, perhaps linking it together with a separate graphics co-processor, in order to deliver enhanced PC graphics. Another might take an ARM core processor and then add on additional features like extended graphics to enhance device functionality.

  • Apple's iPad: Live up the Hype? It Will....
    It was interesting to hear all the chatter after last week's iPad launch. Most reactions I heard from other analysts and media were lukewarm at best...which was what I expected. If you think about it, how can anything live up to the kind of hype leading up to this launch? But there was a lot missed in the media about the event and the product that I hope to share in order to maintain our perspective on not only the iPad but on Apple and their products.  
  • Innovation Abounds - CES 2010 Post Show Analysis

    This year's CES was very interesting. I had felt for the past few years that CES was sorely lacking in the innovation department. But this year it looks like things have changed in the technology industry. Technology companies have realized that to reach the consumer the pace of innovation needs to accelerate, and this year's CES was a start in that direction.  Several things stuck out that I'd like to highlight:  

The Future of PC and Mobile Processors

Written by Tim Bajarin Monday, 09 November 2009 22:00

I've spent a lot of time with a number of hardware manufacturers recently, trying to get a glimpse into the next generation of processors and the ways in which they'll impact future gadgets and PCs. In all my meetings, one term has arisen time and again: SOC, or system-on-a-chip.

Traditionally, chips have been created independently and then coupled together to provide multiple computing features. For example, a manufacturer would create a core processor like an Intel Centrino with a built-in Wi-Fi radio, and then attach that to a systems board, perhaps linking it together with a separate graphics co-processor, in order to deliver enhanced PC graphics. Another might take an ARM core processor and then add on additional features like extended graphics to enhance device functionality.

When core processors are coupled together like this, however, they take up extra space on the motherboard. As devices get smaller, motherboard real estate becomes all the more valuable. Now nearly every vendor is working on its own SOCs, in order to cram more functionality onto a single chip. Intel's poster child for this manufacturing process is Atom, which includes the core processor, microcontroller, and i/o controller, while still leaving room for things like a transcoder, DSP, and other features that an OEM might want to incorporate into its netbook.

To get some perspective on this from a non-PC manufacturer, I spoke with the people at Zoran Corporation, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company that rose to fame by creating the processors that are found in 33-percent of DVD players worldwide and 33-percent of the digital televisions in the US. The company's amazing Coach processor is in 35-percent of all digital cameras, as well as one of Cisco's popular Flip pocket camcorders. Recently, when I was in Europe, I had the opportunity to test drvice two Coach cameras, the Sony CoolPix s620 and Samsung VLUU WB 1000. I have tested plenty of point-and-shoot cameras in my day, but I quite was impressed with the image quality and functionality of both models.

Zoran's CEO is Dr. Levy Gerzberg, one of the smartest people I have met in the tech world. I've had him on my CES Supersession panel on Big Thinkers-Disruptive Technologies for the last couple of years, and his perspective is always fascinating. I recently spoke to him about SOCs, and the company's ability to cram eight core functions onto a chip smaller than a dime, a process the company utilizes for some of its DTV chips. Gerzberg told me,

Read the rest of the article @PC Magazine.com.  

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