Self driving cars? .. you mean the google-cars at 25mph?

I am having trouble figuring out what these things will do on a car.

http://liliputing.com/2015/01/intel-expands-broadwell-lineup-chips-notebooks-...

Intel comes through with their big announcement.   Haswell is replaced by a die shrink to Broadwell, same exact chip size and configuration (exact same ball grid array) but a 22% better graphics core and the CPU is run at 14nm and it yields a whopping 4% efficiency increase while running productivity apps.    In short, it is the EXACT SAME daughter board mounting a slightly smaller combined CPU/GPU chipset but still depending on separate motherboard components relative to the fully integrated ARM chipsets it competes against.



"While Intel says you should only expect about a 4 percent boost in productivity apps, the chip maker says Broadwell chips offer up to 22 percent better 3D graphics."

Wow, Intel finally makes it to 14nm and all they get is a 4% boost in performance (but they do put in a competitive graphics chip finally).   Intel does lose the fan finally, and battery life improves accordingly.

And they are using the term Cherry Trail again for a to be released mobile/tablet chipset which is to be 14nm and is promised to be equally innovative and astounding.

And the "$29 Sophia phones" are out from Microsoft now -- everyone bow down to the third world marketing prowess of Intel and Microsoft.

http://liliputing.com/2015/01/microsofts-nokia-215-29-internet-connected-phon...

The phone isn't a smart phone but it can get you on the internet, kinda.   And only for a very certain set of things that MS wants you to have.



"The phone has a 2.4 inch, 320 x 240 pixel display, a VGA camera, support a flashlight function, and support for FM radio and MP3 audio. It supports Bluetooth 3.0 for connecting a headset, and supports relatively slow 2G networks… but this is an entry-level phone that’s designed to allow people to make calls and get online in developing markets where price may be more important than speed.

The upshot is that the Nokia 215 has the kind of battery life that puts modern smartphones to shame. Microsoft says you should get up to 20 hours of talk time, 50 hours of MP3 playback time, or 29 days of standby time from the phone’s 1100mAh battery."

Ah, the meat and potatoes of the show, the new affordable chipsets from Allwinner, Mediatek and Rockchip.

First, Rockchip -- who was supposed to be just a "waggle finger" of Intel by now but instead has come out with a series (3 in a row now) of new ARM based processors with nary an Intel bit to be seen in any of them.  

Yep, by Rockchip's own admission there was no desirable tech to be lifted from Intel at all -- so Rockchip has given up on Intel at this point.    Instead, Intel has paid/bribed Spreadtrum to build the funny not a smartphone chipset that Microsoft is using in their funny not a smartphone (using all ARM technology except an out of date baseband and an out of date radio chipset that was ancient Intel owned tech from something they bought a while back).  

No one is fooled by this situation at all, Intel and Microsoft have pretty much failed to gain any entry into smartphone space yet again and their foray into Chinese domestic tablets spent AT LEAST $100 PER TABLET ACTUALLY PRODUCED with the stuff actually produced sitting in warehouses mostly because the oriental people simply do not want Windows tablets and they find the Intel chipped Android devices to not be able to run some of their oriental softwares simply because Intel isn't really really adhering to the android standards on the hardware side.

In response to this growing reality Rockchip has come out with a 64 bit ARM based dual A53, a quad A53 and now an Octa A53 basically matching what Qualcomm and Allwinner have also discovered -- that the ARM A53 64 bit little chipset is stronger than the old A9 used to be, cheaper to produce and much faster and more powerful and  it sips much less power than that old A9 main-line chipset and supports MUCH better graphics.   A quad core and an octa core A53 do cover the entire gamut of current products and there is no real need for an 8 core big little unless you are going into a laptop format.

Allwinner's big news was that their newest 64 bit quad core A53 has come out in a $5 chipset.   This is the lowest cost phone and tablet capable 64 bit chipset out there.   Heck of it is that this new quite capable chipset is about the same cost as the Intel Spreadtrum abortion that is inside Microsoft's $29 dumb phone.

Mediatek's big news was a tiny tiny tiny android standard 64 bit chipset for wearables.   Their more standard sized news was a more powerful 64 bit big little that has 2 A57 and 2 A53 chipsets, intended to go into higher end phones and tablets.

Nothing new announced was anything less than full 64 bit stuff intended to run the new Android 5.0 operating system.  

There was no Intel based news out of the orient.   There was no Microsoft news other than the price supported little $29 not-a-smartphone for India.

There are no reported ripples in the entire changeover year's worth of ARM/Android/Lenaro implementation of 64 bit -- nobody screwed the pooch at all during the changeover year, not even Samsung.

The conversion of ARM 28nm lithography lines to ARM 16/20nm lines is ongoing at all of the fabs and the roll over from A7 to A53 is going along apace with it.

Intel is still not selling anything at all in the orient without putting at least a $20 bill taped to the top of it.   Intel shows no signs of getting real price competitive on production units, and the perennial Intel robbing of Peter to pay Paul has finally run aground with the last Intel stockholders meeting, resulting in another forced reorg and another VP head chopping at Intel (which has already taken place, BTW).

Looking now for any breaking news of another Intel layoff in 2015.

Microsoft isn't selling anything for much in mobile space unless it is the price supported $29 not quite dumb phones that are going into India.   Still no news if they are actually selling in India, BTW.

Win 10 is still a year away and is having issues of its own while slowly getting through the design process.   Win 8.1 is still Win 8.1 and that is what you have to take if you buy something Windowish the first half of this year.

What is bleeding through from listening to the show people is about how the Oriental device producers tend to think about operating systems .....


Linux -- obsolete old operating system that is only used on older TV sticks

Windows -- cranky complex operating system only used for old proprietary softwares (can be politically incorrect at times)

iOS -- Nice, but watch out as it goes obsolete on you every four years or so

ChromeOS -- modern operating system, but we don't like to use Google in China (it is politically incorrect now and can get you in trouble)

Pure Android (Google based)  see ChromeOS above

Oriental Android  -- a modern operating system that is carefully tuned for each device by the device maker and is NEVER upgraded, the device is simply run into the dirt and replaced when needed.


=================


Apple Products are highly regarded and frequently imitated for look and feel.   Windows Products, not so much.  

Bread and butter however is a local Android, of the various oriental flavors as tweeked by the device makers.

Why is this important?

It gives you a clue as to what happens in the future.   What the Oriental guys do now will come to America in about 6 months from now, after they fill up the Oriental Pipeline completely and have satisfied all local demand.

To keep the same size, give or take a bit, Microsoft MUST gain a presence in the Oriental Pipeline.   Right now they are giving Win 8.1 away for free along with some "technology support money" to try to do this, intending to get them some market share in the Orient so as to milk some money out of later on with the yearly charges for Win 10.    

However, the current Windows software runs like dog shite on ARM hardware (as in not really well at all) and the Intel supported CISC based chipsets are going to switch over to Broadwell and most of the Intel "contra revenue" price supports will be ended by Intel's shareholders going into next year.  

Soon Intel will begin to support ARM as their primary market for the smaller chipsets (and not so much the CISC stuff any more) as ARM is popular in the orient and a great deal more Android devices will be sold than any MS devices.  

Intel will become an out and out ARM supplier on the low end and drop most of their own low end CISC designs starting by the end of next year.

This changeover will start next year but will not be a complete and total deal IF AND ONLY IF MS DOES A REALLY REALLY GOOD COMMANDING JOB ON WIN 10.   If Win 10 is a flop, MS influence starts sunsetting starting this year.    If Win 10 is good, MS struggles on .....

Microsoft will not disappear quickly as they can milk their installed base in the USA for the next 10 years to jest barely keep on keeping on.   Surely as a smaller, more tightly focused company MS can do up a decent OS given 2-3 more years to do it in.

Intel however has to make up new chipsets continuously and SELL THEM AT A PROFIT to stay in business for the next 10 years.   Intel does not get to milk their old installed base for anything.