A team of Scottish, German, and Italian researchers have collaborated to subvert the limits of the silicon chip and have come up with a way to create nano-sized wires and intricate nano-chips that can turn handheld phones into an equal of high-end computer laptops. This new discovery will be published in the next issue of the scientific journal Science.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), and the University of Rome (Italy) have speculated that their new findings will pave the way to more powerful computers just about the size of your palm. "This will help to make small devices much more powerful in the future," said Dr. Michael Zaiser of the University of Edinburgh.

While many an enthusiast rambles on how great AMD processors are better than Intel or vice versa, soon there would be little to fuel the bickering when handheld supercomputers have come to be realized. "Holding a supercomputer in the palm of your hand will one day be possible - and we are going to make sure all the wires are in the right place," Zaiser said. That is, of course, once engineers and scientists have overcome the issues that come hand in hand with nano-miniaturization.

"What we found is when we made these wires smaller and smaller they started to behave in a very funny way," said Zaiser. The different behavior cued the researchers to use computers to predict these unconventional behaviors, which could help engineers understand the new phenomena and how to work around them.

In the experimental front, STI (Sony, Toshiba, IBM) have previously voiced out plans for a 45-nm iteration of the 1x8 core CELL Broadband Engine, while Intel is still secretive about developments on its 80-core prototype (codenamed POLARIS) which still has a couple of years before entering commercial production. AMD in the meantime has previously released news of its new Phenom processor, a multi-core on single-die architectural marvel.

Microsoft tried to light a fire a few days back, saying free software like Linux violate 235 of their patents. Without fear, Linux creator Linus Torvalds stepped up to the challenge and say a few things.

Torvalds threw the allegations back at Microsoft, saying, "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does." With big M not stating specifically which patents the Linux OS violates, there's no reason for Torvalds to back down.

"Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent, they'd just tell us and go, 'nyaah, nyaah, nyaah!'" said Torvalds.

If given the same review about violating patents, Torvalds believes that Microsoft would find itself infringing patents from various other companies.

"Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s. IBM probably owned thousands of really 'fundamental' patents," says the Linux creator, which would mean Microsoft is as culpable in violating patents as much as Linux.

World leader in computer manufacture Dell Computer's rough first quarter was all it took to allow competitors Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Acer to climb back into the fray and rack up some serious growth figures.

Apple Computers was the biggest gainer as it saw a whopping 30 percent increase in its worldwide shipments. Its total U.S. market share rose from four percent to five percent, sealing a fantastic initial quarter performance. Hewlett-Packard also saw sharp increases with a 28.2 rise in shipments and an ownage of 19.1 percent of the total market.

Asian computer powers Lenovo and Acer are also growing. The Chinese firm that acquired the respected IBM hardware wing has showing it can ship PCs by the truckloads to become the third largest computer vendor on the planet.  Acer posted similar figures.

Dell, on the other hand, seems unable to cope with the times. The former king had its shipments drop by a significant 14 percent while its total market share is now only second to HP. U.S. sales are down even though the market grew by a tenth this year.

The woes of the company may have started when bad press spread like wildfire regarding its notebooks with severe, and sometimes explosive problems. The company has yet to regain momentum after the hard blow to its reputation.

Despite reports that the three prime consumer electronics giants will be working on next-generation, cutting-edge chips by 2010, Sony, Toshiba and NEC Electronics have all denied such claims. In fact, only Toshiba and NEC Electronics are attempting to renew the chip development alliance, and have left Sony out of the talks.

For the next line of 45nm chips for consumer electronics, Sony will be going their own separate way. "We have no intention of joint production. We make products ourselves, and if our capacity is not sufficient, we can turn to outside suppliers," a Sony representative said.

Next-generation development of smaller and more intricate chips require deeper pockets as development costs and upgraded facilities require more financial resources than usual.

Only experienced and money-burning giants, such as Intel and IBM, have every ability to develop next-generation chips without outside help. Whether or not this has any effect on the STI alliance (Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM) for the Cell BE, Sony consumers will just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, Intel has already been successful with a next-gen, 45nm-prototype of the Core 2 Duo processor ("Penryn"), and plans to mass produce a 32nm, 80-core processor ("Westmere") by around 2009.

How many times have we reported that IBM is the true winner of the console wars? Well, we have mentioned that twice - last November and December to be exact. Now, the company has recently taken the wraps off its newest creation - the world's fastest eDRAM.

At the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), IBM revealed a pioneering on-chip memory technology that is blessed with the fastest access times ever recorded in an Embedded Dynamic Random Access Memory (eDRAM). This is the same type of memory used in the daughter-die of the Xbox 360's graphical processing unit (GPU). IBM also helped in creating the console's three-core Power PC CPU.

The new eDRAM from IBM improves on-processor memory performance in one-third the space with one-fifth the standby power of your usual, garden-variety RAM. With that, this technology would improve microprocessor performance in multi-core designs. It would also speed up the graphics movement in gaming and other multi-media applications.

It is expected that this new eDRAM would be an integral part of IBM's 45nm microprocessor and will become available in 2008.

The days when we use our cell phones to call and send SMSs are so, so gone. Why you ask? Aside from the influx of smartphones and the recent unveiling of the iPhone, one of the world's biggest credit card payment scheme has launched a global system to turn mobile phones into wallets. Of course, we're talking about Visa.

Visa has entered in a deal with Nokia to let future users of this payment system, created with the help of IBM, to pay for groceries or other stuff by swiping a phone over a reader that electronically "talks" with a microchip on the phone. The owners would simply push a button, and voila, transaction complete.

According to a Visa statement at the CES, consumers will also be able to control and manage their payment accounts and funds, using only their cell phones.  A Near Field Communication (NFC) chip is the wireless standard used to link phones with payment systems in stores. This NFC mumbo-jumbo is developed by Philips chip unit, NXP and Sony. The initial version of the mobile payment system launched last Monday and future plans include remote payment and person-to-person payment.

There's no word on what happens when your mobile-payment-enabled cellphone gets lost or stolen. Most likely, you could cancel it the same way you do with stolen credit cards.

IBM, together with the Macronix and Qimonda research team, has demonstrated a device that claims to be the "Flash-killer." Why? Apparently, the prototype storage device is 500 times faster than Flash and uses less than half the power of Flash memory and can be built in super thin form factors.

The prototype would be showing what its got on the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineer's (IEEE) conference in San Francisco which happens this week. For those techies who want details, the IBM thingamajig uses a new Germanium-Antimony semi-conductor alloy in a device with a 3nm by 20nm cross section.

In layman's terms - it is smaller than today's flash and it is something that would take ages to perfect. Aside from that, the 500 time faster than flash memory is also blessed with a less than one-half the power consumption. Commercial availability - 2015

The IBM-Macronix-Qimonda project isn't the only one trying to do this. Samsung is also developing their very own phase-change RAM (PRAM) which is 30 times faster than flash and is targetted for a 2008 release. Intel and ST Microelectronics are doing the same thing and Elpida is targetting for a 2010 start of commercial PRAM production.

As announced in the CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) Japan, a cell chip developed by Toshiba, IBM, and Sony Computer Inc., similar to the cell processor of the upcoming next-gen console PS3, is now coming to mobile devices and cellphones. The cell processor is projected to be released next year.

Not much info has been announced about the new device aside from the fact that it will be manufactured using more advanced 65-nanometer production technology. A single chip of the new cell processor contains a main processor and eight sub-processors to unleash 200G Flops (floating point operations per second) of power.

Mitsuo Saito, one of the key creators of the chip from Toshiba's semi-conductor company, said, "As the first application we are focused on the consumer electronics area such as media servers or something like that, but Cell itself is not restricted to that area." Saito also added that Toshiba collaborated with IBM and Sony Computer Inc. to enhance the cell world. They are planing to have the same basis of software for each cell type. We are still waiting for the three companies to shed light on specific details of the cell chip but we promise to update you right away once new details surfaces so stay tuned!

If there's anything Sony doesn't want to remember in the history of its notebook battery production, it's this year's outburst of some really bad news: A Dell notebook with a Sony battery caught fire in Japan.

Lately, it's not only Fujitsu that has announced global recall for Sony's batteries. Lenovo/IBM has joined the ranks of Dell, Apple, and Toshiba. As we know, three airlines have already put a restriction against laptops being brought in the airports and planes as a result of another Lenovo ThinkPad bursting into flames at a Los Angeles airport just last week. And yes, it's because of Sony batteries.

A quick estimate of Sony's losses will amount to US$ 560 million, out of its expected US$ 1.1 billion profits in half this year. That's US$ 340 million for a global recall of some 10 million lithium ion notebook PC batteries and US$ 220 million worth of price slash for the PS3. Unfortunately, the figure could rise further if the PC vendors or consumers take legal action against Sony. So put two and two together, and we're watching 560 million of 'em greenbacks slowly burn to ashes.

Last week, Sony has already planned to consult with OEM customers for their own battery recall. If your battery is a Sony that hasn't already been exchanged, it's best to watch out for news from your notebook manufacturer.

When we see someone giving his PC a rap, we immediately think he either needs a new computer or he needs to enroll in an anger management class. Now there's a third possibility. He could be locking his screen or telling his PC to play the next track on his mp3 player.

The knocking commands are made possible by a Linux program called knockAge. In 2003, IBM rolled out Lenovo, the laptop formerly known as ThinkPad, equipped with integrated accelerometers. The accelerometer was originally designed to protect the HD in case of an accidental collision with the floor. This is where some talented hackers came in. They developed modules for the Linux kernel to take advantage of these sensors.

Using an updated Linux kernel with the Hard Drive Active Protection System (HDAPS) driver and knockAge, you can generate knock codes that will run commands such as screen locking/unlocking, on-screen display orientation, desktop switching, game control and real-time 3D models of the tilt of the laptop. The possibilities are endless.

We prefer to use the keys but hey different strokes for different folks. Check out the video to see knockAge in action. If you want to know how you can knock up your Lenovo you can see the different command codes in the full article.