Globalfoundries takes ARM Cortex-A9 into 28nm land, looks forward to 20nm chips in 2013

Forget the numbers, here's what matters: Globalfoundries' new production capabilities will lead to "smooth production ramp-ups and faster time-to-market" for its customers. Now consider that this promise relates to scrumptious 28nm Cortex-A9 SOCs and feel free to rejoice. The chip fabricator has just declared itself ready to take orders for ARM's systems-on-chip built using its high-k metal gate 28nm fab process. This fulfills its pledge for mass production in the latter half of 2010, but lest you think Globalfoundries is resting on any nanoscale laurels, it also has a 20nm roadmap to tell you about. It's very simple, really: expect even smaller, even more power-efficient silicon in 2013. We don't know if the future will be bright, but it sure looks like it's gonna be small.

Continue reading Globalfoundries takes ARM Cortex-A9 into 28nm land, looks forward to 20nm chips in 2013

Globalfoundries takes ARM Cortex-A9 into 28nm land, looks forward to 20nm chips in 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011

Baby monitors have become quite commonplace over the past 20 years or so, and come in many variations. Exmovere (a company that previously produced the wearable Chariot) has debuted a new type of monitor, however, which are actually part of the baby's pajamas, and which are said to help monitor heart rate, emotional state and behavior. The outift -- called Exmobaby -- uses the Zigbee wireless standard, effectively connecting the baby to the home wireless network, enabling the parents (or you know, whoever's around) to track the babies various states via icons on their mobile phones. Sound great? Well, it's heading to limited retail in 2011, though no pricing has been announced yet. Full press release is below.

Continue reading Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011

Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Put Your Feet Up on Vintage Circuit Board Furniture [Circuitboards]

Theo Kamecke sees beauty in the common circuit board, and thinks they deserve a place in homes and galleries. He's created a series of dazzling boxes and chests made from salvaged circuitry—though they may not be for everyone. More »

What On Earth? Black & Decker Internet-Connected Gardening Tools [Gardening]

Gardening's a bit boring, what with the serious lack of gadgetry involved—an oversight Black & Decker wants to solve with its PlantSense(TM) EasyBloom(TM) range of sensor things(TM). Sensors for plants, something like that. More »

Foxconn makes designs on the Chinese retail market, gives laborers $25,000 to start stores

Three months ago, the compensation of Chinese laborers was low enough that those who built an iPhone couldn't dream of buying one, but the spending power of China in general has increased enough that electronics giant Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision Industries) is actually planning to sell such goods in its home country. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company will open ten large electronics stores in Shanghai by the end of 2011, and extend its existing chains of smaller retail stores and booths around the country by about 50 and 200 respectively. The plans aren't all focused on middle- and upper-class Chinese, as they provide provision for those aforementioned laborers as well -- on top of several recent wage increases, Foxconn would reportedly provide $25,000 to employees to help start up electronics stores in their hometowns. We wonder how many iPads a laborer would have to sell to afford one of their own.

Foxconn makes designs on the Chinese retail market, gives laborers $25,000 to start stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DIY Laser Pointer Safety Test [Safety]

Whether you're a regular presentation giver or you just like to pop balloons and start fires, laser pointers have become much more common, albeit unsafe, household objects. Here's how to build a small rig to test your laser pointer's safety. More »

Hacker reveals how Apple artifically restricts iPhone chargers (video)

Most cell phone manufacturers have charging standards these days, even if they can't always agree on which version of USB to use, but as the hair-tearing message above shows, third-party renditions of Apple's proprietary dock connector haven't always been universal solutions for iPods and iPhones. Now we know another important reason why -- secret resistors placed on the data lines in connectors for each iDevice. Minty Boost creator ladyada recently reverse-engineered the chargers for a variety of Apple gadgets, and discovered that iPhones in particular don't draw electricity until they detect 2.8V and 2V signals when they attempt to charge. At that voltage, the handsets suck down about one amp, leading to a rapid filling of your device's Li-ion belly, but by adding additional resistance to drop the voltage further, the iPhone can be coerced into accepting 500mA instead -- perfect for the set of AAA batteries you stashed away in that Altoids tin. Video after the break, full explanation at our source link.

Continue reading Hacker reveals how Apple artifically restricts iPhone chargers (video)

Hacker reveals how Apple artifically restricts iPhone chargers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What Explodes When Your Gadget Explodes? [Electronics]

I'm used to read news about exploding cellphones, laptops on fire, and even flaming USB adapters. But what explodes when your smartphone explodes? This video shows how the components inside those gadgets overload and go boom-boom. More »

Exotic nanodevice could let computers ditch slowpoke electrons and run thousands of times faster [Mad Engineering]

Modern computers rely on electrons moving through wires to transmit information, which is far, far slower than the fast-as-light optics we theoretically could be using. And now we've found the exotic material that might allow us to leave electrons behind. More »

PURE Sensia DAB Internet Radio Audio System

PURE Sensia DAB Internet Radio Audio System available at John Lewis in white.

This designer digital audio system has a large colour touch screen making it unique amongst internet radio gadgets. It allows you to enjoy internet radio content and podcasts, FM and DAB radio, as well as you own music using wifi. There’s also unique broadcast material at the PURE Lounge where you can listen to music online. They have 12,000 radio stations –which will keep you busy for months exploring the thousands of global, national and local radio stations.

You can also listen again to your favourite shows when you want them. They list podcasts and have Pure Sounds – an interesting collection of inspirational and relaxing music. Search by genre to find new radio stations and music to listen to.

PURE Sensia radio has a FREE 2 year guarantee.

The touch screen allows you to interact in an easy way – spinning and scrolling, tapping and swiping to change views as you explore the world of sound this gadget opens up to you. It has PURE Clearsound™ technology which provides you with impressive stereo sound, a handy radio frequency – so you don’t have to point it at the unit – remote control as well as the all important input for your iPod or MP3 player.

With an alarm, countdown and sleep timers, and a headphone socket it provides everything you need to allow you to drift to sleep with your favourite sounds playing and wake up to the choice of music you need!

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