The Cell - A Revolution In 3d Rendering And Graphic Applications by Tim Morrison
The Cell Broadband Engine is a distributed computer processor capable of running instructions at upwards of 200 gigaflops or 200 trillion instructions per second. Although these would be fairly simple instructions, the speed of the Cell means it can process very complex information faster... A current project that would work for the Cell is BURP (Big and Ugly Render Project) as it is designed for both distributed computing and will run on the Linux kernel. ... The Cell is designed for graphical rendering and scaled linear data computing, which makes it nearly perfect for graphic processes...

IBM, Toshiba And Sony's New Toy - Under The Hood Of The Cell by Tim Morrison
Back in 2001, a group of engineers from Sony went to IBM with an idea. At the same time, Toshiba was looking into a similar concept and was approached by IBM to join into a development consortium. Over the next four years, with a budget approaching US $400 million, the Cell Broadband Engine... Linux and The Cell IBM has released the development core for the Cell that integrates in to the Linux OS. ... Anybody can download the Linux development kit for the Cell from the IBM website along with a simulator to test code.

PS3 To Cost Twice As Much As Xbox 360 by Ron Swerdfiger
According to Merrill Lynch, because of the cost of hardware components, the PS3 may cost twice as much as the Xbox 360 by the end of 2006. The report includes estimated breakdown of hardware costs by component at the time of launch and 3 years from now. ... On the cost of goods side, Merrill Lynch believes that the Cell processor will initially cost $230 to make which is more than the Xenon CPU which currently rings in at $100. ... The new figures show that the majority of the cost are from the Blu-Ray drive, and the Cell processor which total $580 alone.

There Will Be Plenty Of Cell Chips For Sony Playstation 3 Launch by Ron Swerdfiger
Speaking with Warren Communication News, William Zeittler, Senior Vice President of IBM’s System & Technology Group said that “yield learning” on the new Cell processor that makes up the core of Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been “faster than on any chip we’ve done.” Translation – IBM is quickly... No matter how fast they can assemble the consoles, if parts are not available, manufacturing will come to a hault Zeitles also mentioned that IBM was able to increase their production of Xbox 360 parts quickly as well – which enforces the idea if there is a PS3 shortage, don’t blame IBM.

PS3, the New Boy in the Hood! by John Gibb
Although it hasn’t reached the hi-tech store shelves yet, the brand new bad boy in the hood of cutting edge video gaming consoles is slowly approaching. Scheduled for release at 17 November 2K6, the highly anticipated gaming console made its last appearance at the 2006 E3. ... The all new PS3 features the innovative, never-seen-before Cell processor; we are talking about the result of the cooperation between 3 giants in the field of hi-tech electronics: IBM, Sony and Toshiba! ... The Cell processor features an astounding number of 7 (!) cores and it clocks at 3.2 GHz.

Will New Batteries Make Laptops Truly Mobile? by Titus Hoskins
Current laptops or notebook computers have one major obstacle to overcome: short battery life. Despite their sleek style and ever increasing higher performance levels, laptops have never been truly mobile. With batteries averaging around 3 to 5 hours of usable power, most laptops are limited in... As everyone knows, recharging a conventional cell battery takes hours, this new battery will only take seconds to recharge or rather refuel. ... Read more info on Micro Fuel Cells here: www.mtimicrofuelcells.com Even more promising is printable solar cells that folds out or can be wrapped around...

Hardware Inside Sony Playstation 3 Reviewed and Explained by Aaron Brooks
The Sony PS3 is creating headlines in the techie world. And, watchers all over the world are reviewing the much awaited product. It is all set to storm the gaming world The CNET Editor has awarded the PS3 8.8 out of 10 with 9/10 for design; 9/10 for features; and 8/10 for performance. ... And instead of using off the shelf Pc components the PS3’s 3.2 GHz Cell processor was built from scratch just for the PS3. ... A joint effort between IBM, Sony, and Toshiba the processor has a core with seven synergistic processing units.

The Types Of Computer Memory by Robert Thatcher
How can a computer be such an amazing gadget? To many people they just can’t be so amazed on how computers have changed the way we live. Computers can now be found in many sizes and shapes. Almost every home appliance seems to have their own mini computer located somewhere. ... Without the computer memory, the processor will have no facility where to store its important calculations and processes, thereby making them useless. ... First and foremost, the most important component of the computer is its processor.

Integrated Power Management Circuits by Dan Hagopian
Discussing internal battery design would be incomplete if we did not write on the subject of integrated circuits. Batteries for PDAs, MP3s, Digital Cameras, and Laptops have designed within them integrated power management circuits that insure that the deliverance of reliable power is properly... A real example of a battery pack protector circuit is a Texas Instrument two-cell lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-Pol) battery pack protector device. ... The device’s primary function is to protect both Li-Ion and Li-Pol cells in a two-cell battery pack from being either over-charged...

How Does the PS3 Stack Up to Its Competitors, the Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii? by Gary Ruplinger
Finally, they’re all here. The Xbox 360 has had the next generation gaming market to itself for a year. Now its two competitors, the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, are here. No more speculating about speed. No more guessing about memory. Now we can take a look and see exactly how they stack up... However, Xbox went with a true 3 core processor compared to the one general processor of the Cell and seven additional DSPs. ... The Xbox 360 has a Custom IBM PowerPC processor. ... Processing Power The Playstation 3 comes with its Cell processor.