AMD says Zen puts the company on par with Intel on technology and manufacturing

AMD says Zen puts the company on par with Intel on technology and manufacturing C enthusiasts prefer either AMD or Intel chips -- there's often no middle ground. But AMD believes its upcoming Zen chips will have crossover appeal for even the Intel faithful. AMD is betting its future on the upcoming Zen chips, which are based on a new architecture built from scratch. Zen wipes out inefficiencies that hurt older chips, which performed poorly and damaged AMD's reputation as an innovative chip maker. wearables opener primary idge Wearables in the enterprise? Yes, really! Think wearables are just a consumer fad? Think again. Here’s how companies like DHL, Lee Company and READ NOW There are still AMD enthusiasts, though many have moved on to Intel, whose chips are considered to be more advanced. But AMD is now catching up with Intel on processor technology and manufacturing process, said Mark Papermaster, the chief technology officer at AMD, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week. At its peak in the early 2000s, AMD was considered a serious threat to Intel. A shining example is the Athlon 64, the first 64-bit chip for PCs. It caused Intel to scramble to release its first 64-bit chip shortly after. But a series of missteps hampered AMD's progress. AMD's chip development stumbled starting with Phenom in 2007, and got worse with Fusion, the first chip to integrate a CPU and GPU. An AMD chip architecture called Bulldozer and its subsequent derivatives were criticized for poor performance. Intel advanced chip designs, for the most part, like clockwork. There were a few delays -- for example, for the Pentium 4 in 2004 and Broadwell a decade later -- but overall Intel's dominant x86 chip market share was not hurt. Meanwhile, Zen chips have CPU performance improvements, measured as instructions per clock, of 40 percent, a jump that has not been seen historically, Papermaster said. That's important for gamers, who eke every last megahertz of performance out of a PC. The first Zen chips will ship for gaming desktops at the end of this year. It will then go to servers and laptops in 2017, and then embedded devices. Recent focus on chip development has been on power efficiency as opposed to raw CPU performance, Papermaster said. Intel's raw CPU performance gains have been incremental over the last few architectures, mostly in single digits or low double digits, but the power efficiency focus has paid dividends as laptops have longer battery life. For its part, AMD has worked on various improvements to boost Zen's chip performance. AMD has added simultaneous multithreading so virtual-machine or highly threaded workloads can be balanced. The cache subsystem has been redesigned so tasks can be efficiently fed to execution cores. AMD has also removed bottlenecks that hampered earlier architectures, while maintaining power efficiency and performance. Also, AMD will be on par with Intel in manufacturing technology as Zen chips will be made using the 14-nanometer process, Papermaster said. WHAT READERS LIKE iPhone 6s 3D Touch Display Apple Apple iPhone 6s gets '3D Touch Display' -- release date will be in 11 days New iPhone 6s Plus in box First look: The new iPhone 6S Plus impresses Credit card on fire ACLU: Orwellian Citizen Score, China's credit score system, is a warning for... The Zen chips will be based on FinFET, a manufacturing technology that will bring significant performance and power-efficiency gains, he said. FinFET technology stacks transistors on top of each other in a skyscraper structure, an improvement over placing transistors next to each other. Intel has historically been ahead of AMD on manufacturing, but recently stumbled with its implementation of the 14-nm process. Intel has been making 14-nm for longer than expected, and that has led to wholesale changes in chip roadmaps. However, AMD's parity with Intel on manufacturing will be short-lived. Intel will release the first chips code-named Cannonlake, made using the 10-nm process, in the second half of 2017. AMD's trump card could be graphics, which can be combined with Zen CPUs for fast-growing markets like gaming and virtual reality. AMD is working with headset and PC makers on VR. Intel doesn't have a GPU as powerful as AMD's Radeon graphics core. But Intel chips have their own advantages and features. Later this year the company will come out with products based on 3D Xpoint, which is a fast form of memory and storage. The new memory and SSD technology could bring overall performance improvements to Intel-based PCs.

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IPhone !! Apps for the Great Outdoors

Applications for iPhone are like nothing you’ve ever seen on a mobile phone. Explore some of our favorite apps here and see how they allow iPhone to do even more.

iPhone is always up for adventure. Load it with outdoorsy apps and start exploring the world around you. Then use it to help you find your way home.

What’s that?

Before heading outdoors, grab some binoculars and download iBird Explorer Backyard. This interactive field guide lets you search North American birds by color, shape, habitat, location, and more. When you’ve identified one, report the sighting on a satellite map with Birdpost. It will be added to an online list you can view, sort, and share with your friends. Add Butterfly Collection, and you can also explore a picture library of butterflies from all over the world.

Get the outside scoop.

Know the conditions before you go. Surf Report will tell you the surf height, swell direction, tide, weather, and more at thousands of beaches. It will even help you find the best beach near you. Climb a mountain or hit the slopes with Snow Reports. With just a flick, you’ll know everything from 24/48/72-hour snowfall to lift and trail closures at over 2,000 resorts worldwide. Once you get there, be sure to check out The Snow Report for access to high-resolution trail maps from your favorite resorts.

Watch out More

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WebOS Phones Coming to AT&T

AT&T followed up the announcement that it will soon offer five Android-based smartphones with another piece of news: the carrier will offer two Palm webOS phones "soon."Palm Pixi

CEO Ralph de la Vega made the announcement, but did not say which phones AT&T would offer. The webOS phones may simply be GSM versions of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, or they could be completely new hardware. Whatever they may be, we're sure to get the full scoop at tomorrow's Palm press event.

Most of the Palm CES speculations have been Verizon-related: Revamped versions of the Pre and Pixi are rumored to land on Big Red this year. The "Pixi Plus" will supposedly have Wi-Fi connectivity (the one currently on Sprint doesn't) while the "Pre Plus" is said to have 16 GB of internal storage (as opposed to the measly 8GB on the original). An updated version of webOS is also rumored to debut tomorrow.

Personally, I'd like to see some brand new hardware to showcase webOS. WebOS is one of the silkiest, most aesthetically-pleasing mobile operating systems out there, but so far, the hardware has been lacking. The Pixi and Pre's displays are on the small side, compared to other smartphone giants, and the keyboards have been downright pitiful. I'd also like to see a better quality camera and an improved camera app that utilizes some of webOS's gesture-based controls.

Stay tuned for full coverage on Palm's news tomorrow and AT&T's 2010 portfolio.

For more up-to-the-minute blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation's largest consumer electronics show, check out PC World's complete coverage of CES 2010.

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