DOCSLIB.ORG

Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing - New York Times

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing - New York Times Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing - New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/technology/12chip.html?page... February 12, 2007 Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing By JOHN MARKOFF SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11 — Intel will demonstrate on Monday an experimental computer chip with 80 separate processing engines, or cores, that company executives say provides a model for commercial chips that will be used widely in standard desktop, laptop and server computers within five years. The new processor, which the company first described as a Teraflop Chip at a conference last year, will be detailed in a technical paper to be presented on the opening day of the International Solid States Circuits Conference, beginning here on Monday. While the chip is not compatible with Intel’s current chips, the company said it had already begun design work on a commercial version that would essentially have dozens or even hundreds of Intel-compatible microprocessors laid out in a tiled pattern on a single chip. The chip’s design is meant to exploit a new generation of manufacturing technology the company introduced last month. Intel said that it had changed the basic design of transistors in such a way that it would be able to continue to shrink them to smaller sizes — offering lower power and higher speeds — for at least a half-decade or more. During a briefing on Thursday in a hotel room here, Nitin Borkar, one of the chip’s designers, showed an air-cooled computer based on the chip running a simple scientific calculation at speeds above one trillion mathematical calculations a second. Such computing power matches the performance speed of the world’s fastest supercomputer of just a decade ago. However, Intel acknowledged that the experimental chip was not a complete system necessary to do real computing work. During the demonstration, Justin R. Rattner, the company’s chief technology officer, showed several futuristic computing applications that he said the new chip design would help make possible. One of the applications was an automated video editing tool that would, for example, allow a computer to create a digital sports highlights video featuring a user’s favorite players. A second demonstration showed motion capture technology — a technique widely used by the videogame industry to reproduce human forms in action — relying only on digital video cameras and computers. Conventional motion capture technology requires a complex array of sensors pinned to an actor’s body and face to record a digital video that can be used interactively. In the future, Mr. Rattner said, it will be possible to blend synthesized and real-time video. “Imagine learning to dance with a virtual instructor,” he said. 1 of 3 2/12/07 2:01 PM Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing - New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/technology/12chip.html?page... In leaping beyond the two- and four-core microprocessors that are being manufactured by Intel and its chief PC industry competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel is following a design trend that is sweeping the computing world. Already, computer networking companies and the makers of PC graphics cards are moving to processor designs that have hundreds of computing engines, but only for special applications. For example, Cisco Systems now uses a chip called Metro with 192 cores in its high-end network routers. Last November Nvidia introduced its most powerful graphics processor, the GeForce 8800, which has 128 cores. The Intel demonstration suggests that the technology may come to dominate mainstream computing in the future. The shift toward systems with hundreds or even thousands of computing cores is both an opportunity and a potential crisis, computer scientists said, because no one has proved how to program such chips for many applications. “If we can figure out how to program thousands of cores on a chip, the future looks rosy,” said David A. Patterson, a University of California, Berkeley computer scientist who is a co-author of one of the standard textbooks on microprocessor design. “If we can’t figure it out, then things look dark.” Mr. Patterson is one of a group of Berkeley computer scientists who recently issued a challenge to the chip industry, demanding that companies like Intel begin designing processors with thousands of cores per chip. In a white paper published last December, the scientists said that without a software breakthrough to take advantage of hundreds of cores, the industry, which is now pursuing a more incremental approach of increasing the number of cores on a computer chip, is likely to hit a wall of diminishing returns — where adding more cores does not offer a significant increase in performance. During the briefing last week Mr. Rattner essentially endorsed the Berkeley view, saying that the company believed that its Teraflop chip was the best way to solve a set of computing problems he described as “recognition, mining and synthesis,” computing techniques that use artificial intelligence. In addition to new kinds of computing applications, Mr. Rattner said that the so-called network-on-chip Teraflop processor would be ideal for the kind of heterogeneous computing that is increasingly common in the corporate world. Large data centers now routinely use a software technique called virtualization to run many operating systems on a single processor in order to gain computing efficiency. Having hundreds or thousands of cores available would vastly increase the power of this style of computing. One of the most impressive technical achievements made by the Intel researchers was the speed with which they are able to move data among the separate processors on the chip, Mr. Patterson said. The Teraflop chip, which consumes just 62 watts at teraflop speeds and which is air-cooled, contains an internal data packet router in each processor tile. It is able to move data among tiles in as little as 1.25 nanoseconds, making it possible to transfer 80 billion bytes a second among the internal cores. 2 of 3 2/12/07 2:01 PM Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of Processing - New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/technology/12chip.html?page... The chip also contains an interface capability that would make it possible for Intel, in the future, to package a memory chip stacked directly on top of the microprocessor. Such a design would make it possible to move data back and forth between memory and processor many times faster than today’s chips. At the conference on Monday, both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices will describe new power-saving features that will make it possible for entire sections of future microprocessors to be shut down when they are not being used. The A.M.D. technology will be used in its four-core microprocessor, code-named Barcelona, which the company said would be commercially available by midyear. Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map 3 of 3 2/12/07 2:01 PM.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "New Energy Economy": an Exercise in Magical Thinking
    REPORT | March 2019 THE “NEW ENERGY ECONOMY”: AN EXERCISE IN MAGICAL THINKING Mark P. Mills Senior Fellow The “New Energy Economy”: An Exercise in Magical Thinking About the Author Mark P. Mills is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, where he co-directs an Institute on Manufacturing Science and Innovation. He is also a strategic partner with Cottonwood Venture Partners (an energy-tech venture fund). Previously, Mills cofounded Digital Power Capital, a boutique venture fund, and was chairman and CTO of ICx Technologies, helping take it public in 2007. Mills is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and is author of Work in the Age of Robots (2018). He is also coauthor of The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy (2005). His articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Real Clear. Mills has appeared as a guest on CNN, Fox, NBC, PBS, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2016, Mills was named “Energy Writer of the Year” by the American Energy Society. Earlier, Mills was a technology advisor for Bank of America Securities and coauthor of the Huber-Mills Digital Power Report, a tech investment newsletter. He has testified before Congress and briefed numerous state public-service commissions and legislators. Mills served in the White House Science Office under President Reagan and subsequently provided science and technology policy counsel to numerous private-sector firms, the Department of Energy, and U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Communication & Media Studies
    COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES BOOKS FOR COURSES 2011 PENGUIN GROUP (USA) Here is a great selection of Penguin Group (usa)’s Communications & Media Studies titles. Click on the 13-digit ISBN to get more information on each title. n Examination and personal copy forms are available at the back of the catalog. n For personal service, adoption assistance, and complimentary exam copies, sign up for our College Faculty Information Service at www.penguin.com/facinfo 2 COMMUNICaTION & MEDIa STUDIES 2011 CONTENTS Jane McGonigal Mass Communication ................... 3 f REality IS Broken Why Games Make Us Better and Media and Culture .............................4 How They Can Change the World Environment ......................................9 Drawing on positive psychology, cognitive sci- ence, and sociology, Reality Is Broken uncov- Decision-Making ............................... 11 ers how game designers have hit on core truths about what makes us happy and uti- lized these discoveries to astonishing effect in Technology & virtual environments. social media ...................................13 See page 4 Children & Technology ....................15 Journalism ..................................... 16 Food Studies ....................................18 Clay Shirky Government & f CognitivE Surplus Public affairs Reporting ................. 19 Creativity and Generosity Writing for the Media .....................22 in a Connected age Reveals how new technology is changing us from consumers to collaborators, unleashing Radio, TElEvision, a torrent
    [Show full text]
  • LGST 642X Q2 2016 Syllabus 101816
    LGST 642x Big Data, Big Responsibilities: The Law and Ethics of Business Analytics Q2 2016 | MW 10:30am-12pm | JMHH F65 Overview Significant technologies always have unintended consequences, and their effects are never neutral. A world of ubiquitous data, subject to ever more sophisticated collection, aggregation, analysis, and use, creates massive opportunities for both financial gain and social good. It also creates dangers in areas such as privacy and discrimination, as well as simple hubris about the effectiveness of management by algorithm. This course introduces students to the legal, policy, and ethical dimensions of big data, predictive analytics, and related techniques. It then examines responses—both private and governmental—that may be employed to address these concerns. Instructor Associate Professor Kevin Werbach Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics 673 Huntsman Hall (215) 898-1222 [email protected] (best way to reach me) Office Hours: Monday 12:30-2pm, or by appointment Learning Objectives Good data-driven decision-making means not just generating solutions, but understanding how to use them. Some of the most sophisticated firms in terms of data science expertise have already gotten into trouble over concerns about privacy, security, manipulation, and discrimination. Failure to anticipate such issues can result in ethical lapses, public relations disasters, regulatory sanctions, and even legal liability. My goal is to help you develop the skills to use analytics in the most responsible way, while remaining focused on your business objectives. After completion of the course, you should be able to: 1. Identify where algorithms depend on human judgments or assumptions. 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Stuxnet, Schmitt Analysis, and the Cyber “Use-Of-Force” Debate
    Members of International Telecommunications Union and UN Institute for Training and Research confer on cyber security UN (Jean-Marc Ferré) UN (Jean-Marc Stuxnet, Schmitt Analysis, and the Cyber “Use-of-Force” Debate By ANDREW C. FOLTZ All Members shall refrain in ne of the many seemingly advance the specific criteria states will use in intractable legal issues sur- making such determinations. their international relations rounding cyberspace involves As discussed in this article, several ana- from the threat or use of force O whether and when peacetime lytic frameworks have been developed to help against the territorial integ- cyber operations constitute a prohibited use of assess when cyber operations constitute a use force under Article 2(4) of the United Nations of force.3 One conclusion these frameworks rity or political independence (UN) Charter. Notwithstanding a significant share is that cyber operations resulting in of any state, or in any other body of scholarly work on this topic and physical damage or injury will almost always manner inconsistent with extensive real-world examples from which to be regarded as a use of force. When these draw, there is no internationally recognized frameworks were developed, however, there the Purposes of the United definition of a use of force.2 Rather, what has were few, if any, examples of peacetime, state- Nations. emerged is a general consensus that some sponsored cyber coercion. More importantly, cyber operations will constitute a use of force, the prospect of cyber attacks causing physical —Article 2(4), Charter of the but that it may not be possible to identify in damage was largely theoretical.4 Beginning United Nations1 Lieutenant Colonel Andrew C.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Investor Tom C.W
    The New Investor Tom C.W. Lin EVIEW R ABSTRACT A sea change is happening in finance. Machines appear to be on the rise and humans on LA LAW LA LAW the decline. Human endeavors have become unmanned endeavors. Human thought and UC human deliberation have been replaced by computerized analysis and mathematical models. Technological advances have made finance faster, larger, more global, more interconnected, and less human. Modern finance is becoming an industry in which the main players are no longer entirely human. Instead, the key players are now cyborgs: part machine, part human. Modern finance is transforming into what this Article calls cyborg finance. This Article offers one of the first broad, descriptive, and normative examinations of this sea change and its wide-ranging effects on law, society, and finance. The Article begins by placing the rise of artificial intelligence and computerization in finance within a larger social context. Next, it explores the evolution and birth of a new investor paradigm in law precipitated by that rise. This Article then identifies and addresses regulatory dangers, challenges, and consequences tied to the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence and computers. Specifically, it warns of emerging financial threats in cyberspace, examines new systemic risks linked to speed and connectivity, studies law’s capacity to govern this evolving financial landscape, and explores the growing resource asymmetries in finance. Finally, drawing on themes from the legal discourse about the choice between rules and standards, this Article closes with a defense of humans in an uncertain financial world in which machines continue to rise, and it asserts that smarter humans working with smart machines possess the key to better returns and better futures.
    [Show full text]
  • Cyber Warfare: Surviving an Attack
    14 Cyber Warfare: Surviving an Attack By Devabhaktuni Srikrishna Cyberspace is a new domain of warfare. Created to minimize the vulnerability of United States communications networks to a crippling nuclear first strike by the Soviet Union, the Internet that was originally envisioned to enhance U.S. security is turning into a battlefield 1 for nations or sub-national groups to launch virally spreading attacks 2 and induce network failures potentially involving critical infrastructure systems.3 Cyber warfare and cyberoffense 4 have been a part of U.S. military operations for decades.5 Treaties and rules of engagement define what is off-limits during a cyberwar.6 The more vulnerable the system is, the more policy is necessary to deter adversarial nations from launching attacks, and vice-versa. Some cyberattacks are analogous to air forces probing one anotherʼs defenses or perhaps to espionage during the Cold War, which occurred though there was no official war and no physical harm. Cyberespionage largest recent cyberattacks in their book, but due to a gap in theory and practice. operations of China, for example, against the United States and its allies Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Organizations are vulnerable to the extent have been going on for years and will Security and What to Do About It. Once a they want to be and to how much they want never really end.7 virus or malware is inadvertently to spend to address vulnerabilities. 14 And downloaded onto a networked personal cyber vulnerabilities can be completely U.S. Air Force General Kevin Chilton, computer (PC) by a user9, the PC can be eliminated -- unlike conventional, nuclear, former Commander-in-Chief of commandeered to perform cyberattacks chemical, or biological which are permanent Strategic Command, has stated that ranging from electronic banking crimes, vulnerabilities due to laws of nature.
    [Show full text]
  • Google Earth As Dionysusphere
    6. John Lanchester, “The Global Id,” London Art Institute, and New Haven and London: Yale Tremble at Google’s Bird’s-Eye View”, The New What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its Review of Books, 28(2), January 26, 2006, University Press, 2008): 41-57. York Times, December 20 (2005) http://www. PAUL KINGSBURY IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR sun? Where is it moving now? Where are we moving to? Away http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n02/john-lanchester/ 22. For example, the “picture of one of the worst nytimes.com/2005/12/20/technology/20image. IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AT SIMON FRASER from all suns? Are we not continually falling? And backwards, the-global-id [23.03.10] things on the planet: the Athabasca oil sands html?_r=1&ei=5070&en=4b89cb0ad323cec6 UNIVERSITY. SpECIALIZING IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL sidewards, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an up 7. David Vise, with Mark Malseed, The Google in Alberta, Canada” selected by Yann Arthus- &ex=1189051200&pagewanted=all [30.03.05]; GEOGRAPHY, HIS RESEARCH DRAWS ON THE THEORIES or down? Story (Basingstoke and Oxford: Pan Macmillan, Bertrand as his best photograph. “What you’re Lester Haines, “Taiwan Huffs and Puffs at OF JACQUES LACAN AND FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE TO —Friedrich Nietzsche1 2008): 39. looking at is essentially poison and pollution, Google Earth,” The Register, October 4, 2005, EXAMINE MULTICULTURALISM, CONSUMPTION, POWER, AND 8. Cited in Vise, The Google Story: 3. yet the shot has great beauty.” “Yann Arthus- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/04/tai- AESTHETICS.
    [Show full text]
  • Planning for the Future of Cyber Attack Attribution”
    Testimony and Statement for the Record of Marc Rotenberg President, EPIC Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center Hearing on “Planning for the Future of Cyber Attack Attribution” Before the Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation U.S. House of Representatives July 15, 2010 2138 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the topic of Cyber Security and Attribution. We appreciate your interest in this topic.1 My name is Marc Rotenberg. I am President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a non-partisan public interest research organization established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues. Since our founding, we have had an ongoing interest in computer security, privacy, and identification. In fact, EPIC began in response to a proposal from the National Security Agency to establish a mandatory key escrow encryption standard that could have easily prevented the emergence of the Internet as a powerful force for economic growth and political change EPIC was founded in 1994 in part to address concerns about the role of the National Security Agency in computer security policy.2 Since then EPIC has participated in numerous public debates regarding the protection of privacy rights on the Internet and elsewhere. EPIC is currently engaged in active litigation under the Freedom of Information Act with the NSA and National Security Council regarding
    [Show full text]
  • You Might Be a Robot
    \\jciprod01\productn\C\CRN\105-2\CRN203.txt unknown Seq: 1 28-MAY-20 13:27 YOU MIGHT BE A ROBOT Bryan Casey† & Mark A. Lemley‡ As robots and artificial intelligence (AI) increase their influ- ence over society, policymakers are increasingly regulating them. But to regulate these technologies, we first need to know what they are. And here we come to a problem. No one has been able to offer a decent definition of robots and AI—not even experts. What’s more, technological advances make it harder and harder each day to tell people from robots and robots from “dumb” machines. We have already seen disas- trous legal definitions written with one target in mind inadver- tently affecting others. In fact, if you are reading this you are (probably) not a robot, but certain laws might already treat you as one. Definitional challenges like these aren’t exclusive to robots and AI. But today, all signs indicate we are approaching an inflection point. Whether it is citywide bans of “robot sex brothels” or nationwide efforts to crack down on “ticket scalp- ing bots,” we are witnessing an explosion of interest in regu- lating robots, human enhancement technologies, and all things in between. And that, in turn, means that typological quandaries once confined to philosophy seminars can no longer be dismissed as academic. Want, for example, to crack down on foreign “influence campaigns” by regulating social media bots? Be careful not to define “bot” too broadly (like the California legislature recently did), or the supercomputer nes- tled in your pocket might just make you one.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview Not Confine the Discussion in This Report to Those Specific Issues Within the Commission’S Regulatory Jurisdiction
    television, cable and satellite media outlets operate. Accordingly, we do Overview not confine the discussion in this report to those specific issues within the Commission’s regulatory jurisdiction. Instead, we describe below 1 MG Siegler, Eric Schmidt: Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information a set of inter-related changes in the media landscape that provide the As We Did Up to 2003, TECH CRUNCH, Aug 4, 2010, http://techcrunch. background for future FCC decision-making, as well as assessments by com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/. other policymakers beyond the FCC. 2 Company History, THomsoN REUTERS (Company History), http://thom- 10 Founders’ Constitution, James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolu- sonreuters.com/about/company_history/#1890_1790 (last visited Feb. tions, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_ 8, 2011). speechs24.html (last visited Feb. 7, 2011). 3 Company History. Reuter also used carrier pigeons to bridge the gap in 11 Advertising Expenditures, NEwspapER AssoC. OF AM. (last updated Mar. the telegraph line then existing between Aachen and Brussels. Reuters 2010), http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expendi- Group PLC, http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/ tures.aspx. Reuters-Group-PLC-Company-History.html (last visited Feb. 8, 2011). 12 “Newspapers: News Investment” in PEW RESEARCH CTR.’S PRoj. foR 4 Reuters Group PLC (Reuters Group), http://www.fundinguniverse.com/ EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM, THE StatE OF THE NEws MEDIA 2010 (PEW, company-histories/Reuters-Group-PLC-Company-History.html (last StatE OF NEws MEDIA 2010), http://stateofthemedia.org/2010/newspa- visited Feb. 8, 2011). pers-summary-essay/news-investment/.
    [Show full text]
  • Minutes Meeting of the Executive Committee Society of Professional Journalists August 22, 2007 Via Conference Call
    MINUTES MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AUGUST 22, 2007 VIA CONFERENCE CALL MEETING CALLED TO ORDER With President Christine Tatum presiding, the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists was called to order at noon EDT on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 via telephonic conference call originating in Indianapolis, Indiana. The stated purpose of the call was to review nominations and select the various awards to be presented at the 2007 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Washington, D.C. in October. ROLL CALL In addition to President Tatum, the following were in attendance: President-Elect Clint Brewer; Secretary- Treasurer Dave Aeikens; Vice President, Campus Chapter Affairs Mead Loop; Immediate Past President David Carlson; and Region 3 Director Holly Fisher. Staff members present included Executive Director Terry Harper; Associate Executive Director Chris Vachon; and Programs Coordinator Heather Porter. DAVID L. ESHELMAN OUTSTANDING CAMPUS ADVISER AWARD The David L. Eshelman Outstanding Campus Adviser Award honors individuals who have done an outstanding job serving as SPJ campus adviser and who have contributed to their chapters and the national organization over an extended period of time. Upon proper motion and second by Loop and Brewer, respectively, Rick Brunson, University of Central Florida, was awarded the David L. Eshelman Outstanding Campus Adviser Award. DISTINGUISHED TEACHING IN JOURNALISM AWARD The Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award honors an outstanding journalism educator who has made a significant contribution to the profession and/or journalism education. Upon proper motion and second by Carlson and Aeikens, respectively, Ralph Izard, Louisiana State University and Ohio University, was awarded the Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award.
    [Show full text]
  • People Can Be So Fake: a New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship
    Volume 114 Issue 3 Dickinson Law Review - Volume 114, 2009-2010 1-1-2010 People Can Be So Fake: A New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship M. Ryan Calo Follow this and additional works at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra Recommended Citation M. R. Calo, People Can Be So Fake: A New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship, 114 DICK. L. REV. 809 (2010). Available at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra/vol114/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Dickinson Law IDEAS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dickinson Law Review by an authorized editor of Dickinson Law IDEAS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. People Can Be So Fake: A New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship M. Ryan Calo* This article updates the traditional discussion of privacy and technology, focused since the days of Warren and Brandeis on the capacity of technology to manipulate information. It proposes a novel dimension to the impact of anthropomorphicor social design on privacy. Technologies designed to imitate people-through voice, animation, and natural language-are increasingly commonplace, showing up in our cars, computers, phones, and homes. A rich literature in communications and psychology suggests that we are hardwiredto react to such technology as though a person were actually present. Social interfaces accordingly capture our attention, improve interactivity, and can free up our handsfor other tasks. At the same time, technologies that imitate people have the potential to implicate long-standingprivacy values. One of the well-documented effects on users of interfaces and devices that emulate people is the sensation of being observed and evaluated.
    [Show full text]