Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company, unveiled a new version of its Atom platform, promising lower power consumption, cheaper cost and smaller size to better target smartphones.
“Intel has delivered its first product that is opening the door ... in the smartphone market segment,” Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group, said in a statement yesterday.
Intel aims to stake out a corner in the wireless market, replicating what it did for the netbook category it now almost completely dominates.
It said the new platform targets a range of computing devices, including high-end smartphones, tablets and other mobile handheld products.
But analysts point to an uphill battle against Nvidia Corp, Marvell and Qualcomm Inc, already making headway with cheaper, low-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings.
Analysts have previously said that Intel’s chip-and-chipset platforms would be too power-hungry for portable consumer electronics and cellphones, when compared with rival platforms based on ARM architecture.
Intel said it has been able to cut the amount of power the chip uses on standby, between tasks, by more than 50 times and Chandrasekher told Reuters last year the power consumption was “very close” and almost matching that of rivals.
Meanwhile, Nokia Oyj and Microsoft Corp released the first software component from their partnership, seeking to challenge Research In Motion Ltd, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry handsets.
Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, a component that shows smartphone users the availability of workplace colleagues and offers communications with them via e-mail, instant messaging or voice, is now available in Nokia’s online Ovi store, the companies said in a statement.
The software can be downloaded free from Nokia’s Ovi Store for the E72 and E52 smartphones in English and will be available in 18 more language versions by the end of this month.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique