Samsung has announced its 1 GHz ARM CORTEXTM A9-based dual-core application processor, codenamed Orion, which the company says will provide "5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung.” It also includes 1080p video encoding and decoding at 30 fps while also including embedded GPS.

 

It also offers a native triple display controller and on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface, meaning that a mobile device using the Orion CPU will be able to simultaneously support two on-device display screens, while driving a third external display such as an HDTV or monitor.

 

Orion will become available to “select customers” during Q4 of this year and go into mass production during the first half of 2011.

 

 

The British based tech design firm ARM has unveiled its Cortex-A15 MPCore processor that the company states “will deliver over five times the performance of today’s top-of-the-line smartphones and over 10 times the aggregate performance of ARM processor-based infrastructure platforms, combined with ARM’s signature low power consumption.”

 

When it is employed in a smartphone or mobile computing device, such as a tablet PC, the A15 will be in a 1-1.5 GHz single or dual-core guise, but when powering digital home entertainment devices a more powerful 1-2 GHz dual-core or quad-core configuration will be used.

 

For home and web 2.0 servers 1.5-2.5 GHz quad-core configurations will be implemented, while wireless infrastructure devices will get the best configuration of 1.5-2.5 GHz quad-core, octo-core or larger.

 

 

 

 

AMD has unveiled the latest GPU in its ATI FirePro range, the ATI FirePro V9800, which the company says is the most powerful professional graphics card it has ever produced.

 

The V9800 boasts 1600 stream processors as well as 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, supports DirectX 11 and can also handle up to six displays with ATI Eyefinity technology and six Mini DisplayPort outputs.

 

“With today’s announcement of the ATI FirePro V9800, we are introducing the ultimate workstation graphics solution for the professional graphics industry. It offers users with demanding DCC and visualization requirements six monitor support on one GPU and a superior price-to-performance ratio,” said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD.

 

“The ATI FirePro V9800 will be the professional graphics solution of choice for users requiring exceptional performance and flexibility.”

 

 

 

According to the Daily Record, a Scottish independent Christian school, Cedars School of Excellence, will not be employing books, pencils, pens or paper in the education of its young scholars. All of these commonplace scholarly items have been replaced by Apple’s iPad.

 

This move is the brainchild of the school’s IT teacher Fraser Speirs, who has his own blog where he posts regularly about the project.

 

“Each of the children [aged from five to 15] will have their own iPad, which is hooked into the school’s wireless network and from there they will use the computers for learning in different subjects,” Speirs told the Daily Record.

 

Having to do their homework on their new Apple iPads must surely feel like less of a chore.