The Fruit of Knowledge
Posts tagged power consumption
3M, Nanosys ready to bring quantum dot film to LCD makers
May 22nd
3M and Nanosys have just announced that they’ll start shipping qualification samples of their Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) to manufacturers to bring a 50 percent wider color gamut and lower power consumption to LCD displays. Consisting of trillions of quantum dots tuned to create precise color hues, such films can be swapped in to replace existing backlighting tech, meaning manufacturers will need no special equipment to adopt it. The companies say they’ll have samples for manufacturer design cycles starting “late second quarter this year” — but if you can’t wait that long, you’ll be able to actually buy similar tech from Sony, likely very soon.
Filed under: Displays
Intel Haswell’s idle states reportedly won’t play well with some power supplies
May 1st
One of the staples of Intel’s upcoming Haswell processor architecture is its support for lower-power idle states that can rival tablet chips in power consumption, even on the desktop. However, that may come with a big caveat for budget and custom-built PCs: certain power supplies might not cut it. VR-Zone claims that those idle states require as little as 0.05 amps of current, which could be too nuanced for older or cut-rate supplies that deliver power in bigger clumps. That might not be a problem for companies building complete PCs, but Corsair’s Robert Pearce tells The Tech Report that it may lead to a lot of motherboard builders playing it safe by disabling those specific modes by default. Many of us, in turn, would either have to buy a fresh supply or toggle the power-saving options ourselves. We’ve reached out to Intel to verify the truth, but it may be wisest to make a cleaner break from the past with any near-term upgrades.
Via: TechSpot
Source: VR-Zone, The Tech Report
DLP’s IntelliBright tech promises brighter pico projection at no extra power
Feb 25th
Most portable projectors are tasked with striking a delicate balance between power consumption and picture quality. With this in mind, Texas Instruments’ DLP arm has unveiled a new system at MWC known as IntelliBright, which is intended to improve the brightness of pico projectors without making hardware hungrier. It’s no fancy set of circuits, though, but a pair of algorithms which tinker with image brightness and contrast to produce a more radiant picture. What’s more, the algorithms can be tweaked separately by hardware manufacturers for any desired result, and can incorporate data from ambient light sensors to increase projector efficiency. DLP recently introduced its new Tilt & Roll Pixel chip architecture at CES, which is also designed to make pictures brighter and batteries happier in the next generation of pico products. All we hope is the developments inspire Samsung to create a Galaxy Beam II, just with more focus on the phone part this time
Filed under: Displays, Misc, Portable Audio/Video, Software, HD, Mobile
Raspberry Pi Model A hits Europe with $25 price tag, expected worldwide soon
Feb 4th
Looking for a slimmed-down Raspberry Pi with a single USB port, 256MB of RAM, no Ethernet and one-third the power consumption of a Model B board? You’re probably in the market for Model A — a $25 alternative designed for use in battery or solar-powered devices like remote sensors, WiFi repeaters, robots and so on. Europeans currently have exclusive access to the cheaper Raspberry Pi flavor, which according to an Adafruit test consumes only 100 mAh of juice (compared to about 300 mAh for the Model B, due to Ethernet power requirements). Beginning today, hobbyists can get their fix directly from RS Components and Element 14, with pricing fixed around £19, including VAT. According to the manufacturer’s blog post, Model A exclusivity will be short-lived, with the device coming to the rest of the world “very soon.” If you’re based across the pond, however, you can hit up our source links to place your order now.
Filed under: Desktops
Source: RS Components, Element14, Raspberry Pi
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU review roundup: crossing the Ivy Bridge
Apr 23rd
Today is officially Ivy Bridge day, in case you didn’t already know. Intel took the wraps off the latest member of its processor family and the internet wasted no time putting the flagship Core i7-3770K through its paces. The 3.5GHz quad-core desktop chip comes packing not only some architectural tweaks, but a brand new integrated GPU in the form of the HD 4000. Oh, and it does all this using a brand new 22nm manufacturing process and 3D “Tri-Gate” transistors. What does that mean for you, the user? Lower power consumption, better performance and, surprisingly, unbelievably fast media transcoding. When AnandTech turned its eyes towards Quick Sync, the on-die media transcode engine introduced with Sandy Bridge, the 3770K practically buried the competition. Using Cyberlink Media Espresso the new chip turned a DRM-stripped Blu-ray of Harry Potter (130 minutes of 1080p video) into an iPad friendly format in just seven minutes without taxing the CPU.
At idle, power consumption hasn’t changed much, but when TechSpot put the pedal to the metal things looked quite a bit different. The new i7-3770K sucked down just 147 watts, which was even four watts less than lower clocked i5-2500K. And, of course, it delivered much better performance. In fact, in Bit-Tech’s tests, the only chip that was able to routinely best it was the hexa-core 3960X Extreme Edition — and even that CPU barely eked out its victories. While AMD’s offerings simply can’t compete with Intel’s on pure performance or power consumption, it does still outrun run Chipzilla’s GPU. The HD 4000 is, undeniably, a huge step forward for the Core line, but it falls just short of matching the A8′s integrated Radeon on Tech Report’s tests. For more benchmarks than your heart can handle check out the pile of links below.
Read – AnandTech
Read – Bit-Tech
Read – TechSpot
Read – Tech Report
Read – Hot Hardware
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU review roundup: crossing the Ivy Bridge originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AnandTech, Bit-Tech, TechSpot, Tech Report | Email this | Comments
Samsung commits to improve smartphone battery life in 2012
Jan 17th
Sure, we all love having the latest and greatest smartphone from the likes of Samsung, but the power consumption driven by larger displays, LTE, and more use is making it increasingly harder to get through the day. Samsung’s vice president of product innovation, Kevin Packingham, said in an interview with CNET that Korea’s darling has set the lofty goal that smartphones coming out this year last an entire day under average to moderately heavy use. Samsung’s plans include beefing up batteries, but it also intends to look at improving energy efficiency by tweaking the various radios — LTE, WiFi — to make them a little less greedy. Motorola has already seemingly caught this wave with the RAZR MAXX — a slightly chubbier Motorola RAZR — which is essentially the same set as the RAZR but with enough juice so you can use it instead of spending your day looking for an outlet to charge it. Unfortunately, things could get sticky as the definition of “moderately heavy use” is a pretty tough thing to pin down. Would you put up with a huskier phone to get you through the day or is a slim set more important? Feel free to chime in with your comments below.
Samsung commits to improve smartphone battery life in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MobileBurn | 
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NEC outs pair of displays that tell you their carbon footprint, how economically awesome they are
Dec 23rd
So, what’s so special about NEC’s new 24-inch MultiSync LED backlit displays? Well, these nifty NECs have two ECO modes to help keep power consumption to a minimum, plus a feature that lets users to track the amount of carbon dioxide created by the electricity they use. It also lets you input how much you pay for all those electrons to track just how much the monitors contribute to your monthly utility bill. Otherwise, these are fairly unremarkable 250-nit, 1920 x 1200 panels with DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, and USB 2.0 connections. The eco-friendly displays are available from NEC Japan, but the company’s not saying how much they cost. One thing we do know is that they’ll be upping the smug quotient in the land of the rising sun. See what that could lead to in the video after the break — warning: may not appeal to those who hate funny things.
NEC outs pair of displays that tell you their carbon footprint, how economically awesome they are originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Akihabara News | 
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Ubuntu’s Precise Pangolin to pull less power than predecessors
Dec 19th
We won’t be seeing the finished version of Ubuntu’s next release for a few months, but the folks at Canonical are hard at work making Precise Pangolin the very best it can be. Version 12.04 is an LTS release, meaning only refinements are in store for the OS, but apparently one of the areas targeted for improvement is power consumption.
In a post on his blog, Ubuntu kernel engineer Colin King explained that the plan is to provide power savings in a variety of ways, including PCI Express Active State Power Management (ASPM). Furthermore, testing of Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) that puts the SATA link to your disk drive into a low power mode during periods of inactivity is in the works, as is placing USB and PCI controllers of peripherals and wireless connections into lower power states. The folks at Canonical are putting Precise Penguin through it’s power-saving paces, but are also calling upon members of the Ubuntu community to help out with the QA to see which methods will work best. So, if you’re into doing a good deed for the next Ubuntu distro, head on down to the source to learn how to lend a hand.
Ubuntu’s Precise Pangolin to pull less power than predecessors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PCWorld | 
A Smackerel of Opinion | Email this | Comments
Researchers put smartphones on a power diet, drastically improve battery life
Nov 25th
Nokia’s Asha handsets already use browser compression to reduce data costs and power consumption for customers in the developing world, but the company’s Finnish neighbours over at Aalto University have taken a totally different approach. By using a network proxy to squash traffic into bursts rather than a constant bit rate, and by forcing a smartphone’s modem into idle mode between each burst, the researchers claim they can cut 3G power consumption by 74 percent. Now, we’re fortunate enough to be surrounded by power outlets over here, but even we could use some of that.
Researchers put smartphones on a power diet, drastically improve battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PhysOrg, IEEE Xplore | Email this | Comments
IBM sees stacked silicon sitting in fluid as the way to power future PCs
Nov 17th
Generally, the combination of microchips, electricity and fluids is usually considered an incredibly bad thing. IBM, however, thinks it can combine those three to make super small and super powerful computers in the future. The idea is to stack hundreds of silicon wafers and utilize dual fluidic networks between them to create 3D processors. In such a setup, one network carries in charged fluid to power the chip, while the second carries away the same fluid after it has picked up heat from the active transistors. Of course, 3D chips are already on the way, and liquid cooled components are nothing new, but powering a PC by fluids instead of wires has never been done before. Bruno Michel, who’s leading Big Blue’s research team, has high hopes for the technology, because future processors will need the extra cooling and reduced power consumption it can provide. Michel says he and his colleagues have demonstrated that it’s possible to use a liquid to transfer power via a network of fluidic channels, and they to plan build a working prototype chip by 2014. If successful, your smartphone could eventually contain the power of the Watson supercomputer. Chop, chop, fellas, those futuristic fluidic networks aren’t going to build themselves.
IBM sees stacked silicon sitting in fluid as the way to power future PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Gizmodo | 
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