Low power

The Jack PC from Chip PC Technologies offers a neat and novel thin-client desktop computing solution where the computer doesn't just plug into the wall, it is the plug in the wall. Running on power provided by the ethernet cable that also connects it to the data center server, the computer-in-a-wall-socket supports wireless connectivity, has dual display capabilities and runs on the RISC processor architecture – which gives the solution the equivalent of 1.2GHz of x86 processing power.  Read More

Smart homes of the future will automatically adapt to their surroundings using an array of sensors to record everything from the building’s temperature and humidity to the light level and air quality. One hurdle impeding the development of such intelligent homes is the fact that existing technology is still power hungry and today’s wireless devices either transmit a signal only several feet, or consume so much energy they need frequent battery replacements. Researchers have now developed sensors that run on extremely low power thanks to using a home’s electrical wiring as a giant antenna to transmit information.  Read More

The Eagle has landed. As portable devices sporting ARM's Cortex A9 1GHz powerhouse start to appear, the company has unveiled the next step in the evolution of its system-on-a-chip Cortex A architecture, the A15 MPCore processor. ARM-based chips currently provide the processing power for a host of mobile devices, from smartphones to tablets, and this latest development is claimed to deliver five times the performance of current solutions such as the Cortex A8, yet has a similar low energy footprint.  Read More

Computing on the move has taken off big time. No longer bound by the shackles of a deskbound screen, we are now working on smartphones, playing on tablets and surfing on netbooks. We need such devices to be both powerful and low on power draw. The latest to answer such needs is Samsung, announcing its most recent foray into the world of mobile chip manufacture – Orion. The 1GHz ARM-based Dual Core chip supports various storage and memory configurations, is HD and 3D ready and has GPS included.  Read More

Adopting a new, highly automated and reconfigurable approach to hardware acceleration, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have come up with a way to harness the unused silicon real estate in smartphones – the so-called "dark silicon" – as special-purpose processors dynamically optimized to perform the most common tasks in an efficient way.  Read More

As its name suggests, Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology delivers electrical power via Ethernet cabling. The technology is typically used to power VoIP phones, wireless LAN access points, cameras and other low power, network-related devices. SkinnyBytes has now announced a line of computers engineered for low voltage and extremely low power consumption that are able to receive all their power over a standard network cable via PoE.  Read More

A bunch of space-saving, ultra-thin LED monitors has just been announced by Acer. The trio of stylish LED displays benefit from a huge contrast range, brisk response times and a movie-friendly aspect ratio. The S1 series also has the green check-box covered with low power credentials and a manufacturing process which the company says does not use harmful substances.  Read More

If someone had suggested 20 years ago that a fully working computer with up to 1GHz of processing power would fit on a board the size of a SODIMM memory module (2.66 x 1.44 x 0.2 inches), some lighthearted mockery may have followed. Yet embedded hardware specialist Toradex is about to do just that with its new Tegra T20, a teeny computer module based on NVIDIA's latest Cortex A9 processor that offers full high definition video support, 256MB of onboard memory and a gigabyte of Flash storage.  Read More

As the number of portable electronic devices we carry around has multiplied, so too have the chargers we need to keep them running. Over the last couple of years wireless chargers such as the PowerDisc and Powermat have started popping up to save users the hassle of dealing with a mass of charger cables, but these require specific adapters for the different devices being charged. A business alliance of 20 firms has banded together to form the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) to develop open standards for wireless charging and has just finalized its Qi low power standard that is aimed at delivering wireless charging stations that can charge a range of compatible devices.  Read More