Imagination Tech reveals Warrior CPU core to fight (uphill) battle against ARM

This news isn't remotely surprising, given Imagination Tech's recent acquisition of CPU designer MIPS, but reporting it still gives us a little flutter of excitement. And for good reason: Imagination has just revealed that its first MIPS-based CPU core, which should be able to run Android, will be introduced by the end of this year, and that it'll go by the totally appropriate codename of Warrior (or, less dramatically, "MIPS Series5"). The core's first battle will be to prove that the MIPS architecture really can be a competitive alternative to ARM (which uses a similar low-power RISC architecture) and that Imagination didn't just blow $100 million on hot air. Speaking of which, the attached press release comes with plenty of bold claims, including a statement that the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Warrior will offer "best-in-class performance and efficiency," and a promise that Imagination "will change the landscape for CPU IP." We have no idea how all of this is going to play out, but we fully intend to be ringside when it does.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

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A Different Life

Hey can I reserve a female? Also does it have to be a character with gifs or just a pic?

As for her description I was wondering if she could be the one that loves too easily but also has a dark side to her. If it's not okay I'll change it.

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According to a report by Juniper Networks, mobile malware has grown by 614 percent over the last yea

According to a report by Juniper Networks, mobile malware has grown by 614 percent over the last year. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, 92 percent of it is on Android...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/according-to-a-report-by-juniper-networks-mobile-malwa-582739672

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Seed giant Monsanto's fiscal 3Q profit slips 3 pct

Monsanto's fiscal third quarter earnings slipped 3 percent, as hits to the agricultural product maker's cotton and soybean segments weighed on results.

The St. Louis company also said Wednesday that it tried to plant a seed for future growth by eating some drought-related expenses in the recently completed quarter.

Monsanto said the 2012 drought that parched stretches of the United States forced it to use South American greenhouses more to produce corn seeds. That contributed to a 7 percent increase in cost of goods sold in this year's quarter. Monsanto decided to eat the higher expenses tied to seed production instead of passing them along through price hikes.

CEO Hugh Grant told analysts during a Wednesday morning call the company saw that as "an investment in our customer base," one they hope helps customer sentiment and profitability next year.

The move was more than just a public relations stunt, according to Morningstar analyst Jeff Stafford. He said Monsanto has turned off some farmers in the past by introducing new seeds at very high prices.

"They are acutely aware of driving prices year over year and what that means in their relationship with farmers," he said.

Overall, Monsanto earned $909 million, or $1.68 per share, in the quarter ended May 31, down from $937 million, or $1.74 per share, a year ago.

Earnings totaled $1.66 per share, not counting a tax matter resolution.

Revenue inched up less than 1 percent to $4.25 billion. In contrast, Monsanto's revenue had soared 17 percent in last year's quarter when the mild spring that preceded the drought allowed farmers to sow crops earlier.

Analysts expected earnings of $1.61 per share on $4.41 billion in revenue for this year's quarter, according to FactSet.

Several analysts cited a lower tax rate as the main factor behind the better-than-expected earnings.

Monsanto Co. makes seeds for crops like corn, soybean, cotton and wheat and crop protection chemicals like the herbicide Roundup. The agricultural giant produces genetically engineered seeds used by farmers for their pest resistance and ability to produce bigger crops.

Many U.S. farmers credited genetic modifications in corn with saving last year's crop from all but total devastation as half of the nation endured the worst drought in 60 years. But these crops also have drawn criticism from organic food advocates who say they are harmful to people and the environment. Last month, protesters organized "March Against Monsanto" rallies in several countries over genetically modified food.

Monsanto has maintained that its seeds improve agriculture by helping farmers produce more from their land while conserving resources such as water and energy.

Corn, which is used for food, fuel, animal feed and soda syrup, is by far Monsanto's largest unit, and revenue from that segment climbed 3 percent to $1.56 billion in the quarter.

But revenue from its soybean and cotton segments both fell. The company saw fewer acres of cotton planted.

Stafford said Brazilian farmers helped pressure the soybean segment because they stopped paying royalties on a brand of seeds.

Revenue from the company's agricultural productivity segment, which includes herbicides, climbed 9 percent to $1.19 billion.

Monsanto, which has touted its corn seed and international growth prospects, said late last month that it expects earnings growth of more than 20 percent in fiscal 2013 from its on-going businesses. It forecast annual adjusted earnings, which exclude some one-time items, of $4.50 to $4.55 per share and reaffirmed that prediction on Wednesday.

Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $4.58 per share.

Shares of Monsanto fell 56 cents to close at $100.84 Wednesday. Its shares had peaked for the past year at $109.33 in mid-May. Monsanto shares are up 7 percent so far in 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/seed-giant-monsantos-fiscal-3q-profit-slips-3-184619223.html

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The Ice Cream of the Future of the Past Is Your Deal of the Day

Still upset about the slow death and bankruptcy of Dippin' Dots, the ice cream of the future? Check out this officially licensed DIY Dippin' Dots kit, which is only $4 from Toys 'R' Us right now. Four bucks! Thats less than a cup of ice cream pellets at the ballpark.

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Beyond silicon: Transistors without semiconductors

June 21, 2013 ? For decades, electronic devices have been getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. It's now possible -- even routine -- to place millions of transistors on a single silicon chip.

But transistors based on semiconductors can only get so small. "At the rate the current technology is progressing, in 10 or 20 years, they won't be able to get any smaller," said physicist Yoke Khin Yap of Michigan Technological University. "Also, semiconductors have another disadvantage: they waste a lot of energy in the form of heat."

Scientists have experimented with different materials and designs for transistors to address these issues, always using semiconductors like silicon. Back in 2007, Yap wanted to try something different that might open the door to a new age of electronics.

"The idea was to make a transistor using a nanoscale insulator with nanoscale metals on top," he said. "In principle, you could get a piece of plastic and spread a handful of metal powders on top to make the devices, if you do it right. But we were trying to create it in nanoscale, so we chose a nanoscale insulator, boron nitride nanotubes, or BNNTs for the substrate."

Yap's team had figured out how to make virtual carpets of BNNTs,which happen to be insulators and thus highly resistant to electrical charge. Using lasers, the team then placed quantum dots (QDs) of gold as small as three nanometers across on the tops of the BNNTs, forming QDs-BNNTs. BNNTs are the perfect substrates for these quantum dots due to their small, controllable, and uniform diameters, as well as their insulating nature. BNNTs confine the size of the dots that can be deposited.

In collaboration with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), they fired up electrodes on both ends of the QDs-BNNTs at room temperature, and something interesting happened. Electrons jumped very precisely from gold dot to gold dot, a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling.

"Imagine that the nanotubes are a river, with an electrode on each bank. Now imagine some very tiny stepping stones across the river," said Yap. "The electrons hopped between the gold stepping stones. The stones are so small, you can only get one electron on the stone at a time. Every electron is passing the same way, so the device is always stable."

Yap's team had made a transistor without a semiconductor. When sufficient voltage was applied, it switched to a conducting state. When the voltage was low or turned off, it reverted to its natural state as an insulator.

Furthermore, there was no "leakage": no electrons from the gold dots escaped into the insulating BNNTs, thus keeping the tunneling channel cool. In contrast, silicon is subject to leakage, which wastes energy in electronic devices and generates a lot of heat.

Other people have made transistors that exploit quantum tunneling, says Michigan Tech physicist John Jaszczak, who has developed the theoretical framework for Yap's experimental research. However, those tunneling devices have only worked in conditions that would discourage the typical cellphone user.

"They only operate at liquid-helium temperatures," said Jaszczak.

The secret to Yap's gold-and-nanotube device is its submicroscopic size: one micron long and about 20 nanometers wide. "The gold islands have to be on the order of nanometers across to control the electrons at room temperature," Jaszczak said. "If they are too big, too many electrons can flow." In this case, smaller is truly better: "Working with nanotubes and quantum dots gets you to the scale you want for electronic devices."

"Theoretically, these tunneling channels can be miniaturized into virtually zero dimension when the distance between electrodes is reduced to a small fraction of a micron," said Yap.

Yap has filed for a full international patent on the technology.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/JY7mkn1cLuE/130621121015.htm

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Britain faces major obstacles to RBS break-up plan

By Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain would face big obstacles to a break up of state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland and such a step might not achieve its ultimate aim of boosting lending to the economy, analysts and investors said.

Britain's government has come under pressure to consider splitting the 82 percent state-owned bank partly because prospects for returning it to private ownership soon still seem remote five years on from its 45.5 billion pound ($71.25 billion) rescue in the financial crisis.

The plan, backed by former British finance minister Nigel Lawson and outgoing Bank of England governor Mervyn King, has gained support because it has taken longer for RBS to return to financial health than expected while lending to the economy across British banks as whole remains sluggish.

But analysts and investors believe a break up would be a costly, complex and lengthy process that would not necessarily benefit the economy or taxpayers.

"The decisions to seriously consider a break-up into good/bad bank will further increase the uncertainty about the future shape of RBS, especially as the Chancellor (George Osborne) expects the bank to support core UK businesses," said Espirito Santo analyst Shailesh Raikundlia.

One of RBS's ten biggest investors warned the move could damage the wider economy.

"RBS's record on new lending in the UK mortgage market is already very strong," the investor said. "It is possible that the capital strain of a split could produce the reverse effect from that intended, that is it could actually cause less lending to the UK economy."

Finance minister George Osborne has said the government would investigate the case for hiving off RBS's toxic loans into a "bad bank", leaving a "good bank" better placed to lend to British households and businesses. Osborne said any break-up would not involve taxpayers putting in further funds.

Both Ireland and Spain have gone down the "bad bank" route to tackle their banks' bad assets.

COST AND COMPLEXITY

The Conservative-led coalition is considering hiving off RBS assets worth between 100 billion pounds and 120 billion pounds, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Ulster Bank, owned by RBS, could have its non-core assets and commercial real estate assets moved into the bad bank following a break up, along with some UK commercial real estate assets of RBS, the source said.

Osborne, himself, had previously rejected the idea, also citing the cost and complexity involved. Critics have pointed out that it would cost billions of pounds just to buy out the bank's minority shareholders, which would have to happen before the break-up could take place.

In his annual speech to City of London financiers on Wednesday, Osborne said, with hindsight, RBS should have been broken up five years ago. He stopped short of criticizing his Labour predecessor, Alistair Darling, who was in power at the time, admitting he had not proposed such a move in opposition.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which was set up by Osborne to review the industry, had called on the Treasury to produce a report on the pros and cons of a break-up by September, a recommendation the Chancellor has heeded.

Osborne said Britain would establish an RBS "bad bank" if the review concluded the move would support the British economy, be in the interests of taxpayers and accelerate the bank's return to private ownership.

The review will be undertaken by the Treasury with external support and will report back by the autumn. It is not yet clear whether that support would come from individuals or a financial institution.

RBS has already undertaken a mammoth restructuring, overseen by outgoing Chief Executive Stephen Hester since its rescue, shedding some 900 billion pounds of non-core assets but it still has assets worth around 1.2 trillion pounds.

In contrast to RBS, the government has said it is ready to start selling its holding in rival Lloyds , also bailed out in the crisis, allowing it to claim partial success in returning the banks to health ahead of the next election in 2015.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-faces-major-obstacles-rbs-break-plan-155807328.html

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