Superfast Optically-Based DSP Announced

dawgnut writes "An Israeli venture-funded startup has announced a digital signal processor chip that uses optical connections rather than silicon transistors. The result is a very fast chip with massive throughput for calculating fast fourier transforms that wastes very small amounts of power as heat. Interesting applications (or frightening ones depending on where you come down on the security vs. privacy thing) for remote sensors, biometrics and homeland security stuff." The prototype being showcased is rather large, but Lenslet is hoping to have it shrunk down to a chip within five years. Update: 10/31 00:22 GMT by CN : Whoops, we ran this yesterday. Mea culpa.

Comments

Make it smaller within the next few years

[Atmchicago]

An old soviet joke was as follows: And yet another achievement by soviet science - they have perfected the world's largest microchip!

Re:Make it smaller within the next few years

[bobdotorg]

and I believe it's called Itanium.

Flashlight Fun

[Thargok]

I can see the LAN parties now... "Will you stop it with the flashlight?!!!! Why did I buy that window kit?"

What changed?!

[Daath]

/.'er: Whoa. Deja vu.
Trinity: What did you just say?
/.'er: Nothing. Just had a little deja vu.
Trinity: What happened? What did you see?
/.'er: A post on slashdot about a CPU. Then another just like it.
Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same post?
/.'er: It might have been. I'm not sure. What is it?
Trinity: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
/.: Figures. Perl sucks.

Can't you UN-POST something?

[simetra]

Really, how hard can that be. Or do you get paid per post?

Re:I have to admit

[Arker]

Perhaps they develope military technologies BECAUSE they aren't popular and perhaps they aren't popular BECAUSE they're the only democracy in the middle-east AND they've been at odds with the Arabs for the past several thousand years.

If by "they" you mean Jews, you're wrong. It was Europe where they were at odds for thousands of years, the Muslim world was a relative safe haven for Jews until very recently.

If by "they" you mean the Israeli government, it's existed for decades, not thousands of years.

And, of course, the fact that "they" are unpopular with the Arab world at the moment couldn't have anything to do with the occupation, land grabbing, apartheid system, and open aspirations of ethnic cleansing of the Israeli government, which pretends to speak for Jews as a whole even though many disagree wholeheartedly with its policies. That would be far too obvious.