A5: All Apple, Part Mystery

What comes next by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 03:52 · Score: 1

The A6?

Re:What comes next by goombah99 · 2011-04-13 04:25 · Score: 2

A6? you cant get rock hard abs in 6 minutes. it's 7 minute abs.

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Re:What comes next by Reverand+Dave · 2011-04-13 04:50 · Score: 1

Step into my office.

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I got here through a series of tubes
Re:What comes next by jd · 2011-04-13 05:12 · Score: 1

Don't see ab excercises on the list.

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Re:What comes next by ailnlv · 2011-04-13 05:44 · Score: 1

that's what she said
Re:What comes next by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 06:28 · Score: 0

Don't see ab excercises on the list.
No, but I do see A6, or A (musical note) above soprano C, the highest note written or acknowledged as musical in classical music - just in case Apple is pining for the good old days when the OS was codenamed Harmony, Rhapsody, etc.
And then when the A7 processor comes out they can have a live event with Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated to A7x)
Re:What comes next by master5o1 · 2011-04-13 08:01 · Score: 1

And what comes next? Hey Bust-A-Move!

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signature is pants

Wild Guess... by MarcQuadra · 2011-04-13 03:53 · Score: 5, Funny

The real question now is what comes next.

Here's a hint: It will be faster, and it will probably be called 'A6'. Just a guess.

--
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails

Re:Wild Guess... by rjstanford · 2011-04-13 04:01 · Score: 2

Or possibly the A5.1, OSX being what it is.

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Re:Wild Guess... by MarcQuadra · 2011-04-13 04:20 · Score: 1

2012: "Powered by the new Apple Rattlesnake chip!"
2014: "Powered by the new Apple Cobra chip!"
2016: "Powered by the new Apple Water Moccasin chip!"

--
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Re:Wild Guess... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:50 · Score: 0

Knowing Apple and the type of user they cater to, it should be called Trousersnake.
Re:Wild Guess... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 05:53 · Score: 0

Just hope they don't ever have to resort to "Trouser Snake"
Re:Wild Guess... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 06:20 · Score: 0

You forgot thinner
Re:Wild Guess... by rcamans · 2011-04-13 07:40 · Score: 1

Or possibly the A.pple

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wake up and hold your nose
Re:Wild Guess... by treeves · 2011-04-13 12:15 · Score: 1

...The new Apple Black Mamba chip, or BM chip for short.

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...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.

The real question now is what comes next. by wiredog · 2011-04-13 03:56 · Score: 2

The A6 Quattro?

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Best Slashdot Co

Re:The real question now is what comes next. by M4n · 2011-04-13 03:58 · Score: 1

The A6-3D Quad Core Infinichip

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In space no-one can hear your vuvuzela.
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by MikeDirnt69 · 2011-04-13 04:08 · Score: 1

Sounds much more interesting for me!

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Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by bhcompy · 2011-04-13 04:13 · Score: 2

A6 Intruder.
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by imadoofus · 2011-04-13 04:22 · Score: 1

A5 Championship Edition?

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Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Pax681 · 2011-04-13 04:45 · Score: 1

the A6 Quad Core Walled Garden - Higher Wall Edition
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by M4n · 2011-04-13 04:55 · Score: 1

Locked Gate edition

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In space no-one can hear your vuvuzela.
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Oh+Gawwd+Peak+Oil · 2011-04-13 05:15 · Score: -1

Broken Windows Edition
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 05:17 · Score: 0

Gates isn't involved here, this is Apple.
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by RockoTDF · 2011-04-13 05:22 · Score: 1

Followed by the A7 Corsair.

--
There is more to science than physics!

www.iomalfunction.blogspot.com
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Duradin · 2011-04-13 05:22 · Score: 2

Can't wait for the A10 in that case. I wonder what the DU will cost in the app store.
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by JesseDegenerate · 2011-04-13 05:48 · Score: 1

you must mean the android version, right?
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 07:15 · Score: 0

you mean A6 Quadra
Macintosh_Quadra
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by PixetaledPikachu · 2011-04-13 11:17 · Score: 1

A5 Championship Edition?
with 3 new features that are basically a palette swap of one of the first chip's feature
Re:The real question now is what comes next. by Paul1969 · 2011-04-13 19:13 · Score: 1

Can't wait for the A10 in that case.
Warthog love!

Awful article by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 03:58 · Score: 5, Informative

The authors of the article and the editor who approved it should be ashamed of themselves. Five pages saying exactly nothing.

Re:Awful article by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:02 · Score: 1

If I had mod points I'd vote you up in a second. That was one of the worst written things I've ever tried to read.
Re:Awful article by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:16 · Score: 2, Funny

Ah, ah, ah. Not five pages saying exactly nothing. Five pages of saying exactly nothing about Apple. This makes it far more important and trendy than all the other pages of nothing in the world.
Re:Awful article by oldhack · 2011-04-13 04:26 · Score: 1

Mod the parent up - I ran out of mod points.
That was five minutes of my life I'll never get back.

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Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Re:Awful article by thsths · 2011-04-13 04:35 · Score: 1

> Five pages saying exactly nothing.
True. But if I also block CmdrTaco, there will not be anything left to read on Slashdot...
And to be fair, usually his stories are at least worth looking at.
Re:Awful article by BitZtream · 2011-04-13 05:39 · Score: 0

And to be fair, usually his stories are at least worth looking at.
That was true a few years ago, now ... not so much.

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Re:Awful article by cfriedt · 2011-04-13 05:47 · Score: 1

that's exactly what I thought.
Re:Awful article by EraserMouseMan · 2011-04-13 06:37 · Score: 1

Exactly. I was expecting to see a comparison between the A5 and the ARM A9. That would be an worthwhile comparison.
Re:Awful article by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2011-04-13 06:55 · Score: 2

The authors of the article and the editor who approved it should be ashamed of themselves. Five pages saying exactly nothing.
They did very little work and generated lots of ad views. They should be pumping their fists in the air with the Final Fantasy victory tune playing.

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"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Awful article by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 07:56 · Score: 0

I used to come here for the comments...but you're all getting so bitter :(
Re:Awful article by hitmark · 2011-04-13 21:48 · Score: 1

The thing about ARM based chips is that unless we are talking Qualcomm or Marvell there is effectively zero difference. That is, as long as one is only looking at the cpu. The difference happens in that they are more often then not SoCs, and so have not just the cpu, but also the gpu and the chipset on the same physical chip. The differences between the products will be in the gpu and chipset features, and how they are interconnected (driving Torvalds up the wall in the process).

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comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm

To be fair, here is link with ads by SuperKendall · 2011-04-13 03:58 · Score: -1

You may want to read the version with ads:

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4215094/A5--All-Apple--part-mystery

To help support the site, as much as I appreciate linking the print view version in it's really not fair to the site owner.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by DanTheStone · 2011-04-13 04:02 · Score: 4, Insightful

It's not the advertisements that tend to make people link to the print version, it's when they spread the article out over several pages. I don't mind advertisements at all, but I hate the online equivalent of turning to several different newspaper pages to finish a single article.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by MightyYar · 2011-04-13 04:06 · Score: 3, Insightful

I might side with you if there were any content. The article consisted of some micrographs and a lot of "duh" speculation. I came away with very little new information. It took them a huge block of text to tell me that they don't know what 60% of the chip does.

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W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:09 · Score: 0

There are plugins that will take care of that for you. Safari has a "reader" button by default that loads all the pages of an article into a single view.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:11 · Score: 2, Insightful

It's merely a well planted Apple advertisement. A5 is SO powerful, so amazing, that even if you're not impressed with iPad 2, you'd be silly to actually consider an alternative instead of waiting for A6.
We've been seeing a lot of this stuff, lately. I wonder why Apple's so worried that their zombie masses will snap out of it.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:12 · Score: 0

To be fair, I'd rather not be subject my subconscious to brainwashing... er... marketing.
I understand websites need revenue. I am also a webmaster. I have ads on my website. And I hate them and completely support visitors blocking them. It's a necessary evil, and I don't fault visitors for fighting that evil.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by vlm · 2011-04-13 04:12 · Score: 1

I might side with you if there were any content. The article consisted of some micrographs and a lot of "duh" speculation. I came away with very little new information. It took them a huge block of text to tell me that they don't know what 60% of the chip does.
60%... dual core ... what an interesting ratio... build 5 cutting edge cores and as long as at least 2 of the cores pass testing, ship it...

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"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by antime · 2011-04-13 04:13 · Score: 1

Why would I want to support content-free filler like that?
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by SuperKendall · 2011-04-13 04:24 · Score: 0

I wasn't saying that was why they linked to the print version, as much as ethically you SHOULD at least give the site a chance to present ads.
From there astute readers have mechanism to read articles in one block they split across many screens (I dislike that also). But at least give the site one shot at ad presentation.
On a more practical and selfish note if people all over start linking to print versions we will start to see the print versions vanish.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by XxtraLarGe · 2011-04-13 04:27 · Score: 1

There are plugins that will take care of that for you. Safari has a "reader" button by default that loads all the pages of an article into a single view.
Safari's reader feature is great, when it works--and it does with this article. Often times, it will only load the first page, or omit graphics, which makes it a little unreliable. Still, I always try reader first before hitting the print version.

--
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Dishevel · 2011-04-13 04:51 · Score: 2

Or we will see site operators that do not fluff up a 1 paragraph story to 5 pages then spread those 5 pages out to present you with ads 5 times,
Fuck the operator that does that. I hope their sites fail. That way the cream can rise to the top and the shit heads can starve.

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Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Spaseboy · 2011-04-13 05:02 · Score: 1

AutoPagerize http://autopagerize.net/ for Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

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"I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!"
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Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by SuperKendall · 2011-04-13 05:48 · Score: 0

That, although overly profane, is actually the best counter-argument to my point I have seen so far, as I don't really disagree with your point and it is making me re-consider my point.
But I would still say that if you wanted to do that simply don't link to them rather than "stealing" (not really stealing but sort of the moral equivalent) from them.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by JesseDegenerate · 2011-04-13 05:50 · Score: 1

I hate people like you, everything is a conspiracy that apple made against humanity. Hitler was actually a iMac G4 prototype. And i know, apple killed your mother and ran over your dog. i'm so freaking over it. Just use what you like.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Splab · 2011-04-13 06:10 · Score: 1

Perhaps because Apple can't actually supply equipment for said masses - they need to keep them hungry while they figure out their supply chains.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by TheRaven64 · 2011-04-13 06:31 · Score: 3, Informative

Not so much. The two ARM cores are pretty easy to identify on the chip, as are some of the other components. The rest is... something. No one cares enough to work out exactly what. Oh, and the two ARM cores are well under 40% of the total die size. The GPU takes up a reasonable amount of space, and then there are controllers for the various peripherals (network, audio, USB and so on), interrupt controllers, and so on.

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I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 07:07 · Score: 0

not really stealing but sort of the moral equivalent
Not looking at the ads on a site that does a bait and switch with an article with an interesting headline and absolutely no content is in no way the "moral equivalent" of stealing.
I'm surprised at you, Kendall for even suggesting such a thing. I know you know better.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by SuperKendall · 2011-04-13 09:41 · Score: 1

I'm surprised you lack morals. Go steal candy from little children then instead of stealing impressions from webmasters. At least you can see the crying directly and understand the impact you are having.
I always thought a sense of morality was ingrained. Between my down-moderation on this issue and your response, I realize now that in fact a sense of morality is something you must fight to keep in place, a fight some apparently gave up on long ago.
At least what I got out of this is knowing I'm a damn sight better person than a lot of Slashdot posters and moderators.
I mean, if I'm going to get modded down anyway I might as well speak truth to moral equivalence. Mod away, but you know in your heart something is wrong with re-formatting a site in a link you send to thousands of people.
I think for instance the same thing when I see an XKCD or Oatmeal comic embedded in some other site displaying their own ads. There is no difference here. It is pulling a lot of data down from the server with zero monetary return from the site. I also think it's bullshit spreading out fluff content across several pages; In that case I wouldn't link to them. If I chose to do so I'd do the honorable thing and send viewers to the page the thing was on.
You may have the last response; you'd only steal it for yourself anyway.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 10:29 · Score: 0

You are living evidence that long-term exposure and indoctrination to the Steve Jobs distortion field effect causes severe and irreparable neurodegeneration.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by blackpig · 2011-04-13 12:34 · Score: 1

I bet you stay glued to the TV when the ads are on, right? That would be the ethical thing to do.
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 18:03 · Score: 0

Ethically, you should be out in the streets rescuing starving kittens instead of sitting here surfing.
Why do you let the kittens die?
Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by Thing+1 · 2011-04-14 00:32 · Score: 1

XKCD and Oatmeal can protect themselves if they want to with referrer magic. So, apparently, they welcome this use of their comics. And, getting a sense of morality out of an obligation towards advertisers? Please, consider re-thinking this moral stance.

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I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.

It is powered by rainbows by For+a+Free+Internet · 2011-04-13 03:58 · Score: 0, Insightful

And by the blood of Steve Jobs's suicided sweatshop slaves.

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UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!

And after that? by Lunaritian · 2011-04-13 04:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

"The A[3+n] processor will be included in Apple iPad [n], which will be released in [2009+n]."

I just saved you the trouble of thinking

Re:And after that? by O('_')O_Bush · 2011-04-13 04:11 · Score: 5, Funny

"When n is an integer greater than 0"

Patched for accuracy.

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while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
Re:And after that? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:13 · Score: 0

Hey ! Only Steve Jobs is allowed to do that !
Re:And after that? by Lunaritian · 2011-04-13 04:13 · Score: 1

Oh, by the way, could someone create a clever Perl script which produces an endless stream of news from this? Bonus points if you can make it look like the Apple logo.
Re:And after that? by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-13 05:23 · Score: 2

"Only for very large values of 0"

We apologize. The persons responsible for patching have been patched.

--
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:And after that? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 11:00 · Score: 0

Of course it should be ``The A[3+n] processor will be included in the Apple iPad [n], which will be release in [2009+n] for n >=1 seeing to make sure we have the A4 or we better say, A[4+n] ... in [2010+n] for n>=0.

Graphics Performance by __aazsst3756 · 2011-04-13 04:09 · Score: 0

As the article noted, using such a huge die was strategic decision to differentiate their products. Have read (too lazy to find right now) that the graphics performance provided on the A5 is not available on any other ARM chip, and therefore not available to any Android tablets.

Re:Graphics Performance by teh31337one · 2011-04-13 04:18 · Score: 1

A5 uses the PowerVR SGX543 GPU. The graphics performance is pretty decent (much improved over the PowerVR SGX535 used in iPhone 3gs and A4 SoC), and easily bests the Tegra 2. But that's because Tegra 2 is an old chip now, while 543 is a new chip. Apple don't have exclusivity on the chip, heck, a quad core 543 is used in NGP.
A5 is top of the GPU performance heap for now, but it will be bested by newer chips.
Re:Graphics Performance by baldass_newbie · 2011-04-13 07:13 · Score: 1

A5 is top of the GPU performance heap for now, but it will be bested by newer chips.
What are you basing this theory on?

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The opposite of progress is congress
Re:Graphics Performance by teh31337one · 2011-04-13 07:42 · Score: 1

Benchmarks
Re:Graphics Performance by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 12:56 · Score: 0

A5 is top of the GPU performance heap for now, but it will be bested by newer chips.
Of course. The A6 is less than a year away.
Re:Graphics Performance by The+End+Of+Days · 2011-04-13 13:51 · Score: 1

...are you seriously in doubt or just being a dick?

Knowing apple.... by Lumpy · 2011-04-13 04:11 · Score: 3, Insightful

In about 2 years a new line of Desktops and laptops will be announced that used the new A10 processor, this processor will be used to get rid of all those ooky older intel based devices by having the new OS not compatible with it. Thus purging the world of the old product forcibly. Just like how those disgusting old G5 quad core towers still linger about now...

Using old hardware makes Jobs angry.... you wont like him when he's angry....

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Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.

Re:Knowing apple.... by Higaran · 2011-04-13 04:32 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Using old hardware makes Jobs angry.... you wont like him when he's angry.... Then he wouldn't like what me and my friends did on sunday. We were walking in the mall in Orland Park, IL so just for fun we go into the apple store and change the back grounds on about half a dozen laptops to the microsoft logo, and the homepages to microsoft.com. Yes we are all nerds.
Re:Knowing apple.... by grub · 2011-04-13 04:35 · Score: 2

Apple would be cutting its own throat to move the Mac line to non-Intel chips.

They could include a simulator/emulator much like how Xcode already has. Or embed an A-whatever chip on the boards as a secondary processor for that type of thing.

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Trolling is a art,
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:52 · Score: 0

Joke's on you- all those machines are running Deep Freeze. A single reboot (control+command+eject) and your changes go to /dev/null.
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:55 · Score: 3, Insightful

You're not "nerds," just idiots. And those come in all sorts of varieties,
Re:Knowing apple.... by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-13 05:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

The move to Intel was more for logistical reasons as opposed to a dick move to screw people. At the time both Motorola and IBM had problems supplying Apple with enough CPUs. Despite being a big name customer, Apple was really a small customer (in terms of volume) ordering a custom part for both companies. No one wants to carry excess inventory so when Apple kept ordering more chips the two companies had trouble keeping up. By switching to Intel, the supply of chips would be more reliable because the part was now a stock part. If Apple upped their forecasts and didn't end up buying chips, Intel could sell to one of their other customers.

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Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 05:17 · Score: 1

Reminds me of the days when I used to do things like that. I was eleven. I gave myself so many laughs!
Re:Knowing apple.... by Dan+East · 2011-04-13 05:57 · Score: 0

In about 2 years a new line of Desktops and laptops will be announced that used the new A10 processor, this processor will be used to get rid of all those ooky older intel based devices by having the new OS not compatible with it.
Using old hardware makes Jobs angry.... you wont like him when he's angry....
I don't think it's very likely that Jobs will be around in 2 years, which regardless if you love him or hate him, will result in the tech industry being a little less interesting.

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Better known as 318230.
Re:Knowing apple.... by ceoyoyo · 2011-04-13 06:09 · Score: 2

Yeah, Windows 7 won't run on my 486 either. Wah.
Re:Knowing apple.... by JonJ · 2011-04-13 07:48 · Score: 2

We were walking in the mall in Orland Park, IL so just for fun we go into the apple store and change the back grounds on about half a dozen laptops to the microsoft logo, and the homepages to microsoft.com. Yes we are all nerds.
Fuck you, you're not nerds. Astroturfers and stupid MS-fanboys maybe, but you're not nerds. Go buy yourself a decent operating system.

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-- Linux user #369862
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 08:07 · Score: 1

I thought it had to do with the fact that IBM etal couldn't build a low power version of the G5 that wouldn't melt a laptop. Leaving the Powerbook woefully underpowered compared to competing windows machines.
Re:Knowing apple.... by painandgreed · 2011-04-13 08:28 · Score: 1

That and that they wanted Apple to take on more and more of the cost of developing new chips which were already lagging behind the x86 ones.Not enough parts. Not enough quality in the parts they were getting. Increasing costs with diminishing returns. They all added up to switching to the same chips that everybody else was using and went from a small customer using custom chips to the largest customer they had in a large market.
Re:Knowing apple.... by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-13 08:59 · Score: 1

Mobile chip performance was another reason but the underlying cause was the same. IBM could have competed with Intel on mobile if they were willing to put on time, effort, and money. The main reason they didn't was all of that R&D would be for one customer and a custom part. It wasn't as if IBM could have used that technology for many other customers.

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Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 10:27 · Score: 0

That and the fact that Freescale couldn't build dual-core or 64-bit CPUs at all. Their 32-bit offerings were not keeping up either, and neither Freescale nor IBM were willing to bend over quite as far as Apple would have liked them to.
Re:Knowing apple.... by Relayman · 2011-04-13 12:38 · Score: 1

Not couldn't but wouldn't.

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If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
Re:Knowing apple.... by mjwx · 2011-04-13 13:06 · Score: 1

That and that they wanted Apple to take on more and more of the cost of developing new chips which were already lagging behind the x86 ones.Not enough parts. Not enough quality in the parts they were getting. Increasing costs with diminishing returns.
In other words. No money in it for IBM.

Meanwhile, IBM had secured the contracts to build the processors for the Wii, Xbox360 and PS3. Apple became a very small fish.

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Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 15:45 · Score: 0

Please don't misuse terms. The parent said nothing about liking MS product, just changing the backgrounds on some MacOS machines at an Apple store. The term is "troll", not "fanboy".
Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 19:32 · Score: 0

I wish I could believe this, because they sure as hell had no problems supplying all those chips for the PS3 and XBox360s.
Re:Knowing apple.... by nobodie · 2011-04-14 01:10 · Score: 1

MMM, the IBM part is a little off as I heard it: IBM made the P6, it rocked. But they had a number of customers for it, Sony, Nintendo, even MS as well as Apple. The talks with Apple broke down over how much IBM had to change it so that they could "sell" the whole chip to apple (including the IP) and then still sell the "P6" chip to other companies as well. Apple just wanted to own the whole thing, they didn't want to pay for the complete development of course. The final decision involved accepting the Intel chip, a cheaper price and giving up control of the IP. The core 2 chip couldn't touch the P6 (which runs your PS3 and most of the IBM supercomputers) but Apple never really cared about that aspect of it. The only advantage for them would be that they could slow it down for temp control and therefore not have noisy fans running in their stuff, which was a Jobs thing. They accepted the core 2, slowed it down and still, using hardware control of the HDD and other peripherals, manged to keep things at an acceptable speed. I'm sure most of you guys know that the Apple intel kit is not that fast and has fallen behind at about the same rate as other intel stuff: as opposed to the older ppc macs that kept up or ahead of intel for a few years after purchase.

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Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
Re:Knowing apple.... by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-14 01:31 · Score: 1

Look at this from IBM's perspective. The problem isn't a matter of ability. It was a matter of priority. Apple was always going to be a small customer compared to MS and Sony. They might order at most 3 million chips for their desktops a year while Sony and MS had far more potential sales reaching into the tens of millions a year. And every year, Apple was going to want changes and upgrades to the chip while the Xbox and PS3 processor hasn't really changed. Instead IBM could focus efforts on moving to a smaller resolution going from 65nm to 45nm to save costs.
Now IBM could get more sales from Apple if they were willing sink a ton of money into R&D for a mobile G5. But after all that it would only be good for Apple as IBM couldn't really sell that chip to another customer as they don't have anyone else making PPC laptops for consumers. IBM itself doesn't make PPC desktops for consumers. They use PPC for workstations and servers which are willing to pay more per chip.
Normally a fab like IBM does not have a dedicated line for one custom part like the G5. It probably was fabbed on the same line that makes their other PPC chips. IBM makes enough according to Apple's forecasts. Apple ups the forecasts. IBM has to rearrange their schedules to accommodate. They will try not to hurt delivery to their other customers which include internal IBM. But in the end, they can only do so much for a small customer.
Also the Cell processor that Sony and MS uses is not a PPC chip strictly. It is based on Power but is a slightly different architecture. IBM might have had to create a separate line just for Cell processors. If Sony or MS upped their forecasts, IBM could be more accommodating as it wouldn't hurt any other customers.

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Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:Knowing apple.... by worx101 · 2011-04-19 19:54 · Score: 1

Oh they couldv'e had other customers, if they had pushed hard enough.

TFA is pretty clueless. by teh31337one · 2011-04-13 04:13 · Score: 2

There was however one recent article suggesting Apple implemented hardware video accelerators in the A4.

The comment seemed almost too easy in light of the above discussion. If this is in fact true one might question whether this is somehow associated with Apple's stance on Flash for its iOS devices. However, such an accelerator would have been one of the digital blocks. Does this imply it was also present on the S5PC110?

Yes, Samsung do have hardware video accelerators in their hummingbird processor. It supports mpeg4, H.264, H.263, Sorenson codec, DivX HD/ XviD, VC-1 and the video formats 3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (Advanced Systems Format), AVI (divx), MKV and FLV.

Re:TFA is pretty clueless. by failedlogic · 2011-04-13 11:32 · Score: 1

Well, of course you need HW video accelerators in both CPUs and GPUs. Thanks for pointing out the obvious.
What people might not realize however is that this is the only way to Fast Forward video in digital format. VHS and Beta were easier since it was a mechanical process. The HW acceleration concept has yet to prove how they manage rewind. If I think back to my physics classes a negative HW accelerator would work but this would prove difficult to implement and doesn't sound like a value added feature people will pay for or add silicon on the HW. I'm particularly upset that when I try to rewind or fast forward Back to the Future ... Kernel Panic!

It's a JOKE! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:19 · Score: -1

The iPad 2 is a friggin piece of shiny garbage. Here is the proof!

http://bit.ly/dI3hcF

Re:It's a JOKE! by alobar72 · 2011-04-13 05:50 · Score: 1

What I find interesting about that, is that apple is blamed for not basically revolutionising the Market with every revision of their product. I never heard a reviewer blaming dell that a new product line of notebooks was just lighter, more powerful etc. I find that totally in order . The iPad 2 is a new revision of a well received product. That is totally normal. I think that everybody who expects a revolution from apple every single year has fallen more for the "apple fanboyism" the the so called fanboys :)

possibility: r/t video encoding real estate by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:19 · Score: 0

Apple is feature set driven, the A5 had to make a deadline, they probably threw silicon at one of the new/"hard" problems. FaceTime comes to mind, the expansion was probably to handle R/T video encoding, size possibly driven in order to avoid someone else's elegant solution (and IP). As long as the yields weren't impaired, this would be a perfectly good decision. There could be some support for network packet movement (for video) as well.

By A6 this should be crammed down via proper (and time consuming) sidestepping of conflicting IP.

Another possibility is Thunderbolt support, we'll know in the next release of iOS.

Re:possibility: r/t video encoding real estate by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:30 · Score: 0

Unlikely since they already do r/t video encoding on the iPhone4, the iPad2 does not have a higher resolution camera it's doing nothing new.

Bored by Tigger's+Pet · 2011-04-13 04:35 · Score: 3, Interesting

I've been a /. reader for over 8 years now and have noticed the change in the type of story discussed here. I keep seeing people saying things like "Why are we talking about FB - this is suppsed to be a techie site and we should discuss techie things". I tend to find myself agreeing with them most of the time.
Then a story like this comes along - which should be "manna from heaven" for Nerds and Geeks and I try to read TFA - only to find myself yawning and giving up coz it's dry, tedious and badly written.
I can't even win in an argument with myself anymore - must be a sign that I'm getting old.

Re:Bored by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:59 · Score: 0

You might want to give Phoronix a try: dumbed down Linux kernel+X.org & friends + compilers and graphics cards discussion, featuring your favorite Gnome Vs. KDE flamewars, kernel component discussion and why you need (to hate) them. Also some sporadic BSD, Haiku and ReactOS...

Apple's New Plant in Brazil by ColeonyxOnline · 2011-04-13 04:37 · Score: 1

Apple opens up a new plant in Brazil. Production could start as early as November. Perhaps then, we could see the new IPad 3.

Source:
Report: Apple Part Maker Foxconn to Open Brazil Plant

Re:Apple's New Plant in Brazil by gnasher719 · 2011-04-13 05:25 · Score: 1

Apple opens up a new plant in Brazil. Production could start as early as November. Perhaps then, we could see the new IPad 3.
Your reading ability seems rather low. The report that you quote says "Apple Part Maker Foxconn to Open Brazil Plant". Foxconn, not Apple. On the other hand, if that is indeed the title of the report, then that is clueless as well. Foxconn doesn't make parts for Apple. Foxconn assembles complete devices.
Re:Apple's New Plant in Brazil by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-13 05:33 · Score: 2

I don't see Apple releasing an iPad 3 just 8 months after releasing the iPad 2. They might release an iPad 2 with more storage in time for the holidays as this would require changing one chip on the board, but not a whole new product. At the moment Apple and their suppliers seem to have enough problems manufacturing enough iPad 2s much less starting a whole new line.

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Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:Apple's New Plant in Brazil by BitZtream · 2011-04-13 07:07 · Score: 2

Foxconn doesn't make parts for Apple.
No, Foxconn makes parts for A LOT of technology companies, not just Apple, and they also do some assembly of devices as well.
I doubt you'll find a motherboard made that doesn't have Foxconn components on it like the back panel ports for instance are almost certainly Foxconn components regardless of who assembled your computer, yourself or Dell.

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Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager

How fast? by DesScorp · 2011-04-13 04:38 · Score: 1

Since Apple's products seem to be merging somewhat... OS X Lion will incorporate some of the features from the iPad and iPhone... how fast do they think these "A chips" will get? Will they eventually replace Intel chips in whatever passes for an iMac one day? Will we see the day when Apple makes most of the parts that goes into their products themselves, rather than subbing out major systems? Will the PowerPC fanboys that so loudly cried foul! when Apple "sold out" and went to Intel rejoice? Is an ARM-based chip "think different" enough from Intel for their liking?

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Life is hard, and the world is cruel

Let the people choose by SuperKendall · 2011-04-13 04:49 · Score: 0, Redundant

I am also fine with visitors blocking ads, though I consider it somewhat unethical as well and so don't do it myself (beyond blocking Flash which at this point is just a usability necessity).

What I object to is someone presenting an article, making the choice of ad and content presentation for the user, and for the site. A site aggregator like Slashdot should let each side proceed using whatever choices they want to make about how to present the article. What Slashdot is doing in theory is pretty similar to overlaying their own ads on another site (since Slashdot also is presenting ads and then giving a link to ad-free content).

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley

Re:Let the people choose by Thing+1 · 2011-04-14 00:34 · Score: 1

And with proper referrer magic, these stupid sites would not allow a print link from Slashdot. You're tilting at windmills, here.

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I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Re:Let the people choose by SuperKendall · 2011-04-14 07:32 · Score: 1

The referrer magic is not in place; the linking to the print version actually happened. In what way is that "tilting at windmills" when the problem I point out actually exists?
The phrase that comes to my mind as far as "referrer magic" is, closing the barn door after the horse is gone. The linking has been done, the traffic moved on.
I hope Karma dishes out a nice reward to the entire Slashdot community that supported this action.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Re:Let the people choose by Thing+1 · 2011-04-14 13:23 · Score: 1

Yes, the horses from the past's articles have fled the barn. The site owners still have control over their site for future articles. Your wishing harm on others does not help your own "Karma"; but, of course, haters rarely look inwards.

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I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.

Security Dongle by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 04:51 · Score: -1

The A5 is nothing more than a large security dongle...

A lot of speculation, very little thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 05:02 · Score: 0

They speculate that Apple could have added x, y, and z and never bother to look at the functioning iPad 2 to see if there is evidence of it.
Evidence suggests that apple has added hardware acceleration to common routines to improve battery life as the size/weight of the iPad 2 has decreased (implying the same size or smaller battery), speed has increased, and the battery life has stayed the same. This implies efficiency gains, likely in the CPU/GPU. See no reverse engineering required.

Re:A lot of speculation, very little thinking by UnknowingFool · 2011-04-13 05:39 · Score: 3, Informative

The battery is actually slightly bigger in terms of capacity. It is 25 kWh whereas the old one was 24.8 kWh. The battery appears much larger only because it is wider but it also is thinner than the old one. As for the A5, another thing Apple did is to make the cores variable speed. They run at a max of 1GHz but clock down depending on usage probably to conserve power.

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Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Re:A lot of speculation, very little thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 08:21 · Score: 1

The battery is actually slightly bigger in terms of capacity. It is 25 kWh whereas the old one was 24.8 kWh.
Much as I'd like to live in a world with battery technology good enough to put a 25 kWh battery in something the size of an iPad, I suspect it's actually 25 Wh. :)

Video acceleration by edxwelch · 2011-04-13 05:52 · Score: 1

Not really. The article says that the extra blocks in the A5 will probably be for video acceleration

Re:Video acceleration by mabhatter654 · 2011-04-13 12:22 · Score: 1

That's where Apple has the "Magical" built in!

Apple will steal Ubuntu's marketing department? by denzacar · 2011-04-13 07:50 · Score: 1

What ever for?

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Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens

What's next? A tearful showdown... by BearRanger · 2011-04-13 08:10 · Score: 1

Between A5 and its creator, Steve Jobs, who had to audacity to impress his own memory engrams on the new chip. Due to his ongoing "personal issues" the chip became unstable and slaughtered its opponents Motorola, Samsung, and RIMM. Jobs will remind A5 of how great they both are before playing dead and waiting for HP to join the fray...

Jobs also made a point of sending his regards to Captain Dunsel. AKA Steve Ballmer.

Re:What's next? A tearful showdown... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 12:22 · Score: 0

Mod down, bizarre and incoherent non sequitur.

You are pretty clueless. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-04-13 13:21 · Score: 0

Hardware video accelerators that support video containers formats?

124 comments