New chip to boost digital cameras

A new imaging chip for compact digital cameras developed by Micron Technology will enable photographers to shoot 10 8-megapixel pictures a second or 30 2-megapixel shots a second, reports News.Com.

The chip, which is due for release next year, will also be capable of capturing video in the 720p format, which is the entry-level version of high definition.

Most cameras can take two to four shots a second at maximum resolution or 10 shots at lower resolution and capture video at the 480 x 640 pixel resolution.

Chipmaker AMD is claiming to be first to market with a 64-bit dual-core mobile processor with the release of its new series of processors designed for small notebook PCs.

IT Wire says AMD is touting its Turion 64 dual-core processor`s ability to extend battery life and boost performance. The company also claims the Turion 64 is the only mobile processor available that is optimised for the 64-bit versions of the upcoming Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

AMD is engaged in a technology race with its larger rival, Intel. Both AMD and Intel plan to bring four-core processors to market in 2007.

British Telecom (BT) has named the first six UK cities into which it will roll-out wide area WiFi networks as part of its plans to create a first phase of 12 wireless cities across the UK, reports IT Wire.

Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster will be joined by six other cities in phase one of BT`s wireless city network roll-out.

BT says it is working with Intel to develop the technology and that WiFi will be just one of a range of integrated technologies to make a variety of business and leisure applications available to a wide range of devices.

Researchers at IBM have developed a new method for cramming data onto magnetic tape that will increase storage capacity at least 15 times, reports Wired News.

The new IBM storage process enables 6.67 billion bits to be stored on a square inch of tape and 8TB on a single cartridge, which would be enough storage for the text from eight million books.

However, IBM customers wanting to take advantage of the new tape technology will be able to do so only in five years` time and will need to upgrade to new machines.