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Samsung and Sun Microsystems have partnered to develop a single-level-cell NAND flash memory device for use in solid state drives with significantly high endurance levels, the two companies said Wednesday. The new device will provide much higher endurance levels than other flash memory devices currently available, according to the companies. Potential applications for the server-grade SLC flash technology include video streaming, high-transaction data processing, search engine operations and other high-speed server functions.

Intel marked the fifth anniversary of its Centrino line Tuesday with the launch of Centrino 2 platform for notebook PCs. The chipmaker will offer the platform with a range of five new Intel Core 2 Duo processors and later this quarter, the company will release a quad-core version of the platform. The processor, chipset and wireless combo offers users up to 50 percent faster performance when multitasking, greater range and better wireless performance, as well as increased battery life that will allow consumers to watch an entire Blu-ray movie without using up the battery.

DreamWorks Animation is teaming up with Intel to build a new kind of 3-D moviemaking technology. The two companies have formed a strategic alliance in which Intel will provide both hardware and software for the Hollywood giant. The move marks the end of DreamWorks' three-year deal with AMD and will result in all new systems for the studio's computers. Financial terms are not being disclosed. The transition comes just in time for DreamWorks' shift to a new 3-D format for its films. The Intel technology will power the resources needed to create those advanced effects.

DreamWorks Animation is teaming up with Intel to build a new kind of 3-D moviemaking technology. The two companies have formed a strategic alliance in which Intel will provide both hardware and software for the Hollywood giant. The move marks the end of DreamWorks' three-year deal with AMD and will result in all new systems for the studio's computers. Financial terms are not being disclosed. The transition comes just in time for DreamWorks' shift to a new 3-D format for its films. The Intel technology will power the resources needed to create those advanced effects.

A new microchip developed by researchers at the University of Michigan uses 30,000 times less power in sleep mode and 10 times less power in active mode than comparable chips now on the market, the university announced Friday. Intended for use in sensor-based devices such as medical implants, environment monitors or surveillance equipment, the new Phoenix processor consumes just 30 picowatts during sleep mode. A picowatt is one trillionth of a watt -- in theory, the energy stored in a watch battery would be enough to run the Phoenix for 263 years.

The GPU universe grew Monday with releases from two major providers targeting distinct functions and markets. Nvidia announced the availability of the inaugural chips in its new Geforce GTX 200 line of graphic processors. The GTX 280 and GTX 260 have 1.4 billion transistors and 192 to 240 processor cores. AMD also unveiled its own new GPU, the FireStream 9250. Unlike multi-core central processing units, which involve connecting multiple CPUs together, GPUs are a single chip with millions -- or in the case of the GTX 200 series, more than 1 billion -- transistors on each chip.

IBM has designed a new $100 million supercomputer, called "Roadrunnner," that's powerful enough to operate at 1 petaflop -- a cool 1 thousand trillion calculations per second. That's twice as fast as the next closest supercomputer -- the IBM Blue Gene system -- and nearly three times as fast as other top supercomputers in the world. For those who aren't sure what a thousand trillion calculations per second equates to, it's also 1 million billion calculations per second -- or 1 quadrillion calculations per second.

IBM researchers, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, have prototyped a new method for cooling microprocessors stacked on top of each other, creating a 3-D processor that could keep Moore's Law running strong for the next decade. Key to the effort is water, which seems to be the only material that can keep the stack from burning up. 3-D chip stacks would have an aggregated heat dissipation of close to 1 kilowatt with an area of 4 square centimeters and a thickness of about 1 millimeter, IBM reported.

AMD has released a new mobile processor platform, its latest contender as it battles for market share with archrival Intel. Codenamed "Puma," the offering includes Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile processors with ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series Graphics and wireless networking hardware from Atheros, Broadcom and Ralink. Puma is the first major effort AMD has made to develop a mobile chip, said Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. "In the past, AMD took its desktop chip and just made minor tweaks."

Intel on Tuesday unveiled a new processor it says will revolutionize the information technology industry by powering small laptops at low cost. Intel Asia Pacific Vice President and General Manager Navin Shenoy said the Atom processor will enable millions more people around the world to access the Internet. Shenoy's announcement at a Taiwan computer show raises the stakes in Intel's efforts to best rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and Via Technologies in supplying chips for cheap laptops.