The Next Wave: Apple’s Connection to the CELL Processor
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Feb 3, 2005 at 12:25am
“Macsimum News” is welcoming a new columnist as of today. He’s known only as Neo, an international man of mystery. If we told you more, we’d have to kill you. This is his first “Next Wave of the Internet” series for “Macsimum.”
The Mystery
There’s been a lot a buzz and confusion over the last few years surrounding the mysterious CELL processor from IBM, Sony and Toshiba. Yet I find that most of the confusion has stemmed directly from the babbling confusion created by the media themselves. They appear to be both hesitant and perplexed in trying to pigeon-hole this revolutionary processor. They’ve referred to it as both a CPU and GPU. And we’ve all heard about the magic bullet theory that generalizes this processor as being able to scale from the upcoming Playstation 3 through to Supercomputers. How am I to relate to that? So thanks for nothing.
At the very least I thought someone by now would have published something original pertaining to the actual patent overview, being that it’s been around since 2002. Sure I’ve seen the odd schematic attached with some rehashed verbiage, but nothing of any value in advancing the discussion. I’ve seen very little coverage of this processor by Mac news sites save for a few excited kids talking up a storm about the Playstation 3. So two and a half years after the patent release, and we’re still in the dark!
Well, the good news is that we’ll be getting another glimpse of this new processor when news breaks from this year’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference, which begins on Sunday, Feb. 6. I’m sure we’ll be given some exciting new angle or twist we could all feast on for awhile, especially if the planned CELL enhanced workstation surfaces. Could there be a surprise for the Mac Community in the wings? They could of course simply use a generic box for the conference’s testing along with the announcement of a Q2 release keeping the vendors name a total secret until such time. However, that brought this question to mind: If the inventor’s of the CELL processor really wanted to make a serious marketing impact next week, then wouldn’t they want to unveil it under the hood of a shiny new Power Mac?
Could you imagine the Buzz that would create in the PC world? And with Apple’s latest quarterly financials being their most profitable in history due to iPod mania, wouldn’t it only make sense to ride this marketing wave now rather than later? Well, let’s take a closer look at why it’s even a remote possibility, and while we’re at it, look at some other aspects of how CELL could play into Apple’s hand going forward.
Apple’s Mystery Man of the Hour: Sony’s Kunitake Ando
Steve Jobs introduced the president of Sony, Kunitake Ando, at this year’s MacWorld Conference & Expo by saying that he was going “to talk about the collaboration between Sony and Apple, to make this the year of High Definition Video” (@ 52:00 mark of the QT Keynote). So let’s flash-back to recount some of the very interesting comments President Ando had for us at MacWorld:
QT@ 53:55: because together we could really, with the great software and hardware products, we could really revolutionize the way we enjoy video at home.
Sony is a great primary supplier of HD equipment for the broadcasters.
We recognize the fact that the great quality software is the glue which puts together all the pieces and make the great value of the hardware.
QT @ 54:11: So, strategically it’s very important for Sony to work with Apple who creates the great applications which works seamlessly with all the Sony products. And just all the great software that you just introduced— Just do that. On the Mac Platform—yes.
He then swiftly moved into talking about how the HD format came about—but then choked. (QT @ 56:09) Kunitake Ando went to say something … and then looked to Steve for help. He stuttered out, “And I think…ah…what…you know this…well, I don’t know…and then…we should together – We’ll really create this great HD world and everything – right?” Steve Jobs dashed in with, “We’re in.”
QT @ 57:36: You know we do work very closely with Sony on digital still cameras and these new camcorders, which is really great. And who knows, maybe someday computers and music too.
No Mystery Here—With a Little Context!
When I reflected back on Mr. Ando’s reminding us all of their link to broadcasters and their Wega line of televisions, I couldn’t help but think of other key statements along that vein that Sony had made in the past 12 months that could shed some light on the reasoning behind his visit to MacWorld. Was there more being said here? Well let’s see.
There were two specific articles that came to mind. The first one linked the CELL processor to their 2006 line up of network-centric televisions that would offer functionality similar to that of a personal computer, and then there was the more important second article that really hit home, big time! Here are a few excerpts:
The President of Sony, Kunitake Ando, has hit out at Microsoft for its broad push into the consumer arena.
In an interview in today’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Ando said that operating systems shouldn’t be the monopoly of just one company.
He said he has “reservations” about using a Microsoft operating system in a TV, with the possibility of creating “another empire” similar to the one it already has in the PC industry.
High prices and the inability to modify software are drawbacks to Microsoft’s push in this arena, he said. Ando said that OSes should be open technologies. He also said that while Sony cooperates with chip giant Intel, it shouldn’t be allowed to dominate the consumer electronics market.
So Mr. Ando’s seemingly innocent comments made at MacWorld apparently aren’t so accidental or spur of the moment as first thought. If he had reservations about using a Microsoft operating system in their 2006 network-centric televisions—then who else do you think would be on Mr. Ando’s short list of candidates for a TV based OS?. Yes, of course. And isn’t Darwin an Open Source OS that would provide the required flexibility Mr. Ando seeks? Yes again.
Then there’s the issue of Mr. Ando’s reservations about another Microsoft Monopoly to deal with. Is this the reason why Mr. Ando jokingly said to Steve Jobs “Just do that—On the Mac Platform—yes.” Yes Mr. Ando, we now get why you added that point, loud and clear! Yes it was funny, but more importantly it revealed a vital clue. And lastly there’s the point concerning the network-centric television with similar functionality of a computer. Doesn’t that fit well with Steve Jobs thought-to-be off-the-cuff comment of “And who knows, maybe someday computers and music too.” Yes, of course. Just keep in mind that Sony’s timeline on CELL based network-centric televisions with computer like functionality are on their 2006 roadmap. So Mr. Ando, I guess your comment about video in the home means a little more than your camera used with Apple’s iMovie!
Pivotal Points to Remember
If we go back to the very start of Steve Jobs keynote, he stated: “This is the first MacWorld we’ve ever used HD projection.” Later on, during his QuickTime 7 segment, he demonstrated the power of H.264/AVC by graduating a QuickTime movie trailer from standard size format through to “full screen,” which was in fact was full HD projection – like a movie screen (See my article entitled “Apple’s QuickTime Leaps to the Silver Screen and Beyond” for more background).
So in that light, I’d like to bring you back to statements made this past November by both Masayuki Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, Sony computer Entertainment Inc. and IBM, who will then advance this topic to the next level.
Sony: “The Cell processor-based workstation will totally change the digital content creation environment. Its overwhelming power will be demonstrated in every aspect of the development of all kinds of digital entertainment content, from movies, broadcast programs to next generation PlayStation games.
The Cell workstation is designed to deliver tremendous computational power, helping digital entertainment content creators generate higher quality content with richer and more dynamic scenes, much faster than current development systems.”
Hmm, I wonder if those using Apple’s Power Mac G5 systems using little apps like Shake would be considered as entertainment content creators by Sony. Kind of a no-brainer on that point wouldn’t you agree? I also happen to think that Steve Jobs H.264 Demo put that little point to rest very nicely. Okay, time to change gears with IBM.
IBM: “Our collaboration with Sony is leading to a new era of innovation in the semiconductor and computing industries,” said Colin Parris, vice president of product management, IBM Systems & Technology Group. “The supercomputer-like processing and performance of the Cell processor-based workstation is just the beginning of what we expect will be a wide-range of powerful next-generation solutions resulting from our joint development efforts.”
Dr. John E. Kelly III, senior vice president, IBM. “Today, we’re revealing just a sampling of what we believe makes the innovative Cell processor a premiere open platform for next-generation computing and entertainment products.”
“To access and/or browse content freely in real-time, a more sophisticated graphical user interface (GUI) within the 3D world will become key in the future. The current PC architecture is nearing its limits, in both processing power and bus bandwidth, for handling such rich applications.”
Cell provides a breakthrough solution by adopting a flexible parallel and distributed computing architecture consisting of independent floating point processors for rich media processing. Cell supports multiple operating systems, including PC/WS operating systems (Web Services OS based on WSDL), as well as real-time CE/Game operating systems.
Hmm, I wonder if that recurring 3D iChat AV demo that Steve Jobs loves to remind us with has anything to do with the 3D world and rich applications that IBM is referring to here. Hey, don’t think too long on that one folks—that’s a slam dunk!
So with these two basic contrasting visions of CELL back to back I think you could easily notice how Sony is clearly emphasizing the entertainment angle to CELL while IBM on the other hand is emphasizing the enterprise side of the equation. It’s not time to further delve into other points IBM made as this will fall into other chapters of the series as it progresses. In the end it will all come down to iServices in one form or another, which I’ve been a fanatic to convey throughout the entire series to date.
The Mystery Continues
While other Operating Systems will be able to take advantage of this revolutionary processor, let me be clear on this point: OS X Tiger’s timely arrival being exactly in tune with the launching of CELL is by no means coincidental I assure you!
Understanding the CELL project in relation to Apple is going to take a number of twists along the way before there’s a clearer conclusion. However, I would hope that today’s simple glimpse of its potential has shed some light in terms of how it could play out in just one very strategic scenario—Sony’s network-centric television platform. I personally think that’s more important than just spewing out the geekier side of the details in helping us visualize the CELL in the real-world. But I’ll touch on the patent briefly in the next chapter because it’s important. One must prove the existence of facts relating to this subject and the patent is a great place to start. This isn’t all theory folks.
At the moment, from comments I’ve been hearing from a few in the Mac community, I’d have to say that no one is getting the importance of this project. In fact, many don’t even acknowledge it to be on Apple’s roadmap. Big mistake!
The general media doesn’t fair much better really in understanding CELL, and that got me to thinking about Winston Churchill’s description of Russia for some reason when he wrote: Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Though I must confess that I prefer Joe Pesci’s version of expressing it as he did in the Oliver Stone’s movie JFK – like a lunatic! Because that’s how I envision those in the media trying to unravel this so-called mystery. I personally think it’s hilarious quite frankly, because it needn’t be so. But something tells me when we get into what the patent actually states, maybe you’ll understand why the PC media has conveniently gone stupid on this one. We’ll see, maybe it’s just me.
So until the chapter arrives on Monday covering key aspects of the CELL patent itself, I’d like to know if you still think that President Ando’s visit to MacWorld was really incidental.
Addendum
CELL Conference Sessions on Tap for beginning February Sixth
For the super Macite geeks among us, here’s what you can expect to be covered at this annual conference concerning CELL:
Session 7.4: A Streaming Processing Unit for a CELL Processor
The design of a 4-way SIMD streaming data processor emphasizes achievable performance in area and power. Software controls data movement and instruction flow, and improves data bandwidth and pipeline utilization. The micro-architecture minimizes instruction latency and provides fine-grain clock control to reduce power.
Session 10.2: The Design and Implementation of a First-Generation CELL Processor
A CELL Processor is a multi-core chip consisting of a 64b Power architecture processor, multiple streaming processors, a flexible IO interface, and a memory interface controller. This SoC is implemented in 90nm SOI technology. The chip is designed with a high degree of modularity and reuse to maximize the custom circuit content and achieve a high-frequency clock-rate.
Session 20.3: A Double-Precision Multiplier with Fine-Grained Clock-Gating Support for a First-Generation CELL Processor
A double-precision multiplier for a 90nm SOI CELL processor is presented. Dynamic Booth logic is designed for scalability and with noise, leakage, and pulse-width variation tolerance. Static partial-product compression is implemented with replicated bits for performance. The design supports fine-grained clock gating domains for active power reduction.
Session 26.7: A 4.8GHz Fully Pipelined Embedded SRAM in the Streaming Processor of a CELL Processor
A 6-stage fully pipelined embedded SRAM is implemented in a 90nm SOI technology. The array uses a conventional 6-transistor memory cell and sense amplifier to achieve the cycle time while minimizing the impact of device variation. A sum-addressed pre-decoder allows partial activation for power savings.
Session 28.9: Clocking and Circuit Design for a Parallel I/O on a First-Generation CELL Processor A parallel I/O is integrated on a first-generation CELL processor in 90nm SOI CMOS. A clock-tracking architecture suppresses reference jitter to achieve 6.4Gb/s/link operation at 21.6mW/Gb/s. SOI effects on analog circuits, in particular high-speed receivers, are addressed to achieve a receiver sensitivity of ±12mV at 6.4Gb/s with BER <10-14 measured using 7b PRBS data.
zwiebel'd Says:
OMG, please...please...please...please...please...please let it be true. Ando’s presence was NOT incidental.
Posted on February 03, 2005
Russell Says:
Remember a few years back when Steve paraded Phillips head honcho on stage? He promised a lot of cool products to come out of Apple and Phillips collaboration. We’re not seeing the fruits of their labor on any products are we?
Posted on February 03, 2005
Tonio Says:
Apple has been collaborating with Sony for a long time—e.g. the trinitron monitor utilized patents owned by both companies.
I don’t remember Phillips being involved at a Stevenote, but I trust you. Halo also figured prominently in a Stevenote.
Another big difference here is that (a) the Cell processor relies on PowerPC technology; (b) Apple is one of the owners of PowerPC technology; (c) Apple has an enduring strategic interest in the evolution of PowerPC technology; (d) Sony has a strategic interest (perhaps not so enduring) in PowerPC technology. Phillips, OTOH, was just another consumer electronics company bleeding red ink.
Posted on February 03, 2005
mtowns Says:
I don’t believe he was there just to sell a $3500 camera to a few people…
Nice article!
Posted on February 03, 2005
Lt.Williem Says:
It is good to remember that big companies sometimes make grandiose statements that are just a stream of currently fashionable corporate-speak. So I would not go into disecting every word some japanese corporate head utters (especially in a foregin language).
On the other hand Steve is intelligent enough to drop a hint or two here and there.
As for Philips / Apple collaboration one should know that Philips has licenced Randevous from Apple and it is using it in their Streamium line of products. On the other hand Philips / LG displays are at the heart of those gorgeous Cinema Displays. And Apple has been able to stun everybody when they announced first LCD displays with a much lower price. Partly because they invested in the new Philips / LG LCD fab.
Will Cell processor be linked with Apple. One day possibly but not in the next 2 years. Don’t forget that Cell processor will require totally new programs. Would you buy all new versions of all your software next year? I would not. Power PC processor has still a long way to go.
Posted on February 03, 2005
Thomas Says:
@Lt. Williem: Why would the Cell processor reqiure totally new programs? It’s a PowerPC processor. And Apple builds all kind of nice technology in Tiger, like CoreImage, which relies, for now, on the GPU. But the Cell would be even nicer for this…
Hoping for:
A) Tiger-based Cell workstation (G6?); remember G5s are in the consumer iMac
B) New pro Applications from Apple (Motion 2, Final Cut Pro 5)
Shipping Q2/2005. Or maybe a year later…
Plus, I should be reasonably easy to port PS3 games to this thing…
Read this: http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Cell4.html (Cell V’s Apple)…
Posted on February 03, 2005
Danny Strickland Says:
Just to add to Lt.Williem’s post above. the marketing of Philips Streamium line of products has taken on a very “Apple-esque” themes ranging from ‘simplicity” of use to “access everything from everything”. In other words “digital convergance” just like Sony. However, unlike Sony, Philips has been one of the top if not the top buyers of MIPS chips for a decade for use in their digital lifestyle products. However, Sony had incorporated PowerPC technology derived in part from Apple’s tech. So the match in digital lifestyle philosophy and PowerPC tech is much closer with Sony than Philips. Also the cache the Sony brand name has in terms of the public is far better than Philips.
Now comes some interesting thoughts....what about the recent deal with Samsung to build large format LCD monitors for Sony? Sony paid several billion dollars to another company, not even Japanese, to make the monitors that Sony will put their brand name on. How can Sony recoup some of this cost and move more monitors? Work a deal with Apple to start selling Apple branded Sony LCD monitors made by Samsung! In return, Sony continues to get major space on Apples web site concerning their camcorders and how well they play together with Apple software. Apple then has a complete Apple branded digital lifestyle package to give to the consumer which includes kudos to Sony. And then perhaps later Sony works with Apple to port OSX and all applications to the Cell CPU.
Posted on February 03, 2005
Juanxer Says:
You could say that a Cell processor just shares certain G4 or G5 features, at most, and that’s it. The underlying philosophy of the product is radically different to the ones pertaining to traditional OSes. A Cell-based Macintosh is an impossibility right now.
If anything, one would expect Apple to help develop Cell hardware hosting apps to take advantage of these little beasts for, say, render or DSP farms, scientific computing or so. I believe that any first implementation of an IBM’s Cell workstation would probably be an Unix PC host plus some PCI Cell cards and such. A Mac ought to be a nice Cell development platform, too.
Posted on February 03, 2005
nu64man Says:
Nice article.
The problem with Cell is that it doesn’t support the PowerPC G4/G5 Velocity Engine. Without this support, major amounts of Mac OS X and Apple/3rd Party applications would have to be rewritten.
Posted on February 03, 2005
konichiwa Says:
Sorry to rain on your parade but blachford is full of it.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050124-4551.html
Posted on February 03, 2005
t q Says:
how about small stuff like firewire 800 on sony camcorders and other peripherals? connectivity with cellphones? the t68i worked the best with a mac. quicktime technology used in cell phones, and camcorders. imagine editing some of a movie right in the camcorder. and finally itunes. imagine sony buying into the whole itunes phenomena: making devices, and promoting itunes on their computers.
t
Posted on February 03, 2005
read Says:
Posted on February 03, 2005
Pete Says:
A very interesting article ... I’m looking forward to the 6th Feb.
Posted on February 03, 2005
x Says:
Full of what?
http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Rebuttal.html
Posted on February 03, 2005
Me? Says:
Guys, I can talk too much because of NDA but for those who have access to Tig*r beta, I think the answer to the 3D UI are fully here :> .qtz :)
Posted on February 03, 2005
JACK Says:
To the arguments about having to rewrite apps - who said that CELL replaces the PPC? This is a myth in the Mac community. You’re not yet understanding CELL.
Posted on February 03, 2005
nikster Says:
let me summarize this:
1) the Cell processor is super-duper. the best thing invented since sliced bread and peanut butter.
2) conclusion: we wants it.
3) we will use any weird theories to support our continued hope to see it in Powermacs.
now, i am sure that Sony’s appearance was not coincidence. Sony doesn’t do coincidence, and certainly not sending around their CEO. however, all it could mean is that Sony wants to take the piss out of microsoft.
if you look at Sony,they have so many reasons to be disgruntled with MS: MS competes with the PS2, and is actually by far the most powerful challenger. MS also wants to be in the consumer space, and even compete in digital media. MS is Sony’s enemy #1 and it must anger them to no end that they are paying MS for each and every computer they sell. in summary, Sony would much rather tie up with Apple…
what i don’t think is that it had anything to do with the Cell processor. sure Apple will use it if it can, e.g. if it’s compatible enough, but let’s wait and see what the Cell actually is first.
both Sony and IBM have a long history of making grandiose announcements and then not really delivering on them. Emotion Engine (supposedly a supercomputer, in reality not more than a graphics coprocessor), PowerPC, which was supposed to have left x86 in the dust by now - never happened.
Posted on February 04, 2005
Jack Says:
Golem says master Nikster is sssneak.
I’m glad to see “you wants it”. The theory aspect just might come back to haunt you as there’s more of this story to follow. I think there’s two more parts to go, so it’s a little early to get pessimistic and relying on past failures to down this new processor and its related matters. It’s a two way street here. Meaning it’s not just that Apple would use CELL as a co-processor, but what Apple may have to run on Sony’s 2006 network based TV.
Have a little faith Nikster, “you may gets you wants”.
Posted on February 04, 2005
sigh Says:
interesting content, but this site render horribly in firefox 1.0 :(
Posted on February 04, 2005
Haugland Says:
Cell is not PowerPC!
Even if the PU of the Cell is PowerPC based, it does not make sense to compare Cell to PowerPC. It would be like having an Radeon X850 XT PE and use the CPU for all rendering.
If the Cell is to be of any use, it will require an awful lot of reprogramming. A PowerPC program might run on the Cells’ PU with little or no change, but if the APUs are not used, the Cell will (probably) not perform better than “normal” CPUs.
If the APUs are to be utilized, the program need to be heavily multithreaded and taylored for the Cell architecture.
Oh, and by the way: I consider Jon “Hannibal” Stokes a very reliable source, and I think Blachfords articles are seriouly flawed.
Posted on February 04, 2005
rohanl Says:
In all this talk about the Cell and Apple, I can’t help thinking that Xgrid is going to have something to do with it.
Imagine a home full of devices containing Cell processors and being able to use Xgrid to share that processing power with your Mac.
Posted on February 04, 2005
jack Says:
1- re rohani: Yeah, you get it. Grid plays a part in the cell project.
2- re haugland: Steve Jobs WWDC keynote made the point about how Core in Quicktime was going to work with the GPU going forward as GPU’s were outpacing the CPU. This IS WHERE CELL COMES IN. Apple made it clear and public. This notion of reprogramming isn’t correct in respect to Tiger. Once you get what Apple is doing for CELL, there will be NO CONFLICT whatsoever. CELL working with QuickTime will have leapfrog performance well beyond the CPU - period. Perhaps the author will at some point explain the areas Apple will use this to clarify.
Posted on February 04, 2005
cc Says:
All this talk of re-writing programs to the CELL, is interesting, though I believe a bit dated in its approach. All of software history has been writing to a specific platform.
But didn’t I hear there was a processor that was “threading” processes coming into the cpu that were not natively written multi-threaded?
If so is this the CELL?
To have the chip decide what needs to be parcelled and where is much more computing technology than having programmers re-write everything from square one.
I for one would like to see what the CELL can do.
And from there hope Apple is as forward looking as it has always been. If there is a new tech on the horizon, you can bet Apple is looking at it and seeing how it can be turned to a mac advantage.
Such alliances have always given Apple an edge.
Running 32 or 64 bit apps natively in multi-thread without re-writing is something that would propel IBM (and Apple by association) into an arena not even touched by Intel or MS on the windows side.
It would also leap-frog the bottle-neck in mhz performance that the powerpc has suffered at the hands of the Intel / Amd X86 architechture, at least as far as mhz numbers are concerned.
-CC
Posted on February 04, 2005
Erik Says:
Need to make one thing clear. Cell will probably use a Power processor along with its APUs, most probably a Power5. Some of you seem to believe that PowerPC is the same thing as Power, but while the PowerPC has a lot in common with the Power4 it is still a reduced version and I doubt that they even have the same ISA. This means that if indeed CELL will come to Apple then all applications will have to be recompiled and maybe even partly rewritten, OS X will definitely.
Posted on February 04, 2005
Coremac Says:
A quote from the Graphics and Media State of the Union presentation from WWDC ‘04:
Core Image is a “stream based processing model” and “mappable to GPUs, SMT CPUs and any other parallel architectures”.
What other parallel architectures? I’m thinking Cell. The point is, Apple is doing the hard work, like Core, that will make it an easier transition. Routing this stuff through the GPU is a revolutionary change in the computer/software model, but did this break every existing app? No. Their Quicktime, Core, and perhaps OpenGL components could be rewritten to support core without having to rewrite everything else.
Posted on February 04, 2005
Coremac Says:
Oops.. Mistake on last line. Should be Cell instead of Core…
Their Quicktime, Core, and perhaps OpenGL components could be rewritten to support Cell without having to rewrite everything else.
Posted on February 04, 2005
Jack Says:
What a go Coremac. Nice to see someone who gets the thinking behind this. Yes, of course.
Posted on February 04, 2005
John Says:
This (Cell) has everything to do with Apple, Tiger, and Core Technologies.
Core Image, Core Audio and I would guess Core Data.
Note: Apple’s Core Technologies are NOT part of Darwin (Open Source).
Darwin is the underlying base Free BSD UNIX core OS, but Core technologies are uniquely Apple, Mac OS X and nowTiger (Core Image, Core Data, and I assumE improved Core Audio), and the new QuickTime 7 architecture which is Cocoa a I am sure relates directly to Core Image and Core Audio.
This is where Apple is lightyears ahead of MS, or anyone else for that matter.
Posted on February 08, 2005
Viviana Wong Says:
If my memory serves me right, Apple is the one company that was able to transition their Operating system from the Cisc chip to the Risc chip some 10 years ago. Os X runs on a powerPC core and based on past record, the engineers at Apple will be capable to pull off another transition to the Cell chip. I am not so sure about Microsoft.
Posted on February 08, 2005
Geir Werner Hagen Says:
VERY intriguing ! And no, of course mr.Andos visit was not just a casual drop by… The future (looks) so bright I gotta wear shades !!!
Posted on February 08, 2005
bishopdante Says:
Well well well. Vector Stuff! I work as a sound engineer, and these cell chip things would be absolutely naughty for processing sound! The parallel thing with Xgrid would allow you to get the latency down to nuffink! You could process audio in realtime like a Digidesign TDM system, 8 plugins per channel over 24 channels with a few cell chips. Is the cell G6 material? Will it go in a laptop? Oooer apple are getting very dangerous. Sony IBM and Apple teaming up to fight Microsoft and Intel. Game over baby! Windows is going to die! Gimme!
Posted on February 21, 2005
bishopdante Says:
Well, I kinda forgot. There is a link between Sony and Apple. They have both made a fortune pioneering a cunningly named personal stereo system. Walkman. Ipod. They’re a match made in heaven! Ando-Jobs, lethal pioneer entrepreneurs of the late eighties and now, noughties.
Posted on February 21, 2005
konichiwa Says:
Aha !
Posted on June 16, 2005
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
PXLated Says:
Okay, you got me really interested/intrigued. And no, I don’t think Ando’s appearance was incidental.
Can’t wait for the next installment :-)
Posted on February 03, 2005