Freescale

If a new product unveiled this week by Freescale Semiconductor is any indication, 2010 could be "the year of the tablet computer." Just in time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opening Thursday in Las Vegas, the company has launched a seven-inch touchscreen tablet computer that it described as "the future of the smartbook category."

Intel couldn't afford to let it drag on. The world's largest chipmaker announced on Nov. 12 that it would pay $1.25 billion to resolve allegations by Advanced Micro Devices that its larger rival competes unfairly in the market for computer chips.

Intel has confirmed that it has been working with Google to develop the just-announced Chrome Operating System for netbooks, a potential competitor to Microsoft's Windows franchise.

Multiple operating systems already run on Intel processors, including Windows, Apple's Mac OS X, and Linux. Intel gave its Moblin OS to the Linux Foundation and has been working with the foundation to develop Moblin for handheld devices. Intel is also reportedly working with Google to put its Android mobile operating system on handhelds.

The speculation is building around the Google Chrome Operating System. Some see a netbook war with Microsoft, while others are calling it a wash before it even debuts. Still others are predicting a Windows revival in the face of Google competition.

The Google Chrome OS is an open-source lightweight operating system initially targeted at netbooks. It will run on both x86 and ARM chips, and Google is working with hardware manufacturers, including Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba to bring netbooks to market with an OS that touts speed, simplicity and security.

Freescale Semiconductor is entering the fast-growing netbook market with a solution that promises to make possible portable devices that feature 8.9-inch displays, eight hours of battery life, and prices under $200.

Freescale's solution is based on its new i.MX515 processor featuring ARM Cortex-A8 technology. The solution includes software, components and resources that aim to help OEMs rapidly develop and deploy netbooks.

The Khronos Group on Monday announced that its OpenCL 1.0 specification has been ratified and publicly released. Apple proposed the spec six months ago.

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is the first open, royalty-free standard for cross-platform, parallel programming of modern processors found in personal computers, servers and handheld/embedded devices.

IBM and its chip-alliance partners say a breakthrough chipmaking material known as "high-k/metal gate" has been thoroughly tested and is ready to roll on devices manufactured at IBM's 300-millimeter semiconductor plant in East Fishkill, N.Y. Chip designers will be able to use the new technology to realize performance and power savings advantages in their next-generation products, the partners said.