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Today’s topics include the latest iPod Touch, details on the upcoming Black Hat USA security conference, the release of Skype 5.5 for Android and a change to Intel’s tick-tock processor schedule.
Apple has introduced its latest iPod Touch, featuring a wide range of improvements including a more powerful processor, faster graphics, better still image and video cameras as well as upgraded fitness tracking capabilities.
Introduced on July 15, these will be the first new iPod Touch models Apple has released in three years. Prices range from $199 for a 16GB model to $399 for a 128GB version.
The new models will come with 64-bit A8 processors that provide 10 times the graphics performance of previous models, a new 8-megapixel iSight still photo camera and an improved 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera for better selfies.
Over the years, the Black Hat USA security conference has built a reputation around being the place where new security vulnerabilities are disclosed, and 2015 will be no exception.
Defensive approaches to security will also be a key theme at the upcoming Black Hat 2015 session, which starts Aug. 4 in Las Vegas.
Steve Wylie, general manager of the Black Hat conference, explained that content for the Black Hat USA event is selected by an independent review board of industry experts. “Our content comes from the community,” Wylie told eWEEK.
Microsoft released Skype 5.5 for Android to the Google Play store this week, an update that helps take the hassle out of logging back in when users exit the app.
Although the company has trimmed the app’s power requirements, enabling it to run in the background on Android smartphones and tablets with little impact on battery life, there are still users who like to run Skype on an as-needed basis. For those users, Microsoft has added new log-in options.
Since 2007, Intel’s tick-tock processor schedule has gone off like clockwork. It’s what has helped the chip maker drive Moore’s Law while continuing to shrink the size of its processors.
That’s about to change. During a conference call with journalists July 15 to talk about the company’s latest quarterly financial results, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said the vendor will add a third 14-nanometer processor—dubbed “Kaby Lake”—to its product road map, pushing back the timetable for its 10nm processor to the second half of 2017.
The decision highlights the increasing manufacturing challenges Intel and other chip makers are running into as they shrink the circuitry of their chip designs.