Today’s topics include AMD’s focus on the power efficiency of Carrizo, new rumors that T-Mobile could be a takeover target, Amazon’s $50 Fire Tablet, and Google’s call for government reform of electronic communications law.
Power efficiency is a key metric for Advanced Micro Devices engineers when they’re designing the company’s processors.
That is best illustrated by AMD’s stated goal of improving the energy efficiency of its mobile platform by 25 percent between 2014 and 2020. AMD’s new “Carrizo” accelerated processing unit is the latest step in that effort, according to company officials.
Offering 23 percent greater density and lower power over the previous “Kaveri” chip, Carrizo is the first product introduced under the AMD’s 25×20 initiative.
T-Mobile is again the focus of rumors about a possible acquisition, this time by French telecom company Altice, whose chairman made recent comments about getting involved in the mobile market. The development, reported by FierceWireless on Sept. 17, followed Altice’s $17.7 billion deal to buy Cablevision.
According to posts on Twitter, Altice Chairman Patrick Drahi said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference that he would need to look into moving into the mobile market, and could see Altice owning a mobile network, but that such a move would happen over time.
Amazon has revamped its line of Fire tablets and Fire TV devices, introducing a new $49.99 price for the 7-inch Fire tablet, the addition of a new 10.1-inch Fire HD 10 tablet and the debut of a new Fire TV Gaming Edition.
In a series of announcements on Sept. 17, the company unveiled the new products, which also includes updated Fire HD 8 and Fire Kids Edition tablets and a new Fire OS5 “Bellini” operating system.
Google, provider of the world’s largest email service, has once again aired its long-standing call for reform of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Richard Salgado, Google’s director for law enforcement and information security, described ECPA reform as critical to protecting email and other stored digital content from overzealous government access.
Internet service providers, law enforcement agencies and courts alike have had problems understanding the law and how it should be applied to current technology and business practices, according to Salgado.