Site icon MacTech.com

Reconfiguring computer chips in development

A tantalizing article on BusinessWeek today explores the efforts of two Texas researchers — Douglas C. Burger and Stephen W. Keckler — to develop a computer chip that can compute a trillion calculations per second. Even more amazing, is the the fact that the chip can reconfigure itself on-the-fly. “With this technology, a future Macintosh from Apple Computer might rejigger the circuitry on its PowerPC chip and then run software written for Intel ‘s microprocessors,” explains the report. “Or an iPod music player could turn into a handheld computer — or detect an incoming call and convert itself into a cell phone.” IBM, as well as the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as working closely with the two scientists on the project.

Exit mobile version