Analyst: Intel Reverse-Engineered AMD64

"After investigating the instruction sets used by 64-bit chips from AMD and Intel, an industry analyst has concluded that Intel reverse-engineered the AMD64 instruction set to create its own 64-bit microprocessor architecture."...

Wired News: Good Riddance, Gigahertz:

"When Intel said last week that it plans to stop using gigahertz figures to market its microprocessors, analysts said it was about time. A chip's clock speed is almost irrelevant in determining the overall performance of a computer.

But while Intel won praise for the move, industry analysts in the same breath said it's now even harder for consumers to shop for computers that fit their needs -- mainly because none of the chipmakers can agree on how to measure performance.

"What consumers really want is the number, but there really is no number" that quantifies a processor's overall performance, said Linley Gwennap, founder of the Linley Group, a research firm that tracks the microprocessor and networking industries."...

The cynic in me can't but help wonder what slow-clocking processors Intel will soon introduce to a mass market and so this de-empahsis is paving the way for that. After all AMD did it with QuantiSpeed(tm) [Googled] so what's source for the goose is sauce for the gander.

I often tell my students that choosing a processor based on clock-speed alone is like going into a car salesroom and choosing a car on the sole basis of how high the engine revs! Speaking of cars it does seem that Intel's proposal for naming future processors is exactly akin to the naming conventions that car manufacturers use! I've mentioned this before in several posts.

Great to see that David's back in the swing:

"...my reasons for intermittent silence in the past couple of weeks have  very little to do with my numerous failings, but more to do with the  small successes and provocative challenges that have been coming my way."...

David has been busy. Lots of good links in his update today. His goal of 350,000 weblogs per annum for Virginia Community College faculty and students is mind-blowing. Good luck David. I'll be watching with much interest.

The International Workshop on Wearable & Implantable Body Sensor Networks is about to begin.. Achieved Wi-Fi access in one click and 10 keystrokes. Gotta love Wi-Fi coverage in a lecture theatre.

Not sure if I'll have the time/inclination and typing skills to blog in real-time but will write up the sessions later if need be.

The Program, Speakers, and Papers has all the details of the presentations. I'm scheduled to speak at 12:00 today.

The keynote is being given by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.

09:45 - 10:50

Session 1: Biosensors Technology and Designs

Bioelectrical, mechanical, biochemical, biophysical sensors

Novel Sensing and Monitoring Devices

Prof Jim Rusling, University of Connecticut "Designing Electrochemical Sensors based on Ultrathin Biomolecular Films and Nano-materials" Most of this talk went well over my head. Very interesting nevertheless.

Prof Tony Cass, Imperial College: "Protein Design for Biosensors". This was an extremely well presented talk. Very exciting technology. I can see major opportunities in the integration of these type of sensors with microelectronics and comms.

Session 2: Environment and Context Sensors - position papers.

Kristof van Laerhoven, Lancaster University: "Multi Sensor Context Awareness"

Benny Lo & Surapa Thiemjarus, Imperial College: "Feature Selection for Wireless Sensor Networks"

Duncan Smeed, University of Strathclyde: "MiPOS - the Mote Indoor Positioning System": The handout slides from my talk are http://duncan.smeed.org/4307/enclosure/bsn_handouts_3up.pdf Typical! Just after I started my talk the fire alarm went off. 15 minute unintentional break but managed to finish the talk only 10 miinutes behind schedule. There were no questions! I'll take that as a good sign ;-)

Petar Goulev, Imperial College: "Utilizing real time AffectiveSensors to incorporate emotions into human computer interactions"

Session 3: Low Power Sensors and Communications

Low power RF transceiver

Energy scavenging, battery technology

System integration, and manufacturing issues

Standards

Communication protocols

Dr Eric Yeatman, Imperial College: "Advances in power sources for wireless sensor nodes"

Prof Chris McLeod, Oxford Brookes University: "Applications for implantable SAW pressure sensors"

Dr Vincent Larik, Medtronic

Session 4: Biosensors Technology and Designs

Bioelectrical, mechanical, biochemical, biophysical sensors

Novel Sensing and Monitoring Devices

Prof Pankaj Vadgama, Queen Mary University of London: "Implantable Sensors: Materials and the Tissue-Sensor Interface"

Dr Danny O'Hare, Imperial College: "Electrochemical Methods in Physiology: From Mass Transport to Signalling"

Dr Christopher Harland, University of Sussex: "Non-Invasive Human Body Electrophysiological Measurements using Displacement Current Sensors"