San Francisco IDF 2008: Visual Computing Driving Innovation media type icon 06:04 | Jason Lopez | Aug 27th, 2008 10:35pm | download icon At the 2008 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco the future was clear: visual computing. From games to television, from large systems to handhelds, the demand on hardware and software platforms will be to run large amounts of data more efficiently with less power. Some of the breakthroughs to bring video and audio more easily and seamlessly to users include the scalable Nehalem chip architecture, the Media Processor CE 3100, and the architecture codenamed Larrabee.
Intel Corporation unveiled a new design of the Intel-powered classmate PC today at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. As announced in a keynote by Andrew Chien, Intel vice president, Corporate Technology Group and director of Intel Research, the second-generation Intel-powered classmate PC is an affordable, fully functional, rugged Internet-centric computer platform. These simple-to-use PCs have wireless capability, longer battery life, water resistant keyboards and are more shock resistant if dropped. Intel is calling this category of PCs "netbooks."
The Intel designed computer offers different choices to manufacturers so each can tailor laptop models for a variety of education needs. The new classmate PC blueprint is the latest innovation and educational tool for parents and teachers to use technology, computers and Internet access to better educate students around the world.
"Only 5 percent of the world's children today have access to a PC or to the Internet," Chien said. "Education is one of the best examples of how technology improves our lives. We have seen how technology helps teachers create fun learning experiences more efficiently. We have also been touched by children's excitement when they are inspired by technology. The Intel-powered classmate PC is one of the ways we support the IT industry in spreading the benefits of technology in education for children around the world."