Sun Working to Obsolete Motherboards 228
perl_camel_jockey writes "Sun is developing a new technology that promises to increase computing power by eliminating the need for physical, soldered chip-to-chip connections on the motherboard. Called 'proximity communications', it portends the ability for chips to talk to one another wirelessly just by being next to each other. Potential applications in computer design abound. Apparently this is part of Sun's Hero program, recipient of a $50 million grant from DARPA's High Productivity Computing Systems program to rejuvenate supercomputing in the US and regain the lead lost to Japan, in particular to NEC's Earth Simulator, ranked as the most powerful supercomputer in the world."
Re:uhm... i can see it now (Score:5, Informative)
Tripe, actually (Score:1, Informative)
As pointed out by jdb2 here [slashdot.org]
Probably best to go read Sun's paper [sun.com] on the topic.
This isn't about disconnected chips (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pride (Score:2, Informative)
You may be surprised how close this already is to reality. Mainland China has already commercialized a form of gene therapy that has had powerful results on a broad range of cancers. It has a brand name even, it's called Gendicine. Google it if you doubt it could be real and you could have not heard of it.
In fact, Bush's science advisor has publicly stated that he thinks mortality is essential for human dignity. This is an extension of the belief that human morality is based on Christain principles in which death is a reward for those who live according the Christain version of morality in which heaven is a reward.
Hey, I wish I was making this up. This is all far too real. It's also true that both the East Coast and the West Coast urban population centers along with the Chicago area are totally out of synch politically with the rest of the country which is where the federal government is controlled. I wish it were otherwise, but this is a fact.
If Russia had stem cell therapy that worked today to cure Diabetes, Heart Disease and Parkinsons I would not expect to see it in the US any time soon. However, I expect such therapies are already quite feasible.
Re:Worried... (Score:5, Informative)
In any case, in conventional devices the pins will also work as (very low-power) transmitters, too. So once you've found a method of decoding this signal mix, you can probably get at the information on conventional chips, too.
Re:Worried... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Worried... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Great opportunity for Sun (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Pride (Score:1, Informative)
There is a cure for type 1 in the works. Has nothing to do with stem cells, but type 1 diabetics would be excited. Funny it didn't get better press.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/h
I know, I know, -1 offtopic me