Techno Musings

Okay, okay I cannot help myself I have to write about the iPad from Apple. The first thing is that I want to point out is that there is some cool Hitachi technology in the iPad display called IPS or in-plane switching.  IPS enables the user to better view images on the screen at extreme angles.  Yahoo News cites that the iPad will allow viewers to see the display at up to 178 degrees due to IPS, note the article also states other Apple products like the iMac make use of IPS.  However this is not the reason that I’m writing this post; instead I’m most interested in the A4, an Apple designed SoC/Processor powering the iPad.  The point that I want to bring to everyone’s attention is that one of the most innovative companies in the world put their own custom silicon into the iPad.  While details are sketchy, as you would expect from Apple, the processor appears to be based upon an ARM core and includes on board I/O control, memory control and a GPU all in one SoC — well that’s what Steve said.  Apple continues to follow a trend in the industry that is called hybrid computing and something that I have often blogged about — note I believe Apple’s first push into hybrid computing was the debut of Grand Central Dispatch in Snow Leopard.  Development of their own silicon brings Apple into the ranks of a club that includes IBM, Cray, and Hitachi.  All seriously innovative companies that put their innovation bets into a variety of places including custom silicon.