AMD's six-core Opteron chips pushed as Shanghai upgrade

The new processors, code-named Istanbul, are AMD's fastest server chips to date, though it is being launched in difficult market conditions

AMD announced on Monday six-core Opteron chips, which make them the fastest server chips the company has released to date.

Until now, AMD offered only quad-core server processors, with the fastest being Opteron chips code-named Shanghai. The six-core chips, code-named Istanbul, will offer 30 percent faster performance while drawing the same amount of power as Shanghai chips, said Brent Kerby, product marketing manager for AMD's server workstation group.

[ When it comes to efficiency, Shanghai has the advantage of competitor Intel's Xeon chip. ]

AMD is in a race with chip rival Intel to put more cores on processors to improve chip performance while drawing less power. Officials from Intel, which already offers quad-core Xeon server processors, last week detailed their upcoming eight-core Nehalem EX server processors, due in 2010. But by the time Intel ships Nehalem EX, AMD will be ready with its 12-core chip code-named Magny-Cours.

AMD is releasing five Istanbul chips that run at speeds of up to 2.6GHz and draw up to 75 watts of power during average CPU usage. Two chips will be part of Opteron 8000 series of chips, while three will be part of the Opteron 2000 series of chips. The chips will include 6MB of L3 cache and 512KB of L2 cache per core.

Istanbul chips will go into servers with up to eight sockets, which could bring the processing power of 48 cores. The chips will plug into existing servers that already have AMD's server processors, Kerby said. Upgrading a server would simply require replacing existing CPUs with Istanbul chips, which could reduce the hardware acquisition costs.

Top server vendors, including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, will place Istanbul chips in their servers. Dell will offer Istanbul chips in six PowerEdge servers, while HP declined to detail any Istanbul-related announcements.

Dell benchmarked the six-core chip and said it provides better application performance -- up to 61 percent in some cases -- compared to quad-core Shanghai chips. "Customers can get improved performance in I/O intensive applications like databases and technical computing without taking up more floor space or power consumption," said Sally Stevens, vice president of platform marketing at Dell.

Despite performance increases, Istanbul chips won't completely replace quad-core Opterons, Kerby said. Customers looking to scale performance in applications like databases could use Istanbul chips, while those looking for price and performance may continue to opt for quad-core chips. Quad-core chips may be relevant for less data-intensive tasks like Web 2.0 and cloud-computing applications, Kerby said.

Istanbul is a major technological advancement for AMD, but its launch comes at the wrong time, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst for Mercury Research. Server purchases have slowed down during the recession because of frozen IT budgets, which could affect Istanbul's adoption.

"Unfortunately, it is being launched in an extremely weak market for servers. Everybody is feeling the pain," he said.

Worldwide server unit shipments -- including x86 systems -- declined 26.5 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2009 to around 1.49 million units, the largest unit shipment decline in close to five years, IDC said last week. Factory revenue during the quarter declined by 24.5 percent to $9.9 billion.

The recession's negative effect also makes upgrading a quad-core to six-core chips unlikely, especially on one- and two-socket servers, McCarron said. "There is a lot of incentive in the server space to make do with what you have."

Video: The PSP Go waits for no one

We get a jump on details for the upcoming PSP Go, review the T-Mobile Google Ion, and take a look at the CBS and Ustream partnership.

4 minutes 54 seconds

'Sims 3' ready for prime time

'The Sims 3' launches officially on June 2.

(Credit: Electronic Arts)

LOS ANGELES--Start saving simoleans, everyone: "The Sims 3" has finally launched.

The latest full iteration of the famous "Sims" franchise--"The Sims" launched in 2000 and became the best-selling PC game of all time, and "The Sims 2" released in 2004--the new game presents a chance for its publisher, Electronic Arts, to bolster its bottom line, even while trying to push the boundaries of what game players are used to.

The original "Sims," from the hit-making game designer, Will Wright, was a game in which players could control a household of, yes, "sims," little people whose daily lives depended on players' attention. The innovations in the game, plus its non-goal-oriented nature, its unique graphics, its ahead-of-its-time game play and a number of other factors quickly made it into a success far beyond what anyone could have imagined. It also spawned a series of expansions that were also successes.

Then came "Sims 2," which improved upon the original title's graphics, incorporated more user-generated content--players could now use a movie feature that allowed players to script and make films starring their sims, while players of the original version figured out a way to do so themselves using the game's "family album" feature--and also spawned a series of hit expansions.

As a result, EA spun "The Sims" off its original studio, Maxis, and turned it into one of the company's main labels. And now, with the release of "Sims 3," EA has both a chance to prove it can continue to maintain its most popular and lucrative franchises, and to win over a new generation of players unfamiliar with the little green diamond that floats over players' characters' heads.

But EA has had a series of layoffs, its much-anticipated "Spore" franchise, which moderately successful, has not been the mega-hit the company likely hoped it would be and it is facing an environment in which the games industry, while still stronger than most, is finally starting to show some cracks.

So how important is "Sims 3" to EA? Well, it's not bet-the-house important--no game could be to such a large company--but it's certainly got to be up there.

And now, as the latest iteration incorporates even more social media, and more user-generated content--players can now not only make films starring their sims, but can also have full editing control over the footage--EA has to deliver with bottom line figures. Will it? Only time will tell. But there's certainly a lot of excitement around the game. And given the franchise's history, it would be tough to bet against them.

'Why are you ruining Twitter?'

I told Webware writer Josh Lowensohn that I was being pitched to talk to the guy behind the Twitter game Spymaster, and his first reaction was, "Ask him, 'Why are you ruining Twitter?'" It's suitably belligerent question given the violent Twitter postings that the new game is generating. Reminiscent of the Vampires and the Zombies social role-playing games that were big on Facebook last year, Spymaster rewards you for building an army of followers on Twitter, and makes it too easy to spam Twitter with your actions. When you "assassinate" a competitor, or perform other in-game activities, Spymaster sends out a Twitter notification if your account is configured to do so (which it is by default).Chris Abad, CEO of iList, which built Spymaster as a side project, says, "We're not encouraging people to spam Twitter." He reminds me that when you sign up for the game, it gives you "a granular ability to tweet out or not" your activities in it. There is a small in-game recurring reward to sending out Twitter notifications, although Abad says it's "insignificant" compared with the rewards you get for doing other things, like recruiting members and achieving objectives. But that's why those notes are out there.

Tip No. 1: There are Twitter tools that can filter out tweets that contain the #Spymaster hashtag: Tweetdeck,Destroy Twitter, Twitterific, Peoplebrowsr, and other Twitter clients have an "exclude" filter. Twitter.com does not, unfortunately.

Tip No. 2: You can also go to the Spymaster opt-out page to prevent yourself from getting invited to the game at all. You may get invitations to the game via direct messages to your Twitter account if you don't. The best bet, if you don't want to participate in this system in any way, is to user both tips: use a client that blocks those spammy updates you're getting, and opt out of getting the game's invitations.

Spymaster default: Tweet your in-game activities.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

I tried the game, and I don't see the appeal. But then, I never got into the slot-machine battle style of Zombies either. I have more interesting battles to fight, thank you.

When I talked to Abad, he was clearly focused on making the game more fun. In particular, he's aware that the big Facebook games got monotonous as players reached the higher levels, so he's trying to make the game more fun and collaborative as players progress through it.

He doesn't know, yet, how this virus will make money. "There's an opportunity here," Abad believes, but he doesn't appear to have an idea of where exactly the opportunity lies.

Beyond murder

One company that has used Twitter's viral capability to drive actual business is HootSuite, which, during theTwittercon conference over the weekend, told audience members that the first 100 people who visited a certain URL could could get access to the private beta of HootSuite 2.0. The instructons on that page told people to retweet a message ("@hootsuite HootSuite 2.0: Get More Twitter Tabs, Columns and Stats [100 FREE Invites] #twtrcon") to get their prize. Unfortunately, far more than 100 people retweeted that message, and the message took on a life of its own in the retweetosphere. For a few hours the ad swamped the Twitter stream of people who were trying to follow the conference by tracking the #twtrcon hashtag.

I had lunch with reps from HootSuite, who recognized that their little marketing stunt had gotten away from them. They were suitably cowed and promised never to do this again. Ironically, HootSuite is a tool for marketing and PR pros to help them track what people are saying about their company on Twitter. It looks like a good app. But spam is no way to build business relationships.

There are going to be more Twitter spam problems in coming months. From games like Spymaster that ask players to recruit their friends, to give-aways like HootSuite's that reward people for sending out messages, to just plain blanket spams from clueless marketers, spam is about to get much worse on Twitter. As I wrote previously, there are some people trying to do something about it. Loic LeMeur says he's building an antispam database for Twitter. And, as I said, several Twitter clients currently have rudimentary controls for filtering out specific messages. Future releases will probably get more sophisticated. Chances are also good that someone will combine a Twitter client with a proxy service to manage and spam-filter Twitter accounts for customers.

Spam is, sadly, a solid and proven monetization engine for almost every electronic communication system. That's doubly true when there's no cost to transmit a message, and triply so when you can get a system's users to do the dirty work for you. Spam makes money. Fighting it can be profitable, too. Welcome to the one of the best ways to make money on Twitter.

Intel launches chips for low-cost, thin laptops

Intel is launching its line of processors for thin, inexpensive laptops at the Computex tech conference in Taipei. Intel marketing chief Sean Maloney talked about this in a phone interview.

Intel marketing chief Sean Maloney

(Credit: Intel)

"It's clear that people like devices to be thin and light," said Maloney, who was speaking from the Computex conference in Taipei where he will be giving a keynote on Tuesday.

"We've really taken that to heart and come out with a complete top-to-bottom range of microprocessors that enable radically longer battery life and much smaller designs," said Maloney, referring to Intel's new lineup of consumer ultra-low-voltage (CULV) processors.

Maloney continued. "There are a lot of computers being announced here (Computex) that look like conventional notebooks in terms of how wide the screens are, but they're super-thin, the performance is very good, and they get up to nine hours battery life without a big, fat battery at the back," he said.

MSI X340 X-Slim laptop is one of the first CULV laptops

(Credit: MSI)

"It's a big change for industry. It means the technology weaves its way into your life more because you're going to have all-day notebooks," Maloney said.

The new processors will encompass the Core 2, Pentium, and Celeron processor architectures, according to Maloney.

Prices for these new laptops will start at $399 and range up to $2,000 in some cases, Maloney said.

And will laptops based on these chips impact the sales of Netbooks? "I don't think so," Maloney said, but added: "It's a loser mentality to not develop one segment because you're worried about the other."

Maloney continued. "The demographics (for Netbooks) that's completely untouched is kids between the ages of 7 and 12. So, the Netbook market is still at a very early stage," he said.

In addition, Intel unveiled the Mobile Intel GS40 Express Chipset for the new ULV-based laptops. This "value" chipset enables ULV-based laptops to support HD (high-definition) playback, Windows Vista Premium support and native support for integrated HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).

Wireles options will include embedded WiMAX or Intel "My Wi-Fi" technology. My Wi-Fi transforms a laptop into a WiFi personal area network, connecting directly with up to eight Wi-Fi-certified devices, according to Intel.

Though a crush of new thin laptops are expected, the MSI X340 is one of the first. The X340 has a 13.4-inch screen, weighs 2.86 pounds, and measures .78 inches thick.

Kentucky coach's daughters stir trouble on Facebook

I wonder about college basketball coaches. It's hard for them to be squeaky clean. Or even vaguely shiny.

So they certainly don't need their daughters' social networking to cause more discombobulation in their attempts to be a cross between Vince Lombardi and Mahatma Gandhi.

You see, I am currently placing my mind beneath the shiny hair of John Calipari, the new basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.

Calipari does seem to make quite a few people tense involuntarily. I am suddenly reminded of a 1994 incident in which Temple coach John Chaney threatened to kill Calipari at a press conference. (I have embedded the video, purely for nostalgia's sake.)

One recent critic appears to be an ESPN.com journalist named Pat Forde. Forde happens to live in Kentucky and tends to drizzle on the Caliparade. For example, when Calipari was hired, Forde asked during his introduction whether the Kentucky athletic director would mention his two trips to the Final Four. Or merely one.

"Because the first one, with Massachusetts in 1996, was officially vacated from the NCAA record books after an agent hooked up star center Marcus Camby with cash and prostitutes," Forde said.

Now Calipari is a fond Twitterer. He tweeted that he thought Forde's criticisms were personal.

But the coach's socially networked stirring is nothing when compared with that of Megan and Erin. These would be his daughters. Both are college students. And both are esteemed Facebookers.

Megan unfortunately used Facebook to reveal who would be Dad's replacement at the University of Memphis, which might not be considered perfect media management.

Indeed, it prompted Dad to be quoted by CBS Sports as saying: "I told them that they have to get off Facebook. This stuff is crazy."

The feisty girls decided not to listen to Dad. In fact, the highly amusing folks at Deadspin have been following Erin Calipari's remarkably literate Facebook postings about ESPN's Forde. They make for stirring digestion.

The dictionary definition post, for example: "To Pat Forde, Pat Fording. Pat Fording (verb): To say or write something with no background or sources. To act like you know something when in fact you do not. 2. To repeat the same story in different words 3 or more times. eg. "You told me that story three times!" "Oh, sorry for Pat Fording that."

Or how about the hair-besmirching post: "Source: "Pat Forde's hair received improper benefits of around $10,000 from Just For Men Hair Club and his hair also had someone take his SAT for him."

Gosh. What will Daddy tweet now? Will he take away their laptops? Will he have them transferred to Oral Roberts? Or will the wise avuncular corpses at the NCAA decide that social networking, even by family members, is a heinous violation?

Big data and Cloudera: Follow the money

When it comes to open source, this isn't Olson's first rodeo; in his past life he served as CEO of the open-source database company Sleepycat, which was acquired by Oracle in 2006. Olson understands the fragile balance that exists in open source; he's a firm believer that good community relations are critical for open-source companies. Case in point--since we last spoke, Cloudera launched the industry's first certification program for Hadoop and MapReduce, open source projects that support data intensive distributed applications.

Cloudera on Tuesday is expected to formally announce the closing of a $6 million series B funding round led by Greylock (whose past investments successes include Red Hat among many others).

Olson reports that fast growth in the business and rapid adoption of Hadoop/MapReduce drove heavy interest from investors. For Cloudera, apparently it's a buyer's market, so it decided to secure funding now to allow it to expand the business rapidly on all fronts.

So, with $11 million in the bank from top-tier VCs (Accel led the A round and participated in the B) along with individual investments from Diane Greene (former CEO of VMware), Marten Mickos (former CEO of MySQL), and Jeff Weiner (president of LinkedIn), Cloudera has successfully raised the smart money to compliment the big data all-star founding team from Google, Facebook, and Yahoo.

For a brief overview of Hadoop and Cloudera check out the video below.

Follow me on Twitter @daveofdoom.