Part of the deal at COMPUTEX Taipei 2010 is to see what new gadgets and technology that the companies have to offer. Another part of the equation comes from seeing how the different companies perceive the current market and how they are going to approach the industry in the coming years. Think of it as a state of the union, so to speak.
It is with that frame of mind that I walked into the meeting room for the COMPUTEX keynote speeches. Four high-ranking executives were there to tell us exactly what to expect from their respective areas of interest in the years to come. So, what did they have to say?
AMD Combines CPU and GPU to Create Fusion APU
First up to bat was Mr. Chekib Akrout, AMD’s Senior Vice President of Technology Development. He was there to discuss the next era of computing, including how AMD was going to address the emerging trends in the PC market.
Akrout observed that the majority of the populace is more interested in both producing and consuming multimedia than ever before. Over 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and over 50 million digital media files are being added to personal libraries every day.
In this way, the current CPU architecture lends itself too much to sequential-based processing for today’s increasing parallel-based processing focus. As such, AMD is addressing this need with the creation of the Fusion APU.
Not to be confused with the Kwik-E-Mart proprietor, APU stands for accelerated processing unit and it effectively combines an AMD x86 CPU with an ATi-sourced GPU on the same die. This way, they are able to access common memory without having to go all the way up and down the pipeline to access the same information.
The Bobcat x86 core is smaller and more efficient for optimized power consumption in mobile devices (including notebooks), whereas the Bulldozer x86 architecture can handle heavier lifting for desktops and servers.
Head to the AMD website to learn more about Fusion APU.
Asus Discusses Growth of Online Gaming
For the future of the PC gaming industry, we turned to ASUS Corporate Vice President Joe Hsieh. While I am more interested in titles like Rock Band and Street Fighter, there are still plenty of people who prefer to game on the PC.
In fact, Mr. Hsieh was quick to point out the rapidly growing segment of casual gamers and social gamers. This would include such offerings as Farmville and Mafia Wars, but the social nature of games like World of Warcraft can fall into this area too.
Not only do we want to play video games; we want to play online and socialize with other players. That’s critical to the success of virtually any game today.
Limits to the Cloud-Based Gaming
The Asus VP went on to discuss digital download platforms like Steam and browser-based portals like Playfish, as well as the growth of cloud-gaming solutions like OnLive. Digital delivery skips the middleman, giving the publisher more money while offering the consumer a lower price.
Hsieh does not view the streaming nature of “cloud” games as a threat to the Asus gaming hardware business. That’s because there are inherent limits to the cloud. Players have to worry about bandwidth, latency, and peak load.
For this reason, he believes that most hardcore gamers will still want to have their own PC. This way, they are able to enjoy optimal performance, an optimal experience (3D video, surround sound, and so on), and bragging rights.
Hanwang Pushes Ebooks in China
Do you think the Apple iPad is going to kill the relatively young e-book reader market? Hangwang Technology Chairman Yingjian Liu certainly doesn’t think so.
In fact, his company (which sells its products under the Hanvon brand name) sold 180,000 of its e-book readers in the first quarter of this year. They couldn’t keep up with demand, he said, and they probably could have sold more if the supply chain ramped up.
Hanwang operates largely inside of China, selling to Chinese consumers, but many of Liu’s points could be expanded to e-book readers from other companies too.
Regular published books can be very wasteful, in terms of paper, packaging, and ink, as well as all the warehousing costs involved with unsold copies. According to Liu, as much as 40% of published books are sitting in publisher warehouses.
Just as we moved from film to digital for our pictures and CDs to MP3s for our music, the same thing is happening to our books. As costs lower on the actual e-book readers themselves (Hanvon e-readers can be had for $100-$150), the adoption rate should increase.
BenQ Offers Cloud Bookshelf with Ebook Taiwan
James Lee, General Manager of Computing and Mobile Products Business Unit at BenQ, echoed many of the sentiments expressed by Hanwang’s Yingjian Liu. He reminded us of the importance of localization, a “soft touch” back, and ready access to digital delivery on the go.
At the same time, he recognizes that no matter how much memory you put in an e-book reader, you are inherently limited in your storage. That’s why BenQ launched Ebook Taiwan in January of this year. The online bookstore for e-books actually stores your purchases in the cloud. This way, you can access your “cloud bookshelf” from anywhere and from multiple devices.
Yes, we’re back in the cloud again. That’s not only where the e-book industry could be heading, but it could be indicative of more cloud computing to come. Don’t forget that Futurelooks is one of only a couple of sites LIVE Twittering as we see things at COMPUTEX. Make sure you follow us on Twitter to keep up to date on everything we see as we see it. Make sure you check out our YouTube Channel for exclusive videos as we post them. More pictures after the break.
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COMPUTEX 2010 – Keynote Summaries from AMD, Asus, Hanwang, and BenQ – Photo Gallery
