intel

If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.

Intel threw its hat into the e-reader ring today with the release of the Intel Reader--which, unlike any other reader, is built specifically for the blind. With an onboard camera, Intel's device can convert text from any page photographed by a user into audio, which is read aloud through headphones. Which will surely upset someone, somewhere.

Despite the fact that optical cables transmit data far faster than copper wire, wire is still the primary medium for communication on computer chips, and between computers and devices through USB cables. But Intel hopes to change all that soon with their new Light Peak connection system.

The space geeks of the world have long known about such distributed computing initiatives like SETI@Home, which taps into a network of logged-in home computers, using their idle processing power to crunch radio telescope data for signs of life. Similar applications exist for the PlayStation 3 (Folding@Home, for protein research) and several other platforms.

Now, Intel has joined up with GridRepublic to develop a Facebook interface for distributed computing, which allows users to add, manage and monitor the the idle processor cycles they're donating to distributed computing projects across the web.

Since 2001, the European Union's (EU) anti-trust regulators have investigated complaints that chip maker Intel engaged in anti-competitive practices. They accused Intel of of paying retailers not to sell computers with AMD chips, and for using its position as the number-one chip manufacturer to muscle around competition. Today, the EU handed down the decision in the form of a $1.4 billion fine, the largest in European history.

Making processors for mobile gadgets is mostly an afterthought. Hone a chip from a desktop PC, tweak it to suck less power and vent less heat, and stick it in a laptop. Not so with Intel’s Atom. It’s Intel’s smallest-ever microprocessor, a 24-square-millimeter chip crammed with 47 million data-carrying transistors, and it’s paving the way for the next era of affordable, power-saving gadgets.

While the MacBook Air showed how slim a laptop could be, the Voodoo Envy ($2,100; voodoopc.com) demonstrates how much can fit in that space. Using the same compact CPU as the Air, the carbon-fiber-clad Envy measures just 0.7 inch thick—a tad thinner than the Mac at its thickest point. And it packs in more features, including a slot for high-speed cellular data cards, two USB ports, and an HDMI port for attaching to a high-def TV.

Intel rolled out its new low-cost laptop model yesterday, and the machines will boast bigger, 9-inch screens, 30 GB of storage and integrated Web cameras. These new Classmate PCs, which will go on sale in April for somewhere between $300 and $500, are the second iteration of Intel's answer to the One Laptop Per Child organization's cheap laptop, the XO.