SHOWCASE: The Consumer Electronics Show, currently being held in Las Vegas, USA, from 7-10 January 2010, has been the focus of the tech community over the past several days, especially with hypes, pre-announcements and previews.

Here’s a collection of keynote and demo videos by the different tech companies like Microsoft, Sony and Intel which we think would make for a good start of what’s happening over there.

Microsoft’s CES 2010 keynote presented by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, including a segment by Microsoft’s President for Entertainment & Devices Division, Robbie Bach. The video is prefaced with an introduction by CEO and President of Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Gary Shapiro:

Sony’s Bravia LX900 3D TV demonstration:

More videos after the jump:
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The Core i5 is similar in size to the Core 2 Quad, but the former is LGA 1156 socket-based, while the Core 2 Quad uses the LGA 775 socket.

CORP TALK: Intel Corporation has introduced the new Core i5 processor family, two new Core i7 processors and an Intel Xeon 3400 processor series today. This brings Intel’s Nehalem microarchitecture to the mainstream desktop and entry server space.

The series was formerly codenamed “Lynnfield”, and these processors are aimed for digital media, productivity, gaming and demanding apps. These processors, together with the Intel P55 express chipset, are available as of today.

Not since the invention of the PCI bus in the 1990s has there been a new chipset that promises revolutionary design. The P55 Express Chipset forms the baseline or building block for all Intel-based motherboards, as it now centrally handles all input/output and manageability functions on the board.

Ths Core i7 and i5 processors are also the first to integrate both a 16-lane PCI Express controller with dual graphics support and 2-channel memory controller, making the single-chipset handle possible.

The architecture now links the processor and chipset via a Direct Media Interface (DMI), with support for 8 PCI Express 2.0 ports, dual graphics cards (2 x 8 configuration), up to 14 USB 2.0 ports and 6 SATA 3Gbps ports with RAID levels 0/1/5/10.

For all you visual types, here’s a video on how the Core i7 was made:

HardwareZone.com Singapore has published a review of the Core i5 and i7 processors here. (Editor opinions: 2)

Paolo Manzano, Managing Editor, HWM Philippines

Paolo (HWM Philippines): It’s about time that Intel brought these CPUs into the mainstream as the initial salvo of Core i7 was too steep in price for the regular consumer.

As for P55, it’s been long overdue.

The infusion of a new chipset, especially from Intel and backed by big marketing dollars, into the market should somehow give some stimulus into an otherwise slowed down PC component scene.

Vijay Anand, Editor, HardwareZone.com

Vijay (HardwareZone.com): The new Power Control Unit (PCU) of the Lynnfield processors are amazing!

For the first time, we’ve a multi-core processor which is clever enough to efficiently use its resources — either by ramping up the clock speed for lightly threaded jobs or powering up extra cores for heavier tasks at reduced turbo speeds.

Effectively, the PCU is ensuring you get the most bang for the buck without user intervention. Think of it as overclocking controlled by A.I. within the design specifications of the chip — now that’s progress.

CORP TALK: Intel Corporation and Nokia have announced a long-term relationship to develop a new class of Intel architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures which will combine performance in powerful computing with high-bandwidth mobile broadband and ubiquitous Internet connectivity.

Both companies will expand their longstanding relationship by developing a new mobile platform beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, including collaborations to explore open source mobile Linux software projects, possibly for use in the Moblin and Maemo platforms. The relationship will also give Intel access to Nokia’s HSPA/3G modem IP license for use in future products.

The Moblin platform is an optimized open source Linux operating system for delivering visually rich Internet media experiences on Intel Atom processor-based devices while Maemo is a Linux operating system most popularly seen powering devices like the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet (an observation we talked about in a previous post here).

According to Intel’s official release, the companies expect many innovations to result from this collaboration over time.

After Atom, Intel's low power roadmap focuses on three chipsets targeting smaller devices, including Mobile Internet Devices and smartphones.

CORP TALK: UMPC Portal has just released some interesting slides from a forward-looking (ie. it’s only on paper) investor presentation by the Ultra Mobility group showing the positioning of its Menlow, Moorestown and Medfield chipsets within its low power roadmap over the upcoming two years.

With an addressable market of more than 400 million, expect to see Intel consider a push into low power chips into the handheld market over the next few years.

One of the slides (right) shows a 2011 forecast for Medfield, which is based on a 32-nm process, in relation to Moorestown (45nm) and Menlow (45nm). Medfield will continue to retain Intel’s power reduction strategy first started with the Atom but targeted at smartphones. 

Another slide (left) shows why designing a chipset for the smartphone market is vital, considering it’s a total addressable market of more than 400 million.

As the Intel Atom chipset focuses on MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) and productivity devices (like mini-notebooks), Menlow satisfies low power demands from devices like MIDs, Portable Media Players, Game Consoles and navigation devices.

Moorestown, which is targeted for 2010, will aim for high-end smartphones while Medfield seems to be gunning for mainstream smartphones by 2011. (Editor opinions: 2)

David Chieng, Editor, HWM Singapore

David (HWM Singapore): Despite so much forward planning from Intel (and other companies like VIA, ATI and NVIDIA, etc.) on innovating towards improving power efficiency in CPU and GPU technologies, the bottom line is that battery technology has hit the literal wall.

Technologists are working their way around the problem by designing much smaller and power efficient devices, leaving more room to house bigger batteries.

More effort needs to be spent on improving battery technology itself, rather than designing hardware which consume less with each successive generation. After all, from gulping power to slurping electricity, the next obvious step is to sip. After that, just how much lower can you go?

Vijay Anand, Editor, HardwareZone.com

Vijay (HardwareZone.com): 2011 is a very long time away before Intel can produce a comfortable platform solution that can fit within mainstream smartphones. But that’s only when the new platform is available.

Factoring the time required for a an actual products refresh with lot of testing, validation and clearance from regulatory boards, it will easily be a year more before anyone might be showing off an Intel-inside mainstream smartphone. By then, the competition would have moved a fair bit forward. (more…)

CORP TALK: European Union (EU) antitrust regulators have pronounced that Intel Corp illegally paid computer makers to delay or cancel the launch of products equipped with chips from its rival, AMD, over an eight year period – this according to an earlier report by Reuters.

The decision is also set to determine the amount of a fine that will be imposed on the world’s largest chipmaker and how much of a change in business practices this verdict will have on the company.

UPDATE 13/05/09: A BBC  report has revealed that Intel has been fined a record 1.06 billion Euros, or US$1.45 billion with Intel announcing that it will appeal against the verdict. The largest fine levied before this by the European Commission for abuse of market dominance was 497 million Euros on Microsoft in 2004.

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