Speedy Chip Needs Far Less Juice

From PC World: Mobile computing devices that need charging once a day would need it just once a month with a new type of chip that uses a thirtieth of the power of conventional chips and is seven times faster by virtue of underlying logic that embraces error in its calculations.

This combination of features makes these chips ideal for battery-powered devices and running applications that don't require 100% accuracy, according to researchers at Rice University who contributed to the technology.

For example, streaming video to a cell phone using one of these application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) would conserve battery life because of its low power consumption. It would be able to generate a sufficient video image as well, given the small size and low resolution of cell-phone screens in combination with humans' ability to fill in gaps in information that is provided from the screen, researchers say.

Using a thirtieth of the power means devices that now need charging every day would need it once a month instead.

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