Apple: Dissected iPad reveals Samsung, Qualcomm parts

APPLE/TEARDOWN
UPDATE 1-New iPad has chips from Samsung, Qualcomm -iFixit
By Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (Reuters) – Apple’s new iPad uses chips made by Qualcomm, Broadcom, Samsung Electronics and other semiconductor makers, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked open one of the devices.
The newest iPad went on sale in Australia early on Friday, greeted by a throng of fans hoping to get hold of the 4G-ready tablet computer, which won good reviews but was not considered a major innovation.
According to iFixit, the iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip as well as a semiconductor from Broadcom handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth.
The iPad’s A5X application processor is manufactured by
Samsung, as in past Apple devices.
Memory chips are supplied by Toshiba and Elpida.
Supplying parts for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, the industry’s gold standards, is considered a coup for chipmakers and other manufacturers.
A source familiar with the device’s components told Reuters this week that Samsung and LG Electronics will both supply their liquid crystal displays for the iPad.
Apple doesn’t disclose which company makes the components that go into its smartphones, and suppliers typically keep quiet for fear of angering the company.
One of the more widely followed teardown firms, iFixit is hired by a variety of clients who use its data for competitive intelligence, in patent disputes or to keep current on industry benchmarks.

APPLE/TEARDOWN
UPDATE 2-
* Teardowns a key glimpse into Apple supply chain
* Qualcomm supplies LTE, power management
* Memory from Elpida, Toshiba
(Adds detail on iPads contents, quote)
SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (Reuters) – Apple’s new iPad uses chips made by Qualcomm, Broadcom, Samsung Electronics and other semiconductor makers, according to a firm that cracked open one of the devices.
The newest iPad went on sale in Australia early on Friday, and among the throngs of fans hoping to get hold of the 4G-ready tablet computer were tinkerers from California gadget repair firm iFixit, who quickly took one apart in an online blog. Supplying parts for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, the industry’s gold standards, is considered a coup for chipmakers and other manufacturers.
The iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip as well as a Qualcomm power-management chip. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.
The iPad’s new A5X application processor, with improved graphics horsepower, is based on energy-efficient technology licensed from Britain’s ARM Holding and is manufactured by Qualcomm, as in past Apple devices.
Apple doesn’t disclose which company makes the components that go into its smartphones, and insists its suppliers keep quiet.
Analysts recommend caution in drawing conclusions from the teardowns because Cupertino, California-based Apple sometimes uses more than one supplier for a part. What is found in one iPad may not be found in others.
Still, teardowns remain a key source of information for investors interested in betting on Apple’s suppliers, and the appearance of unexpected chips can move stocks.
“There are a whole lot of hedge funds out there that like to shoot first and ask questions later,” said Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP who covers technology stocks.
The third-generation iPad from Apple – which sports a high-definition “retina” display and comes with a better camera – is capable of operating on high-speed 4G “LTE”.
A source familiar with the device’s components told Reuters this week that Samsung and LG Electronics will both supply their liquid crystal displays for the iPad.
iFixit said the iPad’s display, removed using two bright
orange suction cups, appears to be from Samsung.
A NAND flash memory chip, used to store media like music and video, is supplied by Toshiba. Japan’s Elpida provides the DRAM chips.
The iPad teardown also revealed chips from Avago Technologies, Triquint Semiconductor and Fairchild.
One of the more widely followed teardown firms, iFixit is hired by a variety of clients who use its data for competitive intelligence, in patent disputes or to keep current on industry benchmarks.

APPLE/TEARDOWN
UPDATE 3-Dissected iPad reveals Samsung, Qualcomm parts
* Teardowns a key glimpse into Apple supply chain
* Qualcomm supplies LTE
* Memory from Elpida, Toshiba
(Adds detail on teardown, background)
SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (Reuters) – Apple’s new iPad uses chips made by Qualcomm, Broadco , Samsung Electronics and other semiconductor makers, according to a firm that cracked open one of the devices.
The newest iPad went on sale in Australia early on Friday, and at the front of a line of fans hoping to get hold of the 4G-ready tablet computer was a tinkerer from California gadget-repair firm iFixit, who quickly took one apart for a Web blog.
Supplying parts for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, the industry’s gold standards, is considered a coup for chipmakers and other manufacturers.
The iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip as well as a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.
Fueled by cans of carbonated caffeine drinks, iFixit cofounder Luke Soules’ before-dawn teardown at a Melbourne computer shop found that Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung have maintained their key roles in the newest iPad. The iPad’s new A5X application processor, with improved graphics horsepower, is based on energy-efficient technology licensed from Britain’s ARM Holding and is manufactured by Qualcomm, as in past Apple devices.
Apple doesn’t disclose which company makes the components that go into its smartphones, and insists its suppliers keep quiet.
Analysts recommend caution in drawing conclusions from the teardowns because Cupertino, California-based Apple sometimes uses more than one supplier for a part.
What is found in one iPad may not be found in others.
Still, teardowns remain a key source of information for investors interested in betting on Apple’s suppliers, and the appearance of unexpected chips can move stocks.
“There are a whole lot of hedge funds out there that like to shoot first and ask questions later,” said Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP who covers technology stocks.
The third-generation iPad from Apple – which sports a high-definition “retina” display and comes with a better camera – is capable of operating on high-speed 4G “LTE”. A source familiar with the device’s components told Reuters this week that Samsung and LG Electronics will both supply their liquid crystal displays for the iPad.
iFixit said the iPad’s display, removed using two bright orange suction cups, appears to be from Samsung.
A NAND flash memory chip, used to store media like music and video, is supplied by Toshiba. Japan’s Elpida provides the DRAM chips.
The iPad teardown also revealed chips from Avago Technologies, Triquint Semiconductor and Fairchild.
One of the more widely followed teardown firms, iFixit is hired by a variety of clients who use its data for competitive intelligence, in patent disputes or to keep current on industry benchmarks.

World’s oceans turn acidic fastest in 300 mln years

CLIMATE-OCEANS/ACID
Oceans’ acidic shift may be fastest in 300 mln years
* Study finds prehistoric clues about climate change impact
* Acid waters could endanger oysters, mussels, salmon
* Few parallels seen in 300-million-year record

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) – The world’s oceans are
turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in
the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a
monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago,
scientists said on Thursday.
Looking back at that bygone warm period in Earth’s history
could offer help in forecasting the impact of human-spurred
climate change, researchers said of a review of hundreds of
studies of ancient climate records published in the journal
Science.
Quickly acidifying seawater eats away at coral reefs, which
provide habitat for other animals and plants, and makes it
harder for mussels and oysters to form protective shells. It can
also interfere with small organisms that feed commercial fish
like salmon.
The phenomenon has been a top concern of Jane Lubchenco, the
head of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, who has conducted demonstrations about
acidification during hearings in the U.S. Congress.
Oceans get more acidic when more carbon gets into the
atmosphere. In pre-industrial times, that occurred periodically
in natural pulses of carbon that also pushed up global
temperatures, the scientists wrote.
Human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels,
have increased the level of atmospheric carbon to 392 parts per
million from about 280 parts per million at the start of the
industrial revolution. Carbon dioxide is one of several
heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming.
To figure out what ocean acidification might have done in
the prehistoric past, 21 researchers from the United States, the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain reviewed
studies of the geological record going back 300 million years,
looking for signs of climate disruption.
Those indications of climate change included mass extinction
events, where substantial percentages of living things on Earth
died off, such as the giant asteroid strike thought to have
killed the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
The events that seemed similar to what is happening now
included mass extinctions about 252 million and 201 million
years ago, as well as the warming period 56 million years in the
past.
The researchers reckoned the 5,000-year hot spell 56 million
years ago, likely due to factors like massive volcanism, was the
closest parallel to current conditions at any time in the 300
million years.
To detect that, they looked at a layer of brown mud buried
under the Southern Ocean off Antarctica. Sandwiched between
layers of white plankton fossils, the brown mud indicated an
ocean so acidic that the plankton fossils from that particular
5,000-year period dissolved into muck.
During that span, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere
doubled and average temperatures rose by 10.8 degrees F (6
degrees C), the researchers said. The oceans became more acidic
by about 0.4 unit on the 14-point pH scale over that 5,000-year
period, the researchers said.
That is a fast warm-up and a quick acidification, but it is
small compared with what has happened on Earth since the start
of the industrial revolution some 150 years ago, study author
Baerbel Hoenisch of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory said by telephone.

EXTINCTIONS ON THE SEAFLOOR
During the warming period 56 million years ago, known as the
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, and occurring about 9
million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs,
acidification for each century was about .008 unit on the pH
scale, Hoenisch said.
Back then, many corals went extinct, as did many types of
single-celled organisms that lived on the sea floor, which
suggests other plants and animals higher on the food chain died
out too, researchers said.
By contrast, in the 20th century, oceans acidified by .1
unit of pH, and are projected to get more acidic at the rate of
.2 or .3 pH by the year 2100, according to the study.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects
world temperatures could rise by 3.2 to 7 degrees F (1.8 to 4
degrees C) this century.
“Given that the rate of change was an order of magnitude
smaller (in the PETM) compared to what we’re doing today, and
still there were these big ecosystem changes, that gives us
concern for what is going to happen in the future,” Hoenisch
said.
Those skeptical of human-caused climate change often point
to past warming periods caused by natural events as evidence
that the current warming trend is not a result of human
activities. Hoenisch noted that natural causes such as massive
volcanism were probably responsible for the PETM.
She said, however, that the rate of warming and
acidification was much more gradual then, over the course of
five millennia compared with one century.
Richard Feely, an oceanographer at the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved in the
study, said looking at that distant past was a good way to
foresee the future.
“These studies give you a sense of the timing involved in
past ocean acidification events – they did not happen quickly,”
Feely said in a statement. “The decisions we make over the next
few decades could have significant implications on a geologic
timescale.”

(Editing by Peter Cooney)
REUTERS

In Rete vince chi coglie l’emozione. Per questo la politica perde

In Rete vince chi coglie l’emozione. Per questo la politica perde | Libertiamo.it.

Misure super-precise della fuga di cervelli italiana.

E’ il ritornello stonato della comunità scientifica italiana. I cervelli in fuga dall’Italia si distinguono nelle istituzioni di culturali di tutto il pianeta.Il Bel Paese si inaridisce, mentre suoi figli coltivano il progresso e ne raccolgono i frutti in terra straniera. E’ così che la fisica mondiale abbatte gli ultimi ostacoli alla possibilita’ di ottenere misure super-precise, tanto da poter studiare l’attivita’ elettrica del cervello con un dettaglio senza precedenti. Il risultato, pubblicato su Nature, ha una firma italiana, quella del fisico Mario Napolitano, che dopo aver studiato a Napoli si e’ trasferito in Spagna, nell’Istituto di Scienze fotonica di Castelldefels.Da tempo la fisica quantistica e’ alla base delle misure di alta precisione, come quelle fatte dagli orologi atomici che sono il cuore dei sistemi di navigazione satellitare, della misura della gravita’ terrestre o dei campi magnetici. Misure come queste sono possibili grazie a strumenti capaci di rilevare differenze impercettibili: ogni strumento ha un’imprecisione intrinseca che e’ possibile ridurre progressivamente finche’ non si entra nel mondo delle particella. E’ qui che si incontra quello che finora e’ stato considerato un limite invalicabile: la cosiddetta ”barriera di Heisenberg”. Si tratta, spiega Napolitano, di ”una derivazione del principio di indeterminatezza di Heisenberg, secondo il quale non si possono conoscere tutte le proprieta’ di una particella con una precisione infinita. Resta, insomma, un’incertezza”. Da qualche anno si cercava di mettere in dubbio questo principio e adesso il gruppo spagnolo diretto da Morgan Mitchell ci e’ riuscito: ”abbiamo dimostrato – dice il ricercatore – che il limite vale solo se i fotoni agiscono in modo indipendente l’uno dall’altro.Ma se, come nel nostro esperimento, si utilizza un’interazione tra fotoni nel momento in cui si fa la misura, diventa possibile migliorare la precisione”.Avere superato l’ostacolo ora permette di mettere a punto magnetometri di nuova generazione, capaci di rilevare correnti elettriche molto deboli. Strumenti di questo tipo potrebbero essere utilizzati nel campo delle neuroscienze. ”I sistemi attuali per studiare il funzionamento del cervello – spiega Napolitano – hanno una precisione sufficiente per osservare fenomeni vistosi, come le aree che si attivano durante un attacco epilettico. Strumenti piu’ sensibili e precisi potrebbero aprire nuove strade, permettendo di studiare il cervello in situazioni normali”.