Flash memory

Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products. It is a specific type of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) that is erased and programmed in large blocks; in early flash the entire chip had to be erased at once. Flash memory costs far less than byte-programmable EEPROM and therefore has become the dominant technology wherever a significant amount of non-volatile, solid state storage is needed. Example applications include PDAs (personal digital assistants), laptop computers, digital audio players, digital cameras and mobile phones. It has also gained popularity in the game console market, where it is often used instead of EEPROMs or battery-powered SRAM for game save data.

Flash memory is non-volatile, which means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored in the chip. In addition, flash memory offers fast read access times (although not as fast as volatile DRAM memory used for main memory in PCs) and better kinetic shock resistance than hard disks. These characteristics explain the popularity of flash memory in portable devices. Another feature of flash memory is that when packaged in a "memory card," it is enormously durable, being able to withstand intense pressure, extremes of temperature, and even immersion in water.

486, Pentium, and Itanium

Intel introduced the 486 microprocessor in 1989, and in 1990 formally established a second design team, designing the processors code-named "P5" and "P6" in parallel and committing to a major new processor every two years, versus the four or more years such designs had previously taken. The P5 was earlier known as "Operation Bicycle" referring to the cycles of the processor. The P5 was introduced in 1993 as the Intel Pentium, substituting a trademarked name for the former part number (numbers, like 486, cannot be trademarked). The P6 followed in 1995 as the Pentium Pro and improved into the Pentium II in 1997. New architectures were developed alternately in Santa Clara, California and Hillsboro, Oregon.

The Santa Clara design team embarked in 1993 on a successor to the x86 architecture, codenamed "P7". The first attempt was dropped a year later, but quickly revived in a cooperative program with Hewlett-Packard engineers, though Intel soon took over primary design responsibility. The resulting implementation of the IA-64 64-bit architecture was the Itanium, finally introduced in June 2001. The Itanium's performance running legacy x86 code did not achieve expectations, and it failed to effectively compete with 64-bit extensions to the original x86 architecture, first from AMD (the AMD64), then from Intel itself (the Intel 64 architecture, formerly known as EM64T). As of November 2007, Intel continues to develop and deploy the Itanium.

DRAM to microprocessors

In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from Japanese memory-chip manufacturers, and then-President Andy Grove drove the company into a focus on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book Only the Paranoid Survive. A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the popular 8086 microprocessor.

Until then, manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories, and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such as Zilog and AMD. When the PC industry boomed in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.

Pentium flaw

In June 1994, Intel engineers discovered a flaw in the floating-point math subsection of the Pentium microprocessor. Under certain data dependent conditions, low order bits of the result of floating-point division operations would be incorrect, an error that can quickly compound in floating-point operations to much larger errors in subsequent calculations. Intel corrected the error in a future chip revision, but nonetheless declined to disclose it

In October 1994, Dr. Thomas Nicely, Professor of Mathematics at Lynchburg College independently discovered the bug, and upon receiving no response from his inquiry to Intel, on October 30 posted a message on the Internet. Word of the bug spread quickly on the Internet and then to the industry press. Because the bug was easy to replicate by an average user (there was a sequence of numbers one could enter into the OS calculator to show the error), Intel's statements that it was minor and "not even an erratum" were not accepted by many computer users. During Thanksgiving 1994, The New York Times ran a piece by journalist John Mark off spotlighting the error. Intel changed its position and offered to replace every chip, quickly putting in place a large end-user support organization. This resulted in a $500 million charge against Intel's 1994 revenue.

Ironically, the "Pentium flaw" incident, Intel's response to it, and the surrounding media coverage propelled Intel from being a technology supplier generally unknown to most computer users to a household name. Dovetailing with an up tick in the "Intel Inside" campaign, the episode is considered by some to have been a positive event for Intel, changing some of its business practices to be more end-user focused and generating substantial public awareness, while avoiding (for most users) a lasting negative impression.

Purely way in Croydon

Purley Way is a section of the A23 trunk road in Croydon, London and has given its name to the out-of-town shopping locale alongside it with a catchment area covering most of South London. It was designed as a sidestep for Croydon and was opened in April 1925. In 1932 Purley Way became the first road in the United Kingdom to be lit with sodium lights. Industry History The IKEA chimneysCroydon Airport (operational 1928 - 1959) is situated on Purley Way. The opening of Purley Way attracted industry to the area and it became the main industrial area of Croydon. Industry concerned to the area included Redwing Aircraft Ltd, Trojan Ltd (car manufacturers) and Tizer Ltd. There were also more than a few metal companies including Standard Steel Co, Croydon Foundry Ltd, Metal Propellers Ltd and Southern Foundries Ltd.
Croydon 'B' Power Station was built in the behind 1940s and opened in 1950. It shut down in 1984, was demolished in 1991 and an IKEA amass was opened on the site. The huge chimneys of the power station were retained and remain a local landmark. Retail history The first retail warehouse on Purley Way, Queensway furniture store, opened in 1980. Sainsbury's opened its first Homebase hoard in 1981. The initial PC World opened on Purley Way in 1991. The retail units were not division of the local planning guidance and were part of a national trend towards out of town shopping. These retail parks were not officially recognised by Croydon Council until the publication of its 1997 Unitary Development Plan.

386 microprocessor

During this period Andy Grove radically redirected the company, closing much of its DRAM business and directing income to the microprocessor commerce. Of perhaps greater importance was his choice to "single-source" the 386 microprocessor. Prior to this, microprocessor developed was in its infancy, and developed problems often reduced or stopped production, interrupt supplies to customers. To mitigate this risk, these customers typically insisted that multiple manufacturer produce chips they could use to ensure a consistent supply. The 8080 and 8086-series microprocessors were shaped by several companies, notably Zilog and AMD. Grove made the choice not to license the 386 design to other manufacturers, instead produce it in three geographically distinct factories in Santa Clara, CA; Hillsboro, OR; and the Phoenix, Arizona suburb of Chandler; and convincing patrons that this would ensure consistent release. As the success of Compaq's Deskpro 386 recognized the 386 as the dominant CPU choice, Intel achieve a position of near-exclusive supremacy as its supplier. Profits from this funded rapid growth of both higher-performance chip design and higher-performance developed capabilities, propelling Intel to a position of unquestioned management by the early 1990s.

Intel, x86 processors, and the IBM PC

Despite the ultimate significance of the microprocessor, the 4004 and its successors the 8008 and the 8080 were never major revenue contributor at Intel. As the next processor, the 8086 was finished in 1978; Intel embarked on a major advertising and sales campaign for that chip nicknamed "Operation Crush", and planned to win as many customers for the processor as probable. One design win was the newly-created IBM PC division, though the significance of this was not fully realized at the time.

IBM introduced its personal processor in 1981, and it was rapidly successful. In 1982, Intel shaped the 80286 microprocessor, which, two years later, was old in the IBM PC/AT. Compaq, the first IBM PC "clone" manufacturer, in 1985 produced a desktop scheme based on the faster 80286 processor and in 1986 quickly follow with the first 80386-based system, beating IBM and establish a competitive market for PC-compatible systems and setting up Intel as a key component dealer.

In 1975 the company had started a project to expand a highly-advanced 32-bit microprocessor, finally free in 1981 as the Intel iAPX 432. The project was too ambitious and the processor was not at all able to meet its recital objectives, and it failed in the marketplace. Intel extensive the x86 architecture to 32 bits instead.

Intel's SRAMS and the microprocessor

The company's first goods were shift register memory and random-access memory integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive DRAM, SRAM, and ROM markets all through the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers Marcian Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor and Masatoshi Shima imaginary the first microprocessor. Originally urbanized for the Japanese company Busicom to restore a number of ASICs in a calculator already shaped by Busicom, the Intel 4004 was initiate to the mass market on November 15, 1971, although the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s.

Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation is the world's largest semiconductor corporation and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most individual computer. Founded on July 18, 1968 as Integrated Electronics business and base in Santa Clara, California, USA, Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, fixed processors, and other devices connected to infrastructure and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely linked with the executive management and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design ability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's winning "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household name.

Skepticism and controversy

The field which studies certain types of telepathic phenomena such as telepathy is called parapsychology. There is a agreement among parapsychologists that some instances of telepathy are real. Skeptics say that instances of obvious telepathy are explain as the result of fraud or self-delusion and that telepathy does not exist as a telepathic power.

Parapsychologists and skeptics agree that many of the instance of more popular psychic phenomena, such as mediumism, can be attributed to non-paranormal technique such as cold reading. Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have established techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, but they prefer mental explanations instead of telepathic ones. They have identified, described, and developed complex psychological technique of cold reading and hot analysis.

A technique which shows statistically significant confirmation of telepathy on every time has yet to be discovered. This lack of reliable reproducibility has led skeptics to argue that there is no believable scientific evidence for the survival of telepathy at all. Skeptics also point to past cases in which were exposed flaws in experimental design and infrequent cases of fraud. Parapsychologists such as Dean Radin, president of the Parapsychological union, argues that the statistical significance and constancy of results shown by a meta-analysis of many studies provides evidence for telepathy that is almost not possible to account for use any other means.

Types of telepathy

Parapsychologies describe several diverse forms of telepathy, counting latent telepathy and precognitive telepathy.

Latent Telepathy, previously known as "deferred telepathy", is describe as being the move of information, through Psi, with an observable time-lag between broadcast and receipt.

Precognitive Telepathy is described like being the move of information, through Psi, about the future state of an individual's mind.

Technologically enabled telepathy

Some people infrequently referred to by themselves or others as "transhumanists", consider that technologically enable telepathy, coined "techlepathy", will be the predictable future of humanity. Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading, England is one of the leading proponents of this view and has base all of his recent cybernetics study around mounting practical, safe for directly between human nervous systems collectively with computers and with each other. He believes techno-enabled telepathy will in the opportunity become the primary form of human message. He predicts that this will happen by income of the principle of natural assortment, through which almost everyone will have the need for such knowledge for economic and social reasons.