If one is to believe a supposedly leaked Intel roadmap on Japanese website PC Watch, Intel might kill off a CPU standard-- the current Land Grid Array (LGA) socket will give way to Ball Grid Array (BGA).

The current LGA socket is an 8-year old technology where the actual contacts are on the motherboard while the contact points are on the CPU.

On the other hand BGA technology involves directly attaching chips on circuit boards via small balls of solder.

BGA is already used for DRAM, embedded CPUs and other surface-mount chips, but is more difficult to troubleshoot and repair-- and does not allow for PC CPU upgrades.

It would also mean the end of selling separate Intel CPUs and 3rd party motherboards, since OEMs would have to hard-mount CPUs themselves.

After 3 years of restoration, the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park houses the oldest working digital computer in the world-- the Harwell Dekatron, also known as WITCH. 

Built in 1951, the 2.5 tonne titan has 828 flashing Dekatron counter tubes, 480 relays, 4000 connectors and a bank of paper tape readers. After 30 minutes worth of warming up, TNMOC visitors can witness the machine clacking back into action, doing its first jobs since the 1970s.

"In 1951 the Harwell Dekatron was one of perhaps a dozen computers in the world, and since then it has led a charmed life surviving intact while its contemporaries were recycled or destroyed," TNMOC trustee Kevin Murrell says. "As the world's oldest original working digital computer, it provides a wonderful contrast to our Rebuild of the wartime Colossus, the world's first semi-programmable electronic computer." Read more...

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) wants to define a new Ethernet standard capable of between 400Gbps and 1Tbps per second.

The current state of the art for high-speed connectivity is 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE), both of which were ratified by the IEEE in 2010. Just two years later, the IEEE is forced to re-evaluate the situation.

Earlier this year, the IEEE’s own report 802.3 Ethernet Bandwidth Report showed that at core router level, total traffic is doubling every 18 months. Wired access (cable, DSL) is growing by 25% every year; wireless (WiFi) access is growing 39%; and mobile data (GSM, LTE) is growing by 92% every 12 months.

By 2015, bandwidth requirements will be 10X greater than in 2010. By 2020, the bandwidth requirements will be 100X greater. By 2015, the IEEE predicts core infrastructure will need to support 1Tbps — and by 2020, 10Tbps. Read more...

All PC segments remain in decline in W. Europe according to Gartner-- with total shipments dropping by -15.4% Y-o-Y to reach 13.6 million units during Q3 2012.

The consumer PC market is down by -15%, while the professional market is down by -15.8%. Mobile PCs drop by -15.2% and desktops decrease by -15.7%.

Gartner describes June and July PC shipments as "very low" due to vendors clearing Q2 2012 inventory. Channel and retail partners also showed caution, prefering to wait it out for the Windows 8 launch.

Germany sees the sharpest decline in shipments (-19% Y-o-Y), due to weak consumer demand and inventory control from the channel. French shipments see a -7.6% decline as the PC market remains weak, while shipments in the UK total nearly 3m with -7.2% decline.