I don't think people are really understanding the potential of the Zii chip and are trying to keep this as an media player only product. Having the potential to reallocate processing power to focus on a specific function is a game changer. This is why it is aimed to sell to companies... that is where the applications of how the Zii chip can be used in a multitude of devices will be exploited.
They wrapped up the Zii chip in the "egg" to ease the cost and expense of other companies to realize the potential of the chip and how they can re-allocate the resources of the Zii chip to create better electronic devices. I think the true potential will be seen when the Zii chip is used in a cell phone/laptop/tv/game console/ servers/digital camera/...
People don't understand it because the marketing doesn't make much real-world sense, which is typically a big red flag for "it's better on paper than in real life". What the hell is "Stemcell" computing? Tell me what that really means! It certainly doesn't mean a biological computer based off of stem cells, but since they called it that, I assume they are trying to throw buzzwords at me to make me go "wow".
Maybe this thing is much faster than an iTouch, but is it faster than the iPhone 3GS or the Zune HD? Will it get enough 3rd party support to even matter?
I'll watch closely but for now I'm not sold at all.
A human stem cell can be changed into any other type of cell in the body. The Zii chip uses this concept. Every other processor has different parts that are dedicated to different functions and those functions only. The Zii on the other hand has many different processing cells that can be changed to do different functions as and when they are needed thus saving power and in some cases performance gain.
i dont know the ins and outs of it, and to be honest i havnt read or heard too much about the zii chip and maybe the actual hardware solution is executed differently, but doesnt the tegra chip with its 8 different processors effectively do th3e same thing? or does the zii chip consist of only one processor, capable of performing all applicable tasks to a groundbreaking level all at once? if that is the case, what if the application running requires more than one or all different processing functions ( taken care of in the tegra platform by individual processors )? would the zii processor not peak at its maximum capacity while the tegra chip would simply engage multiple processors? admittedly, tegra would probably consume more power in this high intensity scenario, and surely a multi-processor solution costs more to manufacture, but regardless of that, by the sounds of it, tegra is just as good in low demand applications and has much more power when you are pushing the platform to its limits. so if i understand correctly, i just dont see whats so revolutionary or fantastic about zii.....
Well, Jon, let's start with the basics. Why don't you tell me why a Pentium 3 can't run 64-bit OS? How about the different instruction sets in processors.
Everyone for a second, let's think about this: this is emerging technology in electrical engineering. These people went to electrical engineering school (probably a decade or more) and were the best among their peers who applied for the job. They spent years developing a different processor, literally unlike anything seen before it. [http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/01/meet-zms-05-chip-ziis-first-incarnation.html] SiliconMadness have a similar introduction to Engadget's, but at SM's more technical blog post [http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/01/could-zii-be-fpga.html] you can see from where this anticipation derives.
So yes, for media purposes, the Zii should far outperform it's contemporaries (the Zune and new iPod Touch). If you'd like an explanation, I'd advise you take a basic electrical engineering course. Or you can continue being an e-thug and scavenge this article for things you don't (more likely can't) understand [http://www.hpcwire.com/topic/processors/Revaluating_FPGAs_for_64-bit_Floating-Point_Calculations.html].
"The Zii can really be something different, revolutionary, but it just doesn't seem so, right now."
From your own link.
If I'm an e-thug, what does that make you? Did you even read your links?
If you can, read my first post. I hope this is something groundbreaking, but until Creative shows us something substantive, it's all marketing. Even the articles you linked are skeptical of Creative's claims.
A couple other quotes for you.
"The theoretical compute performance of the Zii is, then, good for it's supposed power consumption, it's just not groundbreaking..."
"It wasn't disclosed how ZiiLabs have achieved this, so it's still not something up for serious consideration."
"There are still many details being left out, especially the architecture, the ZMS-05 is still a - very - obscure device."
Learn to read, then learn to think about what you read. Maybe then you won't post "evidence" that doesn't back up your claims.
For the laymen here: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I don't think people are really understanding the potential of the Zii chip and are trying to keep this as an media player only product. Having the potential to reallocate processing power to focus on a specific function is a game changer. This is why it is aimed to sell to companies... that is where the applications of how the Zii chip can be used in a multitude of devices will be exploited.
They wrapped up the Zii chip in the "egg" to ease the cost and expense of other companies to realize the potential of the chip and how they can re-allocate the resources of the Zii chip to create better electronic devices. I think the true potential will be seen when the Zii chip is used in a cell phone/laptop/tv/game console/ servers/digital camera/...
I can't wait to see a game system with one in it!
People don't understand it because the marketing doesn't make much real-world sense, which is typically a big red flag for "it's better on paper than in real life". What the hell is "Stemcell" computing? Tell me what that really means! It certainly doesn't mean a biological computer based off of stem cells, but since they called it that, I assume they are trying to throw buzzwords at me to make me go "wow".
Maybe this thing is much faster than an iTouch, but is it faster than the iPhone 3GS or the Zune HD? Will it get enough 3rd party support to even matter?
I'll watch closely but for now I'm not sold at all.
@ Bill
Stemcell computing is this...
A human stem cell can be changed into any other type of cell in the body. The Zii chip uses this concept. Every other processor has different parts that are dedicated to different functions and those functions only. The Zii on the other hand has many different processing cells that can be changed to do different functions as and when they are needed thus saving power and in some cases performance gain.
They also call scientific research on super-computers a "vanity exercise" and call a Zii cluster a "hypercomputer".
I hope I'm wrong, but the whole thing sounds like horseshit to me.
@Matt
"The Zii on the other hand has many different processing cells that can be changed to do different functions ..."
Are they physically altered at the time to do a specific job (doubtful)?
Or, are they just general purpose processing elements like a standard x86 cpu (wow, they invented the multi-core chip, oh wait.)?
It's not that people don't "get it", it's that Creative isn't telling us anything of value.
i dont know the ins and outs of it, and to be honest i havnt read or heard too much about the zii chip and maybe the actual hardware solution is executed differently, but doesnt the tegra chip with its 8 different processors effectively do th3e same thing? or does the zii chip consist of only one processor, capable of performing all applicable tasks to a groundbreaking level all at once? if that is the case, what if the application running requires more than one or all different processing functions ( taken care of in the tegra platform by individual processors )? would the zii processor not peak at its maximum capacity while the tegra chip would simply engage multiple processors? admittedly, tegra would probably consume more power in this high intensity scenario, and surely a multi-processor solution costs more to manufacture, but regardless of that, by the sounds of it, tegra is just as good in low demand applications and has much more power when you are pushing the platform to its limits. so if i understand correctly, i just dont see whats so revolutionary or fantastic about zii.....
@ jon
Yes, they are altered at anytime to do a specific job. Watch this vid from about 3:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW9rUfejLss
@Matt,
I've seen that video, there isn't a single piece of usable information in the entire thing.
It's all marketing hyperbole.
Well, Jon, let's start with the basics. Why don't you tell me why a Pentium 3 can't run 64-bit OS? How about the different instruction sets in processors.
Everyone for a second, let's think about this: this is emerging technology in electrical engineering. These people went to electrical engineering school (probably a decade or more) and were the best among their peers who applied for the job. They spent years developing a different processor, literally unlike anything seen before it. [http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/01/meet-zms-05-chip-ziis-first-incarnation.html] SiliconMadness have a similar introduction to Engadget's, but at SM's more technical blog post [http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/01/could-zii-be-fpga.html] you can see from where this anticipation derives.
So yes, for media purposes, the Zii should far outperform it's contemporaries (the Zune and new iPod Touch). If you'd like an explanation, I'd advise you take a basic electrical engineering course. Or you can continue being an e-thug and scavenge this article for things you don't (more likely can't) understand [http://www.hpcwire.com/topic/processors/Revaluating_FPGAs_for_64-bit_Floating-Point_Calculations.html].
"The Zii can really be something different, revolutionary, but it just doesn't seem so, right now."
From your own link.
If I'm an e-thug, what does that make you? Did you even read your links?
If you can, read my first post. I hope this is something groundbreaking, but until Creative shows us something substantive, it's all marketing.
Even the articles you linked are skeptical of Creative's claims.
A couple other quotes for you.
"The theoretical compute performance of the Zii is, then, good for it's supposed power consumption, it's just not groundbreaking..."
"It wasn't disclosed how ZiiLabs have achieved this, so it's still not something up for serious consideration."
"There are still many details being left out, especially the architecture, the ZMS-05 is still a - very - obscure device."
Learn to read, then learn to think about what you read.
Maybe then you won't post "evidence" that doesn't back up your claims.
For the laymen here: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"
Creative have shown us next to nothing.