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ZiiLABS ZMS-08 offers Cortex A8-powered Full HD and Flash acceleration for netbooks
We haven't even seen the Zii EGG make its long-anticipated consumer debut yet, but Creative is already building up steam for its next Zii venture. ZiiLABS' ZMS-08 is a third generation mobile media accelerator / system-on-a-chip that boasts its predecessor's 1080p playback and 24fps encoding, and HD video conferencing via simultaneous 720p encoding and decoding, while adding all-new OpenGL ES 2.0 support, an integrated HDMI controller, X-Fi audio and Flash acceleration. Paired to a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8, and running a custom flavor of Android alongside Plaszma OS, the new Zii chip will look for homes in "web tablets, netbooks, connected TVs" and the like, but seemingly not smartphones. ZiiLABS has already signed up a number of clients, who'll start receiving shipments in Q1 of 2010. Full PR and an architectural diagram after the break.
AMD reorganizes, ATI now fully assimilated
It looks like the final step in AMD totally subsuming ATI has been taken. The company announced a reorganization around four specific pillars: products, future techology, marketing, and customer relations. The restructuring also marks the end of Randy Allen's tenure, as the SVP of the Computing Solutions Group has decided to leave for unspecified reasons. ATI holdover Rick Bergman, who had also be head of the subsidiary known internally as the Graphics Product Group, will head up the products division with the goal of unifying the GPU and CPU teams (not necessarily the products). We highly doubt this means ATI branding is going anywhere -- it's far too valuable for AMD. Will Bergman's lead help the company reclaim its position among the top ten chip makers? Give Fusion the kick in the pants it needs? Only time will tell.
