IBM已为任天堂Wii提供5000万个处理器

IBM宣布称，作为任天堂的处理器供应商，它已经实现了一个重要的里程碑，为Wii游戏机提供了5000万个处理器。Wii游戏机在全球市场的销售非常强劲。
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IBM在2006年开始根据多年的定制的微处理器设计和生产协议向任天堂提供Wii游戏机使用的处理器。这些处理器是在IBM在纽约州East Fishkill的高级芯片加工厂生产的。IBM的全球供应链支持始终如一的、可靠的模块供应，满足了消费者对Wii游戏机的强劲需求，其中包括满足三个圣诞节期间的强劲需求。

这种芯片以IBM的Power架构为基础，采用了IBM的硅绝缘体技术。IBM的Power架构是一种半导体设计平台，为用户提供伸缩性和设计的客户化。硅绝缘体技术可改善芯片性能和减少耗电量，提供节省能源的好处。基于IBM Power架构和硅绝缘体技术的微处理器可用于包括游戏、消费电子设备、网络、计算机存储和服务器等许多应用。

IBM和任天堂合作开发和生产大量的定制设计的高性能处理器，以支持任天堂参与游戏竞争提供袖珍的和节能的游戏机的目标。

IBM微电子部门负责游戏和Power平台的副总裁Brian Connors说，我们为达到向任天堂供应微处理器的这个重要的里程碑感到非常自豪。Wii游戏机为数百万新的用户带来的游戏的体验。IBM与任天堂在把芯片技术与游戏机系统创造性地结合在一起提供取胜的产品方面建立了长期的成功的关系。

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文章出处：赛迪网
作者：天虹

Open source Mono framework brings C# to iPhone and Wii

Mono, an open source implementation of .NET runtime, is bringing Microsoft's development technologies to some unexpected places, including the iPhone, Android, and the Wii.
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According to Novell's lead Mono developer, Miguel de Icaza, several applications in Apple's App Store are powered by Mono. This might come as a bit of a surprise to those familiar with Apple's highly restrictive application inclusion policies, because the company strictly prohibits developers from using interpreted languages and third-party runtime environments—a constraint that largely rules out technologies like .NET and Java.

Static compilation is the special sauce that makes it possible for Mono to run on the iPhone. Mono allows developers to use ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation, which converts .NET's common intermediate language (CIL) directly to native code at compile time. This means that the application doesn't have to use just-in-time (JIT) compilation to generate the native code at runtime.

There are also a few other tricks and Mono features that developers can use to reduce the size of Mono executables and assemblies for deployment in mobile environments. You can use the Mono linker to shrink the library size, you can omit the JIT and code generation engines from the executables, and you can strip out CIL instructions from the assemblies.

Static compilation makes it possible to build Apple-approved iPhone applications with Mono, but it comes with some limitations. Generics and dynamically-generated code are currently not supported when AOT compilation is used.

There are a lot of hoops to jump through right now to set up iPhone cross-compilation for Mono, but de Icaza says that developers who want to start now can use Unity, a third-party commercial programming framework for 3D game development that is built on Mono. Unity supports several platforms, including the iPhone and the Wii, and comes with its own built-in Mono cross-compilation environment.

In a blog post published this week, de Icaza identifies almost 40 applications (most of which are games) in Apple's App Store that are built on Unity and Mono. He also wrote about My Animal Center, a German game for the Wii that is heavily coded in C# using Unity and Mono.

The iPhone isn't the only hot handset to catch Mono. A developer has experimentally ported the Mono runtime to the Android-based T-Mobile G1. Although this port is only an experimental proof of concept and won't be used to deploy applications on the platform any time soon, it has a lot of potential and performs well against Google's Dalvik runtime in some preliminary benchmarks.

Mono's robust portability and advanced support for features like static compilation are enabling developers to use it in innovative ways that wouldn't be possible with Microsoft's .NET implementation. This demonstrates the value and flexibility inherent in an open implementation.

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BY Ryan Paul
Source：ars technica

Google hacks the Wii Balance Board to surf Google Earth — literally

Google used its booth at Macworld this year to show off some of the things it was working on with Apple, particularly for the iPhone. But the coolest thing at their booth didn’t have much to do with Apple at all: A hacked Nintendo Wii Balance Board (from the game Wii Fit) used to control Google Earth.
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Using the Google Earth application programming interface (API), a Google engineer was able to get the Balance Board to talk to the program after decoding the board’s Bluetooth packets being sent (that’s how the device wirelessly interacts with a machine like the Nintendo Wii). The result (which you can see in the video below) allows users to move forward by leaning forward, move backwards by leaning back, etc.

The developer says he made this neat little demo to inspire others to code their own programs using these open source methods. Hopefully, someone comes up with a hack to make it so I can use my Wiimote to control my Apple TV, so I can stop using that damn directional pad.

Oster's blog post includes a YouTube video of Earth Surfer in action.

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BY MG Siegler
Source：VentureBeat