Digital Home Thoughts: AMD Tech Day: Afternoon Sessions

Better By Design
Rick Gayle, Sr. Product Marketing Manager - Platform Planning was up for the final session of the day. AMD has a program called "Better By Design" that focuses on wireless performance, and Gayle took us through some of the comparisons between Intel Centrino-based solutions and the solutions created by AMD and their partners. In order to qualify for the Centrino brand, a laptop has to use Intel's wireless solution. AMD believes that its open approach allows for better performance, and if the test results we were shown are accurate, that's a valid belief. One test in particular showed a 100% higher transmit throughput rate than an Intel solution, and 339% higher receive throughput rate than Intel's solution. Unfortunately company names and specifics were withheld, so this was all highly theoretical. Myself, I just want to see that damn 802.11n spec finalized.

Wireless USB (W-USB) is something that's on AMD's radar, but the first generation product didn't gain much momentum. The second generation of W-USB have much higher performance (matching wired USB speeds), and uses less power, so they're looking at integrated W-USB into their 2009/2010 platforms. Shrike + W-USB? Could be a winner.


Figure 10: Better By Design as presented by Rick Gayle.

Wrapping Up...
After the last session we headed over to the building where Charlie Boswell's team is based (he's the Chief Media and Entertainment Strategist guy). We got to see one of their studios where they do audio/video work. A few pictures of the studio are below.


Figure 11: I'm not a hard-core audio guy, but I know enough to recognize nice equipment when I see it. What a great setup for editing this would be!


Figure 12: This is a mobile recording unit - the AMD computer is on the bottom, below a whole bunch of audio equipment.


Figure 13: The computer + monitor on the left, and the laptop + break-out box on the right, are examples of a product solution that AMD is doing with Guitar Center. These AMD-based computers come with everything a budding musician needs to do home studio recordings.


Figure 14: An example of the ways in which AMD is involved in audio recording. The "Live FOH Mix" section in the top left of that slide is pretty cool: "FOH" stands for "front of house" and an audio mixing term. Using an AMD-based Tablet PC, a soundman walks around the location, doing live mixing from various locations, tweaking the sound as he goes. Cool!

After watching the opening scene in Star Wars III in 7.1 surround sound, for which pre-visualization work was done using AMD processors (of course), we headed back to pack up our stuff. After taking our complimentary AMD plastic travel mug and two t-shirts (one eye-assaulting one looked very much like this), we boarded the bus to head out for dinner. By then I sure was hungry! It was a long day of thinking, writing, and asking questions.


Figure 15: Apparently The Salt Lick is a legendary BBQ joint that's a must-visit for anyone coming to the Austin area.


Figure 16: The staff were kind enough to let me walk back to the grill to capture this photo. Man was it HOT standing there!


Figure 17: The end result. Mmm, good. I ate far too much that night, but it sure was tasty. Especially the sausage...delicious.

My whirlwind day was over shortly after this. The people from AMD and Buzzcorps were great hosts, and I'd like to thank them for their hospitality. It was useful to learn more about AMD's products - while I don't plan on using an AMD processor for my next desktop system, the advantages of the Puma platform (and the forthcoming Shrike) platform certainly caught my attention and I'm interested to see laptops based on that technology come to market.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He loves any form of BBQ'd animal flesh.