Escom buys Commodore leftovers, ILOVEYOU goes around and Intel introduces 3D transistors (PCGH Retro May 04)

… 1995: Escom AG, a well-known computer retail chain in Germany at the time, bought the rights to Commodore’s brand names, patents and intellectual property, including the Amiga computer, which was very popular with gamers, for 10 million US dollars. However, plans to re-establish the brand profitably in the PC market fail.

… 1998: The two millionth Internet address is registered with voyagerstravel.com.

… 2000: The ILOVEYOU virus is spreading around the world. The malware, which deletes music and image files from the infected computer and sends itself to all entries in the e-mail address book, paralyzes even larger networks. The British House of Commons and Ford, among others, have to temporarily take their servers offline to contain the threat.

… 2011: Transistors take up chip real estate, and while additional circuitry typically makes chips faster, they also add to manufacturing costs, so there’s no better way to keep finding new ways to minimize real estate. Today Intel presented the 3D transistors or Tri-Gate, also called FinFET by other companies, which are to be used in the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPU generation. In layman’s terms, the buildable block will be built with skyscrapers instead of single-family homes. This either saves space for the same number of residents or allows many more residents with the same block size – we are talking about double the packing density. This is how we come to the advantages in relation to the Ivy Bridge product: Intel doesn’t name anything specific, but first of all the leakage currents with FinFETs are much lower than with the conventional design, because not all transistors can be switched off completely. Intel is throwing out the number 50 percent compared to the 32 nm process. In addition, 3D tri-gates in energy-saving CPUs switch up to 37 percent faster with lower voltage at the same time and, thanks to the three-dimensional arrangement, require less space. High-end processors are said to be 18 percent faster. A current CPU would therefore need less space and power and work faster.