Cell Processor use?
There are some mysteries surrounding the cell processor that is a joint development by Sony and IBM and is based on the Power Platform (and the PowerPC platform probably even including some altivec like functions). Originally developed to be used in the new next year Playstation 3 game console it is shaping up to become the "all around" processor to be used in workstations and TV sets as well. What is the idea or strategy behind the Cell? The most important thing is that it can handle distributed processing. Meaning that it can theoretically gather all Cell processors in a network and use them all together to render a character or calculate some prime numbers. Problem and bottleneck is of course the lack of high speed networking capabilities in the Playstation3 or on the consumer market in general. There is speculation that Firewire 800 might be a candidate to get the interconnection speeds to make a distributed computing environment in a household feasible but it might still be way to slow. Regardless of the technical complications WHY would Sony and IBM choose to get this power to the masses? Speculation is rampant. For myself I think they will go after the "AVATAR EVERYWHERE". Meaning a realtime rendered avatar (that you can probably dress yourself and choose how he/she/it should look) that answers your phone reads your news and tells you your dates. Its something that has been mentioned in so many SciFi books and novels and Sony probably thinks they have to be out with that first. So maybe the avatar will get more and more features the more Cellprocessor capable devices you add to network? Like the answering machine, the TV set the Playstation and the Computer all have the cell processor and each takes care of their part? I have no idea if the market will accept such things. I guess they would be better off to offer very cheap home workstations where you can add on cell processors on the way back from the supermarket like you add sugar cubes to your tea.