KiloCore is the World’s First 1,000 Core Processor

A team of researchers from the University of California have designed a first of its kind, 1000 core processor which they call the KiloCore.

Bevan Baas, professor of electrical and computer engineering, who led the team said,

“To the best of our knowledge, it is the world’s first 1,000-processor chip and it is the highest clock-rate processor ever designed in a university.”

There have been attempts at making processors with a lot of cores, but none of them ever went past 300 cores according to an analysis by professor Baas’ team. Majority of those were made for research purposes and very few of them ever made it into the consumer market.

Features of the KiloCore

The processing chip was fabricated by IBM using 32nm CMOS technology. The professor claims that this processor is the most energy efficient processor as well, saying that it uses just 0.7 watts of power.

The way the processor handles its tasks is also much more efficient than regular processors because it divides each application into smaller applications. Each of the smaller apps are given to a single processor to handle, in a more flexible approach. It can execute instructions about 100 times more efficiently than a regular laptop processor.

Possible Use in the Future

The KiloCore would not enter mass production any time soon as they were made using a relatively older manufacturing process of 32nm, whereas most of the processors nowadays are made using 14nm technology.

We could possibly see it make its way into the mobile devices, where several small applications are being run at the same time, and using less power is also considered a major plus point. This can lead to long-lasting mobile gadgets.

Meet the world's smallest camera-equipped drone

The Axis Vidius is a quadcopter that fits in the palm of your hand -- it's roughly 1.5 inches square -- yet it's able to livestream and record video in 420p. Axis says its Vidius model is the smallest-ever camera-equipped drone, and it's so tiny that users don't have to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration (meaning it weighs less than .55 pounds).

The FAA launched its online drone-registration program in December. It requires all pilots, even hobbyists, to register their robots by February 19th -- it will generally cost $5 per registration, but the FAA is waiving this cost through January 20th. Information in the registry will be public record. In the program's first two days, the FAA collected 45,000 registrations.

The teensy Vidius drone may appeal to those who don't want to deal with federal paperwork before flying, though it does have limitations. Pilots can stream a live video feed from the 'copter via WiFi, though it has a flight time of just five to seven minutes on a 20-minute USB charge. Vidius comes with a 2.4 gHz controller, and users can pilot it with a smartphone or tablet, as well. Vidius is up for pre-order now with a ship date of January 29th at the latest. It's on sale for $75 before January 7th; afterwards, it'll be $95.

A tiny drone could be a nice way to have a little -- and we do mean little -- fun.