Leaked Intel roadmap pegs Broadwell for 2H 2014

A leaked Intel roadmap has revealed the company's next line of processors, codenamed 'Broadwell', are scheduled for release in the second half of 2014. Broadwell is the 14 nm shrink of the current 'Haswell' fourth-generation Core processors, however according to this roadmap Intel will be focusing on mobile parts at the expense of desktop.

Leaked BlackBerry roadmap shows three new devices coming in 2013

Research in Motion dropped yet another bombshell during last week’s earnings call by announcing the delay of BlackBerry 10 OS until the first quarter of 2013. In the interim, BlackBerryOS has acquired a leaked hardware roadmap that gives us a pretty solid idea of when we can expect to see BB 10 mobile devices next year and the form factor they will take.

Before we jump into next year, however, the roadmap suggests we can expect to see a BlackBerry PlayBook 4G launched in Q4 2012, likely in time for the holiday buying season. Of course, this device pre-dates the BB 10 launch so we don’t expect much more than a simple hardware upgrade for RIM’s tablet.

Q1 2013 will bring the launch of BB 10 and the first full-touchscreen BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry London / L-series device. Following shortly after or perhaps even at the same media event is the BlackBerry Nevada / N-series, a full QWERTY handset.

A new tablet codenamed Blackforest [128] is slated (no pun intended) for Q3 2013. Details on this tablet are unknown but if the roadmap icons are drawn even remotely to scale, we could perhaps assume that this tablet is either larger or has a slightly different aspect ratio. Also, the [128] could be a reference to the amount of internal flash storage on board, but all of this is pure speculation at this point. Could this be the long-rumored 10-inch BlackBerry PlayBook that many thought had been scrapped?

AMD's 28nm mobile graphics roadmap leaked Radeon HD 7000M

DonanimHaber has published a presentation slide that outlines AMD's mobile GPU roadmap for the next year. The company launched its 40nm Radeon HD 6000M chips (codenamed Seymour, Whistler and Blackcomb) last November, and that lineup will remain in play until later this year and early next year as AMD ramps up production and distribution of its next-gen mobile graphics.

The Radeon HD 7000M will be manufactured on a 28nm process and features four GPUs: Thames, Chelsea, Heathrow and Wimbledon (least to most powerful). Slated for release in November 2011, Thames will have a slightly higher TDP of 15-25W than Seymour (6400M) and it pack twice the performance, which is partially thanks to a 128-bit memory interface (up from 64-bit).

AMD appears to be blurring the lines between its mainstream and performance segments. Chelsea will operate in the 20-30W range and also features a 128-bit bus. Nonetheless, it should bring a 30% speed increase over existing Whistler products (6600M/6700M). It's also due in the last quarter of this year, presumably alongside if not soon after the arrival of Thames-based chips.

AMD is preparing two enthusiast GPUs representing different thermal levels. Heathrow will have a TDP above 35W and will be offered in 128-bit/192-bit variants with 1.5GB/3GB of VRAM. Meanwhile, Wimbledon will represent the series flagship, featuring a 256-bit interface and a 65W TDP. Heathrow should land this year while Wimbledon is coming in the second quarter of 2012.

In other company news, AMD has announced an initiative dubbed "Project Mjölnir" that focuses on "increasing performance and providing improved stability of the AMD Catalyst software." To kick things off, the company released a Catalyst 11.4 preview that brings various enhancements, features and bug fixes. You can download the update here and read the highlights below:

• Delivers performance enhancements for the AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series & Windows 7.
  • Up to 70% performance improvement in Civilization V
  • Up to 49% performance improvement in Call of Duty: Black Ops
  • Up to 23% performance improvement in F1 2010
  • Up to 21% performance improvement in Wolfenstein MP
  • Up to 15% performance improvement in Tom Clancy's HAWX
  • Up to 17% performance improvement in STALKER: Call of Pripyat
  • Up to 28% performance improvement in metro2033
  • Up to 33% performance improvement in Left 4 Dead 2
  • Up to 26% performance improvement in FarCry 2
  • Up to 15% performance improvement in Crysis Warhead
  • Up to 50% performance improvement in Unigine Heaven
  • Up to 22% performance improvement in Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Up to 19% performance improvement in Aliens Vs. Predator
• Includes enhancements to the AMD Catalyst Control Center
  • New task based Display Management controls
    • Simplifies the configuration of displays and display setting
  • New Eyefinity setup group
    • Setting up an Eyefinity group has never been easier
  • New branding (based on system configuration)
    • AMD based platform – AMD VISION Engine Control Center
    • Discrete AMD GPU with Intel CPU – AMD Catalyst Control Center
  • AMD Catalyst update notification (found within the Information Center)
    • Please note this functionality is not yet enabled, but will be in a future AMD Catalyst release
    • This feature will be used to notify users that new AMD Catalyst software packages are available
• Includes fixes where Dragon Age 2 would hang in DirectX11 on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products.
• Includes fixes where MediaEspresso 6.5 and 6.0 may crash while initializing