Drama Over Farnsworth House

Bridges will play famed German architect Mies van der Rohe while Gyllenhaal will reunite with Bridges as Chicago nephrologist Dr. Edith Farnsworth.

The Farnsworth House, now an architectural museum, is considered a type of “child” between the architect and his doctor client, the net result of a turbulent relationship that ended in dual lawsuits between client and architect.

The Bridges-Gyllenhaal film is unconfirmed by any other sources, but Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman reported the project which has since been widely reported now by many architecture outlets.

01 – The Farnsworth House by architect Mies van der Rohe. (image: cc by-SA 2.0, Wikipedia Commons)

Mies and Farnsworth are widely reported to have had at least a minor romance, according to Mies’ 1980 biographer based on shared information by Farnsworth’s sister. While it is hard to imagine a movie like this one without the affair, there is no shortage of dramatic material in the cost-overrun project itself—the alleged basis for disappointment and lawsuit.

Budget Overrun Leads to Anger

Mies was responsible for both design and construction, with an estimated and approved budget of $58,400.USD. The overrun was $15,600 and due to spiked commodity costs related to the Korean War. In the end, the project’s $70,000 total cost for a 1,500 SF (mostly) weekend house would be, according to Wikipedia, $648,000 in 2012 dollars. (or $432 /sf. in today’s cost—actually quite normative for custom residential construction)

And Then Use and Happiness, Perhaps?

While I won’t spoil the outcome of the dual lawsuits and Mies van der Rohe and Dr. Farnsworth’s legal battle, the result of the suit on their relationship was that the two never spoke to each ever again. And perhaps for a good reason for Mies, whose reputation suffered irreparable damage.

02 – Another view of the Farnsworth House. Mies taking a cigarette break on the steps with workmen. (image: via Tweedland )

Dr. Farnsworth continued to use the house as her weekend retreat for the next 21 years and often hosted architectural notables. The house is now listed on the National Register and designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.

A major Hollywood film focused on this story would undoubtedly bring attention and focus on several related fronts well concerned for here at Architosh. Both modern architecture, Mies, the actual Farnsworth House, and the role of architects in society will all gain exposure and discussion from this film project if it reaches fruition.

Let’s hope it does.

The post Architecture, Affairs and Cost Overruns—Jeff Bridges to Star as Mies in Farnsworth House Story appeared first on Architosh.

What They Say

In a piece interviewing nine leaders in digital practice, Wanda Lau, writing for Architect captures notable input from Nicholas Cameron, AIA, of Perkins+Will, Phil Bernstein, FAIA, of Yale and formerly Autodesk, Paul Audsley of NBBJ, and Shane Burger of Woods Bagot, among others.

Perkins+Will’s Cameron makes note of MR (mixed reality), AKA, augmented reality, where digital and actual physical environments merge, noting that the advantage of VR technology is that the “client can physically be in a location.” He notes that Perkins+Will’s 2017 resolution is to train as many people as possible in visual scripting tools like Grasshopper for Rhino and Dynamo Studio.

01 – This polyhedron model is wired-up to an Arduino board. The board has a light which lights up in reaction to tension forces in a wire connecting two joints. Bernstein says Arduion boards can be used to create bespoke digital monitoring devices for buidlings.

Bernstein noted the importance of reality capture technology, using scanning, digital photography and drones to create models of existing conditions. In a nod to Autodesk, he cited Recap 360 for reality capture and Insight 360 for energy evaluation. His own resolutions for 2017 focused on IoT in his own home and learning how to build Arduino-based devices. Architosh just wrote about Arduino devices last week. The goal he says with Arduino is to create bespoke digital monitoring devices for infrastructure in buildings.

NBBJ’s Audlsey cites the importance of firms fully leveraging BIM to transform their business process and the importance of “elevating digital leadership and training in effective project workflows.” He too noted sensor networks (which Arduino boards can participate) and included digitally-enhanced rapid prototyping.

Shane Burger of Woods Bagot is extremely well known and regarded within the algorithmic and computation design communities (like SmartGeometry). He says straight away that architects should learn Rhino, Grasshopper and Grasshopper add-ons—like the Galapagos tool we wrote about earlier today.

MORE: Phil Berstein of Autodesk on the Changing Role of the 21st Century Architect—The Interview (Part 1) and (Part 2)

Burger goes further though. Architects should learn the basics of scripting or programming languages, like “Python or C# (pronounced “C sharp”), so you can automate and enhance your design process.” Interestingly, Burger says “skip AutoCAD and Trimble SketchUp: two-dimensional CAD is at its end-of-life.”

Full Story

Read the full story over at Architect magazine online here.

The post Technology to Master in Architecture in 2017—Architect Magazine’s Take appeared first on Architosh.

Traditional to Digital

Eric Lloyd Wright and his team have been using traditional methods by hand for many years, and illustrating by hand for many years.  I met a young man, Lucas Goettsche, who was hired by Eric Lloyd Wright a few years ago to help migrate his team of architects from traditional to digital methods. Lucas was a big part of this migration so I asked him a few questions that I felt might be an interesting read for those still considering going from traditional methods to digital, and why Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD fit the bill. This is an interview with Lucas Goettche with the blessing of Eric Lloyd Wright. (see image 01)

01 – Eric Lloyd Wright & Lucas Goettche. Image courtesy of Akiko Ashley. (Used with Permission)

AA (Akiko Ashley): How did Eric Lloyd Wright’s firm find you and decide to migrate to ArchiCAD?

LG (Lucas Goettche): The reason I was hired at Eric’s firm in 2003 was because they had heard of ArchiCAD, but were still doing all of their work by freehand drafting, nothing digital, and this was in 2003.  I was well adept to using ArchiCAD, beginning with version 8.1.  The initial idea was to transform the whole office into ArchiCAD users, but as the saying goes, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  So, I did most of the modeling while teaching ArchiCAD.

AA: What projects were ArchiCAD used for?

LG: ArchiCAD was first used on the Wright Taggart Residence, and some restoration work on the Frank Loyd Wright Eaglefeather Project, among others.

02 – Skateboard House designed by Eric Lloyd Wright & Planners. Image courtesy of Akiko Ashley, used with permission, all rights reserved.

AA: What were some of the challenges of this “Skate-able” home?

LG: It is really amazing how ArchiCAD rolls out a new version with so many new tools like they understand what a designer really needs creatively.  But with version 9 it was still quite a challenge to model the curvilinear shapes needed for the Skate House (which now in ArchiCAD version 19 would be a breeze), but I was able to make it work, even before the morph tool was available.

Almost every surface, wall and roof was curved or incorporated some kind of skate-able transition; digitally modeling the structure was essential to the design in resolving all of the intersections.  The house incorporated an outdoor Skate Park, but also the roof structure incorporated skate-able pathways, and all the hallways on the interior were curved into the walls so one could skateboard through the entire house.  This was Eric’s and Pierre’s vision, and much of it was modeled using the mesh tool.  So particularly for this project, the use of ArchiCAD was extremely valuable, if not essential.  I don’t know of any other program we could have used to produce the Building Department approved set of plans we accomplished.

03 – Skateboard House model designed by Eric Lloyd Wright & Planners. Image courtesy of Akiko Ashley, used with permission, all rights reserved.

AA: Would you say that ArchiCAD was helpful to Eric Lloyd Wright’s firm?

LG: Definitely. Traditional methods are good for certain projects but ArchiCAD not only made this entire design come alive, but it allowed us improved dialogue with the design throughout schematic and design development allowing us to better understand the design that Eric envisioned and gave to us.

ArchiCAD gives “Skate House” life at Eric Lloyd Wright Architects & Planners

Eric Lloyd Wright comes from a long legacy of Architects, and when it was time to change the way they designed, Lucas Goettsche was there to help them take that step that is now a staple at Eric Lloyd Wright’s firm. Lucas, thanks for sharing this interesting story.

To learn more about Eric Lloyd Wright visit here. To learn more about Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD visit them online here. 

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Transitional shelters

Constructed using bags filled with earth, this type of transitional shelter gives the beneficiaries involved an opportunity to work and earn an income — which could also stimulate the start of small business opportunities. Earth-bag house construction is an efficient way to solve the need for basic homes that can be built within a short period of time.

01 – Transitional shelter option / Earth-bag test using ARCHICAD. Size: 44m2/473 ft2.

Furthermore, the earth-bag house construction system does not require a deep knowledge of construction and can be built by the people who will live in them. Earth is the most fundamental element of earth-bag construction, with many types of earth available around the world. Simple and easy tests can be done manually to decide the methodology of construction using the earth-bag system. An optimal, packed earth to soil ratio is approximately 30% clay to 70% sand.

Advantages

Compared to tents, the earth-bag built house has many advantages without being a permanent construction; they can easily be dismantled and the materials can be re-purposed. “Providing cheap architecture for poor people has always been my dream,” said Anas Aljbain, architect and UNHCR shelter associate, “ArchiCAD has made my dream a reality.”

Design concept

Opened-to-Patio-blocks design takes environmental and social norms into consideration. The patio spaces in the heart of each block provide safe-to-play areas for children and a good ventilation and cooling system, along with the green areas.

02 – Shelter design in ARCHICAD. The transitional shelter consist of two rooms and a kitchenette. All rights reserved.

The WASH blocks are separate but with kitchenettes inside the houses. Each family will have one space that includes a toilet and bathroom. This design will reduce the significant cost of WASH infrastructure, making maintenance easier and insuring proper hygiene for users.

The benefit of this type of transitional shelter are many:

• Easy to learn and user-friendly – the simplicity of an earth-bag building makes them easy to build by unskilled people or communities;
• Strength – an earth-bag wall is extremely strong, owing to its thickness and weight, thus is considerably more resistant to high winds or other destructive forces (earthquakes, floods, etc.);
• Adaptable – it is easy to alter the position of wall openings during construction, or to dismantle an incorrectly placed wall and subsequently rebuild it with the very same material.
• Services – plumbing, electrical and other services can easily be fixed to the earth-bag wall.
• Safety – there are no piles of bricks on site that may be subject to theft, just the bags, which are easily secured, and a pile of earth, which has no value. Furthermore, the earth-bag house is highly fire-resistant, is bullet- and to a certain extent mortar-proof;
• Remote locations – as mainly the bags need to be transported to the site, an earth-bag building can be erected at remote site

Cost

He estimated the cost per square meter is 12,500 SYP (US$41). By attaching the houses side-by-side, each house (51 squaremeters/549 square feet including walls) will cost approximately US$1,850. The total cost per block is approximately US$ 13,000. The wash unit will cost an additional US$3,000.

03 – Shelter Construction. All rights reserved.

The size of a typical earth-bag shelter is 44 square meters (473 square feet) and can be built by seven people in approximately 2 weeks. For more information about the transitional shelter project in Syria, please visit http://www.graphisoft.com/users/bim-case-studies/transitional-shelters-designed-using-archicad.html.

About UNHCR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.

It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people. Since 1950, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 9,300 people in 123 countries continues to help and protect millions of refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution in 1984 with ARCHICAD®, the industry-first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as its revolutionary BIMcloud®, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, EcoDesigner™, the world’s first fully BIM-integrated “GREEN” design solution and BIMx®, the world’s leading mobile app for BIM visualization. GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.

The post Transitional Shelters in Syria Designed Using ArchiCAD appeared first on Architosh.

What was on hand was a brand new online product offering exclusively for AIA members called Insight for Architects.

Insight for Architects

Insight for Architects is an all-new online destination for architects. Developed specifically for AIA members, Insight for Architects is a web-based data and analytics application. Once logged in, Insight for Architects gives users instant access to projects across the United States with a vast array of business intelligence data behind it. The simple goal is to help architects find and win new business.

01 – The main dashboard initial view in Insight for Architects by AIA and CMD. The new data analytics tool offers architects insights into their markets so they can strategically plan business development to attain more work. Networking, relationship building and trends analysis are some of the ways AIA member architects can make use of Insight for Architects.

Inside architects find a clean dashboard user-interface with menu control items on the left, comprising the following areas: Snapshot, Forecast, Analyze, Leads, Track and Exports.

Snapshot gives you a quick glimpse of the total projects in the system, new projects, projects per state on a map overlay graphic, and the number of subscribed companies in the system. It also gives you the number of pre-design leads based on those led by Architect, Engineer or General Contractor (breakdown).

Analyze is where you get into the heart of the data. Users can quickly assess how many projects fit a certain project value, as well as look at projects by type (civil, medical, commercial, residential, etc) or other criteria, including project size and value.

Leads provides tabular views of project leads with bid dates listed. Once inside a Lead detail view, one can see notes, additional project details, project participants, prospective bidders and additional details about plan and spec data.

Value to Architects

The primary value to architects with Insight for Architects is that they can track both large and smaller trends, see where projects are developing and what sectors, and see who the participants are so they can network more affectively.

02 – A view of the graphical analyze dashboard (partial view) showing the CSI wheel lower left.

The system provides users with saved search results and filters for finding the type of data that interest them.

There is also the opportunity to convert Revit files into VIM (visual information modeling) whereby CMD converts Revit file data into VIM for free. At AIA Atlanta, I had the chance to try on a pair of VR goggles and try out the CMD VIM experience. Using gaming technology, I could walk around a BIM model and query any object I could see and highlight using the VR hardware to produce a popup info chart directly within the 3D virtualized space.

Insight for Architects is free to AIA members and accessible via the AIA website.

To learn more about CMD and Insight for Architects visit them online here. AIA Members can find the tool once logged into the AIA’s website.

The post AIA: Show Reports: AIA and CMD provide Insight for Architects appeared first on Architosh.

The national convention and exhibition for architects in the United States takes place May 13 – 16, 2015, and will be attended by hundreds of exhibitors on the show floor and thousands of architects and AEC professionals. Every year over a dozen information technology companies exhibit their latest and upcoming software and hardware technologies, attempting to woo design professionals to their IT workflow solutions and services.

The technology market for the AECO (architecture, engineering, construction and operations) industry continues to get stronger, with high-quality solutions and increased global competition.

01 – President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote address at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta.

Imperative mandates impacting the future of the profession include the growing importance of big data, increased demand for true interoperability and open standards so all AEC professionals can truly work together, designing for a sustainable future, and designing for democracy and equality (for people and their data).

Architosh Coverage (Reports)

Architosh’s annual show coverage attempts to bring a sense of the conference to its readers and extensively cover the show’s exhibited information technology tools that architects should be aware of. Each year the focus narrows in on the hottest and most interesting new trends and developments making an impact on architectural practice both here in the United States in abroad.

4th Annual “BEST of SHOW” awards

This year we repeat our four-award honors in the following categories:

•  BEST of SHOW – Desktop Category — eligible products in the desktop software category must run on both Mac and Windows platforms and must be shipping within 3 months of the date of the show
• BEST of SHOW – Mobile Category — eligible products in the mobile software category must run on either Apple iOS or Google Android platforms and must be shipping within 3 months of the date of the show
• BEST of SHOW – BIM Category — eligible products must be BIM-centric and run on either desktop, mobile or the cloud via a web browser. They must be shipping within 3 months of the date of the show. Desktop products must meet requirements for BEST of SHOW Desktop above. Mobile products must meet BEST of SHOW for Mobile above.
• BEST of SHOW – Innovation Category — eligible products may be either software or hardware or any combination and must run on at least one of the following desktop and mobile platforms: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Kindle. This product must be shipping within 3 months of the date of the show.

As usual, Runner-Ups will all be singled out and the same product can win in multiple categories.

BEST of SHOW Judgements and Announcement

The Architosh BEST of SHOW AIA National honors will be announced following the show in Atlanta via a press release and publication on Architosh. Winners will also join our past list of winners on our dedicated BEST of SHOW winners roster page here.

MORE: Perspectives on the 2014 Architosh BEST of SHOW awards at the AIA National

Architosh’s BEST of SHOW AIA National Awards will be illuminated in a feature article highlighting the decisions and thinking behind the choices made as measured against specific criteria. Architosh’s awards honors at AIA National are highly coveted and have been directly cited in the pages of corporate quarterly and end of year reports for publicly traded companies in the software AEC market in the US and abroad.

More than 210,000 visitors have reached the pages of Architosh in 2014 and Architosh’s BEST of SHOW articles were heavily read by thousands of dedicated Architosh readers around the world.

Like last year, BEST of SHOW winners will be honored with a digital plaque and will receive a promotions grant for Architosh to be used at their leisure.

The post Architosh to attend AIA National Atlanta—Award ‘BEST of SHOW’ honors for fourth year appeared first on Architosh.

A Multi-Core Monster: Your new Mac Pro

So to make things clearer. We adore Autodesk. We adore Nemetschek Vectorworks. We adore Graphisoft and we adore anyone who makes great stuff for Apple’s platforms in the Mac and iOS space.

And speaking of making…

Autodesk doesn’t make Revit for Mac OS X. Yet. But let’s pretend for a second that it did. Would the new Mac Pros run it as well as other leading and contending BIM packages? What about ArchiCAD?

A BOXX Story

Over at super-workstation maker BOXX. And yes, it’s impossible not to adore them–we just don’t have a good reason to write about them–they have published a report (PDF) on configuring the ultimate Revit workstation. And the conclusion after reading this report is that the new Mac Pro wouldn’t be the best workstation for Revit even if it was available on the Mac.

01 – The new Mac Pro. At 2,999.USD it will debut as one of the most expensive Mac Pros ever but clearly the most powerful.

According to BOXX, Revit doesn’t do anything with multi-cores (or at least very little). Nor does it utilize super powerful workstation graphics cards either. The ultimate workstation for Revit is a single-processor Intel quad-core i7 with over-clocking to upper 4 GHz range. The deep caches and multiple high cores of Xeons–like those in the new Mac Pro–don’t add any performance value for Revit like a faster clocked single CPU. And the i7 is able to be over-clocked to something approaching silly.

ArchiCAD 17 however is an entirely different story. The latest version of ArchiCAD will utilize many cores quite well with its multi-core, oriented background processing performance algorithms.

The new Mac Pros come in Xeons that are quad, 6, 8 and 12 core options. While the clocks must slow a bit for the additional cores a BIM program like ArchiCAD will utilize the new Mac Pros cores really well.

Graphisoft director of global marketing, Akos Pfemeter, told Architosh back in June that its BIM program will absolutely take advantage of all 12 cores in a new Mac Pro.

“Multiprocessing support is critical for the BIM database heavy processing, which involves model generation,” says Pfemeter. “And the 12 cores of the Mac Pro will also be utilized for ArchiCAD’s brand new background processing support for both data caching and populating model changes across the BIM.”

 [see, Architosh, “CAD/3D Industry Responds to Apple’s New Mac Pro,” 22 July 2013.]

Mac Pro Flexibility

Apple has really done it this time. It’s giving users a more closed system but it is also giving pro users for the very first time more CPU and GPU configuration options than ever before. You can pair the mighty D700 with the quad-core Xeon or you can go more efficient with D300 or D500.

You can scale your CPU choice from a typical quad-core (which is baseline these days for a performance processor…and by the way the baseline according to BOXX for a Revit workstation) or you can add 2, 4 or 8 more cores to the mix. It depends on your precise workflow and budget for a new workstation.

Will a new Mac Pro be an awful mistake for a killer Revit machine (running under Boot Camp)?

Apple would say no and BOXX would probably say likely. The one thing that BOXX understands is how certifications of pro apps work and because of that they know just what kind of hardware configurations work best for particular pro apps. This is something that Apple should begin to get better at beyond the film, compositing and photography and music apps it knows a lot about.

The pro world is bigger than just those markets. A lot bigger.

In the final analysis, the new Mac Pro–and we know so much more now–will rock a program like ArchiCAD but will likely not rock Revit all that much.

[Editor’s note: We made some typo corrections today at 12:25, 29 Oct 2013. Sorry about that folks!]

The post Commentary: Why the new Mac Pro will rock for ArchiCAD but not for Revit appeared first on Architosh.

Sutherland developed SketchPad on MIT Lincoln Labs’ TX-2 computer, at the time one of the biggest machines in the world. It had what today seems like a tiny amount of memory but then was huge: 306 kilobytes. The TX-2 had some advanced computing tech for the day, including an addressable 1024 x 1024 pixel display, support for a light pen for input and a pen plotter for output. It also had programmable buttons.

SketchPad was also ground-breaking because unlike early computer applications it was very interactive, supporting the ability to draw directly on the screen (think iPad) with a crosshair cursor.

SketchPad had the ability to draw lines, points, and arcs and utilized an array of 17 different types of “constraints” including vertical, horizontal, perpendicular, et cetera. And it supported rubber banding when drawing objects thus the objects like likes would stretch as you moved the cursor. This was very advanced stuff at the time.

01 - Ivan Sutherland on MIT Lincoln Labs TX-2 computer.

As Evans notes in his article, Sutherland went on to run ARPA (the predecessor of DARPA) and he would later co-found Evans and Sutherland a firm that many veteran CAD readers will recall developed hardware for 3D graphics and printer languages, among other related tech.

To read the full article–and we highly recommend it–go here.

The post DesignWorld: 50 Years of CAD by Evan Yares appeared first on Architosh.

“The reality is that BIM is more about process change than technology adoption,” said Thomas M. Simmons, series instructor. “With this program we are focusing on how to make the transition to BIM so that its benefits can be maximized throughout the design process.”

Individuals can register for one or all the six courses on the LearnVirtual registration page. The dates and topics of the sessions are as follows:

• March 14 — Defining Fundamental BIM Concepts, Terms & Tools.
• March 21 — Implementing BIM in the Design Phase
• March 28 — Visualization with BIM
• April 4 — Strategies for Creating Documents from a BIM Model
• April 11 — Collaboration from Small to Large Teams
• April 18 — Integrating Sustainability into the BIM Process

Course instructor Thomas M. Simmons has worked in architecture, engineering and construction firms in San Francisco, Houston, Portland and Seattle to implement BIM. He is a recognized expert in Building Information Modeling and the implementation of its technology.

LearnVirtual specializes in the design and implementation of educational programs for AEC professionals.

Pricing and Registration

Sessions are 29.USD, but all six can be had for 125.USD. You can learn more and register at: www.learnvirtual.com

The post Implementing BIM in Practice: LearnVirtual event appeared first on Architosh.

The source shared this news with one of our fellow associate editors at approximately the same time as AIA National about a year ago. My fellow editor said, “this might be really big!” Clearly he was excited.

Crowded BIM Market?

One thing that came to my mind immediately was, does the market have room for yet another BIM tool? That’s what I was wondering a year ago.

And I’m still wondering… but here we are and even SolidWorks has entered the world of AEC 3D tools. Perhaps there is more room than we imagine? But I understand that it may not be a whole new competing BIM tool in the classic sense but a tool that operates in the BIM space, complimenting other BIM tools. And that would be consistent with the structure of the BIM transformation in general.

Here We Go

So we are trying our best to secure an arrangement to learn more about this new BIM software offering that is lurking in the software labs somewhere. So here is what we currently know.

Will the new mysterious software be in the BIM space? Yes. Will the new software tool be web-based? Yes. What platforms will the new software support? All of them. Will it support iOS for tablets like the iPad for instance? Yes.

This isn’t much to chew on. We know. We don’t know for example the scale of the tool. What types of problems it addresses. Or how it might interact with other BIM tools. As you can see we don’t know much yet. But we know from the source that they believe this tool is very important and the BIM market needs it.

I hate mysteries like this. I’m dying to know what this new tool is. Hopefully, we will all find out soon enough.

The post Secret new BIM tool in the works – multi everything appeared first on Architosh.

iCloud

Now that we are all starting to use a plethora of digitally connected devices (many starting with the letter “i”…) it is becoming all too important for us to stay connected to our data, at all times, from any of these devices. And let’s admit it–syncing sucks!

When I face data syncing issues I think about Steve. He probably has less patience for that kind of problem than I do–and I have VERY little patience! So do I believe Jobs & Co. will be addressing this fundamental problem today? Yes.

I think the music deals are just a part of it. What Apple needs to do is  get in on the action that is happening all over out there with the Cloud. Cloud service providers are doing things that save people headaches and they are making money at it. Company’s like Dropbox, LiveDrive, Mozy, ElephantDrive, Amazon, Google, Nirvanix, Box.net, and a list of others including business-oriented providers like Mezeo, EMC Atmost Online, Amazon S3, Rackspace, Eucalptus and others.

iCloud may just start with music, movies, books and iLife suite stuff today. But even if it simply replicates MobileMe’s iDrive feature that will initiate a process towards data storage in the cloud for Apple. In about three more hours we will all know what iCloud really is!

The post What will iCloud be? Our thoughts… appeared first on Architosh.

“We believe that Apple will be the first in our sector to embrace ARM for some Macs, as early as C2H12…” (I believe you read that as second half of calendar year 2012).

“We believe that Apple is already working hard on the software to accomplish this feat within the MacBook Air line-up,” continued Reitzes. “Through its own development of ARM-based processors and ARM-based iOS software, this migration would be rather natural for Apple.”

Joshual Schnell over at Macgasm has a good post questioning the logic of such a decision and specifically mentions Autodesk in his post. Concerning the fact that many major companies have begun to adopt OS X development because Apple is on Intel he questions whether they would be willing to pursue a chip architecture change of this magnitude. He writes: “Also, what about all those giant companies (Blizzard, Autodesk) that have titles for OS X now? Are they willing to design their products around ARM?”

Given that most longtime OS X developers have just completed an extensive chip architecture transition just a few years ago (moving from PPC to Intel) we think this is a very good and reasonable question.

Blurring the edge of OS X and iOS

Apple is already starting to blur the edge between its OS X platform and the iOS platform. Multitouch is already on OS X and has been for quite some time. It will continue to morph on OS X devices. While we think Apple is literally working on OS X for ARM and while we believe there will be some mobility on there coming up, the question of whether they will fully leave Intel is truly up for grabs.

And we must remember that Intel is not sitting still. Their tri-gate process technology announced last week was impressive. Read more here.

The post More Apple Mac ARM Rumors- This Time MacBook Air appeared first on Architosh.

Mac Growth

Last October after Apple’s fourth quarter results for 2010 we noted that Mac unit growth remained strong despite all of the iPad hype and growth. Mac unit shipment had essentially reached 3.9 million units prior to the big holiday season and we anticipated that the company would break the 4 million Mac units per quarter barrier this holiday. Apple did indeed do that, shipping 4.13 million Mac units, but that number fell short of the number we were hoping for.

We had anticipated that Apple would ship 4.4 million Macs this first fiscal 2011 quarter based on a 14 percent sequential growth quarter-to-quarter growth rate. The street consensus was 4.3 million Macs. The big news here is that Apple’s impressive Mac growth rate–while still very sizable–is slowing down, likely due to the rise of the iPad.

Looking on the Bright Side

While there is a definite slow-down in Mac unit growth rates the company did still ship 23 percent more Macs this quarter than it did a year ago. This compares to a 3 percent growth rate in the general PC market, according to Apple. All of this means that Apple’s Mac growth is 8x stronger than the general Windows PC industry.

Furthermore, Apple’s Asian Mac growth is extremely impressive at over 50 percent in Japan and Asia Pacific. Also, while Apple sold just shy of 1 million Macs through its own retail stores about half were sold to people who had never owned a Mac before. The percentage of people buying a Mac through other channels, including Apple online, who have never owned a Mac before is unclear to us.

The bottom line is that Apple busted the 4 million Macs per quarter barrier this quarter, signaling a future where the company will ship more than 16 million Macs per year.

Second Insight – Cash

Apple made over $6 billion in profit this past quarter and the company is now sitting on nearly $60 billion in cash and short/long term assets. This is a staggering amount of money and the best way to illustrate this is to compare it to some valuable companies.

• Adobe – market capitalization is presently at about $17.4 billion
• Autodesk – market cap is presently at about $9.5 billion
• Nvidia – market cap is presently at about $13 billion
• AMD – market cap is presently about $5.4 billion
• ARM Holdings – market cap is presently about $11 billion

All five of those companies above total less than $57 billion in market capitalization. Interestingly, they were chosen for this story because they all have something valuable to Apple’s future growth. ARM designs the main processor architecture behind Apple’s smaller devices and is the market leader. AMD and Nvidia dominate the graphics industries for computers, supercomputers and increasingly will play a role in smaller devices as well. And Autodesk and Adobe have been discussed targets for an Apple acquisition and their software assets compliment the Apple brand, story and its creative customers.

While is is unlikely Apple will ever buy any of these companies in the short term we feel it is interesting to point out their present street value compared to Apple’s available war chest in cash.

Third Insight – Cash Growth

Apple’s future growth is very much primed because of iPhone and iPad it is interesting to point out that the company is now making more than $1 billion from its iTunes Store alone, with an increasingly amount of TV and movies being a big part of the revenue picture. This means Apple is renting more than 4.5 million movies per month. And nearly three times that in TV shows. We feel there is massive upside in Apple media opportunities, and while everyone is focused on its “devices” and concentrating on competing with them the company is quietly building up momentum in media consumption markets where its primary competitors are Amazon and Netflix.

And speaking of Netflix, that company is worth $10 billion presently, an easily digestible amount given Apple’s cash horde.

And related to this insight about cash growth opportunities in media consumption is the new Mac App Store. In the conference call Tim Cook admitted that Apple’s own software does best. This is interesting because if the Mac App Store becomes as huge an opportunity as the App Store for iPad and iPhone then perhaps Apple should be developing and selling more of its own software? After all, Microsoft primarily makes its money on its Windows OS and Office franchise and the company’s margins are greater than Apple’s own. More interesting, if Apple were to acquire a significant software player, say Adobe, it could sell those design applications via the Mac App Store and eliminate the cost of selling that software the traditional way and thereby decrease costs and increase profit margins.

It will be interesting to see what Autodesk has to say in the near future about its Apple App Store experience…if it chooses to say something detailed.

The post Apple’s Holiday Quarter Results: Insights Part 1 appeared first on Architosh.

On the Mac

Ralph has never minced words about not liking Apple and its leader Steve Jobs. And for that he is like many. But Ralph as of late has been riding the Mac waves quite a bit and that alone suggests things are changing. Of course some of this is because Apple dominates the IT media so heavily now that you simply cannot exist as a technology writer and not mention them. And when others like you (and no, that would not be me…) typically also resist mentioning Apple but suddenly find themselves doing so with increased velocity you simply have no choice.

So at this point in time Ralph Grabowski simply has no choice on the Mac. The Mac matters now, period and his writings are reflecting that.

Mac Hype

Some of Ralph’s fans will want to argue my view and say, no they (Apple/Mac) don’t yet truly matter. It’s still all hype! But they do if you can’t escape arguing or talking about them! And, no, this is not celebrity hype, like talking about Paris Hilton. If it is hype it’s more like Windows Vista hype. The kind of hype that lands on the ground and shakes it a good bit, the kind that very few can truly avoid the impact of.

I have another proposal for Apple if we want to contend that the Mac in CAD, or in enterprise in general, is more hype than reality…and that is its comparison to the green movement and global warming. For some, with particular political leanings, global warming and the whole sustainability movement is more hype than reality…more fad than fact.

When numbers, especially when they are small, are correlated to a change event the decision to believe they are actually responsible or indicative of the reality of that event is often highly debated and politically charged.

Take the illegal alien issue in the US. Though their numbers are still relatively small (estimated at 7-20 million) some will argue that those 6 percent illegals represent a dramatic change, while others will acknowledge while there exist a problem it isn’t significant like the other group makes it out to be. So who is right? Does dramatic growth matter when we are still talking about single digital representation or not?

Common sense and a lot of chatter with others has taught me that the answer depends entirely on what people want for themselves and want to believe. For those in the CAD industry who see the Mac as some foreigner that doesn’t speak their language that single digit and growing market percentage isn’t representative of a notable change in the IT climate but rather a temporary fad or response to hype in the marketplace.

Yes, Autodesk has produced a native version of AutoCAD for the Mac, and yes there exist at least 5000 who say they want SolidWorks on the Mac, but to so many CAD veterans in this industry–like Grabowski–how you view Apple and the Mac’s growth is entirely similar to how you view similar trends based on growing but yet still modest or even nascent numbers. In other words, you pick what you want to believe based on how it suits you.

The Mac at Grabowski

Ralph doesn’t get was is so G-r-r-eat about Macs yet! But it doesn’t matter if he gets or doesn’t get it, if he likes and champions them, or if he criticizes them until the cows come home. Like it or not Macs are here! And more and more people are preferring them, especially younger generations. Additionally, as was so convincingly described in Clayton Christensen’s best-selling book The Innovator’s Dilemma, companies that solely look to just serving the needs of their current customers risk missing macro trends that will eventually leave them out in the cold.

Like others, Grabowski is talking about the Mac a lot lately, and with increasing velocity. Back in September he wrote a post questioning where the market is for AutoCAD on the Mac. At this point he must have already been writing a book on AutoCAD for the Mac (which is on sale already) but we’ll skip past that tidbit for now. His blog post on not getting what’s so great about Macs has gotten a lot of attention for sure, both in defense of Ralph and against his opinions.

A post about the 5000 petitions for SolidWorks on the Mac was also of interest last year. His post about options and helping people do CAD on the Mac this summer was also of note. This post was titled “Experiencing CAD on the Mac.”

The bottom line is Grabowski is writing a heck of a lot about the Mac lately, and with increasing frequency and intensity. All of which, of course, is good for the Mac. I say this because Ralph Grabowski has weight in this industry. People respect his views and read his blog and site regularly. If he is giving new attention to Apple and Jobs, it means things are changing, period. Where they are changing can be debated, but I am pretty sure the trending is good for the Mac in CAD, with or without Grabowski’s platform blessings!

The post Mac in CAD getting big: Grabowski riding every wave appeared first on Architosh.

There is no doubting that Apple’s Mac division is being upstaged by its new era product lines (with the exception of the iPod division which is slowing down in growth) but one only needs to look at the bigger picture to see it’s all okay with Steve & Company precisely because the “halo effect” from iPhone in particular keeps pushing Mac sales up at a healthy rate. Of course that rate may be slowing as the iPad begins to both produce a “halo effect” and a “cannibal effect.” (more on that later).

So how healthy are we talking about?

Mac Unit Growth

Let’s start with the quarter to quarter sequential growth. In this quarter Apple’s Mac units grew at just over 12 percent, which is a healthy growth rate.  This was the result of shipping more than 400,000 Macs than the previous quarter. Mind you, just a few years ago 400,000 Macs per quarter was approximately one forth the amount of all Macs in that quarter.

The post Mac Unit Growth Remains Impressive Despite iPad appeared first on Architosh.

Some Notes

Actually in the press introduction to Autodesk’s announcement of AutoCAD for Mac that very question got answered by Autodesk Senior Vice President Amar Hanspal. The answer?

According to Hanspal, Autodesk’s own customers have kept chiming in on wanting AutoCAD for Mac at an increasing rate over the past few years. Clearly such a statement by Hanspal is a testament to Apple’s popularity and growing strength in business markets. In fact, Hanspal remarks that its customers are increasingly using Mac hardware more and more in enterprise and business. The result is a company that ultimately is directly responding to its own customers.

The AutoCAD universe is a big place. Hanspal said in an interview presentation there are over 4,000 AutoCAD third-party developers and these developers can now support the Mac version because the native C++ API for AutoCAD on Windows is the same for the Mac version.

The DWG file engine in AutoCAD for the Mac is identical, literally the same as that in its Windows version. There is full, bi-directional file format fidelity so mixed PC/Mac offices can open and work on the same files.

In a product video on the AutoCAD for Mac webpage Autodesk does actually compare its product directly to a competitor. In this case, in discussing AutoCAD layers, it compares itself to Vectorworks (by Nemetschek Vectorworks) when talking about verticality in regards to layers (ie: AutoCAD does not have verticality with layers) saying Vectorworks classes are more like AutoCAD layers. The comparison seemed aimed at having Vectorworks users understand something key about the product, rather than taking a swipe at Vectorworks itself. The latter would have seemed nonsensical anyway as in many ways Vectorworks’s dual class and layer system is arguably more flexible.

Some Tech Notes

Let’s get into some technical notes here on today’s news about AutoCAD for Mac. First off, you will need a 64-bit Intel processor based Mac. Most of Apple’s machines released on or after January 1, 2009 will work. To give you a sense of what we have been running it on in the Architosh studio, we have it on an early 2009, MacBook. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo. We have not tested it hard so we cannot remark about hardware to performance issues. If you are considering AutoCAD for Mac you should visit the specification page for the product on Autodesk’s website.

A product demonstration video does mention one rival Mac CAD product, Mac industry leader Nemetschek Vectorworks.

AutoCAD for Mac is a native 64-bit application. It is also built on an Apple Cocoa foundation with a UI (user-interface) that fits the Mac’s GUI Chrome implementation. Interestingly, the UI has a two-toned approach and gives the user the option to try a dark or light interface. This doesn’t affect the Mac UI element(s) of the palettes, windows and other panels. One comment here: we think the dark interface looks pretty darn good!

This only runs on Leopard (10.5.8) or Snow Leopard version 10.6.4 or later). If you are running an older OS you need to update your system.

AutoCAD for Mac is fully compatible with AutoCAD for Windows. Drawings containing objects created in AutoCAD Architecture (Windows only) can be easily opened in AutoCAD for Mac.

For Command Line users AutoCAD for Mac has a near identical Command Line interface and nearly all commands are available for the Mac version. Autodesk makes a note that the Ribbon Bar of the latest versions of AutoCAD for Windows are not supported on the Mac version, but instead Mac users get the familiar Tool bars and properties palettes (on the right) that are common UI design features of the Mac. That is a good thing for Mac users. Users should note that Microsoft’s Ribbon UI was slammed when it came out on Revit by its users.

What is Not Working

While this version of AutoCAD for Mac is nearly identical to that found in the Windows version there are some differences and items of non-support. They include:

• Network licensing and CAD manager are not included
• No support for DCL in AutoLISP
• No access to custom AutoCAD user UI controls in ObjectARX
• Microsoft VBasic Applications and OLE objects are not be supported as they are Windows specific
• Layer Filters and Groups and States are not supported yet but will be in a future release
• Sheet Manager is not in this release either
• There is also no PDF, DGN and DWF “underlay” support but will be in a future release
• minor other items not yet supported in this release

Autodesk recommends that larger companies with enterprise use of AutoCAD may want to hold off on a Mac version adoption until their specific enterprise needs are fully confirmed to be met. Autodesk recommends that smaller and mid-size companies are more suited to AutoCAD for Mac adoption or conversion.

Finally, the version of AutoCAD for Mac can both import and export ACIS (.sat) files. Here at Architosh we like to talk about modeling and rendering kernels and engines and this is interesting to us because we have been under the assumption that Autodesk has written its own modeling kernel for AutoCAD based on Spatial’s ACIS.

The post Some tech notes on AutoCAD for Mac appeared first on Architosh.

A Bit of History

A bit of history is in order to set the proper mood for this post. The year was 1998. It was one of those water cooler moments. The location was the Boston architectural office of Koetter Kim & Associates. The office was completely Mac based during that time. It was in the afternoon, just after lunch hour to be precise. I was talking to a young colleague who at the time was telling me he was thinking about going back to China to practice architecture, since getting his masters at the GSD. Steve Jobs had already introduced the iMac, but despite that my colleague was telling me how much he loved the Mac but it seemed that the platform was doomed. I told him I thought the problem was that people didn’t have the information available to them to dispel the rumors and disparaging comments.

I told him I was learning how to create Web sites. He said, “you should create one about the Mac in architecture.” I said, “Yeah…maybe I can call it Macitecture or something like that.” He said, or you could call it “Archintosh.” I said, “or I could just call it Architosh,” taking out the “in” part of it. So that is how it began. The goal was simple. Tell the world that despite the gloom and doom surrounding Apple there are indeed firms and tools available serving up architectural practice on the Mac.

Just One Big Problem

Architosh was spun together in 1998 and officially launched on Feb 3, 1999. It was at first not a news site or a site with any journalistic pretenses. It was a resource. It listed software and it began to collect and list information on Mac-using firms. It was instantly popular and it spread through news on the now defunct MacEvanglista e-news list headed by famed Silicon-Valley Apple fan boy and former employee Guy Kawasaki.

Prior to the power of Google to get known fast you needed the power of an influential news e-list. Kawasaki’s list was it. And Architosh quickly become a resource of value. But there was just one problem, many people said. There is no point in fighting for the Mac in architecture without AutoCAD on the Mac. I refuted that point (more on that later).

Just One Big Problem – Part 2

Later on, several years in fact, I was talking to some Apple people who said to me that Steve himself saw little point in pushing hard on the Mac in architecture front if the world’s top software title for it was not available. While I have never been able to check the veracity of that statement, there was always something about that that fit Steve’s logic.

So here we are, more than 12 years on from that water cooler moment. And today, officially, we have AutoCAD on the Mac. A lot has changed in those twelve years. All those Apple naysers were, as it turned out, just plain wrong about Apple, Steve and the immense fortitude and determination of Mac users.

And they were also wrong about something else too. And that is, that it wasn’t worth fighting for the Mac in architecture without AutoCAD. I originally refuted that notion for the very same logic I was defending the Mac and its right to exist in the computing universe back in 1998. That logic boiled down to this: “there was simply too much creative brilliance there…”

What I meant back then by “there” was not just at Apple but at its many dedicated Mac developers around the world. Specifically, in the context of all those who are not at Autodesk, I was referring to the outstanding software achievements by firms like AutoDesSys, Ashar, Graphisoft and Nemetschek–to name just of a few of the key players who were creating and innovating with Mac CAD software.

For the same reason it made sense to bet on, root for, and champion–by way of providing a neutral resource to the world community–the value of Apple and the Mac in computing going forward in 1999, it also made sense to do the same for all those who supported the Mac in CAD prior to, during, and after its darkest days.

Therefore, while today is a big day for Apple and Autodesk and CAD uses around the world, it marks a momentous moment for everyone else who was apart of this story all along. That includes the incredibly talented software developers who served, and will continue to serve, the Mac community with innovative solutions that will compete with Autodesk’s new entrants in the market.

[Editor’s Note: A sentence in the third part of this article was relocated to the end of the second part of this article. 6:12PM EST. ]

The post Just one big problem – Notes on AutoCAD for Mac appeared first on Architosh.

Martyn Day has published a nice look-see of Graphisoft’s new ArchiCAD 14–with plenty of cool images of the Microsoft Hungary campus building the BIM leader is using to demonstrate version 14’s features. You can check out that article here:

http://aecmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=354

It’s a good article on the new ArchiCAD 14. But right in the second paragraph, Martyn does the industry a big disservice by stating an absolute falsehood about BIM adoption in AEC. He says that MEP and structural engineering firms “were quick to adopt 3D” and suggest that its the architects who are lagging in BIM adoption.

First off nobody in AEC has been quick to adopt 3D or BIM. I’m not sure what he means by 3D (if it is BIM he is referring to or not) but either of them has not been adopted quickly in AEC. That’s just false. As regards 3D, SketchUp has had more to do with accelerating 3D adoption within AEC than any other tool. Even the long-standing BIM tools.

But back to the engineers. According to the McGraw-Hill SmartMarket BIM report published late in 2009, very few MEP engineers (22%) collectively see MEP engineers reaping high value in ROI from BIM. I’m not saying this to put a damper on BIM for MEP, but rather to emphasize the importance of accuracy of information.

The reality is that structural engineers are benefiting more from BIM than many of the constituents of MEP. Electrical engineers, in particular, see very little value in modeling electrical items (which themselves are often very small). A similar argument can be said about plumbing. Mechanical engineers are actually lagging mechanical contractors in BIM adoption based on the McGraw-Hill report cited above. The report also notes that marketing new business to clients is the number one internal benefit of BIM for MEP engineers. Marketing! Think about that for a second. What does that imply? This is because contractors and building owners are benefiting the most from BIM adoption and many are mandating BIM. Large MEP outfits need to attain BIM skills in order to compete for work. ROI tied to productivity is getting blurred by BIM’s benefit in competing in a very tough economic environment.

Finally, the McGraw-Hill report on BIM clearly states that architects were the early adopters of BIM technology and remain the highest users of BIM. Not engineers!

This is just one example of the misinformation of BIM in the industry. Elements of the press need to be careful to make sure they are citing the correct facts. Especially facts about adoption and financial benefits. Here at Architosh we spent an enormous amount of time making sure we crafted our statements about BIM adoption in our 2010 BIM report in such a way that they were backed up by solid factual numbers; and when those numbers were not quite there or were more suggestive that we could cite credible evidence of what the numbers were suggesting.

Martyn Day’s article has the story completely backwards and it doesn’t gel with arguably the world’s best report on AEC industry-wide BIM usage data. It also doesn’t jive with our BIM report–while much smaller in scope and limited to architects did communicate clearly to us who in AEC was the farthest along in BIM. Nor does it gel with logic. The earliest BIM tools were in fact made for architects first.

If you haven’t read the McGraw-Hill SmartMarket BIM Report from late 2009 you can obtain it here. It is a very exhaustive study with quite a lot of numerical data.

The post The Mis-Information of BIM appeared first on Architosh.

“We’re working on several concepts. One of those concepts is definitely running SolidWorks as a native Mac app, in addition to the no-install (browser-based) version…So you can run it on a Mac or run on a Mac machine using a browser–take your pick.”

We are here and available to talk to SolidWorks Corporation about what their future product plans are. I guess the word “working” is the key verb in the remark by Joe Dunne of SolidWorks above. How does one work on the concept of a native Mac application? That could just involve non-programming planning. More likely however it involves software programmers digging into the technical details of making such a port over to Mac OS X feasible.

I personally had the chance to talk to a software developer last night who utilizes the Parasolid geometry modeling kernel. The same kernel behind SolidWorks. He noted that changes to that kernel that could affect his Mac application are important. Some types of key changes could very well indicate that another licensee of the kernel is at work in the Mac space. He noted that some such changes have been recognized in the recent past.

Keeping it Fair to the Community

We weren’t at SolidWorks World. We’ll take Kenneth Wong’s word that the eruption of applause concerning Jeff Ray’s comments about cloud, multi-touch and Mac futures with SolidWorks’ technology was indeed correct. The blog posts seem to back up the enthusiasm that the product design and SolidWorks community does indeed wish to see a Mac version in the future.

The way SolidWorks is handling this is consistent with what we have seen with developers in the past who were working on Mac versions of their software in secrecy and wished to “manage” that process. Of course the community loves it when companies say they will do “X” and deliver it. Their care in managing this is likely an indication of just how complex their initiatives really are and they wish to not promise the community anything they can’t in the end deliver. Not because they can’t but because they may have chosen not to. Not letting a customer base down is an important part of what you say about your company and its products.

On the other hand, SolidWorks may simply wish to keep its main competitors in the dark as much as possible. And every company deserves the right to its secrecy. We expect to hear from the company later today. We look forward to sharing what we learn.

The post Confusion on SolidWorks on Mac appeared first on Architosh.

Okay so the iPad is the name. I was hoping they would surprise us with something new and clever. Not! Clearly Jobs is a fully mature human being now, having gotten completely past Scully and the Newton MessagePad. So contrary to my earlier statement that he would distance the new device from the word “pad” Jobs’s new toy is in fact called the iPad. I have to admit it actually is better sounding than iSlate and iTablet…neither of which I cared much for.

The iPad – Details

The Apple iPad webpage just went live about 60 seconds ago. I’ve been reloading Apple.com for minutes now every 15 seconds. Hurray! It’s up. I have much to do today I’m going to make this blog post pretty short. The details that matter to us at Architosh are centered around this device’s raw power to handle large document images both in viewing capability and creation.

The A4

Apple is calling the new internally designed main processor (CPU) the A4. This is a PA Semi team produced chip, make no bones about it. This group has world-class expertise in high-performance/high-energy efficient chip design. That’s why Apple acquired them. That is why the US Government got hold of some of their first processors for military equipment–because they were that good.

Apple's PS Semi produced A4 processor in the new iPad. 1 Ghz chip may integrate graphics in a system-on-a-chip package. The A4 is likely based on a customization of an ARM processor design as Apple holds a special class license to ARM architectures which enables them to modify architectures.

The Apple A4 runs at 1-Ghz. It’s high-performance, lower-power system-on-a-chip custom silicon. We’ll have to dig around to find out who manufactured it and that will likely be easier to obtain than the internal architecture of the chip. That Apple will keep very close to their chest. We assume it is ARM architecture-based, but that’s not taking us all the way to where we really want to go.

Some of the details we now appear to know are flowing in across various sources on the Net. Engadget is claiming the A4 design is not just ARM architecture based, as we mentioned above, but based on the very latest Cortex A9 series multicore architecture. This chip was first discussed by ARM back in mid year 2009.

The ARM Cortex A9 can be up to a Quadcore multicore chip, as seen in this diagram. Credit: ARM.

Key to the Cortex A9 architecture is that like the Cortex A8 (which the iPhone processor is currently based around) the A9 is multicore. Additionally, it is built on a 45-nanometer processes compared to the 65-nanometer process of the A8. This reduction in chip size decreases power consumption while enabling the chip to speed up. Unlike Intel’s Atom chip, the ARM Cortex A9 sips power at about 300 milliwatts or less, while the Atom uses up to 2 watts. 2 watts is tiny in the world of chips coming from Intel, but not as tiny as what is needed in cell phones. That explains why the Atom is hot with Netbooks but not with Apple.

If Engadget is correct about the Apple A4 being Cortex A9 based the next question to ask is does the A4 have two cores or four? And if  the A4 is indeed Cortex A9 with a quad core why isn’t Apple bragging about that? Seems like it is right up their alley.

Could it be that the number “4” in A4 stands for quadcore?

Graphics

In terms of graphics Apple is providing no information on the GPU. So we can only imagine what is inside powering that gorgeous LED backlit display, which supports 1024 x 768 resolution max. With that display size one can really bring up pretty big PDF files of CAD or 3D images. That’s much better than doing it on the iPhone–something I’ve done quite often but not like I’d like due to some performance and screen size limitations.

Now looking through the lens of the ARM Cortex A4 as the likely customized engine in Apple’s A4 processor we have learned a bit more. This C/Net article says the Cortex A4 can handle 1080p high-def video but Apple’s spec and iPad pages do not claim this. Video seems to be limited to 720p.

Given what we think we know details of the A4 chip may consist of this:

• 1 Ghz frequency custom designed Apple CPU (via PA Semiconductor team)
• ARM Cortex A9 Multicore Architecture
• Quadcore (hence A4 name) or dual core only
• 1-2 MB of L2 Cache
• Single and double precision scalar Floating-Point (FPU)
• NEON Media Processing Engine (not sure…)

Anyway, until we learn more… In the meantime please enjoy the iPad pages at Apple.

The post iPad – Details on the processor and what’s hot appeared first on Architosh.