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According to IHS iSuppli the average growth of DRAM content per PC will drop to a record low in 2013-- 17.4%, down from 21.4% in 2012 and the record highs of 56.1% in 2007 and 49.9% in 2008.

DRAM loading growth in PCs should remain low in the near future, rising by 21.3% in 2014 before sliding towards the 20% range until at least 2016.

The analyst attributes the decline to the current deceleration in the upgrade cycle (usually justified by the steady increase in PC capabilities) of both desktop and notebook PC.

Intel highlight its living room ambitions at TV Connect 2013-- revealing the Intel Media Server Reference Design (MSRD), a hardware and software design kit for Intel-based media servers and STBs.

Aimed at OEMs and system builders, the MSRD uses the dual-core Atom CE5300 system-on-chip (with integrated power management, 3D/2D graphics engine and H.264 B-picture hardware encoder) and pre-integrated components including media engine, broadcast stacks, virtualisation and motion control technology.

A number of companies provide MSRD technology-- namely Futarque (DVB-T2/T/C broadcast and media sharing stacks), Videon Central (aVia media engine) and Hillcrest Labs (Freespace Motion Engine software).

The hardware platform is designed by Prodrive.

The MSRD will be available by April 2013 from either Intel or Videon Central.

Go Intel Launches Reference Design for Media Processors

Scientists at EPFL believe the future of flash memory makes use of a pair of materials-- graphene and molybdenite, two materials already used in promising component prototypes.

The Laboratory of Nanometer Electronics and Structures (LANES) discovered the electronic properties of molybdenite (MoS2) back in 2011. Similar in structure to graphene (being a "2-dimensional" material), molybdenite has interesting semi-conducting properties allowing it to switch very easily between "on" and "off" states (like those write commands use) without using a lot of energy.

On the other hand graphene is a superior electrical conductor than silicon, and is often touted as the wonder material for transistors of the future.

The LANES proposal combines both materials in sandwich-style "field effect" geometry-- a molybdenite layer receives electrons from a bottom layer of graphene electrodes, while on top multiple graphene layers capture electric charge and store memory.

"Combining these two materials enabled us to make great progress in miniaturization, and also using these transistors we can make flexible nanoelectronic devices," LANES director Andraas Kis explains.

In theory, the technology is more than suitable for increasingly small and flexible electronics and devices. However the technology will only hit the market in far future, meaning we have to depend on silicon for a while yet.

Go Nonvolatile Memory Cells Based on MoS2/Graphene Heterostructures

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) believe they have the secret to more robust, "self-healing" processors-- building chips able to keep on working even after laser blasts.

The failure of a single transistor often renders most chips out of service. Not with the Caltech chips. The prototypes (power amplifiers of the mobile phones kind) carry a number of robust sensors measuring temperature, current, voltage and power while feeding into an application-specific integrated-circuit (ASIC) unit.

The ASIC unit measures chip performance and adjusts system actuators (the changeable parts of the chip) by drawing conclusions based on aggregate response from the sensors.