We've talked about Creative's brand-new Stemcell computing platform before. They developed a new processor, the ZMS-05, which consists of two ARM-926 cores, and 48 programmable 'processing elements' which can develop in real-time into performing any of the specialised acceleration functions needed by modern computing. In addition, the system-on-chips, called Zii, could be linked together freely, achieving teraflop speeds on a sheet of A4 paper. Back then, they claimed that a Zii could easily playback HD content (even on HDTVs). They put the Zii in a iPod Touch-like device, and their promises turned out to be true.
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2009-01-25
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2005-07-06
well createive didnt develop squat, 3d realms extend their OLD processor the DMS-02.
the dual arm is nothing new and the zms-05 is not all that exciting compared to any other arm licensee's SOC. They are not even using new arm cores just old 926's.
the newer TI cores are more interesting than the zii.
the dms-02 was interesting at the time but didn't score any major design wins and so far, neither has the zms-05. creative is all about the hype "stemcell computing! rawk!" and no meat "lets make an iphone touch clone!"
it needs a) a die shrink, b) speed increase, c) expanded memory address space (1gb? pshaw).
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Seriously, I've never seen paper do a whole lot of computing.
It's nice that they've finally figured out that the casing was not the next generation iPod touch or iPhone.
It should be interesting to see if this works well. I wouldn't bet on an iPod touch killer but then, Creative hasn't mentioned such a thing.
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2009-07-31
The OP compares the two possible dev choices as on the one hand Plazma being linux-based and otoh Google Android. But since Android is just as well Linux based, why shouldn't it make the most advantage of the device? Does Plazma include a modified Linux kernel using the 48 processing cells more efficiently?
Edited 2009-07-31 07:40 UTC
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The Zii is available in Germany, Spain, UK and Italy. Where is France you ask?
The sales support just answered: "We encourage you to check our website for the latest list of countries for delivery."
This time Creative is creative, but they still have some issues with geography. I encourage them to continue working on good hardware and fire the support team 
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2005-07-22