Intel aims to boost digital camera market

At 4pm, the firm will join with Kodak, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and others to announce an architecture for making digital cameras a common sight even among non-technical users. Central to the plan is a blueprint that calls for the PC's CPU to handle processing tasks, enabling camera makers to build designs that are cheaper because they require less complex engines and less memory.

Although Intel is unlikely to itself become a camera maker, the plan will boost its bid to make 'visual computing' more widespread and, of course, increase demand for its chips.