In military parlance, an Osprey is a propeller-driven airplane that takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter. The Osprey tilts its wings 90 degrees, the props pull it straight up, and the wings flip back again for conventional flight. Clever engineering, but a bit ungainly to look at.

Over in the less dangerous but equally contentious microprocessor world, ARM has also hatched its own Osprey, this one officially named the ARM Cortex-A9. The new A9 will be capable of 2-GHz clock rates, an unheard-of speed for an ARM core. The previous-generation A8 was barely able to make 1 GHz (see Embedded Technology Journal, July 28, 2009, “Better, Stronger, Faster), and even that required some silicon sleight of hand from Intrinsity. At 2 GHz, the new A9 becomes the most potent weapon from the ARM’s dealer.