IBM yesterday unveiled a new process for making computer chips to increase chip speed and reduce their energy consumption. The new technology, called "silicon-on-insulator" (SOI) represents a fundamental advance in how chips are built, the company said. It will enable more powerful voice-recognition software to be broadly used in home computers, development of smaller cell phones with batteries lasting many hours longer than they do today and the creation of entire new classes of portable devices for accessing the Internet. The new process protects the millions of tiny transistors on a chip with a "blanket" of insulation, reducing harmful electrical effects that sap energy and hinder performance.