Massive MIMO for Ericsson 5G

Ericsson says it is introducing the industry’s first 5G NR-capable radio, called Ericsson AIR 6468. It features 64 transmit and 64 receive antennas enabling it to support the company’s 5G plug-ins for both Massive MIMO and Multi-User MIMO. The high-performance beamforming, required for Massive MIMO, is enabled through the use of a split Cloud RAN ...

Read full article: Massive MIMO for Ericsson 5G

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/massive-mimo-ericsson-5g-2016-09/

Poor Old ARM

The dirty deed is done, what now for ARM? Is ARM’s ambition that it should be ‘The Architecture for the Digital World’ now dead because it has lost its independence? Will the electronics industry ever again (after the Intel experience) allow a sole-sourced proprietary microprocessor to become dominant in any important industry segment? Will ARM’s ...

Read full article: Poor Old ARM

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/poor-old-arm-2016-09/

Dutch Vote To Make Electric Cars Compulsory

It seems the Dutch intend to lead the world into the electric car era. Although electric car sales in Holland are less than 10% of total car sales, the lower house of the Dutch Parliament has voted that the sale of petrol and diesel cars should be banned after 2025. To become law, the Dutch ...

Read full article: Dutch Vote To Make Electric Cars Compulsory

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/dutch-vote-make-electric-cars-compulsory-2016-09/

Better parallel performance for artificial inteligence

Fujitsu Labs has found a better way to parallel graphics processors (GPU) for deep learning applications. Using ‘AlexNet’, 64 GPUs in parallel achieve 27x the speed of a single GPU for, as far as Fujitsu can determine, the world’s fastest processing. A conventional method to accelerate deep learning is to use multiple computers equipped with ...

Read full article: Better parallel performance for artificial inteligence

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/better-parallel-performance-artificial-inteligence-2016-08/

Hirose and Harting to create mini 10G Ethernet connector

Hirose of Japan and Harting of Germany are to develop a miniature connection for 10Gbit Ethernet. “As a form of the Internet of Things, there is one thing that Industry 4.0 requires above all else: an Ethernet connection to each and every Industry 4.0 component,” claimed Harting chairman Philip Harting. “The standardisation and international norms ...

Read full article: Hirose and Harting to create mini 10G Ethernet connector

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/connectors/hirose-harting-create-mini-10g-ethernet-connector-2016-08/

ULE wireless products on show at IFA in Berlin

Products using the ULA (Ultra-Low Energy) networking standard will be on show at IFA in Berlin this week. ULA is a modified form of the DECT cordless phone standard, and is another wireless system vying to under-pin IoT communications. “Companies like Panasonic, VTech, Crow, Gigaset, and Sercomm have developed a range of new products such ...

Read full article: ULE wireless products on show at IFA in Berlin

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/ule-wireless-products-show-ifa-berlin-2016-08/

Nantero licensees prepare for CNT memory production

Fujitsu Semiconductor and Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor have begun begun developing carbon nanotube based memory products based on Nantero’s CNT NRAM technology for multiple markets. The licensing agreement between Fujitsu and Nantero covers joint development and licensing of ultra-fast, ultra-high-density NRAM, non-volatile RAM using carbon nanotubes Fujitsu’s initial product will be a 55nm embedded memory based ...

Read full article: Nantero licensees prepare for CNT memory production

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nantero-licensees-prepare-cnt-memory-production-2016-08/

Nantero Licensees Have CNT Memories In Product Design

After 15 years, $90 million in equity funding and $50 million in licensing and customer support revenues, Nantero is productising its carbon nanotube memory technology which it calls NRAM. The company has twelve customers, including several top in the ten, who have multiple fabs running NRAM wafers including one on 28nm. NRAM’s speed is the ...

Read full article: Nantero Licensees Have CNT Memories In Product Design

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-mannerisms/nantero-licensees-carbon-nanotube-memories-product-design-2016-08/

Sigfox chip integrates transmitter and receiver

Atmel’s ATA8520D is a transceiver IC for 868MHz Sigfox proprietary networks, intended to be used for IoT and machine-to-machine comms over with Sigfox protocol. It has an RF front end for up and down-link , a digital baseband and a microcontroller in the same device. The transmit path uses a closed loop fractional-N modulator, while ...

Read full article: Sigfox chip integrates transmitter and receiver

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/sigfox-chip-integrates-transmitter-receiver-2016-08/

Most read Gadget Master posts in August

By the power of Google Analytics, let’s see what was hot on Gadget Master in August. Find out what your peers have been reading in the month just passed. Topics covered include a very special Megaprocessor, an electronics book for Kids, a Raspberry Pi home alarm system, Wizard Chess and a laser trip wire alarm… As always, let’s ...

Read full article: Most read Gadget Master posts in August

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/read-gadget-master-posts-august-2-2016-08/

Flexible circuit is only 4μm thick

Complete with substrate, an active matrix for a flexible display need only be 4μm thick, according to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The matrix of ultra-thin n-type transparent oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) for the backplane were initially fabricated on a sacrificial laser-reactive substrate. Laser irradiation from the backside of the substrate ...

Read full article: Flexible circuit is only 4μm thick

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/flexible-circuit-4%ce%bcm-thick-2016-08/

Samsung in volume production of 14nm Exynos processors

Samsung Syas it is in mass production of the Exynos 7 Quad 7570 built on 14nm process technology for the budget smartphone market and IoT devices. It is Samsung’s first Exynos processor to integrate a Cat.4 LTE 2CA modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and GNSS in one chip. Exynos 7570, with four Cortex-A53 cores in 14nm, ...

Read full article: Samsung in volume production of 14nm Exynos processors

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/samsung-volume-production-14nm-exynos-processors-2016-08/

TI adds WiFi to EV charging station

TI says its reference design that adds Wi-Fi connectivity to an electric vehicle (EV) charging station is an industry first. EV owners will be able to remotely monitor and control the charging of their vehicles from just about anywhere with Wi-Fi, presenting dozens of potential use cases from home automation to checking the availability of ...

Read full article: TI adds WiFi to EV charging station

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ti-adds-wifi-ev-charging-station-2016-08/

Ten Best Hotels

With the holiday season almost over here, thanks to TripAdvisor, are the ten best hotels in the world: Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur Shinta Mani, Cambodia Bellevue Syrene, Sorrento Hanoi La, Hanoi Achtis Hotel, Afitos, Greece Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons UK Mirihi Island Resort, Maldives Bucuti and Tara Beach, Aruba Calabash, Granada Ritta, Brazil

Read full article: Ten Best Hotels

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/ten-best-hotels-2016-08/

Zinc-ion cell lasts 1,000 cycles to 80%

Chemists at the University of Waterloo in Canada are claiming to have developed a long-lasting zinc-ion battery. It is said to use non-flammable non-toxic materials and a pH-neutral water-based salt, consisting of a water-based electrolyte, a pillared vanadium oxide positive electrode and a metallic zinc negative electrode. Inside, positively-charged zinc ions are oxidized from the ...

Read full article: Zinc-ion cell lasts 1,000 cycles to 80%

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/zinc-ion-cell-lasts-1000-cycles-80-2016-08/

Sensors predict elderly falls, without wearables

Falls in the elderly can be predicted, three weeks early in some cases, according to the University of Missouri. “We have developed a non-wearable sensor system that can measure walking patterns in the home, including gait speed and stride length,” said Marjorie Skubic, who is both director of the University centre for elderly care and ...

Read full article: Sensors predict elderly falls, without wearables

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/sensors-predict-elderly-falls-without-wearables-2016-08/

China’s Almost Insurmountable Challenge

Throwing money at the semiconductor industry is not going to get China toba dominant position, reckons the business consultancy Bain. “Consumers and businesses around the world will continue to choose systems and devices based on quality, technology, value, and brand,” says Bain, “to gain a material share in the global market, Chinese semiconductor manufacturers need ...

Read full article: China’s Almost Insurmountable Challenge

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/chinas-almost-insurmountable-challenge-2016-08/

ShapeClip trips the light fantastic

From Lancaster University, ShapeClip is a prototype system that ambitiously aims to "turn any display into a shape-changing display"

Read full article: ShapeClip trips the light fantastic

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/controls/shapeclip-trips-light-fantastic-2016-08/

Phone data is good for town planning

Big data analysis of mobile phones is as good as existing survey techniques for town transport planners, but much cheaper, claims MIT and Ford. “Applying the system to six weeks of phone location data from residents of the Boston area, the researchers were able to assemble the kind of model of urban mobility patterns that ...

Read full article: Phone data is good for town planning

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/phone-data-good-town-planning-2016-08/

Korea develops roll-based packaging for flexible silicon ICs

Korean process engineers have developed a chip packaging technology that creates flexible integrated circuits. The process starts with a flash memory wafer diced after thinning to ~100nm. These die are attached to a plastic carrier film, which allows them to be transferred to a roller and pressed onto a flexible PCB supported by a flat ...

Read full article: Korea develops roll-based packaging for flexible silicon ICs

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/korea-develops-roll-based-packaging-flexible-silicon-ics-2016-08/

Common-mode EMC chokes offer up to 10A

Schaffner has expanded its range of common-mode EMC chokes. The current-compensated inductors now have horizontal and vertical mounting options for currents between 0.3 and 10A and the RN series is now rated up to 300Vac. RN dual chokes are available over 0.4 to 100mH operating over DC to 60Hz with common-mode resonance between 100kHz and ...

Read full article: Common-mode EMC chokes offer up to 10A

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/passives/common-mode-emc-chokes-offer-10a-2016-08/

Organic solar cells face large scale tropical test

Heliatek has installed the second phased of organic photovoltaic solar cells on its Singapore pilot project. The opaque organic solar film was installed on the west façade of a building called Cleantech I on steel panels with 56 2m-long films and 45 films of 3.25m-long laminated into 15 glass sheets. Prior to this, 87 soar ...

Read full article: Organic solar cells face large scale tropical test

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/organic-solar-cells-face-large-scale-tropical-test-2016-08/

Maxim offers data counterfeit protection for IoT

Maxim has developed an IoT development design to provide protection against counterfeit sensor data along the entire data chain, from transducer to the cloud. The rapid growth of IoT capabilities for industrial applications comes with legitimate concerns about data integrity, due to deliberate corruption of critical sensor data anywhere between a source and the cloud. ...

Read full article: Maxim offers data counterfeit protection for IoT

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/maxim-2016-08/

MCU to grow 4% to $16.6bn, says IC Insights

MCU, the IC industry’s original system-on-chip SoC product is expected to reach record-high annual revenues through the second half of this decade despite an overall slowdown in unit growth during the next five years, reprports IC Insights. MCU sales barely increased in 2015, rising less than a half percent, to set a new record high ...

Read full article: MCU to grow 4% to $16.6bn, says IC Insights

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mcu-grow-4-16-6bn-says-ic-insights-2016-08/

Digi-Key signs u-blox

u-blox, the Swiss wireless and GPS IC specialist, has signed up with Digi-Key to distribute its products in the US. “We wanted to offer engineers, universities, and makers with a Digi-Key account the ability to bundle the purchase of our products with other components they are sourcing from Digi-Key,” says Nikolaos Papadopoulos, President of u-blox ...

Read full article: Digi-Key signs u-blox

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/digi-key-signs-u-blox-2016-08/

Dialogue enters GaN market

Dialog will start sampling GaN power ICs in Q4 with a fast charging power adapter made on TSMC’s 650-volt GaN-on-Silicon process technology. The DA8801 together with Dialog’s patented digital Rapid Charge power conversion controllers will enable more efficient, smaller and higher power density adapters compared to traditional Silicon field-effect transistor (FET) based designs. Dialog is ...

Read full article: Dialogue enters GaN market

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/dialogue-enters-gan-market-2016-08/

Japan’s Transistor Production To Outpace US

Japan’s transistor production is expected to reach 6 million units a month by the end of the year – higher than that of the USA – according to a survey compiled by the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry. So, 56 years ago, started a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of September 28th 1960. The ...

Read full article: Japan’s Transistor Production To Outpace US

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/japans-transistor-production-to-outpace-us-2016-08/

A $2Trn Shot In The Arm

What would $2 trillion do for the US economy? Both candidates for the US presidency favour some sort of tax holiday for the repatriation of the $2 trillion of profits parked abroad by US companies. Currently these profits would be taxed at 35% less the cost of local foreign taxation. US CEOs don’t think that’s ...

Read full article: A $2Trn Shot In The Arm

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/2trn-shot-arm-2016-08/

Ed Prepares To Spout Balls

Amazing what a lunch at the Travellers Club can achieve, Ed confides to his diary, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has agreed to butt out of dealings with foreign technology companies leaving my good self as the gatekeeper for foreign tech companies wanting to operate in the UK. “You must ...

Read full article: Ed Prepares To Spout Balls

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-prepares-to-talk-balls-2016-08/

Robot surveys sewers with UWB radar

Ultra-wide-band pulsed radar is the key to scanning sewer pipes quickly, claim researchers from Louisiana Tech University. Fractures, deterioration and voids in surrounding soil can be detected in buried pipes, tunnels and culverts without intimate contact between the sensor and the pipe. Instead, the radar robot drives along the interior scanning the walls. “Our UWB ...

Read full article: Robot surveys sewers with UWB radar

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/robot-surveys-sewers-uwb-radar-2016-08/

The Plum Yield

Yield has always been the key to profit in the IC industry and it has always been a closely kept secret. “When I am asked by an outsider about Toshiba’s yields I cannot give a straight answer,” says the great former CEO of Toshiba Semiconductor Tsuyoshi Kawanishi in his book Chip Management. “Rather than answering ...

Read full article: The Plum Yield

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/the-plum-yield-2016-08/

Princeton open sources 25-core server chip

Princeton University researchers have developed a new chip that promises to boost the performance of data centres. The chip, called Piton, would “substantially increase processing speed while slashing energy usage,” say the researchers. The chip architecture is scalable — designs can be built that go from a dozen to several thousand cores. Also, the architecture ...

Read full article: Princeton open sources 25-core server chip

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/484683-2016-08/

ON Cleared To Buy Fairchild

ON has received the US FTC’s blessing to proceed with its $2.4 billion takeover of Fairchild on condition that it sells off the Ignition IGBT business. The FTC came to the view that the combined company would have a 60% plus market share of the IGBT market if the takeover went ahead without the disposal. ...

Read full article: ON Cleared To Buy Fairchild

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/cleared-buy-fairchild-2016-08/

Brainless Beasts

It is, of course, August when the news gets silly and even the idea of a self-driving truck seems a good one. For me, stuck behind a truck at 80mph with another up my bum and blocked in by a third is horrible enough. The knowledge that one or other or all three has no ...

Read full article: Brainless Beasts

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/484660-2016-08/

Fable: The Boss Who Believed In Himself

61 years ago a company produced an iconic five transistor radio. The company founder and boss won an order for 100,000 of the radios from the US company Bulova. But Bulova wanted their own name on the radio. “Whoever heard of you?” Bulova’s president told the radio company boss, “our brand has a world reputation ...

Read full article: Fable: The Boss Who Believed In Himself

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-the-boss-who-believed-in-himself-2016-08/

Brexit uncertainty hits UK chip sales

Brexit uncertainty in the UK’s manufacturing sector has contributed to a fall in semiconductor sales through distribution channels in the last three months. The UK contracted post-Brexit vote by almost 2% to €141m, according to figures released by DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists). In stark comparison, Germany, the biggest market, grew by ...

Read full article: Brexit uncertainty hits UK chip sales

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/brexit-uncertainty-hits-uk-chip-sales-2016-08/

nuTonomy beats Uber to self-driving taxis

After Uber announced it would launch driverless taxis in Pittsburgh by the end of the year, a start-up called nuTonomy has said has launched a driverless taxi service in Singapore. The only snag is that the driverless taxis require both a computer-watcher and a back-up driver. The Lidar-equipped cars will be provided by Renault and ...

Read full article: nuTonomy beats Uber to self-driving taxis

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nutonomy-beats-uber-self-driving-taxis-2016-08/

Nano Dimensions ships first 3D printer for PCBs

Nano Dimension, the Israeli 3D printer specialist, has supplied the first DragonFly 2020 system designated for 3D circuitry and PCBs to a leading defense company in Israel. To date, Nano Dimension has proven its capabilities of printing multilayer electric circuits in lab conditions. With the first supply of the DragonFly 2020 system for testing, Nano ...

Read full article: Nano Dimensions ships first 3D printer for PCBs

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/484649-2016-08/

Adesto and Embedded Masters link for IoT

Adesto Technologies, the CBRAM developer, has teamed with board supplier Embedded Masters to help developers of Adesto-based products get products to market faster. Adesto and Embedded Masters wrote and tested native low‐level Flash firmware drivers and application programming interface (API) software routines for a range of Adesto memory IC breakout boards with the Silicon Labs ...

Read full article: Adesto and Embedded Masters link for IoT

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/adesto-embedded-masters-link-iot-2016-08/

Foundry Fiesta

Gartner and IC Insights have looked at the foundry industry which grows whatever happens to the rest of the semiconductor industry: The IC Insights view: The Gartner view:

Read full article: Foundry Fiesta

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/foundry-fiesta-2016-08/

Wizard Chess moves via Raspberry Pi

I salute the ambition of this one, a Raspberry Pi chess system to control the movement of pieces on the board.

Read full article: Wizard Chess moves via Raspberry Pi

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/raspberry-pi-gadget-master/wizard-chess-moves-via-raspberry-pi-2016-08/

African Software Developer Undercuts India and S.E.Asia

Andela, the African software development company, has received $24 million from Mark Zuckerberg’s investment vehicle Chan Zuckerberg. The two year-old Andela, based in Nairobi and Nigeria, trains people to code and then puts them on contracts with international customers to write software for them. It has 200 developers. Andela’s coders are said to rank in ...

Read full article: African Software Developer Undercuts India and S.E.Asia

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/generosity/african-software-developer-undercuts-india-s-e-asia-2016-08/

RF transistor handles 1.5kW

NXP’s MRF1K50H is a 1,500W LDMOS transistor, following on from the 1,250W MRFE6VP61K25H. 1.5kW continuous wave is available at 50V, and the device works over 1.8–500MHz. The transistor is characterised from 30-50V. “It operates up to 500MHz for applications from laser and plasma sources to particle accelerators, industrial welding machines, radio and VHF TV broadcast transmitters, and ...

Read full article: RF transistor handles 1.5kW

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/rf-microwave-optoelectronics/rf-transistor-handles-1-5kw-2016-08/

Foundry to grow 9%, says IC Insights

The pure-play foundry market is expected to jump 9% this year, up from 6% growth in 2015, says IC Insights. In 2014, the pure-play IC foundry market grew 17%, the largest increase since 2010 and eight points greater than the 9% increase in the worldwide IC market. In 2015, the pure-play foundry market showed a ...

Read full article: Foundry to grow 9%, says IC Insights

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/foundry-grow-9-says-ic-insights-2016-08/

Movidius to use UltraSoC IP

Movidius will incorporate UltraSoC’s semiconductor IP into its next-generation low-power machine vision systems-on-chip (SoCs). Movidius will combine UltraSoC’s monitoring and analytics IP and tools, with its own MoviDebug technology, to create a chip-wide debug and communications infrastructure that will support its end-to end product development flow. “We’re expecting immediate gains from the ability to use ...

Read full article: Movidius to use UltraSoC IP

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/movidius-use-ultrasoc-ip-2016-08/

SEMI’s July book-to-bill was 1.05

SEMI’s July book-to-bill was 1.05. July bookings were $1.79 billion – 4.7% higher than June’s $1.71 billion, and 13.1% higher than the July 2015 order level of $1.59 billion. July billings were $1.71 billion – 0.6% lower than June’s $1.72 billion, and is 9.6% higher than the July 2015 billings level of $1.56 billion. “Monthly ...

Read full article: SEMI’s July book-to-bill was 1.05

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semis-july-book-bill-1-05-2016-08/

LTC launches two synchronous current mode buck boost converters

Linear Tech has brought out two synchronous current mode buck-boost converters that deliver up to 600mA of continuous output current from a wide variety of input sources, including single- or multiple-cell batteries as well as solar panels and supercapacitors. The 2.4V to 25V input voltage range of the LTC3130 and 3130-1 and their 1V to ...

Read full article: LTC launches two synchronous current mode buck boost converters

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ltc-2016-08/

Top Ten (less 3) Shippers Of PCs in Q2

Thanks to Gartner for this one – the top seven shippers of PCs in Q2 Millions of units Lenovo 13.2 HP 12.3 Dell 9.8 Asustek 4.7 Apple 4.6 Aver 4.4 Others 15.4 Total 64.3

Read full article: Top Ten (less 3) Shippers Of PCs in Q2

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/top-ten-less-3-shippers-of-pcs-in-q2-2016-08/

Linear led driver for automotive lights

For automotive leds arrays, Allegro MicroSystems Europe has announced two adjustable linear current regulators. AEC-Q100 qualified A6274 and A6284 are pwm dimmable and include a driver circuit that can control an optional external p-channel mosfet which extends output power capability by dropping any voltage headroom not required for led regulation. “This eliminates the need for ...

Read full article: Linear led driver for automotive lights

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/led/linear-led-driver-for-automotive-lights-2016-08/

The Driverless Driver

When is a driverless taxi not a driverless taxi? When it’s got a driver. This simple logic escaped the world’s media when reporting the Silly Season story that Uber will put 100 driverless (but with drivers) Volvo-made taxis on the streets of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania later this year. It’s a good story for Uber’s PR team ...

Read full article: The Driverless Driver

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/delusions/driverless-taxi-driver-2016-08/

IQD clock oscillators for extreme applications

IQD has launched a range of AEC-Q200 qualified clock oscillators released to TS16949 for industrial and automotive applications. The IQXO-540 AUTO series is housed in a 2.0 x 1.6 x 0.8mm ceramic sealed package with frequencies available in the range from 4.0 to 50MHz. With stabilities down to ±25ppm over -40 to +85 degrees C ...

Read full article: IQD clock oscillators for extreme applications

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/iqd-2016-08/

Google starts roll out of Android 7.0 Nougat

Goggle is beginning to roll out Android 7.0, recently named as Nougat, to Nexus devices.

Read full article: Google starts roll out of Android 7.0 Nougat

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/eyes-on-android/android-n/google-starts-roll-android-7-0-nougat-2016-08/

Infineon enables NFC payment ring

Infineon has produced a chip to power an NFC payments ring which works lik a contactless card. The ring is made by NFCring. “Proximity payments based on NFC technology are clearly on the rise – and payment solutions with smart wearables will accelerate this trend,” says Infineon’s Thomas Rostek. The global standard EMVCo facilitates worldwide ...

Read full article: Infineon enables NFC payment ring

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/infineon-enables-nfc-payment-ring-2016-08/

Tsinghua turns to Korea for acquisitions

Tsinghua, which bid for Micron and a number of US and Taiwan companies, is looking at small and mid-sized South Korean chip firms with specialty technologies. Companies named as having been in talks with Tsinghua are Silicon Mitus, Map and Zinitix. It is reportedly planning to spend $30 billion on acquisitions of high-tech firms this ...

Read full article: Tsinghua turns to Korea for acquisitions

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/tsinghua-turns-korea-acquisitions-2016-08/

Japanese Prof Invents Translation Machine

A new automatic translation machine, designed to translate German and English into Japanese, has been demonstrated by its inventor Prof Katsuo Ohno of Kyushu University at the radio equipment manufacturing plant of Mitsubishi Electric Co. So, 56 years ago, started a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of September 28th 1960. The story continues: This machine, ...

Read full article: Japanese Prof Invents Translation Machine

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/japanese-prof-invents-translation-machine-2016-08/

Hi-Fi audio stack for Raspberry Pi includes jitter re-timing

A Canadian company, Allo, has created a HAT-compliant Hi-Fi audio stack for Raspberry Pi, which includes jitter re-timing, something normally found at the high-end of audio equipment.

Read full article: Hi-Fi audio stack for Raspberry Pi includes jitter re-timing

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/raspberry-pi-gadget-master/hi-fi-audio-stack-for-raspberry-pi-includes-jitter-re-timing-2016-08/

Good Q3; Good 2017; So-So 2016

Semiconductor companies are expecting an average 6% growth for Q3, reports Bill Jewell’s Semiconductor Intelligence. IC Insights reported that Q2 y-o-y growth was 7% with seven top 20 companies – MediaTek, Samsung, Qualcomm, TSMC, Hynix, UMC and AMD – achieving double digit growth. For sequential growth in Q3, Intel is looking at 10%, TI, Micron ...

Read full article: Good Q3; Good 2017; So-So 2016

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/good-q3-good-2017-2016-2016-08/

Making the IoT work for you

Find out more about our IoT Design event in London

Read full article: Making the IoT work for you

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/making-the-iot-work-for-you-2016-08/

Renesas may buy Intersil

Renesas is reported by the Nikkei to be buying Intersil for $3 billion, about $1 billion more than its current market cap. The deal could be finalised in a couple of weeks. This weekend Renesas said that foreign acquisitions are one of the options it is considering. Intersil is not denying the reports, but not ...

Read full article: Renesas may buy Intersil

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/renesas-may-buy-intersil-2016-08/

Cambridge fund raises £75m

Cambridge Innovation Capital plc (CIC), the 13 year-old Cambridge University investment initiative, has raised £75 million of new capital giving it a total fund of £95 million to invest. CIC was founded by ARM and Lansdown Partners in 2003 with an initial capital of £50 million. With Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the University, ...

Read full article: Cambridge fund raises £75m

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/cambridge-fund-raises-75m-2016-08/

Lyft for sale

Uber rival Lyft is reported to be up for sale but no one’s buying. Apparently the company has been offered to Google, Apple, Microsoft and GM which is an investor. Last time it had a funding round Lyft got a valuation of $5.5 billion but an Uber exec told Bloomberg that it’s not worth more ...

Read full article: Lyft for sale

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/lyft-for-sale-2016-08/

RFEL to launch military driver vision aid

RFEL the Isle of Wight imaging specialist, is to announce an HD-SDI and Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) compliant military driver vision aid. TRAILBLAZER improves driver and crew effectiveness by extending the field of view beyond the normal spectrum, even in adverse weather and low-light conditions. It offers a new, best-in-class driver camera sub-system for military ...

Read full article: RFEL to launch military driver vision aid

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/484512-2016-08/

Ed’s Vision

My vision for post-Brexit UK – as an off-shore sweat-shop for non-European companies to access the Continental market without troublesome regulation, high taxes or employee protection – is coming on apace, Ed confides to his diary. Initial talks with the big US tech companies make it clear what they need from us. Amazon wants a ...

Read full article: Ed’s Vision

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-2-2016-08/

MIT spin-out proposes Lithium metal anodes for Li-ion

An MIT spin-out is preparing to commercialise a novel re-chargable lithium metal battery that it claims will double capacity. According to the firm, called SolidEnergy, its products will be in drones this November, followed by phone and wearables batteries in early 2017, and at electric cars in 2018 “Several customers are using drones and balloons ...

Read full article: MIT spin-out proposes Lithium metal anodes for Li-ion

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mit-spin-proposes-lithium-metal-anodes-li-ion-2016-08/

Fishing At Cypress

The founding, and recently retired, CEO of Cypress, T.J.Rodgers, prided himself on the rigour of his interview techniques for recruits. In his book No-Excuses Management, Rodgers explains a code which Cypress interviewers adopted to let eachother share their impressions of candidates while they were interviewing them. The code for when they found a star candidate ...

Read full article: Fishing At Cypress

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/fishing-at-cypress-2016-08/

Analogix chip-set helps enable AR/VR

Analogix is to sample in Q4, its ANX7440/30 family, the first integrated solution capable of switching DisplayPort version 1.3 and 1.4 at 8.1 gigabits per second (Gbps), as well as USB 3.1 Generation 2 (Gen2) 10 Gbps signals to support a single USB-C™ port. The family includes: ANX7440 – integrated 10 Gbps re-timer and USB-C ...

Read full article: Analogix chip-set helps enable AR/VR

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/analogix-chip-set-helps-enable-arvr-2016-08/

Turmoil in China handset market hits Qualcomm

Turmoil in the China mobile phone market in Q2 saw Xiaomi’s shipments fall 38% y-o-y and its y-o-y market share down from 16% to 9.5%, reports IDC. Similarly, Apple saw a y-o-y slump of 32% and a y-o-y market share decline from 12% to 88%. Benefitting were Huawei, OPPO and VIVO whose shipments and market ...

Read full article: Turmoil in China handset market hits Qualcomm

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/turmoil-china-handset-market-hits-qualcomm-2016-08/

“Srapped” Wafers Could Boost DRAM Prices

One of the Korean DRAM suppliers has had to scrap between 30k and 50k wafers, reports Digitimes. No reason for the scrappage has been reported. However DRAM prices have been falling since October 2014, according to DRAMeXchange,, and the memory industry has been known to suffer production problems when prices are bad. There was an ...

Read full article: “Srapped” Wafers Could Boost DRAM Prices

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/shenanigans/srapped-wafers-boost-dram-prices-2016-08/

Flying Taxis

Airbus has a group in Silicon Valley which is developing flying taxis. This sort of thing is beginning to catch on in the US. In June, the State of Nevada licensed a passenger-carrying drone. The Airbus project, called Vahana, is led by Rodin Lyasoff. “Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics ...

Read full article: Flying Taxis

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/dilemmas/flying-taxis-2016-08/

Raspberry Pi Hi-Fi amplifier/DAC includes jitter re-timing

Canadian company Allo has created a HAT-compliant Hi-Fi audio stack for Raspberry Pi. Created at its Bangalore design centre, it has multiple options – in the photo, from the top, are: 2x50W stereo amplifier, DAC+headphone amplifier, re-clocker and the firm’s own Sparky single-board computer at the bottom in place of a Raspberry Pi. To the ...

Read full article: Raspberry Pi Hi-Fi amplifier/DAC includes jitter re-timing

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/raspberry-pi-development/raspberry-pi-hi-fi-amplifierdac-includes-jitter-re-timing-2016-08/

Fable: The General

There was once a boy who emigrated with his parents from Belarus to the USA at the age of 9. He started work at 15 when his father got TB. He rose from office boy to president of his company after demonstrating the commercial attractions of radio as a broadcast, rather than a point-to-point medium, ...

Read full article: Fable: The General

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-the-general-2016-08/

USB Type-C reference design for power and data

Texas Instruments has introduced a multi-port USB Type-C and Power Delivery (PD) mini-dock reference design that provides audio, USB data, power and video in a 50x100mm footprint. “This reference design can be powered by a traditional power adapter, USB Type-C adapter or notebook computer. Bidirectional power and data transfer allows for autonomous PD negotiation for ...

Read full article: USB Type-C reference design for power and data

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/usb-type-c-reference-design-power-data-2016-08/

ADI buys Cyber Security Solutions from Sirius.

Fresh from buying Linear Tech, ADI has now bagged up the Cyber Security Solutions (CSS) business of Sypris Electronics. ADI hopes the acquisition will boost its aerospace and defense capabilities in the area of secure radio communications, bolster its portfolio of system hardware and software-based cryptographic technologies, and add a cybersecurity software and services business ...

Read full article: ADI buys Cyber Security Solutions from Sirius.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/adi-buys-cyber-security-solutions-sirius-2016-08/

Datwyler pulls out of bid for Premier Farnell.

Datwyler has now said that it won’t raise its bid for Premier Farnell after suggesting last week that it might. In June, Datwyler bid £795 million then, in July, Avnet made an £868 million bid. Last week, the Datwyler board said ‘With respect to the potential acquisition of Premier Farnell, in light of the higher ...

Read full article: Datwyler pulls out of bid for Premier Farnell.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/datwyler-pulls-bid-premier-farnell-2016-08/

Green Hills certifies RTOS for avionics computers

Green Hills Software has announced that it has completed all of the RTCA/DO-178B Level A certification requirements for its Integrity-178 tuMP multicore real-time operating system (RTOS) for Esterline CMC’s next generation of integrated avionics computers and smart displays. Esterline CMC’s initial deployment of the RTOS will be on its 3rd generation MFD-3068 Smart Display which ...

Read full article: Green Hills certifies RTOS for avionics computers

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/market-sectors/military-aerospace-electronics/green-hills-certifies-rtos-avionics-computers-2016-08/

Raspberry Pi captures video

PiCapture is a video capture system that enables all of the video processing and software capability of the Raspberry Pi by emulating  the Raspberry Pi camera. The developers behind the video capture system are Al Testani and Marshal Linder, founders of a new company, Lintest Systems. Al Testani writes: “Until now, only the Raspberry Pi camera ...

Read full article: Raspberry Pi captures video

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/raspberry-pi-captures-video-2016-08/

Companies you trust are taking your data

Mike Patterson, founder and CEO of security analytics firm Plixer, noticed that even after disabling everything he could find to stop this data transfer, some form of metadata is still sent to suppliers of software on his computer. The content was encrypted in a way that made it impossible to determine what was being sent. This extra ...

Read full article: Companies you trust are taking your data

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/distribution-world/companies-trust-taking-data-2016-08/

Device to treat nose bleeds one of Design Council’s Spark entries

Design Council will showcase more than a dozen pioneering products from its Spark innovation fund and accelerator programme, at the London Design Festival on 20 September. The best will be awarded further funding of up to £150,000 to help take their product to market. With the support of this year’s partner, the charity Arthritis Research ...

Read full article: Device to treat nose bleeds one of Design Council’s Spark entries

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/market-sectors/medical-electronics/device-treat-nose-bleeds-one-design-councils-spark-entries-2016-08/

1,700V SiC mosfet cuts Rds(on) to 45mΩ

According to Wolfspeed, is C2M0045170D is the industry’s first 1,700V, 45mΩ silicon carbide mosfet. Available in a TO-247-3 package, it offers high-speed switching with low capacitances, avalanche ruggedness, fast intrinsic diode with low reverse recovery (Qrr), and it is easy to parallel and simple to drive (see parameter table below). C2M0045170D has been designed for ...

Read full article: 1,700V SiC mosfet cuts Rds(on) to 45mΩ

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/1700v-sic-mosfet-cuts-rdson-45m%cf%89-2016-08/

LTC op amp has low corner frequency

Linear Tech has brought out a precision op amp featuring 30nVP-P 0.1Hz to 10Hz noise and 50μV max input offset voltage. Designed especially for applications sensitive to low frequency noise, the LT6018 has a very low 1/f corner frequency of less than 1Hz. The low input offset voltage holds over temperature and input common mode ...

Read full article: LTC op amp has low corner frequency

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ltc-op-amp-low-corner-frequency-2016-08/

Uber to take TfL to court

Uber is challenging the decision by TfL that Uber must have a London-based, 24-hour call centre, permanent commercial insurance and a written English test for all drivers. Uber has asked for a Judicial Review of TfL’s decision. The High Court will now decide whether or not to grant a hearing. TfL says it will be ...

Read full article: Uber to take TfL to court

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/uber-take-tfl-court-2016-08/

Intel brings optics to the data centre

Intel is shipping a silicon photonics module for 100Gbps data transfer in data centres. ‘The Intel Silicon Photonics 100Gbps PSM4 (Parallel Single Mode fibre 4-lane) QSFP28 Optical Transceiver is a small form- factor, high speed, and low power consumption product, targeted for use in optical interconnects for data communications applications. The high bandwidth module supports ...

Read full article: Intel brings optics to the data centre

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-brings-optics-data-centre-2016-08/

Seconds Out: Nvidia vs Intel

In a delightfully snotty gripe, Nvida has taken Intel to task for its claims about its deep learning capabilities. “It’s understandable that newcomers to the field may not be aware of all the developments that have been taking place in both hardware and software,” says a silkily sarcy Nvidia. “Recently Intel published some incorrect “facts” ...

Read full article: Seconds Out: Nvidia vs Intel

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/shenanigans/seconds-nvidia-vs-intel-2016-08/

Tek offers ‘basic’ 100MHz scope with 9in display

Tektronix has introduced a range of what it calls “basic” oscilloscopes, with a 9inch WVGA screen and 20Mpoint memory. Called TBS2000, the series includes options for 70 or 100MHz bandwidth, and two or four channels. “Building on the TDS2000 Series, the new instrument includes a comprehensive set of automatic waveform measurements that are coupled with graphical ...

Read full article: Tek offers ‘basic’ 100MHz scope with 9in display

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/test-measurement-products/tek-offers-basic-100mhz-scope-9in-display-2016-08/

Video: Find out more about IoT Design 2016

Our IoT Design 2016 event in London is not to be missed! It takes place on Thursday 15 September and check out this short and snappy video overview for more details, from our publisher Josh Brooks.

Read full article: Video: Find out more about IoT Design 2016

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/general-electronics/video-iot-design-2016-2016-08/

Win a place at IoT Design 2016 conference

Don't miss our IoT Design conference, which is running in London on Thursday 15 September. And here's a chance to win a ticket for free entry to the important event.

Read full article: Win a place at IoT Design 2016 conference

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/competitions/iot-design-2016-conference-competition-2016-08/

Intel Grasps At ARM Straw

Intel’s ARM physical IP licence reflects two realities: One is that x86 is not going to get into mobile and the other is that Intel’s foundry business can’t grow without it making ARM-based ICs. x86-for-mobile was a kind of crazy crusade based on the belief that x86 should rightfully inherit the Earth. Intel, better than ...

Read full article: Intel Grasps At ARM Straw

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/delusions/intel-grasps-arm-straw-2016-08/

EnSilica and BaySand team on 65nm MPW runs

EnSilica, the Wokingham IP developer, has teamed with configurable ASIC specialist BaySand, to provide customers of BaySand’s ASIC UltraShuttle-65 MPW customers with EnSilica’s eSi-RISC processor cores, eSi-Connect processor peripherals, eSi-Crypto encryption and eSi-Comms communications IP solutions as well as hardware accelerators for 65nm designs. EnSilica’s automated flow allows complex CPU sub-systems to be delivered to ...

Read full article: EnSilica and BaySand team on 65nm MPW runs

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ensilica-baysand-team-65nm-mpw-runs-2016-08/

MediaTek, AMD have strong Q2 growth

Big gainers in Q2 were MediaTek which grew 32% and AMD which grew 23%, according to IC Insights. Five other companies with double digit Q2 gains were Samsung, Qualcomm, TSMC, Hynix and UMC. Apple is quoted because it designs and uses processors even though it doesn’t sell any. IC Insights estimates that Apple’s processors had ...

Read full article: MediaTek, AMD have strong Q2 growth

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mediatek-amd-strong-q2-growth-2016-08/

The World’s Ten Most Expensive Cities

According to the investment consultancy Mercer, these are the ten most expensive cities to live in: Hong Kong Luanda Zurich Singapore Tokyo Kinshasa Shanghai Geneva N’Djamena Beijing

Read full article: The World’s Ten Most Expensive Cities

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/ten-toughest-unis-to-get-into-to-read-computer-science-2016-08/

Intel licenses ARM physical IP for foundry customers

Intel has licensed ARM’s 10 nm physical IP for use by its foundry customers. “Our 10 nm design platform for foundry customers will now offer access to ARM Artisan physical IP, including POP IP, based on the most advanced ARM cores and Cortex series processors,” says Intel’s Zane Ball, “optimizing this technology for Intel’s 10 ...

Read full article: Intel licenses ARM physical IP for foundry customers

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-licenses-arm-physical-ip-foundry-customers-2016-08/

Ford targets driverless taxis by 2021

Ford aims to build a driverless car without steering wheel or pedals by 2021. It aims to make vehicles “specifically designed for commercial” services like taxis. Offering the cars to consumers will come later. The cars being offered to cab companies will be for use in cities which have mapped zones capable of guiding autonomous ...

Read full article: Ford targets driverless taxis by 2021

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ford-targets-driverless-taxis-2021-2016-08/

UK autonomous boat listens to noisy ocean

Plymouth University is working with AutoNaut of Sussex on an autonomous wave-propelled boat to monitor sound levels in the ocean. The 5m vessel will tow a passive acoustic monitoring array from Devon-based Seiche. “Human noise in the sea is of growing environmental concern due to its potential negative impacts on marine life,” said Dr Clare Embling of ...

Read full article: UK autonomous boat listens to noisy ocean

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/design/university-electronics/uk-autonomous-boat-listens-noisy-ocean-2016-08/

7 Top 20 Semi Companies Have Double-Digit Q2 Growth

Although the top-20 semiconductor companies’ sales increased by 7% in Q2 over Q1, seven companies achieved a double-digit Q2/Q1 jump in sales, says IC Insights. The fastest growing top-20 company in Q2 was MediaTek with a 32% increase in sales over Q1, says IC Insights. The other six companies with double digit gains were Samsung, ...

Read full article: 7 Top 20 Semi Companies Have Double-Digit Q2 Growth

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/7-top-20-semi-companies-double-digit-growth-2016-08/

Apteligent reports on manufacturer updates

Here's an interesting report, giving an insight into the current state of play with Android, with regards to manufacturer updates. It comes from mobile app performance specialist Apteligent.

Read full article: Apteligent reports on manufacturer updates

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/eyes-on-android/general-eyes-on-android/apteligent-reports-manufacturer-updates-2016-08/

Turning waves into power, in Cambridgeshire

Trident Energy has announced a second-generation of its PowerPod generator, which converts wave energy to electricity using magnets sliding back and forth through coils. The re-design was a result of collaboration with fellow Cambridgeshire firm 42 Technology, and generates 50% more electrical power on each linear displacement from the same physical size. “42 Technology has undertaken ...

Read full article: Turning waves into power, in Cambridgeshire

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/turning-waves-power-cambridgeshire-2016-08/

PragmatIC gets €1.6m towards electronics printer

Cambridge printable electronics firm PragmatIC has been awarded €1.6m towards developing its FlexLogIC ‘fab-in-a-box’, announced in April. The design study for FlexLogIC, which is intended to be a self-contained modular system for printing circuits, was supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 1, and the new money comes from Phase 2 of the ...

Read full article: PragmatIC gets €1.6m towards electronics printer

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/manufacturing/pragmatic-gets-e1-6m-towards-electronics-printer-2016-08/

China launches unhackable comms satellite

China may have the planet’s only unhackable communications system if its Micius satellite turns out to work as intended. The satellite contains QUESS (Quantum Experiments at Space Scale) – an instrument which uses entangled photons. QUESS works by splitting photons into two identical photons which have identical properties. When the properties of one of the ...

Read full article: China launches unhackable comms satellite

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/china-launches-unhackable-comms-satellite-2016-08/

China handset market consolidates around top three

Turbulence in the China handset market saw Apple and Xiaomi lose share dramatically in Q2. Former high-flyer Xiaomi shipped 10.5 million phones in Q2, says IDC, down from 17 million in Q2 2015. Apple’s shipments fell 32% y-o-y to be only the fifth largest supplier in China. The top vendor in China in Q2 was ...

Read full article: China handset market consolidates around top three

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/china-handset-market-consolidates-around-top-three-2016-08/

Largest EDP System In Europe Installed In Frankfurt

The largest electronic data processing system in Europe has been installed by Neckermann Versand KG in Frankfurt, West Germany. So, 55 years ago, starts a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of January 25th 1961. The story continues: The centre consists of an IBM 7070 fully transistorised computing system. Neckermann’s, believed to be one of the ...

Read full article: Largest EDP System In Europe Installed In Frankfurt

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/largest-edp-system-in-europe-installed-in-frankfurt-2016-08/

buck boost dc-dc for battery products is up to 96% efficient

Intersil has announced ISL91127 and ISL91128, two buck-boost regulators with 4.5A built-in switches and up to 96% efficiency. Aimed at battery-operated devices, they work from 1.8 to 5.5V and offer quiescent current down to 30µA. Output range is variable between 1V and 5.2V, or fixed at 3.3V. Output current can be as high as 3A. “In hand-held device ...

Read full article: buck boost dc-dc for battery products is up to 96% efficient

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/buck-boost-dc-dc-battery-products-96-efficient-2016-08/

Infineon dominates in power

Infineon now dominates in every segment of the power semiconductor market, reports IHS. Last year, Infineon took over the overall top spot in power from TI, and the top spot in power modules from Mitsubishi, helped by its takeover of IR. It has been the leading supplier of discretes for some years. Discretes fell 10.1% ...

Read full article: Infineon dominates in power

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/markets/infineon-dominates-power-2016-08/

A little bit of Cumbria at a US air show

Spotted on a Fairchild A10 Warthog ground-attack aircraft at an airshow in Wisconsin, and photographed by commentator of this parish Steve K, this landing light is a long way from Ullverston Cumbria, where it was made by Oxley. Designed to replace a PAR46 bulb, it has a 200,000cd 6,000K white mode (+/-11° to 10%), and a ...

Read full article: A little bit of Cumbria at a US air show

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/little-bit-cumbria-us-air-show-2016-08/

Hail the Megaprocessor, larging the microprocessor

The man behind the Megaprocessor is building his own computer, transistor by transistor, system component by system component.

Read full article: Hail the Megaprocessor, larging the microprocessor

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/computers/hail-megaprocessor-larging-microprocessor-2016-08/

NI enables Live HD streaming from space

Find out how NI FlexPod retrieved and reconstructed real-time images from space

Read full article: NI enables Live HD streaming from space

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/uncategorised/upgrade-your-manufacturing-test-station-2016-08/

Datwyler still in the running for Premier Farnell, says board.

Datwyler is still in the running for Premier Farnell despite Avnet’s bid. In June Datwyler bid £795 million then, in July, Avnet made an £868 million bid. ‘With respect to the potential acquisition of Premier Farnell, in light of the higher offer submitted by Avnet on 28 July, Datwyler is currently considering its options and ...

Read full article: Datwyler still in the running for Premier Farnell, says board.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/datwyler-still-running-premier-farnell-says-board-2016-08/

Micron samples mobile 3D NAND memory

Micron is sampling a 32-layer 32GB 3D NAND chip with a 60.217mm2 die size for mobile applications. It first into a 9 x 9mm PoP package or 8.5 x 11mm MCP. The chip conforms to the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.1 standard which delivers, says Micron, “up to 33% higher bandwidth versus the e.MMC 5.1 ...

Read full article: Micron samples mobile 3D NAND memory

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/micron-samples-mobile-3d-nand-memory-2016-08/

Ed Gets A Whitehall Lesson

It’s very important for my role as toll-collector – I mean gatekeeper – to incoming tech companies that I don’t get any interference from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ed confides to his diary. If the tech companies know there’s another route to get cushy conditions to setting up operations ...

Read full article: Ed Gets A Whitehall Lesson

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-gets-a-whitehall-lesson-2016-08/

Stealing Engineering Money

Jack Gifford, CEO of Intersil and founding CEO of Maxim, was one of the IC industry’s outstanding leaders. He inspired the trust of the industry’s greatest engineers, Bob Widlar refused to report to anyone else when at Fairchild, and Gifford reserved especial esteem for Fairchild co-founder Jean Hoerni. “Imagine the guy who started five companies ...

Read full article: Stealing Engineering Money

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/stealing-money-2016-08/

Many VW cars can be unlocked remotely, say Birmingham researchers

With a homemade radio costing £30 to make, many of VW’s cars can be remotely unlocked, say researchers from Birmingham University and Kasper & Oswald in a paper to be delivered today at a cyber security conference in Austin Texas VW cars made between 1995 and 2016 are vulnerable including Skodas, Seats and Udis. Hackers ...

Read full article: Many VW cars can be unlocked remotely, say Birmingham researchers

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/many-vw-cars-can-unlocked-remotely-say-birmingham-researchers-2016-08/

Apple up in EU and US; down in China

While Q2 sales of Apple phones were up in the US and EU, they were down in down in China, Worldpanel ComTech. In the US, Apple phones took 31.8% of smartphone sales with Android taking 66% – a 1.3% growth for Apple and a 0.6% decline for Android. iPhone 6s devices accounted for 15.1% of ...

Read full article: Apple up in EU and US; down in China

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/apple-eu-us-china-2016-08/

The return of the Atom

Atom is on the way back. It seems that the Intel Atom processor which was dropped by Intel when it decided to exit mobile will be back with a design optimised for drones, IoT, VR headsets, cameras and autonomous cars. The announcement is expected next week at IDF. Intel says the new Atoms will work ...

Read full article: The return of the Atom

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/the-return-of-the-atom-2016-08/

China smartphone shipments are 44% of global total

China’s handset vendors shipped 44% of the global smartphone volume in Q2, reports Digitimes Research. The top ten vendors with their percentages of the total China-based volume were: Huawei 18.8% Oppo 11.5%, Vivo 9%, Xiaomi Technology 9%, TCL 5.3%, ZTE 5.3%, Lenovo 4.7%, GiONEE 4.5%, Meizu 2.5% Coolpad 2.1%. All in all, China’s vendors shipped ...

Read full article: China smartphone shipments are 44% of global total

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/china-smarphone-shipments-44-global-total-2016-08/

Cypress appoints CEO

Cypress has appointed a CEO four months after founding CEO T.J. Rodgers announced his retirement in April. The new CEO is Hassane El-Khoury, who has been at Cypress for nine years, joining from the automotive electronic product company Continental Automotive. He became an evp at Cypress helping tombuild the automotive chip business there which currently ...

Read full article: Cypress appoints CEO

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/cypress-appoints-ceo-2016-08/

The Ringmaster Of Seoul

The memory industry is becoming as exciting as it used to be in the 1980s when the Americans were fighting for their lives against the Japanese while the Koreans prepared a massive assault – simultaneously building fabs and products for the 64k, 256k and Mbit generations. 30 years on, and the leading-edge is no longer ...

Read full article: The Ringmaster Of Seoul

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-mannerisms/the-ringmaster-of-seoul-2016-08/

Gadget Book: Electronics for Kids

The books are coming thick and fast - see also The Arduino Project Handbook and Exploring Raspberry Pi - and here's another electronics book relevant to (proto) Gadget Masters: it's called Electronics for Kids.

Read full article: Gadget Book: Electronics for Kids

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/general/gadget-book-electronics-for-kids-2016-08/

Fable: The Moonlighter Who Invented A $25bn Market

36 years ago an engineer at Toshiba was moonlighting. He was supposed to be working on DRAM development but he was also developing another, very different, memory. In 1984 the engineer gave a paper at IEDM describing a new memory which became a $25 billion a year product. In 1988, Intel put the first chip ...

Read full article: Fable: The Moonlighter Who Invented A $25bn Market

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/fable/fable-3-2016-08/

Samsung launches 32TB SSD

Samsung intends to ship a 32TB SSD using 64-layer, 512Gb 3D NAND chips next year. The chips are triple level cell with 800Mbps IO and fit in a 2.5 inch slot. 512 V-NAND chips are stacked in 16 layers to form a 1-TB package and the 32-TB SSD contains 32 of those packages. The SAS ...

Read full article: Samsung launches 32TB SSD

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/samsung-launches-32tb-ssd-2016-08/

NEC face recognition at Rio games

Visitors to the Rio Olympics will fall under the gaze of NEC’s face recognition system which can check faces against 1.6 million faces in 0.3 seconds. The technology captures faces via surveillance cameras and checks them against a photo database of undesirables. Officials are alerted when a match is found. The system, which is also ...

Read full article: NEC face recognition at Rio games

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/nec-face-recognition-rio-games-2016-08/

Versatile multichannel power management IC from LTC

Linear Tech has launched a general-purpose power management solution for systems requiring multiple low voltage power supplies. The device can be configured to provide 2 to 8 independent regulated outputs with 15 possible output current configurations. The chip has a peak efficiency of 94%, one output with ±1% voltage accuracy and up to seven additional ...

Read full article: Versatile multichannel power management IC from LTC

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/versatile-multichannel-power-management-ic-ltc-2016-08/

Strange New World

As everyone knows unhackability doesn’t exist. You pay for the level of security which you can afford but no level of security is wholly secure. Def Con, the hacking conference, showed how universally this is true. Locks epitomise security but, in a talk called “Picking Bluetooth Low Energy Locks from a Quarter Mile Away” two ...

Read full article: Strange New World

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/shenanigans/strange-new-world-2016-08/

19% drop for DRAM in 2016

A 16% plunge in DRAM ASP is expected to lead to a 19% DRAM market decline this year, reports IC Insights. The year 2016 is not expected to be a good one for the total memory market and the main culprit is DRAM. Declining shipments of desktop and notebook computers, the biggest users of DRAM, ...

Read full article: 19% drop for DRAM in 2016

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/484012-2016-08/

‘Transient electronics’ research develops dissolving battery

‘Transient electronics’ is an increasingly important route for R&D as one answer to the growing problem of disposing of unwanted electronic kit. There is work going on to develop dissolving PCBs and now Iowa State University researchers have developed a dissolving battery. It is a 5mm x 6mm x 1mm 6mm lithium-ion battery which delivers ...

Read full article: ‘Transient electronics’ research develops dissolving battery

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/transient-electronics-research-develops-dissolving-battery-2016-08/

How to build a laser trip wire alarm with Arduino

How to build your own simple laser trip wire alarm. The author of 'Arduino Project Handbook: 25 Practical Projects' takes us through the steps.

Read full article: How to build a laser trip wire alarm with Arduino

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/arduino/build-laser-trip-wire-alarm-arduino-2016-08/

Rambus licenses Differential Power Analysis IP.

Rambus is to license its Differential Power Analysis (DPA) countermeasures IP to Idaho Scientific to use in security IP Cores for FPGAs and defense ASICs. Through this agreement, Idaho Scientific’s customers, which include many of the world’s largest defence contractors, will gain access to advanced DPA countermeasures, safeguarding the data integrity of applications requiring a ...

Read full article: Rambus licenses Differential Power Analysis IP.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/rambus-licenses-differential-power-analysis-ip-2016-08/

Rockchip and CEVA extend DSP licensing agreement.

Rockchip, the telecom IC company, has licensed the CEVA-XM4 imaging and vision DSP to enhance the imaging and computer vision capabilities of its SoC product lines targeting smartphones, ADAS, drones, robotics and other smart camera devices. Rockchip will use CEVA’s IP everage the CEVA-XM4 for a range of advanced imaging and vision features at low ...

Read full article: Rockchip and CEVA extend DSP licensing agreement.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/rockchip-and-ceva-extend-dsp-licensing-agreement-2016-08/

Good Vibrations

High-Tech Harassment may have to go onto the Statute Book as an offence if a capability unveiled at the Las Vegas Def Con hacking conference becomes prevalent. In Las Vegas a couple of Kiwi hackers showed how they’d hacked a vibrator. This vibrator is made by a company called Standard Innovation and is branded We-Vibe ...

Read full article: Good Vibrations

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/chips-humans/good-vibrations-2016-08/

EW Compare, saving you pounds on your parts list

Gadget Masters and their projects aren't about making money, I would say. More about the fun and learning of experimentation and protyping. However, when it comes to compiling parts lists, you certainly don't waste any money and spend more than you need to.

Read full article: EW Compare, saving you pounds on your parts list

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/gadget-master/general/ew-compare-saving-pounds-parts-list-2016-08/

931 hot lumens from 5x5mm

Cree’s MHB-B is an led intended to meet DesignLights Consortium 4.0 Premium requirements. The ceramic devices deliver up to 931 lm at 85°C – at 13% higher lm/W than the MHB-A LED, said Cree, from the same 5 x 5mm package. The firm is pitching it against mid-power leds. It has a MHB-B DLC 4.0 Premium ...

Read full article: 931 hot lumens from 5x5mm

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/931-hot-lumens-from-5x5mm-2016-08/

Top Ten (less 2) Sovereign Wealth Funds

Thanks to Bloomberg and SWF Investment for this one – the eight biggest sovereign wealth funds: $bn Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund 2000 Norway 850 Abu Dhabi 800 China Investment Corp 750 Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency 600 Kuwait 600 SAFE Investment China 475 Hong Kong 450

Read full article: Top Ten (less 2) Sovereign Wealth Funds

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ten-best/top-ten-less-2-sovereign-wealth-funds-2016-08/

Intel pays $350m for two year-old AI company

Intel is said to be paying over $350 million for a two year-old 48-person start-up called Nervana which is involved in deep learning and AI. Pictured is Intel’s data centre boss Diane Bryant with the Nervana founding team, Nervana has raised $25 million in VC money and has a contract with the US intelligence community’s ...

Read full article: Intel pays $350m for two year-old AI company

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-osys-350m-two-year-old-ai-company-2016-08/

10nm Lines Up For Q1.

Samsung, TSMC and Intel are all expected to be in 10nm production in Q1 2017. Mind you, the 10nm node don’t mean as much as a process node number used to mean – the minimum feature size on TSMC’s 10nm process will be 20nm. Mediatek will be in volume production on TSMC’s 10nm process in ...

Read full article: 10nm Lines Up For Q1.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/manufacturing-mannerisms/10nm-lines-q1-2016-08/

Imec’s miDiagnostics jv does blood tests from blood-drop.

miDiagnostics, the jv between Imec and Johns Hopkins University, aims to develop IC-based diagnostic tests which use drops of blood to detect cells, proteins, nucleic acids, and/or small molecules. Within minutes, the data resulting from these complex tests will be sent to e.g. smartphones or other mobile devices where they will be processed and displayed. ...

Read full article: Imec’s miDiagnostics jv does blood tests from blood-drop.

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/imec-and-mdiagnostics-2016-08/

Android outstripping iOS

Global Android smartphone shipments grew 5% from 552.2 million units in H1 2015 to 577.3 million in H1 2016, says Strategy Analytics. Android outgrew Apple whose global smartphone shipments fell 16% y-o-y from 108.7 million in H1 2015 to 91.6 million in H1 2016. Samsung holds the top three places for Android phone shipments. In ...

Read full article: Android outstripping iOS

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/android-outgrowing-ios-2016-08/

MIT integrates ion trap and wave guide for quantum computing

MIT researchers have fabricated an ion trap and optical waveguide together in a standard lithographic process creating a path for trapped-ion quantum computing. “Experiments so far have employed optical systems that are cumbersome to scale to even a few tens of qubits, ” say the researchers, “here we demonstrate lithographically defined nanophotonic waveguide devices for ...

Read full article: MIT integrates ion trap and wave guide for quantum computing

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mit-integrates-ion-trap-and-wave-guide-for-quantum-computing-2016-08/

MediaTek in 10nm volume production in Q1

Mediatek will be in volume production on TSMC’s 10nm process in Q1 2017, reports DigiTimes. Three clients have taped out on 10nm according to TSMC and TSMC says it expects to get its first 10nm revenues in Q1. One of these three tape-outs could be from Apple which will be going into 10nm production at ...

Read full article: MediaTek in 10nm volume production in Q1

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/mediatek-in-10nm-volume-production-in-q1-2016-08/

Sony Engages South African Manufacturer

A £3,000,000 contract was signed last month in Tokyo between the Sony Corporation of Japan and Television and Electrical Distributors of Johannesburg, for the assembly and distribution of Sony transistor radios in the Union of South Africa and the Central African Federation. So, 55 years ago, started a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of January ...

Read full article: Sony Engages South African Manufacturer

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-lane/sony-engages-south-african-manufacturer-2016-08/

27 China chip operations form HECA

China has formed the High-End Chip Alliance (HECA) to co-ordinate the country’s efforts to build a semiconductor industry. Among the 27 semiconductor-related organisations involved in HECA are: Tsinghua Unigroup, SMIC, Yangtze River Storage Technology (YRST), Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Beijing University, Tsinghua University, Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Academy of Telecommunication Research, ...

Read full article: 27 China chip operations form HECA

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/27-china-chip-operations-form-heca-2016-08/

ATP shipping 3D NAND SSDs

ATP, the SSD module supplier, is shipping 3D NAND-based 3D NAND based SSDs including M.2, mSata, SlimSata, 2.5” SSD, eUSB and memory cards. ATP has decided to adopt 3D NAND for its next generation embedded SSDs, in order to gain early understanding on the ins & outs of 3D NAND under extreme conditions, in order ...

Read full article: ATP shipping 3D NAND SSDs

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/atp-shipping-3d-nand-ssds-2016-08/

China’s 3D NAND Gamble

Has China managed to acquire 3D NAND technology and, if so, who from? Not many people have it – Intel, Micron, Toshiba/Western Digital, Samsung and Hynix. Would any of them sell the technology to a Chinese would-be competitor? Well, No. But, according to IHS analyst Hue He, China foundry XMC is readying 3D NAND chips ...

Read full article: China’s 3D NAND Gamble

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/memory-mannerisms/483794-2016-08/

Qualcomm signs OPPO and VIVO

Qualcomm has signed up China’s two largest mobile phone makers, VIVO and OPPO, which were in the global top five for handset shipments in Q2. Qualcomm has had trouble getting Chinese phone makers to sign up to license agreements but it now seems to have cracked the big companies. The latest to sign is VIVO ...

Read full article: Qualcomm signs OPPO and VIVO

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/qualcomm-signs-oppo-and-vivo-2016-08/

Highly integrated Hall sensors from Infineon

Hall sensors from Infineon consume under 1.6mA, have precise switching points, stable operation, compact packaging, replace up to four passive components and come as latch and switch-type sensors. The 5-V versions consume 1.4 mA. They are currently available in high volume. All of the TLx496x Hall sensors – switches and latches – have an integrated ...

Read full article: Highly integrated Hall sensors from Infineon

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/highly-integrated-hall-sensors-from-infineon-2016-08/

Ed Clocks An Opportunity

The cocky Californian in the cargo shorts who came in last week has given me a clear idea of how we can exploit Brexit, Ed confides to his diary. We follow the model of the pre-1997 relationship between Hong Kong and China. We will be a lightly regulated, low tax, highly flexible economy operating off-shore ...

Read full article: Ed Clocks An Opportunity

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/ed-the-serial-ceo/ed-clocks-an-opportunity-2016-08/

2,200K lighting for restaurants and ambience

Lumileds is aiming at restaurant and creating ambience, as it adds ‘AtmoSphere Technology’ to its Luxeon Stylist Series of lighting leds. “Halogen lighting had long dominated restaurant, bar and other hospitality lighting due to its ultra warm light capability – even while leds offered a 70-80% energy savings versus halogen,” said the firm. “Standard leds ...

Read full article: 2,200K lighting for restaurants and ambience

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/2200k-lighting-for-restaurants-and-ambience-2016-08/

The First SE Asian Semiconductor Plant

The US semiconductor industry internationalised early. The first foreign plant was Fairchild’s Hong Kong assembly plant set up in 1963. “We took an old factory where they had been making rubber shoes on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong,” recalls Charlie Sporck, later CEO of National, but then running the manufacturing operation at Fairchild in ...

Read full article: The First SE Asian Semiconductor Plant

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/mannerisms/yarns/the-first-se-asian-semiconductor-plant-2016-08/

Cadmium telluride selenide solar cells get better

Crystalline studies of cadmium telluride solar cells have established how selenium makes them better. Adding the optimum amount of selenium in the right places could help increase efficiency from the current mark of ~22% towards the theoretical limit of 30-33%. CdTe cells work in thin film form – they can absorb the same amount of ...

Read full article: Cadmium telluride selenide solar cells get better

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/cadmium-telluride-selenide-solar-cells-get-better-2016-08/

Audio Precision app analyses smartphone sound

Audio Precision, the audio test specialists, have released the latest version of their Android audio test app, Smartphone Audio Test. Version 2.1 of the app supports Android versions 4, 5 and 6 (and also Android N Developer Preview 5).

Read full article: Audio Precision app analyses smartphone sound

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/eyes-on-android/general-eyes-on-android/audio-precision-app-analyses-smartphone-sound-2016-08/

Stunning Nissan electric car hits Rio

Nissan has produced a stunning-looking electric car which is being used at Rio to drive VIPs around. It was developed with the Williams F1 racing car team’s Williams Advanced Engineering centre. The car, called BladeGlider, has five 220kWh lithium-ion batteries. It can reach 62mph in five seconds from a standing start and has a top ...

Read full article: Stunning Nissan electric car hits Rio

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/stunning-nissan-electric-car-hits-rio-2016-08/

MSSLC reviews AMA led streetlamp report

Thanks to Erik Milz of Cree for bringing this to my attention. The US Municipal Solid-state Street Lighting Consortium has produced a short but detailed review of the American Medical Association’s comments on LED street lighting. By MSSLC director Bruce Kinzey, of the US government’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the review is backed-up with links to science. ...

Read full article: MSSLC reviews AMA led streetlamp report

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/led-luminaries/msslc-reviews-ama-led-streetlamp-report-2016-08/

Intel recalls over-heating smartwatch

Intel has recalled its Basis Peak watches because they overheat causing skin burns. Production was halted in June when a Intel told users a fix was underway. It didn’t materialise. Basis Peak was to have been one of Intel’s routes into wearables, with Intel buying Basis in 2014 for around $100 million. “On behalf of ...

Read full article: Intel recalls over-heating smartwatch

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-recalls-over-heating-smartwatch-2016-08/

Sony to switch CMOS image sensor focus

Sony, which holds a 40% share of the image sensor market, is to switch its marketing focus for CMOS image sensors to the automobile, robot and medicare segments, says Digitimes Research. Sony’s current largest market for image sensor revenues is handsets but that market is only growing at 4% CAGR 2014-20. The market for image ...

Read full article: Sony to switch CMOS image sensor focus

from Electronics Weekly http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/sony-to-switch-cmos-image-sensor-focus-2016-08/