SiLabs Breaks Low-Power Record for Touch-Sense Microcontrollers

Lower power during active and sleeps modes, as well as awake-with-touch sensing, claimed by this Silicon Laboratories microcontroller family. Look for longer battery life in mobile devices using touch interfaces by the end of the year. R.C.J.


Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Austin, Texas) claims to have broken its own record for the industry's lowest power touch-sense microcontrollers with its new F9xx family, promising to extend the battery life of mobile devices at a lower cost than for previous entries...Maintaining a 150-microamp/MHz operation (down from the previous record of 160 microamps) by virtue of an integrated low-dropout (LDO) regulator, the new family also claims to offer the industry's lowest power in both active and sleep modes, as well as enabling touch-to-awaken functions. The microcontrollers can manage 14 touch-sensitive user interfaces on consumer and industrial devices, ranging from home appliances to smart meters, security systems, lighting, games and toys.
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Anti-piracy SaaS tracks legal, illegal software users

Pirates and trial-users are treated the same by this stealth software that tracks apps and "phones home" to report usage patterns to V.i. Labs. Look for more applications to report your uses of their software with the aim of selling you a license (and if you don't buy one, shutting down your unlicensed copy). R.C.J.


A new software-as-a-service version of the CodeArmor anti-piracy app from Vi Laboratories Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) tracks both legal and illegal users of an independent software vendor's applications, reporting to ISVs daily on users' whereabouts and on which software features are most popular. ISVs looking to gauge the real extent to which piracy is affecting their business can find out for as little as $3,000 with the SaaS version of CodeArmor Intelligence. They can also use the SaaS to optimize their feature sets, as well as exploit both pirated versions and trial copies of their software as actionable business leads by communicating licensing offers to the copies' users...
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#MEMS Chip Maker #Invensense To Make Initial Public Offering #IPO

Invensense MEMS chips have been shipping in millions of units per month to makers like #Nintendo for its #Wii and future prospects are even brighter, prompting the company to plan an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Look for Invensense stock to keep rising over the rest of the decade. R.C.J.


Here's what Invensens says about its own IPO: InvenSense, Inc., a leading provider of intelligent motion processing solutions that enable a motion-based user interface for consumer electronics, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for the proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Piper Jaffray & Co., Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and ThinkEquity LLC are acting as co-managers for the offering....A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time that the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction....
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#IBM Pioneering Pinky-Ring Sized Cell Phone Technology

IBM Microelectronics is pioneering "tunable MEMS" for the ultra-small cell phones of the future, by downsing the radio to a single chip in deal with WiSpry. Look for smaller, cheaper lower power cell phones as result of the IBM/WiSpry alliance by Christmas. R.C.J.

The dream of a MEMS system-on-a-chip RF front-end for wireless mobile handsets is being realized by the collaborative efforts of startup WiSpry and IBM Microelectronics. Fabless MEMS chip company WiSpry Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) has inked a joint development deal with IBM Microelectronics under which IBM will manufacture its single-chip tunable radio frequency (RF) front-ends for mobile handsets, which WiSpry will market to tier-one original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The first of these customers is due to be before the end of 2010. The key to WiSpry's competitive advantage is its tunable impedance matching MEMS technology that uses arrays of switchable capacitive devices that can be quickly switched in and out to quickly provide over 3-dB of link resilience by adapting to changes in frequency, antenna conditions (such as being touched by the user) and other ongoing operational conditions, thereby preventing dropped calls and improving realtime performance — more "bars" on the cell phone display. Today's 3G multi-mode, multi-band mobile wireless devices and tomorrow's 4G LTE terminals and infrastructure equipment both require dozens of internal RF front-end components, only a few of which are used for any one time. By going to a single tunable RF front-end, many of these redundant components can be eliminated, enabling a drastically smaller form factor as well as reducing the bill-of-materials for devices.
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Microscopic Chess Anyone? How About Nanoscale Barber? 'Can Do' Says Sandia Natl. Lab

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) prizes were awarded to Texas Tech and the University of of Utah in Sandia Natl. Lab microdevice competition. Look for more novel MEMS devices to emerge for applications ranging from "soup to nuts" over the rest of the decade. R.C.J.


Here's what Sanda National Labs says about its annual MEMS challenge: The world’s smallest chess board — about the diameter of four human hairs — and a pea-sized microbarbershop were winners in this year’s design contest for, respectively, novel and educational microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), held at Sandia National Laboratories in mid May. The two winning teams will see their designs birthed in Sandia’s microfabrication facility, one of the most advanced in the world. The micro chess board, created by students at Texas Tech, comes with micropieces scored with the design of traditional chess figures. Each piece is outfitted with even tinier stubs that allow a microrobotic arm to move them from square to square. Space along the side of the board is available to hold captured pieces. The microbarbershop, intended to service a single hair, employs a microgripper, cutter, moveable mirror and blow dryer designed by students at the University of Utah...
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Will #iPhone 4 Supply Chain Woes Drive #Apple Users Away?

Apple has not been able to deliver enough iPhone 4's to satisfy demand, plus early reports claim reception is worse than with previous model. Look for frustrated users to start turning to alternative Android models if Apple doesn't correct the problems soon. R.C.J.


Here is what iSuppli says about the iPhone 4's woes: Apple Inc.’s difficulties in satisfying the massive demand for the iPhone 4 are raising questions about the company’s management of the supply chain and prompting frustrated customers to consider competitors’ smart phones, according to iSuppli [which] estimates that Apple in 2010 will ship 21.7 million iPhone 4s, representing 51 percent of the 42.6 million iPhones Apple is expected to ship during the year. Releasing a new phone every June since 2007, when the first iPhone launched on the market, Apple has risen very quickly from virtually zero presence to become the No. 3 smart phone player, ranking just below Nokia Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)—both of which have enjoyed much longer runs in the wireless field. Nokia, responding to the threat of the iPhone 4, recently reorganized its business units. Meanwhile RIM, its share of the market also under assault, is working on a highly anticipated update of its operating system. The huge early demand for the iPhone 4, however, has come at some cost to Apple. Logging 600,000 units on the first day that the product first became available for pre-ordering, the Apple Store and partner carrier AT&T Inc. very quickly became overwhelmed, prompting both to stop taking orders just one day after the pre-order was available. In addition to the order freeze, consumers reacted with dismay to Apple’s repeated pushback of its online pre-order shipment date—first from June 24 to July 2—and then further back to July 14....
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Panel: #Smart #Consumer #Gadgets Market Set to Explode

Consumer electronics is on the brink of a "smart devices revolution" according to the consumer electronics panel members at last week's Freescale Technology Forum (FTF). Look for touchscreen tablets, smartbooks and unique new wearable form factors to hail a new content-consuming category by Christmas. R.C.J.


Concept designs from Freescale (bottom) and Nokia (top, green) portend a coming flood of smart tablets and oddball shaped consumer devices conceived "outside the rectangle."

Consumer Electronics panel members at FTF claim all the elements necessary for such a revolution in consumer electronics devices have been maturing over the past decade and will begin to blossom by the 2010 holiday season now that the global recession is receding. New media tablets and smartbooks will soon be flooding the market, according to panel moderator Jeff Orr, senior mobile devices analyst at ABI Research. Orr predicts that more than 163 million media tablets and smartbooks will be shipped in 2015. Panel members backed up Orr's predictions, adding the these new consumer devices will not be running Microsoft operating systems on Intel processors like today's computers, but instead will use smaller, cheaper, lower power ARM-based microcontrollers running open-source variants of Linux...
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#IBM, WiSpry Team on Tunable #RF #MEMS to #Downsize #Mobile #Handsets

Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) radio-frequency (RF) chips to enable ring-sized cell phones thanks to collaboration between IBM and startup WiSpry. Look for smaller, cheaper, longer batter lived mobile handsets by Christmas. R.C.J.


The dream of a MEMS system-on-a-chip RF front-end for wireless mobile handsets is being realized by the collaborative efforts of startup WiSpry and IBM Microelectronics. Fabless MEMS chip company WiSpry Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) has inked a joint development deal with IBM Microelectronics under which IBM will manufacture its single-chip tunable radio frequency (RF) front-ends for mobile handsets, which both companies will market to tier-one original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The first of these customers is due to be before the end of 2010. The key to WiSpry's competitive advantage is its tunable impedance matching MEMS technology that uses arrays of switchable capacitive devices that can be quickly switched in and out to quickly provide over 3-dB of link resilience by adapting to changes in frequency, antenna conditions (such as being touched by the user) and other ongoing operational conditions, thereby preventing dropped calls and improving realtime performance — more "bars" on the cell phone display. Today's 3G multi-mode, multi-band mobile wireless devices and tomorrow's 4G LTE terminals and infrastructure equipment both require dozens of internal RF front-end components, only a few of which are used for any one time. By going to a single tunable RF front-end, many of these redundant components can be eliminated, enabling a drastically smaller form factor as well as reducing the bill-of-materials for devices.
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How to Make Next-Gen Media Tablet an #iPad Killer

While clones of iPad flood the market, the smart money is betting on differentiated media tablets that serve markets #Apple is missing. Look for dozens of different types of media tablets aimed at consumer, rather than creating, multi-media content over the next three years. R.C.J.


Whatever you prefer to call the newest category of portables-smartbooks, media tablets, iPad clones or touchscreen tablets-the astounding popularity of these devices speaks to the societal sea change under way in how we use computers and consume content. Yesterday's monolithic herd of passive TV-watching couch potatoes has splintered into diverse but intricately interconnected communities of mobile interactive-content consumers. Their voracious appetite for new media perfectly matches the tablet form factor and the touch interface that defines this rising computer class, which inhabits the space between the netbook and the smartphone.
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Chevy Volt Test Drive and Exploded View Explanation

Chevy Volt test drive with Freescale senior vice president Henri Richard who is usually out racing his Ferrari, but who seems to like the all electric ride here:



Now get under the shin of the Chevy Volt as explained electron-by-electron by Pamela Fletcher, chief engineer of General Motors at the Freescale Technology Forum (June 22, 2010, Orlando, Fla.) in the company of Freescale CEO Rich Beyer:



Now read about how smart sensors will start down the road to driving our cars for us with increasingly active safety systems:
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#Freescale Plans #Basestation-on-Chip

A basestation on-a-chip would enable the ultra small #femto-cell revolution that carriers are talking about to fill in spots in rural areas, among other uses. Look for all the major players with mixed-signal processes to be announcing basestation on-a-chip plans by 2011. R.C.J.


Freescale Semiconductor plans to best its embedded communications competitors not just by depending on raw computing speed for its processors but by reaching the higher integration levels needed to put a "basestation on a chip," according to Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager for networking and multimedia. Speaking at the recent Freescale Technology Forum (FTF), held June 21-24 in Orlando, Fla., Su claimed Freescale had already captured the market share lead in embedded communications processors, at 25.6 percent, putting it just ahead of Intel Corp., which recently pledged a renewed effort to increase its embedded market share.



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Future Auto Safety Systems Merging Passive/Active Sensors

The next generation of car automation will combine passive microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors with active actuators that will increasingly "drive" cars in hazardous situations to avoid accidents, experts said. Look for active safety systems to increasingly take on tough driving conditions on the way to driverless vehicles by the end of the decade. R.C.J.


According to panelists at a Freescale event in Orlando, Fla., this week, most drivers want to retain control of their vehicle despite the success of current traction control systems that compensate for certain driver-errors during skids. As a result, fully autonomous navigation systems won't appear anytime soon for two reasons: drivers need to know that they are in control and unsolved methods for transferring control back to the driver after an incident. The short-term solution, according to Freescale's Demetre Kondylis, is zero-tolerance for common failure modes that could defeat mandated redundancy in automotive systems. This can be accomplished by embracing the convergence of passive sensing and active actuation of responses in future safety systems designed to prevent accidents.

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Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSghIWB_8vg

#Smart #Grid Panel Advocates Effortless Efficiency

Smart grid infrastructure will take a decade to build out, but the result will be transparent energy efficiency that does not require consumers to learn complex management techniques, according to panelist here at the Freescale Technology Forum. Look for coordinated smart grid efforts from utilities, smart meter makers and electric appliance makers--including electric cars--over the rest of the decade. R.C.J.


Moderated by Freescale Senior Vice President Henri Richard, panel included Andres Carvallo, executive vice president of Grid Net, Britta Gross, director global energy systems at General Motors, Suresh Boyal, a distinguished technical staff member of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs and John Knoght global technical program manager for Whirlpool's Smart Grid Program. Panelest agreed that the model of knowledge distribution, the smart grid should likewise remove the necessity for deep thinking from energy efficiency efforts. The smart grid, according to the panel moderated by Freescale Senior Vice President Henri Richard, involves not only the electrical distribution system and smart meters, but also the devices that will be drawing the power. In a coordinated effort of electricity suppliers, local distribution networks and manufactures of appliances and electric cars, within 10 years most of the U.S. will become optimally energy efficient, according to panel members, who maintained that it is necessary to remove the manual control proposed by Intel from the equation
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Freescale CEO: 'Connected intelligence' beating recession

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. revealed its vision of the future of semiconductor technology at the Freescale Technology Forum Tuesday (June 22), where CEO Richard Beyer predicted that the recession will continue to fade by virtue of the commercial success of what he called "connected intelligence."



According to Beyer, new capabilities in device-to-device and device-to-infrastructure connectivity are offering new types of services and entertainment that add up to connected intelligence, which he claimed will continue to help pull the world out of the current recession. Freescale's Power QuIC processors are already deployed in "virtually every wireless basestation today," Beyer said, enabling a wider variety of Internet and cloud based services which Beyer said is the future of mobile wireless computing. But the wireless user devices themselves are the main driver of recession mitigation.
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Smart sensors integrates ColdFire processor, MEMS accelerometer

Fusing the output of multiple MEMS sensors, such as is done by the new Apple iPhone 4, wastes application processor cycles managing their coordination, but Freescale's new "smart MEMS" has its own microcontroller, resulting in streamlined designs for smaller, faster devices. Look for accelerometers to be used together with an MEMS gyroscope to achieve ultra-precise motion tracking for 3-D mice and MotionPlus fuctionality, and barometric pressure sensors to be added for altitude along with a magnetometer, with Freescale's Xtrinsic smart sensor performing the fusion algorithms to perform indoor navigation tasks by Christmas. R.C.J.


Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s new Xtrinsic family of smart MEMS sensors combine a 32-bit ColdFire microcontroller with on-chip algorithms for all the common operations like tap, touch, tilt and orientation, thereby streamlining designs and offloading the application processor...The system-in-package combines a ColdFire 32-bit microcontroller die alongside a three-axis MEMS accelerometer die. The same 3-by-3 millimeter package also contains on-chip power management and dual I2C/SPI connectivity buses—one for communicating with the host application processor, and the other for communicating with up to 12 other sensors needed in a design, such as MEMS gyroscopes, pressure sensors, magentometors, or touch sensors. Besides off-loading the application processor in a design from reading out sensor data, the on-chip firmware that is supplied with every Xtrinsic sensor provides many of the common algorithms that would otherwise have to be executed by the application processor, as well as the sensor fusion operations needed to use multiple sensors. On-chip flash can also accommodate custom sensor fusion operations, such as to emulate Wii-like gaming controllers with MotionPlus.
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Freescale adds ARM-based microcontroller line

World's first ARM Cortex-M4 processor--the fastest, lowest power in existence--will supercharge mobile devices while simultaneously lengthening their battery life. Look for ultra-speedy, ultra-long-battery life using the Freescale's new Kinetis family of ARM microncontrollers before Christmas. R.C.J.


Freescale Semiconductor Inc. Tuesday (June 22) introduced a new ARM-based microcontroller family, Kinetis, expanding its push into consumer and industrial markets with a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer architecture licensed from ARM Holdings plc.
Freescale (Austin, Texas) already has 32-bit microcontrollers using the Power instruction set architecture (ISA) developed with IBM, plus its own low-cost ColdFire+ microcontrollers. The new microcontroller line is intended to serve original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) standardizing on ARM cores across their applications.
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IAR Systems supports new Freescale MCU families

One stop software shopping is being offered by IAR Systems for the whole range of Freescale's three lines of microcontrollers. Look for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to adopt IAR for its tight integration with Freescale as the new processors become available later this year. R.C.J.


Freescale's newest Kinetis, ColfFire and i.MX microcontrollers can now all use a common software development environment from IAR Systems...Now IAR Systems supports all three of Freescale's microcontroller families—Kinetis, ColdFire and i.MX—with a common development platform. In addition, IAR Systems announced that it has collaborated with Freescale to provide a complete hardware/software development kit for Freescale's iMX multimedia processors. The common software development environment includes full support for Freescale's MQX real-time operating system (RTOS), as well as USB host and device stacks, and a TCP/IP communications stack, according to IAR Systems. The IAR C-Spy Debugger works with the RTOS, making it possible to watch for example tasks, semaphores and mail boxes, according to the company.
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Military Decontamination Could Clean Up Oil Spills

A university researcher advises that Fibertect—an inert decontamination system that is used to neutralize chemical warfare agents—could aid recovery efforts in the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Look for oil companies to get serious with cleanup efforts over the next few weeks. R.C.J.


As most everyone around the world is now aware, a recent explosion and fire aboard a British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana caused the gushing of more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite repeated attempts to cap the geyser and stem the flow of oil, BP has so far failed to stop what has now become the worst oil spill in the history of the United States.
As a secondary well designed to divert the oil flow is drilled—an endeavor that could take months—efforts are shifting to cleaning up the oil that has already spilled. One material that has already proven itself in the field for the cleanup of toxic chemical warfare agents—called Fibertect—may prove effective in aiding cleanup efforts, according to its inventor, Professor Seshadri Ramkumar at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University.
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Cheap Plastic #Semiconductors to Rival Speeds of Today's Fastest Chips

"Organic" semiconductors doesn't mean pesticide-free, but rather that they are made from low-cost plastic instead of expensive silicon, albeit running at speeds a thousands time slower than conventional microchips, at least until now. Look for inexpensive plastic chips to start outperforming expensive silicon chips within 10 years. R.C.J.


University researchers have reported a breakthrough that could help organic semiconductors bridge the considerable performance gap with silicon chips. Organic semiconductors offer easier low-temperature processing than silicon, resulting in lower cost semiconductors with highly tunable properties. Unfortunately, the poor carrier mobility of organic materials makes their performance characteristics lag behind traditional inorganic semiconductors by a thousand times or more. The researchers at McGill Universtiy (Montreal) demonstrated a method of endowing organic semiconductors with the performance characteristics of inorganic materials by copying their highly ordered nanoscale structure with bottom-up self-assembly techniques...
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New Face of Online Journalism Revealed for $2.7 million :)

The new face of online journalism will be revealed by virtue of $2.7 million in awards for the world's most innovative ways to supply web-based news to users worldwide. Look for Tilemapping, DocumentCloud and other new buzzwords to revolutionize news delivery over the next five years. R.C.J.


Here's what Knight New says about the winners of its contest: Twelve media innovation projects have been named the 2010 winners of the Knight News Challenge, a contest that funds ideas that use digital technology to inform specific geographic communities. The winners will receive $2.74 million as part of the fourth round of the five-year international contest. Among the winning ideas are two easy-to-use tool sets for journalists and bloggers to illustrate raw data visually – one of the most promising new areas of digital journalism. One project (Tilemapping) was field-tested in Haiti, to map where aid was needed after the earthquake...Other winning projects include experiments to: Find new ways to fund journalism – including tools to create “real time ads” that display a business’ latest Twitter or Facebook update. Another, building on 2008 challenge winner Spot.Us, provides a place for the public to pitch and pay for stories on public radio; Engage readers in new ways – with a mobile application that enables residents to geo-tag ideas for improving their neighborhood, and via local wikis, based on a successful California site where residents exchange local knowledge and news...Over the Challenge’s four years, Knight Foundation has reviewed 10,000 applications and funded 50 projects for $23 million...
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How To Turn Down The Volume On #WorldCup #Vuvuzelas by #ConsumerReports

Want more coverage of the World Cup in South Africa instead of those #^%$& vuvuzelas? Tough luck on that one, but Consumer Reports does have a free solution for minimizing their sound. Look for more innovative methods of turing down the volume on vuvuzelas until they are banned. R.C.J.


Here's what Consumer Reports says about turning down the volume on vuvuzelas: Despite calls to ban the vuvuzela, the long plastic trumpet blown by thousands of strong-lunged fans at the World Cup games, the racket they make probably isn't going to diminish on TV broadcasts anytime soon. That’s despite complaints about the horns' incessant buzzing from some high-profile players (who can't communicate over the drone), concerns from health experts (who say the loud blaring may affect hearing loss), and claims by World Cup broadcasters that they've stepped up audio filtering to screen out the vuvuzela racket.

Fortunately, TV viewers who can't stand the noise have a few options, as we cover in this video...
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#Nanotechnology To Clean Toxins from Water Supply

Nanowires "decorated" with gold could remove dangerous toxins from polluted water. Look for innovative uses of nanotechnology to solve all sorts of pollution problems over the rest of the decade. R.C.J.


Here's what Argonne National Labs says about its own discovery: A scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has created visible-light catalysis, using silver chloride nanowires decorated with gold nanoparticles, that may decompose organic molecules in polluted water...Traditional silver chloride photocatalytic properties are restricted to ultraviolet and blue light wavelengths, but with the addition of the gold nanoparticles, they become photocatalytic in visible light. The visible light excites the electrons in the gold nanoparticles and initiates reactions that culminate in charge separation on the silver chloride nanowires. Tests have already shown that gold-decorated nanowires can decompose organic molecules such as methylene blue.
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#Apple #iPad CopyCats Spur Touchscreen Sales 5000 Percent

Kiss the mouse goodbye as touchscreens grace over a dozen new iPad copycats by the end of 2010, with as many as 50 models slated to debut in 2011. Look for touchscreens to become the standard human interface within three years. R.C.J.


Here's what iSuppli says about its own report: iPad and Competitors Spur Touch Screen Boom - Pave Way for Wider PC Usage...Driven by soaring sales of Apple Inc.’s iPad and competing products, shipments of touch screens for such systems are set to rise by nearly 5,000 percent in 2010, according to iSuppli Corp. Global shipments of touch-screen systems for slate-type devices are expected to rise to 8.9 million units in 2010, up from just 176,000 in 2009, according to iSuppli. Shipments then will rise by a factor of seven to reach 63.9 million units in 2013...
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World's 1st Solar-Powered Air Conditioner

The world's first solar powered air conditioner only augments its energy use with free solar energy, but its a step in the right direction. Look for "solar augmentation" to become a buzzword among more outdoor appliances in the next few years. R.C.J.


Here's what LG says about its own solar-hybrid air conditioner: LG Electronics (LG) today announced Korea’s first eco-friendly residential hybrid air conditioner that utilizes solar energy as part of its power supply. By combining power generated through the solar cell module attached to the top of the outdoor unit, this 28,000BTU (76 square meter) standing-style air conditioner...As a clean, renewable energy source, solar power is drawing ever-more interest both from the environmentally conscious and average consumers looking to make long-term savings in their energy bills. Not only does F-Q232LASS offer big savings in electricity costs, it is also environmentally-friendly. LG’s hybrid air conditioner helps reduce approximately 212 kg of carbon dioxide over 10 years, equivalent to growing 780 pine trees over the same period...
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#Touchscreens up to 52-inches Debut from NextWindow

Is you iPad too small? How about 52-inches--is that big enough for you? Look for giant touchscreen displays in kiosks and other commercial settings by the end of the year. R.C.J.


Here's what NextWindow says about its optical touchscreen technology: NextWindow offers an optical sensor technology that can be turn any flat panel display into a touchscreen by mrely adding optical sensors at two corners of the screen, allowing algorithms to calculate the precise location of your finger from two angles, resulting in accurate tracking with no contact pressure required... The 2500 optical touch screen kit features thin borders and a low profile, making it attractive for commercial applications and is available in sizes ranging from 30" to 52". The optical sensors use a passive illumination system, improving reliability and simplifying assembly for interactive digital signage, directory displays, kiosks and education settings...The 2500 Large-Format Optical Sensor kit includes all of the components necessary to quickly and easily assemble a touch screen, including optical sensors, controller board, passive border and device driver. Standard kits for the 2500 do not include glass, which significantly reduces the cost and risk of transporting the touch screen components to customers. The 2500 can also be purchased fully assembled on glass, should integrators, OEMs and ODMs require. Kits come in standard display sizes...the product supports Microsoft Windows 7 multitouch functions such as zoom, rotate, tap and press-and-tap...
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IBM Smart Planet Research Reaches Out to South America

Smarter planet solutions to natural-resource management, energy, transportation and semiconductor devices will be the focus of IBM Research-Brazil, the company's ninth research lab worldwide and its first in South America.


IBM Research-Brazil will be a new permanent research lab that adds about 100 South American scientists to the 3,000 IBM scientists worldwide who are already dedicated to smarter planet solutions...IBM Research-Brazil hopes to demonstrate smarter transportation, smarter crowd control and smarter people-management technologies at both the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016...Other initiatives that IBM Research-Brazil may pursue include smarter transportation, smarter health care and smarter agribusiness...
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Clock Jitter Nixed with 'Clock Cleaner' Chip #semiconductor

Clock jitters giving putting your design on edge? SiliconLabs claims to have the the answer. Look for more lower bit-error-rates and higher signal-to-noise ratio for high-speed telecomm equipment over the next few years. R.C.J.


Here's what Silicon Labs says about its clock jitter cure: Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today announced the industry’s most frequency-flexible timing IC solution for networking and telecommunications applications that require jitter attenuation for clock signals without clock multiplication. Silicon Labs’ new Si5317 pin-controlled jitter cleaning clock IC provides jitter filtering to remove unwanted noise and produces low jitter outputs for a wide range of applications such as wireless backhaul equipment, DSLAMs, multi-service access nodes (MSANs), GPON/EPON optical line termination (OLT) line cards, and 10 GbE switches and routers...
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New #Supernova Type Sheds Light on Universe's Origins

Scientists have discovered a third type of supernova that could explain the universe’s previously puzzling abundance of calcium—which enabled the evolution of life—as well as eliminate at least one reason to hypothesize the existence of dark matter. Look for new theories on the origin of life without the need for dark matter over the next three years. R.C.J.


Standard astronomical theory maintains that all the elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created and dispersed by supernovae of two different types: hot, young giants that explode in a violent display and then collapse under their own weight; and very old, dense, white dwarves that explode in a thermonuclear explosion. Unfortunately, the universe as we know it has many more heavy elements—like the calcium that makes up your body—that cannot be accounted for by those two types of supernovae.
Now astronomers at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) claim to have discovered a third type of supernova that could account for the abundance of calcium in the universe—as well as eliminate one reason to postulate "dark matter."
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#Nanotech Cools #Semiconductor Chips Four Times Faster

Heat has become the number one problem in advancing semiconductor chips to smaller sizes and higher speeds, but nanotechnology may hold the key to a solution. Look for nano-coatings for heat sinks and other more advanced cooling systems within three years. R.C.J.


Nanoscale coatings could boost the efficiency with which heat can be removed from semiconductors and other devices, according to an Army Research Laboratory funded study by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Oregon State University (OSU). The nanoscale coating method, dubbed microreactor assisted nanomaterial deposition (MAND), deposited tiny grains of zinc oxide atop bulk aluminum and copper. As a result of the nanostructured coatings, heat was transfered far more efficiently. The researchers claim that their coating techniques will help in the cooling for advanced lasers, radars, and power electronics devices in applications including high performance computers, advanced military avionics, electric vehicles and energy recovery systems...
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#Superconductivity Switched On/Off by Thin-Film #Semiconductor Chip

Superconducting semiconductor chips aim for switching the effect on/off magnetically as a result of cooperative U.S./Israeli researcher. Look for switching superconductor thin-film semiconductor chips by the end of the decade. R.C.J.


Superconductors have typically required bulk materials to transform into resistanceless conduction mode when cooled, but researchers have bucked that trend by fabricating thin films of nanowires at Brookhaven National Laboratory in cooperation with Israel's Bar-Ilan University. Once fabricated, the scientists discovered that external magnetic fields could modulate the resistance of their nanowires, opening the future possibility of switching superconductivity on and off magnetically...Application of an externally increasing magnetic field was found to modulate the resistance of the material, instead make a linear change as was expected. As a result, the researchers hope to engineer a new type of superconducting thin film that enables the superconducting effect to be switched on and off magnetically.
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#Nano-Coating Cools #Semiconductors Four Times Faster

Heat has become the number one problem in advancing semiconductor chips to smaller sizes and higher speeds, but nanotechnology may hold the key to a solution. Look for nano-coatings for heat sinks and other more advanced cooling systems within three years. R.C.J.


Nanoscale coatings could boost the efficiency with which heat can be removed from semiconductors and other devices, according to an Army Research Laboratory funded study by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Oregon State University (OSU). The nanoscale coating method, dubbed microreactor assisted nanomaterial deposition (MAND), deposited tiny grains of zinc oxide atop bulk aluminum and copper. As a result of the nanostructured coatings, heat was transfered far more efficiently. The researchers claim that their coating techniques will help in the cooling for advanced lasers, radars, and power electronics devices in applications including high performance computers, advanced military avionics, electric vehicles and energy recovery systems...
Full Text: http://bit.ly/NextGenLog-d7M2

Go #Sprint to Avoid Throttling, Usage-Based Pricing

If you are mainlining data streams and do not want to be throttled by T-Mobile or have to pay at a higher tier with AT&T, consider switching to Sprint which promises not to follow its rivals lead. Look for an exodus of heavy data users to Sprint over the next few months. R.C.J.


Here's what the Dow Jones says about throttling: Sprint Nextel Corp. said it doesn't plan to slow down or limit the wireless connection for its high-volume customers, although it would consider suspending the service for mobile broadband plans for excessive use out of the carrier's network. AT&T Inc.'s move to a tiered pricing structure for data, and T-Mobile USA's decision to limit excessive use on its network have many expecting an industry-wide shift to control the amount of data traffic, which has grown fast enough to weigh on the quality of cellphone ..
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#Nanotech-Coating Cools #Semiconductors Chips Four Times Faster

Heat has become the number one problem in advancing semiconductor chips to smaller sizes and higher speeds, but nanotechnology may hold the key to a solution. Look for nano-coatings for heat sinks and other more advanced cooling systems within three years. R.C.J.


Nanoscale coatings could boost the efficiency with which heat can be removed from semiconductors and other devices, according to an Army Research Laboratory funded study by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Oregon State University (OSU). The nanoscale coating method, dubbed microreactor assisted nanomaterial deposition (MAND), deposited tiny grains of zinc oxide atop bulk aluminum and copper. As a result of the nanostructured coatings, heat was transfered far more efficiently. The researchers claim that their coating techniques will help in the cooling for advanced lasers, radars, and power electronics devices in applications including high performance computers, advanced military avionics, electric vehicles and energy recovery systems...
Full Text: http://bit.ly/NextGenLog-d7M2

#Samsung Takes Lead in U.S. #LCD #TV Market

#Vizio lost the lead in LCD televisions to Samsung, according to iSuppli. Look for Samsung's jump on 3D TVs and LED backlights to keep it in the lead for the foreseeable future. R.C.J.


Here's what iSuppli says about its own report: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the first quarter of 2010 regained the leading position in the U.S. LCD-TV market, as the company capitalized on rising consumer demand for television sets with advanced features, including LED-backlighting, built-in Internet connectivity and 3-D images, according to iSuppli Corp.
Samsung in the first quarter shipped 1.1 million LCD-TV sets in the United States. While this was down 33 percent from the fourth quarter, Samsung actually outperformed the overall U.S. LCD-TV market, which contracted by 35.8 percent sequentially due to seasonal factors. This allowed Samsung to increase its market share to 18 percent in the first quarter, up from 17.3 percent in the fourth quarter, giving it the top position in the U.S. market.
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#Frankenstein #Retina Fabricated from #Embryonic #Stem #Cells

Frankenstein--the fable--was fabricated from cast off human body parts, refashioned into living tissues--a dream recently realized with a living retina made from stem cells that could restore sight for up to 10 million Americans. Look for man-made living replacement parts made from embryonic stem cells within 10 years. R.C.J.


Scientists have created the world's first human retina from embryonic stem cells, holding out the promise of restoring sight to millions of blind patients with transplant-ready living retinas. Much has been made about artificial retinas restoring sight to the blind by establishing wireless communications between an eye-glasses-mounted video camera and semiconductors implanted inside a patient's eye. However, all those efforts could become obsolete before they get started as a result of researchers who recently created a new living retina out of embryonic stem cells. University of California at Irvine (UCI) scientists recently revealed that they had successfully created a living retina aimed at curing blindness caused by the same maladies that the electronic implants are being designed to cure—retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration—but without inserting semiconductors inside the eye. Still in the experimental stages, these new living retinas could restore sight to 10 million Americans. The living retina was constructed by painstakingly assembling eight layers of embryonic stem cells into a three-dimensional tissue structure remarkably similar to the architecture of natural retinas...
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#MEMS "Birds of a Feather" Meet at DAC 2010

Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mavins will have a "Birds of a Feather" meeting on Tuesday, June 15, at DAC. 6:30PM in Room 210AB. Look for MEMS issues to be raised and discussed at the Design Automation Conference (DAC, Anaheim, Calif., June 13-18). R.C.J.


Here's what the organizers say about their session: Hosted by Coventor and Cadence, and moderated by industry veteran Jim Hogan, the topic is MEMS: Ready to Cross the Chasm. It will be an interactive discussion about what opportunities exist for MEMS-enabled products, how MEMS design can be integrated with traditional IC design flows and methodologies, and the increasing move toward a true fabless MEMS model...
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Discovery Channel Super-Hacker to Judge Design Challenge

Legendary hacker-turned-entertainer Joe Grand, host of the Discovery Channel's 'Prototype This,' will judge the Tower Throwdown Design Challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF America). Look for engineers and designers to be burning the midnight oil at FTF America, June 21-24, Orlando). R.C.J.


Here is what Freescale says about its contest to be judged by legendary hacker Joe Grand turned entertainer: The Tower Throwdown Design Challenge is a contest that tests your design prowess using Freescale's Tower development system, CodeWarrior and MQX Software Solutions. The options are endless and the pace is fast. Pick up your kits on Monday, June 21 at the Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando. And, you will have just 36 hours to develop a creative application. First place wins $2,000 USD and a Sharp Netwalker smartbook!...
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#NSF funds computer virus immunization effort

The third most unsolvable problem in IT today--behind cyber insecurity and Internet highjacking--is infections by viruses, worms and other malware. Look for immunization technologies bend on eradicating infectious disease among computers and mobile devices from this National Science Foundation funded effort. R.C.J.


The wide proliferation of wireless mobile computing devices like smartphones has increased global networks vulnerability to cyber security violations, according to Florida State University (FSU), which is pursuing an effort to immunize applications with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). By differentiating specific instances of application programs with unique executables, the researchers aim to remove the most common lever used by viruses and other malware, effectively immunizing them against spreading infections. Program differentiation is not a new idea, but traditional approaches are problematic, according to Whalley, who is collaborating on the project with fellow FSU professor Gary Tyson. Other attempts at program differentiation have resulted in performance penalties and behavior changes that produce maintenance nightmares, but the FSU professors believe they have the answer.
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Organic #Superconductor Aim of Buckyball Probe #Semiconductors

Fullerenes--C60 hollow spheres composed of 60 carbon atoms sometimes called Buckyballs--can be fashioned into two-dimensional organic metals that hold the promise of superconducting. Look for researchers pursuing the goal of superconducting with room-temperature fullerene sheets over the next three years. R.C.J.


Here is what the team of Russian and Japanese researchers say about their own work: The first metal organic fullerene, (MDABCO +) TPC (C60), with a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of C60 is described. The material consists exclusively of light elements (C, H, N) and acts like a metal down to temperatures of 1.9 K.
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#MEMS gyros seen gaining cell phone design wins

Last month I predicted that every smartphone out there will have a gyroscope too by this time next year--iPhone 4 is fulfilling that prophecy--but now I'll go one step further. Look for MEMS accelerometers and gyros to be complemented with barometers for altitude and magnetometers (compass) for heading, enabling pinpoint navigation indoors by 2012. R.C.J.


As cell phone makers add gyroscopes to their smarter models to keep pace with human interface trends pioneered by Apple's iPhone 4, market forecasters are upping their predictions on unit sales of MEMS gyroscope chips. Already shipping in millions of units per month for image stabilization in digital cameras, gaming controllers and for 3-D mice, the new cell-phone gyroscope market is predicted become even larger in just a few years. With the iPhone 4 setting the trends in smartphones today, explosive grow in the market for gyroscopes is sure to follow, according to iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.), which predicts that competitors will need to keep pace with Apple by adding gyroscopes to their smartphones, too, catapulting the market from zero in 2009 to 285 million units by 2014.
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MIG to Host "State of MEMS" Panel at Microtech 2010

Hear about the trends and opportunities for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) at Microtech 2010. Look for MEMS chips to skyrocket as more and more mobile handheld devices adopt MEMS for enhanced user-interfaces. R.C.J.


Here is what MIG says about its panel: Join members of the MEMS supply chain to discuss the trends, challenges and opportunities in getting to high volume in MEMS. Topics will include: What and where are the links (and chinks) in the MEMS supply chain when moving to high volume? What does it take to move a product from lab to fab? What end applications are driving the MEMS industry? When: June 23, 2010, 3:00-4:30 p.m. PT Where: Microtech Conference & Expo 2010, Room 303 C, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif.
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Metallic Fullerenes Aim for Organic #Superconductor #Semiconductors

Fullerenes--C60 hollow spheres composed of 60 carbon atoms--fashioned into two-dimensional organic metals hold the promise of superconducting. Look for researchers pursuing the goal of superconducting with room-temperature fullerene sheets over the next three years. R.C.J.


Here is what the team of Russian and Japanese researchers say about their own work: The first metal organic fullerene, (MDABCO +) TPC (C60), with a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of C60 is described. The material consists exclusively of light elements (C, H, N) and acts like a metal down to temperatures of 1.9 K.
Full Text: http://bit.ly/NextGenLog-c0Zd

Discovery Channel Judging Throwdown Design Challenge

Joe Grand, host of the Discovery Channel's 'Prototype This,' will judge the Tower Throwdown Design Challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF America). Look for engineers and designers to be burning the midnight oil at FTF America, June 21-24, Orlando). R.C.J.


Here is what Freescale says about its contest to be judged by legendary hacker Joe Grand turned entertainer: The Tower Throwdown Design Challenge is a contest that tests your design prowess using Freescale's Tower development system, CodeWarrior and MQX Software Solutions. The options are endless and the pace is fast. Pick up your kits on Monday, June 21 at the Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando. And, you will have just 36 hours to develop a creative application. First place wins $2,000 USD and a Sharp Netwalker smartbook!...
Full Text: http://bit.ly/NextGeLog-bXJC

#Freescale Scales down ColdFire Microcontrollers

Scaling down its ColdFire microcontrollers allowed Freescale to improve performance and add features while also lowering its price. Look for mobile devices to get extended battery life and touch-to-awaken convenience by switching to Freescale's ColdFire+ microcontrollers. R.C.J.


Freescale Semiconductor has capitalized on its unique thin-film storage (TFS) technology for the 90-nanometer node, scaling down its ColdFire processors to the 90-nm node, also—over a four-fold shrink to just five millimeters square for under a dollar. The new ColdFire+ family includes 40 new 32-bit MCUs with ultra-low power requirements for long battery life, integrated analog converters, touch pad sensing, display support, cyber security accelerators and TFS that can be configured as either flash or EEPROM. FlexMemory is nonvolatile storage based on Freescale's nanocrystalline thin-film floating gate memory cells that enable write speeds as fast as 100 microseconds and up to 4.4 million write/erase cycles over the full voltage range of 1.71-to-3.6 volts. Freescale also claims its power consumption is the lowest in the industry at 150 microAmps per MHz, with stop currents under 500 nanoamps and wake-up times under four microseconds from 10 different low-power modes. When the touchpad sensing capability is used, the ColdFire+ processors can be awakened with a touch even from the lowest power modes in just four microseconds, which appears instantaneous to mobile device users yet extends battery life.
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