"ALGORITHMS: New 3DTV format to be demo'd during Super Bowl"

A new 3DTV format is set to make a splash in primetime during the Super Bowl. During the NFL Championship game on Sunday (Feb. 1), a new 3DTV format that renders colors more accurately will be broadcast during several 3-D commercials. On Monday, NBC will broadcast the comedy "Chuck" in the new 3DTV format. Patented technology developed by ColorCode 3-D Center uses a new anaglyph format that enables any TV to render accurate 3-D colors when viewers use amber-blue lenses instead of the traditional red-cyan 3-D glasses. Intel Corp. (Santa Clara,. Calif.) is providing 150 million pairs of 3-D glasses that will be distributed nationwide for use during the Super Bowl. The free 3-D glasses are available at Safeway, Vons, K-Mart, Ralphs, Kroger, A&P, Frys, Supervalue, Food Lion, Pathmark, Coburn, Fairway, Fresh Brands, Hy Vee, Nash Finch, Dollar General and Winn Dixie stores. Viewers can vote on whether they prefer the ColorCode system over traditional anaglyphs at http://Uptown3D.com
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213000071
Audio: http://homepage.mac.com/guitarmedia/interviews/rcjSuperBowl-09-01-31.mp3

"MEMS: Solution proposed for temperature stability problem"

Microelectromechanical systems use silicon processing techniques to craft resonators on CMOS chips, replacing quartz crystals for time bases. But silicon is not as stable a material as quartz, requiring chip makers to add active temperature compensation circuitry that increases power consumption. Silicon Clocks Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) claims to have solved the stability problem with a passive approach that compensates for temperature with materials that consume no power but achieve results rivaling quartz crystals. Quartz crystals typically provide frequency stability from 0.25 to 1 parts per million per degree Celsius compared to 15 to 30 ppm/degreeC for typical MEMS resonators. The new temperature compensation scheme, called CMEMS-ZeroThermal, delivered a 30-fold improvement in frequency stability of 0.5 to 1 ppm/degreeC, the company claims.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212903081

"MEMS: Low-power MEMS oscillator debuts"

SiTime Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) claims to have lowered the power consumption of its MEMS oscillators to less than half that of competitors' chips. Available in a 0.25 millimeter package, the SiT80x3 family of MEMS oscillators can also supply two related frequencies.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212902508

"ENERGY: Fuel vaporization could boost gas mileage, cut emissions"

Piggyback electronics and an add-on "vapor chamber" could be used to increase the mileage of existing automobile and truck engines by almost one-third while lowering emissions. Vapor Fuel Technologies (Beavercreek, Ore.) claims it accomplishes this by vaporizing fuel and mixing it with super-hot air, enabling modified electronic control circuitry to coax the same horsepower out of engines while burning less fuel and cutting emissions. The company plans to offer retrofit kits for American vehicles within a year, and hopes to close deals to include its technology on new models from U.S., European and Asian auto makers by 2010.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212902652

"CHIPS: Freescale offers free software license with microcontroller purchase"

Freescale Semiconductor is offering complimentary software valued at $95,000 to engineers choosing its microcontrollers for industrial connectivity, smart appliances, medical handhelds, factory automation and other industrial control applications.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212902052

"ENERGY: Solar cell maker expands U.S. manufacturing base"

SolarWorld AG, one of the oldest makers of photovoltaic cells, said it is continuing to expand its U.S. manufacturing operations despite the global economic recession. The German company's fourth quarter results are not in yet, but the company claims it grew by over 51 percent in the first nine months of 2008 while continuing to expand its U.S. manufacturing capacity. SolarWorld recently opened a new facility in Hillsboro, Ore., with nearly a 500,000 square feet of semiconductor-grade manufacturing areas, making SolarWorld the biggest U.S. manufacture of photovoltaic cells.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212901676

"PODCAST: Week in Review, Jan. 16, 2009"

This week my top stories include the first horror film to use modern 3D technology, a new solid-state lighting breakthrough that multiply efficiency, a green energy advance that harvests trace power sources and an optical fiber technology that can detect Gaza tunnels.
Text: http://nextgenlog.blogspot.com/2009/01/podcast-week-in-review-jan-16-2009.html
Audio: http://homepage.mac.com/guitarmedia/interviews/NextGenLog-09-01-02.mp3

"ALGORITHMS: 'Slasher' film projects state-of-the-art 3-D"

The first horror film to be encoded with modern 3-D technology opens this weekend. A 3-D remake of the 1981 independent film, "My Bloody Valentine," uses RealD Cinema's stereoscopic encoding process, enabling viewers to experience state-of-the-art 3-D by wearing polarized glasses in a theater. The horror film is the first of 14 stereoscopic 3-D films to be release in 2009 using the RealD encoding process. Its developer claims a large patent portfolio of 3-D video technologies, with some of its over 150 patents dating back to the work of chief technology officer Lenny Lipton, who pioneered 3-D with his company, StereoGraphics, which was acquired by RealD in 2005.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212900987
Audio: http://homepage.mac.com/guitarmedia/interviews/rcjRealD-09-01-16.mp3