EET on the QT

MediaTek: You Need It, We’ve Got It

For each permutation of digital TV, Taiwan’s MediaTek claims to have a solution. Senior executives of the world’s second largest digital TV system-on-chip company drove home that point during last month’s Consumer Electronics Show.

ARM, Intel Target Military Electronics

ARM is slowly marching into military electronics, responding to the need for smaller, lighter systems for drones, wearable computers, robots and other weapons. It’s entering the battlefield at a time when Intel’s X86 has overtaken the Freescale Power chips that once dominated this sector.

IC Market Still Suffering Fallout Of ‘Delusional’ Tablet Production Forecasts

At roughly 2 percent, semiconductor market growth last year came in far short of initial expectations. One factor in the disappointing showing: “delusions of grandeur” by the OEMS bringing media tablets to market to compete with Apple’s iPad.

Feds Stabilize High-Tech Funding

Congress has reauthorized two programs that nurture high-tech R&D. The action means funding for the programs will be stable for at six more years.

Tighter Controls Targeted For Military Electronics

Industry groups are proposing tighter export controls on pc boards that contain sensitive information on the operation of weapons.

FDA Guidance Strikes Deaf Ears

The FDA’s moves toward greater transparency have not won over the medical electronics community.

DuPont Deal Sets Stage for AMOLED Push

DuPont Displays thinks it has come up with a better way to cut the cost of making heretofore costly active-matrix OLEDs and has attracted an unidentified Asian TV manufacturer to back up its claim.

3-D Chips No ‘Niche Play’

Resolved: 3-D chip integration is more than a niche market, and chip makers are deploying the technology in pursuit of performance gains and profits. That was the conclusion of a sometimes heated free-for-all during the recent International Electron Devices Meeting.

Undaunted, CEVA Tackles DTV Chips

Is the digital TV chip market still worth taking a stab at, when Taiwan’s Mstar and MediaTek seem to have it largely sewn up? Yes, according to CEVA.

Wilocity Signals Next Battle at 60 GHz

Startup Wilocity is sampling a 60-GHz transceiver for PCs and peripherals that can deliver 3.5-Gbit/second application-layer throughput while consuming 2 watts based on an emerging variant of Wi-Fi.