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  Headlines and summaries from the pages of Electronic Engineering Times. Previous editions are available from the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 News Archives.
Friday, August 8, 1997Start-up makes CD-ROMs heart of interactive TVStartup Edgar Online GmbH is planning to join the Internet TV revolution with a different approach: a hybrid CD-ROM/Internet device aimed at bringing multimedia to a consumer's TV.
Growing pains beset miniature-display industryThe market for miniature displays is experiencing some growing pains. Startup S-Vision hopes to clear the hurdles to volume production that have bedeviled some developers of more exotic mini-display designs. One of those companies, Silicon Light Machines recently laid off about a third of its staff in a redirection of its effort to bring its Grating Light Valve technology to market.
IP Multicast weighed for multimedia delivery on NetA five year-old technology is picking up steam, as Internet service providers look for ways to deliver multimedia capabilities over the Net.
Microsoft eyes streaming mediaMoving on two fronts to promote streaming media, Microsoft Corp. will lead an effort to standardize the technology and will has acquired a developer of adaptive compression.
Synopsys, ARM collaborate on core characterizationSynopsys Inc. and Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM) are working together to develop what the companies call the first commercially available characterization technology for complex cores.
Vendors try new approach to systems-on-a-chipThe drive to system-level chip integration is altering the way CMOS processes are designed and brought into production, with the concept of a base process with add-on modules replacing the old portfolio of specialized processes.
Thursday, August 7, 1997Jobs announces new board, Microsoft partnership for AppleBill Gates was the surprise guest--via satellite--at the Macworld Expo keynote this morning. An older, wiser Steve Jobs announced a multifaceted partnership with Microsoft Corp. and a new board of directors for Apple Computer as part of the foundation on which the ailing Macintosh maker will rebuild its business.
Race toward blue laser picks up speedIntensifying the race to develop a viable blue laser, researchers at Fujitsu say they have succeeded in using a conventional low-pressure metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxial technique to fabricate a laser in the 414-nm range. The results indicate that the techniques used to make low-cost red lasers can be extended to blue-laser fabrication.
Submicron efforts eye new metal chemistriesThe next step beyond 0.25-micron processes--probably 0.18 micron--will present formidable challenges to the equipment industry. The most obvious is in lithography, but the most intractable issues may come from the question of metal structures.
IBM fine-tunes Deep Blue for commercial arenaThe technology responsible for the outcome of the infamous chess match between IBM's Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov is being retargeted toward new and very different applications. The IBM researchers who developed the custom chip at the heart of the system are examining its potential in financial modeling, pharmaceutical and medical applications.
Embedded gets shot in armClearly, embedded computing doesn't mean wimpy processors anymore. This week, Sky Computers Inc. launched a board based on Motorola's new PowerPC 740 microprocessor, which was also rolled out this week. And one week ago, Pro-Log Corp. launched a Pentium II cartridge riding on a single-board computer.
Court blocks Mentor emulation productsMentor Graphics Corp. suffered a double whammy in its attempt to enter the logic-emulation business, following two separate court decisions won by Quickturn Design Systems Aug. 1.
Wednesday, August 6, 1997Foreign IC share hits new highForeign share of the Japanese chip market hit an all-time high of 32.6 percent during the first quarter of 1997, the government reported Monday. The 3.2-percent jump in market share over the previous quarter comes one year after the approval of a new U.S.-Japan semiconductor accord.
Investment firm issues "strong sell" for Avant!An investment firm has taken a stand against Avant! Corp. by issuing a "strong sell" recommendation based on Avant!'s ongoing court battles.
Fairchild looking for a stake in analogLess than a year after being spun out from National Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor is looking to acquire an analog business that would fit the company's focus on the commodity market.
Thin-film RC networks debutThe recent launch by Bourns Inc. of MiniNet resistor-capacitor (RC) termination-type networks is the second step in the company's five-part plan to bring diode, inductor and transformer combinations in thin-film-on-silicon to the high-speed digital data-transmission market by the end of 1998.
HP adds speed to its parameter analyzersDesigned from the ground up for speed in automated benchtop testing, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s latest two semiconductor parameter analyzers boost throughput by a factor of five over previous HP versions, the company said.
Atmel expands flash options for DSP appsAtmel Corp. is shipping 2- and 8-Mbit versions of its Serial DataFlash products. The devices are pin-compatible with the 4-Mbit device that was introduced earlier this year.
Gbit Ethernet gets node controlJato Technologies Inc. hopes to redefine what constitutes a Gigabit Ethernet controller. Server-node developers need something more complex than a simple medium-access control, said Peter Rauch, Jato's vice president of marketing.
Cell phones get wireless data backupGeoworks has taken aim at wireless cellular operators, launching a data backup and storage product. When installed in cellular operators' servers, the software lets smart-phone and mobile-device users upload and synchronize all the essential data stored on their device.
Tuesday, August 5, 1997Cadence offers system-on-a-chip design serviceCadence Design Systems Inc. takes the biggest step yet in its evolving design-services business this week, when it offers entire system-on-a-chip design capability.
Litho-process choice may mold fab of the futureThree advanced systems for producing deep-submicron features on ICs are headed for a showdown that could leave the industry with one clear winner by November.
Philips goes to wall for 40-inch plasma displayPhilips Electronics NV has thrown its considerable weight behind plasma-addressed liquid-crystal (PALC) display technology, announcing that it will join Sharp Electronics and Sony Corp. in their quest to develop 40-inch wall-hanging panels that could be used for either computers or TVs.
Red lasers due in time for DVD-RAM drive debutLaser manufacturers showed off high-power red lasers at the recent InterOpt '97, promising that the parts--key components for the coming wave of DVD-RAM drives--will be available in volume in time for the drives' year-end market introduction.
Software firm eyes compact JavaSystem Technology Networking and Communication Enterprises Ltd. has raised about $1.6 million from U.K. venture capital firm 3i to fund future expansion. STNC said it will use the money to write a compact Java interpreter for mobile devices such as Web-enabled mobile phones and personal digital assistants.
Monday, August 4, 1997Motorola and Intel prep board moves for embedded X86The outlook for the X86 architecture in embedded computing is about to take two significant steps forward. EE Times has learned that Motorola has signed a letter of intent to purchase Pro-Log Corp., a relatively small but aggressive X86 board house focused on the CompactPCI market.
Darpa sows seeds of a telecom revolutionResearchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, working in tandem with a number of defense contractors around the country, are making significant progress in crafting micro-electromechanical systems in silicon that can replace radio-frequency components such as ceramic filters and wirewound inductor coils.
NetStation debut in U.K. kicks off NetChannel serviceNetChannel Inc. (San Francisco), a TV-Internet service provider set to compete with WebTV Networks Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.), has kicked off its service with the launch of a set-top-box in the U.K.
Industry appears bullish at semiconductor confabThe Robertson, Stephens & Co. Semiconductors Conference held recently featured presentations from more than 100 companies in the semiconductor, semiconductor-equipment and EDA industries.
Where the silicon meets the smart roadCongestion on U.S. highways is a lot like the weather: Everybody complains but nobody does anything about it. That may be changing, as a consortium made up of some of the country's leading automotive-electronics manufacturers prepares to showcase emerging automated-highway technology this week.
Avant! acquires Compass to boost system-on-a-chipFast-growing Avant! Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to buy Compass Design Automation from VLSI Technology Inc. Announcing the deal, Avant! chief executive officer Gerald Hsu said his company will also create a wholly owned subsidiary, called Galax!, to address the emerging systems-on-a-chip market.
Global group weighs proposed technologies from five partiesThe Joint Task Force of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and European Broadcasting Union met last week at Microsoft Corp.'s new television studio to review responses to two requests for technologies that are considered critical in bringing "order to the chaos" of the digital-TV transition.
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