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New 8 Gbyte flash from IM Flash Technologies

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Intel and Micron have announces they are producing 25-Nanometer MLC NAND flash. They do this in the form of an 8 Gbyte chip from their joint venture IM Flash Technologies (www.imftech.com, Lehi, Utah). Samples of the chip are available now and production is expected in Q2. The device provides the highest-density in a single 2 bits-per-cell multi-level cell (MLC) die that will fit an industry-standard TSOP package. It is expected to bring the price of SSDs down further. When the next gen SSD comes out will it be time to make the jump? Maybe, if only it will it make this damn computer boot up faster. – Jim Harrison

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Microchip agrees to acquire SST

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Microchip (www.microchip.com) announced today that that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Silicon Storage Technology (www.sst.com)  for $2.85 per share in cash. The $2.85 per share represents an approximate 35.7% premium to the amount that the holders of SST common stock would have received under the previously announced merger agreement between SST and Technology Resources Holdings, Inc., and an approximate 53.2% premium to the closing price per share of SST’s stock on November 12, 2009, the last day of trading prior to the announcement of the execution of the definitive merger agreement with Technology Resources Holdings, Inc.

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Upcoming conference: IEEE-ISSCC 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

This years ISSCC 2010 conference (www.isscc.org) will at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel during February 7 to the 11th.  The theme of this years conference is “Sensing the Future”. The Advance Program flyer can be found at http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2010/ISSCC2010_APflyer.pdf

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Boston Dynamics Wins DARPA Contract to Develop Legged Squad Support System (LS3)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Dynamic robot will maneuver in difficult terrain, carrying 400 lbs of soldiers’ load,
and go 20 miles without refueling – No driver required.
 Boston Dynamics, developer of BigDog, PETMAN and other advanced dynamic robots, announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop LS3, the first Legged Squad Support System. LS3 is a robot that will travel on rough terrain, going anywhere soldiers and Marines go on foot. Each LS3 will carry up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for missions covering 20 miles and lasting 24 hours. LS3 will not need a driver, because it will automatically follow a leader using computer vision or travel to designated locations using sensors and GPS. The development of LS3 will take 30 months at a cost of $32M, with first walk out scheduled for 2012.

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Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy

Thursday, January 28, 2010

A new experiment that reproduces the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets has yielded its first significant results. The findings confirm that its unique approach has some potential to be developed as a new way of creating a power-producing plant based on nuclear fusion — the process that generates the sun’s prodigious output of energy.

Full story at MIT:  Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy.

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Magic time — iPad Tutorial

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

“Yeah, it’s true. When something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical. And that’s exactly what the iPad is.” — Jony Ive, Apple Senior Vice President, Design

You can see the iPad demo video at: http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video

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Apple announces the iPad

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

There has been a lot of hype about the iPad from Apple. Today Steve Jobs announced the product and showed off some of its features, including an almost full size touch screen keyboard.
Apple has once again reached into a new market for itself, as they did with the iPhone and IPod. According to an article on BusineesWeek (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-27/apple-s-jobs-introduces-touch-screen-tablet-computer-named-ipad.html) , they could sell four million iPads the first year.

Can’t wait to get the teardown of the IPad. (http://www2.electronicproducts.com/whatsinside.aspx) I’ll let you’ll know once we have it.

Filed in Boards & Peripherals, Industry News, Opinion, Product News, Software/Development Tools | | Comments (2)