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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Price increase continues for analog ICs

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Because of the Japan earthquake nearly four months ago which caused the production disruptions for analog IC fabs, the increase in pricing for general-purpose analog ICs will continue according to IHS iSuppli.  Average pricing for the major types of these analog ICs, such as amplifiers, comparators, interface devices, and voltage regulators, are set to increase approximately [...]

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Your Set-Top Box – An Unlikely Energy Vampire

Thursday, June 30, 2011

If you were to name the biggest single household energy user in terms of average annual energy use in kilowatt hours, you might think of your double-wide subzero refrigerator or massive 65-inch flat-panel TV. What you may not consider is that innocent little set-top box (STB) sitting next to your TV. However, a report just [...]

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Silicon Labs reaches major milestone

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Silicon Laboratories reaches major milestone in the broadcast audio market as they ship one billion broadcast radio ICs based on pioneering digital architecture.  The company’s digital CMOS broadcast radios are widely used in handsets, portable media players, personal navigation devices, automotive infotainment systems, and more. They introduced the industry’s first single-chip FM receiver in 2005. [...]

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A smart way to go 3D

Thursday, June 23, 2011

By Richard Comerford, Editor, Electronic Products In New York City last night at Digital Experience (a press-only table-top exhibit organized by Pepcom), I had a chance to play with the Thrill 4G smartphone introduced recently by LG; it’s scheduled to be made available in the U.S. soon by AT&T. Not only is this the first [...]

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ENERGY STAR® Begins Display Update Process

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR team has just released Draft 1 of a new version of its Program Requirements Product Specification for Displays. The proposed Version 6 draft of the efficiency spec was developed in cooperation with the European Commission and is intended to replace the current Version 5.1 which has been in effect since [...]

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Silicon Valley engineer killed in car crash

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

 70-year-old Bob Pease was driving his 1969 Beetle on Saturday evening when he struck the tree. Pease wrote several books on analog chip design and other topics and had a column in Electronic Design magazine. Pease is best-known for his design work at National Semiconductor, where he spent 33 years.

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Freescale Technology Forum – San Antonio

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Freescale Technology Forum is in full swing in San Antonio with more than 2,000 registered attendees – and another 1,000 folks from Freescale, I would bet. There will be more than 350 hours of technical presentations before it is through mid-day on Thursday, with as many as 21 sessions going on simultaneously. I’ve attended [...]

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