Silly Season Countdown
Well no wonder Sept. 28 seemed somewhat apocalyptic in the changes wrought in telecom infrastructure. It's the end of the fiscal quarter, and for many companies the end of the...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 28, 2007 02:17 PM in Communications
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Slingin' Around the Acquisitions
HUH??!!! TheStreet.com is reporting that AT&T is in discussions to acquire the Dish Network portion of EchoStar, only days after EchoStar acquired Sling Media and sought to split its business...
Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 27, 2007 05:01 PM in Communications
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The Latest Municipal Fiber Fight
There's a cable-MSO/power-company fight a-brewin' in Tennessee that could prove meaner than some of the scraps Palo Alto experienced a decade ago. On Sept. 25, the Chattanooga City Council approved...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 26, 2007 07:35 PM in Communications
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Google Under Water, Google in Your Hand
If even half the stories on Google circulating in blogs this month are true, Eric Schmidt and the Googley gang are going to have to work overtime to enforce the...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 25, 2007 10:27 AM in Communications
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Superficial Spaceman
The New York Times gave us an entire Science section Sept. 25 looking back (a bit early) at the launch 50 years ago Oct. 4 of the Soviet Union's Sputnik...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 25, 2007 10:14 AM in Communications
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Are 'green tags' enough?
Lamina, a producer of LED technologies, has recently introduced its Carbon Footprint Reduction Program, a labeling initiative that provides specific measures of energy consumption for the company's products....
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Posted by Nic Mokhoff on Sep 25, 2007 09:49 AM in
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Intel's virtual world
Analysts trashed Intel for being weak in the knees in the keynotes on the final day of the Intel Developer Forum. Justin Rattner delivered a loooong talk on the 3D...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 24, 2007 12:03 AM in Computing
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When FedEx sneezes
When FedEx sneezes, it’s fighting an infection from the U.S. economy and from you, its customers. The logistics company has just cut its financial forecast for the current fiscal year...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 23, 2007 06:47 PM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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Worried about America
To the editor Regarding Bolaji Ojo's comments in $9 trillion and rising. A $9 Trillion Debt and people are surprised? The surprise should be that it's not more. It's not...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 20, 2007 11:33 PM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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$9 trillion and rising
Were the United States a corporation, an individual or even any other nation on earth, it would today either be in bankruptcy or trying to sell assets to repay debts....
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 20, 2007 09:06 AM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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QuickLogic responds
To the editor: Regarding "QuickLogic backs away from FPGAs." Based on the calls we received from our customers during the week after the EE Times article was published, we thought...
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Posted on Sep 19, 2007 01:02 PM in Crosstalk
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Consumer electronics article hijacked?
To the Editor: I am writing in response to your article entitled "Consumer electronics HDMI testing hijacked?" The article contained a number of inaccurate and misleading statements that Simplay Labs...
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Posted on Sep 19, 2007 12:11 PM in Crosstalk
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Cisco Grabs a Good 'Un
Cisco Systems often shows a knack for impeccable timing in its acquisition of small companies, and the Sept. 18 acquisition of Cognio Inc. is no exception. Cognio was founded with...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 18, 2007 05:50 PM in Communications
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Canada space calls
Want to have an impact on space projects? Try Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS/SFL) where graduate students design a range of computer and radio boards for...
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Posted by Nic Mokhoff on Sep 18, 2007 03:59 PM in
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Brand your silicon
The semiconductor industry is noted for coming up with some interesting names for their products and some rather lame ones too. This is an industry built around numbers, mathematical algorithms...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 18, 2007 09:27 AM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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USB 3.0 debuts at IDF
Why, oh why did I wait until the night before to troll through the sessions for this week's Intel Developer Forum. Oi Vay! So now I find out Intel is...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 18, 2007 01:41 AM in Computing
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Lighting a fire under M'soft
The ball is in your court Redmond. The news today that AMD is announcing plans for a three-core desktop CPU is a huge cry for new, more deeply threaded apps...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 17, 2007 07:34 PM in Computing
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Even the Apple Core has been Discarded
If you remember Apple Inc. names like Michael Spindler and Jean-Louis Gassee, you're really an old-timer - and you remember the era without Steve Jobs when several missteps were...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 17, 2007 10:50 AM in Industry
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Greenspan pans Republicans, Bush
How has the U.S. economy fared under the Republican party and the George W. Bush administration? Not that well, according to former Federal Reserve Bank chairman Alan Greenspan in a...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 15, 2007 09:46 PM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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Who's the next takeover targets?
It's been a wild week for rumors. Sun buying Rambus? AMD acquiring Qimonda?...
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 14, 2007 04:46 PM in Semiconductors
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TSMC: Where's the 45-nm chips?
Question for TSMC: Where are the 45-nm wafers? As reported, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) promised to move into 45-nm production in September of 2007....
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 14, 2007 03:54 PM in Semiconductors
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Medical's wireless squeeze
You don't find many requirements tighter than these. Power consumption at 100 nanoW and duty cycles of operation just 0.01 percent of the time. That's the goal for wireless links...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 13, 2007 07:42 PM in Computing
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Intel's Flip-Flops, Part 2
My last blog entry on Intel's sale of its ATCA board business to Radisys harped on the company for continually flip-flopping in its approach to vertical markets. My colleague Rick...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 13, 2007 10:44 AM in Communications
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CPUs and NICs go virtual
Serag GadelRab, author of the IEEE Micro article on 10Gbit Ethernet that I bogged about last week, was right about one thing. Virtualization is becoming an increasingly important part of...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 11, 2007 02:27 PM in Computing
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Embedded lab takes off
National Instruments and the University of California, Berkeley, College of Engineering are working together to offer electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS) students a new graphical system design environment in...
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Posted by Nic Mokhoff on Sep 11, 2007 12:34 PM in
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PICMG will feel Intel's inconsistency
Intel's lucky it has maintained close ties to Radisys, so it can continue to foist on the computing-blade specialist the board-level businesses Intel abandons from time to time. Anyone old...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 10, 2007 12:07 PM in Communications
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Nano-imprint gets bright
Don't look for nano-imprint lithography in semi production fabs anytime soon. But here's a neat application for nano-imprint lithography: high-brightness LEDs. In fact, Obducat claims it has received the first...
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 10, 2007 12:25 AM in Semiconductors
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Albany Nanotech forms wafer cleaning group
Albany Nanotech is cleaning up. The semi R&D consortium is putting together a wafer cleaning group for the 45-nm and below nodes, according to Gartner....
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 10, 2007 12:04 AM in Semiconductors
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Latest on Lunardi's
Sorry for my recent diatribe on Lunardi's Grocery Store at the Evergreen Village Square in San Jose, Calif. As reported,, Lundardi's closed its doors on Sept. 4, leaving customers upset,...
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 9, 2007 11:55 PM in Semiconductors
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…and one more thing
About that iPhone price cut....
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 7, 2007 01:16 PM in Computing
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Why Wi-Fi iPod
OK, I know iTunes has sold a bazillion songs and TV shows and movies. But as Steve Jobs pointed out in his open letter on digital rights management not long...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 7, 2007 12:15 PM in Computing
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"Boringly consistent" and winning
Here’s a pop quiz: Name an iconic mobile handset manufactured by each of the top cellular phone handset manufacturers over the last 10 years. I bet you can easily remember...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 7, 2007 09:17 AM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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Thanks for the propaganda
To the Editor Regarding the article, "Green-card red tape sends valuable engineers packing", thanks for the propaganda....
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Posted on Sep 5, 2007 12:36 PM in Crosstalk
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More Than a Silly Season?
It's important to avoid reading too much into a flurry of acquisitions. Sudden grabs for communication startups tended to happen in both the pre-crash, pre-millenium era, as well as...
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Posted by Loring Wirbel on Sep 5, 2007 12:11 PM in Communications
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Pass the notebook, hold the lead
This week Lenovo commemorates the 15th anniversary of ThinkPad by offering a "Reserve" edition for five large smackers. At the same time and unrelated, Mattel makes its third recall of...
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Posted by Nic Mokhoff on Sep 5, 2007 11:42 AM in
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Palm swats Foleo
I wish I was a fly on the wall at some of the meetings at Palm Inc. in the last few weeks. I am guessing some sparks must have flown...
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Posted by Rick Merritt on Sep 5, 2007 11:21 AM in Computing
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US no population relief valve
To the Editor Opening our U.S. border to many foreign engineers would be good for businesses' profits, but it would be disastrous for planet Earth and the U.S. Why? Because...
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Posted on Sep 5, 2007 11:07 AM in Crosstalk
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A costly restatement
Here’s an update to the Dell saga. And it starts with $13.8 billion, an amount most people would only ever get to read about on this page but which some...
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Posted by Bolaji Ojo on Sep 4, 2007 10:26 PM in OJO-Mojo Tech Report
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Samsung delays global roadshow
This is strange: Samsung has postponed its global roadshow, which was slated for Oct. 3 in San Francisco. Jong-Yong Yun, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, was supposed to...
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 4, 2007 08:41 PM in Semiconductors
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Hon Hai to buy Quanta?
The rumor mill is rampant in Taiwan -- again. Rumors about contract manufacturing (CEM) giant Hon Hai Precision Industry acquiring Taiwanese rival Quanta Computer have re-emerged, especially as Quanta's president...
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 4, 2007 03:44 PM in Semiconductors
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Gartner raises chip forecast
OK guys. Let's make up our minds. With little or no fanfare, Gartner has raised its IC growth forecast to 3.9 percent in 2007....
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Posted by Mark LaPedus on Sep 4, 2007 03:30 PM in Semiconductors
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