| Editor's Note |
| Imagine a world without air travel. It's difficult to do. Flying is a critical component of our modern world and our economy. The fact is that we have the ability right now to go place and see things that our ancestors could only envy.
But there is a downside. Some environmentalists say the single biggest step we could take to "green" our world would be to stop getting on airplanes.
The prototype solar-powered aircraft that took off this week may be a small, token step toward a more environmentally-conscious form of travel. But it is enough to give us hope that the future may hold a way to see the world without burning carbon.
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| Top Story |
Solar-powered aircraft completes maiden voyage
A prototype solar-powered aircraft took its maiden flight Wednesday (April 7) ushering in the era of fuel-less, carbon-neutral air travel. The company behind the prototype, Solar Impulse SA (Lausanne, Switzerland) is planning for a round-the-world flight powered by photons in 2011 or 2012.
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| Semiconductor News |
Next fab wave: LEDs
So what's the next big thing in terms of new fabs? Try LED fabs.
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Anger mounts as Applied puts SunFab on notice
The clock is ticking for Applied Materials Inc.'s SunFab unit.
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ESilicon acquires Silicon Design Solutions
Fabless ASIC house eSilicon Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Silicon Design Solutions (SDS), a supplier of niche semiconductor memory intellectual property (IP) cores.
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| Business News |
Fab tool vendor Nexx prices IPO
Fab tool vendor Nexx Systems Inc. (Billerica, Mass.) has priced its initial public offering (IPO) between $5.20 and $7.00 per share.
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Veeco pumping up the volume on commodity LEDs
Equipment maker Veeco aims to increase yields in the MOCVD reactors used to fabricate LEDs by working with Sandia National Labs to prepare for the emerging LED commodity market.
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Industry asks Obama to plug consumers into smart grid
The Obama Administration needs to create new regulations, incentives and education programs to spark consumer use of smart grid technologies, according to a letter to the U.S. President from nearly 50 companies and organizations.
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Indian semiconductor test firm gets venture funding
Tessolve Services, which bills itself as India's first independent full-service semiconductor test firm, nets a new round of venture funding, led by Reliance Venture Asset Management.
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Smiths buys Interconnect Devices
Smiths Interconnect, a division of Smiths Group, has completed the $185 million purchase of Interconnect Devices Inc. (IDI), a designer and manufacturer of probe technology for use in industrial and semiconductor testing, and high performance connector applications.
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March sales at UMC rise 9.8%
The world's number two foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) has reported sales for March that are up 9.8 percent on sales in February 2010. This is slightly less than is usual as March tends to be a considerably stronger March with sequential rises of around 25 percent.
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| Commentary and Reader Reaction |
Comment: Complexity bites Apple, puts reputation at stake
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Email: Google PowerMeter not altruistic, just ahead of the game
A reader makes the point that standards come in different forms at various stages in a technology's evolution driven by the economic conditions around its introduction. He considers Google is not being altruistic with their proposed PowerMeter, even if the company thinks it is.
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| Design News |
Automotive still a solid opportunity for EDA, says Mentor exec
As EDA searches for opportunities to generate more revenues from outside the semiconductor industry, Martin O'Brien, general manager, Integrated Electrical Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corp., highlighted automotive and said the trend is likely to continue with the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles.
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Altera, others join open core protocol group
Programmable logic vendor Altera has joined the Open Core Protocol International Partnership, along with firms Digitite, Global Unichip, Innotech, PDTi and Xtrillion.
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| ESC Silicon Valley |
ESC: Is the smart grid a little too smart for your own good?
The smart grid promises worthwhile energy savings as well as market opportunity for our industry, but it has some potential privacy and compulsive issues, as well.
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| ESC Silicon Valley 2010 |
| ESC Silicon Valley, the largest most complete technical conference/exhibition in North America where you can see, learn and get hands-on training on emerging embedded products and technologies. Attend and be part of the most valuable and efficient professional development you will experience all year.
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Dylan McGrath is editor of the EE Times Newsletter, which brings you the latest semiconductor and design news.
