February 2012 Archives

Edinburgh start-up Visible Light Communications (VLC) is focussing on using flickering LEDs instead of WiFi for broadband communications.

Thanks to the World Health Organisation for this one - the ten most drunken countries on earth.

'A system for using ultra-violet frequencies for communication beyond the atmosphere is being developed by Westinghouse Electric Corp.'

So, 50 years ago, starts a story in Electronics Weekly's edition of January 4^th 1961.

What do Wilbur and Orville Wright and Bob Dennard have in common? They invented things which have been supremely useful for the human race which have lost enormous amounts of money.

'The private dick I've put on Horrible Harriet has turned up trumps,' writes Ed, 'I' think I've got enough on her to force her out,' referring to the COO who the private equity owners of the company have appointed without Ed's knowledge or say-so.

In September 1999, Andy Grove, co-founder and the then chairman of Intel, came to London and announced that Intel had changed its mission statement to become the 'building block supplier to the Internet economy' from the old mission statement which was to be 'the building block supplier to the new computer industry'.

It's a bit surprising that it's only now that proposals have been issued for dealing with the interference between digital terrestrial broadcasting and 4G transmissions.

There was once a company, founded in 1957, which rode the learning curve to success in the computer industry.

Between 1957 and 1965, the price of a silicon transistor dropped from $17 to 86 cents.

The company brought out its first computer in 1959 which was 10x smaller and, at $125,000, 10x cheaper than an IBM computer of equivalent performance.

In 1962 the company brought out a better machine costing $27,000

In 1965 it produced an even better machine costing $18,000.

In 1987, the company was the second largest computer company in the world.

But what lives by the learning curve can die by the learning curve.

In the late 1970s the first personal computers appeared.

The company's founder and boss dismissed them as a fad.

In 1977 the boss said "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."

In 1981 the IBM PC was born

In 1998 the company was sold off to a PC company.

MORAL: Listen to those footsteps coming up behind you.

Plastic electronics has so far been one of those technologies looking for applications, so an organic RFID tag from Imec could start to make the whole area useful.

A curious missive arrives entitled: 'Intel manufacturing granted access to Tabula'.

Thanks to Mike Bryant, CTO of Future Horizons, for this one - ten predictions for the next 13 years.

ST seems finally to have woken up to the fact that ST-Ericsson is a ticking timebomb which could wreck it.

'About a year ago we were glad to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the discovery of the transistor. During the whole decade, this device has occupied a central position in semiconductor science.'

So, 50 years ago, starts an article written by Soviet Academician A. F. Ioffe in the Dec 28^th 1960 edition of Electronics Weekly.

'Growth, I've got to find growth or I'm out of here - The Brats have made that very clear,' writes Ed in his diary referring to the 20-something year-old super-sharpies who monitor his company for its private equity owners.

So what's happening with 28nm?

After leaving ES2,  Sir Robin Saxby got a lot of letters. Among the many that came in, was one from a new Cambridge start-up company backed by Apple, Acorn Computers and VLSI Technology.

ST has been the subject of a stinging note from Arete Research Services saying its management needs replacing, its business broken up and that thousands should be sacked.

There was once a CEO of a computer company who was about to IPO.

I assume that, if Greece pulls out of the Euro, I'll be able to have a week in a five star Greek hotel for £300.

Campers could be happier with a tent which has a power source in its material. This is an application which BAE envisages for its technique of merging batteries with carbon fibres.

Thanks to Databeans for this one - the top ten analogue companies in 2011:

Europe is the pre-eminent place in the world for telecommunications R&D and development.

'Everything set for the Duke's big week'

This was a headline, 50 years ago, in Electronics Weekly's edition of May 24^th 1961.

'A bank analyst rings me today to tell me about a young company with a market busting product,' Ed confides to his diary, 'I know the analyst is only after a fee for  M&A, and what he doesn't know is that The Brats won't let me have money for M&A but here's a chance to get growth, and if I don't get growth I'm toast. So I'm going to have to be cunning.'

UMC's statement that its capex will be $1.8 billion this year shows just how difficult it is in semiconductor manufacturing if you slip behind the leading edge.

Recently the big-wigs of US high-tech and academia held a forum in Oregon bemoaning the lack of engineers.

Once upon a time, the largest and most famous company in the IC industry tried to get a handle on a new technology - MOS.

The Japanese semiconductor industry has not learnt an important lesson - when in a hole stop digging.

With Matsushita, Sharp and Sony forecasting a Y1.3 trillion ($17 billion) combined loss for the year, you have to ask: Are the Consumer Kings on the way out?

Thanks to complex.com for this one - the ten most horrible bosses. They appear to be confined to American bosses, but whether American bosses are adjudged more horrible than bosses in other countries is not clear. Here they are - the ten most horrible bosses of all time:

ST-Ericsson has let a few deadlines slip on its new product roadmap as it struggles to make sales from its 'legacy' products. It needs a 28nm-class process for the new products, but it is unclear, as of now, where this is coming from.

'In the past months colour television has been discussed in Parliament and has been the subject for conflicting statements. The colour tube in particular has been singled out for criticism on account of its cost. The facts on the price are as follows.'

So, 50 years ago, starts a Letter to Electronics Weekly in its issue of May 24 1961 written by the managing director of RCA Great Britain Ltd, Donald MacPhail.

'Growth' writes Ed, 'I'm in the poo if I don't show some growth to The Brats,' referring to the 20-something year-old super-sharpies who monitor his company for their private equity owner.

Micron CEO Steve Appleton who died at the weekend was unique. No other semiconductor CEO started his career as working as a production machine operator.

The Hester-bonus/Goodwin-knighthood decisions were good because bankers have got to understand that they did something wrong.

In his fine History of Semiconductor Engineering, Bo Lojek tells how the Motorola guys brought into Fairchild after Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove left to found Intel, had a name for the Fairchild marketing team led by Jerry Sanders III, later to found AMD.

Once upon a time a company produced a 'Futures Catalogue'. It ran to 100 pages and included detailed specifications of all the company's future products.

Fifteen months ago, Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC, declared: "We believe Intel stepped well over the line of aggressive competition on the merits, and engaged in unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive conduct. The sum total of all this anti-competitive conduct unfairly prevented companies from competing, bolstered Intel's monopoly, and harmed consumers by stunting innovation, diminishing quality, and keeping prices higher than they would otherwise be."

In the wireless arena, ARM is ahead of Intel in process, architecture and design, and looks likely to stay there for a generation or two.

Here, according to IHS iSuppli, are the ten largest suppliers of industrial ICs: