A ceiling-mounted LED fixture illuminated a Mercedes event in Stuggart, while LDDE's "chandelier" made up of Swarovski crystals brightened an exhibition in Milan.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced its MAX17061 8-string white-LED driver with an integrated MOSFET switch.

Pacific Park in Santa Monica, CA, introduced an all-new $1.5 million, 130-ft Pacific Wheel ferris wheel featuring more than 160,000 energy-efficient LED lights that will provide energy savings and complement its solar-power program.

STMicroelectronics has introduced three monolithic step-up converters for LED backlights and lighting, providing 30mA or 85mA current sources for six rows of up to 10 white LEDs. The LED7706, LED7707 and mobile-optimised PM6600 include on-chip MOSFETs to reduce part count, and operate up to 1 MHz to minimise filter components.

The U.S. economy "remained generally weak" in May as higher prices for food and energy were pinching consumers' pocketbooks, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its Beige Book report on the economy. The economy in seven of 12 regions was described as weak or soft, while five regional Fed banks - Atlanta, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco -- reported the economy was stable in their area.

Melbourne, Fla-based IDS designs integrated high-speed analog products for applications such as test and measurement, communications, and medical electronics. TI’s existing portfolio of high-speed signal chain products includes amplifiers, data converters, and clocking devices.

According to a report in The Times of India that quoted Katta Subramanya Naidu, Karnataka's minister for information technology, policy makers plan a special focus on encouraging photovoltaics and solar panel manufacturing. Bengaluru is a magnet for investments by software and hardware design companies, but other cities in Karnataka state have largely been ignored. With the capital city booming, planners want to make neighboring cities like Mysore attractive destinations for high-tech investors.

OC Oerlikon, the world's biggest maker of thin-film solar panel equipment, filed a complaint against Sunfilm AG in a Dusseldorf court alleging the German rival infringed on its patents.

The unanimous decision Monday was helpful to customers of Intel Corp. and is the latest step by the justices to scale back the power of patent-holders. The case revolves around a long-time Supreme Court doctrine that says the sale of an invention exhausts the patent-holder's right to control how the purchaser uses it.

On Monday, SanDisk quietly acquired MusicGremlin, a maker of Wi-Fi enabled MP3 players.

"...Hynix said demand for NAND flash chips is steadily rising globally...considering the upward trend coupled with seasonal demand and faster technology migration, Hynix thinks the demand and supply balance will be settled in 2H08...but Samsung said it is too early to confirm a turnaround as the outlook is still uncertain... "

Device uses an internal-switch current-mode step-up controller to drive the LED array, which can be configured for up to eight parallel strings with ten LEDs per string.

"...iSuppli analyst said the 3G and GPS radios in the new models probably did add cost, but pointed out that other components (most notably memory) are indeed going down in price...Gartner said even the 3G radio technology probably didn't add as much cost..."

t's something that many ASM International shareholders have been waiting for, after several years of persuasion and tactics to get the company to slough its struggling frontend business away from its profitable backend business - Applied Materials has made a verbal unsolicited $400M-$500M offer to buy its atomic layer deposition (ALD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) businesses.