Around the web
12 Mar 201311 Mar 201310 Mar 20138 Mar 20137 Mar 20136 Mar 2013
New York Times
Earlier this month, a study showed that 23% of iPhone users have screens that are currently broken, and the average person has put up with their broken screen for six months.
Digital Trends
The market penetration rate of the LED-backlit display technology is expected to surpass 90% on the back of lower asking prices, according to a market information advisory institute.
Focus Taiwan news channel
Lenovo's chief executive has told a France-based publication he is open to an eventual deal to buy embattled smartphone maker BlackBerry.
CNET
Diplomats could soon be wearing AR contact lenses or glasses that will translate in real-time a native's foreign language, presenting the information like movie subtitles on the lens or glass in that diplomat's own native tongue.
Diplomatic Courrier
The researchers behind SpiderSense define it as a wearable device that projects the wearer's near environment on the skin. The suit gives the user a special directional awareness of surrounding objects.
PhysOrg
Fab equipment spending for front-end facilities is expected to be flat in 2013, remaining around US$31.7 billion, increasing to US$39.3 billion in 2014 - a 24% increase.
SEMI
Google is cutting loose another 10% of its Motorola Mobility workforce - which means 1,200 employees at the smartphone maker face redundancy. The move comes after 4,000 jobs in the Motorola wing of Google's biz were axed in August 2012.
The Register
Philips today introduced a software development kit for a brand of its LED light bulbs. The APIs let programmers write custom iOS applications for Hue, bulbs that connect to a home network and can be controlled from a smart phone or iPad.
MIT Technology Review
Solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings reached an agreement with some of its lenders to defer its obligations on a US$541 million loan due this Friday by two months, providing the company more time to restructure the debt.
Reuters
Intel's next CEO is likely to shepherd the top chipmaker into a growing contract-manufacturing business, a strategic shift that could lead to a deal with Apple Inc and give it a fighting chance to make inroads in the mobile arena.
Chicago Tribune
US polysilicon manufacturer Hemlock Semiconductor has lodged a claim against Deutsche Solar, claiming it has breached four long-term commitments to purchase polysilicon from the Michigan-based company.
PV Magazine
Some of the brightest new technology for cars involves lighting, such as high-intensity LED headlights, but lagging regulatory approval is leaving US drivers in the dark.
USA Today
Concerns about nuclear safety drew tens of thousands of people in Taiwan to a street protest in Taipei on Saturday that called for the government to stop work on a nuclear reactor being built in the north of the earthquake-prone nation.
Finacial Times
Spansion and United Microelectronics (UMC) have announced the joint development of a 40nm process that integrates UMC's 40nm LP logic process with Spansion proprietary embedded Charge Trap (eCT) Flash memory technology. As part of this non-exclusive agreement, UMC is licensed to manufacture products based on this technology for Spansion.
Company release
"Led by continuing strength in the Americas, the global semiconductor industry has built on its momentum from the end of 2012 with an encouraging start to 2013, but ongoing economic uncertainty is holding back more robust growth," said Brian Toohey, president and CEO of Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
Company release
Hoping to tame the blizzard of information that has turned off many users and discouraged some advertisers, Facebook on Thursday unveiled a major makeover of the home page that greets users when they log into the site.
New York Times
Texas Instruments, the largest maker of analog chips, raised the lower end of its forecasts for first-quarter sales and profit, as customers increase orders ahead of a projected rebound in electronics demand.
Bloomberg
Industry consolidation to just three big DRAM suppliers and a reduction in capital expenditures among these manufacturers helped propel DRAM average selling prices (ASPs) up 13% year over year in January. Capex budgets are also being trimmed for NAND flash (though not nearly as much as DRAM), and that, along with ongoing unit demand, has put upward pressure on ASPs for these memory devices as well.
IC Insights
What was once just a vision of the future, touchscreens are now all around us. Smartphones and tablets have become more modern, aesthetically pleasing and easier to use because of touchscreens.
Investment Underground
US Air Force avionics experts are taking the first steps in replacing obsolescent displays based on cathode ray tube (CRT) technology in the Boeing F-15E jet fighter-bomber with contemporary technology such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or other flat-panel technology.
Military & Aerospace Electronics
LG Display overtook Samsung Display to rank first in the global LCD market for the first time in seven years.
Chosun Daily (USE The Chosun Ilbo)
While the Korean electronics giant says it's not going to intervene in Sharp's business management, it could end up with early insight into new tech and influence future products. And that could be a risk for Apple.
CNET
Attendees of the latest TED conference got a look at a futuristic device called SpaceTop where the user views a 3-D workspace through a transparent display, manipulating the on-screen elements with just their hands.
NBC News
Company release
Suntech Power has reached a settlement regarding its fraud dispute with GSF Capital Pte Limited (GSF Capital). A part of the agreement has seen the China-based solar manufacturer taking over ownership of the GSF Fund.
PV Magazine
Mexico's solar capacity could treble this year driven by the richest households and the first large-scale plants, according to the head of its solar lobbying group.
Bloomberg
Japanese tech giant Sony has unveiled a 10.1-inch tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The tablet runs on Google's Android operating system.
Economic Times
A four-year contract to install LED lighting across the transport network in Paris will see work begin in April this year.
LEDs Magazine
MIT Technology Review
In an announcement on Tuesday, March 5, the stock exchange said that SolarWorld AG would be removed from the TecDAX on March 18.
PV Magazine
Suntech, the solar panel maker, has forced out its founder Shi Zhenrong, in a dispute that highlights the painful contraction in the China solar panel sector.
The Financial Times
The China Academy of Telecommunication Research, a think tank linked to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has said that China is too reliant on Google's mobile operating system and accused the company of using its dominance to discriminate against China-based firms.
Wall Street Journal
Microsoft has recently been offering price breaks on its Windows 8 and Office software to help spur the development of small, touch-enabled laptop computers, people familiar with the situation said.
Wall Street Journal
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