Electronic Business articles from February 2006

Electronic Business archives from February 2006

Leaving Las Vegas: technology intoxication at CES.(Consumer Electronics Show)
February 1, 2006... I'm not prone to cheerleading, but it was hard not to get swept up in the unbridled enthusiasm of this year's CES. The possibility for video everywhere and the emergence of new technology leaders and prominent new content creators has never...

Engineers: the new leadership class: rethinking and rejiggering the stereotypes.(Commentary)
February 1, 2006... You have heard all the cliches before: no interpersonal skills, prefer gadgets over people--and let's not forget pocket protectors and slide rules. Yes, I am talking about those ever persistent stereotypes of engineers. No matter how much...

A hot date with the SEC: suspicious timing of stock option grants burns electronics companies.(MANAGEMENT)
February 1, 2006... A probe by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has dragged several electronics companies onto the carpet for allegedly backdating stock-option grants. So far, only a handful of companies are involved publicly, but some accounting experts...

China is bigger than you thought: new statistical methods result in even higher numbers.(ECONOMIC OUTLOOK)
February 1, 2006... If you thought China was already a surging economy, hold onto your hat. The Chinese government announced in December 2005 that its economy was 16.8 percent larger in 2004 than it had previously reported. Most of the reported increase was due to...

Convergence causes customs confusion: as more consumer items go digital, trade groups argue for lifting tariffs.(TRADE/FINANCE)
February 1, 2006... Is a 20-inch LCD a PC monitor or a television? The answer--it can be both--is beginning to cause problems in international trade. As more consumer products such as TVs and tape recorders make the transition from analog to digital--and often...

Delta stays on the high-volume road: power king adds another growth driver.(PROFILE)
February 1, 2006... Just about every gadget on the market--mobile phones, notebook PCs, game consoles, servers, TVs--needs a power supply. Add all the unit volumes together, and the number of power supplies required is staggering. Taipei, Taiwan-based Delta...

Too few techies? There's little agreement on the supply of and demand for U.S. engineers.(LABOR)
February 1, 2006... Stop me if you've heard this one: There is a shortage of engineers and engineering graduates in the United States that threatens our continued economic viability. Or not. The trade and business press has generated a flurry of stories...

Multicore mania is here to stay: but is the software ready for the prime time?(Semiconductor)
February 1, 2006... In the processor business, there are two hot topics today--power (both consumption and dissipation) and multiple processor cores on one die. Neither are particularly new subjects, but changes to Intel's processor road maps in 2005 and the new...

Locating a market: GPS chip sales are soaring as costs fall to more affordable levels.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
February 1, 2006... SiRF Technology founder Kanwar Chadha used to draw blank stares when explaining that his company was a leading supplier of global positioning system (GPS) chips. Most people either hadn't heard of the satellite location network, originally...

Good news at last: nanotech "chips" mean explosive EDA growth.(Electronic Design Automation)
February 1, 2006... Last month the EDA industry received two pieces of very good news. First, the EDA Consortium announced that after years of being in the doldrums, EDA revenues had finally experienced some real growth: 6 percent year over year in the third...

Slow boats from China? Electronics companies may face delays as seaport congestion worsens.(Supply Chain Management)
February 1, 2006... Now that China has become the manufacturing Mecca of the world, the West Coast of the United States, Southern California in particular, is seeing unprecedented levels of container traffic moving through its maritime ports. One of the key...

Trouble in the back end of the bus: tight flip chip substrate capacity is sending prices up.(Capital Equipment)
February 1, 2006... A worldwide flip chip substrate shortage has flip chip companies, large and small, struggling to find capacity. Much dreaded price increases and longer lead times are now emerging as by-products of the shortage. As demand for flip chips shows...

Rapid improvement: OEMs find a tool for more efficient inventory management.(Software)
February 1, 2006... Like many other OEMs, Lucent Technologies began to outsource manufacturing more frequently after the Internet bubble burst. When it sold a large plant to a contract manufacturing partner, lock, stock and barrel, a few years ago, it faced a...

Bridging the Chinese supply chain gap: Chinese component suppliers are getting stronger, but how far can they go?
February 1, 2006... As Chinese consumers eagerly snapped up mobile phones through 1990s, international and local electronics makers alike cashed in. But for Shenzhen Jingfeng Technology Development, the mobile phone ring tone was more like a death knell. The...

Standards bottleneck: frustrated with the speed at which the IEEE works, vendor-led groups are trying to goose the process for 802.11n networking.(WIRELESS STANDARDS)
February 1, 2006... High-tech companies have complained for years about the long and frustrating process of getting a standard approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Although companies recognize that interoperability among...