Electronic Business articles from September 2002

Electronic Business archives from September 2002

Saying 'no' to the CEO. (Editor's Note).(Editorial)
September 1, 2002... CFOs have a tough job. Just like parents they have to be the adult in the corporate family. They have to say "no" and mean it. Sadly, it seems many CFOs, CEOs and industry observers have lost sight of this critical responsibility. CEO...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2002... COOKED BOOKS I just read your Editor's Note from ELECTRONIC BUSINESS, July 2002, ["Cooking the books--the sequel," page 6]. I commend you on this effort! Go get 'em Tiger! As an investor, I'm frustrated by the "funny accounting" that...

Will the cell phone kill the PDA? (The Chip Advisor).
September 1, 2002... I recently replaced my cell phone and laptop. I needed specific features, lacking in the older devices, so it was an easy decision. The newer units also have the potential to simplify my life by reducing the number of electronic devices I need...

Culturally rich New England is a breeding ground for success. (Commentary).
September 1, 2002... News Flash from New England: Despite what you may be hearing from silicon Valley, Boston and New England offer an abundance of culture, climate and intellectual stimulation to support a creative, fast-moving entrepreneurial start-up. ...

Lead-free electronic solders: are they really better? (Commentary).
September 1, 2002... Like Don Quixote, critics of banning lead in solder are waging a well meaning, but futile campaign, against the inevitable. Meanwhile, the opposition to complying with the flawed lead-free solder initiatives has a powerful weapon, destined to...

Bear market obscures underlying economic conditions. (Analysis).
September 1, 2002... Despite the understandable tendency to be skeptical about the cheerleading of politicians and economic analysts-haven't we been burned enough times already?-the unrelenting doom and gloom that depressed investor confidence during the middle of...

Pro forma reformer: analyst blasts "arbitrary and permissive" use of pro forma numbers. (Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Andy Schopick is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Schopick, vice president of research at Nutmeg Securities Ltd., Fairfield, CT, published a scathing report in mid-July on the abuse of pro forma reporting among...

Subscriptions anyone? EDA vendors are shifting to subscription payments to gain earnings predictability. (Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Brad Henske, chief financial officer of Mountain View, CA-based electronic design automation (EDA) software maker Synopsys Inc., won't soon forget the end of the first fiscal quarter after he joined the company in 2000. By noon on the quarter's...

Point, shoot and beam: wireless industry hopes camera-equipped phones will spur an upturn. (Business Trends).
September 1, 2002... Cell phones used to be all about making voice calls. In the near future, however, wireless service providers and equipment makers hope to turn them into devices for sending photos, video clips and other graphical information. If all goes...

Bigger and better security blanket. (Business Trends).(according to Freedonia Group)
September 1, 2002... A year after the devastating terrorist attacks on The Pentagon and the World Trade Center, it's not surprising that the market for security equipment is booming. Heightened security awareness in airports, office buildings, power plants,...

A real horse race: thanks to ATI, the graphics chip market is competitive again. (Business Trends).(ATI Technologies RADEON 9700 outpowers Nvidia G4)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2002... For the first time, ATI Technologies Inc. has a significant advantage in the high-end graphics chip market over its archrival, Nvidia Corp. ATI's advantage might not last long, but it does signal the return of real competition--missing for...

Display technology worth watching: organic light emitting displays work to displace LCDs. (Business Trends).
September 1, 2002... The market continues to keep an eye on organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), but analysts say that the screens we actually watch will continue to be liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) for years to come. The potential of OLED technology is...

Spies like us: museum celebrates the gadgetry and history of espionage. (Business Trends).
September 1, 2002... Spying is now a little less cloak and dagger. Really. That's because in mid-July the International Spy Museum opened in Washington, DC. Serving on the museum's board is S. Eugene Poteat, a former senior officer with the Central Intelligence...

Avoid going broke: many start-ups fail, due to circumstances within their control. (Businesstrends: Management).(and related article)
September 1, 2002... It's a truism: Most start-ups fail because they run out of money. But experts say the problems that cause start-ups to go broke can be avoided. Consider revenue models and cash management. Pat Ferrell, managing partner of Escape...

F1rst lady: determination and education helped transform Christine King from welfare mother into the chip industry's first female CEO. (Cover Story).(Interview)
September 1, 2002... Christine King WAS just 18 in l967 when she realized she'd hit bottom. Her hippie husband had taken off for California, leaving her alone to provide for their newborn child. She'd lost out on a $59-a-week bank clerk's job because the employer...

The repairman cometh: CMs take on repairs, call centers and other after-market services. (Contract Manufacturing).
September 1, 2002... WHEN SOLECTRON CORP., Milpitas, CA, bought Stream International, a global call center business based in Canton, MA, a year ago some observers wondered if executives at the world's largest contract manufacturer (CM) had been sniffing too much...

Cost-effective inventive: Intel's 'lablets" mission is to come up with research breakthroughs, without breaking the budget. (R&D Strategies).
September 1, 2002... INTEL CORP. has no legendary research lab to its name, and wants none. Sure, places like Bell Labs and Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) may have won Nobel Prizes or launched industries with inventions like the transistor and the mouse-driven...

Fashionably early: being first to market with advanced wireless device features is everything. (Special Advertising Section).(and related article)
September 1, 2002... Gone are the days when wireless devices could succeed in the market with a decent user interface, comfortable form factor and an attractive price. To entice a saturated marketplace to stay with network suppliers, but trade in their old device...

Hollywood calls the shots: art may mimic life, but don't you dare make a digital copy of it. (Digital Rights Management).
September 1, 2002... MAGINE HAVING TO GET HOLLYWOOD'S STAMP OF APPROVAL on final product design for your next-generation DVD player or video-compression technology. Or having the launch of that product get waylaid by months because of bureaucratic red tape...

The next MPEG step: chip makers are gearing up for a new video standard, but will the market be there? (Gaming and Entertainment).
September 1, 2002... THE LAST TIME that film experts released a new video compression technology, in the early 1990s, they fueled an economic boom for chip makers. Tens of millions of chips that were compatible with the MPEG-2 (Motion Pictures Experts Group)...

Nanoelectronics promises major rewards, challenges. (Venture Pulse).
September 1, 2002... Nanoelectronics, one of the more promising disruptive technologies, has caught the eye of venture investors. By controlling matter on the nanometer (billionth of a meter) scale, developers hope to produce electronic products that consume a...