Industry News
Wearables market to reach $3bn
Wearable devices, including smart glasses, fitness bands and watches, are likely to sell around 10 million units, generating $3bn, according to Robert Hillard Deloitte Consulting's Managing Partner, Technology Agenda. [ + ]
element14 acknowledges TE Connectivity and Texas Instruments
element14 acknowledged TE Connectivity (TE) and Texas Instruments with two awards at Electronica China 2014. [ + ]
OSU turns wood into a high-power storage device
Oregon State University (OSU) scientists have discovered that cellulose, the most abundant organic polymer on Earth and a key component of trees, can be turned into the building blocks for supercapacitors. [ + ]
Webinar on inductive sensing technology
element14 will be hosting a webinar on Friday 11 April 2014 on the world's first inductance-to-digital converter, presented by Andreas Kraemer from Texas Instruments. [ + ]
Dow granted patents for PV encapsulant films
Dow has been granted US and EU device patents for the use of encapsulant films in photovoltaic (PV) modules. The patents cover electronic devices having polyolefin (PO) encapsulant films with certain commercially important physical, mechanical and compositional properties. [ + ]
Traditional programming languages still preferred by engineers
Despite the plethora of programming languages in modern electronics today, C and C++, first developed in the 70s and 80s, are still viewed as the most important starting points for electronics engineers. [ + ]
How electrodes charge and discharge
A team at MIT has figured out a way to measure the electrochemical reactions inside the porous electrodes of batteries and fuel cells. [ + ]
Growing SSL adoption to drive LED investment
LED chip makers and packaging houses from Taiwan are posting much stronger revenue growth in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year. [ + ]
SMEs could benefit from PE and VC funding
Around 30,000 more Australian businesses could get financial support from Australian private equity and venture capital funds, according to the submission lodged today to the Financial System Inquiry by the Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL). [ + ]
Opto, sensor and discrete market to pull out of two-year slump
An improving economy and new applications are expected to fuel growth of the opto, sensors/actuators and discretes (OSD) markets, according to IC Insights. [ + ]
Altera and Intel to jointly develop multi-die devices
Altera and Intel have extended their manufacturing partnership to include development of multi-die devices that leverage Intel's package and assembly capabilities and Altera's programmable logic technology. [ + ]
M2M Connectivity to distribute Libelium wireless sensor network products
M2M Connectivity has been appointed the authorised distributor of Libelium wireless sensor network products in Australia and New Zealand. [ + ]
Surge protection 101
Surges or sudden bursts of voltage and current can be disastrous to electronic and electrical equipment and to the cables feeding them. Surge protectors limit the voltage getting through to equipment and often the feed lines, either by blocking it or diverting to earth voltages above a predetermined level. [ + ]
Plasma-based electronics for extreme environs
Small plasma transistors could enable development of smartphones that take and collect medical X-rays on a battlefield and devices to measure air quality in real time. [ + ]
Antenna for monitoring wearables
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a stretchable antenna that can be incorporated into wearable technologies, such as health monitoring devices. [ + ]