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Nation’s Briefs

Mobile-phone industry lawyers said they intend to ask a D.C. court to dismiss six brain-cancer suits on federal pre-emption grounds. In July, U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake of Baltimore sent back the six lawsuits to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia where...

Napster goes mobile with AWS service

LOS ANGELES-AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which last week was acquired by Cingular Wireless L.L.C., is taking Napster mobile.The Internet music vendor is introducing Napster To Go, a mobile music subscription service for AWS users on the Audiovox SMT5600 smart phone. The service, which costs...

Sprint, Verizon Wireless eye Qualcomm’s planned TV network

It didn't take long for Qualcomm Inc.'s planned mobile television network to attract attention. Sprint PCS Chief Operating Officer and President Len Lauer said Tuesday his firm is negotiating with the wireless chip and technology vendor to deliver live broadcasts to Sprint users. Verizon...

Zeevo announces audio-based reference design

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Zeevo announced a new reference design using Wolfson audio CODECs that will allow original device manufacturers to design wireless stereo headsets, speakers or wireless MP3 players with CD-quality sound.The reference design is based on the ZV4301 Zeevo Bluetooth ARM-7-based microcontroller chip to...

Qualcomm to gain European access through Siemens, Trigenix

Failing to make strong inroads into Europe with its second-generation CDMA offering, Qualcomm Inc. wants to write a different story for UMTS technology. Within a two-week span, the San Diego-based vendor penned two deals that underscore its intention to be a mainstream player in...

Samsung enjoys strong profit despite flat phone growth

In spite of a slowdown in cell-phone sales, Samsung Electronics Co. still roared to a 46-percent profit compared with the same period last year. Much of its boost came from its chip division.But the result showed the company did not continue the overall momentum...

NEC announces mobile-phone chips with sound technology

KAWASAKI, Japan-NEC Electronics Corp. launched three single-chip melody LSI solutions that offer sound technology for mobile phones.The product line-up consists of the microPD9993 chip, which offers 64 polyphonic tones and is the first LSI device to support MP3 and advanced audio coding playback; the...

IEEE to develop wireless broadband standard for open TV spectrum

PISCATAWAY, N.J.-The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers said it has set up a working group for a standard to tap open channels in the television spectrum for wireless broadband applications and services. Known as 802.22, or wireless regional area networks, the new standard...

Motorola’s Warrior lays out the vision of ‘liquid media’

Before the spinoff of its chip business, Motorola Inc. often came across as an octopus-a many-sided giant. With Freescale Semiconductor Inc. now a standalone company, the wireless vendor still weighs heavy in the industry. This has been both boon and pain for the Schaumburg,...

Semiconductor segment slows, 5-percent growth predicted for ’05

A year ago, the semiconductor sector seemed on cruise control, while other sectors of telecom had just begun to rev up their economic recovery engines. Quarter after quarter companies reported sequential growth, confirmed by studies reflecting a surge in demand to feed a growing...

Nortel, Motorola continue layoffs

A tremor of restructuring is rippling through the infrastructure players, signaling a new approach to the market. Such moves, some of them imposed and others induced, are spawning a new round of layoffs in some of the companies. Nortel Networks Ltd. and Motorola Inc....

Qualcomm buys Spike Technologies

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has acquired chip design company Spike Technologies Inc. for $19 million in cash to enable it to provide third-generation CDMA customers and partners with design, sales and technical support around the world.Bangalore, India-based Spike Technologies will bring not only...

Motorola to cut 1,000 jobs, take $50M charge

With a view to focusing on its wireless business, Motorola Inc. said it plans to slash 1,000 jobs, or 1 percent of its staff, and absorb charges of about $50 million. Most of the job losses will affect the vendor's government, industrial, broadband and...

Nvidia offers 3D processor for better gaming

LONDON-Graphics processor manufacturer Nvidia will announce its latest offering at Mobile Content World in London this week.The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company will unveil its GoForce 3D 4500, which features high-performance three-dimensional graphics and 3-megapixel functionality. The processor initially will be brought to market in...

Qualcomm raises earnings expectations

Qualcomm Inc. said it anticipates a rosy fourth-quarter result, emphasizing the traction of its chipsets in the wireless market.The company said it expects earnings per share of between 28 cents and 30 cents compared with its prior estimate of between about 27 cents and...

Products

AirGate Technologies, a subsidiary of The X-Change Corp., said it has completed a radio-frequency identification (RFID) prototype for car child safety seats. The prototype uses the company's "Smart Buckle" technology incorporated into a standard child seat. Miniature RF transmitters send a low-power signal to...

Group aims to set foundation for wedding Wi-Fi, cellular

With 802.11n still lurking in the distance, wireless players are stepping up efforts to wed cellular and wireless local area networks while earnestly preparing Wi-Fi for wedded bliss. The "n" protocol will not be ready for a few years, but some carriers have set...

Intel details WiMax chip

SAN FRANCISCO-Intel Corp. disclosed its broadband chip for WiMax products, otherwise known as 802.16.The component, known as Rosedale, will be a system-on-a-chip design to enable long-distance high-speed Internet access for homes and businesses, said the chipmaker.WiMax is expected to compete with DSL and cable...

Alphamosaic launches multimedia processor

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom-Building on its original VideoCore solution, Alphamosaic has launched the VC02 Mobile Multimedia Processor chip. The solution is designed to display video on 3.5-inch color displays and to capture 8-megapixel images, optimizing the experience of watching television, making videos and taking photos...

Samsung to deploy Philips NFC chips

TOKYO-Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will deploy cellular devices that use Royal Philips Electronics' Near Field Communication chip solutions.An NFC-enabled mobile phone could connect wirelessly with an NFC-enabled personal computer or television to transfer digital pictures or other data. It is hoped NFC eventually will...

Intel offers tri-mode Wi-Fi chipset

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Intel Corp. has unveiled a tri-mode chipset for Wi-Fi technology, joining the fray of other companies competing in that space.Other chip companies like Broadcom, Atheros Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. have similar products. The chipset covers 802.11 a, b and g, the...

Intel offers tri-mode Wi-Fi chipset

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Intel Corp. has unveiled a tri-mode chipset for Wi-Fi technology, joining the fray of other companies competing in that space.Other chip companies like Broadcom, Atheros Inc. and Texas Instruments have similar products. The chipset covers 802.11 a, b and g, the three...

Second Wi-Fi standards group steps forward

A new battle of technologies may be in the offing in the 802.11n arena as 12 key companies have developed a key proposal to counter another one announced last week that is backed by a group of top wireless players.The TGn Sync is a...

Fujitsu to develop chip for monitoring vital signs

NEW YORK-Nexense, an emerging sensing technology and research and development company, contracted Fujitsu Ltd. to manufacture an ASIC chip for non-invasive monitoring and tracking of vital signs via mobile phones.The new Nexense Wireless Vital Sign Monitoring device uses a proprietary Nexense biosensor application to...