Electronics Industry News & Analysis | Market Outlook & Trends

ON Buys Fairchild: Don’t Expect Too Much Ripple Effect

In the latest of what has been a nearly unprecedented series of mergers and acquisitions in the semiconductor industry this year, ON Semiconductor Corp. is buying Fairchild Semiconductor for $2.4 billion.

Image Sensor Eyes Iris Recognition in Mobile Devices

Higher sensitivity in near-infrared region enables advanced authentication for mobile devices.

New Huawei Batteries Can Be Charged 10 Times Faster Than Normal Ones

Huawei Technology Corp., a provider of electronics for mobile phones, mobile broadband devices and home devices, has recently announced that its Watt Lab developed a next-generation quick charging technology.

USB Port Power Controller Designed to Maximize Reliability and Uptime

Microchip’s USB port power controller enables faster charging at higher currents.

Intelligent Power Modules Enable Greener Appliances

To further enhance the efficiency of home appliance motor drives, STMicroelectronics has announced second series of SLIMM family of small low-loss intelligent molded modules in dual-in-line packages.

Harmonic and NASA Launch North America’s First 4K UHD Television Channel

NASA TV UHD leverages an end-to-end UHD delivery system from Harmonic, a worldwide provider of video delivery infrastructure for emerging TV and video services.

High-Voltage Automotive Battery-Stack Monitor Designed to Address Monitoring Problems in Difficult Situations

The LTC6811 from Linear Technology Corp. incorporates functionality and features, which address the many difficult problems encountered when monitoring a stack of battery cells in electrically challenging situations.

Rad Hard CAN Transceivers Eye Satellite Communications

Intersil Corp. has unveiled three radiation tolerant 3.3 V controller area network (CAN) transceivers for satellite communications.

Teardown: Huawei Honor 6

The Huawei Honor 6 features a 5-inch 1080 x 1920-pixel Full HD display, a Kirin 920 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and a secondary 5MP one.

Mouser Sponsors TI Innovation Challenge Design Contest

University engineering students will compete for cash prizes by solving engineering problems using analog and embedded skills in an electronic solution.

Knowles Smart Microphone is Always Listening

Technology re-architects a mobile device’s audio path to enhance consumer to voice-activated interface interaction.

Bourns Expands High Power TVS Diode Series Voltage Range

15 V diodes address protection requirements of DC power supplies and battery-based power management.

Smart Diode Controller Rated for Zero IQ

For reverse polarity protection in high-current industrial power tools and automotive applications, Texas Instruments has released a smart diode controller in a compact package with zero quiescent current.

UW Engineers Develop Tech That Uses Wi-Fi Router to Power Devices

The UW team used ambient signals from this Wi-Fi router to power sensors in a low-resolution camera and other devices.

NASA Gives Humanoid Robot to MIT to Develop Better Software for Deep Space Missions

MIT’s CSAIL received a gift from NASA—a 6-foot, 290-pound humanoid robot to allow the university group to test and develop software for future space missions to Mars.

New Flexible Sensors Pave the Way For Real “Electronic Skin”

The researchers decided to use a new kind of synthetic polymer with self-healing properties that mimic human skin, which means that e-skin “wounds” could quickly “heal” themselves in less than a day.

Arduino Meets Linux: Arduino Introduces Its 3rd Generation Platform

The Arduino platform's simplicity, open architecture and ease of use helped make it the most popular embedded development tool within the Maker community.