Technical Headline News Archive - October 2014

10/31/2014

• Lenovo Completes Motorola Takeover after Google Sale

• Nokia Net Boosts Smartphone Browsing Speed by 20% While Reducing Power Consumption by 40%

• RF Performance of Junctionless Trigate GaN FETs

• Physicists Pave the Way for Quantum Interfaces

• Tiny Carbon Nanotube Pores Make Big Impact

• Bluetooth Smart Improvements Appear in More Devices

• Movie Theaters Ban Google Glass and Other Camera-Toting Wearables (yet cellphones have cameras)

• STMicroelectronics to cut 450 Jobs

• IoT Isn't Just Buzz

• Microsoft Cuts 3,000 Jobs

• SEMICON Japan 2014: New Venue and New Ideas for Rebounding Industry

• People Trust NSA More Than Google

10/30/2014

• Record-Breaking THz Circuit Could Open New Bands of Spectrum

• Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio Payloads Among Those Lost in Launch Explosion

• RF and MEMS Technologies to Enable the IoT

• 1st Commercial Mission to Moon Launched from China

• Elon Musk Warns Against Developing AI, Compares It to 'Summoning the Demon'

• Smart Watches to Reach over 100M by 2019

• Copper Cube Cooled to Near Absolute Zero in New World Record

• LG Plans Quantum Dot TVs

• Verizon's Changes to Mobile Web Traffic Limit Your Privacy

• Mobile Malware Takes Victims by Surprise

• Students - Imagination Hosts Robot Programming Challenge

• FTC sues AT&T over Unlimited Data Plans

10/29/2014

• Spooky Wi-Fi Hotspot Name Grounds Plane

• You Know You're An Engineer If …

• Envelope Tracking Market to Exceed 4B Units by 2018 (post office needs these)

• Liquid Helium Offers Fascinating New Way to Make Charged Molecules

• CERN Seeks Help with Photo Archive Captions

• How Wi-Fi Is Driving New Competition in the Mobile Market

• Cutting Power Could Dramatically Boost Laser Output

• Glowing 'Smart Cycle Lanes' Pitched to UK

• Mobile Device and Wearable Vendors Are Struggling with User Interface Complexity

• Detroit's Stupid Plan to Kill Tesla

• Best Classic Rock Stations Announced

• Light-Matter Interaction Can Turn Opaque Materials Transparent

10/28/2014

• Keyless Cars 'Increasingly Targeted by Thieves Using Computers'

• Budget Pressures Push Air Force to Mull Commercial Satellite Tracking (how about Russia or China - they launch our astronauts now)

• Indian Radio Amateurs Continue Communication Support Following Cyclone

• Cable Sees Big Future in Wi-Fi as Video Gives Way to OTT, High Programming Costs

• World Record Data Transmission with Smart Circuits

• Terrestrial Broadcast TV down, but Is It Out?

• Light-Matter Interaction Can Turn Opaque Materials Transparent

• Materials Trick Might Help Move Computers Beyond Silicon

• Google Exec Breaks Sound Barrier in 135,890' Sky Dive

• DRS Unveils Next-Gen RF Tuners for UAVs

• Smartphones Stuck in the Slow Lane

• Compound in Cocoa Reverses Age-Related Memory Loss

10/27/2014

• FCC Delays Start of 600 MHz Incentive Auction to Early 2016

• Porsche and Mercedes Want Electric Cars That Can Fight Tesla

• Twitter Invites Us to Say Goodbye to Passwords (this will be compromised quickly)

• Marines Eye Full Production of G/ATOR Radar

• Liquid Helium Offers Fascinating New Way to Make Charged Molecules

• Chicago to Get NFC Mobile Ticketing in 2016

• Israel's Solar-Powered 'Trees': For Smartphones and Community

10/26/2014

• 4 Connected Devices for Every Person in World by 2020

• The Queen Sends Her 1st Tweet to Launch Science Museum Gallery

• Simpler Superconducting Promised by Nanowire Device

• Radio Amateurs Report Hearing 4M Moon Orbiter JT65B Signal

• How Big Data is Paying off for DOD

10/24/2014

• Reinvention of Broadcast TV: 10 Things to Know (the electronics renaissance man in me roots for the movement)

• The Slide Rule: A Computing Device That Put a Man an the Moon

• Broad-Bandwidth Amplifier That Ups Gain by More than 10 dB

• Calling 911 on Your Cell? It's Harder to Find You Than You Think

• China's 5-Year Plan Revealed

• Man Who Jumped from Radio Tower: Forever 38

• Ultra-Thin 3-D Display Tech Operates w/o Power Source

• Industry Standards for Integrating RF and Microwave Components in EW and SIGINT Proposed

• GaN Could Win over SiC for Power Design (GaN needs a high volume champion)

• Magnetic Mirrors Enable New Technologies by Reflecting Light in Uncanny Ways

• Let Isaac Asimov Lead Your Brainstorming Session

• Hackable Flaws in Medical Devices Investigated

• New Devices Based on Metamaterials

10/23/2014

• Woman Charged with Planting Spyware on Cop's Phone

• FEMA Administrator Touts Radio and FM Chip

• AT&T's Focus on Connected Cars Beginning to Pay Off

• Spectrum Scarcity Sparks Need for Regulatory Support and Research

• Microsoft Ditching the Nokia Name on Smartphones

• Lithium Battery Charges 70% in 2 Minutes

• Are Old Cars Better Than New Cars? (go ahead and chime in)

• Indonesia's New President, VP Are Radio Amateurs

• European Companies Can Fast Track into China

• EEs Explore Life after CMOS

• Nanofluid That Improves Heat Conductivity

• Cosmic Rays Threaten Future Deep-Space Astronaut Missions

• Yahoo Revenue and Profit Surpass Estimates

10/22/2014

• Technology and Inequality (rich vs. poor)

• ARRL On-Line Auction Gets Underway on Thursday, October 23

• 5G Will Drive Test Equipment Surge

• Seeking 'Absolute Zero', Copper Cube Gets Chillingly Close

• Envelope Tracking Takes off in LTE Phones

• USAF Launches Space Operations Initiative to Find Technologies to Control Orbital Space

• Michigan's New Law 'Clarifies' Ban on Tesla's Direct Sales Model

• TI's Rosy Outlook Defies Microchip's Gloom

• Wild Molecular Interactions in New Hydrogen Mixture

• Auction Offers Fascinating Glimpse into History of Science and Technology

• Staples Investigating Theft of Payment Card Data

• Audi Claims Self-Drive Car Speed Record

• When Women Stopped Coding (it's men's fault - who'd have guessed?)

10/21/2014

• Air Force Awards Deal for Next-Gen 3D Radar

• New 100 Gbps High-Speed Transatlantic Network to Benefit Science Collaborations

• IARU Administrative Council Resolution Seeks to Rein in Electromagnetic Interference

• Nokia Software Claims 80% Reduction in Smartphone Signaling

• Tunisia's Emerging Tech Sector Hampered by Old Policies

• IBM Pays $1.5B to Offload Chip Unit as Profit Falls

• As Revenue Dips, China Mobile Pushes 4G

• Phone Soars While iPad Languishes

• Imaging Electric Charge Propagating Along Microbial Nanowires

• IoT Group Turns off TV Band

• Starbucks to Offer Mobile Ordering and Payments Across U.S. in 2015

• Does Lockheed Martin Really Have a Breakthrough Fusion Machine?

10/20/2014

• AMD Plans 7% Layoffs

• Chinese Find Number URLs Easier Than Letters

• Automation Market Set for Extended Boom Times

• Report Details Sequestration's Impact on DOD Contractor Spending (lots of defense budget $$$ diverted to unrelated 'renewable' energy & social programs)

• Apply Now for Space Station Ham Radio Contact Opportunities

• Building Supply Chains to Rival China

• Trying to Live in the Moment (and Not on the Phone)

• U.S. Military Stuck in the Ditch

• Superheterodyne Image Response (interesting analysis - all for naught per commenter Erickk)

• Disney Rendered Big Hero 6 on 55,000-Core Supercomputer

10/19/2014

• Military GaAs Device Market to Grow at CAGR of 13% to over $0.5B by 2018

• Russian 'Smart' Mini-Satellites to Go into Orbit in 2016

• Lockheed Makes Breakthrough on Fusion Energy Project

• Costly Internet Tax Could Be on the Horizon (it's inevitable)

• Simple Way to Build 3-D Materials of the Future

10/17/2014

• Samsung Makes 7.5 Gbps 5G Speed Claim

• Teal Names Big 11 Defense Electronics Companies

• Silicon Valley's Biggest Internet Mistake

• Smart Meters Can Be Hacked to Cut Power Bills

• Free PCB Design Tool Includes 3D Modeling

• Semiconductor Market in India is Expected to Reach US$ 52.58B by 2020 (4-digit precision in estimate, eh?)

• FBI Director Calls 'Dark' Devices a Hindrance to Crime Solving

• Scientists Look to Mine Metals from Plants

• Lockheed Martin Pursues Compact Fusion Reactor Concept

• Component Distribution Can Take Hybrid Approach

• Stop Airing School Closings. It's Bad Radio

• NYC Brings Carrier and WiFi Coverage to More Subway Stations

• Light bending Material Facilitates the Search for New Particles

• Engineering Disasters: Deadly Zaps from the Therac-25

• Open Source Needs to Get with the Security Program

10/16/2014

Qualcomm to Buy CSR for £1.6B ($2.6B US)

• Earth's Magnetic Field Could Flip Within a Human Lifetime (invest in magnetic compass pointer retrofit companies now)

• Google Glass User Treated for Internet Addiction

• FM Chip Gets Support from UNCOM

• World's Thinnest Electric Generator Created

• 'Smart' Li-Ion Battery Warns of Fire Hazard

• Many Young People Addicted to Internet

• Samsung's Note 4 Smartphone Gives Glimpse of Computing's Future

• EU Near Agreement with China over Telecom Equipment Subsidies

• Skyworks Raises Guidance for Quarterly revenue Growth to 51% YoY and 22% Sequentially (whoa!)

• Smart Bracelet Doubles As Handset for Your Phone

• Australian Teams Set New Records for Silicon Quantum Computing

• New Exotic Particle Could Help Explain What Holds Matter Together

• Antilog Converter Linearizes CO2 Sensor

• U.S. Troops Assisting in Ebola Mission May be Quarantined (note ladder on left is not locked)

10/15/2014

• Broadcasters Want Your Phone to Be Mix of Online and Old-School Radio

• Microchip Forecast Dip Triggers Debate

• Ireland to Phase out 'Double Irish' Tax Break Used by Tech Giants

• Internet Caretaker ICANN to Escape U.S. Control

• Is U.S. Ready for a Determined Cyber Attack?

• ARRL Executive Committee Adopts Mobile Amateur Radio Operation Policy

• Magnetic Superconductor: Strange Bedfellows

• At 113, Woman Lies About Her Age So She Can Join Facebook

• Instead of Google Glass, How About a Tiny Telescope? (looks like an old girly peep show viewer)

• Dropbox Leak Highlights Password Security Dangers

• Homes at Center of Smart Metering Revolution

• Lightning Strike Becomes EMP Weapon

• AT&T's New Travel Plans Let You Text All You Want

• OPEC Split as Oil Prices Fall Sharply

• Intel Profits up 13% on Recovering PC Market (another 'expert' prediction gone bad)

10/14/2014

• Ofcom Eyes Commercial White Spaces Services in 2015

• China's Wafer Foundry Market Sees 15% Growth in 2014

• Getting Sharp Images from Dull Detectors

• The Intel of Things: How Chip Giant Plans to Own IoT

• New Records Set for Silicon Quantum Computing

• Ebla 'Most Severe Acute Health Emergency in Modern Times' (pols brought it to America)

• Samsung Accelerates Wi-Fi Speeds

• History of GaN-on-Diamond Technology

• Market Signals Possible Weakness in Wireless and Mobile

• Microchip Forecast Dip Triggers Debate

• Radio Amateurs in India Fill Communication Gaps in Cyclone's Wake

• Understanding the Hardness of Metals

• Russian Phone Operators Could Become GLONASS Shareholders

• Cantilever Bridge to Higher Bandwidth from VCSELs

• Neutrinos with "Fuzzy" Quantum Mass Solves Solar Neutrino Problem

10/13/2014

• The 5 Biggest Job Cutters in Wireless in 2014

• UK Public Fears Advance of Internet-Enabled Devices Amid Security Concerns

• Pros and Cons of Bluetooth Low Energy

• Man Offers to Swap House for New iPhone

• Microsoft's Quantum Mechanics

• Radio Waves Used to Detect Subtle Changes in Pressure

• MS's Nadella's Advice on Raises Stirs Discussion Among Women (he stepped in it big time!)

• China's Emerging 3D Printing Market Will Grow 4x

• Apple's Designer Accuses Copycats of Theft

• Sales of Gas Masks, Bio-Hazard Suits Soar

10/12/2014

• Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Called for Patience Amid New Subsidy Rules

• Superfast Internet Likely to Spawn 'Telepresence'

• Amazon to Open 1st Brick-and-Mortar Site

• Discovery of New Subatomic Particle Sheds Light on Fundamental Force of Nature

• The Ominous Math of the Obola Epidemic

10/10/2014

• Dissolvable Silicon Circuits and Sensors

• Devices Being Remotely Wiped in Police Custody

• Simple Trick to Measure Plane Impedance with VNA

• Retro Radio Reproductions Look Good, Sound Terrific

• Revamped Large Hadron Collider Set to Restart

• Marines Will Take Android Smartphones into the Field

• A Cold-Atom Ammeter

• Late October Exercise to Test MARS-ARES Interoperability

• Highest, Lowest Wireless Tax Rates

• Unstoppable Magnetoresistance

• MATLAB Gets New Graphics System

• Frozen Fuel Lines Made ESA Satellites Go off Course

• Chip Options Sought as Costs Rise

• Healthcare Smartphone Accessory Sales to Exceed $3B by 2019

• Tim Berners-Lee, Web Creator, Defends Net Neutrality

10/9/2014

• China Overtakes U.S. as World's Largest Economy (more Change w/o Hope)

• Radio Amateur is Among Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winners

• Nokia's Largest Plant to Shut Down in India

• USAF Picks Raytheon for Transportable Radar

• Debate over Cellphones in Schools Continues

• PCIA to Set Wireless Training Standards

• Mechanism of Photoconduction Could Lead to Next-Generation Excitonic Devices

• New Fusion Reactor Could Be Cheaper Than Coal

• Paper-Thin and Touch-Sensitive Displays on Various Materials

• 6000 Aussie Mobile Black Spots Waiting for Fix

• How to Think Like an Engineer

• India Puts Spacecraft into Orbit Around Mars

• Experiments Confirm Einstein's Time Dilation and Quantum Electrodynamics (once again)

• ATM Machine Hack 'Dispenses Wads' of Cash

• USAF Infrared Satellite System Gets to Next Step

10/8/2014

• ARRL Investigating Web Server Breach (is nothing sacred?)

• The Technician's Voice in Flightline Testing

• IMF Trims Forecast for Global Economic Growth

• How to Become a Tower Climber

• Blue LED Inventors Win Nobel Prize

• Lighting Sheets Would Use ½ as Much Power as Light Bulbs (interesting)

• Top 20 US Graduate Engineering Programs

• Even Techies Limit Their Children's Screen Time

• EU Hosts Anti-Muslim-Extremist Tech Meeting

• Quantum Probe Enhances Electric Field Measurements

• Chicago Transit Users Get ½ Price Rides When Paying by NFC

• Dubai Police Add Facial Recognition to Google Glass

• Gold Version of BlackBerry Passport on the Way?

• Middle East's First Voice over LTE Call in Commercial Network

• Sub-Picofarad Measurement with CMOS Inverters

10/7/2014

• Scientists Sound Alarm over Long Wait for Nobel Prize

• HP Splits Again, Adds 5,000 Layoffs

• European Semi Sales up in August over July

• MacArthur Genius Grants: Don't Call Them, They'll Call You

• Tech and Telecoms Groups Fight to Dominate 'Internet of Things (IoT)

• Tiny Conical Tips Fabricate Nanoscale Devices Cheaply

• Samsung Electronics Forecasts 60% Fall in Quarterly Profit

• People Can't Live Without the Internet

• World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 Will Be in Germany

• Teen Hormones and Cellphones

• Studying the Steve Jobs Industrial Complex

• Attack Code for 'Unpatchable' USB Flaw Released

• Sprint Moves on New Job Cuts

• U.S. Manufacturing: A Remembrance and a Look Ahead

• Hackers' Attack Cracked 10 Financial Firms in Major Assault

10/6/2014

• 1:10 Cell Sites Violate FCC Rules Limiting RF Exposure

• Town Built for Driverless Cars

• Why Turn Cars into Smartphones?

• Telecom Posts Mixed Employment Stats

• Physicists Observe Elusive Particle That is Its Own Antiparticle

• Untangling How Cables Coil

• True or False: How Well Do You Know Nobel Prizes?

• U.S. Keeping Nuclear Warheads in Case of Killer Asteroids

• Newly Discovered Particle Both Matter and Antimatter at Same Time

• $200M Photonics Effort to Keep U.S. Ahead

10/5/2014

• Marriott Hotel Fined for Blocking Cellular Backhauled Wi-Fi Devices

• The Scope ... from Hell!

• UK Cable Broadband Internet Speeds 'Faster Than Fibre'

• Air Force Research Lab Chooses 7 Companies for Advanced Spectrum Warfare Work

• Navy Puts Autonomous 'Swarmboats' into Action

10/3/2014

• Looking Deeper to Identify Counterfeit Microchips

• 3D Magnet Stack Subs for Transistors

• Cheap Hybrid Outperforms Expensive Metal as Fuel Cell Catalyst

• 5 Ways the Superintelligence Revolution Might Happen

• Radio Still Dominates Music Listening

• Horizon Contests OSHA Cell Tower Citations

• New Nanomaterial Introduced into Electrical Machines

• Phone Boxes Turn Green to Charge Mobiles

• Security Researchers Detail 'Unpatchable' USB Hack

• Why 4.4B People Still Don't Have Internet Access (conclusion: you're too cheap to pay for it)

• Simultaneous Imaging of Ferromagnetic and Ferroelectric Domains

• Dolphins Are Attracted to Magnets

• 5G Roadmap Video

• Birmingham University Enables AC to DC Power Grid Transition

• Hands on with Windows 10's New Features

10/2/2014

• Airlines Told to Change Cockpit Screens in Boeing Planes Due to WiFi Interference

• How to Become a Tower Climber: Pay, Benefits and Schedule

• New Frontier in Error-Correcting Codes

• ARRL Takes Issue with NTIA's WRC-15 Proposal for 5 MHz

• There's No Clear Business Model for LTE Broadcast

• U.S. Attorney General Urges Tech Companies to Leave Back Doors Open on Gadgets for Police (AG 'urging' akin to IRS 'asking' people to pay takes)

• Research Sheds New Light on Why Rechargeable Batteries Fail

• U.S. Charges Four with Stealing $100M in Software

• Mobile Malware: Small Numbers, but Growing

• 7 Tricks for Estimating Battery Life Accurately

• Google Strips Down News Service to Pacify German Publishers

• Bluetooth Plug-and-Play Electronics Kit

• 12 Weird Technology Acquisitions

• FCC Releases Info Package for Broadcasters Tied to 600 MHz Incentive Auction

• Bats May Be Mistaking Wind Turbines for Trees (dumb bats)

10/1/2014

• Actor Tim Allen Gets His Ham Ticket For Real (flashback from 2011)

• RFID-Reading Drone Tracks Structural Steel Products in Storage Yard

• Microsoft Unveils Windows 10 System with Return of Start Menu

• Navy Tracks How Solar Events Can Disrupt Satellite Navigation

• Entanglement Made Tangible ('spooky action at a distance' is an apt description)

• Robust Domestic Mobile Broadband Market Needs More Spectrum

• Car Connectivity Going Mainstream

• Electronic Brain by 2023 (just in time as most human brains go smooth)

• Hands-Free, Mind-Free: What We Lose Through Automation

• Cat and Mouse Game of Missiles and Anti-Missiles

• eBay to Spin off PayPal (that didn't last long)

• At the Interface of Math and Science

• Crackdown on Spying Apps Leads to StealthGenie CEO's Arrest

• Google, Silicon Labs Mesh for ZigBee-Like Protocol

• Saying Hello to Ello, an Ad-Free Facebook