Engineering & Technical Headline News Archive - December 2006 12-31-2006 AP Poll: Americans Optimistic for 2007 12-29-2006 EE Times' #1 Story of 2006 Electronic News: Five Predictions for 2007 Fiscal Year 2006: A Record-Breaking Year for the USPTO LockMart GPS III Team Prepares for Design Milestone Under USAF Contract Earthquake-Damaged Asian Networks Will Be Slow to Recover Internet Chaos Shows Weakness of System French Space Agency to Publish UFO Archive Online Amazon Reports December 11, 2006 Was 'Best Day Ever' Apple Faked Options Grant Documents, Reports Say NASA Mulls Celeb Astronauts to Combat Youth Apathy About Space Exploration MSNBC: The Year in Space 12-28-2006 Asia Back Online After Quakes But Access Patchy Italy to Start Selling WiMAX Licenses by June Matsushita's Heat-Shield Li-Ion Battery Hits High Gear RFID Tags in Tokyo to Bring Ads, Info Emergency Calls Set to Drive In-Vehicle Chip Market Russia Says It Won't Share Space Technology With China German Military Awards $9B Contract to Siemens-IBM for Project 'Herkules' Scientists Create Molecule-Size Keypad Lock Pinpoint Sound Beams Hunt Buried Land Mines Experts Say Google Will Be No. 1 in Visitors in 2007 Online Shoppers Overwhelm iTunes Store 12-27-2006 Taiwan Quake Disrupts Phone, Web Service Support Swells for U.S. Version of RoHS AMD Preps 300-mm Fab in New York DOD Lays Out Nearly a Half Billion Dollars for Antennas Robotic Crawler Detects Wear in Power Lines Check-Mate for Indian Chess Player After Cellphone Ploy Tech Industry Rocked in 2006 by Stock Option Scandal 2007 Likely to Be Banner Year for Cybercrime Wikipedia Founder Plans Search Engine China Internet Users Fake Identity Numbers Cloaking: New Analysis Improves Methods yo Render Objects Invisible 12-26-2006 Broadband Spectrum Wanted for Public Safety WLAN Outlook 2007: "Drafting" Next-Generation Growth Tokyo's Ginza Blanketed with RFID Markers 12-23-2006 Channel Tunnel Targeted for Christmas Eve Terror Attack by Muslim Group Slew of High-Tech Execs on Santa's Naughty List FCC Releases Report and Order in "Morse Code" Proceeding Is Ultra-Wideband Finally Ready for Prime Time? Software Defined Radio Accelerates in Europe Forbes: The Year Ahead Former IEEE President, IEEE-USA Chairman John Guarrera Dead at 82 2006 Wireless Mesh Sales May Top US$90 Million Filtronic Partners for Work on Diamond Semiconductors 12-22-2006 High-Tech Christmas Trees (but first a word from their sponsor) RIM Profit Grows 47% On BlackBerry Sales IBM Claims Photonics Speed Record "Stay the Course" Named Top Catch Phrase of 2006 4G Wireless Should Have Solid Initial Appeal to Consumers Samsung Semi Prez Heads to the Slammer NASA Unsure When, Where Shuttle Will Land Microsatellites to Study Earth's Atmosphere from Low Orbit Russia Set to Implement Ambitious Space Program Part II U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Opens New Art Gallery (your tax money at work) French, Germans Go Separate Ways Over Project to Rival Google 12-21-2006 FCC Gives Green Light to Telephone Companies to Deploy Cable Services New GPS Satellite Declared Operational for Users Worldwide Femtocells Will Give WiFi a Run For Its Money Samsung Launches World's first Optical Joystick Phone Drivers Ignore the Risk of Mobile Phone Use Popular Gadgets May Make Painful Christmas Presents Nokia Auctioning Special Handsets for Charity EE Times' Top 5 Stories of 2006 Wacker Pays to Create Silicon Chemistry Institute Capital Equipment Outlook 2007: Spending Heading South Colorado Blizzard Leaves Travelers Stranded for 2nd Day RFID Embedded in Uniforms of Emergency Personnel Tracks Vital Signs Robots Are Honored in Japan 12-20-2006 Poll Indicates Strong Electronics Buying Season Mobile TV is Popular in Bed Radar, Communications, Smart Munitions, and Electronic Warfare Contract Awards Exceed $16B in 2006 Supply Chain Outlook 2007: Bracing for China RoHS Siemens Says It Set Optical Network Speed Record Vitesse Finds Evidence of Option Backdating Wireless USB May Help Smartphones Replace PCs and Laptops Mount St. Helens Erupts, Spewing Steam, Ash Into Washington State Sky UK: "Digital Dividend" Consultants Oppose License-Free Use Shuttle Unhooks from Space Station 2006's Best YouTube Clips 12-19-2006 Sharp Starts Blue Laser Diode Production Vodafone Sale Weakens Swiss Currency Broadcom Investigation Uncovers History of Stock Options Backdating Twilight of the Idols: The Information Technology Year in Review Taiwan Approves Fab Investments in China U. of IL Licenses Flex Electronics Technology Shuttle to Undock from Space Station Another World's First for Artemis: Satellite Laser Link With an Aircraft Air Force Awards $2B Contract for 10 More C-17 Cargo Jets Amazon Countersues IBM Over Patent Claim E-Bomb Lobbed at Drug Giant's Databases 12-18-2006 Japan Launches Giant Satellite for Mobile Phones Tax Leads Americans Abroad to Renounce U.S. Tracking Device Transmits Data Through GSM More Ships Get Marine GSM Coverage Spacewalkers Prepare for Solar Panel Fix F-35 Fighter Wraps Up First Test Flight Market for Wireless Multimedia Networking to Exceed 50 Million Units by 2010 Solar Physicist Says Weak Sun Produces Record Solar Outburst Matsushita Aims for Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries Rotary Engine Revs for Comeback (remember the Wankel?) AWR & DuPont Microcircuit Materials Deliver LTCC PDK for Microwave Office Design Suite Two Experimental Satellites Mark First Launch From Virginia Spaceport Preparing for the Biggest Experiment on Earth Analysts: Blogging Craze Likely to End Soon 12-16-2006 NASA Ames Schedules Briefing to Discuss Google Agreement End of an Era: FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes Taking Nanolithography Beyond Semiconductors NASA Plans 'Moonbuggy' Design Competition Amateur Community Transitions Smoothly to New Allocations Terrorist Use Internet Better Than U.S. Federal Agencies 12-15-2006 Memorable Music Makes Us Want to Pick Up the Phone Flexible Electronics Advance Boosts Performance, Manufacturing Siemens Scandal Hits Wireless Venture with Nokia South Korea Wants Teens to Hang Up Mobile Phones Chemists Synthesize New Form of Germanium Samsung USA Wireless Unit President Sees 7%-10% Industry Growth Pb-Free Eval and Protocol in Lineup for 2007 Military Technologies Conference Electrical Properties of Human Skull Finally Determined Russian Vodka Maker Buys Vodka.com Domain for $3M Mileage From Megawatts: Study Finds Enough Electric Capacity to 'Fill Up' Plug-In Vehicles Chip Sales to Hit $400B in 2011 Mobile-Phone Based UWB Networks U.S.: Ex-Chinese National Stole Military Technology 12-14-2006 Severe Geomagnetic Storm Expected from Tuesday's Solar Flare Study Claims $40B Benefit from RFID in Retail and Healthcare Industries Already Software Defined Radio Accelerates in Europe Matlab RF Toolbox Adds Signal Integrity German Armed Forces Buys 1500 Digital Storage O-Scopes from Agilent EU Unifies Rules on Wireless Frequencies Across Europe World's Fastest Transistor Approaches Goal of Terahertz Device Y-Lynx releases their TRM8053-500, 868MHz band, 500mW Long Range Radio Modem New Qualcomm COO Shares OFDM Vision Gartner Predicts Vista to be Last Major Windows Release Samsung Places Hand Sculptures Across the World (weird!) 'Logic Bomb' Hacker Gets 8 Years for Failed Stock Rigging 12-13-2006 Antenova Buys into U.S. RF Integration Expertise Certified Wireless USB to Support Higher UWB Frequencies RIM Sues Samsung for Infringement Over BlackJack $16.5B of Goldman Sachs' Earnings to Trickle Down to Employees (they'll all be having very a Merry Christmas) Dutch Analog TV Goes Off Air for Good Ph.D. Engineer/Wife Team Stump for Math Institute to Educate School Teachers on Basic Math (pathetic, isn't it?) Citywide Wi-Fi coverage in Cumberland, Maryland 2009 Forecast: WiFi Chipset Sales Reach 500 Million Industry Seeks Successor to SMS EC Decision Harmonizes UHF Allocations for RFID Atmel to Sell Fabs, Cuts 1,300 Jobs Distributors Refute Afdec Inventory Excess Warning Solar Storm Smacks Space Station 12-12-2006 WiFi Chipset Sales Up 25% North America Q3 2006 Technology Roundup UWB Likely to be Legal in Europe "Within Six Months" Raytheon to Develop Secret Aircraft Radar System for Special Ops Forces Europe's Galileo GPS Project Falls Behind Schedule City of Berkeley to Regulate Nanotechnology (the same city that outlaws non-earth-friendly coffee sales) U.K. Government Publishes Rules for WEEE Azimuth Systems Closes $7.5 Million in New Funding; Announces CEO Transition Transistor Technology Moves Beyond Silicon (ummm...have they been asleep for 20 years in Cambridge?) Week-Long Geminid Meteor Shower Starts Sunday Modeo's CEO Quits as Mobile TV Struggles in U.S. Intel Working on "Floating-Body Cell" Transistors 12-11-2006 MEMS Gyroscopes Eye Projected Consumer Electronics Windfall RFID Development Spotty Across Markets Marines Eye Ground-Penetrating Radar Technology for IED Detection Nissan Announces Plans for Fuel Cell Vehicle Malaysia to RFID-Tag All Cars LG. Philips Raided in Global Investigation of LCD Panel Makers China to Use Galileo Satellite Navigation System U.S. Solar Tax Credit Extended Raytheon Wins $67.7M Navy Contract for AIM-9X Air-to-Air Missiles Survey Finds Huge Instant-Messaging Generation Gap Vinyl Singles Making a Comeback in Britain Discovery Soars Into Night Sky for Space Station Mission 12-9-2006 Greece Bans Mobile Phones in School Internet Gangs Hire Students for Cybercrime ARRL Members' Donations Vital to Success of BPL Court Appeal New Targets May Hit Bull's-eye for Chip Makers 12-8-2006 Mobile Phones Made from Castor Oil Quellan Introduces Groundbreaking RF Noise Cancellation Technology Ethanex Energy to Impart Advantages of Ethanol as Military Energy Source Europe Must Be Serious about IT Standards to Avoid Chaos Japan Opening 5470-5725 MHz for License-Free WLANs HP to Pay $14.5M to Close Leaks Case (meanwhile, the NY Times prints classified documents) In-Building Wireless Systems to Show Annual Growth Rate of 20% 'Luminizer' Lights Path to Replace OPC Invention Could Solve 'Bottleneck' in Developing Pollution-Free Cars Russia Claims IBM Employees Sought to Defraud Country's Pension Fund (but hey, Russia has a field-proven polonium-based pension eradication program that will take care of them) NASA to Try Shuttle Launch Again Saturday Russia Wants to Join NASA Moon Program (hmmmm...see above) 12-7-2006 Christmas Decorations Can Affect Wi-Fi Reception (humbug!) DoCoMo to Recall Sanyo Batteries Used in Mitsubishi Cellphones Solar Cell Breakthrough Claimed Russia in Talks With Other Countries on Joint Glonass Use 1/3 of Brits Risk Poor Credit Rating Due to Missed Phone Payments Budget Cuts, Layoffs Expected at World's Largest Radio Telescope (must keep the Midnight Basketball programs going, though) Iffy Sky Dampens Shuttle Launch Chance UWB Gets 'Black Eye' Review; Freescale Pulls Plug? "Silly String" Used to Detect Bomb Trip Wires in Iraq (ingenious!) Chess Champ Loses Battle With Computer, $500,000 at Man vs. Machine Match Cyber Santa Shines Light in Europe's Retail Gloom Physicists Find Tiny Particle With No Charge, Very Low Mass, Sub-Nanosecond Lifetime 12-6-2006 Cell Phones Don't Raise Cancer Risk (at least not if you're Danish) Spanish Motorway Group Abertis Buys 32% of Eutelsat NASA Schedules Briefing at 1:00 est to Announce Significant Find on Mars U.S. Leads List of Tech Pioneers SION Power's New Battery Extends Flight Time of UAVs Power Consumption Will Force Carriers to Rethink Their Broadband Choices Richest 2% Hold ½ the World’s Assets, Poorest ½ Hold 1% (I know which group I'm NOT in) Mobile TV to Cell Phones is Successfully Tested in the U.K. IBM to Develop Signal Processor for Radio Telescope Wind and Solar Power Trial for Remote GSM Base Stations USAF Taps Defense Companies to Develop Alternatives to "SBIRS High" Satellite Surveillance System Revival of the Supercomputer Mother Has 12-Year-Old Son Arrested for Opening Christmas Gift Early 12-5-2006 Homeland Security vs. Garage Door Openers Radio Archeology: Yesterday's Tomorrows To the Moon! NASA to Build Lunar Base China Sheds Light on 3G Rollout, Shares Leap Qualcomm Buys Bluetooth Assets Advanced Micro, Hynix to Join Top 10 Chipmakers Gigle Achieves 1-Gbps Bandwidth Over Home Wires UK Market Update - Mobile World Briefing ESA Provides Free Satellite Images Globalstar Signs $600M Contract with Alcatel for 2nd-Gen LEO Constellation Executives Expect New Media to Pay - Eventually 12-4-2006 U.S. Official Blasts Indian Patent System RAN, WLAN, WiMAX, Wireless Mesh Equipment Sales all Up in 3Q06 Manchester, England to Introduce Free Wi-Fi Qualcomm Buys Airgo, RFMD's Bluetooth Business Analyst Cuts '06 chip Forecast, Warns of Tough Q4 Intel to Put Pre-Standard 802.11n in Centrino 12-3-2006 Toshiba’s GaN Power FET Hammers GaAs FETs Mystery of Ancient Astronomical Calculator Unveiled Vista Takes Windows to New Heights High-Tech Running Shoes Raise Privacy Concerns (Big Bro can track you) Pentagon Seeks Biofuel for Military Jets Strontium Atomic Clock Demonstrates Super-fine 'Ticks' Teacher Studies How Science Teachers Teach 12-1-2006 Gab on Your Cellphone in a Salon, Get Punched in the Mouth New Rules Make Companies Track E-Mails, IMs 60% of WCDMA Handsets Will Be GPS/Galileo Enabled by 2010 Ancient Computer Fragments Found South Korea Aims to Surpass Japan as Top Battery Supplier by 2012 Wibree Market Has Potential to Exceed $500 Million by 2011 Strontium Scheme Enters Atomic Clock Race Apple Seeks Patent for Wireless Handheld Device UMTS Forum Attacks Spectrum Liberalization Microsoft Launches Vista Version of Windows Security Warning Issued by DHS for Possible Terrorist Cyber Attack on U.S. Financial Institutions Frost & Sullivan Analysts Study U.S. Unmanned Aerial Systems Markets