19 years ago the industry was confused about the future of wireless comms. Paul Otellini, Intel’s  COO, told delegates to the 2004 3GSM World Congress that UWB technology would find its place providing short range data links around the PC, saying that it “will replace Bluetooth to allow very high bandwidth connections.” Sean Maloney, general manager of Intel’s communications group, ...

All the stories below - which cover Apple, Raspberry Pi, supercapacitors, Intel, RISC-V and more - were written in 2023, to keep things focused. Can you guess what is at Number One?

BaTelab, a 13 year-old Chinese analogue company based in Suzhou backed by the car manufacturer BYD, raised $52.8 million in an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. Later yesterday, the  company’s shares fell below their IPO price. The money raised will go to R&D, product development and strategic investments. The company had revenues of $45 million in 2022 ...

Q3 PC shipments were 7.2% down y-o-y at 68.5 million units in the third quarter of 2023, according to IDC, which expects full-year 2023  shipments to be down 13.8% y-o-y  which was itself a 16.6% down year on 2021. Two consecutive years of double-digit year-over-year drops is unprecedented in the PC market. IDC’s hopes for  a market rebound in 2024 ...

Xiaomi, the Chinese phone company, has come out with an EV called SU7 with SU standing for Speed Ultra. Top speed is 265 kph and it can go from 0 to 100 kph in 2.78 seconds. One version has a range of 415 miles, and the other has a range of 500 miles. The price is not disclosed. It is ...

Demand remains subdued for most retail, indoor lighting, and specialised lighting manufacturers, says TrendForce. In 2023 the revenues of the top ten manufacturers fell 5% y-o-y. A return to growth in demand is expected in Q2 2024 In Q3, the top ten lighting companies’ combined revenues reached $5.2 billion, a slight QoQ increase of 0.8%. Signify, Acuity Brands and Panasonic ...

The UK Space Agency has awarded Raytheon a contract to provide Space Surveillance and Tracking Services Data (SST) from low-Earth orbit (LEO). Specifically, Raytheon NORSS – Raytheon’s UK-based space domain awareness specialist- will be using Raytheon’s LOCI (LEO Optical Camera Installation) sensor network to track “Resident Space Objects”. Such objects include space debris, defence assets and commercial satellites, to better ...

Our ministers can be so embarrassing. Speaking on the subject of autonomous cars, Mark Harper, the Secretary of State for Transport, says: “I’ve seen the technology being used in California for example, without a safety driver, so in full, autonomous mode,” says Harper, “this technology exists, it works and what we’re doing is putting in place the proper legislation so ...

In 2001 a personal transporter was put on the market. A prominent VC said it would be more important than the Internet; Steve Jobs said it was as big a deal as the PC; pundits said it would revolutionise the design of cities, Eight years after the launch the company making the transporter was sold to a Brit who was ...

Korean semiconductor production rose 42% in November while shipments rose 80% says Statistics Korea. The November rise was the largest increase in 18 months. November inventories rose by 36% – the smallest rise since February.   Korea’s  economy grew 5.3% in November. It is expected to grow 1.4% in 2023, down from 2.6% in 2022, and forecast to grow 2.2% ...