Philips wins CD-R civil action against Taiwanese makers

Philips Electronics Taiwan has stated that it has won its civil suit filed with the US District Court in the Southern District of New York State against two Taiwanese companies, Gigastorage and Princo, over their infringement of its six CD-R/RW patents, according to the US federal court's judgment made on 11 March. This is the first victory for Philips after the Dutch giant lost an administrative lawsuit presided over by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in March 2004. The US federal court, in accordance with its judgment, put a ban on imports of CD-R/RW discs to the US by the two Taiwanese companies, Philips indicated. ...more

NEC turns to laser-power data

NEC is claiming it has broken data transfer records with chips using lasers rather than metal connections. According to New Scientist, NEC demonstrated laser communications chips capable of data transfers up to 25Gbps - a record for such processors, according to the company. NEC built a semiconducting laser diode called a Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) that converts electrical signals into laser pulses. ...more

London cabbies spurn SatNav

It maybe all the rage among BMW-driving reps, but London's cabbies are spurning SatNav in favour of the tried-and trusted Knowledge. According to Bob Oddy, general secretary of the London Taxi Drivers' Association, few drivers have bothered to install the technology since they were permitted earlier this year. 'I would say take-up has been about four or five per cent, maybe higher for drivers doing the airport runs and those doing jobs in the London suburbs,' Oddy said. ...more

Talkabout times two

Motorola has launched two new ranges to its Talkabout line of two-way radios - the T5000 and the T6200. The T5000 is the basic offering - a two way radio with a two-mile range. With 14 channels on offer (and 38 sub codes on the T5200), finding an open frequency and maintaining privacy shouldn't be a problem. ...more

Dial-up access to Internet increasing once again

The Office of National Statistics has published its latest monthly report on UK Internet connectivity, covering the month of January 2003. The headline figure is that the total number of subscriptions to the Internet has increased 4.5 per cent between January 2002 and January 2003. ...more