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SEAGATE
Perpendicular recording, 2.5-in disk drive launches with 160-Gbyte density
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: " To meet the needs of the notebook market, Seagate is launching its first product based on perpendicular recording technology with its Momentus 5400.3, 2.5-in hard disk drive that has a top capacity of 160-Gbytes. With more than 60% of the notebook market expected to be at 80-Gbytes and above this year, Seagate realized that to achieve those densities in a 2.5-in hard disk drive, it either had to increase the aerial density or the number of platters and heads. "
Readers say: » "Lots of potential.'' » "Excellent to have sata interface.'' » "Sweet!'' » "Now we are getting some better technology.'' » "Very impressive product!'' » "It's not that I wouldn't buy the drive, but that most people that get a laptop don't usually upgrade that often.'' » "About time!'' » "I will wait until field reliability information for perpendicular recording drives becomes available.'' » "Reliability seems to be a major factor in the design.'' » "The technology ad design that went into this hard drive is not only well thought out but a milestone for the company. Hats off!'' » "With less emphasis on writing software that is very tight, more disk space is necessary. This will allow more loose programming storage.'' » "Would like to see the rotational speed up to 7,200 rpm for faster access times. A slightly larger on-board memory buffer would also be a strong selling point.'' » "A diagram showing the difference between longitudinal and perpendicular recording to achieve greater aerial density would have been nice.'' » "I am always amazed how the disk drive industry keeps churning out higher and higher capacity drives.'' » "What plans are there to produce this in terms of a ruggedized military embedded application?'' » "Like most people, I would jump at the chance to have one of these, but - new technology also had a drawback - MTBF. Proven disks without failures. This is great, but how good is it really? Will it crash within the first year - how many people will be able to backup - or even willing to backup a potential 100+ GBs? It takes some time and it will have to be, first on a desktop replacement and do its time and prove that a few bumps along the way won't crash it. Also will the laptop bios handle 160 drives? How about a 2 GB RAM, 2.2 mobile duo-core with 15.4" WXG and this drive! I'd use it!'' » "The technological advances in 2.5 hard disks have been fantastic. This is one such example.'' » "An important step, but I am more likely to stick to cheaper existing technology for now - and use a second USB drive if I need more than 80G in a laptop.'' » "Interesting but not compelling enough to design in ASAP.'' » "This product is significant for our company as there are always business users who will find a reason/need for the largest/fastest anything. Even in our app, we may be able to use this size drive for TiVo recording, but the price is still a bit high for the residential market.'' » "Having greater capacity and smaller size is what the market is always asking for! Reducing power and heat are a huge bonus!'' » "This will make the consumer handheld marketplace jump.'' » "Excellent, more security and capacity for data.'' » "it is a great innovation.'' » "This device is not only very applicable to laptop, but also to HD DVR set-top box.'' » "I'm glad to see this product coming to market.'' » "I like it's high density.'' » "Form, fit and density are a plus needed for the future of laptops, notebooks, and all small package CPUs''' » "With the changes in laptop technology, the new density is a necessity to keep up with demand....'' » "A step in the right direction.'' » "Excellent design work!'' » "It lifts the bar.'' » "132Gbits per inch... Perpendicular recorded bits... I don't need to say any more!'' » "This technology appears to make the disk thicker. Is there much of a weight difference?''
USABILITY RANK: 1

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LUMINARY MICRO
ARM-based MCUs boast entry-level price of $1.00
eeProductCenter's Marty Gold says: " Luminary Micro Inc. has launched the first members of its ARM-based Stellaris family of 32-bit microcontrollers that boasts an entry-level price of only $1.00. The move, according to the company enables embedded microcontroller system designers to utilize 32-bit performance for the same price as their current 8- and 16-bit microcontroller designs. The Stellaris family is based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, the microcontroller member of the ARM Cortex processor family. The first two members of family, called the LM3S101 and LM3S102 are available now. "
Readers say: » "Low price, but what is performace?'' » "This is the best bang to MCU's for the buck out there...cudo's'' » "I like it when the price comes down on ARM processors. Now if we could just get a dual ARM processor for 2 bucks... then you'd really have something!'' » "Needs more info on software configureation but the speed is good.''
USABILITY RANK: 2

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ATMEL
32-bit AVR processor targets multimedia systems for cell phones
eeProductCenter's Marty Gold says: "Atmel Corp.? new AP7000 family of 32-bit processors has been designed to integrate on a single chip virtually all the functionality required for multimedia systems that are deployed in cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, automotive infotainment, set top boxes, and home entertainment systems, as well as network switches/routers and printers."
Readers say: » "Single chip with lot of functions integrated.'' » "Reliable.'' » "Linux in my cell phone... I like that...''
USABILITY RANK: 3

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MICRON TECHNOLOGY
DRAM maker launches 1-Gbit NAND memory subsystem in multichip package
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: " Micron Technology Inc. has launched a line of memory subsystems that combines its NAND flash memory with mobile DRAM in multi-chip packages (MCP), providing mobile handset manufacturers with a single supplier from which to procure their memory."
Readers say: » "Good combination package for mobile applications.'' » "Again, another job well done!'' » "Multi-chip packaging seems to rarely be more than a stepping stone...'' » "I will look for and expect this memory capability in my next mobile phone.'' » "Leave it to Micron to come up with something like this. At only $17, now I might re-think the last board I made..''
USABILITY RANK: 7

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PHILIPS
ARM-9 based MCU packs vector floating-point coprocessor
eeProductCenter's Marty Gold says: " Claimed to be the first 90-nm ARM926EJ-S-based MCU, the LPC3180 from Royal Philips Electronics integrates a vector floating-point coprocessor and the USB On-The-Go functionality and provides the ability to operate in ultra-low-power mode down to 0.9V. Targeted applications include point-of-sale (POS) equipment, medical and industrial devices, global positioning systems (GPS), and robotics."
Readers say: » "This ARM is a dream for me, it will allow me to do what I need in my device without going to the next level of processor it will also save me about 8 dollars a unit. In 10k volume it saves me 80k. Wow, that is another 7% to the profit margin.'' » "A fair price for the target markets, but no mention of the IDE or other dev tools.'' » "This low power MCU is just what the remote environment needs to develop smaller hand held device portability.''
USABILITY RANK: 5

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WINBOND ELECTRONICS
Dual-output SPI doubles clock rate in serial flash family
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: " Its recent acquisition of NexFlash Technologies has given Winbond Electronics the tools to develop its first leadership products. SpiFlash 25X is its second-generation serial flash memory family that ranges in densities from 1-Mbit to 64-Mbit. The SpiFlash 25X devices are drop-in compatible with its 25P and 25B SpiFlash series, but have been enhanced with a flexible architecture and performance features that give them the ability to offer two to three times the data-transfer rate of other serial flash parts."
Readers say: » "Saves time and simplifies the memory allocation.'' » "Moving to faster serial buses is important.'' » "These are small flash memories and have a narrow niche market. The big trend is in the multi-GB flash market where competition with hard disk drives will soon heat up. These will be 1000x faster than a hard drive with no moving parts.'' » "I can foresee this flash memory could be the future of very high speed comm. but the infrastucture of telecomm still needs to be the next upgrade to occur to fit with these speeds.'' » "It is a little slower then the Intel flash.'' » "Very Useful.''
USABILITY RANK: 4

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SPANSION
Flash memory subsystems combine best of NAND and NOR for wireless handsets
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Spansion Inc. entered the NAND flash memory portion of the cell phone market through a family of memory subsystems that integrate 90-nm MirrorBit ORNAND flash memory with its NOR flash devices."
Readers say: » "Multi-chip packaging seems to usually be a stepping stone rather than a big-volume product.'' » "Good concept.'' » "Increased code capability will add more expantion of functions to small form packages.'' » ""Pricing not yet available"... My opinion would be based on price.''
USABILITY RANK: 6

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INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES
DIMM integrates temperature sensor to improve thermal management
eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Infineon Technologies AG has developed a memory module with an integrated thermal sensor that uses real-time temperature data to improve mobile system performance. The TS-on-DIMM (thermal sensor on dual in-line memory module) is designed for use with mobile platforms from Intel Corp., as well as other chip makers. Initially available as a 1-Gbyte, 667-MHz DDR2 SO-DIMM, TS-on-DIMM products are sampling for $150 each. Infineon expects to release a 2-Gbyte density TS-on-DIMM later this year. "
Readers say: » "Temperature management is becoming more and more of a problem in PCs.'' » "From article, I am not convinced that existing systems support this.'' » "I think a temperature govenor is backward thinking, but it can have its uses under extreme remote compute environments.'' » "Too expensive for the only improvement being a thermal sensor and Trench Technology, which only theoretically reduces temperature.'' » "Great for machine & automotive applications.''
USABILITY RANK: 8

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DUALCORE SEMICONDUCTOR
Two ARM-Core MCU targets time-critical industrial control apps
eeProductCenter's Marty Gold says: "Dualcore Semiconductor has launched its DCIC9907 microcontroller that contains two ARM 946E cores, two CAN channels, two 10/100 Mbit Ethernet MACs with hardware extension for real-time protocols. The company? system-on-chip also offers motion control logic capability, specifically designed for time-critical and other industrial control applications.The DCIC9907 could be the central digital element of advanced servo system platforms."
Readers say: » "Reliable and ease of programming.'' » "Good price for features.'' » "Seems like quite a niche product.'' » "This allows improved industry requirement speed and accuracy to develop new lines of control devices.'' » "Seems a litle slow in some aplications.'' » "Check out the data sheet at dualcore... and the architecture... this MCU is pretty impressive, I wish it was a little fastrer though.''
USABILITY RANK: 9

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OKI SEMI
ARM7TDMI-based MCU targets smart card reader/writer apps
eeProductCenter's Marty Gold says: "Oki Semiconductor? new ML675050 ARM7TDMI-based Advantage Microcontroller for Smart Card reader/writers meets ISO-7816 and EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) IC Card standards."
Readers say: » "Doesn't seem all that different from other competing products.'' » "I would have need for this but anything that increases goods to market overhead & accuracy will keep prices competitive.'' » "Good evolution.''
USABILITY RANK: 10