Standards war could wreck CDMA hopes Richard Ball A virtual holy war over standards proposals for third generation mobile phones could wreck any chance of a worldwide network, says global standards authority the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ITU has taken the extreme step of threatening to throw out current proposals for standards if the dispute over intellectual property rights ...

LG unveils first ‘real’ digital television David Manners US model Caprice will today (Wednesday December 16) unveil the first TV that can receive digital signals. Currently High Street retailers are selling analogue sets under the digital TV banner. These require a digital satellite receiver or digital terrestrial receiver in the form of a set-top box. This adds another ?150 to ...

Advances in medicine make homeowners more healthy Melanie Reynolds Your house could soon know more about your health than you do. So claims David Delpy, a contributor to Clinical Futures, a book looking at the future of medicine in the next half century. The intelligent house would remotely read human body implants and could even book appointments to see appropriate ...

Eight firms link up for home standard Richard Ball Eight companies involved with the home audio-video interoperability (HAVi) standard have established a licensing programme. The programme will enable interested companies to begin developing hardware and software that conforms to the standard. This will include such products as TVs, digital VCRs, set-top boxes and hi-fi equipment. Devices will be linked by ...

NEC starts plasma production David Manners NEC has begun volume manufacturing of plasma display panels with an initial capacity of 3,000 panels a month, rising to 30,000 a month by the middle of next year. The $213m production line at NEC’s Kagoshima plant in the southern island of Kyushu is said to be the first that can make two 42in. ...

Failing UK firms on increase Alex Mayhew-Smith The number of UK businesses failing has increased 18 per cent in the three months to September 30, compared to the same period last year. In a report by the business analysts Dun & Bradstreet, the UK, Germany and the Republic of Ireland are the only countries in Europe to see increasing numbers ...

First Technology ups turnover 5.7% Alex Mayhew-Smith The automotive sensing and safety company First Technology has seen a slight turnover increase of 5.7 per cent in its interim results to October 31. The company said it had benefited from growing demand of its automotive electronics products, including the recently introduced fuel level sensing units. Pre-tax profit increased 18.2 per cent ...

Scottish camera-on-a-chip firm sold to STMicrolectronics Richard Wilson Edinburgh camera-on-a-chip firm Vision has been bought by STMicroelectronics in a deal which values the Scottish start-up at ?23.3m. Vision, which spun out of Edinburgh University in the early 1990s, has made its name developing CMOS imaging devices that incorporate the CCD imagers with data processing functions on the one semiconductor device. ...

GEC takes next step to major defence link-up Richard Wilson GEC seems to be lining up a major link-up in the European defence industry. Yesterday it announced plans to separate its defence business from its civil activities. This move guarantees that any sale or merger of GEC’s defence electronics business, GEC-Marconi, will not include its telecommunications and industrial activities. Speculation ...

Ericsson WCDMA move encourages smooth operators Mick Elliott Ericsson is giving potential third generation mobile operators a chance to test their systems by establishing a wideband CDMA system in the UK. The project will start in January next year and the tests, measurements and evaluations will continue throughout 1999. Ericsson will also perform several advanced research projects on the system ...