Using a company called Fashion Entertainments as a cover, Sony has developed a smartwatch created entirely from e-paper – the display technology used in some e-readers. With 24 selectable patterns, the watch is said to change its appearance as the user moves their wrist, from being blank to showing what seems to be a conventional dia...

European semiconductor sales showed signs of 'encouraging' growth in October, the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) has said.Sales were up 5.2% from the previous year, reaching $3.2billion. In addition, combined sales from January to October were up 1.5% compared to September and up 9.6% compared to October last year.&n...

Cypress and Spansion have signed a definitive agreement to merge in an all stock transaction said to be worth $4billion. "This merger represents the combination of two smart, profitable, passionately entrepreneurial companies that are number one in their respective memory markets and have successfully diversified into embedded process...

Technology that helps colour blind viewers to differentiate between red and green when watching TV programmes has been made available for integration into consumer set top boxes (STBs). Called Eyeteq, the technology developed by Spectral Edge allows colour blind viewers to see details they previously could not. It is said to have mi...

Raytheon UK's semiconductor business unit in Glenrothes has been selected by a leading automotive manufacturer to develop a silicon carbide (SiC) based MOSFET for use in electric, hybrid electric and plug in hybrid electric vehicles. John Kennedy, head of Raytheon UK's Integrated Power Solutions, said: "SiC overcomes many of t...

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is setting up a Quantum Metrology Institute (QMI) at its Teddington site. The Institute – part of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme – will cover the NPL's quantum science and metrology research and provide the expertise and facilities needed for academia and industry to test, valid...

Graphene specialist 2-DTech has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Manchester that will see the two organisations sharing their resources and expertise. Once the agreement is finalised, 2-DTech will become a partner in the National Graphene Institute (NGI). "Through closer connection with The University of Man...

Infineon's fourth quarter 2014 revenues grew to €1.175billion, a 6% increase over the previous quarter. Revenue growth was said to be particularly strong in the Industrial Power Control (IPC), Power Management & Multimarket (PMM) and Chip Card & Security (CCS) segments. "We have made good use of the opportunities open...

Lime Microsystems has started shipping the second generation of its field programmable radio frequency (FPRF) devices.The fully programmable, low power chips contain dual transceivers that cover the frequency range 0.1 to 3800MHz. In addition, they cover all the cellular bands used in 2G, 3G and 4G networks, as well as many commercial and milit...

Greg Clark, Minister of State for Universities, Science and Cities, has announced a national network of Quantum Technology Hubs that will explore the properties of quantum mechanics and how they can be applied. The network will be funded by the EPSRC with £120million of the £270m investment in quantum technologies announced in...