Tools of the Trade - June 7, 2001

Deutsche Telekom and its new U.S. wireless unit VoiceStream on Friday launched a batch of services, including a single-rate plan to use U.S. cell phones in Europe, to secure a global leadership position for the German telecommunications company. "We seek to be the best telecommunications group globally," Ron Sommer, chairman and chief executive of DT, said at a news conference in Bellevue, Wash., the site of VoiceStream's headquarters. "Together, we are committed to building up a trans-Atlantic mobile communications powerhouse." The companies plan to offer VoiceStream customers several new services, including a single-rate international roaming plan in Europe, mobile short-messaging, high-speed data access and international short-code

Phillips Spinning Off DSP Business

Philips Semiconductors will spin off its Real DSP operations into a separate company and use an ARM-like business model to proliferate the 32-bit core into third-generation wireless designs, the company's chief technologist said May 31. The spin-off, which could occur within a month, would be similar to the one Philips completed for its TriMedia processor. The company is talking with several potential investors. Philips ultimately intends to be a minority stakeholder and to take the outfit public.

German Firm Focuses on Giants Chips

Pact Corp. (Munich, Germany), developer of a giant chip that includes 128 proprietary 32-bit processor cores and measures only 2 centimeters on a side, will offer a $20,000 simulator for its parallel-processing architecture. The simulation tool works independently of the number of processor elements on the company's Extreme Processor XPU-128 .

The simulator is intended only as a demonstration vehicle of the parallel-processing architecture, and Pact does not intend to take it into production. The company boasts a raw performance of 12.8 billion multiply-accumulate operations per second for the XPU-128 based on a 100-MHz clock frequency. Although a slight bond-pad problem with the original silicon limited clock frequency to about 50 MHz, there was no intention to re-spin the silicon. The chip also has a prototype C-language compiler that will enable it to be designed into base-stations and other wireless-infrastructure applications.

NEC Steps up DSP Work

In an effort to energize its digital signal processor line for sales into 3G cellular phones next year, NEC Corp. is jumping several process nodes to build its new DSPs with 0.13-micron technology, shifting from a 0.25-micron process. The company's PD77213 DSP operates at 0.5 volts and runs 120 MHz, versus 75 MHz for its predecessor, and consumes 0.5 mW/MHz, or 60 percent less power than NEC's previous-generation DSPs made with 0.25-micron technology. Samples will be available soon in a 144-pin QFP that measures 20 mm2.

New Browsers Coming for Apples

In a world that many see on the verge of dividing between Microsoft Corp. and AOL/Time-Warner, the so-called "browser wars" may appear to be over. But in the interstices formed by Linux and other operating systems, alternative Web browsers have sparked to life. Now, with Apple Computer Inc.'s wholesale conversion to the Unix-based Mac OS X, the terrain has changed once again, causing developers such as Microsoft to scramble to re-establish their niches while giving others, such as Norway's Opera Software and the Seattle-based Omni Group, the opportunity to grow. This week Opera upgraded its eponymous Web browser from Technology Preview 3 to Beta 1 status, pulling out Java support (which had proved unstable in early versions) but fixing other bugs in rendering and in Opera's JavaScript implementation. Befitting its beta status, this version also does not include support for Unicode, cache preferences, file uploads, browsing local files, full-screen display and drag and drop for images.

Acer Venturing into Palm Market

Palm Inc. will extend its popular Palm OS operating system deeper into Asia Tomorrow with the announcement of a major licensing deal with Acer Inc. Acer, the Taiwan-based computer and computer component powerhouse, plans to base a new line of handhelds called the Acer Mobile Device on the Palm OS. The deal, which will be officially announced in Taipei, will be good through 2005, according to sources close to the company.

In addition to the licensing agreement, Acer and Palm plan to jointly develop versions of the Palm OS based on the local languages of the Asia Pacific Region and China.

The move is one of the first positive signs to come out of the Santa Clara, Calif., company in some time. For the past two months, Palm's stock price has been stuck in a holding pattern over the $5 mark, a far cry from its 52-week high of $67.38 in November.

Seattle To host Problem Gaming Conference

Seattle will host the 15th Annual National Council on Problem Gambling Conference, Building Partnerships for the Future on June 21-23. This year's conference promises to be bigger and better than ever. The education programs have been expanded to include new tracks, featuring experts in all areas of problem gambling. The keynote speaker is Alan Marlatt, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Washington. The Clinical, Research, Public Policy, and Gaming Industry tracks include sessions on a wide variety of topics such as:

• gambling and problem gambling among older adults and adolescents;
• development of a community-based African-American problem gambling program;
• gambling research in Aboriginal Alberta;
• problem gambling and comorbid conditions;
• the politics of Native American off-reservation gambling;
• parents' attitudes, knowledge and behavior toward youth gambling;
• using touring theatre to reach young people
• comprehensive prevention programming;
• a look at responsible gambling programs from gaming venues to public policy;
• empowering communities to prevent problem gambling;
• responsible gaming strategies for casinos and lotteries;
• Gaming Machines 101 - When does player attraction equal player addiction?
• self-exclusion programs;
• three models of public/private partnerships to address problem gambling (do they work?; and
• social marketing.