What Engineers Are Reading And Watching


By Brian Bailey And Ed Sperling An important indicator of where the chip industry is heading is what engineers are reading and what videos they are watching. While some subjects remain on top, such as the level of interest in the latest manufacturing technologies, other areas come and go. The stories with the biggest traffic numbers are almost identical to last year. Readers want to know wh... » read more

KLA-Tencor Buys Orbotech


In a move to expand into the process equipment and other new businesses, KLA-Tencor has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orbotech for approximately $3.4 billion. With the acquisition of Israel’s Orbotech, KLA-Tencor expands its efforts in the inspection and metrology markets. In addition, KLA-Tencor also enters into some new equipment fronts. Orbotech is involved in three ... » read more

Eye-Catching Innovations In Display Subsystems


The mobile devices we hold in our hands today are nothing short of astonishing in what they deliver and how seamlessly they deliver it, and it’s not just geolocation and context-mapping applications that have made these devices so transformational. Hand in hand with processor and bandwidth improvements have come leaps in display capabilities, which means new entertainment and information appl... » read more

Another Dimension For Virtual Reality


When you put on a virtual reality (VR) headset, you are connecting visually to another place—real or imagined. Most people connect VR with gaming, but increasingly business, industry and government users are finding new applications for the evolving technology. These applications, and many more to come, will help drive the adoption of VR and the devices used to access virtual environments. ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Synopsys will acquire Black Duck Software, a provider of software for securing and managing open source software. Synopsys already has a stake in this area from its Coverity acquisition in 2014, which it has been using to analyze security practices in open source software. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Massachusetts, Black Duck's products automate the process of identifying and ... » read more