Automotive Mobile Audio Video

Building on existing investment relationships, Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE:IFX), a leading provider of wireless semiconductor solutions, PacketVideo Corp. and sci-worx, a leading provider of intellectual property cores, today announced a technology integration alliance that will offer mobile users of GPRS and UMTS devices the richness of sight, sound, animation and moving pictures.

Under the agreement, PacketVideo's standards compliant mobilemedia software, pvPlayer(TM), pvAuthor(TM) and pv2WAY(TM) respectively, as well as sci-worx video acceleration technology, will be tightly integrated into a variety of Infineon's future mobile Internet modem and application processor solutions, including the S- and M-GOLD family, for next generation mobile handsets.

This co-operation will provide wireless terminal manufacturers with comprehensive end-to-end-solutions including multimedia content encoding, distribution, transmission and decoding allowing the fast and reliable development of next generation media-enabled mobile phones for faster time-to-market.

According to the ARC Group, global sales of mobile phones incorporating streaming video capability is going to exceed 90 million units in 2005, growing to more than 150 million units in 2006.

"Our alliance with PacketVideo and sci-worx supports Infineon's mission to provide our customers with sophisticated solutions for the wireless market," said Ulrich Hamann, CEO of the Business Group Wireless Solutions at Infineon Technologies. "The integration of PacketVideo's multimedia software and sci-worx hardware accelerators into our wireless chip offerings will enhance next generation mobile devices with full featured multimedia services."

Infineon's Wireless Solutions Group develops, produces and markets semiconductors and complete-system-solutions for a variety of mobile applications. The company is a leading provider of wireless solutions and a world leader in technology for the future mobile radio standard UMTS.

8D Technologies Inc. today announced that Cloud9(TM), the totally proven Java-based smart operating environment it recently introduced, will be presented as the core application platform for the Automotive Industry during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in Las Vegas, January 8 to 11 (Booth 6773).

Cloud9 dramatically simplifies and accelerates the production of distributed online applications while providing unique, market leading functionalities for the consumer automotive and other key sectors including e-commerce, wireless (cellular, PDA) and infotainment.

Cloud9 for the Automotive environment is being used to pioneer new applications in the field of consumer electronics, in association with leading suppliers of real-time communications solutions.

Cloud9 provides the Automotive Industry with a unique connectivity platform that complies with automotive standard 1394 and allows car manufacturers, integrators and software developers to rapidly design, develop, and prototype software applications for next-generation electronically equipped cars. Applications demonstrated at CES and available through 8D include:

- Global positioning system (GPS)

- Audio/video services

- Control center for car components (heat, fan, seats, etc.)

- Internal camera system

Founded in 1996, 8D Technologies Inc. is a developer of state of the art software, with internationally recognized expertise in the design and implementation of distributed online applications for the e-commerce, wireless (cellular, PDA), consumer automotive and other emerging markets. Its client list includes some of the most innovative players in the fast-evolving field of personalized mobile and infotainment applications. 8D also commercializes Cloud9, its unique smart operating environment, which helps corporations dramatically reduce time to market and increase the quality of features of the systems they create.

Microtune(TM), Inc. (NASDAQ:TUNE) today announced that it is shipping its radio frequency (RF) tuner to Matsushita Avionics Systems Corporation (MAS) to enable video and data applications in MAS in-flight entertainment systems. A member of the Matsushita corporate family, MAS is the world's leading supplier of airborne entertainment and information systems, serving more than 50 airlines internationally. For passengers, MAS' advanced in-flight entertainment services deliver premium entertainment and information, offering improved convenience and comfort while traveling.

MAS deploys Microtune's MT4707 tuner as the RF `gateway' component for receiving RF transmissions in in-flight entertainment systems. The tuner supports overhead, in-seat and/or flip-up video displays, enabling passengers to access, while on the ground or in flight, a range of services, from movies, on-demand video and gaming to maps and other applications.

"The airline industry, like the automotive industry, is committed to offering passengers advanced new broadband connectivity and communications options," noted Douglas J. Bartek, Chairman and CEO of Microtune. "In addition to being the market leader, MAS is a systems innovator, offering a quantum leap in the level and array of entertainment services and business tools available to the traveling public. We are pleased to be working with Matsushita. Its selection of our tuner also demonstrates the versatility of our RF technology to enable video and data applications for consumers at home, in their automobile, and now, in the air."

Mobile industry gurus looking to find the hottest products and technology to hit the mobile marketplace need to look no further than the 2003 International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow and the largest mobile technology tradeshow, January 9-12 in Las Vegas, Nev.

"Whether it's GPS, IDB, vehicle navigation, car audio and security, radar detectors or satellite radio, CES is the place to catch the latest developments in mobile electronics," said Karen Chupka, vice president of events and conferences for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the producer of CES. "During CES' four days in January, the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center is transformed into a mobile mecca of the hottest in-car technology to hit the industry. The who's who of the automobile industry attend CES including retailers and manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors."

More than 270 mobile electronics companies plan to showcase their products on the show floor including Alpine, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Delphi, iBiquity, Kenwood, Mitek, Motorola, Pioneer, Planet Audio, Rockford Fosgate, Sirius Satellite Radio, Sony, Tesla Electronics, Ultimate Sound Inc. and XM Satellite Radio. CES houses the largest mobile technology tradeshow in the world with more than 257,000 square-feet of exhibits.

Attendees also won't want to miss the Digital Car Showroom, Aftermarket Showroom, Telematics Pavilion, the Intelligent Transportation System Data Bus (IDB) Pavilion sponsored by the IDB Forum, the Oasis Silicon Systems booth, the Telematics Update Pavilion and the MOST Data Bus Pavilion Sponsored by MOST Cooperation, showcasing the latest in mobile technology.

Off the show floor, attendees have the opportunity to catch up on the latest trends of this $15 million industry. Several CES conference sessions tap into success of this booming industry including:

-- Walking The Walk With GPS

-- Connected for Success: An Overview of the Automatic Aftermarket

-- Digital Wheels in the Fast Lane.

In-vehicle electronics systems to grow tenfold Visitors to Convergence 2000 this month in Detroit's Cobo Center will explore the future of telematics, which is predicted by 2010 to grow globally more than tenfold -from a current $4 billion to $46 billion - and produce more than $7 billion in earnings.

Based on a recent study by UBS Warburg LLC, 71% of those revenues a decade hence will be service-based - largely for service provider, security and phone charges and Web access items such as e-mail, navigation, news and entertainment.

Right now, the bulk of the telematics business is in Japan. Europe's telematics users only produce about $230 million in revenues, and in the U.S. it's a similar $280 million. But Japanese drivers, with a serious need for traffic and navigation information, already plunk down $3.68 billion for telematics products and services. For example, nearly 2 million navigation systems are expected to be sold in Japan this year - nearly double the sales of nav systems in the rest of the world.

The telematics connection in the vehicle of 2010 very likely will incorporate most of the leading-edge items that can be found in many high-end vehicles today - or will be in the not-too-distant future: a built-in GPS and wireless phone link and a connection to all of the vehicle's on-board sensors (such as wheel-speed sensors, fuel gauge) and an in-vehicle display unit or portable display units similar to current PDAs (personal digital assistants). The in-vehicle link to a PDA is one of the most recent innovations, with a 2002 model appearance likely from products by Delphi Automotive Systems, Visteon Corp. and Siemens Automotive.

The real change by 2010 will be in the number of telematics users and the way telematics devices interconnect. All components, but more specifically those such as the wireless phone or PDA-type display unit, could be hard-wired through a vehicle port or interconnected via a truly wireless Bluetooth (named by its developers after an ancient Viking king) "network" using something akin to today's infrared connections, but which doesn't require line-of-sight for reception.

Make Broadcast History

This just in: Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN), of Miramar, Fla., the leading provider of satellite-based communications, networking and other services to the cruise and offshore oil and gas industries, and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) have teamed up to revolutionize the remote broadcast process.

Tira Wireless Scores with NHL PowerShot Hockey Game

for Mobile Phones

Tira Wireless, a full-service publisher of wireless Java(tm) platform-based applications for mobile phones, and the National Hockey League (NHL(R)) have teamed to deliver NHL PowerShot Hockey(tm), the first North American major sports league branded wireless application for Java(tm) technology-enabled mobile phones.

The game carries the NHL brand as part of a licensing agreement signed between Tira Wireless and the NHL. NHL PowerShot Hockey will be made available to mobile subscribers through mobile operators in North America and across Europe.

Canon Champions Digital-Age Creativity With Fourth Annual

Global Creators Contest

The Canon Digital Creators Contest 2003, the fourth annual digital-age competition aimed at encouraging the creative exploration of new directions in visual expression in the Internet era, is providing U.S. professional and amateur artists of all ages with the opportunity to showcase their talent.

Nestle Crunch and NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal Scout

the Nation for Basketball Hot Shots

Rim-rattling dunks, no-look passes, trick shots, free style dribbling and jaw-dropping buzzer beaters will be the ticket for 10 lucky ballers to this summer's 5th Annual Nestle Crunch Hot Shots Camp with NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal.

The buzz among electronics retailers and dealers is rear-seat multimedia entertainment products.

At the mobile electronics exhibits of the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, digital radio was getting plenty of play. So was hands-free cell phone docking. But the real buzz among retailers and dealers was rear-seat multimedia entertainment products. Almost every mobile electronics vendor, whether in the security or audio system business, was presenting car-video entertainment products. DVD players were especially hot, particularly those with wireless infra-red-linked headsets. The IR headset allows back-seat passengers to listen to movie soundtracks without bothering front-seat passengers. Of special interest to kids -- the target audience for rear-seat entertainment products -- is that most video systems feature auxiliary connections for video games.

Aftermarket suppliers are delighted that they are finally on to a hot new product category, especially since carmakers have co-opted hi-fi audio and security products for factory installation. Still in its infancy, aftermarket sales in North America of car video -- rear-seat entertainment--grew at 250 percent in 1999 and 66.5 percent in 2000 to $208 million, according to a new study by Frost & Sullivan. For the home, DVD players have been the fastest selling product in the history of consumer electronics, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, reaching 8.2 million units in 2000.

That enthusiasm for DVD players in the home appears to be extending to the vehicle, which is why Clarion's newest version of AutoPC -- now called Joyride -- includes a DVD player for movies. The new name is meant to emphasize the entertainment aspects of the product, instead of the information and personal computing aspects. The in-dash unit can play DVD movies for the backseat audience using IR-headsets, while those in the front seat simultaneously listen to audio programming. The audio source can be either an MP3 file from a 32MB flashcard inserted in the in-dash unit, or from a separate CD changer installed in the trunk. Like AutoPC, Joyride is based on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system.

Enea to Offer Operating System Solution for OMAP's ARM and DSP

Cores

Enea Embedded Technology, formerly OSE Systems, and a leading provider of software solutions for the communications market, announced the availability of the OSE real-time operating system (RTOS), development tools and board support packages (BSPs) for Texas Instruments' OMAP(TM) platform. OSE is one of the first RTOSes to support OMAP's ARM and DSP cores, and the only RTOS that offers a single API for developing robust, scaleable, multimedia-enhanced multi-core applications.

Enea also announced that it is working with Vytek, a TI independent OMAP Technology Center (OTC), to provide system integration and other services to OEMs who are interested in developing and deploying OMAP systems utilizing the OSE RTOS. Vytek will provide hardware, software and even packaging design, as well as overall system integration services for OSE-based OMAP systems. Enea and Vytek are already actively engaged with a number of medical equipment manufacturers in this regard.

"OSE provides an excellent solution for embedded applications like medical diagnostics equipment that place an emphasis on high reliability, high availability and real-time responsiveness," said Kevin Wixom, senior vice president, Vytek. "We look forward to working with Enea to offer hardware/software design and integration services that speed evaluation, development and deployment for consumer and industrial products that utilize OMAP and OSE platforms."

The OSE OMAP solution combines two components: the full-featured OSE RTOS, which runs on the ARM core; and OSEck, a compact version of OSE optimized for the TMS320C55x DSP core. OSE and OSEck share the same API, which eliminates the need to master separate RTOS programming environments, and enables designers to create portable code that can run on either processor. OSE and OSEck also share the same message-based interprocess communications model, which simplifies development by enabling designers to establish communications between processes running on the two cores as if they were running on a single core.

The Combination of Nazomi's Acceleration Technology for the

Java Platform and Renesas' SH-Mobile Processors Will Yield

Robust, Power-Efficient Application Platforms That Facilitate

Short Engineering Cycles for Innovative Mobile Products

Renesas Technology Corp., a leading semiconductor company established by Hitachi, Ltd., and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in April 2003, and Nazomi Communications, Inc., a provider of multimedia application processors and acceleration technology for the Java(TM) Platform, today announced that the two companies are collaborating to further enhance mobile cell phone performance. Through a cross-licensing agreement, the companies can access each other's leading-edge technologies to deliver high-performance multi-media processors for advanced mobile phones.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nazomi licenses to Renesas its patented acceleration technology for the Java Platform and Renesas licenses to Nazomi intellectual property from the market leading SH-Mobile family of application processors. As a result, the arrangement will bring cost-effective, camera-ready phones that provide greater performance for Java applications, 2D/3D graphics, video, audio and other multimedia applications.

"As today's mobile handsets become more sophisticated, they require optimized architectures for increasing performance while maintaining battery life. This is especially true for phone designs that must seamlessly execute complex multimedia programs such as capturing digital images while also enabling Java applications," said Ikuya Kawasaki, department manager, SoC Design Department 6 at Renesas Technology Corp. "A SH-Mobile application platform that incorporates Nazomi's Java technology is a truly-integrated, highly-effective turn-key solution that gives customers a head start in marketing leading-edge mobile products."

MILPITAS, Calif. -- Enhanced Performance, Full-Color Display Capability Leverages Innovative Embedded Memory Technology Accessible from Foundry Design Ecosystem

Dialog Semiconductor Plc. (Nasdaq:DLGS) (FWB:DLG), a developer of innovative mixed-signal silicon solutions for wireless products, today announced the delivery of a new line of color liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers for the mobile phone market, utilizing value-added process solutions from Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT) (SGX-ST:Chartered), one of the world's top three dedicated semiconductor foundries, and design solutions from eMemory Technology, Inc., one of Asia's most innovative embedded memory suppliers.

This latest product innovation builds upon an existing relationship between the companies starting in 1998, which has resulted in Chartered's manufacturing of a variety of other LCD and power management products for the mixed-signal standard product provider. The Chartered design solution, comprising a comprehensive portfolio of proven solutions from electronic design automation (EDA) and intellectual property (IP) innovators, also provides Dialog Semiconductor with access to eMemory's one-time programmable (OTP) non-volatile memory (NVM) solution. Proven on Chartered's 0.35-micron manufacturing process, the eMemory solution helped enhance the performance of Dialog Semiconductor's new DA8912A and DA8913A LCD drivers announced today. The enhanced color LCD drivers are manufactured using Chartered's 0.35-micron process, thus streamlining the path for Dialog Semiconductor to achieve first-time success from design-through-manufacturing.

Dialog Semiconductor's family of color display drivers provides a single-chip solution for color STN (super-twisted nematic) LCDs, aimed at the growing number of wireless handsets with high-resolution color and dual displays with advanced multimedia, video and gaming capabilities and requiring fast-moving images. The color STN LCD drivers provide excellent resolution of up to 65,000 colors, and a video rate of over 15 frames per second, addressing a growing trend for mobile phone users to demand more information from their display.

BRISBANE, Calif. -- Program Will Provide Key Support to Mobile Industry by Certifying Installation and Store Personnel

Monster(R) Cable Products, Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of high-performance audio/video accessories and power products, has partnered with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to help Mobile industry installers and store personnel boost their knowledge and career by subsidizing Mobile Electronics Certified Professional (MECP) study materials and certification. The certification helps educate mobile professionals how to present better solutions to their customers by introducing car audio as a complete system -- speakers, subwoofers, interconnects, amplifiers -- as opposed to "stand-alone" audio components. The study material covers the latest information about on-board navigation and multimedia systems, as well as audio, security, troubleshooting, power, shop safety, mobile computing and installation techniques.

Qualifying program participants will receive $100 worth of Monster Performance Car products. This subsidy is available exclusively to Monster retailers' store and installation staff who become MECP-Certified between August 1 and December 31, 2004. The $100 voucher, redeemable for Monster Performance Car product, is designed to help cover participants' cost of the MECP testing itself, which can range anywhere from approximately $60 to $114, including study materials. Monster Performance Car is Monster's latest in a growing line of car power delivery solutions, connectors, interconnects, speaker cables and iPod accessories, all designed to deliver the highest-quality aftermarket performance car and mobile entertainment experiences.

"When a customer wants to upgrade their car audio, security, navigation or wireless systems, they look to the installers or store personnel for the knowledge, expertise and professionalism required to help guide their purchase decisions," said Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association. "MECP Certification is designed to give retail personnel that knowledge, and we're proud to partner with Monster to bring it to the industry as a whole."

AUSTIN, Texas & TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The development and availability of miniPCI modules is the next step needed in delivering Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to the consumer market. This step was met today by Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) and GlobalSun Technology who collaborated on an Ultra-Wideband-enabled miniPCI module.

This module is designed to allow users to leverage the wireless benefits of UWB for various video and data streaming applications, including flat panel displays and media servers, and enables rapid transfer of data using a portable hard drive. The module is expected to be sold by GlobalSun to leading consumer electronic manufacturers for immediate integration into wireless applications.

"We have worked with Freescale over the past year on Ultra-Wideband, having successfully demonstrated a variety of UWB-enabled applications around the world," said Frank Kuo, product marketing director of GlobalSun. "This miniPCI module marks the next step in our relationship as we move towards commercialization with Freescale's UWB products. Freescale's UWB approach meets our data rate, low power consumption and cost requirements, while meeting the U.S. regulatory requirements for UWB operation."

The miniPCI module uses Freescale's XS110, which recently received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification for commercial use, enabling commercial deployment of the technology.

"Integrating UWB into a miniPCI module showcases GlobalSun's innovation and leadership in WLAN/WPAN products," said Franz Fink, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale's wireless group. "We believe GlobalSun's module offers an unprecedented solution for home connectivity and WLAN applications and will rapidly enable consumer electronics manufacturers to begin delivering UWB-enabled products."

The XS110 utilizes the DS-UWB approach, which is currently a leading candidate for the IEEE(R) 802.15.3 standard for high-speed wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Using DS-UWB, the chipset achieves over 110 megabits per second (Mbps) data rates and consumes minimal power, making it ideal for multimedia applications requiring the wireless distribution of audio and video. Initial consumer applications are expected to include large screen displays (plasma, LCD), digital video recorders and set-top boxes. Mobile applications, such as portable hard drives and digital cameras, are expected to follow in 2005.