Consol, the largest producer of coal from underground mines in the United States, will pay a $3 million civil penalty for Clean Water Act violations.

Q2 smartphone shipments were up 3.1% q-o-q and 0.3% y-o-y at 343.3 million units, says IDC. Samsung was No.1 with 77 million units representing a 22.4% market share up 5.5% from Q2 2015. Apple was No.2 with 40.4 million units – 15% down y-o-y. The iPhone ASP dropped to $595 in Q2 – down 10.1% …

Read full article: OPPO and Vivo enter smartphone top five

SoftBank’s takeover of ARM looks like a lose-lose deal for both companies but for a host of advisers it’s a fee-fest. Those said to be sharing around £200 million in fees are:. Goldman Sachs International (Lead Financial Adviser to ARM) Lazard & Co., Limited (Lead Financial Adviser to ARM) UBS (Financial Adviser and Joint Corporate …

Read full article: Fee-Fest For SoftBank-ARM Advisers

The Big Three’s combined capex will be 90% higher in the second half of this year as compared to the first half, said IC Insights. Combined, the “Big 3” spenders are forecast to represent 45% of the total semiconductor industry outlays this year. Samsung — The company spent only about $3.4 billion in capital expenditures …

Read full article: Big 3 to splurge on capex

Fujitsu is putting a Bluetooth 4.2 module based on a Nordic core into production. The module has an integrated antenna and fits into a 15.7 x 9.8 x 1.7 mm package. According to the company, the module deals with a complexity of processes while achieving about half of the power consumption (about 5.4mA: actual measured …

Read full article: September production for Fujitsu Bluetooth 4.2 module

We seem to think that West Coast tax-dodgers are a new breed but, 40 years ago, a famous Californian newsletter reported on a Palo Alto taxation expert who could deliver “savings on income taxes which are nothing short of spectacular” for US companies with foreign sales. “The key word is ‘allocation’,” said the newsletter’s author, …

Read full article: Fable: Death, Tax and Nurses

While broadly supporting led street lighting, the American Medical Association recently raised concerns about the technology, and the US Lighting Research Center then criticised some of the AMA’s conclusions (link). As a reality check, Electronics Weekly spoke to Erik Milz, v-p for marketing outdoor lighting at streetlight maker Cree. Don’t the wrong idea here, the …

Read full article: Cree talks streetlamps after AMA and LRC differ

Here’s an interesting book I’d like to draw to your attention. It’s “Exploring Raspberry Pi: Interfacing to the Real World with Embedded Linux” to give its full title, and is described as “the innovator’s guide to bringing Raspberry Pi to life”.

Read full article: Gadget Book: Exploring Raspberry Pi

IBM scientists in Zurich have created randomly spiking neurons using phase-change materials to store and process data. This demonstration marks a significant step forward in the development of energy-efficient, ultra-dense integrated neuromorphic technologies for applications in cognitive computing. “We have been researching phase-change materials for memory applications for over a decade, and our progress in …

Read full article: IBM makes randomly spiking neurons using phase-change

Planet Ofcom once again reveals itself as an alien world with a technological capability far in advance of Planet Earth. On Planet Ofcom “4G services are now available to 97.8% of UK premises,” according to Ofcom’s annual ‘Communications Market Report.’ The last time I saw that little ‘4G’ icon on my mobile phone was in …

Read full article: Where Bollox Reigns Supreme