eye-surgery robot

from Engadget:

>>High precision movements

The surgeon's movements are scaled-down, for example so that each centimeter of motion on the joystick is translated into a movement of only one millimeter at the tip of the instrument. "This greatly increases the precision of the movements", says Meenink.
Haptic feedback The master also provides haptic feedback. Ophthalmologists currently work entirely by sight – the forces used in the operation are usually too small to be felt. However Meenink's robot can 'measure' these tiny forces, which are then amplified and transmitted to the joysticks. This allows surgeons to feel the effects of their actions, which also contributes to the precision of the procedure.

Worldwide Mobile Phone Market Experiences Slower Growth as Smartphone Purchases Soften in the Third Quarter, According to IDC

from Engadget:

>> The worldwide mobile phone market grew 12.8% year over year in the third quarter of 2011 (3Q11), as smartphone growth declined in key mature markets. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 393.7 million units in 3Q11 compared to 348.9 million units in the third quarter of 2010. However, the 12.8% growth was higher than IDC's forecast of 9.3% for the quarter and stronger than the 9.8% growth in 2Q11.

...

"Smartphone centricity continues to be the hallmark of the mobile phone market," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. "Two years ago, smartphones comprised just a small portion of overall shipments among the leading vendors. Today, that proportion has grown considerably, thanks in large part to LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson making Android smartphones a priority. At the same time, the growing presence of companies focused exclusively on the smartphone market - Apple, HTC, and RIM - also demonstrate the impact that smartphones have had on the mobile phone market as a whole."

...

Nokia reversed a global market share on a sequential basis last quarter thanks to stronger feature phone sales in key regions as well as the clearing of inventory backlogs in traditional strongholds, namely China and Europe, which led to a sharp year-over-year shipment and share decline last quarter. Nokia's smartphone fortunes could improve in quarters to come now that it has introduced the Nokia Lumia devices, powered by Windows Phone 7, to markets where its brand is still relatively strong and in areas where the company has lost share over the past two years.

Samsung registered double-digit growth compared to the third quarter a year ago and also outpaced the market. The company's growth was again driven by smartphone sales, such as the Galaxy S2. Smartphone sales were notably higher in emerging markets including China. Samsung outpaced the feature phone market as well in terms of growth. The vendor didn't close the market share gap on Nokia for the top mobile phone position, but it remains within striking distance.

LG Electronics maintained its position as the number 3 mobile vendor worldwide for the twelfth quarter in a row, but continued soft demand for both its feature phones and smartphones led to volume levels not seen since 2Q 2007. With only a few new devices launched and an aging feature phone portfolio, LG's warnings of lower year-over-year shipment volume appears to have come to fruition. By the end of the year, LG's grasp on the number 3 position may be loosened as Apple's aggressive smartphone campaign takes hold in 4Q 2011.

BATS Europe Completes Successful Data Centre Migration to Equinix

LONDON & KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BATS Europe today announced it has successfully completed the migration of its matching engine and infrastructure to Equinix's London LD4 International Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) data centre campus and will launch a new Binary Order Entry protocol from the LD4 campus on the 4th of November.

Binary Order Entry offers a new optional order entry method for participants to interact with the BATS Europe platform that further reduces latency. The full suite of BATS Europe order types will be available using Binary Order Entry, as well as the standard FIX protocol format.

"We are very pleased that the data centre migration was quite seamless and many customers are taking advantage of the LD4 campus's significant scale to optimise their infrastructure," said Mark Hemsley, CEO of BATS Europe. "With the migration now complete, we aim to provide premier one-stop access to liquidity with the highest levels of resilience and the lowest possible latency through continuous technological upgrades and new offerings such as Binary Order Entry."

"With the successful migration of its innovative trading platform to Equinix's LD4 data centre campus, BATS Europe can continue to grow its market share within the world's leading multi-asset financial services ecosystem," said Russell Poole, General Manager, Equinix UK. "Equinix understands the challenges that modern day exchanges face in launching competitive platforms. With more than 20 percent of the total European equities trade count originating from the LD4 campus, Equinix is uniquely positioned to support the rapid liquidity growth of BATS Europe's trading platform and maximise opportunities for trading participants across crowded financial markets."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bats-europe-completes-successful-data-centre-migration-to-equinix-2011-10-28

Samsung Beats Apple as No. 1 Smartphone Vendor

from Blooomberg:

>>Samsung Electronics Co. overtook Apple Inc. (AAPL) in the last quarter to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor amid a widening technology and legal battle between the two companies.

Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the last quarter, taking 23.8 percent of the market, Milton Keynes, U.K.- based Strategy Analytics said in an e-mailed statement today. Apple’s 17.1 million shipments, comprising 14.6 percent of the market, pushed the Cupertino, California-based company to second place. Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) maintained its third position, according to the statement.

Internap Earnings Preview

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>Internap (INAP) will be reporting Q3 2011 results on Thursday, October 27, after the market close.

Historically, the company doesn't issue guidance, and analysts' consensus is for revenues of about $61.7 million, a small increase from Q2, with EPS forecasts ranging from a loss of $0.01 to a profit of $0.01.

Piper Jaffray raised their price target on shares of Equinix

from http://localizedusa.com:

>>Equities research analysts at Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC) raised their price target on shares of Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) to $131.00 in a research issued note to investors on Thursday.

Coffee & Snack Shops Will Add High-Margin and Healthy Items to Their Menus to Aid Growth

from www.prweb.com:

>>The Coffee and Snack Shops industry will resume its long-term growth trend beginning in 2012, when revenue is anticipated to jump 4.9% to $27.8 billion, according to IBISWorld, the nation’s largest publisher of industry research. Major operators like Jamba Juice, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts Coffee will benefit as the economy improves, unemployment rates decline and consumers begin to spend money again on luxuries like eating out.

6 New Stores, 3 New Food Options at Mall of America Read more: 6 New Stores, 3 New Food Options at Mall of America http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp

from www.myfoxtwincities.com:

>>BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Mall of America on Wednesday announced the future openings of six new stores, two restaurants and a Jamba Juice. Most of the new tenants will open for business in early to mid-November.

SIX Swiss Exchange to Offer Co-Location Services for New X-stream INET Trading Platform with Equinix

from www.highfrequencytraders.com:


>>SIX Swiss Exchange will offer co-location services for its new equities trading platform X-stream INET together with Equinix, a provider of global data center services. Connection to the new platform, scheduled for launch in the first half of 2012, will be provided in Equinix’s Zurich International Business Exchange (IBX) data center, and will offer market participants significantly enhanced trading capacity and reduced latency.

Digital Realty Trust Earnings Preview

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha:

>>Digital Realty Trust (DLR) will be reporting Q3 2011 earnings next Thursday, October 27, before market open.

In Q2 2011 the company reported FFO of $1.02 per diluted share and unit, an increase of 34.2% from $0.76 per diluted share and unit in Q2 2010, and total operating revenues of $267.9 million.

Digital Realty has a history of increasing FFO since its IPO, with a 19,9% compounded annual growth reached from 2005 to 2010, as shown in the attached spreadsheet. For 2011, the company recently guided for FFO to range between $3.99 and $4.05 per diluted share and unit, an increase of $0.02 at the mid point from the previous forecast.

Semtech Expands the 4D-Touch™ Platform With Multi-Touch Support to Enhance the User Experience

CAMARILLO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Semtech Corp. (Nasdaq:SMTC - News), a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced the, the SX8674/75/76/77/78 multi-touch resistive touchscreen controllers which bring pinch and stretch gesture recognition to the Semtech 4D-Touch™ platform. Semtech is the first to provide standard resistive panels with proximity sensing and Multi-touch support giving manufactures the opportunity to upgrade their existing platforms with the popular zoom-in/zoom-out gesture in picture viewer, internet browsing, and gaming applications.

The SX867X family is part of Semtech’s 4D-Touch platform of ultra low power controllers that are packed with innovative features such as long-distance proximity detection and advanced haptics driver support in an extremely tiny footprint. They also feature robust ±15kV ESD protection making them ideal for a wide variety of applications such as mobile phone, tablet, DSC, handheld GPS, IP phones, printers, automotive center consoles and POS terminals.

4D-Touch devices also feature a highly accurate 12-bit analog-to-digital converter for coordinates and touch pressure measurement with current consumption as little as 0.4uA at standby. They can enter a low power state between conversions to reduce power consumption, making them ideal for portable applications. Unlike other touchscreen controllers the SX867X devices do not require expensive matrix type resistive panel for multi-touch operation. The proprietary touch-sensing circuitry in the SX867X devices is capable of supporting various common multi-touch gestures such as pinch, stretch and rotation on any 4-wire analog resistive touch screen.

SX867X devices also support a proximity detection distance of more than 5 cm using any standard 4/5-wire resistive panel, enabling various power-saving features such as automatic backlight dimming or system wake-up when the hand approaches the panel. Unlike traditional IR solutions that require additional, costly components for proximity detection, this new generation of resistive touch screen controllers enables proximity detection with zero external components.

A haptics motor driver is incorporated on-chip for controlling linear resonant actuator (LRA) and eccentric rotating mass (ERM) micro motors (up to 250mA) while providing acknowledgement to touch events, thus emulating the tactile feedback similar to mechanical keys which enhances the overall user experience. Immersion Corp. has certified the SX8677 and SX8678 as optimal motor drivers for its TouchSense 3000^® software suite of haptic waveforms available to all customers via an Immersion license. Semtech’s pin-compatible SX865X controllers have the same features except multi-touch gesture recognition allowing manufacturers to develop multiple versions of a product using the same board design.

“Multi-touch gesture support is a very popular way to improve the user experience of many consumer electronic devices, and the SX867X devices allow manufacturers to deliver that functionality along with proximity detection and haptics control in a single tiny footprint,” said Sam Massih, Product Line Director, Consumer Analog Products for Semtech. “Coupled that with the ultra low power consumption and robust on-chip ESD protection, these complete touch sensing devices will enable OEMs to enhance the user experience in their next generation consumer products without adding any significant cost to the enabling electronics or panels.”

The SX8674/75/76/77/78 which are all offered in space-saving 2.07mm x 2.07mm 19-WLCSP as well as 4mm x 4mm 20-QFN packages while the touch only version SX8651 and SX8653 come in a small 1.46mm x 1.96mm 12- WLCSP and 3mm x 3mmm 12-DFN (4mm x 3mm 14-DFN for SX8653). Semtech guarantees all of these devices to operate over the extended (-40°C to +85°C) temperature range.

Applications

Automotive: A/V Module

MP3 Player: Touchscreen Controller

Cell Phone/Smart Phone: Touchscreen Controller

Digital Camera: Touchscreen Controller

Notebook PC, Tablet PC, Netbook PC: Touchscreen Controller

Laser Printer: Touchscreen Controller

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Semtech-Expands-the-4DTouch-bw-3336694369.html?x=0&.v=1

Morgan Stanley Lowered Its 2011, 2012 EPS Estimates For Equinix

from www.fnno.com:

>Morgan Stanley lowered its 2011 and 2012 EPS estimates for Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and maintained its equal-weight rating on the stock.

The bank sees 2011 EPS of $1.85, down from $1.92 per share, and 2012 EPS of $2.50, down from $2.62 per share.

Eurex migrates to new data centre

from www.finextra.com:

>>The international derivatives exchange Eurex has completed the re-location of its active matching engines into a new single data centre.

With this step, Eurex achieved a further milestone of its technology roadmap. The active Eurex trading and clearing infrastructure is now located in the International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre of the international IT company Equinix Inc., a global provider of data centre services. Eurex and Equinix have already been offering the co-location solution Proximity Services since 2006.

As part of the migration, Eurex upgraded and replaced all of the matching engines with the latest high-performance hardware. As consequence, all Eurex members benefit from an increased throughput of the Eurex system.

Since Deutsche Börse had already moved the Xetra cash market in July 2011 the migration of the Eurex system enables Deutsche Börse Group to offer its clients co-location services for derivatives and cash markets from a single location. Clients also benefit from the fact that as one of the largest global providers of data centre services, Equinix bundles a large number of exchange-related service providers, including data vendors, under one roof. Moreover, through the linkage of many telecommunication providers, Eurex participants can choose the access to the Equinix data centre that is the most cost-effective for them.

Equinix Marketplace Seeks to Connect Customers

From Data Center Knowledge:

>>Equinix says its marketplace will allow its tenants to offer new services, and enlarge their digital supply chain to improve application performance, reduce cost and generate revenue.

...

“For many companies and industries, data centers are not just warehouses for storing large amounts of information – they have become high performance business-exchanges where organizations connect with their ecosystem of partners, suppliers and customers in the digital supply chain,” said Jarrett Appleby, chief marketing officer for Equinix.

Equinix business exchange plays proximity card

from GigaOM:

>>It may seem counterintuitive, but in the cloud computing era, location does matter, at least when it comes to where data is stored and processed.

...

That’s the thinking behind the new Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX). Equinix, the big data center services provider, built the online marketplace to help its data center customers–which include SaaS companies, managed service providers and financial services outfits–expand into new markets and tap into an existing battery of potential partners that already use those data centers, according to Jarrett Appleby, chief marketing officer.

Global tablet PC shipments reach 18.7 million units

from http://www.digitimes.com:

>>Global tablet PC shipments, affected by the weakening worldwide economy after August and high inventory levels from some tablet PC brand vendors, reached 18.7 million units in the third quarter, an increase of only 27.5% sequentially, far less than the strong sequential growth of 60.9% they achieved in the second quarter, according to Digitimes Research senior analyst James Wong.

...

As a result, shipments of non-iPad tablet PCs only grew 10.1% sequentially in the quarter.

Nokia N9 review

from Engadget:

>We'd be foolish not to mention the delightful virtual keyboard at this point -- it offers unobtrusive (and defeatable) audible and tactile feedback, plus automatic word completion, when enabled.