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Panasonic announced the LUMIX DMC-GF2, the latest of the company’s DSL Micro (DSLM) compact mirrorless cameras, which is Panasonic’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens system camera – complete with a built-in flash. The LUMIX GF2 is compatible with lenses from the Micro Four Thirds standard, meaning the system is small and compact, while not compromising ease of operation or image quality. Even more, the LUMIX GF2 is compatible with Panasonic’s new 3D interchangeable lens, the LUMIX G 12.5mm / F12, so users can take 3D photos.

OHM Co., Ltd. has licensed the ultra low-power ARM® Cortex™-M0 processor in order to accelerate developing products in the growing markets such as digital appliances, automotive, energy saving, and medical healthcare applications. Combining ROHM’s analog technologies and ARM’s ultra low-power technologies enable realizing intelligent devices. The Cortex-M0 processor is the smallest, lowest power and most energy efficient ARM processor available and is therefore ideal for these applications.

The company is the first public licensee of the Cortex-M0 processor in Japan.

In conjunction with their annual Google I/O event, Google has announced the next release of the Android 2.2 platform. This latest release includes a large number of significant enhancements that further exploit the underlying ARM® architecture to improve performance and functionality. The latest release includes Google’s new Dalvik Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler that generates native Thumb®-2 code. The new ARM targeted JIT technology coupled with the code density advantages of the Thumb-2 instruction set provides a significant performance boost to the Dalvik Java application framework, resulting in improved application performance of up to two to five times and therefore even greater battery life.

NXP Semiconductors announced the launch of the SSL2101 – the world’s first integrated dimmable mains LED driver. The NXP SSL2101 is a small form factor Switched Mode Power Supply (SMPS) controller IC specifically designed to drive LED devices and provide dimming capabilities to further improve the energy efficiency of LED lighting. The SSL2101 can drive lighting systems with variable power requirements which include LED retro-fit lamps, LED modules, LED spots, down-lights and LED strings for retail displays.

Oberthur Technologies, one of the world’s leading Smart Card suppliers and NXP, the semiconductor company founded by Philips, announced today the completion of interoperability tests between Oberthur Technologies’ Opera FlyBuy NFC (Near Field Communication) SIM Cards and NXP’s PN544 NFC Controller. Opera FlyBuy NFC SIM Cards from Oberthur Technologies can be used in conjunction with NXP’s PN544 to design NFC mobile devices compatible with MIFARETM* Classic technology in existing infrastructures.

“With its multi-application and remote management capabilities, Opera FlyBuy NFC SIM cards from Oberthur Technologies

Opera Software announced that KDDI and Okinawa Cellular has selected Opera Devices 9 for its new product, “au BOX”. “au BOX” is a set-top box (STB) that allows users to enjoy music and video content downloaded via their TV sets on their au mobile phones. With Opera, users can not only enjoy the Internet on their TV sets, but also enjoy content on their au mobile phones. The “au BOX” will be made available on November 1st, 2008 in Japan.

Opera Software announced that USEN has selected the Opera Devices SDK 9.5 for its new set-top box, GyaO NEXT. People using the GyaO NEXT set-top box (STB) can access IPTV content such as movies, TV dramas, music programs, karaoke games and animated content. With Opera included, users can also enjoy interactive Web-based content. Opera was made available from August 11 as a firmware upgrade.

Browsing the Internet on a mobile device will take a leap forward with today’s announcement that NVIDIA Corporation and Opera Software are collaborating to bring the full desktop Web-browsing experience, including support for JavaScript, accelerated vector graphics, and video content, to smartphones and mobile Internet devices. As a result, NVIDIA will offer an optimized Opera 9.5 browser in its suite of pre-integrated, in-house and third-party software for the NVIDIA® Tegra™ family of computer-on-chip Windows Mobile and Windows CE solutions.

New MPEG-4 encoding system dramatically improves bandwidth efficiency for Starz and Encore high-definition channels

Motorola (NYSE:MOT) today announced it is implementing a four-channel, high-definition (HD) MPEG-4/AVC encoding system for Starz Entertainment, a premium movie service provider in the United States, to begin migration from current MPEG-2 installations to MPEG-4 installations. The system compresses, encrypts, modulates, and receives HD signals within a single integrated transmission system to allow Starz to expand its HD offerings for subscribers. The system is currently being implemented for Starz Entertainment’s existing HD channels, Starz, Starz Kids and Family HD, Starz Edge HD and Starz Comedy HD. The latest addition to Starz Entertainment’s HD movie channel lineup, Encore HD, will be launched in MPEG-4 concurrent with this migration.

High-performance driver and final stage device designed to offer industry-leading efficiency, gain and thermal resistance

Continuing to push the boundaries of high-power radio frequency (RF) technology, Freescale Semiconductor has unveiled the world’s first 50-volt LDMOS RF power transistor line-up for L-Band radar applications. The line-up is ideal for a wide range of high-power RF applications including air traffic management and long range weather radar.

The RF product line includes the MRF6V14300H final stage device and the MRF6V10010N driver. The MRF6V14300H produces pulsed RF output power of 330 W at frequencies between 1200 and 1400 MHz and sets new standards for efficiency, gain and thermal resistance at this power level and frequency when compared to competing bipolar and field-effect transistor (FET) devices.

“With our new RF portfolio announcement, we now demonstrate the capability of 50V LDMOS for avionics and radar applications at the L-Band frequency of 1.2 – 1.4 GHz,” said Gavin Woods, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s RF Division. “Not only have we leveraged the exceptional capabilities of Freescale’s LDMOS technology, we also have set new RF performance standards in several key figures of merit.”

The advanced line of RF power transistors – the first in Freescale’s 50 V RF power LDMOS avionics and radar portfolio – provides competitive advantages, such as a standard voltage supply, low cooling costs and high