Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) introduced the industry’s smallest (SC70 package) low-power, resistor-programmable temperature switch ‘TMP300’ that operates over the largest supply voltage range.

The TMP300 allows for simple temperature monitoring and control. The tiny size of the device makes it an attractive option for power supply systems, DC/DC modules, thermal monitoring and electronic protection systems.

The TMP300 features a trip point that is set by adding a single, inexpensive resistor, and the open-drain output can control a power switch or provide a processor interrupt. A separate pin on the device provides an analog output (10mV/C) that can serve as a testing point or can be used in temperature-compensation loops. With a wide supply voltage range of 1.8V to 18V, the TMP300 allows for simple thermal monitoring without requiring an MCU/DSP. This lets the device take advantage of existing power buses in numerous applications, from battery-powered handhelds to industrial control systems. Further, the device’s low power of 110uA (max) extends battery life.

The analog output measures temperature with +/-3C accuracy (max) and the temperature switch has +/-4C switch accuracy over a temperature range of -40C to 125C. Hysteresis of the TMP300 is pin programmable to two states of either 5C or 10C.

The TMP300 is available now from TI and its authorized distributors in a SC70 package and is priced at 1.00(USD) each in 100-piece quantities. It will be introduced in a SOT23 package during 1Q 2008.

Toshiba announced that they will mass produce solid state drives ranging in sizes of between 32 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes from next year. These drives will be in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch sizes and will be launched in May. Solid state drivers are fast, quiet and currently extremely expensive. So far they have only been seen in portable devices like tablet and Ultra-Mobile sizes PCs. Samsung Electronics and Sandisk are already make solid-state drives.

Samsung will soon launch a 24-inch wide LCD monitor ‘SyncMaster 245T’ in Japanese market, which features 1,920 x 1,200 (WUXGA) resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio and 6ms response time. It is expected to be available in early December, and no words on pricing yet. Definitely a big screen like this is not for average PC user and only for hardcore computer enthusiast, professionals etc.

Microsoft doesn’t seem to learn from its mistakes in consumer electronics and although they wake up but then it becomes too late. First mistake is that they are competing with Apple and trying to do everything what they do with their iPod. Microsoft should try to make Zune better than iPod so that people may have enough reasons to choose it, else get out of this portable players business. When iPod was first launched, it looked like totally a new device with music playing capability and all mp3/mp4 players that were available in market followed the iPod style and Chinese iPod clones flooded the market. Microsoft seems to hold a business meeting with guys in suits and cigars who have no knowledge of electronics and then throw random features in a box and push it in the market.

When you plan to buy a new TV, always go for a HDTV as you will always want to buy which is more reliable and future proof. These flat panel HDTV which come as LCD and plasma offer superior quality picture than CRT technology and are also reliable. There are many brands of HDTV available like Insignia HDTV which come in many screen sizes. These TV being slim, also save a lot of space in your room and look elegant. Before buying you should search and compare from many models of available HDTV which you can do easily at Krillion.com. Some basic point to remember is that LCD technology is less priced than plasma and the main difference between both technologies is that plasma offers better response time and color reproduction. If money is not a problem then you should look for nothing less than a plasma HDTV which is 1080P.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics announced that they developed world’s first 8M CMOS camera module for a cellphone. Featuring a CMOS sensor, this 8M camera module measures only 10.5 X 11.5 X 9.4mm and supports auto focus, which means that it can still maintain a small form factor similar to the size of current 3M camera phone while offering the performance of 8M camera phone?

The company said that they were able to invent this tiny camera module with auto focus functionality thanks to its exclusive PIEZO technology, and they will start mass production in the first half of next year.