If you haven't yet seen it, there's news brewing in the automotive electronics world. The Wall Street Journal and the Detroit Free Press have reported in the past two days that Ford Motor Co. has joined forces with Microsoft Corp. on a new automotive software system. Dubbed "Sync," the new system will reportedly serve as a foundation for hands-free cell phone communication, as well as the ability to send and receive e-mail and download music. For the automotive industry, this is major news for two reasons: First, its a big win for Microsoft, which has been competing furiously with other operating systems vendors to gain a better foothold in vehicles. Second, it's deja vu for infotainment market. Since the infamous infotainment bust unfolded over the past half-decade, suppliers haven't talked much about e-mail in vehicles. Instead, the focus has been on entertainment. But now, vehicle e-mail is back again, and we can only assume Ford and Microsoft have big plans for it. How will this play out? It's really up to the consumer. The question isn't whether Ford and M'Soft can make it happen; it;s whether consumers will ultimately accept the idea of bringing the office into their vehicles. Read about it at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6146286.html.
Experts say that the intelligent highway will save more lives than seat belts, airbags, and electronic stability control. For sheer lifesaving capacity, nothing in the history of the auto industry will come close to it.
In a bid to help automakers cut the fuel consumption and emissions of next generation engines, Freescale Semiconductor is rolling out a three-core microcontroller said to boost computing performance without drawing more power.
Bionic limbs, innovative infusion systems, and transcranial doppler brain scanners are just some of the innovations engineers are bringing to the exploding medical design arena.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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