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CAD software

Solid Edge^(R) version 12 CAD software features interoperability with the company's Ideas^(R) and Unigraphics^(R) NX products; reportedly faster drawing creation than its predecessors; and process-driven capabilities for wire-harness design. Designed to speed the 2D to 3D transition, it automates ballooning and hole tables drafting processes. Applications include sheet metal, welding, and tubing. EDS, www.eds.com. Enter 632

Photo paper

Photo Perfect Plus, an innovative photo paper, delivers improved performance in mounting and lamination, features a universal coating that accepts both dye and pigment inks from any printer, and provides good surface characteristics. Photo Perfect Plus incorporates the use of patent-pending, high-performance coatings instead of the traditional sandwiched construction typical of most other photobases. The result is a product with a more durable surface that is highly ink receptive. Oce USA, www.oceusa.com. Enter 633

Design analysis tool

DAKOTA 3.0 (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) is now offered as an open-source release under a GNU General Public License. Written in C++, DAKOTA provides a flexible interface between the designer's simulation software and the latest algorithms for optimization, uncertainty quantification, parameter estimation, experiment design, and sensitivity analysis. Users can rapidly develop interfaces between DAKOTA and user-simulation codes. The software can be downloaded without cost from the Web. Sandia National Laboratories, www.sandia.gov. Enter 634

TFT-LCD set

The WiseView 19- and 17-inch TFT-LCDs, designed for desktop and TV use, offers a 500:1 contrast ratio, assisted by the company's patented Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA) technology. Other features include up to 170 degrees wide conical viewing angle, up to 450 nits for brightness, 25 ms response time for television picture rates, and a reportedly high production yield. Samsung Semiconductor Inc., www.usa.samsungsemi.com. Enter 635

SBC

A 3.5-inch size single board computer with 4 COM ports helps fulfill projects that require added I/O capability. The PCM-5825 incorporates a low-power NS GX1 300 MHz processor with Windows CE .Net, built for easy integration into space-critical applications. IRQ sharing means that the COM ports do not utilize four complete IRQs. The PCM-5825 also supports two USB ports. Other on-board features include VGA/LCD, audio, a CompactFlash Card socket, and 10/100 Base-T Ethernet. Advantech Technologies Inc., www.advantech.com. Enter 636

Workstation

The CELSIUS^(R) Mobile H Workstation includes the NVIDIA Quadro4^(R) 500 Go GL Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a 15.1-inch TFT-UXGA display, and five-channel Dolby^(R) Digital surround sound. NVIDIA's nView(TM) technology provides multi-display configurations, and its Lightspeed Memory Architecture (LMA) II has a reportedly expansive memory. Currently available in Europe, the workstation is based on a 1.7 GHz Intel^(R) Mobile Pentium 4 processor. Fujitsu, www.fujitsu.com. Enter 637

Pliable display

Version 2.0 of the Pliable Display Technology (PDT) Software Development Kit features a structured API that is object oriented, data format independent, and multi-platform; "MDLC" in-place user interface for direct control of lens parameters; a rendering toolkit in its image warper component; and in-place editing capabilities, including reversible undisplace transformation to the mesh class. IDELIX Software Inc., www.idelix.com. Enter 638