The Vlinx Serial Server from B&B Electronics now makes it possible to Ethernet-enable serial devices and communicate anywhere in the world. Every unused serial port represents an opportunity to capture unused data and put it to work. Furthermore, manufacturers can extend communication and diagnostic data to older equipment without ripping out existing wires or otherwise affecting its operation. Emkay Innovative Products is introducing the world's first surface mount microphone based on semiconductor technology is now available for general commercial purchase. The surface mount capability of the SiSonic makes it suited for medium to high volume applications such as mobile phones and hand-held personal devices including PDAs, MP3s, voice recorders, and digital cameras. Alternatively equipped with the Intel 0.13u Tualatin-Celeron or -Pentium III 1.26GHz processor, the CC7-JAZZ is a 3U (single size Eurocard) CPU board, well suited for any CompactPCI system. The fight for which technology will triumph in the home networking area still rages. What is popular in the United States has not captured the imagination of Europe and qqqvice versa. Here, Nick Flaherty examines the major conflicts and contenders hoping to triumph in the battle which rages on the home front. Line sharing modems enable remote instruments to share telephone lines with a telephone or other device, thus eliminating the cost of a second line. The application of conformal coatings by means of X-Y-Z automated dispensing systems has now become state-of-the-art following its introduction more than a decade ago. Today's wireless infrastructure applications have imposed more stringent requirements on wireless amplifier module design then ever before. A patent from the early 1990s is forming the basis of a whole new industry for a small group of engineers from British Telecom. Nick Flaherty reports on the potential effects of linking consumer electronics to a base station in the home. The starting point for Smart Electrics is making consumer equipment location dependent so that it only works in an environment where it has been registered. Nick Flaherty reports on a group of engineers who are designing intellectual property (IP) and systems such as mobile phones. He discovers that the first target area hinges on the Japanese iMode technology rather than the current technology which is specified by European network operators. Most industrial computer systems need synchronisation to a precise time standard. A solution would be any radio-controlled clock. The internet, once dismissed as a toy and a novelty by telecoms operators and broadcasters alike, is now starting to be used to distribute video and multimedia, and that is becoming a serious threat to the up and coming digital cable and satellite TV networks. Nick Flaherty reports. How components react and interact in a network, qqqand the ease in which a user can gain access to qqqthe process, is vital to the smooth-running of any qqqform of production. Dirk Hartmann reports. prev