BMW first to adopt FlexRay

BMW is to introduce FlexRay technology to enable car owners to change the way the car drives at the push of a button, reports News.com.

FlexRay is a high-speed communication standard for communication between sensors and microprocessors embedded in vehicles. Car manufacturers are expected to adopt the protocol for a wide variety of functions.

BMW is to use FlexRay for its AdaptiveDrive feature in the BMW X5 to be released in North America at the end of November. AdaptiveDrive's sensors gather data on road speed, acceleration, steering angles and other phenomena. The car's microprocessors then use this data to control the shock absorbers and swivel motors on the anti-roll bars.

AMD is facing a patent infringement claim by chip design company Opti, which brought a similar case against Nvidia in 2004, which was settled out of court earlier this year.

ComputerWeekly.com says Opti alleges AMD infringed three of its patents for a technology known as Predictive Snooping of Cache Memory for Master-Initiated Accesses. Opti claims AMD has used the technology in the manufacture of CPUs and core logic products.

Opti is seeking an injunction against AMD to prevent it using the technology at dispute, along with monetary damages. AMD has not so far responded to the lawsuit.

The One Laptop Per Child project, aimed at supplying computers to millions of children in Third World and underdeveloped countries, has shipped the first 10 computers from its manufacturer in Taiwan.

Cleveland Leader.com says the cost of producing the laptops is currently around $125. The goal now is to get the cost of the laptops down to $100 by 2008.

The next step will be a 900-unit production run to begin early in 2007. Most of these units will go to programmers who will help to develop software for the laptops, which use the open source Linux operating system.

Sony Ericsson plans to take on Motorola's Razr by introducing an ultra-slim, high-end Walkman camera phone to the mobile handset market in early 2007, reports ExtremeTech.com.

Sony Ericsson is expected to unveil its "Ai" handset in March. Named after Japanese tennis player Ai Sugiyama, the new phone is expected to measure 9.4mm in thickness, making it thinner than the Razr's 14mm.

With the new ultra-slim phone, Sony Ericsson is hoping to continue its market gains from strong demand for its high-end Walkman music and Cybershot digital camera phones.