Though Apple remains locked in a bitter patent fight with Qualcomm at the International Trade Commission over iPhone baseband processor chips (see 1707120023), Apple is reinforcing Qualcomm’s “modem design leadership” in its new Apple Watch 3 product lineup, said ABI Research in a Wednesday teardown report. With cellular connectivity added to the Apple Watch lineup for the first time, Apple is using a Qualcomm modem in the Watch 3 to “fulfill this cellular obligation,” ABI said. Though the cellular version of the Watch 3 doesn't support CDMA networks, “which would seemingly make Intel the potential main supplier of the modem,” it’s the Watch 3's “smaller form factor” that makes Qualcomm “the obvious modem choice,” it said. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf told an investor conference last month his company is trying to keep separate its roles as an Apple litigator and supplier (see 1709100004).

The FCC Media Bureau is seeking input on whether the Dec. 20, 2018, compliance deadline for navigation devices with accessible user interfaces and program guides and menus should be extended. In a docket 12-108 public notice Thursday, the bureau said the deadline -- covering mid-sized and small MVPDs -- was set when the FCC adopted user interface rules in 2013, and that the order gave the bureau authority to review the marketplace after the 2016 compliance deadline for large MVPDs had passed to see whether smaller operators would be able to comply with the 2018 deadline. It said comments are due Oct. 30, replies Nov. 13.

Three years of “energetic research work” at Fraunhofer concluded with “large strides” made toward perfecting lithium-sulphur technology for commercial battery use, the German institute said in a Wednesday announcement. The research yielded “considerably improved” methods for recharging the batteries and reducing their manufacturing costs through “the application of cost-effective roll-to-roll fabrication processes,” Fraunhofer said. It will present the results at its Oct. 24-26 workshop in Dresden, Germany, it said. Fraunhofer studied lithium-sulphur technology “because it might offer an attractive energy-storage solution for future mobility thanks to its low cost of materials and high energy density,” and because efficient storage of electrical energy is the “bottleneck” for all mobile electronics applications, it said. Future lithium-sulphur batteries will be known for their superior efficiencies compared with lithium-ion cells, it said. They’ll also replace the “expensive cathode material” of lithium-ion batteries with the more “cost-effective and non-toxic” sulphur, the availability and supply of which are “nearly unlimited,” it said.

Sigma Designs announced availability of Z-Wave SmartStart software that's said to facilitate installation and setup of Z-Wave smart home devices for do-it-yourself customers and custom installers. SmartStart, comprising Z-Wave protocol and gateway software layers, preconfigures devices to a residential network before they reach the home, shrinking installation time, said Sigma Wednesday. By preconfiguring scenes, rules and scripts, installers only have to physically mount devices and turn on power to create a network, it said, and setup can be uniform across brand, application and product type. Setup difficulty is often cited as a reason for smart home devices returns, said Raoul Wijgergangs, vice president-Sigma Z-Wave business unit. “We’re removing that barrier to adoption,” he said, and providing “consistent installation quality, using pre-configuration for instant, uniform integration, whether they’re doing it themselves or relying on the expertise of their service provider.”

Representatives from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America are scheduled to meet with the FCC this week about their concerns about the agency's elimination of Form 740 filing requirements for imported RF devices (see 1707130032). NCBFAA is pleased the requirements went away, but worries about what's seen as new liabilities for customs brokers included in the order, said Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio, who represents the NCBFAA. “The new regulations talk about customs brokers being responsible to validate FCC compliance,” Klestadt said during an NCBFAA conference Monday. “There isn't a person in this room who's qualified to do that, and I say that without any disrespect. There's just no way.” Naming customs brokers as “one of the parties with responsibility to validate” is a “huge additional burden,” he said.

The next generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11ax, is coming. Broadcom announced Tuesday the launch of Max WiFi. The chips are “designed to kick-start an ecosystem of Wi-Fi routers, residential gateways, enterprise access points, and client devices that deliver next generation Wi-Fi,” said the chipmaker. “Reliance on Wi-Fi has increased tremendously as we stream live experiences over social media and upload pictures and files to the cloud while also connecting the many ‘things’ around our home,” said Greg Fischer, senior vice president-broadband carrier access. “Max WiFi, based on 802.11ax, is designed from the bottom up to address these evolving consumer needs. With the launch of the Max WiFi ecosystem, Broadcom has yet again pioneered the generational transition of Wi-Fi.”

A little more than two years after Kodak decided to go it alone in developing copper mesh touch-sensor technology for touch screens following UniPixel’s decision to terminate the joint development agreement the two companies shared since 2013 (see 1504280030), Kodak decided to “shut down” its investment in that business, CEO Jeff Clarke announced on a Wednesday earnings call. Kodak continued to invest in copper mesh touch sensors after shutting down its silver mesh sensors business in 2016, and had orders “in our pipeline,” but the “market opportunity and requisite ROI have not materialized as expected,” said Clarke. The business hasn't “scaled as significantly as we had planned, is not meeting current milestones, and is therefore being shut down,” said Clarke, adding that Kodak expects to save about $5 million annually by cancelling the “program.” UniPixel made much the same determination about copper mesh touch sensors in April 2015 when it said the “risks” of developing a “viable business model” in that sector were “too great” to continue the joint development agreement with Kodak. Clarke addressed those risks in Q&A when he said that "trying to apply copper metal mesh in touch sensors at very low microns is one of the harder challenges in materials science” and that it was a "high risk-reward program." Kodak “will retain some significant IP” in the technology, “and we will continue to try and license that,” Clarke said. Kodak sees “other applications using the IP and the know-how that we learned,” he said. UniPixel representatives didn’t comment Thursday on Kodak’s departure from the business. UniPixel held its scheduled quarterly earnings call after our Thursday deadline.

Qualcomm’s MAPX SoC portfolio added support for DTS Virtual:X for use in sound bars, said the chipmaker Tuesday. Virtual:X translates an input source, from stereo to 11.1 channels, into a format that can play back on 5.1, 3.1 or 2.1-speaker setups, including sound bars, while supporting bass enhancement and multiband hard limiter features, it said. Developers can use MAPX to design end products with minimal incremental design effort via seven sub-families with varying levels of embedded digital signal processing, memory and interfaces, it said. Citing the growing number of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles being introduced with immersive audio, Joanna Skrdlant, DTS general manager-home audio and solutions licensing, said Virtual:X also can widen the sound image and improve audio detail on standard DVDs and TV content.

Samsung’s latest LTE modem has a maximum downlink speed of 1.2 Gbps, fast enough to download an HD movie in 10 seconds, the company said Monday. Samsung worked with Anritsu to gain additional speed, improving on the 1.0 Gbps speed it achieved with the Cat.16 LTE modem introduced this year, it said. The Cat.18 6CA-supported modem can also boost network performance and allow telecom operators to make more efficient use of their equipment, said the company. A Samsung processor incorporating the modem will begin mass production this year, it said.

Toshiba began mass production of the TZ1201XBG ApP Lite graphics processor, a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F device targeted to wearables, it announced Thursday. The processor includes 2.2 MB embedded high-speed SRAM, an LCD controller and 2D graphics accelerators, and supports either a 480 x 320 display at 30 frames per second or a 320 x 240 display at up to 60 fps, said the company.