Microsoft released 13 updates to address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-CERT) said in a security bulletin Tuesday. “Some of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege, denial of service, remote code execution, information disclosure, or security feature bypass,” it said. U.S.-CERT recommended users review the Microsoft Security Bulletins (MS15-043 - MS15-055) and apply any necessary updates.

The sole technical characteristic of an appropriate battery backup for a Hughes modem is 3000 volt-ampere-hours, said Hughes Network Systems in an ex parte filing at the FCC. The FCC asked the company what would be the necessary characteristics of a uninterruptible power supply device that is capable of providing eight hours of backup power, Hughes said. Those battery backups are available at major consumer electronic stores, the ex parte letter said.

“The vast majority" of VoIP customers of Cablevision and Charter Communications don't buy batteries to back up the service when the power goes out, executives of the cable operators told FCC Public Safety Bureau officials, Charter said in an FCC filing. "Charter and Cablevision make significant efforts to educate their customers about the VoIP services they offer, including that such service will not work during a power outage without a backup battery." The filing was posted Tuesday in dockets including 14-174, which was related to an NPRM asking about "steps the Commission could take to safeguard continuity of communications throughout a power outage, including the possible adoption of new rules."

Global sales of semiconductors reached $83.1 billion in Q1, a 6 percent increase from the same 2014 quarter, the Semiconductor Industry Association said in a Monday report. “Despite macroeconomic challenges, first quarter global semiconductor sales are higher than they were last year, which was a record year for semiconductor revenue,” said SIA President John Neuffer. In March, the Americas region "posted its sixth straight month of double-digit, year-to-year growth to lead all regional markets, and DRAM and analog products continue to be key drivers of global sales growth.”

Toshiba began mass production of a 13-megapixel Back Side Illumination CMOS image sensor for smartphones and tablets, the company said. The chip claims power consumption of 200 milliwatts or less at 30 frames per second, just over half that of the company’s current CMOS sensor, it said. The T4KB3 is 24 percent smaller than Toshiba’s previous 13-megapixel sensor, the company said. Bright mode technology is said to capture Full HD video at the equivalent of 120 frames per second.

Sony will invest about $374 million in Sony Semiconductor technology centers in Nagasaki and Yamagata, Japan, to boost monthly production capacity of stacked CMOS image sensors for smartphones and tablets by 45 percent to 87,000 by September 2016, the company said in a Tuesday news release. “Stacked CMOS image sensors deliver superior image quality and advanced functionality in a compact size,” Sony said. “Demand for these image sensors is anticipated to further increase, particularly within the expanding market for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.”

Global sales of semiconductors reached $27.8 billion for February, a 6.7 percent increase from February 2014 but a sequential 2.7 percent decline from January this year, reflecting seasonal trends, the Semiconductor Industry Association said Monday in a report. Regionally, February sales in the Americas increased 17.1 percent from last February to lead all regional markets, the SIA said. “The global semiconductor industry maintained momentum in February, posting its 22nd straight month of year-to-year growth despite macroeconomic headwinds,” SIA President John Neuffer said. Sales of dynamic random-access memory and analog products “were particularly strong, notching double-digit growth over last February, and the Americas market achieved its largest year-to-year sales increase in 12 months,” he said. “While we are encouraged by the semiconductor market’s sustained growth over the last two years, a key driver of our industry’s continued success is free trade.” Given that there are “several important free trade agreements currently under negotiation,” he urged Congress to “swiftly re-enact” Trade Promotion Authority legislation.

Micron Technology and Intel announced availability of their jointly developed 3D NAND flash technology Thursday, calling it the “world’s highest density flash memory.” The 3D NAND technology stacks layers of data storage cells vertically to create storage devices with three times higher capacity than competing NAND technologies, the companies said, resulting in more storage in a smaller space, cost savings, low power usage and high performance. Applications include laptops, cellular phones, tablets and mobile devices, they said. Brian Shirley, vice president-memory technology at Micron, said “3D NAND technology has the potential to create fundamental market shifts” as planar NAND flash memory nears its practical scaling limits. Intel and Micron chose to use a floating gate cell, a universally utilized design refined through years of high-volume planar flash manufacturing, they said. 3D NAND technology stacks flash cells vertically in 32 layers to achieve 256 Gb multilevel cell and 384 Gb triple-level cell die that fit within a standard package, they said. The capacities enable gum stick-sized solid-state drives (SSDs) with more than 3.5 TB of storage and standard 2.5-inch SSDs with greater than 10 TB.

Silicon Image is laying claim to introducing the world’s first port processor that combines support for the superMHL and HDMI 2.0 interface standards on a single device, the company said Monday. The MHL Consortium released the superMHL spec at CES, with support for up to 8K resolution at 120 frames per second, 48-bit video, BT.2020 colorimetry, high dynamic range, object-based audio and power charging of up to 40 watts. Silicon Image’s SiI9779 device can be used “to create a new generation of products, enabling consumers to connect superMHL 8K source devices to TVs and monitors using the user friendly, reversible superMHL connector,” the company said. The superMHL input enables MHL mobile devices to deliver resolutions of 4K at 60 frames per second “and beyond through existing and new connectors,” Silicon Image said.

Qualcomm Technologies expects to begin summer deliveries through third-party distributors of the DragonBoard 410c, a low-cost development board based on the 64-bit Snapdragon 410 processor, the company said Thursday. It’s designed to bring the Snapdragon 410's functionality “to a broader group of developers, makers and OEMs,” and to support “rapid software development and prototyping for commercializing new inventions and products” for the Internet of Things, the company said. Qualcomm thinks the DragonBoard 410c “will play a critical role in helping drive the innovation of embedded computing products on a global basis," the company said.