Touch user interfaces have made significant advances in the consumer electronics market particularly for mobile phones and notebook computers, opening the door for adoption in other applications including white goods, computer peripherals, medical equipment, and instrumentation. Synaptics made its debut in the home appliance market earlier this year with the launch of the Samsung Hauzen ZERO air conditioner.
The standout products on day three of the SID 2010 conference is Universal Display's new PHOLED display architecture with a unique four-color, sub-pixel design, which promises to drive commercial development of all-phosphorescent active-matrix OLEDs and Sony's tiny rollable OLED display that can wrap around a pencil.
Smaller distributors were the only ones to post sales gains in 2009. Interestingly, two of the five distributors that posted growth last year -- Interstate Connecting Components and Sherburn Electronics -- derive 100 percent of their sales from interconnect products. Both of them also target the military/aerospace industry. Here are the top 10 sales leaders by ICs, passives/electromechanical devices, interconnects and computer products as well as sales growth.
TI unveils “Thank an Engineer” video
Texas Instruments has launched its latest “Thank an Engineer” video, World Without Streaming Video, at www.ti.com/thanks.
Here is TI’s message:
Dear engineers,
Thank you. No matter what your engineering specialty: chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, mechanical, etc. (there are so many), you are all unsung heroes. From little things like the alarm clocks that wake us up, to the big things like the roads we drive everyday and the cell phones that keep us connected, they are all in existence today because of you.
What would our lives be like without these inventions? Visit www.ti.com/thanks to view videos showing what we think the world would be like without devices such as remote controls, streaming video and high speed Internet, to name a few.
Appreciatively,
Texas Instruments
NXP offers a low-power IC aimed at MPPT applications using PV cells or fuel cells. 
C&K Components offers a series of low-cost, miniature slide switches. The OS Series of RoHS-compliant switches feature a new high-temperature option for lead-free soldering.