Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have discovered how to create significant amounts of electric power by rubbing or touching two different materials together - a phenomenon known as the triboelectric effect. [ + ]

element14 has a new section for TE Connectivity on its website, showcasing the company's component solutions for subsystem design including circuit protection devices, control boards, power systems, cable assemblies, controllers, timers and sensors that support end products or systems across many user segments. [ + ]

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT, in Euskirchen, Germany, are researching how to detect 'attacks' from electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic pulses can interfere with or damage electronic devices but, since electromagnetic radiation is invisible, those affected by it do not know why their machines break down. [ + ]

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents, has signed a distribution agreement with RepRapPro that will deliver affordable, open-source, self-replicating 3D printing technology to engineers worldwide. [ + ]

Kore Wireless has added broadband satellite network services from Inmarsat, the provider of global mobile satellite communications services, to the Kore Global Connect network portfolio. [ + ]

RS Components has signed a global authorised distributor agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor. The agreement broadens the scope of the existing collaboration between the two companies to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of discrete semiconductor devices and power management ICs to customers worldwide. [ + ]

CadSoft Computer and Adafruit Industries recently formalised a collaboration in which Adafruit will act as a global reseller of popular PCB prototyping solution Eagle. [ + ]

SEMI has announced that starting in 2014, LED Taiwan, the only LED manufacturing-focused exposition in Taiwan, will co-locate with the Taiwan International Lighting Show, Taiwan's largest solid-state lighting exhibition and conference. The exhibition will be held at TWTC Nagang Exhibition Hall in Taiwan from 20-22 March. [ + ]

Peer-to-peer communities are a key enabler of modern PCB design, but aren't being fully utilised, reveals CadSoft survey. The company marks its 25th anniversary by revealing the findings of its global survey of PCB designers. [ + ]

RS Components has signed a franchise deal with Silicon Labs, a mixed signal fabless semiconductor company. As part of the deal, RS will distribute Silicon Labs' diverse portfolio of semiconductor products throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific. [ + ]

Wearable, solar-powered electronics could soon be woven into clothing fibres or incorporated into watches. Professors Jang-Wook Choi and Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of EEWS and Taek-Soo Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST have developed technology for flexible and foldable batteries which are rechargeable using solar energy. [ + ]

The demand for a new variety of low-cost electronic products has pushed the global demand for 'functional printing'. [ + ]

The semiconductor and electronics original equipment manufacturing (OEM) industries are set to enjoy significant revenue growth in 2013, according to a Supply Chain Inventory market brief from IHS Inc. [ + ]

Researchers from Engineering at Illinois have set their sights on improving the materials that make solar energy conversion possible. [ + ]

Stanford scientists have developed a silicon semiconductor coated in an ultrathin layer of nickel that could help pave the way for large-scale production of clean hydrogen fuel from sunlight. [ + ]