'Photonic wire' that can guide light beams in the way copper wire guides electronics has won for its inventor the 2004 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year.

The Victorian Minister for Manufacturing and Export, Tim Holding and the High Commissioner of South Africa, Anthony Mongalo have celebrated a Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA) and the South African Electronics Industry Federation (EIF) supported by the South African Electrotechnical Export Council (SAEEC) at the Investment Centre Victoria.

From next year, electronics manufacturers in Europe will be required to take back and partially recycle old equipment.

Agilent Technologies and Lumileds Lighting are collaborating on a new series of light-emitting diodes.

An engineer at Sheffield University in Britain is leading a project that could revolutionise the way scientists, medics and others see the world - by allowing the earlier detection of cancer, the instant analysis of medical screening tests, and permitting the emergency and security services to work effectively in murky surroundings.

AMD says it is achieving a smooth transition to 90 nm manufacturing and has distributed low-power 90 nm Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors for thin and light notebooks (previously codenamed 'Oakville'.

PayGlobal of Christchurch, a payroll and human resources software company, won the Supreme Award and became the Westpac Hi Tech Company of the Year at the recent Westpac New Zealand Hi Tech Awards, held at Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

James Bond-style technologies such as mobile phones the size of earpieces and invisible sensors sprinkled about to detect toxins are closer to reality.

Biophan Technologies, a US company, has developed the Biothermal battery, based on the use of thermoelectric materials, using nanoscale-based, thin-film materials to convert thermal energy produced naturally by the human body into electrical energy.

During the EIA Annual Dinner recently, the newly elected EIA President, Anthony Kittel presented the winner of the prestigious EIA Gold Cup for Excellence in Engineering and Commercialisation to Julian Smith, Senior Consultant – Mining and General Industry of Soniclean.

Contract assembler of electronics, Surtek has opened purpose-built premises at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.

Heyco Products, the US end represented in Australia by NPA, has earned an ISO 9001:2000 Certificate of Registration for its quality management system, superceding the company's previous ISO 9000 registration dating from 1994.

Comtest Laboratories has been restructured following the sale of EMC Technologies' 40% shareholding. Chris Zombolas and Les Dickenson have left the Comtest board leaving it in the hands of the current executive directors Peter Arms and Greg Caspar.

Toshiba has announced the prototype of a highly compact direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that can be integrated into devices as small as digital audio players and wireless headsets for mobile phones.

By twisting fibre optic strands into helical shapes, researchers have created unique structures that can precisely filter, polarise or scatter light.