silicone

IBM and 3M today said they will develop new adhesives designed to build silicon towers that will be packaged on 3D semiconductors.

The collaboration--IBM brings the semiconductor know-how and 3M is the adhesive expert--aims to make commercial 3D chips via new materials.

According to IBM, the idea is to stack semiconductors in layers up to 100 chips. These chip stacks would allow for better integration and system-on-a-chip capability. Compute, networking, and memory could be stacked on one processor.

IBM has outlined nanoscale breakthroughs before, but one big hurdle is finding the materials to package these 3D silicon skyscrapers. New adhesives … Read more

If you're going to try to help people figure out the best foods for their individual circumstances, why not bring a little Silicon Valley sensibility to the table?

That's the thinking of ShopWell, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up that's hoping to become a major player in the ever-growing personal nutrition recommendation arena with a high-tech matching algorithm.

Founded by Brian Witlin, a former entrepreneur-in-residence at leading design consultancy IDEO, ShopWell is aiming to give individual shoppers Web- and mobile-based applications that offer the best possible suggestions about what groceries to buy based on their own personal … Read more

Facebook is outdoing itself.

The world's leading social network topped out at 162 million monthly unique visitors in July--a record high--and it's now the third largest video-sharing site in the United States, just behind Vevo (No. 2) and YouTube (No. 1), according to ComScore's newest data.

With this type of surging growth, no wonder Facebook needs new digs.

Today it was revealed in the San Jose Mercury News that a second Facebook campus is in the works, even as employees are just starting to migrate from the company's current location in Palo Alto, Calif., to a sprawling new headquarters in nearby Menlo Park. … Read more

PALO ALTO, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a larger collection of iPhones in one place outside of an Apple store than were in evidence Thursday in this heart-of-Silicon Valley city.

It wasn't one of Apple's famous establishments, but it definitely was a shiny brand-new retail store--this was the grand opening of the Speck store and a celebration of that company's wide selection of cases and covers for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and many other high-tech devices.

At least a couple hundred invited guests and neighborhood friends came out to eat hamburgers, tacos, ice cream, and other fare … Read more

One of the myths in Silicon Valley is that it's somehow super-cheap to build a company. Much of that theory is based on the fact that you can get a lot of very high-quality software very cheap or free, thanks to open source and cloud computing. But getting beyond a prototype of a product takes a lot more cash.

To build a quality, sustainable product and have a business that scales, you will sooner or later have to hire people, and in the Valley that usually means engineers. And engineers aren't cheap these days.

The infographic below from … Read more

If you spend much time with Web entrepreneurs or investors these days, it quickly becomes clear that "pivot" is the hottest term in Silicon Valley. It signifies a young company's shifting of focus, and everyone has an opinion about whether it's something start-ups should be doing or not.

The answer, it seems, is yes. And as long as it's done at the right pace, it can even be an extremely lucrative and important step. In fact, young Web outfits that pivot once or twice can raise two-and-a-half times as much money, see 3.6 times … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Every day around 10 a.m., the five employees of YourVersion show up for work. Since hackers tend not to be early risers, their favorite workspace is usually still available.

As a former TechCrunch 50 People's Choice winner, you'd think that the company would be well ensconced in plush Silicon Valley offices. But YourVersion, a personalized content aggregation service, is into "extreme bootstrapping," said its CEO Dan Olsen. So rather than blow thousands of dollars each month on rent, he and his team gather here each morning in a funky industrial building with … Read more

Two prominent research firms have released new data this week that shows the widening impact on components and materials owing to the earthquake that struck Japan on March 11.

Analysts at DisplaySearch published an update on the shortage of materials affecting the flat panel display (FPD) industry, while market researcher IHS iSuppli cited the impact on silicon wafer production in a research note. Sony and Toshiba are also offering updates on production facilities that have been affected.

"In the second week after the Japan earthquake, some additional impacts to the FPD supply chain are beginning to emerge," DisplaySearch … Read more

Intel has completed its $7.68 billion acquisition of McAfee.

The completion of the deal, announced yesterday, follows approvals by the various boards of directors and stockholders, as well as reviews by the Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission, and other regulatory groups.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel, McAfee will become part of the company's Software and Services Group, run by senior vice president Renee James. McAfee president Dave DeWalt will report directly to James.

McAfee will continue to offer its own branded line of security products and maintain its own customers. The two companies said they'… Read more