Here's a summary of the industry news that caught my attention last week:

Companies and Products

ANADIGICS released 10, MESFET push-pull and doubler amplifiers for 874 and 1003 MHz CATV systems.

Bloomberg reported that Analog Devices and Maxim are exploring a possible combination. Both companies are apparently motivated to increase scale to better compete in the musical chairs consolidation of the semiconductor industry.

Targeting home IoT applications, Freescale released a microcontroller that concurrently runs Thread and Bluetooth, two of the networking standards favored for the home.

MACOM released SPDT, SP3T and SP4T HMIC PIN diode switches covering 50 MHz to 20 GHz.

Mercury Systems received a $22.7 million order for microwave tuners and IF receivers for a Navy EW program.

NXP says their acquisition of Freescale is on track to close during calendar Q4. However the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) is still reviewing the sale of NXP's power RF unit to Chinese investment firm JAC Capital.

Pasternack announced a line of connectorized amplifiers — priced under $500 — that covers various octave bands up to 3 GHz.

Qorvo introduced four BAW multiplexers for LTE carrier aggregation. The multiplexers cover Bands 1 and 3, 39 and 41. The company also announced a power doubler for DOCSIS 3.1. The GaN and GaAs hybrid covers 45 MHz to 1.2 GHz and dissipates only 18 W.

Raytheon completed the engineering milestones to upgrade the Patriot radar to a GaN AESA with 360 degree coverage. A full-scale main array demonstrator should be operational in early 2016.

Resonant is expanding their advisory board, adding Barry Waxman, VP of sales and marketing at Newlans.

Wolfspeed (a Cree company) released two 60 W GaN PAs, one targeting LTE infrastructure, the other S-Band radar. The devices are designed for 50 V drain bias and are packaged in plastic .

Markets and Technology

GaAs market — Is the end in sight? Strategy Analytics forecasts the GaAs market will reach $7 billion in 2015, with roughly 40 percent coming from content in cellular "terminals," a more apt name than phones. Strategy Analytics says the market "will peak in 2018 at just over $8 billion, before declining by less than 1 percent in 2019." Is this the first forecast in decades that predicts the GaAs market will decline?

Connectivity — You've heard the reports that mobile technology diminishes human relationships. Here's an argument that Facebook may actually breed empathy.

In a move to reduce costs, China Tower, a new government sponsored company, is consolidating $36 billion in assets held by China's three cellular operators.

Broadband speeds in China's major cities should increase to 20 Mbps by the end of 2015, up from 9 Mbps, according to the MIIT.

China's equivalent of Mobile World Congress and CTIA ran 22-25 September in Beijing. Bob Pinato sent us his impressions from PT Expo.

IoT — Amazon is entering the nascent IoT market, offering a cloud service to exchange data among "things." They will apparently charge $5 to $8 per million messages.

Defense — The Army shot down two flying drones, successfully demonstrating their anti-drone technology.

Automotive — At least 30 company employees were involved in VW's rigged software scheme, according to the German publication Spiegel. Did VW have an ethics hotline?

Ending on a more positive note, here's a fun story: Bill Gates describes his first job, writing code at age 16.

Your comments and tips about interesting news are always welcome. Have a good week.