The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, recently set up a center focused on the study of online computer games.
The Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds is set to study the social and technological aspects of online games.
Some 20 UC Irvine faculty members from computer science, arts, humanities, social science and education will work at the center, the school said.
The center plans to host research workshops as well as visiting research scholars.
UCI was among the first universities to establish programs in computer game culture and technology.
The UCI Game Culture & Technology Lab, launched in 2001, has attracted nearly $5 million in outside funding, according to the school.
Smith Micro Buys Co.
Aliso Viejo’s Smith Micro Software Inc., a maker of software for wireless phones, recently said it agreed to buy Core Mobility Inc. for $10 million in cash and stock.
Core Mobility, a Mountain View-based maker of smartphone software, is set to operate as a subsidiary of Smith Micro.
The deal, expected to close this year, could amount to more if Core Mobility reaches certain sales and product development goals.
Core Mobility’s software does backup and data synchronization, visual voicemail and runs “push to talk” features on smart phones.
Smith Micro recently has been pushing “connection manager” software that runs on a PC or mobile device and allows for a wireless connection to the Internet through a wireless service provider’s network.
The software simplifies the process of connecting a device to a wireless network by cutting down setup time and having fewer steps.
The company also makes security software and software that does “over-the-air” downloads for music on cell phones.
Customers include Verizon Wireless, a unit of New York’s Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., and T-Mobile USA Inc., a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG, among others.
Director Decker
El Segundo-based chipmaker International Rectifier Corp., which makes power management chips for the aerospace industry, added former Conexant Systems Inc. chief executive Dwight Decker to its board.
Decker, 59, is taking his second stab at retirement. He led the Newport Beach-based chipmaker as a unit of Rockwell International Corp., and headed the chipmaker’s spinoff as Conexant in 1999.
He tried to step back earlier this decade but returned in 2005 after a botched combination with New Jersey’s Globespan Virata Inc. in 2004.
After a rough executive transition that saw one chief executive come and go within a year, Decker handed over the top spot to Scott Mercer, a longtime board member.
Decker no longer is chairman but still has a seat on Conexant’s board.
RFaxix Gets Microsemi Exec
Irvine chip startup RFaxis Inc. snagged an executive from Microsemi Corp., an Irvine-based maker of chips for military, aerospace and industrial uses.
Yongxi Qian joined RFaxis as director of strategic marketing and product planning.
He’s set to head RFaxis’ marketing, product roadmap and engineering for its chips, which aim to reduce the complexity of wireless designs, lower manufacturing costs and lower power consumption.
RFaxis targets what’s known as front-end circuitry, the most finicky part of a circuit board.
The front-end circuits deal with power consumption, amplification of signals, filtering of signals and the switching back and forth between receiving and transmitting functions. It’s also the most sensitive—and most costly—part of the chip.
Qian is a veteran in chip engineering. He has some 15 years of research, teaching and product development in wireless chips under his belt.
He has been published in more than 200 publications and has won a slew of technical and engineering awards.
Qian most recently was director of radio frequency engineering at Microsemi.
Bits and Pieces
A former Nokia Corp. executive joined the board of Irvine chip startup WiSpry Inc. WiSpry, which makes chips for cell phones, added Kari-Pekka “K.P.” Wilska to its board. Wilska is the former president of Nokia North America. Nokia is the biggest maker of cell phones … Irvine’s Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., a unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., inked a reseller deal that allows Toshiba to sell Hewlett-Packard Co.’s laser jet printer product line to customers … Video games sales in the U.S. continued to slide for the sixth consecutive month, according to the latest data from market tracker NPD Group Inc. Some $909 million in video game sales were reported last month, down 16% from a year earlier. Through August, sales are off 14% from the same period a year earlier, NPD’s data showed.
