The total cost of the Apple Watch’s plastic AMOLED display “is highly dependent on yield rates throughout the manufacturing and assembly process,” DisplaySearch said Wednesday in an emailed sales pitch for its Flexible Displays Technology and Market Forecast Report (http://bit.ly/1msRbgB). “Producing a high resolution AMOLED display alone is challenging,” the company said. “Add the processes for coating the flexible substrate on carrier glass, encapsulation, and laser-lift off and the module process becomes even more complicated.” Assuming a 60 percent yield rate, DisplaySearch estimates the Apple Watch’s display costs more than $27 on bill of materials terms, “depending on the costs of the module, touch panel interface, and cover lens.”

CES for the first time will carve out an exhibit area dedicated to commercial drones, beginning with the 2015 show that opens Jan. 6 for a four-day run, CEA said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1rkusCi). The “Unmanned Systems Marketplace” will span about 6,500 square feet of exhibit space in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall, enough room for about 16 exhibiting companies, it said. CES estimates the global market for consumer drones will approach $130 million in 2015 and will “easily exceed” $1 billion in the next five years. “Drones and unmanned systems are being used to assist in a variety of applications, from aerial coverage for sports and real estate, to assistance in search and rescue and disaster relief missions,” said Karen Chupka, CEA senior vice president-CES and corporate business strategy.

The FCC approved revisions to its 2013 technical rules for signal boosters, providing relief sought by Wi-Ex on rules for the testing and certification of wideband consumer signal boosters. The FCC also sought further comment in docket 10-4 on a single issue in the order and Further NPRM (http://bit.ly/Y34b0K), released Monday. Wi-Ex, which sells boosters, had complained in a petition seeking reconsideration that testing procedures to certify wideband boosters were complicated by the need for special test equipment to determine whether the device complies with the downlink noise limit in the rules. Wi-Ex told the FCC that during the course of meetings with the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and the ANSI ASC C63 working group “it was determined that filtering equipment that includes variable tunable bandpass filtering and notches was necessary to measure the downlink noise in the presence of downlink signals through the booster,” the order said. But the OET lab and other labs that test communications equipment “do not have such equipment, thus complicating device testing,” the FCC said. “We agree ... and find that the requested amendments to our rules will facilitate the test procedures and equipment certification process for Wideband Consumer Signal Boosters without diminishing the safeguards in our rules designed to protect wireless networks.” The FCC approved a handful of changes sought by V-Comm, Verizon and Wilson Electronics in a second petition. Among them, the FCC approved new noise and gain limits for provider-specific consumer signal boosters. The commission accepted a recommendation that “the maximum booster gain not exceed 58 dB and 65 dB for frequencies below and above 1 GHz, respectively.” The FCC said the limits are “reasonable for signal booster manufacturers to implement, while also adequately protecting against interference to wireless networks.” The FCC also adopted, at the joint petitioners’ request, a requirement that provider-specific boosters “must be sold together with antennas, cables, and/or coupling devices that meet the requirements of this section” of FCC rules. The FCC also adopted a requirement that all consumer signal boosters certified for fixed, in-building operation include a label directing consumers that the device may only be operated in a fixed, in-building location. “We agree that such a requirement is appropriate to ensure that consumers are properly informed about which devices are suitable for their use and how to comply with our rules,” the FCC said. The FNPRM tees up a single issue -- should the FCC eliminate the “personal use” restriction for provider-specific consumer signal boosters. “Would removing this restriction for Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters be in the public interest?” the FCC asks. “What are the costs and benefits of removing the restriction? What are the costs and benefits of maintaining the restriction?” Comments will be due 30 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register and reply comments 20 days later.

The FCC sought more information from AT&T and Club 42 CM on the proposed sale of two Lower 700 MHz B block licenses in California by the small company to AT&T. “Explain in detail the decision made by Club 42 to assign the Lower 700 MHz B Block spectrum that is the subject of this application to AT&T, including any attempts made to enter into a sale of this spectrum or alternative arrangements with parties other than AT&T,” said the letter sent Monday to Club 42 (http://bit.ly/1yp0Rhv).

NTIA plans its next facial recognition multistakeholder meeting Nov. 6, the agency said Tuesday on its website (http://1.usa.gov/1ev31lr). The group hasn’t met since late July (CD July 25 p14), and stakeholders have been split over whether it can move toward consensus and a code of conduct after talks resume (CD Sept p13). After the November meeting, the group will reconvene Dec. 15. The group had been expected to restart in September, but scheduling conflicts pushed the timeline back, participants told us.

Mojio will introduce a cloud-based device in time for the holiday selling seasons that will let most vehicles manufactured after 1996 become connected cars via AT&T’s wireless network, Mojio said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1riGtYU). The Mojio device plugs into any car’s onboard diagnostic port, which is found on most cars made after 1996. With AT&T’s wireless network connectivity, car owners will be able to locate, monitor and diagnose their car from an iPhone or Android smartphone. Unlike other aftermarket connected car devices, Mojio is built on an open platform that supports an ecosystem “where developers can focus on continually improving the driver experience by creating apps that run on Mojio’s platform,” it said. Third-party apps in development include parking payments, automated trip expensing, simplified car rental and home automation connections, it said. The Mojio device will be available for $149, which includes the first year of service, it said. The second year will cost $4.99 a month, it said.

The Patent and Trademark Office invalidated a patent on smartphone screen rotation held by Rotatable Technologies, said Rackspace Vice President-Intellectual Property Van Lindberg in a Monday blog post (http://bit.ly/1wFYe6h). Rotatable Technologies had sued Rackspace for infringement of the patent, Lindberg said. Instead of settling, Rackspace challenged the patent in an inter partes review at the PTO, a feature recently created after the 2011 passage of the America Invents Act (CD July 31 p9). “This means that Rackspace will not pay one penny to this troll, nor will Apple, Netflix, Electronic Arts, Target, Whole Foods or any of the other companies sued by Rotatable for how they use screen rotation technology in their apps,” Lindberg said. “Without changes in the law we believe that the only way to end the plague of patent trolls is by fighting every troll that comes at us -- and we encourage all others to do the same.” Patent law revamp efforts stalled in 2013 (CD May 23 p3). Rotatable didn’t comment.

MuckRock released a document it said was obtained by a member in which the FBI acknowledged the Tacoma, Washington, Police Department’s use of StingRay cellphone tracking equipment. MuckRack released the copy of a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) between Tacoma and the Justice Department Monday. StingRay devices are cell site simulators, manufactured by Harris, which “trick mobile phones into connecting to a StingRay as if it were a cell tower,” MuckRock said (http://bit.ly/1slLxiJ). “This allows police to determine the cell phone’s location, and thus its owner’s.” The document is heavily redacted, with four of six pages completely blacked out. The FBI requires state and local police to sign an NDA before it can acquire a cellphone eavesdropping and tracking technology, said the FBI letter released through a Freedom of Information Act request by MuckRock, the news site that submits FOIA requests (http://bit.ly/XUNmoG). The document comes from 2012 and shows the FBI asking the Tacoma police to agree to the NDA before acquiring the StingRay tracking technology. According to other FOIA requests made by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the FBI has used StingRay since at least 1995 (http://bit.ly/1mqEX8f). The FBI, Harris and Tacoma police had no immediate comment.

Representatives of Google and Microsoft urged the FCC to adopt technical rules permitting the use of three 801.11af channels in the 600 MHz band following the TV incentive auction, in a series of meetings with commission officials. The companies elaborated on their arguments in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268. The companies urged that the rules allow the operation of Mode 1 and 2 personal/portable unlicensed devices in the duplex gap, the lower guard band and Channel 37, the filing said (http://bit.ly/1uEzbyS). They argued that a database should be allowed to determine unlicensed device operation based on the device’s location-accuracy capabilities so devices with better accuracy can operate in appropriate locations, rather than preserving the current rule, which mandates that all devices establish location within +/- 50 meters. Unlicensed systems should be allowed to determine areas where devices can operate in the broadcast band using both the database and sensing, Google and Microsoft said.

Mobile Future warned the White House against subjecting wireless carriers to the same net neutrality rules imposed on wireline providers, in comments submitted Tuesday to the Obama administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Economic Council’s request for information on an administration innovation strategy. “Subjecting wireless broadband networks to rules that dictate how wired networks are designed and operated would be a mistake,” Mobile Future said (http://bit.ly/1mqZlWL). “It is imperative that the FCC keep this urgent demand-versus-capacity challenge in mind as it considers adding new net neutrality rules to the books. Everyone supports an open Internet. That’s why -- despite the call for more regulation -- not a single formal net neutrality complaint has been filed with the [FCC] since the adoption of its 2010 Open Internet Order.” Mobile Future blasted the possibility of subjecting “the entire mobile ecosystem to Title II regulations written to micromanage the businesses of local telephone monopolies. One can hardly envision a more anti-innovation approach, and the Administration should flatly and publicly reject these extreme calls.” Mobile Future urged the administration to focus on freeing up more spectrum for an expansion of mobile broadband. The Partnership for American Innovation, with Apple, IBM and Microsoft among members, also commented, highlighting the importance of a strong intellectual property system and a properly functioning patent system. “Heated rhetoric often based on the bad behavior of a few patent assertion entities has fueled an environment where a company is demonized for good faith enforcement of its hard-earned, legitimate property rights,” said the partnership (http://bit.ly/Y2AMEn). “The corresponding policy discussions lead our country away from a balanced IP system that enables collaboration and innovation. If this lopsided model of innovation is adopted, we risk creating a system where foreign competitors gain a competitive advantage by patenting their ideas while copying American IP without consequence.”