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Kickstarter of the Week: Turn your smartphone into a laptop
May 21, 2013 1:57 pm | Videos | Comments
Today on PD&D's Kickstarter of the Week, we use the Casetop from Livi Designs to turn our Smartphones into a Laptop. From the bottom up, the Casetop is simply a dock for your smartphone, turning it from a handheld device into a fully functional laptop. The Casetop is compatible with any Smartphone that has a video out option and Bluetooth....
Evolution of light sensor integration
May 21, 2013 10:59 am | by Darrell Benke, Sr. Marketing Manager, Opto Sensors and Lighting, ams AG | Articles | Comments
Light sensing technology, in the form of photodiodes and phototransistors, was invented around...
Lower healthcare costs could mean less human interaction
May 20, 2013 3:23 pm | by Stephanie Carmichael, Contributor | Blogs | Comments
For those who live alone, good medical care is all the more important. The machine-to-machine (...
Fire human resources
May 20, 2013 10:31 am | by M. Simon, Technical Contributor | Blogs | Comments
Management Consultant Dave Logan at CBS Moneywatch is warning companies to avoid falling in love...
What steps are necessary to keep counterfeit components out of the supply chain?
May 21, 2013 3:36 pm | Articles | CommentsWhat steps are necessary to keep counterfeit components out of the supply chain? Are more industry standards needed? Stop having unrealistic pricing expectations. Understand and qualify quality vendors of all kinds. Allocations and obsolescence are part of our industry, we have to identify a realistic market price to ensure the vendors we trust and work with can meet our needs without sacrificing quality.
Reference design delivers ultra-wideband Doherty amplifiers
May 21, 2013 3:29 pm | Nxp Semiconductors | Product Releases | CommentsNXP Semiconductors N.V. announced the availability of its ultra-wideband Doherty reference design using the BLF884P and BLF884PS – asserted to be the industry’s first wideband Doherty power amplifiers capable of broadband operation (470 MHz to 806 MHz). The new 70-W DVB-T LDMOS designs
ITO coatings provide optical and electrically conductive properties
May 21, 2013 3:06 pm | Product Releases | CommentsUtilizing the latest in thin-film vacuum deposition technology, Dontech’s CAR-Series and VC1-IM-Series index-matched ITO coatings on glass filters provide exceptional optical and electrically conductive properties. For high-end display programs, CAR-Series coatings are index-matched to air and VC1-IM-Series coatings are index-matched to lamination to optimize display contrast....
Power supply offerings include multiple volt/amp combinations up to 1200 W
May 21, 2013 2:55 pm | B&K Precision Corporation | Product Releases | CommentsB&K Precision expands its DC system power supply offerings with the introduction of the model 9115 multi-range programmable DC power source. The 9115 can deliver up to 1200 W in multiple combinations of voltage up to 80 V and current up to 60 A. With a high density, compact 1U form factor and standard 19" rack-mountable design...
DC-DC converter series provides efficiencies up to 89 percent
May 21, 2013 2:38 pm | Mornsun America LLC | Product Releases | CommentsMORNSUN launched its 4200VDC Isolated 20W DC-DC converter URF series which is aimed at applications which require high isolation such as electric power monitoring systems & medical equipment. With high power of up to 20W, the unit satisfies the demand of an extended load in one system with efficiency up to 89%.
Iron-platinum alloys could be new-generation hard drives
May 21, 2013 1:30 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsMeeting the demand for more data storage in smaller volumes means using materials made up of ever-smaller magnets, or nanomagnets. One promising material for a potential new generation of recording media is an alloy of iron and platinum with an ordered crystal structure.
UC Davis engineers create on-wetting fabric drains sweat
May 21, 2013 1:24 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsWaterproof fabrics that whisk away sweat could be the latest application of microfluidic technology developed by bioengineers at the University of California, Davis. The new fabric works like human skin, forming excess sweat into droplets that drain away by themselves, said inventor Tingrui Pan, professor of biomedical engineering.
Entrepreneurs need to balance risk of persisting with payoff of succeeding
May 21, 2013 1:16 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsIn a new business, sometimes the better part of wisdom is knowing when to quit, a new study concludes. Even though persistence is a key to business success, entrepreneurs might be more successful if they not only knew when to start a business and take risks, but also knew when to abandon it and find something that provides a greater opportunity....
Army Ground Combat Systems adopts Sandia tool for choosing future warfighting vehicles
May 21, 2013 1:09 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsImagine trying to solve this complex problem: You have to modernize a fleet of combat vehicles, such as tanks, tracked howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles, choosing from among more than 50 ways to update them to meet future threats. Each modernization option can be configured differently to meet a variety of missions around the globe.
£1 million project to produce safer oxygen
May 21, 2013 1:05 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsA SAFE way to use oxygen during chemical processes would bring enormous economic benefits to manufacturers in fields such as pharmaceuticals. But the high flammability of oxygen means that the risks often outweigh the advantages. Now a University of Huddersfield professor (pictured) is to collaborate in a £1 million project which aims to unlock the potential of oxygen.
Building a better team -- on Mars
May 21, 2013 12:55 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsSometime in the next quarter-century, NASA plans to send the first humans to Mars, a mission that will push the boundaries of teamwork for a handful of astronauts who will spend as long as three years together in a tiny capsule. A Michigan State University project, now wrapping up its third year, aims to arm the crew....
New study finds blind people have the potential to use their 'inner bat' to locate objects
May 21, 2013 12:48 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsNew research from the University of Southampton has shown that blind and visually impaired people have the potential to use echolocation, similar to that used by bats and dolphins, to determine the location of an object. The study, which is published in the journal Hearing Research, examined how hearing, and particularly the hearing of echoes, could help blind people with spatial awareness and navigation.
New study recommends using active videogaming ('exergaming') to improve children's health
May 21, 2013 12:45 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsLevels of physical inactivity and obesity are very high in children, with fewer than 50% of primary school-aged boys and fewer than 28% of girls meeting the minimum levels of physical activity required to maintain health. Exergaming, using active console video games that track player movement to control the game (e.g., Xbox-Kinect, Wii), has become popular....
Fueling fitness on the final frontier
May 21, 2013 12:43 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsThink keeping in shape is an uphill battle? Try staying fit in space, where living quarters are cramped and prolonged weightlessness withers muscle and bone. That's the challenge a group of Michigan State University researchers will address with a new three-year, $1.2 million grant from NASA.
High court upholds FCC power in cell tower disputes
May 21, 2013 12:40 pm | News | CommentsThe Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of federal regulators to try to speed local government decisions on proposals to build or expand cell phone towers. The court voted 6-3 Monday to uphold an appeals court ruling in favor the Federal Communications Commission.
