Blogs
Solar-powered everything!
March 25, 2013 3:14 pm | by Chris Rendall, Mechanical Engineer, PCDworks | CommentsI’ve heard for years that “soon we’ll have solar panels on everything.” To be honest, I’ve never paid much attention to the hype because these magical solar panels that can fit on and inside everything never seemed to materialize commercially, or if they did they were always way too expensive for the everyday consumer, or maybe just for me.
Will a via fit between?
March 25, 2013 12:58 pm | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsI don't know that it would be accurate to say that BGA's have ever been easy, but with 0.4mm pitch being common and 0.3mm pitch showing up, some of the older size, like a WHOLE millimeter pitch seem positively spacious....
Nuclear power: The future of human civilization
March 25, 2013 10:23 am | by Tom Ligon, Technical Contributor | CommentsThis is not an article about the environment. This is not an article about oil. This is an article about the long-term future of human civilization. Are you with me so far? Are you in favor of human civilization having a future, not just for another hundred years, but for thousands ... tens of thousands?
The best way to improve distributors, according to engineers
March 22, 2013 4:43 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsHow do you deal with distributors? Distribution is a key aspect of the engineering process, and it's important to choose the right distributor. You need dependibility, reliability and transperency to make the relationship between distributor and manufacturer work.
NYC's terrible subway map idea
March 22, 2013 11:46 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsSometimes ideas that seem well-intentioned (in theory) actually fall somewhere in the realm of “worst idea ever” when it comes to real-life implementation. This includes ideas like holograms in the airport or QR codes for remote real estate signs (or using QR codes for anything at all, ever).
Soldering and other tools
March 22, 2013 9:17 am | by M. Simon, Technical Contributor | CommentsI don't have a lot to say today. I'm busy on the bench building things. But I have come across a few good tools and soldering helpers, so I thought I'd provide a few links. Harbor Freight has a couple of good items. Yes. I know it is easy to buy junk there, which is why I thought I'd mention these two items.
Level the playing field between retailers and e-tailers
March 20, 2013 9:38 am | by Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring | CommentsAs a former local elected official, I know that tax revenues need to come from somewhere and that they should be levied on as fair a basis as possible. It’s a delicate balance, one that does not come easily. Government must be responsible in its spending and should not abuse its authority to effect change in the marketplace....
Fighting to reclaim manufacturing in America
March 19, 2013 1:34 pm | by Kristopher Settle, Energy Curtailment Specialists | CommentsAmerican manufacturing is battling for its vitality right now. Yes, the industry is still a global juggernaut; producing 18.2 percent of all manufactured goods, which tops the list globally (still over half a percent more than China).
Can 10 million people be wrong?
March 19, 2013 1:17 pm | by Mark Schmit, Manager, Strategic Partnerships, SelectUSA | CommentsLast month, Hasbro Inc. missed a golden opportunity to immortalize the importance of our country’s manufacturing sector ... especially with the renaissance the sector is currently experiencing. Hasbro ran a Facebook-driven poll to elect a new game icon to be included in all new editions of the game Monopoly, an All-American game if there ever was one.
Technology forces your teen to stop texting and driving
March 19, 2013 12:19 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsEveryone knows texting (or Redditing or Facebooking or Tweeting) while driving is a bad idea, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it. It’s pretty easy to justify if it’s “just a quick text to my mom” or “a quick peek at my email.” It’s just as easy to end up in an accident because you were distracted.
An itch for telecom reform
March 18, 2013 5:00 pm | by Brian Santo, Editor-in-Chief, CED magazine | CommentsMore than two decades after the Cable Act of 1992, and almost that long since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it appears that the sentiment that it’s time for wide-ranging, substantive telecom reform is beginning to coalesce among legislators.
Mourning the death of Google Reader (and finding a suitable replacement)
March 18, 2013 3:40 pm | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | CommentsLike many of you, I was shocked, dismayed, and several other adjectives upon learning that Google Reader will soon go kaput. As a journalist, I sift through copious amounts of content daily, and it would be no exaggeration to say that Google Reader makes my job exponentially simpler, so I took its demise rather hard.
Unleashing engineering creativity: The Kano model
March 18, 2013 2:32 pm | by Joe Berk, Principal Member, Eogogics Engineering Faculty | CommentsHow do we decide which features to include in new products? That’s a great question. If we miss important features or include unnecessary features, customers will reject our products. If we include unexpected and exciting features, though, we can delight customers and jump ahead of the competition.
Lady brains: Dumbing down technology for women
March 15, 2013 3:53 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsManufacturers are constantly trying to find ways to appeal specifically to women. The justification is often that their product—be it pens, cars, or toys—sells with men, but they’re trying to attract more women. It’s a logical thought process: figure out what a demographic wants, market those specific traits, sell more product.
Green energy pirates
March 15, 2013 9:26 am | by M. Simon, Technical Contributor | CommentsI got an e-mail from a friend recently railing against what he called (loosely translated by me) "Green Energy Pirates". Let me quote one sentence from his e-mail. "There is a whole slew of companies that move from subsidy to subsidy globally and then abandon 'green projects' when the subsidies dry up."
