Blogs
Reliable Assembly
September 28, 2012 10:58 am | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsFor those of you at my PCB West session on the 27th, thanks for attending. Here's the final presentation as delivered: Download PCBwest2012 DuaneBenson ReliableManf Duane Benson
Make the Grade -- and Save -- with ENERGY STAR®
September 27, 2012 1:58 pm | by Energy Savers Blog | Comments
The emergency worker’s best friend: A backpack that maps
September 27, 2012 9:07 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsEmergency workers risk their lives to keep us safe, and they’re often walking into situations essentially blind. If they run into a problem, they have only primitive ways of warning those coming in behind them. But, with the help of the researchers, the days of flying blind may be coming to a rapid end.
Toyota Human Support Robot
September 25, 2012 7:33 pm | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsToyota continues to develop their partner robot initiative. Demographics in Japan make a compelling case for the need to provide solutions to those who need assistance to support independent living. The aim is to contribute to the maintenance and improvement … Continue reading →
Did a massive comet explode over Canada 12,900 years ago and start an ice age?
September 22, 2012 11:07 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsI think it is important to increase scientific literacy. One thing that is greatly misunderstood is the process for new scientific explanations being accepted by the scientific community. It is often quite a drawn out process over years (and for … Continue reading →
Coming Soon!
September 20, 2012 5:56 pm | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsIf you happened by our booth at DesignEast, you may have gotten a personal preview of our new automated parts quoting system. If you didn't get to see it, you will shortly. It's in the final stages of beta. This...
Via in big pads
September 20, 2012 5:32 pm | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsThe answer to the question: "is it ever okay to put open vias in BGA pads?" is simply No. It's no, no, no, no, not ever!!! That makes it easy. No technique to worry about. No tolerances. Nothing. Just don't put an exposed via in a BGA pad. The only option is between the pads...
Key Indicator for Malignant Melanoma Found
September 20, 2012 5:43 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsSkin cancer detection breakthrough The researchers found that certain biochemical elements in the DNA of normal pigment-producing skin cells and benign mole cells are absent in melanoma cells. Loss of these methyl groups — known as 5-hmC — in skin … Continue reading →
Your dollars are blowing in the wind and burning in the sun
September 19, 2012 10:41 am | by M. Simon | CommentsMy last column on alternative energy, A blow to wind energy, evoked more than a few complaints. For an engineering magazine writer a number of people thought that I was light on the numbers. So lets do some numbers. For that we will need a baseline. What is the cost of electrical energy in America these days? The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average cost of electricity in the US is 13.5cents per kilowatt hour.
Carbon-based logic
September 18, 2012 9:14 am | by M. Simon | CommentsPhysics World reports some spectacular advances in turning graphene-based semiconductors into real-world logic chips. Graphene will do some real good for us logic guys because of its carrier mobility. It is over 140 times that of silicon. Plus its heat conductivity is about 10x that of metals like copper and aluminum, and its resistivity is about 2/3rds that of copper at room temperature.
Science Explained: Cool Video of ATP Synthase, Which Provides Usable Energy to Us
September 17, 2012 3:30 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsThis webcast shows animations of ATP synthase structure and the mechanism for synthesizing ATP. Biology is incredibly cool. Too bad they didn’t have stuff like this when I was in school, instead biology was mainly about memorizing boring lists of … Continue reading →
Open innovation: From its beginning to today
September 14, 2012 12:18 pm | by Ed Bernstein, President, Industrial Research Institute | CommentsIn our constantly changing world, corporations find themselves continually adapting to new trends and technologies, and often reinventing themselves to remain relevant. In fact, with our changing global business environment, staying the course is not an option if today’s businesses want to remain viable and competitive.
Do you have what it takes to be a Roundtable expert?
September 14, 2012 9:58 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsWe asked you for your words of wisdom for a brand-new design engineer and boy, did you guys have advice in spades. The responses we received were so good in fact, we’ve decided to open up our November Roundtables to our faithful readers in hopes that you can offer more words of wisdom. Check out the October Roundtable, here.
Doing the math
September 14, 2012 9:49 am | by M. Simon | CommentsFor all you random number lovers there is some excellent documentation on the www about linear feed back shift registers. LFSRs are a way to produce quasi random numbers without too much effort. Why quasi random? Well one number is excluded (all ones or all zeroes) depending in whether you use the XNOR or XOR function for computing your random number.
