Blogs
Giving thanks
November 21, 2012 9:12 am | by M. Simon | CommentsM. Simon, freelance writer extraordinaire, shares some of the things he's thankful for this holiday. "A few of the things I'm thankful for this holiday. In quasi random order": Atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Thomas Edison and his assistant Nikola Tesla....
What I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving
November 20, 2012 11:46 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | CommentsIt's that special time of year when we all get bloated from eating too much turkey, get into fist fights at Best Buy over that last doorbuster sale, and enjoy Christmas music that started in June. But there is much to be thankful for, and it goes far beyond my propensity for Holiday-induced mayhem.
Parrots Given “Names” by Their Parents and Use Them Throughout Their Lives
November 18, 2012 10:27 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsParrots learn their ‘names’ from their parents Parrots, which have long amused us for their ability to imitate our vocal patterns, actually learn to caw their “names” from their parents, says a new Cornell study. The research offers the first … Continue reading →
Trending at electronica: More from less
November 16, 2012 11:51 am | by Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director | CommentsOkay, so it’s no surprise that the engineering community is continuing to be taxed by a need to shrink both the number of components housed on the board as well as the size of them. So it’s been great to see how a number of semiconductor, power supply, and connector companies are working to provide these solutions.
The future of nanotechnology is now
November 16, 2012 8:57 am | by M. Simon | CommentsI count several popular science fiction writers as friends. I share a political/whimsey blog with one of them, Sarah Hoyt. I was visiting Sarah's personal blog, and the question of the future of nanotechnology — given the upcoming fiscal cliff — came up in the comments. Sarah was of the opinion that the technology would be delayed indefinitely.
Raspberry Pi, Android accessory access, a Smarter Zeus and 48-Volt Systems ... someday
November 15, 2012 1:47 pm | by Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director | CommentsMy first trip to electronica has proven both awesome and challenging. Awesome in the number of new technologies that are on display; challenging in navigating a show that is so expansive. Awesome in how much I love Munich; challenging in that my body is not loving the amount of bier being consumed.
BOM process
November 15, 2012 9:55 am | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsAll of this talk about BOMs these days, (all of my talk, that is), kind of begs the question of how BOMs are put together. An Excel spreadsheet seems to be the most common "BOM management" tool in use today....
It's about time: Timing and frequency issues in engineering
November 13, 2012 9:30 am | by M. Simon | CommentsTime and timing have been long term interests of mine. Especially so since I got my start measuring tenths of a nanosecond in 1967. I was looking around the www for information on time and frequency and came across a group of amateurs interested in time standards. One of the favorites of these amateurs is buying surplus rubidium clocks on ebay and bringing them to life.
Speaking of reference designators...
November 13, 2012 9:25 am | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsIn my prior post about BOMs, I gave a few examples of reference designator formats in the BOM. BOMs are a common item that have standards but no standards as are reference designators. There are actually a number of standards....
BOMs away
November 12, 2012 1:45 pm | by Screaming Circuits | CommentsYes, I'm talking about BOMs (bills of materials), not bombs. That would be silly and irrelevant. At least mostly irrelevant. If you make bombs, it wouldn't be, but it would probably be all secret so we couldn't talk about it....
Smoking Bans at Work and Public Places Result in Significant Drops in Hospitalization for Heart Attacks, Strokes and Asthma.
November 12, 2012 2:50 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsLaws that end smoking at work and other public places result in significantly fewer hospitalizations for heart attacks, strokes, asthma and other respiratory conditions, a new UCSF analysis has found. The research provides evidence that smoke-free laws that cover workplaces, … Continue reading →
Companies I enjoy doing business with
November 9, 2012 9:20 am | by M. Simon | CommentsMy very old Ungar 8800 soldering stand had a cracked ceramic iron holder from decades of use/misuse. So I went looking for Ungar on the www. They are no longer with us. But I found that they are now owned by Weller....
Cancer Cells in Blind Mole Rats ‘commit suicide’
November 6, 2012 6:19 pm | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | CommentsCancer cells in blind mole rats ‘commit suicide’ Blind mole rats don’t get cancer, and geneticists have worked out why — their cells kill themselves with a poisonous protein when they multiply too much. Blind mole rats, which live in … Continue reading →
They are bringing back tubes
November 6, 2012 5:50 pm | by M. Simon | CommentsYes, tubes are coming back. No, not the thermionic space bottles of my youth. These are a different kind of tube. Made of small bits of graphene. Carbon nanotubes. IBM reports on their progress in the area. And it is amazing.
Eldercare robots
November 6, 2012 5:08 pm | by Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report | CommentsIn December, 2003, BusinessWeek Magazine interviewed Joseph Engelberger, the robotics pioneer. The article was entitled "How Robots Lost Their Way." Included in the article was a plea for money to build an eldercare robot which Engelberger thought could be built with then-current technologies...
