Blogs
Making Engineering a Desirable Career Choice
September 17, 2010 5:19 am | by Chris Forbes, CEO, Knovel (www.why.knovel.com) | Blogs | CommentsAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first members of the Baby Boom generation will reach the age of 65 by 2011. As they begin to retire, there’s an increased concern that this transition will create an alarming skill gap in the engineering community.
Half-Bridge Control ICs Simplify SMPS Design
September 16, 2010 10:17 am | International Rectifier | Product Releases | CommentsInternational Rectifier today introduced the industry’s first 8-pin resonant half-bridge control ICs for energy efficient Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) used in LCD televisions and monitors, home theater systems, desktop computers, printers and game console applications.
Energy 108 – Solar Cells II
September 16, 2010 5:14 am | by Prof. Ken Johnson | Blogs | CommentsPerhaps you have wanted to do your part to promote the end of fossil fuels and thought about having a photo-voltaic (PV) system installed on your new home. Frankly, that is a dream mostly created in you by very devious, but typical, Ruling Class politicians who are always out there dangling a carrot...
CAN Controller Features Integrated Transceiver
September 15, 2010 6:24 am | Holt Integrated Circuits | Product Releases | CommentsHolt Integrated Circuits today announced a Controller Area Network (CAN) solution for the industrial market. The device is the world' first CAN controller with integrated transceiver and meets the requirements of both ISO 11898-1:2003(E) (CAN protocol) and ISO 11898-5 (CAN transceiver).
MCU Inherently Operates at 0.9V, Enables Multiple Apps to Run from a Single Cell Battery
September 14, 2010 1:45 pm | Product Releases | CommentsTexas Instruments announced what is said to be the industry’s first true 0.9-V microcontroller (MCU). The MSP430L092 MCU inherently operates at 0.9-V, including the entire analog and digital logic.
Avnet and Bourns Celebrate 45 Years of Partnership
September 14, 2010 12:57 pm | by Ed Smith, President, Avnet Electronics (www.avnet.com) | Blogs | CommentsI’ve been in this industry a long time and while we are all clearly focused on the innovations of tomorrow, it’s nice to see where we’ve come from.
Cellular Usage Around the World
September 14, 2010 7:35 am | Blogs | CommentsIt is fascinating how cellular usage varies around the world, its impact on emerging economies, and how that drives economic growth and improves lives.
Consumer rights: Court rules against used software sales
September 13, 2010 10:42 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsThe 9th Circuit of Appeals has reaffirmed the right of software companies to circumvent the first-sale doctrine by “licensing” rather then “selling” its products. The significance of this ruling cannot be overstated—it could singlehandedly destroy the used software market.
Cortex-A15 processor runs at up to 2.5GHz
September 9, 2010 6:14 am | Product Releases | CommentsARM today introduced the Cortex-A15 MPCore processor that delivers a 5x performance improvement over today’s advanced smartphone processors, within a comparable energy footprint. In advanced infrastructure applications the Cortex-A15 processor running at up to 2.5GHz...
“Grey Eagle” UAS to deploy to Afghanistan
September 8, 2010 7:58 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsWeaponized versions of the MQ-1C “Grey Eagle” Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) will begin deploying to Afghanistan in the fall. Formerly known as the Sky Warrior, Grey Eagle is the Army’s answer to the Predator. In recent tests at the National Training Center, the Grey Eagle’s on-board laser designator performed flawlessly.
Wi-Fi and Femtocells
September 7, 2010 7:47 am | by Rupert Baines, picoChip (www.picochip.com) | Blogs | CommentsAlthough it is tempting to portray technology discussions as “battles” with a winner and loser, more often they will co-exist with technologies serving different needs at different times.
Interning to the next level
August 30, 2010 8:17 am | by Lauren DeStefano, Editorial Intern | Articles | CommentsMy name is Lauren DeStefano and I am going to be a senior at William Paterson University. I have been interning for the past two months with ECN Magazine. Applying to internships was a tedious process. It’s hard to keep track of all the resumes and cover letters I sent to various companies.
Drones to be equipped with HD cameras?
August 30, 2010 7:17 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsThe Consumer Electronics industry is already discussing glasses-free 3D televisions. But for Airmen monitoring drone feeds, they’re forced to stare at grainy, SD video. Yet according to a piece in the Air Force Times, the times they are a-changin’—the military may soon have HD cameras on drones.
To boldly go where no dilettante has gone before
August 27, 2010 8:03 am | by Alix Paultre, Editor-in-Chief | Articles | CommentsOnce Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites announced the maiden flight of SpaceShipTwo, it was only a matter of time before Virgin Galactic would start selling tickets to space in earnest. This is great news for the development of commercial space, representing the first private steps into a new frontier.
Lockheed Martin receives “contract modification” for F-22
August 25, 2010 6:13 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsLockheed Martin announced that it had received a $111.4 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for the 2010 Follow-On Agile Sustainment for the Raptor (FASTeR) sustainment contract. FASTeR entails support for the F-22 fleet, including training systems, customer support, integrated support planning, supply chain management, aircraft modifications and heavy maintenance...
Tinker’s Toolbox - Talking about Standards
August 25, 2010 5:10 am | Podcasts | CommentsIn this episode of the Tinker’s Toolbox podcast, we talk about Standards and regulation, and their impact on the design community
Get off the fence on net neutrality
August 24, 2010 9:49 am | by Chris Warner, Executive Editor | Articles | CommentsSince I last wrote about Net Neutrality, things have gone from unsettling to downright precarious. On August 9, when many Americans were on vacation, Verizon and Google announced “A joint policy proposal for an open internet,” which was breathtaking in its brazenness and frightening in scope.
Oh the Places you'll go!
August 23, 2010 10:45 am | by Lauren DeStefano, Assistant Editor | Blogs | CommentsCheck-in, tag, and venues are just a few key words that you’ll need to know to use Facebook’s new feature, Places. This feature allows users to update where they are and what they are doing...
Energy 107 – Solar Cells I
August 23, 2010 4:49 am | by Ken Johnson | Blogs | CommentsThis episode pertains to a different kind of solar energy electric power generator, the Photovoltaic Cell (PV), commonly called ‘solar cells’. But before we embark on that subject, a reference was made in the reader Comments of the last episode (ENERGY 106), about another Solar Thermal Energy system...
New government mandate: FM chips in all mobile phones
August 18, 2010 7:04 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsFor years, radio broadcasters and artists have duked it out over performance rights. Enter the highly-contentious Performance Rights Act, which would expand copyright law to include all public performances of copyrighted sound recordings. And it’s gotten even wilder: an amendment would mandate that all mobile phones contain FM radio chips.
Israel approves purchase of F-35
August 16, 2010 7:27 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsAs reported by Defense Talk, Israel has agreed to purchase 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in a deal worth an estimated 2.75 billion dollars. At $96 million a piece, this would be the most expensive weapons deal ever signed by Israel. As the Swiss Army Knife of fighter jets, and the bulwark of the free world for the next 40 years (not to sound hyperbolic)...
Airmen enhance F-15E capabilities with helmet-mounted cueing system
August 13, 2010 9:11 am | by Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore, 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs | Blogs | CommentsThe concept is like something out of a movie -- the ability to find a target from a jet cockpit with the naked eye and lock onto it simply by fixing your gaze upon it. This science fiction concept has become a reality at the 336th Fighter Squadron.
The future, according to Michio Kaku
August 11, 2010 7:01 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsWhen Michio Kaku speaks, people listen. The theoretical physicist boasts an impressive resume: B.S. from Harvard, Ph.D. from Berkeley, co-creator of string field theory, best-selling author, and radio host. And so it came to pass that on the third day of NI Week, Dr. Kaku regaled the masses with his earthly wisdom.
Common ground
August 9, 2010 5:31 am | by Alix Paultre, Editorial Director | Articles | CommentsI recently came across an interesting news item in Wired about how the EU was adopting the Universal Charging Solution (UCS) cell-phone power interface. USB has been a kind of power lingua franca for smart phones, but that ubiquitous interface is burdened by a plethora of connector styles.
Air Force experiments with ''gesture recognition'' technology
July 29, 2010 10:09 am | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Blogs | CommentsWired has a piece discussing the Air Force Research Laboratory’s experiments with motion sense technology. Using a device similar to Nintendo’s “Power Glove”, the folks over at Wright Patterson AFB feel that “gesture recognition” can help fly planes. According to the labs, “Warfighter productivity is limited by the need to operate equipment via physical keys, switches, and buttons...
