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May 2009 Archives

May 4, 2009

Memories are made of Russian Dolls

Appropos of nothing, here's something that made me smile. From the Art.Lebedev Studio:

russian doll.jpg

View the full set.

May 5, 2009

Q5 Interview - Indro Mukerjee, C-MAC MicroTechnology

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The latest Q5 is now online, with the CEO of C-MAC MicroTechnology.

Indro Mukerjee talks to Electronics Weekly about how well-equipped the UK electronics industry is to deal with a downturn in 2009, the role of government in supporting the industry, and which areas of the market will offer the best opportunities in 2009.

The five questions this week are:

1. As head of a UK-based electronics design and manufacturing company what do you think will be the main challenges in 2009?

2. Is the UK electronics industry well-equipped to deal with a downturn in 2009?

Continue reading "Q5 Interview - Indro Mukerjee, C-MAC MicroTechnology" »

May 6, 2009

An Engineer in Wonderland - Water tanks, water bottles, and safe insulation

 

An Engineer in Wonderland has a new home. You can find this particular entry here. If you wish to leave a comment, please do that on the new blog.

 

WaterTank.JPGLittle did I know when I was uncharacteristically thorough a couple of months ago and inspected my cold water tank that a world of new materials would be unveiled.

It turned out to be rusted all the way through at one point - if yours is anything like 50 years old, check it tonight.

If you find a patch of rust on the outside, don't even touch it with your fingers.

Once mine was drained, I easily pushed a screwdriver through. There was no metal at all.

Continue reading "An Engineer in Wonderland - Water tanks, water bottles, and safe insulation" »

May 7, 2009

An Engineer in Wonderland - Building a more interesting mouse trap

 

An Engineer in Wonderland has a new home. You can find this particular entry here. If you wish to leave a comment, please do that on the new blog.

 

mouse trap.jpg

There was a drawback to thoroughly removing the nasty old glass insulation from my loft and replacing it with nice safe polyester fluff.

Rodents have moved in.

It may just be a coincidence, but when I took out the mineral wool there were only a couple of birds nests in the loft and not a sign of a mouse.

Now I hear little feet scurrying around at night, and things are starting to get chewed.

Continue reading "An Engineer in Wonderland - Building a more interesting mouse trap" »

May 8, 2009

An Engineer in Wonderland - A neat one-way valve

 

An Engineer in Wonderland has a new home. You can find this particular entry here. If you wish to leave a comment, please do that on the new blog.

 

clappers.jpgI was cheering on some friends at the London Marathon, and for the first time paid some attention to those stick-shaped balloons that kids bang together to make a noise - most litter bins had at least one pair in.

They are made of not-particularly-stretchy plastic - polyethylene I think - and are blown up hard enough to make a noise a bit like a drum - a thankfully quiet drum - when you hit them.

The valve is simply some more of the skin material formed into a tube and stuffed inside one end. The only closing force appears to come from internal air pressure.

Continue reading "An Engineer in Wonderland - A neat one-way valve" »

May 11, 2009

Electronics Weekly on Wikipedia

wiki logo jpg.jpgIt is always great to get a reference in Wikipedia, and over the years Electronics Weekly seems to have built up quite a few.

Just as a quick roundup, here are some Electronics Weekly references to be found in article pages:


Continue reading "Electronics Weekly on Wikipedia" »

May 12, 2009

Pico Tech and Envirowise sign up for EW Live sponsorship

EW Live logo small 200 jpg.jpgPico Technology and Envirowise have announced they will be Associate Sponsors of Electronics Weekly Live, the electronics design "How To" seminar programme and exhibition, which runs 16-18 June at Earls Court 2.

Sponsors of the major UK event now comprise:

Gold Sponsors
Associate Sponsors

Continue reading "Pico Tech and Envirowise sign up for EW Live sponsorship" »

Sony X Series OLED touch screen MP3 player

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An announcement I was keeping my eye on - a new touchscreen MP3 player from Sony.

The electronics giant has just taken the covers off the X Series of their Walkman players.

It's not just the three inch OLED screen that Sony is bigging-up, though - it claims the S-Master Digital Amplifier and Clear Audio technologies make for the best Walkman sound quality so far, and they also claim it is as a world first for an MP3/video player with digital noise cancelling.

Features of the device:

Continue reading "Sony X Series OLED touch screen MP3 player" »

May 14, 2009

How to develop SMP-friendly embedded code

parallel challenge.jpgDont' miss an in-depth feature recently added to the site - How to develop SMP-friendly embedded code.

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the use of multicore devices in the PC market, writes Paul Tingey of Wind River. This trend is now being replicated in the device software environment with dual-core and many-core devices being released by a wide range of silicon vendors.
While these multicore devices clear the way for increased performance, this can only be achieved if software developers adapt the way they write code so that it fully uses the newly realised hardware resources they have available. Here is an outline of the multicore programming "problem" and list five top tips for software developers to prepare themselves for the new "parallel landscape" in front of them.
Here are his 5 tips:

Continue reading "How to develop SMP-friendly embedded code" »

May 18, 2009

Intel unveils world's biggest processor

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Unique process technology sees 300mm wafer make one whopping processor...

A bit of humour for a Monday morning, this one made me laugh, from the ever-funny Onion.





From its News In Photos section: Intel Unveils Oversized Novelty Processor

May 19, 2009

Q5 Interview - Nigel Toon, president and CEO, picoChip

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The latest Q5 interview is now online, with the president and CEO of picoChip, the femtocell silicon specialists.

Nigel Toon talks to Electronics Weekly about the impact femtocells are making on the wireless communictaions market and next generation LTE in particular.

The five questions this week are:

1. What are the growth areas in wireless?

2. Can you comment on the state of the emerging Femtocell market?

Continue reading "Q5 Interview - Nigel Toon, president and CEO, picoChip" »

Power Clinics at NEW / Electronics Weekly LIve

VicorLogo small.jpgCourtesy of Vicor, expert advice covering every stage of product development and all aspects of power design will be freely availble at National Electronics Week / Electronics Weekly Live 2009.

Vicor, a Gold Sponsor of the event, is offering engineers the opportunity to visit their free 'Power Clinic' which will run throughout the show on their stand H49. Engineers from the company will be on hand to answer questions about specific power supply design challenges.

Read the full details, and learn about other workshops and tutorials, by visiting the show's blog. Don;t miss the latest update and information available.

May 20, 2009

An Engineer in Wonderland - Digital gear indicator inspiration

 

An Engineer in Wonderland has a new home. You can find this particular entry here. If you wish to leave a comment, please do that on the new blog.

 

digital gear circuit thumbnail.jpg

Some motorcycles have digital gear indicators, some of which work by grounding one of five contacts depending on what gear you are in - plus one for neutral.

For the record, others use a potentiometer, and some after-market versions calculate the gear after measuring engine revs and wheel speed.

I was googling gear indicators and came across this circuit to interface such switches to a seven segment display. 

It is classical digital approach to the problem, with three logic chips and a regulator.

Continue reading "An Engineer in Wonderland - Digital gear indicator inspiration" »

May 26, 2009

Interactive "Motor-Control" tutorials at EW Live

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Future Electronics has revealed more details of its two interactive "My-TechnologyAuthority" tutorials at Electronics Weekly Live for motor control technology.

These 'live' interactive tutorials will help OEM design engineers gain insight into the functionality of the Future-BLOX systems as well as the devices of two BLOX systems:
•    3-phase BLDC (up to 1KW) in closed or open loop control mode under dynamic load using Fairchild technology.
•    3-phase ACI (up to 1KW) in open and closed loop control mode using International Rectifier technology.

The two available motor control sessions, taking place on each day of the show will offer the following:

Continue reading "Interactive "Motor-Control" tutorials at EW Live" »

May 25, 2009

Q5 Interview - Tony Higgins, Dynamic-EMS

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The latest Q5 industry interview is now online, with the MD of electronic manufacturing service specialists Dynamic-EMS.

Tony Higgins talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity in his OEM customer base, opportunities in the current economic climate, and market growth prospects.

The five questions this week are:

1. What impact is the downturn having on your market?

2. How is design activity in your OEM customer base affected?

Continue reading "Q5 Interview - Tony Higgins, Dynamic-EMS" »

May 27, 2009

An Engineer in Wonderland - Is there a TV with...

 

An Engineer in Wonderland has a new home. You can find this particular entry here. If you wish to leave a comment, please do that on the new blog.

 

histogram.jpg
This is the fourth occasion where the TCE2001 set-top aerial from Telcam has worked for someone I know.

This time it was for Electronics Weekly's bon vivant David Manners, and he was so grateful that he bough me a bottle of Champagne.

Good man.

I first came across the aerial in a Which report and, while I am not claiming it to be a miracle product, it does seem to be a proper broadband log-periodic design that pulls in digital TV signals where there is a good signal. And there is an optional amplifier in the box as well.

Continue reading "An Engineer in Wonderland - Is there a TV with..." »

May 28, 2009

How to choose an LED for lighting

Don't miss another "How To" article that has been posted on the site - Analysis: How to choose an LED for lighting

Written by Jason Ford, technical services manager at Osram, it covers topics such as fine binning for homogeneity and general illumination issues.

It begins:
With developments made in the efficacy of white LEDs in the past few years, LED technology is driving the future of lighting.

Continue reading "How to choose an LED for lighting" »

links for 2009-05-28

About May 2009

This page contains all entries posted to Electro-ramblings in May 2009. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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