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February 2010 Archives

February 1, 2010

An Engineer in Wonderland - Incongruous components lurk in my calculator

 

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.

 

Calculator out tiny2.JPGI had to take a calculator apart this weekend, and inside I found a glass-package diode and an led with no light path to the outside world.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 1, 2010 11:16 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

February 2, 2010

How to best integrate 3G technology with embedded devices

We've updated our How To series of engineering guides. The newest addition is the feature article How to add 3G radio to embedded devices

Written by Stephen Wampler, Wireless Product Manager, and Mike Cannon, Solution Architect with consulting specialists Bsquare, it covers the key decisions to help you best integrate 3G technology with your existing hardware and software. In five steps.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 2, 2010 10:15 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 3, 2010

Certification & Test: How am I going to test that?

HMS Dauntless.jpg This post is by Graham Andrews, Analysis Commercial Manager at TRaC.

I've heard engineers say that the test and certification industry is dull, simply requiring the latest consumer item to be plugged into a standard test rig, but although there can be some repetition in the job, much of what we do is new, interesting and challenging.

A recent project involved testing the impressive Sampson Radar that BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies developed for HMS Dauntless, one of six new Type 45 destroyers which will provide the backbone of the UK's naval air defences for the next three decades.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 3, 2010 10:21 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 4, 2010

Weird & Wireless: Best way to connect iPods for car audio

iPod classic.jpgWelcome again to the wonderful but sometimes weird world of wireless comms, written by Joel Young, CTO of Digi International.


What is the best way to connect an iPod into my car's audio system?

Okay, I admit it, I'm cheap.  I don't like overspending.  I always like to try to do things myself or get by piecing some lower-cost, good-enough solution together.   

So I don't drive a fancy new car with a dedicated connection for an iPod (or other portable music player).    

Most new cars today have a nice little port for connecting a music player.  Some even come with a fancy docking station built in.  Even with the cash for clunkers program, I couldn't justify to myself the need for a new vehicle.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 4, 2010 3:13 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

February 5, 2010

Picture Gallery - Rebuilding the WITCH computer

Rebuilding the Witch 200.jpgA new Picture Gallery has been added to our index - a look behind the scenes at the Witch restoration project in The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.

As well as the key people involved, there is a look at the old days of WITCH in action, in Wolverhampton, and

The Witch arrived at Bletchely in remarkably good condition after more than three decades of storage. Project manager Tony Frazer said, 'We have assembled the frame and it now looks just as it did in its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. Our first task is to see what we can do with the power supply - we dare not just switch things on as time will have taken a toll on the chemistry and physics of the unit'

View the Rebuilding the WITCH computer picture gallery

View all Electronics Weekly PhotoGalleries

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 5, 2010 11:55 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 8, 2010

Q5 Interview - Rich Beyer, Freescale Semiconductor

Rich Beyer, Freescale SemiconductorThe latest Q5 interview is now online - with the CEO of Freescale Semiconductor.

Rich Beyer talks to Electronics Weekly about the automotive market, the QorIQ multicore processor and new microcontrollers...

The five questions are:

1. What level of upturn do you see in the market?

2. Has your business strategy changed post-recession?

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 8, 2010 11:42 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An Engineer in Wonderland - More push button bistables

 

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.

 

More push by Mike thumb.JPGFollowing my trials and tribulations with seemingly-simple push button bistables, Mike M contacted me with some simpler ideas to the same end.

The application demands that two selectable leds to replace one, with any added circuit drawing power from across the driven led.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 8, 2010 4:15 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

February 10, 2010

Certification & Test: A new blog

certification and test 70 70.jpgWe are very happy to announce a new blog in Electronics Weekly's portfolio - Certification & Test.

It covers the inside track on testing and certification services, ranging from telecoms & radio and environmental, through to analysis, safety and EMC, and it is written by experts from the test and certification specialists TRaC.

Regular readers of the Wednesday post will now find them in their new home. Simply bookmark the blog.

And don't forget, if you want the posts to come to you, nice and simple, use the RSS feed for the blog, in the feed reader of your choice (for example Firefox).

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 10, 2010 11:46 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 11, 2010

Weird & Wireless: Microsoft versus Apple

Apple iPhone range small.jpgWelcome again to the wonderful but sometimes weird world of wireless comms, written by Joel Young, CTO of Digi International.

Did the world's axial tilt just change?

As far as I know and after surveying the world's top scientists, there is no evidence of any kind of recent shift of the earth's axial tilt. Yet, I understand why people everywhere may be wondering about this.

From my own recent experience, something in the world has recently changed. Being a person in my mid 40s, my professional career has lived through the evolution of Microsoft Windows.

As such, from Windows 3.1.1 to Windows 95/97 to Windows NT to Windows ME to Windows 2000 to Windows XP and the curse of Windows Vista, I, like many, have become accustomed to learning how to kill locked up applications with task manager, the need for the daily reboot and the benefit of the cleaning reinstall to clean up my system.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 11, 2010 11:39 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 16, 2010

Power Zone launches

ew-powerzone-mpu-IR x 100.jpgFor the latest on power components, and design towards energy efficiency, thermal management, and size reduction, make sure you are in the Electronics Weekly Power Zone. Check out our brand new section.

Yes, the Electronics Weekly Power Zone has launched, in association with International Rectifier, and you can bookmark this URL: www.electronicsweekly.com/power-zone

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 16, 2010 1:53 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 18, 2010

Weird & Wireless: What is the coolest and most practical math equation?

Welcome again to the wonderful but sometimes weird world of wireless comms, written by Joel Young, CTO of Digi International.

I know that many of you will look at the topic of the blog and give a big "ick" or some other guttural sound that I don't know how to spell. To you, I offer my sympathy. Of course, for the rest of you that choose to read on, you may be wondering what in the world this topic has to do with a wireless blog.

For you, I confess that my mind has been rejuvenated by what I will term cool math thoughts and the direct tie to wireless will need to be made clear in a future blog due to the length limitations placed upon me by the curators of the blog. For you, I request your patience.

Recently the eldest of my four sons went off to college. As a freshman at Arizona State, he has declared a major in math and psychology.

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Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com on February 18, 2010 9:11 AM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

About February 2010

This page contains all entries posted to Electro-ramblings in February 2010. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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