485 results found for Editorial, displaying items 1 - 20
June 25, 2009 Web 3.0 Promises New Ways To Analyze And Share Data
Just when you thought it was safe to navigate the social media seas of the Web, along comes the next big wave. Dubbed Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web, these ideas promise new ways to create, massage, analyze, and share data. At the recent Web 3.0 Conference in New York City, I got a taste of what’s to come and thought about how some of these ideas might be useful to the design engineering community. VISITING CALAIS During his...
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Joseph Desposito
June 18, 2009 How Do We Get Out Of This Mess? Try New Ideas
Life if full of unassailable assumed truths, and it’s an often disturbing but always constructive exercise to challenge them. Let’s start by questioning an easy one from everyday life: are you a good driver? Your instinctive answer is undoubtedly yes, and you would receive the same answer from anyone else you ask. But there are obviously loads of hopeless drivers on the roads. It just so happens that you, or anyone that’s asked, isn’t one of...
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Joseph Desposito
June 11, 2009 Prototyping Electronic Circuits The EZ Way
SchmartBoard has announced that patent 7,511,228 has been granted for the company’s “EZ” technology for hand-soldering surface-mount technology (SMT) electronic components (see the figure). This brought to mind a SchmartBoard demo I once participated in at an EDS trade show. The company was betting that anyone could solder a tiny chip to a board in a matter of seconds with its new technique. I’m...
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Joseph Desposito
May 21, 2009 The E-mail “Bag” Offers Some Interesting Components Tidbits
To commemorate our second annual Top 101 Components report, I read through some of the hundreds of e-mails I get on a daily basis for information related to the kinds of components we typically cover in the Electronic Design Products section, which appears every other issue. Let’s start with resistors. Vishay recently introduced streaming video comparisons of different types of resistors on its Web site....
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Joseph Desposito
May 7, 2009 Building A Science Park South Of The Border Down Mexico Way
I remember listening to a catchy tune when I was a youngster called “South of the Border (Down Mexico Way).” It told the tale of a cowboy who fell in love with a Mexican gal. This song came to mind recently when I interviewed D.J. Hill, CEO of Silicon Border. D. J. is passionate about something in Mexico as well, but not a girl. He envisions manufacturing in North America, just south of the border, in a place called Mexicali in Baja California,...
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Joseph Desposito
April 23, 2009 Thin Is In At The Embedded Systems Conference, At Least For Energy Cells
Whenever I’m at a conference, I’m frequently asked for my opinion about the “best of show.” Since I know this question is coming, I try to be prepared with a really great product or technology. At the recent Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, I thought the best of show was the Thinergy micro energy cell (MEC) from Infinite Power Solutions. At least one engineer I spoke with...
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Joseph Desposito
April 9, 2009 Who's Paying Top Dollar For Comm Services Nowadays?
I’ve always felt that telecommunications cost way too much. Cell phones, Internet access, cable TV, landline phones, and other services exact a heavy toll on the average family’s budget. On the home front, providers have been sensitive to these costs by offering triple-play services. Yet on the mobile front, providers are still charging a lot for cell-phone service and Internet connectivity. A recent conversation I had with a fellow who lost his job is...
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Joseph Desposito
March 26, 2009 It Looks Like HD Video Is Moving Into Smaller Quarters
High definition is all the rage on big-screen TVs. But now, smaller devices will be empowered with this crisp video content. Recent announcements should give designers a lift for creating small devices with big ideas for HD playback and recording. HD FOR $99 At the recent Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Nvidia introduced a platform based on its Tegra 600 series computer-on-a-chip. Reportedly, the platform will...
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Joseph Desposito
March 12, 2009 Power Companies Show Progress On Less Travelled Paths
Power is key to any design, so it’s not surprising that I often meet with companies involved in the power industry. What does surprise me is that many of these companies are working with power in novel ways. And from what I can tell, they are making good progress, too. You can find videos of some of my most recent meetings, which I describe below, including interviews and demonstrations, at ...
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Joseph Desposito
February 26, 2009 Pointing Makes A Point In Consumer And Industrial Products
Apparently, the world isn’t satisfied with ordinary remote controls, game controllers, and even Nintendo’s Wii Remote. I say this because I saw pointing devices and controllers that break new ground at the 2009 International CES in Las Vegas last month. The most intriguing pointing device, I thought, was from a company called GestureTek (). CTO and cofounder Francis MacDougall demonstrated advanced gesture ...
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Joseph Desposito
February 12, 2009 Standards Groups Showcase Developments In Consumer Electronics
As you might expect, industry standards that pertain to consumer electronics continue to evolve. The word “standard” seems to imply something that comes into being and then remains the same for many years. Although there is some truth in this, one would never expect a fast-moving industry like consumer electronics to have standards set in stone. At the 2009 International CES, held last month in Las Vegas, I had a chance to visit ...
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Joseph Desposito
January 29, 2009 Though Attendance Was Down, 2009 International CES Still Shines
Early reports from the 2009 International CES this month in Las Vegas placed the number of attendees at more than 110,000, down from last year’s 141,150 total. But I didn’t notice that much of a difference. I was solidly booked with appointments for three full days, and announcements at the show were stellar. Plus, it was tough to get from one place to another with crowds of people everywhere. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which runs CES,...
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Joseph Desposito
December 11, 2008 Hunkering Down For The Holidays And Beyond?
In a tough economy, there’s always the question of how people will spend their money and time, especially during the holidays. Some folks will “cocoon,” meaning they’ll stay home and hunker down in front of the TV or PC for fun and order out or cook for sustenance. Electronic equipment plays a large role, which is good for the industry and may serve it well this year. With this in mind, I attended one of the pre-CES (Consumer Electronics Show) mini trade...
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Joseph Desposito
December 1, 2008 International CES Takes Center Stage In January
The second week of January is a special time for the consumer electronics (CE) industry. This is when the International CES®, the largest tradeshow of its kind, rolls into Las Vegas with more than 130,000 attendees, including 6000 or so engineers. If youâ??ve attended this spectacle before, you probably listened to Bill Gates of Microsoft give the preshow keynote on a Sunday night at The Venetian. International CES will start on a Thursday this...
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Joseph Desposito
December 1, 2008 As 2008 Comes To A Close, We Salute The Industry's Best
Selecting the best OEM products and technologies of the year can be a daunting task, given the wealth of innovations that this industry produces. But a few always stick out in an editor’s mind, somehow making their way to the top of the list. For this issue, the Electronic Design staff and contributors wrote about these products and technologies. The editors made their selections entirely on their own, without any voting from readers or advertisers,...
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Joseph Desposito
November 17, 2008 The Very Old And Very New Converge At Belgium’s IMEC
Though I’m interested in both history and technology, it’s unusual for both of those interests to be served side by side. But upon arriving in Leuven, Belgium, recently for the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre’s (IMEC’s) annual technology review meeting, I could not help but be struck by contrasts between the very old and the very new. Leuven, the provincial capital of Flemish Brabant, is an utterly charming college town dominated by its Catholic...
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David Maliniak
November 7, 2008 Parting With Old Electronics Can Be Hazardous To Someone's Health
I just recently emptied out a storage unit I had been renting for many years. As a consequence, my garage took over the job of storing all kinds of different electronic equipment. Part of my original storage plan was to unload the old electronics little by little, mainly through eBay. I tend to think of eBay as this great storage bin in the sky, where you get paid to store an item and can buy the same or similar item back whenever you want, if the need for...
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Joseph Desposito
October 23, 2008 In Troubled Economic Times, Our Salary Survey Provides Reassurance
I just finished listening to a webinar by Shawn DuBravac, economist and certified financial analyst (CFA) with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), entitled “Economy in Crisis: How We Got Here, Where Do We Go and What Does It Mean for Consumer Electronics and Your Business.” The presentation offered a wealth of historical economic information via charts and numbers showing how we arrived at today’s economic crisis. But when it came to the prospects ...
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Joseph Desposito
October 9, 2008 Traffic Jam? Bored Kids? Don't Worry—As Long As MOST Is On Board
As a father in a family that has spent a lot of time on the road, particularly round-tripping on Route 80 from Ohio to New Jersey for just about every holiday, I know from experience that multimedia in the car can be a lifesaver! With my three kids at all the various stages growing from tot to teen, packed in our progressively wired wagons and minivans, we have definitely made the most of in-car entertainment. I’ll never forget the worst traffic delay of...
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Mark David
October 9, 2008 GaN-Based Power Device Signals Next-Gen Power Conversion
International Rectifier Corp. has successfully developed a GaN-based (gallium-nitride) power-device technology platform. It’s expected to provide improvements in two key application-specific figures of merit, on resistance and gate charge, of up to a factor of 10 compared to state-of-the-art silicon-based technology platforms. On resistance relates to how much current you can process in a unit area. It also can be related to the cost per amp of...
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Joseph Desposito
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