 |
August 14, 2008
[Editorial]
Wireless Everywhere Still Needs To Work Out The Kinks
If you’ve ever seen the Dead Zone commercials from Verizon Wireless, you realize that there is some truth to the statement that wireless everywhere is still working out the kinks. My favorite is the one where a young couple is purchasing the “the old Miller place—in spite of what happened there,” according to an older woman who walks up to the couple as they’re moving in. “Oh, they didn’t tell you,” she says, “It’s a dead zone.” Of course, the couple isn’t worried...
July 24, 2008
[Editorial]
CEA Gives Downtown Manhattan A Digital Boost
In the first installment of what promises to be a yearly commitment to New York City’s downtown area, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) kicked off Digital Downtown for press and analysts. Digital Downtown was conceived as a three-day showcase of consumer technology, open and free to the general public. The first day of the event, June 12, was warm and sunny. I took a subway to the general area and then had to walk quite a few blocks. As I continued...
July 10, 2008
[Editorial]
Show Videos Take Center Stage On ElectronicDesign.com
Most of you have probably noticed the influx of videos to electronicdesign.com over the past year or so. For the most part, these videos were shot at trade shows. Typically, a staff member at the show who knows something about video cameras hooks up with an editor to do video interviews. We shoot with a handheld, harddisk- based camera. When we get back to the office, a member...
June 26, 2008
[Editorial]
Is Solar Energy Really Ready To Rumble?
At the recent International Electronics Forum (IEF) in Dubai, UAE, I attended two days of presentations about the semiconductor industry. The speakers were from all parts of the world and offered unique perspectives. But the talk I found most interesting was given by Mark Pinto, CTO and senior vice president at Applied Materials, as his presentation tackled “Energy Conversion: Photovoltaics.” Photovoltaics (PV) have been making great strides in the last...
June 19, 2008
[Editorial]
Transitions Make Tomorrow Much Different From Today
Welcome to the latest edition of Electronic Design’s Megatrends special issue. When our editorial staff sat down to decide its theme, we knocked around a few ideas before settling on transitions. We tried to envision what our world might look like several years from now in some key application areas due to the constantly evolving technologies in our industry. This issue is the result. Contributing editor Ron Schneiderman begins with the numbers behind some of...
June 12, 2008
[Engineering Feature]
The Top 50 Employers In Electronic Design
Careers in the electronics industry often mix opportunities and pitfalls. The opportunities are endless, perhaps even including the chance to create and lead a world-class technology organization. But the cyclical nature of the industry creates many pitfalls, including being laid off from your favorite job and not being able to find another like it. One way to avoid the pitfalls and prepare for the opportunities is to work for a company that’s...
June 12, 2008
[Editorial]
Staying Employed In This Industry Can Be Tough At Times
In an issue where we celebrate the top 50 employers and also list the top employers in the electronics OEM, it’s worthwhile to bring up one of the dirty words of the industry—unemployment. As someone who has lived through many of the industry’s downturns and experienced layoffs firsthand, I can say with certainty that this profession is fraught with career minefields. But probably you already know that. When I found myself out of a job early in my...
June 5, 2008
[Web Exclusive]
IEF 2008 Session 3: Infrastructure Changes
This session included two presentations: India—The Global Hub for Semiconductors & Electronics, by Jani Janakiraman, chairman, India Semiconductor Industry Association, and Automotive Electronics & New Technology Trends in Indian Automotive Industry, by VG (Vasuedo) Gujrathi, senior general manager, Electricals & Electronics, TATA Motors.
May 22, 2008
[IEF 2008]
IEF 2008 Session 2: Driving the Changes
This session included three presentations: Electrification—A Chance for Automotive Electronics, by Valentine von Tils, vice president of platform development ASICs, Robert Bosch Corp.; Unified Communications: The Real Business Behind Web2.0, by Thomas Wiemers, vice president of strategic marketing, Siemens Communications; and Mobile Innovation: Improving Customer’s Quality Of Life, by Luigi Licciardi, executive VP, technology & operations, Telecom Italia.
May 22, 2008
[Editorial]
Speaking Of Components, Here's An LED Story
The question seemed innocent enough. What type of bulbs do I need for those lanterns? The lanterns in question were a set of five solar-powered models that my wife Lorraine purchased at Costco about a year ago for $89. This wasn’t her first request for that information, but I admit I don’t always pay attention to requests like these. For some reason, this time I listened. So I’m going over the possibilities in my head, trying to remember what the...
May 22, 2008
[Engineering Feature]
Choosing The Top 101
Though semiconductors lie at the heart of most electronic designs, other components are needed to complete the design, like resistors, capacitors, inductors, interconnects, switches, sensors, LEDs, and displays. And each of these offers seemingly endless varieties. We cover components in our “EEPN in Electronic Design” section, on our Web site (electronicdesign.com), and via an e-newsletter called Products of the Week (POW). Of all these avenues of...
May 22, 2008
[Engineering Feature]
Top 101 Components: Spotlight Categories
...
May 19, 2008
[IEF 2008]
IEF 2008 Session 1: Shifting Industry Paradigms
This session included three presentations: Present & Future Of Digital Technology by JJ (Junshi) Yamaguchi, executive vice president, NEC Electronics; Mobile Device Technical Challenges by Petri Liuha, laboratory director Computation Structures, Nokia Research Center; and The Other Barrier In Electronics: Applications by Kees Van Der Klauw, senior VP of Technology & Development, Philips Consumer Lifestyle.
May 14, 2008
[IEF 2008]
International Electronics Forum (IEF) 2008: The Global Electronics Ecosystem—Revolution or Evolution
The 17th annual International Electronics Forum, held in Dubai, UAE, opened with a brief introduction and welcome by Malcolm Penn, Chairman and CEO of Future Horizons (www.futurehorizons.com). He began by thanking the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) and H.H Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of DSOA, for their Forum support and sponsorship (for more on DSO, take a look at the videos we have on this site).
May 9, 2008
[IEF 2008]
International Electronics Forum (IEF) 2008
Electronic Design's Editor-in-Chief Joe Desposito went a long way to catch the IEF. Catch up with him on his journey to Dubai, where IEF was held this year, and his impressions of the forum.
May 8, 2008
[Editorial]
Are You Screaming For Help With Prototypes?
At last month's Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, I met with Duane Benson, the Web marketing manager for Screaming Circuits. The company assembles prototypes in as little as 24 hours for one or more boards. You simply send it a package of parts along with the unpopulated printed-circuit board (PCB), and Screaming Circuits will assemble it for you. Screaming Circuits’ assembly capabilities include machine-placed surface-mount...
April 24, 2008
[Editorial]
Turning Buses And Trucks Into Hybrid Vehicles
I recently had a chance to visit Odyne Corp., a sevenyear- old company based in Haupauge, N. Y. It develops plug-in hybrid electric power trains for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. While I was there, I met with its director of engineering, Dana DeMeo. I had worked with Dana when he was in college. His expertise then was in repairing all sorts of electronics equipment for his college buddies. Now, he’s in charge of developing the embedded system that controls the...
April 10, 2008
[Editorial]
Who's Winning The Computer Virus War? Probably Not Us
Back in December, I decided to uninstall the anti-virus software on my desktop computer at home. The computer was taking several minutes to boot up, and when it was finally ready to go, everything ran slowly. Whenever I opened up an Excel file, I had to wait five or six seconds while the anti-virus program frisked it. And then there were the endless popups reminding me to perform hard-disk scans and update the software until I finally got sick of it...
April 10, 2008
[Engineering Feature]
Portable Media Keeps Playing And Playing And...
Portable media players, like the Apple iPod and its competitors, have been around for many years, so you might think no further improvements are possible. But this doesn’t seem to be the case. Somehow, the companies that develop audio chips for these devices continue to come up with innovative ways to improve their offerings. The benefit to consumers is a more enjoyable listening experience for longer periods of time. A slew of new audio chips promising...
March 27, 2008
[Editorial]
Countdown To The End Of The Analog TV Broadcast Era
As you probably know, analog TV broadcasts will cease on February 17, 2009—less than a year away. For many viewers, it will be a nonevent, simply because they don’t depend on over-the-air broadcasts for their viewing. But the number of American households that will be affected is staggering. A study by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) put this number at 22 million back in June of 2007. What’s even more astonishing is that in an earlier...
 prev. page
[1]
2
3
4
next page 
|
|
