Battery power in home tools is critical. Remember those first power drills screwdrivers. They could barely turn themselves much less a screw. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a home project and have your cordless drill crap out. The worst offender for premature wimping out are cordless vacs, namely the Black & Decker DustBuster. I have two 7.2 volt DustBusters and they a both don't suck, BUT THEY"RE SUPPOSED TO!!! I get two minutes max of sufficient power to make using them worthwhile. In other words, I get about a third of my car done of my car before the &^%#%@) unit dies. The earlier 4.8 volt DustBuster was useless junk and the 7.2 volt units didn't improve on it much. Somehow the 7.2 volt unit earned three and half stars in Amazon reviews…maybe I got two lemons. Black & Decker has a huge line of corded and cordless portable vacs. In cordless, they come in many voltages now: 9.6, 14.4, 15.6 and 18 volts. The 18 volt PHV1800 gets four and a half stars on Amazon's user reviews, but costs $55 while less energized units are consider less.
Safety networks have become more complex, and have actually become simpler and easier to deploy for plant operators. This slideshow highlights developments in plant safety with an emphasis on integrated safety networks.
As the MEMS industry spans a myriad of industries and markets, the future of MEMS in consumer electronics will enable a myriad of functionality, applications, and personalization.
The Nest is a sleek-looking digital thermostat which can actually "learn" its owners' schedule and then continue to regulate temperature to suit the user's preferences and patterns.
Thanks to embedded electronics, medical devices are getting smaller and smarter than ever. Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are now able to call physicians. MRIs, CT scanners, and ultrasound machines are gaining mobility. And the venerable Band-Aid may soon be able to detect illnesses ranging from fevers to heart arrhythmias. On February 21, join Design News senior editor Charles Murray for a wide-ranging discussion, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," which will explore the latest developments in medical electronics. The discussion will examine advances in medical device technology and offer an inside look at the embedded electronics behind it.
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