Leaders in the electronics industry have watched in horror as individual states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada pass legislation similar to RoHS. The problem isn’t simply the RoHS-style legislation — most companies are compliant — the problem is the states and provinces are passing individualized bills that would make it impossible to build one product to comply with every law.
“Increasingly and varying state-by-state rules are already causing unnecessary complexity for electronic manufacturers and distributors who must try to track and meet them all,” says Paul Tallentire, president of Chicago-based distributor, Newark InOne. “Are we going to wait until we have 50 state laws with 50 flavors before we enact a uniform national standard for our industry?” Newark InOne is taking a poll on its website (newarkinone.com/rohs) to assess industry support for federal legislation that would supersede state law and create a uniform national standard.
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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