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Apple Tests Amorphous Metal Injection Molding Machine
Apple will soon make test parts on a newly developed amorphous metal injection molding machine located in Korea, says Leander Kahney, the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of Inside Steve’s Brain. The machine was commissioned by Liquidmetal Technologies of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, which recently granted Apple a perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid exclusive license to commercia ... More
About this blog
Engineering materials is a discussion led by Design News Contributing Materials Editor Doug Smock on important new developments and applications that affect mechanical design.
GM Wants To Trademark 'Range Anxiety'
In what may be a harbinger of battles yet to be fought, General Motors has applied for a trademark on the term “range anxiety.” “Range anxiety,” which refers to the anxiety felt by electric car drivers who fear they are running out of charge, would presumably be used by GM in the marketing of the Chevy V ... More
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The latest news about hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and the use of sustainble energy for transport.
PartMiner launches environmental compliance tools for REACH, RoHS and Low Halogen Data
PartMiner launches environmental compliance tools for REACH, RoHS and Low Halogen Data PartMiner Worldwide of Centennial, Colo. has added environmental compliance data to its CAPS database to help users reduce compliance risks. In an announcement, PartMiner notes that CAPS now helps engineers effectively handle large volumes of data involved with RoHS, REACH and Halogen-free compliance to reduce o ... More
About this blog
Hi, this is Design News contributing editor, Rob Spiegel. Welcome to my Lead-Free Zone blog. This is your opportunity (and mine) to discuss RoHS and other environmental issues. Green regulations have produced waves of industry confusion, and I do not expect things to clear up quickly. So use this blog to inform us of your opinions, to instruct us all on what you\'re doing about this initiative, or just to blow off some steam.
The case of the dropped microwave shot
By John Larribeau Here’s one that was a real head scratcher until I just got fed up and camped out at the mountain-top microwave site and watched the shot. A few years back, I maintained the island-wide microwave system in Puerto Rico. One summer, we had an intermittent problem with our shot from El Yunque (the rain forest) to Isla Grande (the San Juan Int’l Airport). Witho ... More
About this blog
Famous investigations into the most diabolical real-world cases in engineering. Send your cases to Contributing Editor Rob Spiegel at robspiegel@comcast.net
The monkeys hid the battery
By A.K. Rosenhan As a firefighter I end up at car fires. Recently we responded to an electrical fire in a new small Dodge 4 door. The idea was to disconnect the battery. We couldn’t find it! Turns out it was buried, literally, in the left front of the engine compartment with just a small “window” where one could see one of the terminals. I have no idea how on ... More
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Products that somehow slipped by the QC Cops - Email us your examples at jennifer.roy@cancom.com!
Cheap development hardware
Design News has recently been promoting a $4 development kit, the MSP430 LaunchPad. This kit is based on the MSP430 line of cheap 16 bit microcontrollers. These parts cost around $.25 in quantity, and are aimed directly at existing 8 bit microcontroller applications. These boards set a new low price point for microcontroller boards, with prices typically in the $50 to $200 price ... More
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Fun and entertaining projects for the gadget freaks among us
Compilation in the Cloud
Though it’s been nearly a month since NI (National Instruments) Week 2010, one of the presentations in particular has stayed top of mind for its potential in a variety of automation and OEM equipment designs. The presentation I’m referring to focused on using the cloud for FPGA code compilation. In the demonstration at NI Week, an illustrative example was given to show how an enginee ... More
About this blog
The latest news, information and trends on motors, drives, controllers, actuators, industrial networks, robotics, and sensors for design engineers.
3Dconnexion Enhances 3-D Mice For Google SketchUp
If you happen to be a fan of Google SketchUp, here’s something you might want to know about. 3Dconnexion, the 3-D mice maker, has released a new driver that brings intelligent 3-D navigation and a streamlined 3-D mouse interface to the online 3-D design tool. Designed to give the SketchUp community increased control of their designs and workspace, the new enhancements automatically follow t ... More
About this blog
Where you\'ll find the latest news and trends in the areas of CAD/CAM software, PLM, innovation, and product development.
Y Not?
By Brian Frascella, Contributing WriterBrian Frascella is a product engineer at Moog Inc., an MBA candidate at the University at Buffalo and a contributor to the Careers and Education in Engineering blog on designnews.com. Design News has invited Brian to occasionally share his thoughts on his transition from college to the world of work. Generation Y: unemployable, lazy, and a sense of enti ... More
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Taking a look at what's new for engineering students and those just emerging into the engineering working world.
Software, Tools and Training Simplify Digital-Power Designs
Texas Instruments has expanded its TMS320C2000 microcontroller (MCU) digital power family to help engineers jump start digital-power design. Digital-power designs rely upon a microcontroller that runs power-control algorithms in the digital domain while it controls power in the analog realm. For complete information, visit: www.ti.com/digpwr-pfc-pr-sw.The company grouped its announcement into thre ... More
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Interpreting trends, analyzing tools and techniques and exploring cross-discipline skills for electronic, mechanical and system designers.
MIT Tops Engineering School Rankings
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology grabbed the top spots in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 survey of the best undergraduate engineering programs. MIT took the honors in a ranking of engineering schools whose highest degree is a doctorate. Schools following MIT were, in or ... More
About this blog
The latest news and information on analog/digital control, components/hardware, embedded systems, power/thermal management, and sensors for design engineers.
Who Should Pay To Charge Your Electric Vehicle?
Mark Bush of Delhi, California built his own electric car starting with a Bradley fiberglass body, an electric motor, and a bank of deep-cycle batteries. The project, which cost him about $20,000, is highlighted on his blog, http://www.electricar.us/blog/ . According to “Not everyone charged up about electric car“, an article published in the Merced Sun-Star, the car is named named E ... More
About this blog
This alternative energy and sustainable power blog covers alternative energy and fuel technologies buzzing through the media.
IMPCO'S Field-Proven Impregnation Process
MATERIALS: Manufacturers and platers of powder metal parts can realize near zero reject rates for plated parts using IMPCO’s newly developed, proprietary field-proven impregnation process. Because of higher yield production results, the new process provides substantial savings in time and money over previous methods. The impregnation procedure utilizes a unique combination of resins, cleani ... More
About this blog
Highlighting notable new products and company announcements. Design News welcomes your product releases. To submit press releases for consideration, e-mail them to DNsubmissions@reedbusiness.com.
The Adventure of the Cementing Slurry
When a plant starts having trouble with a fertilizer compound hardening in a mixer and stalling a motor, an engineer finds inspiration in an unexpected placeBy Charles Picek, P.E., Contributing Writer One of my many jobs as a chemical engineer was at a plant that produced Triple Super Phosphate fertilizer in a batch process. The raw materials for the process were Phosphoric Acid and finely ground ... More
About this blog
Famous investigations into the most diabolical real-world cases involving materials and mechanical designs
Thirty
In the 19th century, telegraphers began using the designator XXX to indicate the end of a message. Newspapers were big users of the telegraph in those days and the practice was adopted by reporters and their editors when exchanging copy - although the newspaper types used the Arabic number -30- instead of the Roman XXX to signify when a story ended. You’re probably asking “Whatȁ ... More
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An insider's look at the wondrous but unforgiving world of aviation and aerospace design
What is the coolest and most practical math equation?
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 ... More
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Strange but true things; tales of what happens without cables and why
Amazing display of questionable engineering
Here’s some astonishing video of “Gallopin’ Gertie” (the Tacoma Narrows Bridge) from November 7, 1940, just before the bridge was demolished by a gale. ... More
About this blog
Looking at the top engineering breakthroughs that came during the 60-year history of Design News.
Google, Harvard's Wissner-Gross debate CO2 from Web Search
Harvard graduate student Alex Wissner-Gross created quite a stir with his claim that every web search creates between 5-10 grams of CO2 from the power required to keep those massive server farms going. Google officials apparently thought he was singling it out, but he later said he was speaking about generally about web searches and had no axe to grind with Google.But who does not equate web searc ... More
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Your Guide to Going Green
Banner’s New Vision System Needs No Computer
Machine vision systems don’t necessarily need lots of extra computing power and complex software to carry out difficult inspection tasks. That’s the guiding principle behind Banner Engineering’s new image sensing system, which is designed to be both simple and smart. Called the iVu Series TG, this self-contained image sensing system features a 2.7-inch LCD touchscreen for fact ... More
About this blog
Read about the latest developments in motion control, factory automation, machine tools, and robotics.
Mediocrity in the Design Process: Marinara sauce gone wrong.
An end user should not be using a mediocre product, and let me explain how marinara sauce relates. Before super-mega-markets, I would imagine markets had fewer varieties of many products. Those products were likely produced to try to please as many customers’ taste buds as possible. Let me presume that customers only had different preferences between texture and spice of sauces. The two a ... More
About this blog
In this blog you\'ll find posts about mechatronics, engineering, and engineering education. Stefan Wolpert will discuss various aspects of mechatronics, some of which include computers, control, electronics, mechanics and design. Also, Stefan will explore his engineering education and its integration of mechatronics.
$28 Million Settlement Reached in Death of Woman Killed in Big Dig Collapse
Read more on the Big Dig materials failure and see appalling aftermath photos and diagrams at Design News’ Big Dig coverage page. The family of a woman killed two years ago when the car she was riding in was crushed as a portion of a ceiling collapsed inside a Big Dig tunnel settled a wrongful death suit for more than $28 million last night. In July 2006, 39-year-old Milena Del Valle was ki ... More
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Straight talk about today\'s headlines and how they affect the engineering community.
Chevy Volt, Performance Capabilities Subject to Change
Did I hear that right? A Chevy Volt radio ad this morning concluded with a line like performance capabilities subject to change or may vary. I think it was the former. Should I be surprised given the GM’s rush to get this electric car into production by late 2010? That’s how fluid the battery situation is. The ad touts that you might seldom buy gasoline if you travel 40 miles or less ... More
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Scanning for Fraud
Art and technology have started to come together in an unlikely place–under the gaze of 3D digitizers. The VanDuzen Archives of Dallas has built a growing business around the use of imaging hardware and digital shape sampling software as tools to authenticate and conserve works of art. And in one recent job, the company helped ferret out a forged copy of Picasso’s Tete de Fernande, a ... More
About this blog
News about the technologies you turn to when time isn\'t on your side--everything from rapid prototyping machines and high-speed machining to rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing.
Avnet Tech Games Give Product Ideas a Chance in the Real World
This week Avnet announced the winners from its third annual Avnet Tech Games, an annual competition featuring several multi-disciplinary technology events. The competition, held April 5, presented more than 150 students from colleges and universities in Arizona with several technology challenges. Among the Avnet Tech Games events are “AMD Build the Fastest Computer,” where teams use ... More
About this blog
This blog is your resource for news and updates on the latest developments from design engineering competitions across the globe. Be sure to visit our Design Engineering Competitions and Challenges content package for more coverage, a schedule of upcoming events and entry materials.
When to Embark on a New Engineering Position
Should you move from that company of long standing? Are you waiting patiently for the retirement party and that “gold watch”? Last weekend I sat down for coffee with a design engineer from an industrial lighting products company. With him were two of his twenty-something-year-old kids, helping Dad gather tools for a career move. They were as interested in advice for their own career ... More
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Negotiating your path to success in engineering’s changing work world.
