The levels of protection on the "blocks" raises a big question. How rampant is design theft or tampering on the assembly line? Or is this specifically for keeping the same revision current across the design chain?
It's exciting to think that corporate espionage tactics are at play somewhere. A James Bond style thief, under the guise of a machine operator, houses a micro computer in his jacket. When no one is looking, he copies the memory card with a card reader in his sleeve. The process a mere five seconds. Completed, and in a magicians like grace, he turns puts the original card into the production machine. No one ever knew.
The company that I formerly worked for manufactured equipment with the majority of the machines going to China. We dared not to ship any machines with unlocked PLC programs, as the IP theft stories were not just rumors....
Even if the chips are locked, you are only delaying theft marginally. De-capping chips is a fairly easy, practiced, and documented procedure for getting at the data. If it is worth it to a person, they will go through great lengths to obtain the data.
It's amazing how Moore's Law is transforming the benefits of advanced automation control. A next generation line of controllers from Siemens basically offers high performance, enhanced security and the ability to integrate add-on applications such as safety within the framework of the single controller. More processing power=greater flexibility for automation engineers to implement advanced solutions. It will be interesting to see moving ahead what types of additional applications (condition monitoring, for example) end up becoming widely implemented because of these continuing increases in fundamental processing power.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Labs have observed a reaction in lithium-air batteries that could help improve the design of these cells for electric vehicles and other applications.
Healthcare might seem to be an unlikely target application for the Internet of Things technology, but recent developments show small ways that big-data is going to make an impact on patient care moving into the future.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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