Category Archives: Newsworthy

Android smartphone sales up a whopping 886%

Research firm, Canalys, reports that Android platform smartphone sales increased an amazing 886% in the 2nd quarter.

An even bigger accomplishment is the fact that Android based phones now account for 34% of the market – topping all other platforms including Apple’s popular iPhone platform.

The press release from Canalys also reports that Android devices combined reached almost 475,000 units in Q2 2010 from no presence in the country a year ago. The Google-backed Android is available in phones from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG, among others.

In total, the US market for smartphones is the largest established market in the world, and it still continues to show rapid growth. In the 2nd quarter of 2010, there were 14.7 million smart phone units shipped.

What causes oxidation on surface mount pads?

perf boardSolder contacts must meet minimum contact rating specifications to effectively be used. But sometimes you’ll begin to solder an electronic component to a board and realize that oxidation has occurred. Why does this happen?

Typically, there are two reasons that oxidation occurs on boards.

The main reason is improper storage and handling. Boards should be received from your supplier in a vacuum pack, which would render them clean and ready to accept solder. Once the vacuum seal has been broken, the boards are exposed to the environment. Boards that are stored in facilities with high humidity will experience accelerated deterioration. When handling boards, use only gloved hands and handle by the edges whenever possible.

Another way PCBs become contaminated is at the factory level. If your boards have just been removed from their packaging, chances are the problem is not oxidation. Much of the contamination is at the manufacturing level which is found after the bag has been opened. The main reasons this happens is because of incorrect ph levels, careless handling of the PCBs or if the boards are poorly washed with the surface film.

How can this be avoided? Handle the boards properly including using proper storage methods. Keep the boards in dry storage area, free from humidity. Make sure that anyone that handles them wears gloves to keep body oils from the pads and instruct everyone to touch only the edges of the boards. If your problems are from the factory, address the factory about the issues to avoid the same problems with future orders.

Solar & LEDS: Tech company’s new and improved business model

Applied Materials announced this week that it was planning a major restructuring of it’s business. The goal? To place a “primary emphasis” on LEDS and crystalline silicon solar panel technology.

This restructuring would effect the bottom line of the company in many ways including the elimination of 400 – 500 jobs and the closing of their thin-film solar technology lab among other plans.

The future of Applied Material’s solar technology would focus on the crystalline silicon solar product development over the thin-film solar business. Historically, crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been used in many solar cells as a light-absorbing semiconductor although it is considered a relatively inefficient for light absorption. It also requires a considerable thickness (several hundred microns) of material.
Despite this, it has proven to be desirable because it produces stable solar cells with good efficiencies (11-16%, which is half to two-thirds of the theoretical maximum). It uses process technology developed from the huge knowledge base of the microelectronics industry.

How to Jailbreak an iPad

Jailbreaking an iPad

If you have an iPad, you may be intrigued by the thought of jailbreaking it.

Jailbreaking a device permits you to install and use third party applications and utility programs. In the case of a jailbroken iPad, you would be able to then run apps like Adobe Flash which is not available through the Apple OS, or access files like you can on a PC. One app that caught my eye was the multitasking app which would allow you to run multiple programs without having to save/close them. Another great app called Wi-Fi Sync gives you the flexibility to sync your iPad with Wi-Fi – no plugged in USB required.

Of course, jailbreaking the iPad is not without risk (the number one concern would be warranty) but PCWorld.com has put together the definitive guide to jailbreaking your iPad. In fact, PCWorld’s guide is so complete, it even gives you instructions on how to revert back should you get cold feet (or have to go back).

Once you’ve hacked your iPad, be sure to avoid the iPad updates from Apple since your device can be reverted to the non-jailbroken state. Should that happen, you can jailbreak your iPad again after the update is installed.

PCWorld – How to Jailbreak an iPad

More Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors now available!

We’ve updated our resistor inventory and added many more NOS Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors. Between the 1W values and 2W values, we now have over 150 different 1W and 2W carbon comp resistors on hand!

Included in the selection are many Military (MIL-SPEC) Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors. The military resistors typically have a tighter tolerance than the standard resistors.

Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors are valued for their consistency and uniformity. The Allen Bradley corporation reference materials have this to say about their hot molded resistors:

Years of accumulated experience have shown that Allen Bradley hot molded resistors are unequaled for uniformity, predictable for performance, appearance, and freedom from catastrophic failure. Allen Bradley resistors are made by an exclusive hot molding process on automatic machines developed, built, and used only by Allen Bradley. There is such complete uniformity from one resistor to the next, million after million, and long term in-circuit performance can be predicted with usable accuracy. When used according to published ratings and recommendations, Allen Bradley hot molded fixed resistors will not open circuit nor exhibit erratic changes of resistance value. They are probably the most reliable of all electronic components.

We get frequent requests for other values so we were thrilled to get more for our stock! Quantities are limited – especially on the MIL-SPEC resistors.

RoHS: Will the electronic component industry be shaken again?

The RoHS directives may get a some revisions from the European Union principals that have put the directives into place. Some of the expected changes will come in the form of exclusions that were formerly allowed and additional banned substances. The EU’s Environment Committee and the Council of Ministers is expected to decide within the next 12 months what changes are made and the timetable for them to be put into place.

What does this mean to end users of electronic components? For now, not much – but expect to see changes in the way that RoHS compliant products are labeled in the future. One potential change would expand the use of the European mark of conformity (CE) to include RoHS compliant products. This one change would force the entire industry to adjust the markings on all components manufactured after the date required by the EU.

Many wonder why the directives that have been passed in the EU effect all components manufactured across the globe. The key reason is financial. It is easier to comply with the progressive EU requirements than to produce different versions of components for each region. It is also easier to produce one component for world-wide use than more than one for each region. Another reason is that while other regions have not passed their own RoHS initiatives, the consensus is that what is good for the EU is good enough for the rest of the world.

Now we wait for their decision.

Generating Energy: The future of clothing

We think of clothing as something to keep us warm, or as a way to show our individuality and fashion sense. But have you ever thought about your clothing as a source of energy?

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are working on a way to embed nanotechnology into clothing to harness energy as we perform our routine daily tasks such as walking and exercising. The nano-electric fibers are so small, they are invisible to the naked eye. One day, researchers believe that clothing embedded with these fibers might generate enough energy to power our mobile devices and keep them fully charged.

That is only one study underway. At Stanford University, researchers there are working on making the actual cloth into conductive material. Their current project involves dipping cotton cloth into conductive ink, baking the coated fabric and then measuring the energy generated and harnessed by the fabric. Researchers believe that future iterations of their work might function as an energy storage device, again probably generating enough energy to power mobile devices.

Are deep water floating wind turbines on the horizon?

Think of the possibilities of having deep water floating wind turbines to generate energy. Are they feasible? According the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, the answer is ‘yes’.

Engineers from the Marine Innovation and Technology have demonstrated that their buoyant, triangular platform which is called the WindFloat, could support a 5-megawatt wind turbine. They have conducted studies to determine whether the platform would stay erect. The platform was anchored to the ocean floor (at 164ft of depth), balanced with horizontal plates and a ballast system to counteract the motion of the ocean. The end result? The prototype did not topple.

That is good news for many. There are other similar projects in the works, but the possibility to see a 150 megawatt floating wind farm based on the WindFloat technology is now a distinct possibility. The projected date of installation is in 2012.

Excellent free app for the iPad: DropBox

One major drawback of the iPad is the inability to easily move files from the iPad to a desktop or notebook computer or other mobile device.

That’s where DropBox steps in. No, it’s not perfect, but it is the best app we’ve found – it’s free and there are no wires or cables necessary!

DropBox uses cloud-based storage to make your files available to another device. The basic, free DropBox service gives you 2GB of storage to manage your files. We think that’s plenty for most users.

Here’s how to use it: on your iPad with DropBox opened, click the ‘+’ sign to upload a file to your DropBox storage. When you are logged in on your desktop PC, notebook computer or other mobile device, log into DropBox to retrieve and download your file. Easy! Another benefit is the integration of the DropBox app with the native iPad productivity apps like Keynote and Pages.

You can find the DropBox app in the iTunes store: DropBox for iPad. There are also versions for the iPod touch and the iPhone which are useful, but this version takes advantage of the larger real estate available with the iPad screen.

Turn your old PC fans into mini wind generators

pc fanHere’s a great project that you can do either to experiment with wind turbines or to generate some energy! While the amount of energy produced is not overwhelming, this project can sure get your brain moving in the right direction.

The best thing about this project is that you probably already have everything you need lying around:

  • Thick plastic bottle
  • Old PC fan, bigger the better!
  • A few feet of small wire
  • A piece of wood about 1.5″ square and around 20cm long
  • Two lengths of steel tubing that slide inside of each other, about 1/2″
  • 6 Schottkey diodes
  • Epoxy
  • Super Glue
  • Zip ties
  • An old CD

You can find the full instructions including video here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Upcycle-your-old-PC-fans-into-mini-wind-generators/

If you want to have a kid-friendly wind turbine kit that already has all the pieces you need, we sell one of those. Our kits come with full instructions and all the materials needed to try your hand at creating a source of renewable energy – a wind turbine. The kit also comes with different experiments you can try with your wind turbine once it’s assembled. Great project for summer for the kids!