Electronic Design Update: June 4, 2008

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Explore The Universe From Your Desktop With The WorldWide Telescope

Imagine charting the constellations during your lunch hour or taking a peek through the Hubble Telescope at your favorite hotspot. Now you can thanks to the WorldWide Telescope, a free project from Microsoft Research and a network of the world’s leading space research institutions. Users simply download the software to their computer, and the universe is theirs. Read the full article... viewpoint |

Afterthoughts On SID ‘08 Are Hardly An Afterthought

Display Week, also known as SID 2008, left some clear impressions about the state of display technologies. Various forms of LCDs created most show activity. This is a mature and dominant technology, widely used in television sets, computer displays, and handheld products. Still, some innovative LCD product applications were shown, including Samsung’s small non-rectangular LCD panels that resemble dial indicators, and Sharp’s ruggedized panels aimed at industrial display applications. Kopin showed a tiny .44-in. diagonal SVGA LCD device, used for viewfinders. Read the full article... engineer's resource | Webinar: Supercharging Products With Embedded RFID
Sponsored by SkyeTek | June 26 @ 2 pm ET They may still look the same on the outside, but embedded RFID readers and software can transform products from the inside, offering manufacturers, OEMs, and product designers new opportunities for competitive advantage through increased efficiency, accuracy, and product differentiation. With an seemingly unending list of products, RFID is a key technique to adding new functionality, increasing reliability and enhancing the user experience. At this webinar and interactive Q&A session, learn the difference between RFID and existing barcode and contact technologies as well as how embedded RFID has new applications in disposable authentication, smart shelves and cabinets, contactless payments, tracking, inventory and stock, and customizable configurations. Also, catch up on unique technical and business considerations for embedded RFID and companies that are already implanting the technology.

Rev up fuel efficiency and win $10,000
Take the "green challenge" and design a solution using Infineon products that enables or improves energy efficiency for automotive applications. You could win the grand prize of $10,000, second prize of $5000, or third prize of $2000.

Your Ideas For Design Can Win $500
Send us your Ideas for Design and we'll pay you $150 for every Idea for Design that we publish. In addition, the year's top design as selected by our readers will earn an additional $500, with two runners-up each receiving $250. You can submit your Ideas for Design via e-mail to: [email protected] or, mail your material to:
Ideas for Design Electronic Design 45 Eisenhower Dr., Suite 550 Paramus, NJ 07652

Click here for our guidelines on Ideas for Design...

IFD of the week |

New Way To Use Kirchhoff's Current Law Simplifies Circuit Analysis

The well-known Kirchhoff’s current law is often used in linear circuit analysis. This article describes a new way of using Kirchhoff’s current law to make circuit analysis clearer and simpler. Read the full article... focus on embedded hardware |

Video Filter Amp Trims Size And Pin Count

According to Maxim Integrated Products, its MAX 9515 is the industry's smallest, lowest pin-count video filter amplifier for standard-definition video connections. Measuring 1 by 1 mm in a four-bump UCSP. It employs the company's proprietary SmartSleep technology, which reduces current consumption to 5 mA in shutdown mode. Read the full article...

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Engineering TV | Cyclone Waste Heat Engine The self-starting Cyclone Waste Heat Engine (WHE) operates in a low-pressure, low-temperature range. It runs on waste-heat emanating from an external source such as exhaust from an internal/external combustion engine or the direct burning of biomass. The WHE is also designed to run efficiently on solar heat without the installation of costly photovoltaic panels. This technology, according to Cyclone, can be implemented in the automobile, solar panel, and power-generator industries. Also, excess electricity could be directed back to the power grid for electrical power credits.

news from the editors |

Intel, Micron Joint Venture Delivers 34-nm NAND Flash Memory Chip

Using a 34-nm process technology developed by their joint venture, IM Flash Technologies, Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. have introduced a 32-Gbit multi-level cell memory chip measuring only 172 mm². Read the full article...

Bioident Wins DARPA Contract To Integrate Biosensors With Printed Detectors

Working with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Bioident Technologies Inc. is developing a portable multi-parameter detector in the form of a lab-on-a-chip system. Read the full article...

TIA Creates Standard For In-Building Powerline Modems

A new standard from the Telecommunications Industry Association defines a data modem that operates on electrical wiring (ac powerlines) on users’ premises. Read the full article...

TI Joins Energy-Harvesting Wireless Standards Group

Texas Instruments Inc. has become a full member and participating company in the recently established EnOcean Alliance. The Alliance was founded last month to establish a global standard for sustainable buildings based upon EnOcean’s revolutionary energy-harvesting wireless technology. Read the full article...