It seems, though
that there IS a kernel of truth to the article.
So to speak.
No butter, please.
Posts by cortland
1167 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Mar 2012
Snack-slinging robot restores faith in Yankee ingenuity
US court lifts ban on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
John Key accused of Dotcom ‘brain fade’
Privacy guardian wants one EU rulebook on ID databases
Holden considers electric Commodore
ScanJet sings number one hit
Mighty quake shook ENTIRE PLANET, broke tectonic plate
Christian footie match ends in almighty brawl
Scottish islanders' wave power hopes sunk by 'massive costs'
Tuesday 25th September 2012 07:50 GMT
Re: "massive costs"
Connection costs so much because grid operators want the power for nothing, and keeping the islanders in the dark (so to speak) costs a great deal less than connecting them to the grid AND paying for power would. It's a veto written in money.
Your costs? They charge so much because (in part) they don't think people will spend what it takes to do what you have done. Bite hard; maybe they'll bleed.
ITU suggests replaceable cables for power supplies
Tuesday 25th September 2012 07:34 GMT
Re: Great idea, overdue
Chassis mounted connectors are needed, if only for ruggedness and shielding termination (where shielded cable is used). Connectors mounted to a PWB break, if great care is not taken inserting and removing them, and if the equipment doesn't fall from the table or someone trip over its cable. When the connector is mounted to the chassis, the energy of those events is distributed across the whole assembly, possibly allowing it to survive. Which is a good idea!
Friday 21st September 2012 09:16 GMT
Loupes, loops, and RF noise
All part of sensible product design. For many years -- a couple of dozen, anyway -- leading Japanese Amateur Radio makers used the same 6-pin power connectors for HF radio transceivers..Granted, "wall warts" don't have to deliver 25 Amperes, it'd be d*mned useful not to need a jewelers loupe* to see what polarity and voltage thw PS label shows. *(And how about letters more than 0.3mm tall?)
I'd insist, however, with efficiency standards now pretty much mandating switch-mode power supplies, that RF emission (>9 KHz) be kept well below the EN 55022 and FCC Part 15 limits; what is the sense of a power supply that renders a radio it powers (and others nearby) unable to hear radio stations?
For examples of testing, limits and design tips see www.analogzone.com/pwrt0628.pdf
Mars rover Curiosity gets ready to blast its first rock
Why I've got a sync'ing feeling about Amazon's new Kindle Fire
Swedish cops contain fermented herring menace
iPad no flight risk says Federal Aviation Authority
Wednesday 12th September 2012 21:46 GMT
Re: pax were right!?
ASRS Database Report Set
Passenger Electronic Devices
Report Set Description.........................................A sampling of reports referencing passenger electronic devices incidents.
Update Number....................................................19.0
Date of Update .....................................................January 18, 2012
Number of Records in Report Set........................50
http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/docs/rpsts/ped.pdf
Wednesday 12th September 2012 11:01 GMT
Slightly better informed ...
During the past 35 years I've been privileged to work with radio interference and electromagnetic compatibility issues of IT, telco, medical and lately, aviation electronics. That may make me slightly better informed on the matter than the average punter.
Even consumer-grade testing (and what has to be done to pass) is often considered an unnecessary expense, and equipment to be used on aircraft is tested to considerably tighter standards than that sold to the public. "Why are you making us do all these tests? No one else does! You're costing us money!" -- and this, at a firm that made defibrillators. I told him I didn't want to kill folks we were trying to save, and he went away.
However... Apple bought into doing things right a long time ago. That raises costs, so if you want cheap stuff, you go to the "designed to meet" (not often TESTED) gear from lower cost shops.Good luck.
ED14, otherwise known in the USA as RTCA/DO-160, is the standard that governs equipment used on aircraft. When the FAA says it approves equipment, it has done so after all the tests are completed,and after it has examined each claim of compliance with a VERY baleful eye. Many baleful eyes.
.
That's not the case with run-of-the-mill electronics, though. The FAA doesn't get to look at these test results, so, considering they want something like a _maximum_ of one incident per ten million flights, they just say "Turn it off." That may be too strict; modern electronics uses less power and can produce a lot less radio noise than an old 33 MHz Pentium. They just don't KNOW. The folks who make our kit are largely unwilling to pay what it takes to find out,. And the really uninformed -- some are flight attendants -- think unplugged stereo earphones will interfere with radios in the cockpit.
Fiction: There we were at ten thousand feet, Messerschmidts to the left of us, MiGs to the right, when the stewardess came up; "Sir, you'll have to turn off your flight simulator now, we're about to land...". So I put away my copy of Aviation Week.
Laptop innovator Moggridge dies aged 69
Monday 10th September 2012 03:34 GMT
I may have a couple of the power supplies in my junk box.
I worked on Electromagnetic Interference for about 5 years at AST Research, and when they closed the Fountain Valley plant, I bought a few of the power supplies -- and also one of the prototype GriD Convertibles* I'd worked on. Tandy Electronics had bought GriD some years previous, and then sold the computer bushiness to AST.
* http://www.sinasohn.com/cgi-bin/clascomp/bldhtm.pl?computer=penexec
Haven't turned it on in _years_.
How are the mighty fallen; by the time AST was taken over by creditor Samsung, I'd already quit -- the handwriting on the wall was in Korean.
New broadband minister snubs 'ugly' fibre cabinet gripes
Friday 7th September 2012 14:05 GMT
Radio Active, perhaps.
Be of good heart and brave; if your manufacturers are as good at skirting regulations as some I've seen here, the boxes will be so far above EN 55022 they'll be noticed as soon as a police car drives by.
Not that Ofcom has a good reputation for protecting radio users. Remember PLT?
http://www.compliance-club.com/PLT/The%20Ofcom%20Saga.PDF
REVEALED: Everything Everywhere new 4G logo ... a SNAIL?
Hotel keycard firm issues fixes after Black Hat hacker breaks locks
Court confirms $675,000 fine for sharing 30 songs
Google to skew search results to punish PIRATES
Anonymous hunts down Voldemort for hacking hungry kids' charity
DNA barcodes leap out of the lab
Friday 10th August 2012 10:07 GMT
Re: hang on a minute..
It's been improved. IIRC, it was originally small plastic particles with the batch ID encoded in their structure. Now?
QUOTE The researchers have applied this method to gunpowder, an example of an explosive, by adding two tin isotopes (Sn117 and Sn119). After preparing three different mixes (each with differing isotopic proportions so that they can be distinguished from one another), the results reveal that even after detonation the added tags can still be detected in the explosion remains. ENDQUOTE
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112112641.htm
Airline leaves customer on hold for 15 hours
Radio hams unite to fight off new powerline comms standard
Tuesday 7th August 2012 15:13 GMT 
Here we go again
Imagine the the Police Inspector in your town has a teen aged son. Further imagine that this lad has what we here in the US call a "garage band." And imagine as well (many not need imagine!) that these yobs play loud and obnoxious [insert least favorite genre] into the wee hours and that one then calls the police ...
"What noise? I don't hear any noise! :
That has been the response of regulators here in the US about interference from such PLT (we call it BPL) systems as have gone live. Fox running the hen house anyone?
Luckily, PLT doesn't work very well, the reason being that the majority of its signal radiates (we knew THAT) or is absorbed in neighboring wiring if underground. That's why those folks want to raise the bar (so to speak) high enough to ride under it on a giraffe. They need better signals or they will lose any customers they have.
Never mind there is a body of law and regulation dating back almost 100 years saying one is NOT allowed to interfere with radio communications and broadcasting (OFCOM even slapped on special rules for London during the Olympics). Never mind that SOME folks still listen to MW and Short Wave radios. There's money to be made. So the PLT vendors are buying a legal remedy to their technical problem -- and one rule can erase dozens. it's so easy ...
Coming next: Lorries (we call them trucks) burn much less expensive fuel if those bothersome muffler things are removed...
Copyright bot boots NASA rover vid off YouTube
Judge rejects Apple's calls for Samsung censure
Storing punters' till receipts? UK.gov wants you to hand it over
Tuesday 7th August 2012 14:09 GMT
Wher's my iconoscope?
It's possible to print copies of cash register receipts and customer data with credit card last-four directly onto a transparent "film strip" without resorting to photography. This means microfiche can get around the BIS rule; 1950 rides again. Automating viewers with film coded by frame, and video of same sent to the requesting computer, records would be non-electronically stored, and thus immune to the requirement.
Baidu bods arrested after deleting posts for dosh
Qubits turn into time travellers
Hobbyist builds working assault rifle using 3D printer
Tuesday 31st July 2012 04:29 GMT 
... be very, very afraid.
People have made Sten guns using hand tools, and they never heard of 3D printers. One can make a functional if not particularly safe or accurate mortar from tubing available at many home-improvement (heh!) stores as well, and, somewhere in Gaza, someone is probably making a Kassem rocket as we type.
However, THIS will scare people...
Million-plus IOPS: Kaminario smashes IBM in DRAM decimation
USB charges up to 100 watts
Tuesday 24th July 2012 04:48 GMT 
Good, Quick, Cheap; pick TWO
Over the years, there has been discussion in the IEEE* Product Safety and Electromagnetic Compatibility mailing list concerning the need to keep USB ports at SELV; "safety extra low voltage." This means not only a safe, low voltage, but a safe, low current as well, and doing so makes possible some quite inexpensive, very small cables and USB devices.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE
It will be interesting to see new what practices in board and device design are needed to accommodate this use: Engineers know that when seeking to make something both good, quick, and cheap, it is inevitable that one of the three must be given up to have the others.
Tech warning because a lot of really smart people have forgotten High School physics.
Surprise! BT pockets £70m North Yorkshire broadband rollout
London's Lambeth council vows: We'll share ALL the data we have
Hams: We're good in a disaster – UK Radio Society boss
Monday 16th July 2012 03:36 GMT
Something not often bruited about is that Amateur Radio was for many of us a door into science and technology and, indeed, to lifelong learning. Amo, amas, amat... amateur; someone who loves what he does. Some of us went on to get paid for being technologically savvy, which is something much of the US public (and possiblys the Uk's) aren't.
Perhaps people are afraid of getting a reputation as enthusiasts.
Retina MacBook Pro nukes Apple's green credentials
Thursday 12th July 2012 07:50 GMT
Re: @Mike2R - Vintage = not supported?
How long would anyone expect to keep using a laptop (or any other computer)? As long as it lasts. I've had to replace a couple of laptop batteries already; they can't be recharged indefinitely. HDD's too have a finite life (better, though IIUC, than current SSD's), which is the reason for backup and restore.
The biggest issue I see with Apple-only disassembly is that it does not meet the EU recycling mandate in WEEE. But perhaps the EU accept people having to pay for that.
Study: Climate was hotter in Roman, medieval times than now
Wednesday 11th July 2012 09:22 GMT 
So why was Arabia so Felix then?
That'd be what we now call Yemen. Online Brittanica says
"The Greeks and Romans chose the name because of the area’s pleasant climate and reputed riches in agricultural products and in spices."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/31586/Arabia-Felix
Paris because she's hot too.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
