Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?
Deadly applications T
Steve Rogerson’s round-up of last month’s news and events, including some that may have slipped under the radar
he term “killer app” in a car is a most unfortunate phrase, Nick Ford, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, told
delegates at the recent Advanced Automotive Electronics conference in Gaydon, Warwickshire, especially with all the concerns over safety with the different applications distracting the driver. He could be right, given a presentation later in the day in which Chris Wild from Altran Praxis talked about an application where a car that encounters black ice would automatically beam the location to other cars in the vicinity. When those cars approached the black ice, the driver would be warned by the steering wheel vibrating. Pardon! I’m sorry, but the last thing I would want while negotiating an iced up road
surface is for my steering wheel to start vibrating. This really could be a killer app. I was also disappointed the following week when I attended the Embedded Masterclass in Cambridge. Being a science fiction fan, I’d been so looking forward to the talk entitled: “Embedded development in parallel universes – with alternate realities, time travel, x-ray vision and teleportation at your hand”, but it turned out to be a thinly disguised plug for Wind River’s Simics product. That said, I had one of those celebrity moments at the show when someone came up to me and said: “You’re Steve Rogerson, aren’t you? I just read a really good article by you.” Pleased, I asked which one. “Oh, I can’t remember,” he said. In which magazine then? “I am
Double gold medal winner David Stone talks of the similarities between business and winning gold
The UKEA (UK Electronics Alliance) annual dinner in London on 26 October provided the platform for double gold medal winning cyclist David Stone to talk at length about the links between success in business and on the track. The tri-cyclist, who is sponsored by
Premier Farnell, joined Mark Prisk MP, Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, at
the Royal Society of Mechanical Engineers to speak at the annual electronics event. Talking of his challenging year, which included multiple wins, a loss of confidence and an accident that left him knocked out and suffering concussion, he told the audience of electronics industry representatives of his invigorated love for the bike.
Sponsored tri-cyclist and double gold medal winner David Stone (left) with Mark Prisk MP, Minister for Enterprise and Innovation (right).
“After losing the World Champions jersey I am now the underdog. I want to prove myself and I look forward to the next challenge. I perform better when I have something to prove,” he told the audience. “Planning and training are vital, but we then have to keep our focus, our commitment and determination. This is the case whether it is in business or sport regardless of what this uncertain world throws at us.”
Speaking at the event Elaine Barnes,
This has to be something from Dr Who’s Tardis - a flying key aiming for a lock at the centre of a vortex. But no, sadly, as the label says, it is an RFID key fob from Maxim. Nice picture guys, but if you are going to get my hopes up like that, please include a little bit of science fiction.
42 November 2011 Components in Electronics
Vice President Global Contact Centres Sales Effectiveness at Premier Farnell, added: “Working with David over the past few years has certainly helped, and taught, us a great deal as a business. David’s drive and determination are second to none and what he has achieved cannot be underestimated. He has shown how stepping back, reassessing and taking challenges on are themes that don’t just work within the business community but are very much key to the success of a sportsman.”
not sure, I saw it on line.” Ah, so what was it about? “I forget it was really good, you were having a rant about something.” Hmm, that narrows it down a bit. My final trip in the past month was to
Taiwan for the Taitronics electronics exhibition. I was one of a bunch of overseas journalists and we all became rather puzzled while walking round the recently built Nangang Exhibition Halls at the lack of a second floor. Taiwan follows the American system of calling the ground floor the first floor and the escalators and lifts all went straight from one to three, and then four and five. We could have understood if the fourth floor was missing, as it was in our hotel, because the number has a deadly significance in China, but there seemed no logical reason for a missing second, until a representative from Taitra (the Taiwanese trade body, which has its offices on the fifth floor) kindly informed us on the last day that it was because the ceiling was so high on the first floor it took
up the space of two floors. I remain strangely unconvinced.
I suppose I should apologise to Oki Semiconductor. The company was obviously so embarrassed at me having a laugh at its expense in the June issue of CiE that it decided there was no option but to change its name. So, no more Oki, but welcome to the newly named Lapis Semiconductor. A lapis is apparently a rare blue semi-precious stone, the full name of which is lapis lazuli. I look forward to a stream of blue products from the company. And finally, I feel a little guilty that the October issue of CiE came out just about the same time as the news of Steve Jobs’ death, and there was me being less than complimentary about my new IPhone. Just to be clear, it is all relative. I have been an Apple junky for many years and am forever grateful to the company for rescuing me from the world of Windows. So, so long Steve Jobs and thanks for all the products.
There are correct ways to launch new products and there are wrong ways, and I am not sure which category the launches at Taitronics – the Taiwanese electronics show – fell into. To show the range of new offerings at the show, the organisers turned the main stage in to the “Wow & Now Stage” with a stream of scantily clad women either carrying the product or holding a picture of it. The whole thing was surreal to say the least, and I must confess I actually burst out laughing half way through when one of the women went through a variety of alluring poses holding a photograph of a resistor. And I am not going to mention my reaction when one of them brought out a surge energy transfer device.
www.cieonline.co.uk
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