Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?
Wear your technology on your sleeve
Steve Rogerson’s round-up of last month’s news and events, including some that may have slipped under the radar
B
y the time you read this, we should all know the winner of this year’s World Cup. And it won’t be England, or even Brazil, Spain or Germany. Those of you who remember the piece on this page last issue will know that I am talking about the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup, the finals of which were due to be held in Munich at the end of January. The idea is for people to present their innovative ideas for wearable technology. I bet it goes to penalties. Talking of predictions, I was quite excited
to receive a set of forecasts for 2014 from Vector Fabrics. Maybe, I thought, this will actually guess at who will win the World Cup, or whether Manchester United will qualify for the Champions League and – even more importantly – whether Shrewsbury Town will avoid relegation.
Sadly, none of these key topics were covered, rather it went for things such as saying Intel would release a 15-core Xeon. It did though forecast that at least one major mobile phone vendor would lose market share because its software could not make the best use of the hardware. After having even more problems with the software on my Blackberry Q10, you can guess who I think is favourite for this. Did anyone try out the Silicon Labs Advent calendar last year? I only ask, because I was tempted and then discovered it contained things like design tips and inspiring stories. My Dalek Advent calendar thus won hands down as it contained chocolate. No contest. Talking about Christmas, I bet some of you bought things online that you wished you hadn’t after a few drinks. Apparently it
is very common, and in the UK the second most popular drunken purchase are sex aids. Let me know the most inappropriate object you bought and I might give it a mention in a future column, especially if you include a picture. If you ordered it via Amazon, then you
probably had it dropped off by your local postie, but in the future that might not be the case as the company claims to be developing drones – small unmanned aerial vehicles – that will deliver its orders automatically. If this news had arrived on 1 April, I would have assumed a joke. As it is, this is definitely one I will have to see to believe.
Going back to wearable technologies, the much publicised Google Glass did not make it out in time for Christmas but might make it for Easter as April is the best estimate for a launch.
But will it be a success? Apparently not,
according to a survey by web site
lovemyvouchers.co.uk. It found that two- thirds of people would be too embarrassed to wear it and a similar number said they would feel uncomfortable talking with
someone who was wearing Google Glass. The company thus pondered whether the technology was likely to go the same way as the infamous Sinclair C5 and Betamax, especially as Apple is also developing wearable technology. Finally, I always knew I was younger than I seemed and a survey by Bridgrid confirms this. It found that the younger you are, the quicker you are to change mobile phones, with the over 30s hanging on to them for four years before they upgrade and the under-21s getting rid of them after just under two years. The survey offered no figures for the over 50s such as I but I can say on the basis of the survey I should really be about 22. Now, if only I could upgrade my body to match.
As to what people do with the old phones, I fall into the most popular category of leaving them in a drawer, apart that is from my trusty Palm Centro, which has the advantage of being unlocked and still comes with me on trips to far flung places as a handy receptacle for a local SIM card. I have had that phone for about six or seven years – maybe I am getting old.
This was one of the nicest pictures I was sent in the pre-Christmas blitz. It might look like an ordinary baubel for the tree, but it is actually quite a novelty in a different way as it was printed using a 3D printer at the University of Birmingham. The process involved using lasers to fuse thin layers of metal powders sequentially spread on a substrate to build the reindeer bottom upwards based on a computer geometrical model. A university spokeswoman said that it was “engine-deered”. Groan!
46 February 2014 Components in Electronics
It is not rocket science. Well, actually it is, as these little chip capacitors that look like they are about to get fried have received full European Space Agency approval for aerospace applications. So well done AVX, which made the little beauties, and I hope to hear about them helping a trip to Mars or wherever some time soon. Nano, nano.
www.cieonline.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48