You want an audio system to provide you with very high quality sound, and also perhaps to take sound from your TV/video system. You can buy a complete integrated package; it is easiest but, depending on your requirements, it may not meet your expectations for quality. Also, when a new source appears, like MP3 for example, you may have difficulty integrating it.

Instead, you research the different components: tuner, amplifier, CD player, speakers, even cables and connectors, and assemble your own system with what may be best of breed units. Some years ago one of the … Read More → "The Countess, the Moon and a Barbecue"

Riddle:  What numbers 3.8 billion in 2007 and is expected to grow to 4.5 billion by 2011?  The population of China?  Nope, that’s only up to 1.3 billion – we’re looking for triple that.  World population is about 6.6 billion, so that’s not it. 

Hint:  It’s an electronic component.  Ooooh, why didn’t we say so in the first place?  OK, well, we might be close to that many transistors on a chip?  Nope, these components are much bigger than transistors, and 3.8 B to 4.5 B … Read More → "Billions and Billions"

In 1979, I was pretty sure I could unplug a phone in the top floor of a 7-story building, throw it out the window, go down and pick it up from the sidewalk, carry it into a different building, plug it in, and get it to work properly on the first try.  I’d pick up the receiver, hear a dial-tone, punch (or dial) in the number of my buddy across town, and we’d be connected and talking.  I’d never conceive of the need to call customer support for a problem with my … Read More → "Mobile Lockdown"

Introduction

An easy-to-use, intuitive GUI drives the sale of many popular products like in-dashboard navigation, infotainment systems and telecommunications products. The rich graphics found on popular GUI applications shows how important good software is, but more importantly reveals a critical weakness when developing a high quality GUI: meeting the host-to-target challenge.

Traditionally, building a high quality GUI is a laborious task where mistakes can be easily made because developers have to work on the host and the target to create the GUI and put it on the RTOS. What’s needed is … Read More → "Modeling for High Quality GUIs: Cracking the GUI Host-to-Target Challenge"

He holds the joystick with a light, experienced grip – his eyes fixed on the screen.  His hands are steady as his viewpoint skims through a rotating object resembling a cityscape with strange buildings and vast networks of roads interconnecting them.  He then dives below the surface, moving through the layers of the virtual world, flying past cylinders that look like giant elevator shafts bridging the levels.  He slows as he comes to the area he’s interested in. 

There, he spots a problem.  A buried via is dangerously near a … Read More → "Altium Goes 3D"