Author Archive

https://opensource.com/life/17/12/home-automation-tools?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY  The Internet of Things isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a reality that’s expanded rapidly since we last published a review article on home automation tools in 2016. In 2017, 26.5% of U.S. households already had some type of smart home technology in use; within five years that percentage is expected to double.  While connected devices often contain proprietary components, a →

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/06/26/debunking-the-unscientific-fantasy-of-100-renewables/#611600d529f9 Mark Jacobson of Stanford said America could easily become 100% renewable by mid-century. Jacobson published a paper in 2015 that claimed we could get rid of all other energy sources except wind and solar, and a tiny bit of other renewables, by 2050, and that it would be easier and cheaper than any other alternative mix. Jacobson’s paper →

https://blog.hackster.io/the-tomu-an-arm-microcontroller-that-fits-in-your-usb-port-31f60af97471 This looks interesting. There are a fair number of USB stick computers on the market. the Tomu is different because it id so small it fits entirely inside your computer’s USB port.  The board is based around Silicon Labs “Happy Gecko” EFM32HG309 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller. It was inspired by the YubiKey 4 Nano. The project is entirely open source with the hardware under →

https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/15/finnish-autonomous-car-goes-for-a-leisurely-cruise-in-the-driving-snow/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook  It’s one thing for an autonomous car to strut its stuff on a smooth, warm California tarmac, and quite another to do so on the frozen winter mix of northern Finland. Martti, a self-driving vehicle system homegrown in Finland, demonstrated just this in a record-setting drive along a treacherous (to normal drivers) Laplandish road. More →

Here is tear-down of old Zyxel  ES-108 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet switch. I had one on my network for many years, but one day it stopped worked and started making whining noise. Look inside. Closer look to details. Main Ethernet switch chip is ADM6999 from ADMtek (now part of Infineon). In addition to it line transformers and power →

https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/users-lightbulb.en.html It starts with 1 to post a thread in a mailing list telling the bulb has burnt… →

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/learning-from-grid-failures-a-conversation-with-nicholas-abisamra North America’s electric transmission may be an engineering marvel, but that doesn’t make it immune to failure.  Efforts intended merely to harden infrastructure are not enough—the grid also needs to be resilient. Resiliency refers to characteristics of the infrastructure and operations such as strength and the ability to make a fast recovery.  Making system more resilient starts →

https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2017/12/3-ai-misconceptions-it-leaders-must-dispel?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY  Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing many aspects of how we work and live. (How many stories did you read last week about self-driving cars and job-stealing robots? Perhaps your holiday shopping involved some AI algorithms, as well.) But despite the constant flow of news, many misconceptions about AI remain. AI doesn’t think in our sense of the word at all, →

https://www.edn.com/design/analog/4459148/Testing-op-amp-tools-for-their-active-filter-design-accuracy-and-dynamic-range?utm_content=buffera828b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  The major op amp suppliers continue to improve and update their online design tools. This article tests three of the major on the same relatively simple 2nd order multiple feedback (MFB) example design. →

http://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mistakes-jerks-scientists-find Scientists have found that people who constantly get bothered by grammatical errors online have “less agreeable” personalities than those who just let them slide. And those friends who are super-sensitive to typos on your Facebook page? Psychological testing reveals they’re generally less open, and are also more likely to be judging.  “This is the →