Free Republic

A few years ago, Russ Apfel was looking for something to do. The semiconductor industry veteran had sold his chip design startup to Silicon Laboratories Inc. in 2005, then he worked for the company before retiring in 2008. Eventually, he started looking at the hearing aid industry. It made sense, because the devices' digital signal processor chips are firmly in Apfel's area of expertise. Apfel was surprised to learn that hearing aids can cost several thousand dollars. "I was appalled," Apfel said. "I couldn't believe how expensive they were." Part of the reason, he said, is that audiologist visits and...

A University of Pittsburgh-led team has created a single-electron transistor that provides a building block for new, more powerful computer memories, advanced electronic materials, and the basic components of quantum computers. The researchers report in Nature Nanotechnology that the transistor's central component -- an island only 1.5 nanometers in diameter -- operates with the addition of only one or two electrons. That capability would make the transistor important to a range of computational applications, from ultradense memories to quantum processors, powerful devices that promise to solve problems so complex that all of the world's computers working together for billions of...

Well, it's not enough that I have to put up with ongoing computer problems, now my radio is messed up. Several years ago I purchased a Sangean portable battery-operated radio from The Short Wave Store. It's one of those radios where the batteries are the primary power source (the AC adapter had to be purchased separately and is very large, heavy, and unwieldy). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, batteries no longer work in it. Now let's be absolutely clear about this: it's not the batteries themselves. Not only are they only three months old (and they're Energizer lithiums at that), but...

An anonymous email making the cyberspace rounds is so upsetting that its author was correct to hide his name. The “Changes Are Coming” email details the demise of our post office, our newspapers, check writing systems, books and music as we know them along with the end of Cable TV and network systems as now constituted. But the harshest caveat bearing down on America is our demise due to deindustrialization. The email reports that “Tens of thousands of factories have left the U.S. in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost. . .the U.S....

BEIJING (AP) -- China said it is reducing the amount of rare earths it will export for the first half of the year by more than 10 percent -- likely to be an unpopular move worldwide since the minerals are vital to the manufacture of high-tech products.

The lightning rod for rapid fielding of directed energy (DE) weapons and advanced sensors will be the military’s next-generation jammer programs that exploit technologies like active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs) antennas and high-power microwave (HPM) capabilities, say senior U.S. government and industry officials at the 13th Directed Energy Conference. Radars on the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35, and Boeing F/A-18F and EA-18G, already have the potential to fire focused beams of energy as soon as funding is available to develop the necessary advanced algorithms. The U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Jammer program is expected to move AESA from radar applications to...

Iran has been able to smuggle advanced technological equipment to its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz via a complex smuggling route based in Dubai, the Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday. According to the report, an Iranian company has purchased control systems from one of Germany's leading electronic manufacturers. The deal was negotiated with a Dubai trading company, which in turn sold Iran a range of electronic equipment for use at its enrichment facility, the British website reported. The report comes amid growing concerns that though Iran claims its nuclear program has only peaceful aims, Tehran is in fact working toward...

SAN FRANCISCO — When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it. Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while sifting through old messages: a big company wanted to buy his Internet start-up. “I stood up from my desk and said, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ ” Mr. Campbell said. “It’s kind of hard to miss an e-mail like that, but I did.” The message had slipped by him amid an electronic flood: two computer screens...

Iran is finishing up eight days of naval exercises. This is actually a publicity event, largely for domestic and foreign media. Among the highlights were a domestically made torpedo (which no one was allowed a close look at, to insure that it was new, and not an older American or Chinese model with a new paint job) and ten new helicopter gunships for the navy. These were actually U.S. made AH-1s, which Iran had bought in the 1970s. Photographers were allowed a close look, and the only thing new about these helicopters was the paint and Chinese electronics installed in...

As of April 2, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) had identified 998,422 current and former members whose personal information was included in the theft of 57 hard drives in October 2009 at the payor’s Eastgate location. As of the last update in January, BCBST estimated 500,000 patients' data had been breached. According to an update from BCBST, 550,873 notifications have been sent to members indicating that their personal information was included on the stolen hard drives. The total number of members includes an additional 447,549 current and former members recently identified in the Tier 1 category, meaning members’ names, addresses,...

When it comes to computer technology, thin is always in. It’s indisputable that the thinner, lighter, clearer, the better when dealing with the latest computer gadget. This keyboard is the epitome of the high standards expected of the technological version of the fashion industry. It’s based on image as well, that is, image recognition technology.

Sears says it will begin selling Samsung 3-D HDTVs next month, which will make it one of the first retailers to sell the new 3-D sets. Sears says two Samsung sets will begin shipping next month: a 46-inch, 3-D LED HDTV priced at $2,599 and a 55-inch LED HDTV priced at $3,299. They will be available at Sears stores in March. "The anticipation for the 3-D experience at home has been mounting, and we're giving our shoppers a competitive edge by being one of the first retailers to offer these products," stated Karen Austin, president, Home Electronics, Sears Holdings. Sears...

Note: The following text SNIPPET is a quote: SEVEN CHARGED FOR ILLEGAL EXPORT OF ELECTRONICS TO U.S. DESIGNATED TERRORIST ENTITY IN PARAGUAY February 19, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Harold Woodward, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Michael Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Commerce (DOC), Adam J. Szubin, Director, Department of the...

Air Force Research Laboratory-funded researchers at the University of Michigan invented a new type of magnetron that may be used in defeating enemy electronics. A vital component of military radar systems since World War II, a magnetron is a kind of vacuum tube that serves as the frequency source in microwave ovens, radar systems, and other high-power microwave circuits. The newly devised technology--which is more compact, exhibits faster start-up, and demonstrates higher peak and average power than current devices--should enable higher-power, higher-frequency operation and, thus, improved potential for jamming and defeat of adversarial systems. While basic magnetron design has changed...

THE CASE FOR SPACE-BASED DEFENSE The growing interest in nuclear technology by countries such as Iran presages the possibility that one or more nations may attempt to harness such a capability in the form of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the United States, a prominent political scientist has warned. Such a scenario, writes Brian Kennedy of the Claremont Institute in the November 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal, is not far-fetched. "It would require the Iranians to be able to produce a warhead as sophisticated as we expect the Russians or the Chinese to possess. But that is...

Sir Ambrose Fleming: Father of Modern Electronics --snip-- Sir John Ambrose Fleming was a leader in the electronics revolution that changed the world. As a professor at a major university, he carefully researched the evidence for Darwinism, concluding that the theory is not supported by science. He also influenced hundreds of students to evaluate the evidence in science for Darwinism. An outstanding scientist and creationist, he played a significant role in the development and maturation of the early creation movement. As Travers and Muhr wrote, he "had an unusually long and active life," and his life changed the world as...

Big screen plasma televisions are to be banned in California because they use too much energy. In a world first, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has given his backing to the crackdown on sets more than 40 inches wide. These liquid crystal display and plasma high definition sets can use as much as three times the power of smaller cathode ray models. Experts say the ban will reduce the state's rocketing electricity bill by £5billion over the next decade. This is the equivalent of about £20 a set per year. Environmentalists have applauded the move by the California Energy Commission, but manufacturers...

Reporting from Sacramento - The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions.

California considering banning giant TVs Electricity-guzzling giant-screen televisions are on the verge of being banned in California in an attempt to cut the state's soaring energy bill. By Tom Leonard in New York Published: 8:38PM BST 16 Oct 2009 Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's governor, has supported controversial proposals by the California's energy commission to impose strict energy consumption limits on TVs with screens that are more than 40 inches wide. The commission claims that California's estimated 35 million televisions and related gadgets account for about 10 per cent of household energy consumption in the state. Experts say that the large...