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I was puzzling over tilt switches, which, in these mercury-free days, tend to be a ball bearing in a metal tube with a contact at one end. Tilting the tube lets the ball bearing roll down and short the contact to the tube wall. Updated below (and if only I had heard of ‘tip-over’ switches) …

Read full article: Updated: Tilt switch contemplation

Microchip adds ‘core independent peripherals’ (CIPs) – that inter-operate whilst the core is sleeping – to its high-end 8bit PIC18F MCUs.

Read full article: Autonomous peripherals for PIC18F MCUs

Rhodesia gets first computer was, 55 years ago, the headline on a story in Electronics Weekly’s edition of January 25th 1961. The story opens: An ICT 1202 electronic computer is being installed by the Southern Rhodesia Treasury Department in Salisbury. Originally intended for the job of processing the Government’s 15,000 payroll, it is also to …

Read full article: Rhodesia Gets First Computer

President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology forms a working group to strengthen the US semiconductor industry.

Read full article: President Obama sets up semiconductor working group

OLED panels produce soft diffuse light with essentially a Lambertian distribution that is inherently pleasing, but efficacy remains a challenge and elevated ambient temperature can drastically reduce lifetime.

We are excited to announce that Amazon Redshift is now available in the South America (São Paulo) Region.

Procurement – that’s where the money is in this game, Ed confides to his diary – the Department must spend a fortune buying goods and services from outside. I’ve told my PPS to draw up a list of all the Department’s regular suppliers with the amounts we pay them and the services and goods supplied. …

Read full article: Ed Finds Another Wheeze

Harwin has a new range of surface-mount vertical spring-loaded pogo-pins, and pads for them to land on. “Pogo-pin connectors have multiple applications, including wearable medical and fitness devices, mobile phones, car stereos, and notebook and tablet computers,” said the firm. Pins have a free height from 2.4 to 8.2mm and are also available as multi-contact …

Read full article: Pogo-pins aimed at wearables

Connector makers Huber+Suhner, Radiall and Rosenberger are developing a new RF connector system for small cell mobile basestations. To be shown for the first time at next month’s Electronica exhibition, the small format coaxial connector system is being proposed by the suppliers for use in both 4G and upcoming 5G networks. Designed with robustness, small …

Read full article: Tiny RF connector designed for 5G small cells