After many years of loyal service, my Weller TCP 24 soldering iron needs a new bit – I think Pb-free solder has got the better of it. So I thought I would get help choosing a new bit from Weller’s website. Now, and it is probably me rather than Weller, I can’t find anything that …

Weller doesn’t seem to make it easy

Ricoh has launched a voltage regulator, the RP155Z, with a special pin-selectable dual-voltage level output set within a range of 1.6V and 3.6V. The capability to shift voltage levels between one of the two preset output voltage levels makes it ideal for battery-powered applications with SD memory and SIM cards as well as devices requiring …

Ricoh voltage regulator has dual-voltage level output

Canadian IP developer InventionShare has developed a number of digital IP blocks which process analogue signals. The company calls its IP ‘Circuit Seed’ and says they deliver ‘unprecedented precision without precision parts; ultra-linear operation over an extreme dynamic range (>106); low noise, ultrahigh speed (analog at logic speed) and extreme low voltage (down to ~0.1V …

Digital IP blocks process analogue signals

Arrow Electronics is selling a hardware and software platform for developing IoT applications, which is based on the Renesas Synergy development framework. Arrow developed the ARIS board with the Italian design house Reloc. The Renesas Synergy Platform offers developers the benefit of qualified hardware and software, and Arrow said the aim with the ARIS board …

Arrow uses Renesas Synergy to speed IoT development

Linear Technology has introduced a constant frequency peak current mode synchronous step-down DC-DC converter with temperature-compensated ultralow DCR current sensing and clock synchronisation. The LTC7130‘s architecture eases compensation and offers the ability to directly parallel multiple ICs for higher current capability, according to the company. It also enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of the current sense …

LTC launches 20V, 20A monolithic synchronous step-down regulator

The Linux Foundation, the organisation working on open source software initiatives, is offering developers an open source compliance course which is available for free. It is designed to provide software developers with knowledge about legal and licensing issues for building and using open source software. According to the Linux Foundation, complying with open source licences …

Linux developers offered free compliance and copyright training

Wuerth is adding to its Ethernet modules with LAN transformers for speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. The transformers support Power over Ethernet (PoE) up to 100 W and currents up to 1 A per channel. Würth Elektronik eiSos says it is the only manufacturer to offer 10-Gbit LAN transformers with an extended temperature range …

Würth transformers operate up to 10Gb/s

The European Investment Bank Is to provide £500 million to reinforce electrical connections between wind, wave and tidal renewable energy schemes and the national power network. The transmission link will supply equivalent electricity to meet the needs of around 2 million Scots. The new investment is the largest investment in the electricity network in the …

Caithness gets £500m EIB transmission investment

One wonders what the RSPCA might think of this one – radio-controlled beetles. Technologists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of California at Berkeley are using electronics to control beetles in flight. Electrodes are put on beetles’ legs, optic lobes and flight muscles and controlled by radio signals which make the beetles …

Poor Bloody Beetle

Researchers have determined that quantum rather than classical physical behaviour is responsible for superconductivity in high-pressure hydrogen sulphide, a result which could benefit the design of high-temperature superconductors, said the University of Cambridge. Last year, German researchers identified superconductivity in H2S at -70°C, said to be the highest temperature yet. To get it working, the …

High-temperature superconductivity yields another secret