I was asked to have a look at a problem in a camper van this weekend. The van has a sink, and the tap on the sink combines a water valve plus a switch that turns on a remote electric pump to raise water up to the tap. The tap is made by Whale – …

Camper van query has UK-made answer

Maxim has introduced battery energy measuring (‘gas gauging’) chips with SHA-256 anti-cloning authentication. The firm has developed its own gauging algorithm that does needs no host interaction. “ModelGauge m5 fuel gauges include an algorithm that converts raw measurements such as battery voltage, current, and temperature into accurate state-of-charge, absolute capacity in mAhr, time-to-empty, and time-to-full …

Battery fuel gauge chips include anti-clone security

I can add a new name to my list of heroines: Which now reads: Beryl Burton (cycling), Florence Nightingale (statistics), Dr James Barry (medicine) and Sarah Guppy (engineering). It transpires Sarah Guppy was an engineer in the early 1800s, having made contributions to bridge foundations that were used by Thomas Telford, amongst other stuff. From here, …

Sarah Guppy

C&K has introduced a three position push-button with a footprint of only 3.0 x 3.7mm (4.4 x 3.1mm including G-type terminations). Called KXT2, it is rated for 100,000 cycles. The manufacturer describes it as ‘double-action’ (see diagram): With no force, two of its four pins are shorted. Once 100g of force has been applied, three of its …

C&K three-position switch shrinks to 3.7 x 3.0mm

Thanks to Gartner for this one – the top 10 semiconductor companies last year:

Top Ten Semiconductor Companies – Gartner

ST had a disastrous year in the analogue market last year slipping from being the No.2 player to No.5 as its sales slumped by 13%, according to IC Insights. Infineon moved up one place in the rankings from No.3 to No.2, displacing ST. Skyworks moved up to No.3. The 2015 analogue market grew 2% to …

ST slumps 13% in analogue losing three slots in market rankings

ST had an awful year in the analogue market, according to IC Insights, seeing its sales fall 13% in a market which grew 2%. The company lost its market No.2 slot to Infineon while being overtaken in the rankings by both Skyworks Solutions, which took the No.3 slot, and Analog Devices which was No.4. ST …

ST Falls From No.2 To No.5 In Analogue Market

SureCore, the Sheffield low power SRAM IP specialist, says its ultra-low voltage SRAM IP operates at 0.6V on on TSMC’s 40nm ULP CMOS process, delivering from 20MHz at 0.6V to 300MHz at 1.21V. “Standard SRAM is not reliable below 0.9V, but SureCore’s single supply rail, Ultra-Low Voltage SRAM allows operating voltage to scale in tandem …

SureCore SRAM IP runs at 20MHz on 0.6V

The Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes in Thüringen, Germany have been lit with LED-based lamps from Soraa that now fully reveal the natural colors of the mineral formations in the caverns.

In another sign that the lighting industry is expanding its automation remit, Chess Wise teams with global blinds and fabric maker Verosol.