In another interesting article from Conformity Magazine’s newsletter, they detail five recent product recalls. When will engineers and manufacturers start taking safety seriously.
FCC Proposes $1 Million Forfeiture
In case anyone thinks the FCC isn’t serious about enforcement, Conformity Magazine’s newsletter has this article about a proposed FCC fine of 1 Million dollars against Behringer USA.
I’ve been dealing with FCC emission regulations for coming up on 20 years now and, this action by the FCC reminds me of how important it is to follow the FCC rules no matter how much effort it takes.
I will be back
I have not had free time to post anything to my blog since before the year end holidays. Between work, the holidays and moving I’ve been swamped. Hopefully I’ll get back to posting soon.
Firefox 1.5 Released
The new version of Firefox has been released. It’s working very well for me. Get your copy today.
Visual Studio Express
Microsoft is giving away Visual Studio Express absolutely free until November 2006! I’ve checked the license agreement and faq and it includes the redistribution license and allows commercial usage.
I haven’t gotten it installed yet but I’ve heard that some of the features of from the professional version are disabled but they are likely features that casual users like me won’t miss.
You can install it from the web or download CD images at the manual installation instructions page.
Cheap DRAM in 2007 and beyond
As reported by EE Times, the Gartner group is predicting a long term decline for the DRAM market. This should be good news for all us PC users who keep needing more and more RAM.
Check out the whole article here.
Record year for product safety recalls
This article in Conformity magazine points out that 2005 has set the record for most product safety recalls according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
There is also an article highlighting the latest recalls.
One item they don’t mention, they probably don’t know, is that at least some of the replacement PS2 AC adaptors have also been recalled. I know this because my brothers adapter was subject to the recall. He promptly received the replacement adapter and, then received a second replacement from Sony because they needed to recall the first replacement, Doh!
With the apparent incompetence on the part of Sony regarding the rootkit DRM (see previous post for details) and now botching the PS2 adapter’s I’m beginning to wonder if Sony is being managed by Homer Simpson. 😉
Bob Metcalfe Interview
The inventor of Ethernet, Bob Metcalfe, was interviewed by EE Times this week. As usual, Bob is informative, entertaining and controversial.
I particularly like his thoughts on blogging and the New York times on page three of the interview.
Problems from too much outsourcing
This EETimes.com article summarizes the results of a survey by Industry Directions.
As one who works in electronics and, has been involved in outsourcing, these results are no surprise to me.
New group to promote Linux
IBM, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony have formed the Open Invention Network to promote Linux by sharing patents royalty free.
Read more about it in this EE times article.
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