Callow Cough Coverups

[display_podcast]

• • What would be the best way to create a "cough switch" or "kill switch" for a USB based podcasting microphone?
  • EMSL created an AWESOME 555 Timer Footstool. Such a great replica!

• Design Spark corrected us on what their new plugin does, in relation to Google Sketchup.
• Dave is wondering what kind of criteria to use to evaluate all different CAD packages objectively. Let us know in the comments!
• Harry from Robogaia linked here. He just started a new business from his home!
• Richard (@SJGadgetGuy) also linked here from his new site. Thanks!
• Dave recently fixed a Leapster for a friend's child.
• Great segment on PBS about the Maker movement and how it can help education.
• More sexist marketing for electronics, this time from PCB Pool.
• Cool walkthrough tour of Advanced Circuits board house on Base2.us. Shows just how many steps are required to make a board!
• The printed electronics battle rages on! Dave may have won the battle but Chris will win the war!
  • A recent(?) announcement about a pen that can draw conductive lines between components.
  • A recent IEEE Spectrum article discusses a soup of suspended nanotubes could help fabricate new transistors.
• Datasheet of the week! A Hammond Mfg datasheet has a rotating 3D model built into the datasheet. Cool!
• EEVblog forum members working on an open source DMM. Need to watch out for Kickstarter pitfalls.
• EE Times article about a recent TI conference showcases the technology they'll be focusing on (and likely other competitors will follow suit):

• Medical electronics, especially for personal instrumentation (would you like a portable ultrasound unit to see where your vein is, before we stick in that needle?)
• Touch responsive and touch-feedback haptics for communications and entertainment devices (feel that screen vibrate locally, as you strum the virtual guitar strings)
• Microcontroller-based digital power control (so long, analog closed loops)
• Power management for photovoltaic panels, portable batteries, and electric and hybrid electric vehicles (EVs, HEVs)
• Smart energy grids, power monitoring and home appliances
• Advanced motor control, with smarter algorithms and with improved drivers and FETs
• "Soundbar" electronics for turnkey home-audio system designs
• Data acquisition ICs and subsystems for harsh environments, -55⁰C to +210⁰C (definitely not for the  "casual" board designer)
• Superspeed USB (USB 3.0) transceivers, which push the standard to 5.0 Gsps raw data-transfer rate (10× USB 2.0) while improving power efficiency, maintaining backwards compatibility, and enhancing data-transfer efficiency