The development of the modern circuit board really began in the early 20^th century. It was German inventor Albert Hanson who first discovered how to laminate flat foil conductors on an insulated board. Since, circuit boards have become crucial to the operation of electronic devices in the home and workplace. These important components would not be possible without advanced manufacturing techniques.

Mapping Boards

The first step in the creation of a circuit board is to map the wafer and plot out where the circuitry will actually go. There is a process called photolithography that is used to add a kind of roadmap to the board. Next, a sputter deposition system is used to lay the conductive materials onto the board itself.

Conductive Materials

The primary material used in the creation of a circuit board is copper-based. Copper is highly conductive of electricity, and fulfills the requirements a circuit board needs. Copper thickness is usually specified in micrometers, and a square foot usually requires about an ounce of melted down copper. Using a PECVD system, manufacturers can apply three or more layers of copper to the board, creating a heavy copper layer.

Final Thoughts

Circuit boards need to be able to draw in power and then disperse that power to the proper units. The creation of these boards is highly regulated, with safety standards designed to limit flammability and document maximum temperature threshold. These boards are live electrical parts, so they must be able to operate safely without sparking or shorting out.

Denton Vacuum, LLC sells thin film evaporation devices for advanced manufacturing techniques. Find heavy duty manufacturing devices online at Denton Vacuum, LLC.

Digital-image sensors converts optical image into an electronic image. Today’s most used technology types include semiconductor charge-coupled devices (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS). As smartphones and other mobile devices become more popular demand for digital-image sensors are expected to increase. CMOS is widely used in smartphones, tablets and other devices that uses installed cameras. Smartphones alone is expected to demand 1.7 billion units by 2017.

Santa Clara, California based OmniVision Technologies is the world’s largest maker of digital-image sensors. It has helped Apple until iPhone 4S which came out in 2011, supplying with sensors. Today it is helping Apple with their iPads and other makers of smartphone and other device to compete with mainstream stand-alone cameras with tiny cameras embedded in smartphones and other devices such as GoPro cameras. Sony is becoming its main competitor accounting for more than 34 percent of the market share and now supply tiny sensors to Apple for its iPhone 4S and others. Samsung claims it has 13 percent of the market share and another viable main player in the field.

OmniVision makes tiny image sensors for smartphones and other devices that range in cost from 40 cents to about $4 a piece.

Remember the megabyte and the gigabyte era? That was not too long ago. Megabytes and gigabytes may not be enough to count storage capacities by 2016 and the technology world is getting ready for zettabyte as informed by Cisco Systems. What is a zettabyte? It is one trillion gigabytes of data.

Global data traffic is increasing by about 21 percent a year according to a recently published report by Cisco Systems. In 2007, according to the same source global data traffic was around one Exabyte, equal to one billion gigabytes. The next step will be to reach one zettabyte by 2016. What’s after that and when will we reach the next level? According to Cisco Systems beyond zettabyte will be yottabyte, which is 1,000 zettabytes. In other words this equals to 250 trillion DVDs. Cisco estimates that we will reach that capacity soon after 2016. What is fueling this crazy expansion? According to Cisco System it is video. It estimates that video streaming will occupy more than 79 percent of data traffic by 2018, from the current 66 percent. Netflix and YouTube combined are responsible for more than 50 percent of downloads in North America.

Smart surface glass such as Google Glass is in news lately and expected to make a limited release of its wearable eye glass. It is not only Google who is going to benefit from it; glass manufacturers such as Corning that makes Willow Glass can also benefit from the new technology. Corning also makes popular Gorilla Glass 3 used in Apple’s iPhone.

Introduced in June 2013, the bendable thin (0.1 millimeter) and light Willow Glass allows operations such as displays more cost-effectively. Thinness, strength and flexibility allow the glass to be used in wearable such as Google Glass. It also allows the glass to resist high temperatures. It is capable of handling liquid crystal displays (LCD) as well as Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) displays making it more suitable for smartphones, laptops and tablets. Curving flexibility will allow it to be used in non-flat surfaces. Willow Glass is capable of protecting sensitive electronics parts from moisture and heat. This allows it to be rolled and potentially used in solar panels. Commercial manufacturing of Willow Glass is expected this year. It could define entirely new products such as displays that fit the curve of your wrist.

Search for the missing Malaysian Airline jet is getting much needed help from satellites covering the globe 24/7. NASA’s dominance of the orbit is fading due to budget issues of the US government and handfuls of private companies are hurrying to fill the gap. Two big companies in the field of imaging the globe for commercial purposes are DigitalGlobe and Airbus Defence & Space (ADS). The infamous Google, Microsoft and many governments worldwide use their services for imaging. While most satellite data are somewhat old, two new companies, California based Skybox Imaging and Planet Labs, are attempting to provide real-time data. They can provide higher as well as lower-resolution images. Their satellites are less costly than those are currently orbiting the planet. Launching their satellites on rockets also cost less due to the smaller size.

Most pictures you find on the Internet are few years old. Real-time pictures may take few more years to come. It will require a network of satellites covering the entire globe at any given time, but the data could be invaluable for many including the missing airliner. Imagine using satellite images to find best planting and harvesting times to maximize profits for farmers?

This article was written by Allied Time

Biometric time clock systems are all the rage these days. A biometric time clock is one that uses an attribute of the human body to identify the employee. There are three main types of biometric time clocks on the market: fingerprint systems, hand readers, and face recognition time clock systems.  The face recognition time clock system is the most advanced of the three by far, offering companies incredible efficiency, security, and flexibility.

If you’re in the market for a new face recognition system, you might have a few questions. If you’re new to advanced time clocks, you might wonder whether this technology is right for your business. Do you need a face recognition system or a fingerprint time clock system? To help you make a well-informed purchase decision, here’s a brief look at the features and benefits of the face recognition time clock system.

The Features of Face Recognition Systems

The specific features of a face recognition time clock depend on the brand and model. But the following is a list of features that are common on most units. As the name implies, a face recognition time clock system identifies employees by scanning the face. Unlike fingerprint or hand-reader systems, a face recognition time card machine is sanitary and doesn’t involve dirty prints or germs. Along with tracking total hours worked and overtime, this type of model offers many advanced features, including optional automatic lunch deduction,  work codes collection, two level of overtime, archive features, manual recording of various hours, and language configurations.

A face recognition time clock system can be installed on a single PC or multiple computers. The data can be integrating with multiple payroll providers, and provides a wide variety of reporting capabilities.

The Many Benefits

There are many advantages to purchasing a face recognition time clock system for your company. It’s ideal for companies that want a simple yet effective way to track employee time. Since it offers many automatic features, a face recognition machine can help improve workflow by allowing managers to focus on other areas of the company.

A face recognition system also provides incredible compliance. Many systems provide instant back up of vital data, and can retrieve the information is a fraction of the time compared to manual data retrieval. It also offers incredible security. With extreme security, businesses can have protection and peace of mind. Finally, it doesn’t require a lot of software to run.
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Allied Time offers employee time tracking systems and supplies, including employee time clock software, biometric time clocks, and traditional time clocks.

Using Wi-Fi for mobile calls and data are becoming increasingly popular and save money for users. Big wireless carriers have spent billions of dollars building networks and spend billions more to upgrade the service. It requires expensive and scare electromagnetic spectrum to send signals. However, Wi-Fi is already a router based network that one can access without costing too much money. Almost every home in the U.S. now has a router at home creating a web of Wi-Fi. Since Wi-Fi does not require a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) service can be provided at much cheaper rate.

According to Cisco Systems more than one-third of data traffic in 2012 used Wi-Fi or went through a router and it is expected to grow to more than 50 percent by 2017. More and more are relying on Wi-Fi to avoid expensive data fees charged by carriers. AT&T is the only U.S. carrier that widely uses Wi-Fi saving money for its customers and it has more than 32,000 hotspots under agreements. Cable providers in the US are sitting on a readily available vast Wi-Fi network if they chose to enter into voice and data services.

The Korean behemoth, Samsung Electronics has found a way to kill a smartphone or tablet remotely. Smartphones such as iPhone grabs are on the rise and last year alone device users lost more than 1.6 million mobile units. The technology would have given some comfort to phone and other mobile device owners in the event their phone or device is lost or stolen. Unfortunately, U.S. wireless carriers are refusing to sell mobile devices containing kill switches from Samsung.

Law enforcement officials and consumer advocates are promoting the idea of a kill switch. Then why wireless carriers are objecting to it? Wireless carriers argue that it will add an additional burden on its customer service staff. Reinstalling a kill switch after an accidental mistake of a use is not a task for a lay person. Instead, wireless carriers and their trade group, CTIA, are working with law enforcement and others to implement other measures to prevent or reduce mobile device thefts. CTIA is launching a nationwide effort to create a tracking database and advocating heavy fines for convicted traffickers. Carriers are looking for technological innovations other than kill switches. However, Apple has succeeded introducing software to remotely deactivate iPhones.

Article submitted by Space Friender.

Traditional computing giants including Hewlett-Packard (HP) are under attacked by newcomers equipped with new technologies for storage, networking and servers. Due to the enormous pressure from newcomers such as Open Computing from Facebook, traditional computing giants like HP are fighting back. Recognizing the threat from Facebook, HP is introducing a new server and networking system known as Moonshot.

Moonshot runs on extremely low-power consuming chips in a small server. HP claims that it consumes 89 percent less power to operate and takes up 94 percent less space than traditional servers. Many think that it is the company’s answer to competition from newcomers and take the company in a new direction in regard to chip efficiency for data center operations. It is also introducing new water cooling technologies for servers and it is less complex to operate. HP is relying on Project Moonshot for turnaround in computing. Three new ARM-based Moonshot cartridges will be made by Applied Micro, Texas Instrument and Calxeda next year and many others are waiting to hear from HP. The new modules open new ways to do cloud computing and social networking based on ARM-based servers. Dell is more critical of Moonshot and coming up with its own to fight back.

By Ted Dhanik 

Advertising is a necessary part of running any type of business.  While some small businesses rely on word of mouth referrals, it’s still a good idea to look into advertising to the general public.  There are a few reasons for this.  First of all, advertising allows companies to grow their client base exponentially.  Also, advertising helps to achieve one of the most important elements of running a business: brand awareness.

Many companies stick with traditional advertising because they either aren’t sure how online ads work or because they believe it’s cheaper.  Traditional advertising includes putting an ad in a newspaper, magazine, billboard or on television.  While this can be a good option for certain types of businesses, there are some disadvantages.  With these types of ads, it can be difficult to monitor whether a large number of viewers are exposed to the ad.  For example, if an ad is placed in a magazine, there is a big chance that viewers graze past the ad.  If an ad is on television, it’s crucial to have the ad or commercial play at times of the day when viewership is highest.

Online advertising can be expensive, however, it’s not typically more expensive than other types of ads.  There are some definite advantages online ads offer over traditional ads.  For example, one benefit to display ads is that they can easily be updated and changed without a lot of time, energy, or money.  Obviously, traditional advertising doesn’t offer this same convenience.  Another big perk of internet ads is that they can be tailored for a target audience more easily.  Particularly category and contextual ads are placed on websites that line up with the correct demographic.  This unique tailoring is what makes display ads successful.

Author bio: Guest post is submitted by Ted Dhanik, the president and co-founder of engage:BDR.  engage: BDR is a leading media company that offers marketing solutions for direct response marketers and advertisers.  Ted Dhanik has his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from California State University, Hayward.  Ted Dhanik was previously the VP of Strategic Marketing for Myspace for over five years.