In an era of $600 billion yearly budgets, $1 trillion individual programs (the F-35 fighter), and even $10,000 replacement covers for latrines, the phrases “military spending” and “saving money” aren’t exactly natural bedfellows. An overwhelming reliance on products designed from the ground up to military specifications is one of the reasons. In an era of…

The prospect of machines replacing human workers has been of concern for more than two centuries: the Luddites destroyed machinery in cotton mills at the beginning of the nineteenth century to protest what they considered unfair practices by manufacturers.   Although technology has certainly eliminated some job categories, it has historically opened up others. The…

Some things in life—and music—just won’t go away. In life, we have Kim Jong-un and the IRS. And in music, we have the Beach Boys. Formed in Hawthorne, CA, in 1961, they’re still touring and singing about Daddy taking the T-bird away even as their members contemplate their ninth decade. Electronic components aren’t so lucky:…

One of the standard indications of a nearby UFO is the sudden failure of all electrical components: your cellphone no longer operates and your car coasts to a stop, often on an isolated country road late at night. You glance out of the window to see a plane falling out of the sky. Clearly, an…

If you’re a design engineer working for an industry behemoth that buys components by the million, it’s relatively simple to get some samples or a little help understanding a new datasheet. You pick up the phone, call the manufacturer directly, and then their local sales or applications engineer will scramble to get whatever you need.…