Electronics For You June 2010 Issue Vol. 42 No. 6 Technology Focus Test & Measurement: An Innovation A Day! The T&M world is innovating at a rapid pace, to keep in step with the developments taking place in its client industries, ranging from communications and computing to aerospace and defence. Radar technologies, 3-D imaging, increasing precision, unbelievable speeds, network convergence, wireless capability, video tests, virtual instruments—catch a glimpse of all these and more trends in T&M
Buyers’ Guide Netbooks For You While notebooks are a bit heavy to carry around in hand, smartphones are not PCs and have a tiny keypad so you can’t type documents easily. Enter netbooks. smaller and lighter than notebooks, these pack the basic functions of a notebook and almost comparable keypad	EFY Report Educational & Hobby Kits Industry Benefits from Technical Awareness Practical learning through educational kits is just what the budding engineers need to solve the real-world problems. and now that colleges have started realising the potential of hands-on training, educational and hobby kits providers see busy years ahead

Software Section Simple CAD Utility Program Using Visual Basic Here is a computer-aided design (CAD) utility program that lets you design simple two-dimensional models, shapes, blocks and objects. It can be used as an alternative to expensive CAD programs for simple pattern layouts, set designs and hobby drawings. Click for more details	Software Section JavaScript-based Indic Script Generator Presented here is a JavaScript-based program that can be used to type all the nine Indian local languages, viz, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. This program is useful for all the computer enthusiasts who wish to create documents/letters in local languages. Click for more details

Circuit Ideas Weekly Reminder This circuit reminds you of all the important tasks that are due on a specific day every week.	Circuit Ideas Low-cost Hearing Aid This hearing aid circuit offers the advantages of high sensitivity, low current consumption, low cost and light weight.

Circuit Ideas Sequential Device Control Using TV Remote Control This circuit lets you switch on and switch off up to nine devices sequentially from your TV remote control.	Circuit Ideas Leakage and Continuity Tester Here is a simple, chargeable leakage and continuity tester that can be operated in two modes: normal mode and gain mode.

Circuit Ideas Electronic Dice Using AT89C2051 This simple circuit demonstrates the capability of an AT89C2051 microcontroller chip to function as a random number generator based on the flying counter principle. Click for more details	Audio Class D: Audio Amplifiers of Choice As we move towards digitisation, Class D amplifiers are widely replacing Class AB in consumer electronic devices like TV sets, DVD players, laptops and mobile phones. Let’s see why

Design Low-Power MCU Selection—Part 1 of 2 Power consumption is very important for battery-powered applications where the battery must last for years. this article discusses key low-power features of MCus and hardware/software techniques to achieve intelligent power management	IT Zone Wimax 2 or LTE: Which Will Win the 4G Race? If the hype is to be believed, 802.16m will redefine wireless broadband and mark the arrival of 4G. Soon after it enters the grandstands, LTE Release 10 will also be ready for the 4G race. Will one technology phase out the other or both have a place in the 4G roadmap?

Innovation Desi Android to take on Apple iPad Everyone has been raving about Apple’s tablet PC iPad—a complete entertainment package. Add an extra power, better display and video/graphic performance, you’ll get Adam. This Android-based tablet PC, developed by Hyderabad-based Notion Ink, promises to give Apple a run for its money in the tablet PC market	Interview “AMI bets on open source for embedded space”—Sridharan Mani, director and CEO, American Megatrends India American Megatrends Inc (AMI) is a leading player in storage, embedded and computing spaces across the globe. It sees open source as the present and future in the embedded space. Sridharan Mani, director and CEO , American Megatrends India, spoke to Vanisha Joseph of EF Y about the intense relationship developing between open source and embedded systems, and the sea of opportunities it holds for the developer community

Interview “MPEG-4 has nothing to do with picture and sound quality”—Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer of Tata Sky Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a joint venture between TATA and STAR. It endeavours to offer Indian viewers a worldclass TV viewing experience through its satellite TV service. Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer of Tata Sky, was recently in Delhi and shared with Uma Bansal, deputy editor at EFY, the current state of DTH TV in India and some suggestions for the consumers. Excerpts	First Look! • Touchscreen Smartphone • Blu-ray Disk Player • Professional Series Displays • Stylish Home Theatre Systems • New Studio Desktop • Car DVD Receiver with Large Display • Netbook with free Net Connection • 8GB MP3 Player

Construction PIC Microcontroller-based Electronic Lock An electronic lock allows activation of an electric appliance only on entering the correct password. Here we present such an electronic locking system in which a PIC16F877A microcontroller plays the role of the processing unit. Click for more details	Construction Cellphone-Based device Control with Voice Acknowledgement Here is a circuit that lets you operate your home appliances like lights and water pump from your office or any other remote place. So if you forgot to switch off the lights or other appliances while going out, it helps you to turn off the appliance with your cellphone.

Embedded Microcontrollers: Need for Standard Core Tools and support ecosystem are key drivers for the popularity of a microcontroller architecture. While there are several software tools available for use across different platforms, hardware tools are restricted to only one type of MCU. Considering the cost and time involved in change of a design, isn’t there need for a common and consolidated architecture?	e-Waste Creating and Sustaining an Effective e-Waste Management System It’s high time that all concerned stakeholders come together to create an effective mechanism for collection, recycling and disposal of e-waste

Storage SD/MMC Memory Card Fundamentals SD and MMC cards differ only in the bus topology and initialisation protocol	M-Commerce Paying Through Mobile Phones Mobile payment systems can be broadly classified into mobile phone based payments, card-based mobile payments, mobile Web payments and mobile wallets. Here is an overview of various mobile payment systems and services in operation world over

Futuristic Smart Electronic Clothing Clothing will no longer be just a fashion statement. By integrating multiple electronic devices, it will make lives of the wearers much more comfortable
Next Issue... Technology Focus: Telemedicine/Health Monitoring Buyers’ Guide: Robot Kits For You Survey/EFY Report: Solar Cells Manufacturing

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August 2010

Issue Vol. 42 No. 8