PHOTO COUR TES Y OF ARGOS Y PUBLISHING.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VISHAY
ELEC TRONIC GmbH.
variation. The operating temperature
range is - 40 to 100°C, allowing
deployment in extreme environments.
No price was quoted by the company,
but it is described as “low-cost.”
ZAP ‘EM TO MUSIC
■ The P10L panel pot provides
500,000 cycles.
■ The Visible Body lays claim to being
the world’s first free, Web-based 3-D
interactive model of the human body.
Macromedia Flash and Anark Client
plug-ins before you can probe their
bodies, but Firefox and Mac OS X
capability is “coming soon.”
CIRCUITS AND
DEVICES
LONG-LIFE PANEL POT
The standard panel potentiometer
will last for something like 50,000
cycles, which is great if you’re designing gas chamber controls or other
equipment that isn’t used on a regular
basis. But if you deal with things
like actuation proportional pedals,
illuminated toys, audio systems, dimmers, machine tools, and an array of
“white goods,” you may be interested
in the Sfernice P10L mini panel pot
from Vishay ( www.vishay.com).
This long-life device features a
low temperature coefficient down
to ±150 ppm/°C, a compact 9. 6 mm
footprint, and up to 500,000
operational cycles (equivalent to 11. 4
operations per minute for five years —
which is more often than Oprah
opens and closes her refrigerator).
The latter feature can reduce the
need for part replacement, which
increases reliability and lowers maintenance costs. The P10L’s
cermet element is more
stable than carbon ones,
and its 1,000 VRMS
dielectric strength adds to
reliability and performance. The device is
available with four
resistance values from
1 to 50K and offers
one percent typical
contact resistance
Perhaps you have been eager to
mount an assault on vagrants,
would-be attackers, or visitors who
have worn out their welcome but just
couldn’t find a weapon that accessorizes properly with your designer
wardrobe. Well, rejoice, because
TASER International has unleashed its
TASER® C2 personal protection device
in new red-hot red, fashion pink, and
leopard print color schemes. “Personal
protection can be both fashionable
and functionable,” said Rick Smith,
company CEO and founder. “The
TASER C2 leopard print design
provides a personal protection option
for women who want fashion with a
bite.” But that’s not all. A new
carrying case for the C2 includes an
MP3 player. With the TASER MPH (for
music player holster), you can drown
out a victim’s screams with
your favorite tunes (e.g.,
Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to
be Kind”). The C2 will
run you about $285,
plus $79.99 for the holster.
NV
■ Your personal TASER
is now available with an
MP3 carrying case.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TASER
INTERNATIONAL.
INDUSTRY AND
THE PROFESSION
ANOTHER WIN FOR THE
GOOD GUYS
It may be just a drop in the bucket,
but a Brooklyn man has been
sentenced to 30 months in the
slammer for circumventing AOL’s
spam filtering system and spamming
1.277 million subscribers. Adam
Vitale, 27, was also ordered to pay
$180,000 to AOL in restitution.
An accomplice, Todd Moeller, has
already been sentenced to 27
14
September 2008
months. Vitale is reported to have
had 22 prior convictions and also was
involved in an online prostitution ring
run via craigslist.org. The restitution
comes to about $0.14 per spam
victim, which AOL of course will
credit to the victims. Of course.
MAC CLONE BUILDER
SUED
Back in the July issue, we noted
some legal questions in regards
to the Open Computer PC — a $399
Mac clone from Psystar Corp.
( www.psystar.com). The response
from Apple turned out to be a 16
page lawsuit charging multiple copyright, trademark, breach-of-contract,
and other violations based on
Psystar’s sales of machines
preloaded with OS X 10. 5 (Leopard).
In the suit, Apple is demanding
that the company refrain from selling
any more of the machines and turn
over all of the profits derived from
Leopard-equipped units. Psystar was
also charged with loading a single
copy of the OS on multiple machines
— another licensing violation. As of
this writing, the Psystar website was
still up and running.
