bugs in the site (which also didn’t
recognize “bugs”).
CIRCUITS
AND DEVICES
CARE TO POUNCE
ON A P.U.M.A.?
■ The Segway/GM P.U.M.A. prototype:
future or fantasy?
In December of 2001, the Segway
( www.segway.com) two-wheeled
scooter was introduced, having been
the subject of much speculation and
unprecedented hype. It’s inventor,
Dean Kamen, was hailed as the next
Henry Ford, riding high on marketing
studies that predicted sales of 31
INDUSTRY AND
THE PROFESSION
CHIP SALES
BOTTOMING?
According to the latest report from
the Semiconductor Industry
Association ( www.sia-online.org),
worldwide sales of semiconductors
totaled $14.2 billion in February, a
decline of 30. 4 percent from 2008.
February sales were also down 7. 6
percent from January.
“The global semiconductor industry
is going through one of the steepest
corrections in its history,” said SIA
President George Scalise. “While it
would be premature to conclude that
the sales decline has hit bottom, there
are some indications that the rate of
decline has moderated from the final
quarter of 2008. The world’s two largest
14
June 2009
million units during its first decade or
so. (“The Segway,” he predicted,
would “be to the car what the car
was to the horse and buggy.”)
Investors voiced expectations that the
company would pass the $1 billion
sales level faster than any company in
history. Alas, in reality, only about
23,500 were sold in the first six years,
and sales dropped off afterward
because of recalls, mechanical and
safety problems, and the public’s
desire to avoid looking like a Silicon
Valley dork. But the concept has
evolved, and now Segway has
announced Project P.U.M.A. (for
Personal Urban Mobility and
foundry manufacturers have recently
reported slight improvements in factory
utilization rates, albeit at levels well
below those of a year ago ... Demand
for semiconductors is likely to continue
well below 2008 levels for the next few
quarters, with a gradual recovery to
follow as the global economy recovers,”
he concluded.
2M ARTICLES
NOW AVAILABLE
Last month, the IEEE ( www.ieee.org)
announced the addition of the
two millionth article to be available on
its IEEE Xplore® digital library (iee
explore.ieee.org). The article, “Intelligent
Packet Dropping for Optimal Energy-Delay Trade-offs in Wireless Downlinks,”
is written by IEEE Senior Member
Michael J. Neely, assistant professor at
the Communication Sciences Institute,
which is part of the Electrical
Engineering Department at the
Accessibility) which promises a two-seater vehicle with a top speed of
somewhere between 25 and 30 mph
( 40 to 56 kph) and 25 to 35 miles
range on a single charge. Segway has
cleverly teamed up with that monster
of a profit machine, General Motors,
for the venture, allowing it to offer
OnStar in the little electric buggies
and probably latch onto some of
those bailout gigabucks. Will the
vehicle — currently a prototype —
ever make it to the streets? Well, it’s
too big and fast for sidewalks, too
delicate to be operated in real traffic,
and too fast for bike lanes. Take a
guess. By the way, if you are under
the impression that the original
Segway scooter is based on esoteric
and difficult-to-comprehend technologies, check out www.tlb.org/scooter
.html. Trevor Blackwell will show you
how to build one (minus most of the
safety features) for about $1,700
worth of readily available parts.
LOW LEAKAGE
VARISTORS
AVX Corporation ( www.avx.com)
has introduced a zinc oxide-based varistor series that exhibits a
University of Southern California, Los
Angeles. Neely’s article discusses how
implementing an innovative algorithm into
a wireless network can fundamentally
change the efficiency of wireless
transmitters, which would be beneficial
in prolonging battery life without
adversely affecting performance. IEEE
Xplore — which includes content from
IEEE journals and magazines going back
as far as the year 1913 — is billed as a
comprehensive online database of
current and past research from many
industries, including aerospace and
defense, automotive, computing,
medical devices, nanotechnology,
petroleum and natural gas, power and
energy, semiconductors, and telecommunications. Complete access is free only
to IEEE members, but nonmembers
can search and access abstracts and
purchase full PDF documents individually.
The Neely article is also downloadable
from www.webbooks.net/freestuff
/neely.pdf.
