3 Steps to Intelligent Life-Cycle Management

By Dan Crippen

Most professionals are aware of what a product life-cycle is, how it works and why it matters. In short, a product gets introduced into the marketplace where it (typically) starts on a bell curve reaching maturity and then phasing out of relevance. For some industries like clothing this phase out may bleed into some new…

Diving Into the Bandgap

By Dan Crippen

As the world continues to expand with more and more electronics pumped out every day there is a concern that good ol’ silicon may not be up to the tasks and demand of the future. Lately scientists have been looking into alternative materials to supplement and potentially even replace this long-standing pillar of technology. Though…

Self-Destructing Computer Chips

By Dan Crippen

Incredible! At the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center they have successfully developed a self-destructing microchip. What enables this awesome, spy movie-esque explosion is the fact that the chip is created using strained Gorilla Glass, essentially Gorilla Glass that is just waiting to break. Currently they are using laser light to trigger a special self-destruct resistor…

Quantum Crushes Record

By Dan Crippen

Quantum dots are making a comeback! After a few years of humbled excitement over quantum dots there comes a record breaking performance in speed of light emissions. What the researchers did was construct a plasmonic metal structure with certain characteristics that the quantum dots could be embedded into. The total speed that they achieved was…

FluidWRITER: 6-Axis Printer

By Dan Crippen

A truly incredible feat of machining, this cutting edge printer called the FluidWRITER contains a 6-axis robotic arm. The purpose of this machine is to advance the technology used to mass produce semiconducting components such as antennas for consumer electronics. It uses a silver ink which is sprayed using an inkjet much like most household…