Happy, Prosperous & Blessed

NASA uses MSO-19 Scope/Analyzer on Space Station

2012-01-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

The compact MSO-19 Oscilloscope/Logic Analyzer that we sell (http://www.saelig.com/MFR00094/PSPCMSO002.htm) is being used by NASA and is currently in orbit aboard the International Space Station.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Link-Instruments/320873161269481?sk=wall

Engineering 101

2011-12-21T09:46:00.004-05:00

Aaronia Spectrum Analyzers Price Increase 170%!

2011-12-13T10:41:00.001-05:00

Aaronia has established new reseller guidelines and new territory requirements, which will cause an approximately 170% increase in the cost of their goods in 2012. Current pricing is valid only until December 20, 2011.

December Newsletter Bargains

2011-12-01T11:11:00.002-05:00

Saelig Co. Inc.

The December newsletter is out, featuring a 100 MHz Rigol DS1102E oscilloscope for $399 (formerly $795!!)

http://www.saelig.com/news/newsletters/saelig1112.htm

Water for India

2011-11-14T12:34:00.002-05:00

I just returned from a two-week trip to rural India to see some water projects funded by my church. It was amazing to see what a difference in the tribal villages that fresh water made – increasing their health, prosperity and self-sufficiency as crops could now regularly be farmed. Even the young women in the village were now able to marry since water came! Puts a new perspective on the luxuries we take for granted in USA....

Beat this!

2011-10-20T10:20:00.001-04:00

Robot solves Rubik's Cube in under 6 seconds! How does that make you feel?!!

Saelig product featured in Designfax!

2011-09-28T11:43:00.000-04:00

http://www.designfax.net/enews/20110927/index.php

Our nw USB microscope was featured as a "Mike Likes" item!

"Raising the debt limit to solve the national debt is like raising the blood alcohol limit to solve drunk driving."

2011-07-29T11:13:00.000-04:00

Just my (and many others') thought ...

XYZs of Oscilloscopes Primer

2011-07-13T12:10:00.002-04:00

Tektronix (whose products we don't sell) is offering a nice ebook describing Oscilloscope basics: here. Helpful to users of any make of scope .... thanks, Tek!

New USBscope50 video

2011-07-11T11:10:00.001-04:00

Is here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1DfiEW6RV8

Kudos

2011-06-24T11:38:00.001-04:00

I love it when customers send us nice comments like this received today:

"I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the service I have received from Saelig. I am a student who was looking for an affordable scope to use for my hobby, work, and school projects. I appreciate the friendly sales staff who was very helpful, and even called to tell me that the bag I ordered would not fit the scope I had purchased and offered advice on some additional bags that might. Needless to say I am very appreciative to have found such a nice company to order from. I appreciate the multi-tool that shipped, that was a nice surprise as well. Also my scope came in handy at work just the other day. The Owon PDS8012T is just the right bandwidth for my applications, and has a nice variety of features and is unmatched for price. In fact, I am the intern holding down the lab during some testing procedures at work while our two engineers are off site working on projects, and just the other day, I connected the scope to my notebook and was able to screen share it over Skype to China. We could diagnose and see the results in real time for a testing board we are using for some QA procedures. Within 20 minutes we both found the problem on our testing board here in Colorado. Normally it would have taken an entire day to share pictures, and gather enough data to make a diagnosis going back and forth over e-mail. I was able to collect some initial measurements, send them to the engineers, they were able to look them over, and call on Skype and get an in-depth analysis using the Owon data collection tool in real time. The scope made it possible to get the board back online which would have otherwise had to wait. It was great and everyone was very happy to go to back to bed quickly. Thank you for excellent products and great support. I just had to pass along how helpful you all have been. "

Thanks, "Z"!!!

Owon PDS5022S on sale!

2011-06-16T14:09:00.001-04:00

Save an extra $20 on our already low-priced 25MHz PDS5022S oscilloscope! Only $267.00 for a limited time! http://www.saelig.com/product/PSSA002.htm

Owon PDS5022S on sale!

2011-06-16T14:09:00.000-04:00

Save an extra $20 on our already low-priced 25MHz PDS5022S oscilloscope! Only $267.00 for a limited time! http://www.saelig.com/product/PSSA002.htm

You could be replaced by an iPad!

2011-06-06T16:43:00.003-04:00

At Worldwide Developers Conference this morning, you may have seen Taptic Toys' remotely-controlled robot that rolls like a Segway with an iPad for a head. Home workers could "walk around" a real office or plant without really being there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXM9PYaXY0&feature=player_embedded

Mr Reliability Just Married Hotness

2011-06-02T16:55:00.012-04:00

Here's a short promo video for the iMSO-104 Apple device scope we just released: http://youtu.be/s3Uwjliz6bk

Mr Reliability Just Married Hotness

www.youtube.com

and here's a quick review by a tech magazine editor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_pUXn8GoQE

How to Use an Oscilloscope and Signal Generator as a Component Tester & Curve Tracer

2011-05-18T16:29:00.001-04:00

Here's video explaining how to make your own component tester. B&K ought to know that a "20 mega hurt generator" might be painful ...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtpiJ6OfIBU

Too much 'violins' in the world?

2011-05-14T10:14:00.004-04:00

As a violinist myself, I really appreciated seeing this YouTube video, but it reminded me that one of our Saelig (www.saelig.com) suppliers is building an electronic filter box that will make electric violins sound like expensive Italian masters. Can you guess which one? I'll let you know when it's ready later this year.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU2zlW9fF-Y&NR=1

Restaurant Menu Tricks

2011-05-10T10:03:00.001-04:00

Yahoo! FInance recently had some useful info for foodies (http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-112574-9381-3-7-ways-restaurant-menus-make-you-spend?ywaad=ad0035&nc):

Before you order your next Lasagna Classico at Olive Garden, Crunchy Rabbit at Jean Georges in Manhattan or Egg McMuffin at You-Know-Where, you might want to be aware of these seven common menu ploys.

1. First in show. Many restaurants group their offerings under the obvious headings: pasta, beef, seafood, entrees, appetizers and so on. Testing has shown that if you decide on chicken, you are more likely to order the first item on the chicken list. That's where a savvy restaurant will place its most profitable chicken dish. A really sharp chef might put a puzzler like sweetbreads first in a grouping. "They only cost about $3, so the margin is huge," says Ez. Of course, you've got to hope that enough people like sweetbreads.

2. Menu Siberia. Unprofitable dishes, like a seafood combo plate that require expensive ingredients, and lots of work, are usually banished to a corner that's less noticeable or in a multi-page menu stashed on page five.

3. Visual aids. If you draw a line around it, people will order. That's why many menus box off something they want to promote. Chicken wings are a prime example. They're "garbage," says my son of one of my favorite noshes. "They cost pennies so they're huge profit items." Photos also sell dishes. An album of what look like ten-inch-high pies set on each table at Bakers Square make it hard to resist ordering a slice. Fancy-schmancy restaurants, however, like this one in Westport, Conn., consider photos déclassé; from them the most you'll get is a sketch or two.

4. Package deals. So you stop by McDonald's for a mid-afternoon burger. When you get to the counter, however, what's really in your face are photos of Extra Value Meals. You figure, says Ez, "Hey, I could eat two patties, I could use some fries, and now I'll get a soft drink too." The single burger you intended to buy is off in menu Siberia, on the board far to the right, but you've already spent more than you intended. A small percentage of the chain's 47 million customers dropping a few extra bucks each day translates to millions in additional revenue. Another example: Olive Garden's Bottomless Pasta Bowl ($8.95). "It's very unlikely you're going to eat more than two bowls," says Ez. And, as one whiny diner noted, you're like to scarf so many free breadsticks first that you won't have room for all those noodles.

5. Dollar-sign avoidance. Focus groups who've been asked to opine on menus display an acute discomfort with dollar signs and decimals. Keeping money as abstract as possible makes spending less threatening. Many high-tone foodie establishments that charge an arm and a leg for, say, a bowl of lentils and groats now omit such crass symbols from their menus -- like Spoonriver, a place I like in Minneapolis. I almost don't notice that I've paid $12.50 for a rather small chicken quesadilla. Once upon a time, menus used leader dots (... .) to connect the entree with the price. You won't find them much anymore either.

6. The small plate-large plate conundrum. A restaurant may offer two chicken Caesar salads, one for $9 and one for $12. You may think that you're getting a break ordering the small one, but, says Ez, that's really the size they want to sell. And if a diner decides, hmmm, I may as well get the larger one because I'll never get rich saving three bucks, the restaurant will throw on some extra lettuce, making the price differential almost pure profit.

7. Ingredient embroidery. Foodie-centric restaurants practically list the recipe for each dish making each ingredient sound ultra-special. (An item is more likely to sell if it dwells on the fact that, say, the cheese came from cows at the Brunschwagergrunt Farm in western Wisconsin or that the organic mushrooms were raised by a former duchess with an advanced degree in microbiology.) Even at a humble eatery, however, a dish labeled Mom's Special Mac and Cheese or "The BeeBop Bar's Mac and Four Cheese casserole" sells better than just plain old mac and cheese. "It may not be any more special than what you get somewhere else, but you'll start to think you can only get it there," says Ez. And that will keep you coming back again and again.

You won't find these gambits at every eatery. Not all restaurant owners plan their menus as carefully as they should. If they did, contends my kid, maybe they would stop placing entrées in the middle of the right hand page, prime menu real estate, because "most people who go to a restaurant are going to order an entrée anyway." he says. "That's where I'd put desserts."

Food for thought!

Spectrum analyzer catches exam cheats in Taiwan

2011-05-03T13:04:00.002-04:00

Police in Taiwan recently used handheld spectrum analyzers to catch at least three people suspected of cheating on an exam by monitoring for mobile phone signals. Officers monitored an exam in south Taiwan for prospective government workers, said senior company engineer Lai Cheng-heng. The devices checked for signals from pagers or mobile phones near the test site. Those sitting for the exam are supposed to shut off their mobile phones to stop test answers from reaching them via calls, text messages or vibrations.

Spectrum analyzers cannot conclusively identify specific phone users, he said, but they can narrow down the area from which a call was made. Such data is useful in conjunction with other evidence of cheating. An officer who followed up the exam for a range of government jobs said he was unsure how many people would be formally accused of cheating. But he said the "effectiveness" of the analyzers was "very high."

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/373172/spectrum_analyzer_catches_exam_cheats_taiwan/?fp=2&fpid=1&rid=1

Paper Airplanes Rule!

2011-04-27T12:29:00.003-04:00

Some of the Saelig staff like paper airplanes. Here are some originals with downloadable pdfs to print on your own color printer! We found them at:

http://www.amazingpaperairplanes.com/Favorites.html

Try http://www.amazingpaperairplanes.com/Falcon_Pattern_09.pdf

Thought for the day ...

2011-04-26T17:04:00.001-04:00

W.S. Churchill ―We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.

Nice viral advertising by T-mobile

2011-04-17T21:20:00.001-04:00

Just seen a preview of the upcoming British Royal Wedding. Check it out!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug&feature=player_embedded

Should we sponsor something like this for Saelig????!!!

April Fools?

2011-04-02T15:53:00.003-04:00

I personally dislike pranks that trick people (see Proverbs 26.18-19) but I thought this one was fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blOrY-nEGaE

Eat That Frog

2011-02-25T11:32:00.002-05:00

(Courtesy of http://www.actioncoach.com/Eat-That-Frog?pressid=1081)

Okay. So, you've started your day, and there's so much to do. Ever ask yourself, "Where do I start?" Many business owners I talk to do. They've got so much on their plate: sales, marketing, finances, hiring, cleaning the bathroom (just checking to see if you are still awake), and let's not forget actually providing your product or service. Many people, faced with so many balls to juggle shut down. Or, how about "let me start with email."

Have you ever found yourself doing that? And then the phone rings. And then an employee comes in asking for guidance. And then a customer calls. And before you know it, it is 5 p.m. and everyone is leaving the office except you, and you're thinking "Jeez, I haven't gotten anything done that I needed to get done today."

There's a way to stop the madness, and it's called "Eat That Frog!" If you haven't read this book by Brian Tracy, I suggest you get it and give it a good read.

The key to stop procrastinating, (and yes, I realize you thought all of that other stuff you did was important), is to start each day identifying the number one goal you have for the day. And then "Eat That Frog!" It means continually asking yourself "Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?"

And then, as Nike would tell us, "just do it". Give yourself time at the beginning of each day to focus (and I mean really focus) and get the biggest, ugliest thing on your plate done. You'll be surprised how the rest of the day turns out.

RAK Time!

2011-02-14T10:24:00.000-05:00

information from the non-profit organization Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

The Extreme Kindness Challenge—RAK challenges everyone to inspire themselves and others by committing to do one kind act every day during Random Acts of Kindness Week.

Who:
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (RAK)—a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring people to practice kindness and pass it on to others.

When:
Random Acts of Kindness Week, Feb. 14-20

What:
The Extreme Kindness Challenge—Our Ticket to a Kinder World—includes:
• Daily kindness prompts at Random Acts of Kindness on Facebook and Twitter (@RAKFoundation).

• Participants can log their kind acts at the main website, on Facebook and Twitter (#dokindness).

• RAK will tally how many people are touched by the movement and share highlights online every day.

Where: Everywhere—with results shared at www.randomactsofkindness.orgon Facebook and Twitter (@RAKFoundation).

Ethernet for Cars?

2011-02-08T11:57:00.000-05:00

Ethernet to gain ground in automotive applications, Bosch predicts

Christoph Hammerschmidt

2/5/2011 6:22 PM EST

Having already secured a toehold in diagnostics applications, Ethernet will continue to gain territory in cars. During an industry meeting in Munich, Bosch Automotive Electronics VP Rainer Kallenbach laid out its vision of future in-vehicle networking.

In today's vehicles – or at least in the vehicles currently under design – the electronics landscape is structured in "domains" – for instance, for body electronics, infotainment, vehicle motion management, occupant and pedestrian safety, and energy management. Each domain is controlled by a specific ECU which assumes the role of a central computer for this domain. Domains can in turn be structured into sub-domains. At the top level, they exchange data across a number of different networks, with a Central Gateway controlling the data flow.

Typically, the network technologies used for inter-domain communications are domain specific: The body electronics domain, for instance is connected to the Central Gateway by means of a CAN or High-speed CAN link, whereas in the energy management and in particular in the vehicle motion management domain, FlexRay might be the technology of choice.

In the infotainment domain prevails the MOST bus. Its latest version MOST150 offers ample space for growing bandwidth requirements. Which will be necessary, given the applications currently in the offing which will enter the cars over the next couple of years: In-vehicle infotainment with separate audio and video program for rear seat passengers, personal connectivity, vehicle internet integration or car-to-x connectivity.

In this environment of increasing bandwidth demand and the necessity to dovetail software functions of the car and the outside world, Ethernet as the predominant networking technology in commercial IT will gain ground also in cars. At the same time, communication processes will increasingly use the Internet protocol stack (IP). Currently, the Diagnosis over IP (DoIP) standard is being worked, driven mainly by Audi, BMW and Daimler; a pre-version is implemented in the current BMW 7 series.

On the long run, Ethernet will likely spread to other segments of in-car network, predicted Rainer Kallenbach, Automotive Electronics VP of supplier Bosch, at the Euroforum Automotive Electronics meeting in Munich. "We see Ethernet also as infotainment bus system", Kallenbach said. "In connection with internet connectivity, also IP will enter the cars". Applications are many, Kallenbach mentioned in this context remote diagnosis and location based services enhancing the navigation system functionality.

Examples for applications which drive the bandwidth demand are video systems in the infotainment context where data rates up to 100 Mbit/s accrue. In the vehicle motion and safety domain, video cameras increasingly are deployed. Again, the video streams generate data rates of up to 100 Mbit/s, Kallenbach explained.

In Bosch's scenario, Ethernet will start to offer an alternative to MOST150 beginning around the year 2015. by 2020, it likely will replace MOST. The same holds true for in-vehicle camera applications where first MOST150 will displace the LVDS data transfer technology; later Ethernet could displace MOST150. And in a future architecture characterized by the deployment of domain control units (DCUs) and a backbone connecting these domains, Ethernet will be without alternative from the start which Bosch expects around 2020.

But what about FlexRay – the networking technology designed to replace CAN and High-speed CAN in particular time-critical applications? Will it also be replaced by Ethernet before it really came out of the starting blocks? No, Kallenbach said, FlexRay likely will be able to defend its terrain. But it will be application will be confined to powertrain and vehicle motion management.

This article originally appeared on EE TImes Europe.

Video Press Release for Byte Paradigm's GP Series DPGs

2011-01-26T11:29:00.002-05:00

Byte Paradigm (Belgium) has just introduced faster Digital Pattern Generators with more built-in memory (at customer request). They are finding increased use in fabless chip companies to test ICs coming off the line (e.g. charactrizing RF or video chips through set-up sent via SPI). Since I didn't have the new model here yet, I'm holding the previous model, which looks identical apart from the product legend. They'll be shown at DesignCon (Feb) and ESC (May) in San Jose soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASySn-seED0

Christmas questions ...

2010-12-20T19:36:00.001-05:00

Do reindeer hang hornaments on their Christmas trees?
Does the Christmas alphabet have No L?
Is Silent Night a parent's favorite carol?
Do snowmen eat snowflakes for breakfast?
Do cold Mexicans at this time of year ask for Fleece Navidad?
...Is Turkey popular at Christmas - because the weather is warmer over there?
Do angels greet each other - by saying Halo there?

We may never know ....

Hand it to Google ...

2010-12-15T11:08:00.002-05:00

The Google juggernaut is an essential tool for many companies who want to find customers looking for goods they sell, and we are no exception in making use of their (expensive) services. Today I recevied a personalized thank you email. How can they make videos for each csutomer? You work it out!

"We want to mark AdWords' 10th birthday by thanking you for advertising with us. We hope you enjoy this small token of our appreciation, a personalized video just for you:

Your video: http://www.youtube.com/adwords10?x=10a6b4fe74014b3d9d626346d1dc2662"

Thanksgiving Thoughts

2010-11-23T20:16:00.002-05:00

I like preacher Chuck Swindoll - he's very clear and thought-provoking. Here's his thoughts today:

My love affair with Thanksgiving takes me all the way back to my boyhood days. I had just turned 10 years of age and was in fifth grade at Southmayd Elementary School in East Houston. As I recall, I was still going barefoot to school–and I combed my hair, maybe three times a week. Girls didn’t matter a lot to me when I was 10! It was on a Wednesday, the day before our Thanksgiving holidays began. The year was 1944. Our nation was at war across the Atlantic into Europe as well as in the Pacific and far beyond. Times were simple back then but they were also rugged. Everything was rationed. Framed stars hung proudly in neighborhood windows–and sometimes they were quietly changed to crosses. Everyone I knew was patriotic to the core. Without television, we relied on “newsreels” that were shown at the movies, bold newspaper headlines, and LIFE magazine, which carried photos and moving stories of courage in battle and deaths at sea. Signs were posted inside most stores and on street corners, all of them with the same four words: “Uncle Sam Wants YOU” Draped high across the front of our classroom was a huge American flag with its 48 stars and 13 stripes. We began that Wednesday as we did every other day in school, standing erect beside our desks, repeating the Pledge of Allegiance and then bowing our heads as our teacher led us in prayer. Hanging just below the flag was a large picture of our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She always remembered to pray for him–and our “soldier boys”; who were serving their country in dark, dreary, and dangerous places a half a world away from my fifth-grade class. My teacher had lost her husband on the blood-washed shores of Normandy the previous June. After we had saluted the flag, a hush fell across the room as we bowed our heads together. No one moved. As she began to pray and give thanks, her voice broke and she started to weep. I did too. So did Richard Webb, my best buddy. And Wanda Ragland. Even Charles White and Warren Cook, two tough kids who later played high school football when we were all Milby Buffaloes, wiped back their tears. No one moved as she stumbled and sobbed her way through her prayer, which was filled with some of the most moving expressions of gratitude and praise that I have ever heard emerge from a soul plunged in personal grief and pain. In that epochal moment, time stood still. And I believe it was then–right then–that I fell in love with Thanksgiving. It became, for me, far more than just another holiday; it took on a significance that bordered the sacred. Lost in sympathy and a 10-year-old-boy’s pity for his teacher, I walked home much slower that autumn afternoon. Although only a child, I entertained deep and profound feelings of gratitude for my country, kept free by the bravery and blood of men and women only a few years older than I, most of them fresh out of high school. On that cool afternoon I felt a renewed surge of thankfulness for my mom and dad, my older brother and sister . . . my maternal grandparents . . . my friends . . . for my school . . . my neighborhood . . . my church. Though only a child, I promised God that I would fight to the end to keep this land free from enemies who would take away our liberty and erase America’s distinctives and steal the joys of living in this good land. I have never forgotten that childhood promise. I remembered it at another Thanksgiving, fourteen years later in late November of 1958, when I wore the uniform and silently walked the same beaches of Okinawa where my fellow Marines had sacrificed their lives in the last great battle of the South Pacific in WWII. And as Thanksgiving returns annually, I still pause; I still let the wonder in. Thanksgiving puts steel in our nerves and causes fresh blood to course through our patriotic veins. It reminds us of our great heritage. It carries us back with humbling nostalgia to those first dreadful winters at places like Plymouth and Jamestown, where less than half of those who first landed survived. But what grand men and women those pioneers became–those who pressed on. Reading their names today is like reading a page out of our national heroes’ Hall of Fame. In words taken from Hebrews 11, they were those “of whom the world was not worthy.” At this time every year I pause and remember how thankful I am for each one of them. They had the stuff of which greatness is made."

Time for each of us to give thanks, I believe.......

Effective Business Communications

2010-11-05T10:56:00.000-04:00

I like following BusinessKnowhow.com for tips. The latest edition (http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/web-copy-mistakes.htm) offers hints on effective business communications. Here is an excerpt:

1. Using company-focused language Open your Web site copy with “We’re the largest sock retailer in the Midwest”, and your visitor thinks “Great. So what?”

2. Touting features, not benefits You don’t buy a vacuum cleaner for its powerful motor. You buy it because it cleans your floors and your home. The first one is a feature, and the second is a benefit.

3. Relying on business-speak There are two types of business-speak: jargon, understandable only to those in the industry, and buzzwords, trite words and phrases that lose their impact through constant repetition. Rather than saying a deal creates “synergy”, for example, you can say that the deal combines your supply chain with company x’s worldwide distribution network for next day deliveries.

4. Writing in the passive voice Lively, active verbs make your copy more interesting to read.

5. Writing for the wrong audience If you write your copy as if you’re writing an academic paper, your average reader will click away. When you’re writing for your Web site, write for your customers and prospective customers, not a college professor. Use a conversational tone and avoid complex words that will send your readers to the dictionary.

6. Creating large blocks of text Unlike the printed page, it’s difficult to read large blocks of text on a computer monitor. Limit your paragraphs to just a few sentences. Also, use bulleted lists to make it easy to scan your text and pick out the important thoughts.

7. Publishing before proofreading It’s tempting to publish your copy as soon as you’re finished writing. But make sure you thoroughly proofread it before posting it on your Web site.

8. Misusing quotation marks Many people will put a word in quotation marks to emphasize it. But boldface type or an underline is more effective. Quotation marks should only be used to indicate dialog, a direct quote from another source or irony. If you use quote marks for emphasis, they’re actually read as an ironic statement.

9. Overusing your caps lock button Using initial caps on words for emphasis is another common mistake. Often people will capitalize the first letter of every important noun in a sentence. Again, using boldface or underline would be better than breaking one of the simplest rules of grammar.

10. Mixing metaphors Perhaps one of the most amusing mistakes for readers, mixed metaphors create a jumbled image by combining two unrelated, but common metaphors. For example: “He stepped up to the plate and grabbed the bull by the horns.”

Following these 10 tips can help you focus your text and create a professional impression on your site visitors.

Lorlin To Celebrate 50 years of Manufacturing Rotary Switches at Electronica 2010

2010-11-03T10:03:00.002-04:00

One of our distributors will be marking a milestone this month. Lorlin Electronics will celebrate 50 years of manufacturing their wide range of standard and custom switching products at electronica 2010 (Munich, Germany – Nov 9-12,2010). Rob Peach, Technical Marketing Manager for Lorlin Electronics comments;”We are looking forward to this year’s electronica, not only to celebrate 50 years of manufacturing rotary switches, but also to showcase our many new products and the flexibility of our design and manufacturing capability.”

Lorlin Electronics was established in the UK as a switch manufacturer in 1960 and is one of the largest switch manufacturers in Europe and the preferred switch manufacturer for famous companies worldwide, specializing in the design and manufacture of electro-mechanical switches. Their extensive range includes rotary, push button, key lock and dimmer switches. Lorlin supply many major manufacturers in Europe and overseas and in USA via Saelig Co. Inc (Pittsford, NY). Typical applications for Lorlin switches include equipment for test and measurement, lighting, security and safety systems and household appliances. Lorlin can control all aspects of the local manufacturing process from initial design through to final test and can offer many innovative solutions to meet unique, individual requirements. Factory processes are accredited to the ISO 9001:2008 standard and products are approved to international standards such as VDE, (ENEC). In addition to design and test facilities, Lorlin has in-house mold, press and tooling departments with specialized assembly including semi and fully automatic assembly machines.

Designed, manufactured and assembled in Europe, the majority of Lorlin products can be fully customized to meet their customer’s exact requirements avoiding any compromises in the end users equipment. Lorlin offer an extensive range of rotary, rotary coded and lock switches, all of which can be viewed on the Lorlin website www.lorlin.co.uk

Recent new product innovations include the IRL impulsion 16mm miniature lock switch and the IP67 CKS rotary switch family.

The new IRL impulsion key lock switch configuration is capable of dealing with the rugged environments found on vehicles and portable equipment and may also be used in secure re-setting of alarm and control systems, industrial and factory equipment, security gates and shutters, vending machines and many other applications.

The latest CKS rotary switch offers a design solution for switching in harsh and outdoor environments due to its innovative panel sealing properties.

Phone tricks - do these work?

2010-10-25T16:33:00.002-04:00

Someone from UK sent me this Australian cellphone info - I haven't had time to check it out yet if it works in USA though .........

FOUR THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO !!!

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST
Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for all Mobile Phones is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and your mobile will search any existing network in your area to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. This works on all phones worldwide and is free.

SECOND
Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good
reason to own a cell phone:
If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call
someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end.
Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be thousands of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
Editor's Note: I didn't believe this when I heard about it! I rang my daughter in Sydney from Perth when we went on holiday. She had the spare car key. We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

THIRD
Hidden Battery Power

To activate, press the keys *3370# (remember the asterisk). Do this when the phone is almost dead. Your mobile will restart in a special way with this new reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery life. This reserve will get re charged when you charge your mobile next time. This secret is in the fine print in most phone manuals. Most people however skip this information without realizing.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # Make sure you put an asterisk BEFORE the #06# sequence.

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone ever get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.
You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody done this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
This secret is also in the fine print of most mobile phone manuals. It was created for the very purpose of trying to prevent phones from being stolen.

Also -ATM PIN Number Reversal - Good to Know !!

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your PIN # in reverse. For example, if your pin number is 1234, then you would put in 4321. The ATM system recognizes that your PIN number is backwards
from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to the location. All ATMs carry this emergency sequencer by law.

This information was recently broadcast on by Crime Stoppers however it is seldom used because people just don't know about it.

Please pass this along to everyone.

Free is Good!

2010-10-14T16:13:00.005-04:00

Always on the lookout for a bargain, I spotted a few sites that may be of interest:

thunderfap.com, freemania.net, and freestufftimes.com all list lots of free stuff.

But we at Saelig have our own free deal this month - a free handy toolkit with every order over $50!

Pass it on!

Saelig Launches New Intelligent 3.2” LCD Display Modules

2010-09-09T14:24:00.000-04:00

Saelig Company, Inc. (Saelig) (www.saelig.com) announces the availability of uLCD-32PT, a 3.2" QVGA TFT with 65K LCD TFT display with integrated touch screen and smart graphics processor. With a serial interface, users can now easily add graphics displays to microprocessor-based products. uLCD-32PT offers easy access to flexible embedded graphics, text, image, animation and countless more features, all built in to uLCD-32PT. All screen related functions are sent using a simple protocol via a serial interface.

http://www.saelig.com/pr/ulcd32pt.html

Customized Live Meter Displays

2010-09-01T14:12:00.005-04:00

We just introduced a neat customizable device that can create a wide range of display instruments and meter types to suit your own needs. This high contrast, 2.4” TFT color display with built-in touch screen, dual analog inputs, alarm outputs and SPI and I²C bus capabilities, ready-made for a meter tha fits your application.

SGD 24-M is configured using PanelPilot, a unique Windows-based software platform that allows users to design and customize a range of color displays with the click of a mouse to suit individual applications and measurements. Currently, six analog, digital and bar graph styles are available to be downloaded via USB to the display. Colors, text labels or scaling options can all be chosen as needed. Once all selections have been made using this simple click-through application, the custom configuration can be saved and downloaded to the display. See more at http://www.saelig.com/DIME/DIME001.htm

Do You Tweet?

2010-08-26T10:18:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure how valuable Twitter is yet. Some people use it for telling you what they had for breakfast (why do I care?). Dan Evans - our Sales Manager - has a slightly different philosophy for our fledgling Twitter efforts - create content that's of interest, but not self-serving, for our "followers". Here's a viral website that creates controversy to generate followers - The Oatmeal.

Digital Inspection Microscope

2010-08-20T13:35:00.003-04:00

We've just received a lot of response to our newsletter mention of our new Digital Inspection Microscope. This is a tool we use for inspecting returned circuit boards and equipment, allowing to see tiny defects. So we made this product available to our customerbase too! See http://www.saelig.com/product/VI016.htm. You can see how it works on this video - it just plugs into a USB port and off you go!

New oscilloscopes

2010-08-10T17:29:00.002-04:00

We’ve just introduced two new benchtop scopes from Owon – PDS8102T (100 MHz) and PDS8202T (200 MHz). These low-cost 2-channel scopes sample at 1 Gsa/s and 2 GSa/s respectively, and are packed with useful features normally only seen on higher-end DSOs including video trigger, auto-measurements, large 8" full color LCD display, XY Mode, auto-set, averaging, math functions, USB output, waveform storage, 3-year warranty, etc. Even FFT functionality is included for seeing spectrum information, as well as Autoscaling and Trigger Holdoff. The record length is a huge 2M data points, which allows great depth for investigating fast, intermittent pulses.

See here for more details: New Owon Scopes

Blackout Time

2010-07-26T14:30:00.004-04:00

'Tis the season - of power failures due to local storms. Like many other businesses, we have UPS's on our critical systems. But unless you spend big bucks, they last only 20 or 30 minutes to keep a PC alive while you shut down files, not keep running a business. While having your own generator is ideal, our solution is much cheaper - replace the UPS batteries with car batteries - which keeps our phones systems and critical PCs and printers up and running. A friend recently showed me this video that shows you exactly how to do it!

http://revision3.com/systm/hackedups

Bluetooth and Whitepapers

2010-06-30T10:16:00.003-04:00

Publishing technical papers in the trade press is a very useful way of getting the word out about product lines if it is done in a subtle way. I recently had an article published on the topic of Bluetooth - see

http://mobiledevdesign.com/

But today in a newsletter (BCN) I saw some little-known background about King Harald Bluetooth:

"Sensational Find"—Bluetooth's Royal Palace

Teresa Neumann (June 30, 2010)

Did you know this ancient Viking king—this "Charlemagne of Scandinavia"—who united Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and brought Christianity to Scandinavia in his lifetime, is also the moniker for modern technology's wireless interface?

(Denmark)—For those familiar with the term "Bluetooth," have you ever wondered where the wireless interface device got its name? Yahoo's Associated Content website notes that the Ericsson Corporation named the technology after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king who—from 940 to 985 AD—became the first sovereign to unite Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under one ruler. He is also credited with bringing Christianity to these countries in his lifetime, though he "violated many Biblical commandments, melding some pagan beliefs with Christianity." (Photo: Claus Fisker, Scanpix)

Interestingly, the familiar Bluetooth logo utilizes the Nordic runes for the letters H and B, the initials of Harald Bluetooth.

History teaches that King Gorm The Old ruled all of Jutland, the main peninsula of Denmark. Born in 911, Harald (also known as Harold II), "was the son of Gorm the Old and Thyra, the daughter of a nobleman.

A Bluetooth Resource Center site adds this : "Legend has it that at a large feast in 960 Harald Bluetooth entertained Poppo, a priest sent by the German emperor. Poppo asserted that there was but one Christian God. This was a bold claim, heard amid much drinking with toasts to Tor and Oden. To prove the truth of Poppo's claim, Harald required him to submit to a test. A metal glove was made red hot and Poppo thrust his hand inside. Miraculously he received not the slightest burn. This was taken as proof of the existence of the supreme Christian God. Harald was promptly baptized, [in 970 A.D.] leading to similar conversions among the Danish Viking elite. In practice however, many of the ancient gods were retained along with the new 'one true God.

"When Harald was at the height of his rule he created a monument that read: 'King Harald raised this monument to the memory of Gorm his father and Thyre his mother. Harald conquered all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.' These words were carved in stone as rune symbols. Such symbols were also carved onto weapons and jewelry."

Though some Norse sagas present Harald in a more negative light, the Associated Content report states that "he did much for the economy as well as the military. He constructed the Ravninge Bridge in Scandinavia. It is five meters wide, 760 meters long, and it remains the oldest known bridge in existence. Tragically, Harald died at the hand of his "traitorous, pagan son."

Hopefully, this back-story provides extra insight into news out of Denmark that after centuries of searching, the royal residence of Harald Bluetooth has finally been discovered.

A report from the Copenhagen Post, calling the find "sensational," says: "The remains of the ancient wooden buildings were uncovered in the north-eastern corner of the Jellinge complex which consists of royal burial mounds, standing stones in the form of a ship and runic stones."

Mads Dengsø Jessen, the archaeologist from Århus University who led the dig was quoted as saying four buildings from Harald's time had been discovered at the site. The buildings are characteristic of those built at round fortresses known as Trelleborg. Jessen also reportedly believes the remains of Harald's royal hall can be found under the existing Jellinge Church, where the remains of a large wooden building were discovered on a previous dig.

According to the report, Jellinge is revered as the cradle of the Danish kingdom, and the larger of the two runic stones which is often described as the baptismal certificate of the Danish nation directly refers to Harald Bluetooth and his conversion of the country to Christianity.

Source: Copenhagen Post

So now you know!

Word of Mouth

2010-05-24T10:15:00.006-04:00

Everyone knows that word-of-mouth is the best advertising - and for 3 reasons: it's free, it's effective, and friends are very influential in purchasing decisions. My staff recently bought tickets for my wife and me to the "Joseph" Sound&Light presentation at the Millenium Theatre, Lancaster, PA. We were amazed at the quality, the multi-media effects and live animals used in the show. There in the middle of Amish country, with horses and buggies frequenting the countryside, was a 2000 seat theatre with three shows daily and busses coming from miles away to see a play that is booked out for weeks/months ahead. And no advertising. How do they do it? Word of mouth. I don't know how they'd cope if they advertised!
While we were in PA we picked up a nice present - a large screw in a back tire. Since the tire stayed inflated as it "thump-thumped" we gingerly drove to the nearest Pep Boys (they've been advertising on TV a lot recently). After a bit of a wait, they fixed the tire with a plug - at NO CHARGE! How come? "We just enrolled you in our Rewards Club at no charge - it's one of the benefits, free fixing of flat tires" SO - here I am spreading their service with word of mouth - VERY effective!
I hope Saelig customers do the same with our products. We've heard about some from time to time. Daniel M wrote: "Several electronics bloggers mentioned independently how happy they were with your 'scopes. If all goes well with this order I will be buying lots more! Thanks." Another customer wrote to us saying he would definitely spread the word when he opened his order for a Rigol scope to find a free instrument case inside (we give away free cases with each Rigol scope we sell. This surprise produces referrals that we enjoy!

ESC San Jose

2010-05-05T22:41:00.004-04:00

Great to see so many customers at ESC in San Jose last week on the Pico booth -even customers from our early days of 20 years ago! The display of various scopes, loggers and probes/clamps caught the eye of many engineers and opened the door to some detailed application discussions. For others, the large PicoScope and Saelig banners provided needed brand recognition to passersby. Many people acknowledged familiarity with Saelig and/or Pico Technology, though we were surprised to find more than a few that hadn’t even heard of PC-based scope products -we’ve got additional marketing work to do! We distributed almost the entire supply of Pico datalogger and scope product family brochures.

We spread the available products over the two tables and ended up utilizing a portion of one of the tables to display three new, unreleased touch-panel PCs from our partner Comfile - whose president brought the devices from Korea. .

I canvassed the crowd and drew people in with queries about needs and applications, often tempting them with “healthy anti-oxidants” (Hershey’s chocolates). We had the PicoScope application demo running on a laptop which we used frequently to introduce them to the PicoScope GUI. We were surprised at the number of inquiries for native Mac and Linux s/w. Predictably, quite a few visitors were asking for performance in the range of 500MHz. Always more for less. No surprise, right?

Happy, Prosperous & Blessed

NASA uses MSO-19 Scope/Analyzer on Space Station

Engineering 101

Aaronia Spectrum Analyzers Price Increase 170%!

December Newsletter Bargains

Saelig Co. Inc. The December newsletter is out, featuring a 100 MHz Rigol DS1102E oscilloscope for $399 (formerly $795!!)

http://www.saelig.com/news/newsletters/saelig1112.htm

Water for India

Beat this!

Saelig product featured in Designfax!

http://www.designfax.net/enews/20110927/index.php

"Raising the debt limit to solve the national debt is like raising the blood alcohol limit to solve drunk driving."

XYZs of Oscilloscopes Primer

New USBscope50 video

Kudos

Owon PDS5022S on sale!

Save an extra $20 on our already low-priced 25MHz PDS5022S oscilloscope! Only $267.00 for a limited time! http://www.saelig.com/product/PSSA002.htm

Owon PDS5022S on sale!

Save an extra $20 on our already low-priced 25MHz PDS5022S oscilloscope! Only $267.00 for a limited time! http://www.saelig.com/product/PSSA002.htm

You could be replaced by an iPad!

Mr Reliability Just Married Hotness

Here's a short promo video for the iMSO-104 Apple device scope we just released: http://youtu.be/s3Uwjliz6bk

How to Use an Oscilloscope and Signal Generator as a Component Tester & Curve Tracer

Too much 'violins' in the world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU2zlW9fF-Y&NR=1

Restaurant Menu Tricks

Spectrum analyzer catches exam cheats in Taiwan

Paper Airplanes Rule!

Thought for the day ...

Nice viral advertising by T-mobile

Just seen a preview of the upcoming British Royal Wedding. Check it out!!!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug&feature=player_embedded

April Fools?

Eat That Frog

RAK Time!

Ethernet for Cars?

Ethernet to gain ground in automotive applications, Bosch predicts

Christoph Hammerschmidt

2/5/2011 6:22 PM EST

Video Press Release for Byte Paradigm's GP Series DPGs

Christmas questions ...

Hand it to Google ...

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Effective Business Communications

Lorlin To Celebrate 50 years of Manufacturing Rotary Switches at Electronica 2010

Phone tricks - do these work?

Free is Good!

Saelig Launches New Intelligent 3.2” LCD Display Modules

Customized Live Meter Displays

Do You Tweet?

Digital Inspection Microscope

New oscilloscopes

Blackout Time

Bluetooth and Whitepapers

Word of Mouth

ESC San Jose

Saelig Co. Inc.

The December newsletter is out, featuring a 100 MHz Rigol DS1102E oscilloscope for $399 (formerly $795!!)

Just seen a preview of the upcoming British Royal Wedding. Check it out!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug&feature=player_embedded