A Smarter USB Connector

The hardware gurus over at Tom's Guide have zeroed in on a spanking new USB connector design. "The Double USB" uses two contact plates instead of the standard one-plate design and can face up or down when plugged into a USB port. Overall the design ensures that there will always be a contact layer within the connector no matter which side is facing up.

As noted at Tom's, "this seemingly eliminates one of the most annoying aspects about USB technology: having to figure out which side is up before plugging in a peripheral or thumb drive.

The new plug works by incorporating a second plastic plate containing the necessary contacts to make a digital connection. Both plates fill the entire metal tube, but the plug incorporates a spring on each contact plate, allowing one to be pushed back into the plug base when connecting to a USB port.

The plate then pops back into the steel tube when the cord is disconnected. Flip the connector over and the other plate is pushed back."

Source: [Tom's Guide]

NYC not ready for electric cars

After picking up a Hertz Chevy Volt, a writer for the car blog Jalopnik discovered that the Big Apple's nascent electric-car infrastructure is, at present, woefully inadequate -- not to mention rife with confused parking-lot attendants. Charging etiquette issues crop up along with competitive tension over public parking spaces as the correspondent attempts to use a number of newly installed urban EV charging points. Maybe once vituperative New Yorkers start gliding into newly equipped EV lots and making a ruckus, all will right itself in the city's car-charging space -- until then, it's driver -- and buyer -- beware.

New York Isn't Ready For Electric Cars (Jalopnik)

China's new stealth fighter using purloined U.S. technology?

Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that experts say could pose a significant threat to American air superiority -- and some of its technology may have come from the U.S. itself. During NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the 1999 Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot down an American F-117 Nighthawk jet. It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from plundering the wreckage.

As the AP report explains, the Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet. The debris field was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts as souvenirs -- some of which were the size of small cars.

RELATED STORY: Manufacturing and the problem with China

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," said Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war. "We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview with the AP.

Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, added that the regime of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured Western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies. "The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Kusovac said.

China's multi-role stealth fighter — known as the Chengdu J-20 — made its inaugural flight Jan. 11, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies. Russia's Sukhoi T-50 prototype stealth fighter also made its maiden flight last year and is due to enter service in about four years. It is likely that the Russians also gleaned knowledge of stealth technology from the downed Nighthawk, speculates the AP report.

FULL ARTICLE: China's new stealth fighter may use US technology (AP)

Medical electronics connector market poised for serious growth

Equipment in the market for medical electronics connectors has traditionally fallen into the segments for medical imaging instrumentation and diagnostic devices - both of which are poised for major growth, reports Bishop Associates. As device size, footprint, and technology become increasingly complex, emerging medical products will trend toward the thinner, lighter, and more flexible. Next-generation products will combine biological and electronics systems into smarter devices with connectivity and increased emphasis on comfort becoming central to designs, reports Bishop's Jenny Bieksha in her article entitled Seeing Into the Future:

Medical Imaging and Diagnostics Guide Advances in Healthcare. Well worth a read!

Beijing auto exec: China to line up 10 million EV parking spots

The Chinese government is reportedly looking to prepare at least 10 million parking spots for electric vehicles by 2020 under terms of a comprehensive new policy due to be announced soon, according to sources cited by Reuters.

"The government is working on a plan -- and I think it will be announced very, very soon -- basically calling for having, in 10 years, electric car parks of 10 million (units) or above," said Wang Dazong, president of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC), at an industry conference concurrent to the recent Detroit auto show.

Consumers can now get incentives worth 120,000 yuan ($18,170) to purchase an electric car in 10 to 20 cities, Wang added. Another industry executive said Beijing is expected to focus its efforts most on pure electric vehicles, as opposed to gasoline-electric hybrids or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

China's Minister of Science and Technology was quoted by state-owned Xinhua news agency in October as saying the country's production of electric vehicles could reach 1 million units by 2020, when many expect a total new-vehicle market of 40 million.

Designing electric cars for safety

The latest generation of electric vehicle makers talk less about safety than one would have thought a couple of years ago. Many are trying to tackle the safety EV battery issue with design, technology...and rhetoric. Long before Tesla’s Roadster, GM’s Volt or Nissan’s LEAF emerged on the market, the idea of stringing laptop batteries together to power a sports car, or smashing a battery-powered car in a high impact crash, generated a lot of discussion -- and fear. So writes Earth2Tech's Katie Fehrenbacher in an interesting bit of commentary from the Detroit Auto Show, found at Reuters.com. Worth reading, because when it comes to EVs -- as we've seen in the news -- safety in the face of untested technology does indeed matter.

'Monster' motherboard hits interconnect pay dirt

For packing in connectivity to the Nth degree, computer motherboard manufacturer MSI has pulled all the stops with its mega-dense "Big Bang Marshal" P67 motherboard. The board's P67 chipset supports Intel's upcoming crop of CPUs. Beyond compatibility with the new processors, however, the board's XL-ATX form-factor squeezes in eight PCIe x16 slots, which can be run in either a 4x16 or an 8x8 configuration.

As reported at Hexus, Lucid's HydraLogix chip powers the design, which should enable multi-GPU combination of AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Edging into interconnect overdrive, the "monster" board also features three separate BIOS chips, complemented by eight USB 3.0 ports, two eight-pin P4 power connectors and a six-pin connector to feed extra juice directly into the PCIe slots.

The board's more standard features include SATA 6 Gbps capability, dual gigabit Ethernet, on-board power, reset and overclocking buttons, an LED error display and voltage measurement points, and some serious heatsinks for keeping the power circuitry cool. The board is reportedly still in development, set for launch by mid-Q1 2011. However, the core design is most likely final, and a preview at CES 2011 in Las Vegas seems all but guaranteed.

Tech blog SemiAccurate provides numerous highly detailed photos and a thorough technical breakdown of this remarkable board design.