Electronics Now articles from June 1999

Electronics Now archives from June 1999

Canon PowerShot A5 camera and CD-200 digital printer.
June 1, 1999... Throughout the early and middle-ages of traditional silver-based photography, getting reprints was as simple a matter as getting the original prints. Generally there was some sort of negative that, if saved, could be used to make new prints at...

Lightning-fast online access.
June 1, 1999... I'VE YET TO FIND A COMPUTER USER WHO IS COMPLETELY HAPPY WITH HIS OR HER MODEM. EVEN UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS, ANALOG MODEMS ALLOW DOWNLOADS AT 53 KBPS - NOT ALL THAT THRILLING. Considering how cluttered modern Web pages are becoming and how...

Evolution of the AC/DC set.(radio)
June 1, 1999... We began discussing scaled-down-for-the depression "midget" radios in the April, 1999 issue of Popular Electronics. Then, in the may issue, we dropped the subject temporarily to discuss PHILCO's much less drastic approach to depression...

Counting the particles on the head of a pin.(device for detecting particles)
June 1, 1999... The bar has been lowered in particle-detection technology. A chemist at Bell Labs, William Reents, has designed a novel instrument that detects particles 100,000 times smaller than a pin head, or about one-thousandth of a micron - a development...

If rocks could talk.(instrument for analyzing chemical and mineralogical composition of rocks)
June 1, 1999... The origins and histories of planetary, asteroidal, and cometary bodies are reflected in their building materials. Less than 100 naturally occurring elements combine together to form over 3800 known minerals. This tremendous variety of...

They bend, but they don't break.(carbon nanotubes)
June 1, 1999... Small enough to weigh viruses and other sub-micron scale particles, a "nanobalance" is one application for newly-discovered electronic and micromechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. The use of the tiny tubes in this way depends on the...

Testing flyback transformers.
June 1, 1999... When problems develop in the horizontal deflection/high voltage subsystems of TVs or monitors (or even modern oscilloscopes and other CRT displays), the flyback transformer (or line-output transformer for those on the other side of the pond) is...

Pirate radio.(includes related articles on history of unlicensed radio broadcasting and ways to listen to pirate radio stations)(Cover Story)
June 1, 1999... Shiver me timbers, here's a look inside the never boring world of clandestine broadcasting, more colorfully known as "Pirate Radio." Radio tubes are glowing in the dim, electronics-equipment-strewn room. The aroma of incense laces the air....

Night vision for your car.
June 1, 1999... Night vision technology is now routinely used by the military, law enforcement, fire departments, TV-news cameramen, and others who have to "see" in darkness. Starting in the year 2000, it will also be used by drivers of the new DeVilles as...

Protect your computer's parallel port with this optical isolator.
June 1, 1999... Accidentally burning out a computer's internal circuitry is a thing of the past with this simple device. There are an ever-increasing quantity of projects and devices that are controlled by the output signals available from a computer's...

The BreadBlox prototyping system.
June 1, 1999... Stop "re-inventing the wheel" whenever you breadboard a new circuit with these handy modules! The solderless breadboard is without a doubt one of the best ideas that anyone ever had. Simple in concept, as most truly good ideas are, the...

Measure the sun's intensity with a solar dosimeter.
June 1, 1999... You can achieve suprisingly accurate results with this simplest of circuits. There are many times where you would want to know how much sunlight a particular location receives - though some of them are not so obvious, Many of us are aware...