Following my retirement, we have closed our company for new business.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly, our email portal remains open and I would be delighted to hear from you and provide ongoing support or advice.

Richard Thomson

support@rta-instruments.com

Companies represented up to the end of December 2023. Please now contact them directly.

k-Space Associates, Inc.
Phone: +1 (734) 426-7977
requestinfo@k-space.com
https://www.k-space.com

STAIB INSTRUMENTS GmbH
Phone: +49 8761 76 24 0
sales@staibinstruments.com
https://www.staibinstruments.com/

Friday 28 January 2011

Too many LEDs in 2011/12?

2010 provided many stories of increased activity relating to the growth of LED applications; MOCVD equipment shipments and expanding alkyl chemical manufacture being just two. It is quite interesting therefore to note IMS Research's report in which they state "LED supply growth is significantly outpacing demand growth creating a widening surplus and increasing pricing pressure". IMS Research expect the current wave of MOCVD kit shipments, especially to China, to continue and thus increasing the supply imbalance in 2012. Perhaps the good news is that they think that the oversupply will be constrained by the lack of substrates and TMG alkyls.

Thursday 27 January 2011

High speed Scots

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have created an ultra-fast 1,000-core computer processor. Using Field Programmable Gate Array chips the team have been able configure specific circuits to individual mini-circuits thus creating a 1000 core processor. The researchers then used the chip to process an algorithm which is central to the MPEG movie format (used in YouTube videos) at a speed of five gigabytes per second: around 20 times faster than current top-end desktop computers.

Monday 24 January 2011

The $1 a year job

Clearly Apple can pay their staff whatever they want. Regulatory filings last week state that Apple CEO Steve Jobs earned $1 in salary in 2010. This meagre annual salary has been in place since 1997. Mr Jobs does own over $1 billion Apple shares but has not sold any recently. He should be able to get by on the 138 million shares he owns in Walt Disney, who pay an annual dividend of around $0.35 each.

Thursday 20 January 2011

Prediction time (again)

It's January and so it must be crystal ball time. Those clever chaps at Electronic Times have produced a list of technologies to watch in 2011. The Editor's two favourites from the list are: "gesture recognition for hands free convenience" and "fully biodegradable electronics". Having recently being frustrated by the operation of my HTC smartphone, the idea of a quick hand gesture and into the trash bin seems quite appealing.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

The clarity of youth?

Congratulations to Biology Letters for publishing a scientific paper by a group of eight year olds about bumble-bees. In my undergraduate days I remember reading a collection of classic scientific papers written by Rutherford, Stoney, Thomson and the like. It struck me then, as now, that their papers were perfectly understandable and therefore accessible to most readers. Could the same be said of today's leading edge publications? I certainly struggle with many publications and question who is the intended readership nowadays? Perhaps journal editors should follow the lead from Biology letters and ensure that whilst the paper is not "dumbed down" the ideas are clearly explained and are open to more people? In extremis I am attracted to the Groucho Marx school of testing comprehensibility: "A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five"

The full bumble-bee paper is available via this link.

Monday 17 January 2011

CES does not slay the iPad

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show has seen a range of tablets from Sony, Motorola, RIM, Samsung et al but all are finding it difficult to challenge the dominance of Apple's iPad. Rivals are already playing catch-up, especially after Apple made a bold move to price the iPad at $500. The range of tablets using Google's Android software is a reminder that Apple will not have the market to itself. Highlights at the CES included: 3D and internet TV models; a robotic telescope that automatically aligns itself; a set of video goggles that can capture and share an athlete's field of view on the world; a personal energy generator using kinetic energy; a new, tiny mobile digital TV receiver device for iPad and a robot that gives you a massage.

In the meantime thousands of gamers flocked to Chiba, Tokyo to try out the Nintendo 3D enabled DS console.

Monday 3 January 2011

Sunday 2 January 2011

Rubber dub - tweet, tweet

A simple rubber device that replicates complex bird songs has been developed by a team of US researchers.
The song is produced by blowing air through the device, which mimics a bird's vocal tract, the team explained.
The findings appear to challenge the idea that birds had to learn complicated neurological controls in order to produce distinctive calls.
Further details at BBC News Science & Environment.