Meh...my wife's already plenty offish. I don't need to go online to find that. Of course, I suppose I could be described as plenty oafish, so it all evens out in the end.
I'd wager to say that most identity theft takes place without a fast-attack nuclear submarine. I mean it might help and all, but maintenance is a bitch and you're probably a lot better off just using normal social engineering methods.
Their manufacturing yield sure as hell isn't 98%+ at this point, so they must be taking a hit there. As a slew of other posters have pointed out, there's a whole lot more to margin, even gross margin, than BOM and assembly costs.
Be careful with increasing the output power, it may be self-defeating. In 802.11g mode, many of these products are power-constrained by a spec known as error vector magnitude (EVM). It's a figure of merit for the quality of the RF waveform. As you increase the ouput power, the signal distorts and this may actually increase the receive bit-error rate. 802.11b isn't quite as bad, typically the output power here is constrained by the level of adjacent channel interference. Increasing the output power in 802.11b mode will just piss off adjacent channel users while gaining you some range, though EVM may be a concern once you really start bumping up the power. Although most of these products are padded somewhat to allow for production margin, it's almost never 3 dB worth (double the power) and mucking with the power in most cases isn't wise.
"It appears you're designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Would you like me to: A. Lose control of the rudder and drive in circles. B. Inexplicably blow all the ballast tanks and sink silently to the bottom. C. Work marginally well for thirty minutes before ceasing all functions and requiring online registration."
What accuracy, exactly, does GPS give you when it can't see any satellites? Skyhook isn't trying to sell this as a replacement for GPS, rather as a complementary technology. In fact, they even have a nice USA Today-style graph on their "Technology" page showing that the overlap between GPS and WPS is fairly small. What marketing person in the world would look at this graph and say "Let's position our technology as a replacement for GPS!". That's not even Internet-bubble thinking.
That being said, keep in mind that the goal is locational awareness. Any information that you can feed into that equation has the potential to be helpful. It can also be harmful if used in an inappropriate manner. Take, for example, the case of an access point which has been moved. Your device could say "I see this access point, so I must be in some radius of its last known location." It could also say "I see this access point, but my last good GPS fix was 75 seconds ago, and the user can't have moved that far in 75 seconds, so I'll choose to disregard that information." If you consider all the potential inputs to the "locational awareness" equation: GPS, WLAN, WiMAX, fixed Bluetooth, RFID readers, etc., it becomes clear that you can start to do some pretty cool stuff with system redundancy.
On the contrary, a city is exactly where you need GPS if location-aware advertising is your gig. Trust me, advertisers won't be happy until they can display a popup on your phone for Starbucks' new chocolate-hazelnut-vanilla-mochalattechino as you're walking by the Starbucks. I think the "location based services" to which Skyhook refers on their main page are none other than these advertisers. That and the laptop-LoJack folks under the first news entry.
Small world! I worked for Nortel on the Detroit 800 MHz CDMA overlay for Airtouch ca. 1997-98. I did a lot of drive testing and data analysis. Same deal there with the rented vans, Manpower drivers, hacked laptops with the Nortel suite of barely patched-together scripts. We used Planet for system analysis back in the office. I also spent a bunch of time in the MTSO doing data logging on equipment Nortel had *just* purchased from Qualcomm. That was coop job #1...job #2 was working for Nortel Technology Applications in Dallas on CDMA system simulation and deployment guidelines. Seems to me that some of the consultants I worked with in Detroit were from a firm in Va. as well. Good times.
The extended-life battery for my laptop is 7.4V, 7800 mAH, discharge rate not stated. That implies that its capacity is 57.72WH. Given that I can run my laptop for ~4 hours on this battery, I think it's safe to say that my laptop does not consume 100W.
If I wanted (or were able) to charge this battery in one minute, it would require 468 amps at 7.4V, or 28.86A at 120V. Charge it in two minutes (ignoring all system losses and heat issues) and you've solved the 120V issue. You're still trying to push 234A at 7.4V, though, which would be a problem. At 10 minutes charge time, especially if you were able to integrate the charger with the battery pack, I can see how it might be feasible.
No offense, but you're more than an order of magnitude off in your estimate. The battery in my hybrid (Honda Civic) is 144V, 6AH. Think of it as 120 NiMH D-cells in series. Using your math, which is fundamentally sound, one arrives at a charge current of 36A. Using the rest of your math, that's 9.93 HP...which is pretty do-able.
Hoarding Call-A.P.P.L.Es will give you a great foundation in computer programming and computer architecture, but don't forget to mix in a few Playboys for variety.
Jingoism and xenophobia in amateur radio?! Nah, couldn't happen. Why am I not surprised that that statement was preceded by "'Hey, I have to flip the switch, grab a beer and go watch TV--that's effort'" Please don't get the impression that all hams are like this.
Okay, so maybe it's just that I lived with graphic designers in college, but I'm sick of companies that try to make up cutesy names ending in MP3. First the SliMP3, now the SwiMP3. I think any competent marketing person would throw out these names at first blush because, frankly, the branding is horrible. What's a slimp? What's a swimp? Yes, the meaning is intellectually obvious, but advertising is more about subconscious perception than intellectualism. To put it in geek terms, the brain will parse the text first, try to process it, then move on to the number. I guess that's why I'm an engineer and not a marketing droid...didn't want to deal with that crap. You better believe, though, that if I wanted to sell something I'd run it by an advertising gal/guy first.
Somebody better tell Agilent so they stop putting N-connectors on their 26.5 GHz spectrum analyzers. Also, how much cable loss do you really expect to have on that little 6" pigtail (referring to the PCMCIA hack)? Let's go wild and say 1 dB. If you're adding a 24 dBi antenna, you've still got *a bit* of a net gain. Would I have done things differently? Probably, but it's not too bad for a bunch of software guys.
If you're into machining and CNC-type projects, be sure to check out 5 Bears Research. The author of the site has done some absolutely phenominal work. Be sure to check out his CNC mill section if you're thinking about making your own. Also, there are tons of homebrew jet engine sites, including more than a few that look to be destined for a Darwin Award. None of them is funnier than this site, though. Enjoy.
For PCBs, be sure to check out Barebones. I've done a couple of runs through them, including one involving a chip-scale BGA package, and they did a great job. They're really a front for one of the previously-mentioned PCB operations, Advanced Circuits. For FPGA and CPLD prototyping, definitely go to Digilent. I've bought a few products from them and have been consistently impressed. Finally, it's probably an obvious choice, but eBay is always a good resource too. Many deals can be had in the "Electronic Components" category of their "Business & Industrial" section.
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Meh...my wife's already plenty offish. I don't need to go online to find that. Of course, I suppose I could be described as plenty oafish, so it all evens out in the end.
I'd wager to say that most identity theft takes place without a fast-attack nuclear submarine. I mean it might help and all, but maintenance is a bitch and you're probably a lot better off just using normal social engineering methods.
RF Engineer: "The glass is -3dB full."
Their manufacturing yield sure as hell isn't 98%+ at this point, so they must be taking a hit there. As a slew of other posters have pointed out, there's a whole lot more to margin, even gross margin, than BOM and assembly costs.
Overhauled Telecommunications Law Daft
You don't say!
Be careful with increasing the output power, it may be self-defeating. In 802.11g mode, many of these products are power-constrained by a spec known as error vector magnitude (EVM). It's a figure of merit for the quality of the RF waveform. As you increase the ouput power, the signal distorts and this may actually increase the receive bit-error rate. 802.11b isn't quite as bad, typically the output power here is constrained by the level of adjacent channel interference. Increasing the output power in 802.11b mode will just piss off adjacent channel users while gaining you some range, though EVM may be a concern once you really start bumping up the power. Although most of these products are padded somewhat to allow for production margin, it's almost never 3 dB worth (double the power) and mucking with the power in most cases isn't wise.
Yeah, you're right...that should've been "flood the ballast tanks". Brain fart.
"It appears you're designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Would you like me to:
A. Lose control of the rudder and drive in circles.
B. Inexplicably blow all the ballast tanks and sink silently to the bottom.
C. Work marginally well for thirty minutes before ceasing all functions and requiring online registration."
What accuracy, exactly, does GPS give you when it can't see any satellites? Skyhook isn't trying to sell this as a replacement for GPS, rather as a complementary technology. In fact, they even have a nice USA Today-style graph on their "Technology" page showing that the overlap between GPS and WPS is fairly small. What marketing person in the world would look at this graph and say "Let's position our technology as a replacement for GPS!". That's not even Internet-bubble thinking.
That being said, keep in mind that the goal is locational awareness. Any information that you can feed into that equation has the potential to be helpful. It can also be harmful if used in an inappropriate manner. Take, for example, the case of an access point which has been moved. Your device could say "I see this access point, so I must be in some radius of its last known location." It could also say "I see this access point, but my last good GPS fix was 75 seconds ago, and the user can't have moved that far in 75 seconds, so I'll choose to disregard that information." If you consider all the potential inputs to the "locational awareness" equation: GPS, WLAN, WiMAX, fixed Bluetooth, RFID readers, etc., it becomes clear that you can start to do some pretty cool stuff with system redundancy.
On the contrary, a city is exactly where you need GPS if location-aware advertising is your gig. Trust me, advertisers won't be happy until they can display a popup on your phone for Starbucks' new chocolate-hazelnut-vanilla-mochalattechino as you're walking by the Starbucks. I think the "location based services" to which Skyhook refers on their main page are none other than these advertisers. That and the laptop-LoJack folks under the first news entry.
...we've got a new subject to stalk. W00t! Trucks with frickin' laser beams!!
Small world! I worked for Nortel on the Detroit 800 MHz CDMA overlay for Airtouch ca. 1997-98. I did a lot of drive testing and data analysis. Same deal there with the rented vans, Manpower drivers, hacked laptops with the Nortel suite of barely patched-together scripts. We used Planet for system analysis back in the office. I also spent a bunch of time in the MTSO doing data logging on equipment Nortel had *just* purchased from Qualcomm. That was coop job #1...job #2 was working for Nortel Technology Applications in Dallas on CDMA system simulation and deployment guidelines. Seems to me that some of the consultants I worked with in Detroit were from a firm in Va. as well. Good times.
The extended-life battery for my laptop is 7.4V, 7800 mAH, discharge rate not stated. That implies that its capacity is 57.72WH. Given that I can run my laptop for ~4 hours on this battery, I think it's safe to say that my laptop does not consume 100W.
If I wanted (or were able) to charge this battery in one minute, it would require 468 amps at 7.4V, or 28.86A at 120V. Charge it in two minutes (ignoring all system losses and heat issues) and you've solved the 120V issue. You're still trying to push 234A at 7.4V, though, which would be a problem. At 10 minutes charge time, especially if you were able to integrate the charger with the battery pack, I can see how it might be feasible.
No offense, but you're more than an order of magnitude off in your estimate. The battery in my hybrid (Honda Civic) is 144V, 6AH. Think of it as 120 NiMH D-cells in series. Using your math, which is fundamentally sound, one arrives at a charge current of 36A. Using the rest of your math, that's 9.93 HP...which is pretty do-able.
How many teeth in that gift horse's mouth?
Hoarding Call-A.P.P.L.Es will give you a great foundation in computer programming and computer architecture, but don't forget to mix in a few Playboys for variety.
Jingoism and xenophobia in amateur radio?! Nah, couldn't happen. Why am I not surprised that that statement was preceded by "'Hey, I have to flip the switch, grab a beer and go watch TV--that's effort'" Please don't get the impression that all hams are like this.
I don't think his mom'll let him have girls in the basement.
"Slashdot: Rumors for Nerds. Stuff that may or may not be true."
Okay, so maybe it's just that I lived with graphic designers in college, but I'm sick of companies that try to make up cutesy names ending in MP3. First the SliMP3, now the SwiMP3. I think any competent marketing person would throw out these names at first blush because, frankly, the branding is horrible. What's a slimp? What's a swimp? Yes, the meaning is intellectually obvious, but advertising is more about subconscious perception than intellectualism. To put it in geek terms, the brain will parse the text first, try to process it, then move on to the number. I guess that's why I'm an engineer and not a marketing droid...didn't want to deal with that crap. You better believe, though, that if I wanted to sell something I'd run it by an advertising gal/guy first.
...Zee weed filters bong water!
Somebody better tell Agilent so they stop putting N-connectors on their 26.5 GHz spectrum analyzers. Also, how much cable loss do you really expect to have on that little 6" pigtail (referring to the PCMCIA hack)? Let's go wild and say 1 dB. If you're adding a 24 dBi antenna, you've still got *a bit* of a net gain. Would I have done things differently? Probably, but it's not too bad for a bunch of software guys.
If you're into machining and CNC-type projects, be sure to check out 5 Bears Research. The author of the site has done some absolutely phenominal work. Be sure to check out his CNC mill section if you're thinking about making your own. Also, there are tons of homebrew jet engine sites, including more than a few that look to be destined for a Darwin Award. None of them is funnier than this site, though. Enjoy.
For PCBs, be sure to check out Barebones. I've done a couple of runs through them, including one involving a chip-scale BGA package, and they did a great job. They're really a front for one of the previously-mentioned PCB operations, Advanced Circuits. For FPGA and CPLD prototyping, definitely go to Digilent. I've bought a few products from them and have been consistently impressed. Finally, it's probably an obvious choice, but eBay is always a good resource too. Many deals can be had in the "Electronic Components" category of their "Business & Industrial" section.
SCO (to everyone): "La La La La...I can't hear you, I can't hear you!"
Linux (to SCO): "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"
SCO (to AT&T): "Mom, Linux is poking me! Make him stop! Make him stop!"