My blog is actually on WordPress at The Design Urge.

All those who have ever tried to learn a foreign language, specially those who have had the luck to have experienced it "on-site", are likely to agree with me when I say that a language is not merely composed by a bunch of grammar rules. Intonation, manners (try to picture Italians or Argentinians talking without their hands), and facial expressions play their role as well. However, no language is likely to be succesfully embraced without the learner´s interest in the exploration of the…

Those who have visited or lived in Japan (either in a virtual form, or in person) may have realized the overwhelming, yet very interesting, amount of immaginative and/or well advanced technological devices that form part of daily life.

To taste the experience, the journey may begin at the popular "100-yen stores" (1-USD stores), where you will find inexpensive gadgets carefully designed for almost any trivial need. After this initial part of the tour, the simplicity and the…

I recently read a blog about a company called SolarCity, which enables homeowners and businesses to begin using solar energy to power their homes and buildings. Google says it's investing $280 million to create a fund that will help SolarCity finance more solar installations across the country. This is Google's largest clean energy…

Education is listed as one of the target markets by the major 3D printer vendors. The reasons for working with educators are evident–teach students early about this technology, train them for future employment.  Unfortunately for the students, teachers often lack the training needed to guide students in the use and understanding of additive manufacturing systems.....…

Engineering fellows,

I have found over the years that my best sales tool is my ability to identify product design features that increase manufacturing costs. In about 80-90% of quote requests that I review, product designs are generally great concepts that represent the product design engineers concept or intent although they are not quite ready for production manufacturing. I have found that by providing budgetary estimates to customer drawings or models that are not…

I am amused at all the responses that say to stay with inch units.

Do you realize the rest of the world has gone metric?  There are only 2 countries in the world still using the inch units, us and Taiwan.  Everyone else has gone metric.  Talking about being left behind???

Even England migrated from the English (Imperial system) to metric.   Are we that resistant to change?  Do we want to be known as a world leader or a country that is stuck in their…

Nice article from the June 2011 issue of DW:

Miniaturization using low-cost PCB technology

 As feature sizes shrink on component packaging, printed circuit boards must become more complex

By Matt Romig…

There are lots of Good Ideas,

It takes an engineer to bring them to life.

Frank Zeman

I see my engineering degree every morning. It hangs above my dresser, a badge of honor for five of the toughest, yet most rewarding years of my life. It represents late nights studying, way too much calculus and thermodynamics, and likely an ulcer or two.



I was lucky to have chosen a public institution where even the out-of-state tuition was reasonable. And I was fortunate to have grandparents who were willing to help cover the cost of tuition. Many of my friends graduated with tens…

Hi:  I am looking for really creative technologies that can create thousands of jobs.  Just some of the areas that these ideas might fulfill.  Easily erectable energy self sufficient Housing.  I am thinking large legos in a sense.  

Self driven transportation.  I am thinking trains, trucks, automobiles, planes, boats.  I am thinking  Satellite WiFI type controls, but it might be tracks or tunnels although that would be more expensive. 

And I know this exists…