Posted by James Forster on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 @ 11:33 AM
It's January and the east coast of the USA is experiencing the normal cold, wet and sometimes snow. But wait, March is approaching and the e-mails titled ... "BiTS - are you going?" have already started.
So what are you doing March 7-10? Check out the advance program at: http://www.bitsworkshop.org/advprog/advprog.htm Phoenix in March is warm and for people from the colder climates, you can remember what the sun feels like.
As usual Fred Taber and his team of volunteers are working hard to make sure the workshop is a success. Previous attendees will recognize the names of some of the stalwarts of the workshop who are presenting the latest on their work.
This year I did not submit any abstracts so am not working late at night finishing a presentation or promising myself ... "I will never submit an abstract until all the results are complete and I actually understand all the data" - although a friend has asked me about a couple of pictures from a prior presentation he would like to use; I'll get to that tomorrow.
Last year BiTS celebrated its 10th annual session. The attendance was a down a little but the people I spoke to enjoyed themselves and comments were generally positive about the program and the workshop. Certainly there were kudos to Jon Diller for his tutorial titled Sockets 101. The 36 slides on the BiTS Workshop archive (http://www.bitsworkshop.org/advprog/advprog.htm ) are dry and cold and unfortunately do not convey the enthusiasm and style of Jon's presentation. Those that attended had the opportunity to learn as Jon shared his knowledge and experience in his own unique way - and that's what the workshop is all about, sharing and learning. I hope to see you there this year.
So to all the invisible volunteers who help make the BiTS workshop a success - thanks. I looked for a suitable quote about volunteering and found this which seems apropos, although I do not know who Elizabeth Andrews is....
Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.
- Elizabeth Andrew
If you have any comments or thoughts please post a reply or send me a note at james.forster@wellscti.com
Posted by James Forster on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 @ 10:24 AM
It's 2010 - Happy New Year - and this is my first "WELLS Connected" blog. The people helping me to understand this new media tell me .... write the blog and people will be interested - It's a sort of "write it and they will read it" type of analogy - thanks to the movie "Field Of Dreams".
This blog will discuss issues and topics associated with burn-in sockets and thermal management. Our hope is to provide another avenue to communicate with customers, friends and others interested in sockets and interconnection.
While we will focus our discussions on interesting technologies, where our industry is headed, contacting technologies, etc., we will also discuss other topics which are peripheral to our industry and which I think are interesting and stimulating.
Cell phones, PDA's, notebooks and other mobile devices are a significant market segment for our products. These devices not only allow us to communicate but are at the forefront of the communication revolution and every day brings new and exciting products. Now for a shocker - that movie, "Field of Dreams" was released in 1989 - 20 years ago! Today we could not imagine our lives without a cell phone - in 1989 there were about 3 million cell phone subscribers and the technology was about to change the way we live.
Phones were analog and the first ads for cell phones were appearing. Take a look at the following links to see how far the industry has advanced.
http://www.tecfre.com/video-first-cell-phone-commercial-in-1989/
General Electric Cell Phone 1989
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAeBlL1zuko
Cell phones were "bag phones" in those days and the costs were in the hundreds of dollars. It would only be a few years though before cell phone service companies developed the idea of giving away the equipment, the phone, for a commitment to a service contact lasting 2 years.
Handheld phones were not commonplace - but 1989 saw the introduction of the Motorola MicroTac whose design, it is said, was based on the "communicator" used by Captain Kirk and others in the 1966 TV series - Star Trek ....
The cost of the MicroTac - about $3,000..... and those were 1989 dollars.
In closing here is an interesting quote about our technology from Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google ......
"As we go forward, I hope we're going to continue to use technology to make really big differences in how people live and work."
So welcome and let's blog. If you have any comments or thoughts please post a reply or send me a note at james.forster@wellscti.com