Test & Measurement

People increasingly text message colleagues and friends to keep in touch. But statistics show that texting while driving has become the single biggest factor boosting accident rates. In an increasing number of states the practice is illegal. So 'fess up. Why would you do it? What can you accomplish with text messages that can't afford to wait? Are you prepared for the legal consequences if caught? Of having a serious accident? Could you wean yourself away and text only when your car was parked? If you don't text, do you at least fumble around with scrolling through lists and then dialing phone numbers? What about typing in your security code to get your voice mail?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

The announcement of this year's Nobel Prizes reminds us of the amazing discoveries and inventions that have taken place in our lifetimes. The prize for physics went to the inventors of digital imaging, without which much of our inspection technology could not exist. Practical applications of that innovation would have proved impossible without one that came before. Buckminster Fuller referred to the digital optical disk (CDs and DVDs, for example) as the greatest invention of our civilization since movable type because for the first time all information was identical. Look around you. On what other developments have we built our technological society? Which one(s) do you think were most important — and why?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

Testing is by its nature a perpetual race — trying to run as fast as possible just to stay even. Looking over your most difficult test problems, if you could wave a magic wand and create a single test technique or piece of test equipment that would solve your most pernicious test problem and make your work easier, what would it be? How would that single development change your short-term or long-term tasks?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

The pace of product development challenges test engineers to invent new and more effective ways to verify that the products work as designers intended. Yet solutions that do not represent a true paradigm shift often provide only stopgap measures that will be rendered obsolete by the next great advance. How much of an adversarial relationship exists between your design and test departments? How well do you communicate? How successfully do your test people keep up with designers' needs? How willing is each side to compromise? Is the situation improving, getting worse, or remaining relatively stable?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

It has long been established that testing is a Red Queen's Race — trying to run as fast as possible just to keep from falling behind. Data acquisition and image capture get ever faster. However, you need to do more thorough analysis because the products being tested grow increasingly complex. How well are you keeping up with advances in your industry? What test challenges will likely cause you the most difficulty? How will you anticipate the technologies that you have to test in the future so you can meet them?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.