Wednesday, February 23, 2011

PSA: Your Car Can't Get A Virus From Your iPod (Seriously)

In a tech savvy world built on code and the interwebs, basically everything is programmable, including the songs on your iPod. And by programmable, we mean that everything digital can be composed of what we know and expect, but sometimes, it can also contain something… more.

This is mostly due to the massive switch from analog signals to digital signals. Analog signals can be converted or parsed into a digital bitstream from which a programmer can route or control which vector to manipulate. An example includes most modern vehicle stereos, which contain an ADC – Analog-to-Digital – to equalizer connection which converts analog signal to digital. From there, the signal is returned through a Digital-to-Analog Converter or DAC for short; rinse and repeat. The theory is that somewhere along the way code can parse the digital content. The odd part is that it’s totally legit and “legal” on pirated music. A61L-0001-0093

To say that a virus could be coded onto pirated music and then transferred to a vehicle’s infotainment system, while quit plausible, is theoretically pointless unless the information from a random person’s car is valuable enough to take the time to code such a monster. Not to mention that it’s almost impossible to be incognito while attempting this feat while on the fly. When sending a digital signal over an analog connection, a driver would hear a series of beeps indicating the conversion. Since the driver would have to be playing his stereo, a hijacking would be an obvious give away every time. In the end however, no hacker would have the drive to code a program that would be destined to fail. And that’s where the Reddit thread below goes. Check it out for a quick laugh.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Boeing To Debut 747-8 Intercontinental This Weekend


There’s nothing quite like flying; it amazes me that it used to take 30 years to travel from east coast to west. Now, after a magazine and a quick snooze, you’re on the other side of the country.
The 747 is no doubt one of the most popular model numbers for commercial jets, and tomorrow Boeing is going to show off its newest version: the 747-8. We don’t know more yet, other than whats on Boeing’s website:

The 747-8 Intercontinental is the only jetliner in the 400- to 500-seat market, stretched [18.3 ft] from the 747-400 to provide 467 seats in a three-class configuration and a [8,000 nautical mile] range. Using 787-technology engines, the airplane will be quieter, produce lower emissions, and achieve better fuel economy than any competing jetliner. The 747 Intercontinental will provide nearly equivalent trip costs and 13 percent lower seat-mile costs than the 747-400, plus 26 percent greater cargo volume….The 747-8 is more than 10 percent lighter per seat than the Airbus A380 and will consume 11 percent less fuel per passenger than the 555-seat airplane. That translates into a trip-cost reduction of 21 percent and a seat-mile cost reduction of more than 6 percent, compared to the A380. Fanuc parts.


Thursday, February 3, 2011

Heidenhain Glass Scales technology LS, LB, LF ML

Sealed linear encoders from HEIDENHAIN are protected from dust, chips and splash fluids and are ideal for operation on machine tools. An aluminum housing and elastic sealing lips protect the scale, scanning carriage and guideway from chips, swarf, dirt and splashwater The scanning carriage travels in a low-friction guide within the scale unit. It is connected to the external mounting block by a coupling that compensates unavoidable misalignment between the scale and the machine guideways.
Sealed linear encoders are available with full-size scale housings for high resistance to vibration up to 30 m measuring length, as well as slimline scale housing for limited installation space up to 2040 mm measuring length. Heidenhain Linear encoders


 Heidenhain LS-107 Scale 1140mm 
 Heidenhain LS-107 Scale 640mm
 Heidenhain LS-107 Scale 940mm
 Heidenhain LS-186 ML 240mm linear Encoder
 Heidenhain LS-303 Scale 1340mm
 Heidenhain LS-303 Scale 270mm
 Heidenhain LS-303 Scale 370mm
 Heidenhain LS-303 Scale 420mm
 HEIDENHAIN LS-303 Scale Seal
 Heidenhain LS-303C Scale 420mm
 Heidenhain LS-403 Scale 270mm
 Heidenhain LS-403 Scale 320mm 
 Heidenhain LS-403 Scale 470mm 
 Heidenhain LS-403 Scale 570mm
 Heidenhain LS-404 Scale 470mm
 Heidenhain LS-404 Scale 670mm
 Heidenhain LS-513 Scale 220mm 
 Heidenhain LS-603 Scale 1020mm
 Heidenhain LS-703 Scale 1140mm
 Heidenhain LS-703 Scale 620mm
 Heidenhain LS-704 Scale 620mm
 Heidenhain LS-803 Scale 720mm
 Heidenhain LS-903 Scale 520mm
 HEIDENHAIN Scale Reader Head AE LS-303C


Heidenhain Monitors BE412 BC110, BC120

HEIDENHAIN's MANUALplus NCs have been proving themselves in daily use on action-oriented lathes for many years now, but with the introduction of the new MANUALplus 620, HEIDENHAIN marks another step toward simple and efficient programming on the HEIDENHAIN Monitor. With this new control and its increased functions, now both cycle and CNC lathes can effectively be handled by HEIDENHAIN Screen
At the heart of the new MANUALplus 620 is a new NC kernel. With it, the cycle programming feature of this control enables the machinist to quickly and efficiently program and machine workpieces without having to write NC programs on the Heidenain Monitors HEIDENHAIN BC110, Heidenhain BC120, BE110, BE110B, BE111, BE135, BE212, BE411, Heidenhain BE412, BE412B, BF120 TNC.
This new control also includes the implementation of a tool database (up to 250 tools) and a technology database. The MANUALplus 620, as a whole, is designed as an integrated digital servo-drive control, though the spindles and/or axes can also be controlled by analog speed command interfaces as well.