标签: bulb

Until now, my mind was set on using vacuum tubes augmented with tri-colored LEDs to enhance the look and feel of my hobby projects. However, I may have to take a look at those reproductions of vintage-style light bulbs known as Edison Bulbs. You can see all sorts of these little beauties by performing a search for "Edison Bulbs" on eBay, Google, and YouTube.   The reason I'm waffling on about this here is that I just heard from my old chum Alan Winstanley in the UK. One interesting item of news he had to impart was the fact that the hard-copy version of his Basic Soldering Guide Handbook has just gone on sale for $14.99 at Createspace . Another interesting nugget of knowledge Alan conveyed is that he's been photographing Edison Bulbs. He doesn't get out much.   As Alan says: "For fun, I photographed a whole bunch of vintage light bulbs (or, rather, modern facsimiles thereof) as I was fascinated by the reflections the incandescent filaments made around the glass envelope."     "I also aimed the macro lens at the filament supports, where I saw a new world of engineering open up."     "I soldered up a triac dimmer to tone the filaments down to a warm orange glow -- I had various bulbs to play with, including coiled, spirals, squirrel-caged and more besides."     "All these light bulbs are a modern pastiche (today's word) on vintage lighting. They were pretty hard to shoot using a macro lens. The depth of field is a few mm and the tiniest vibration (e.g., from passing traffic or me coughing) caused the glowing filaments -- suspended on their support wires -- to 'ring' or go out of focus. Most of all, I enjoyed exploring the reflections within the envelope."   Well, I have to say that I am very impressed, both by Alan's photographic skills and by the Steampunk-esqueness (sometimes it's hard to know where to stop with a word like this) of these little scamps. As I mentioned earlier, I may have to consider using these little beauties to enhance the look and feel of my hobby projects. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in using Alan's images for any reason, they are available for purchase from BigStockPhoto.com .

Originally, I have been focused on using vacuum tubes augmented with tri-colored LEDs to enhance the look and feel of my hobby projects. However, I may have to take a look at those reproductions of vintage-style light bulbs known as Edison Bulbs. You can see all sorts of these little beauties by performing a search for "Edison Bulbs" on eBay, Google, and YouTube.   The reason I'm waffling on about this here is that I just heard from my old chum Alan Winstanley in the UK. One interesting item of news he had to impart was the fact that the hard-copy version of his Basic Soldering Guide Handbook has just gone on sale for $14.99 at Createspace . Another interesting nugget of knowledge Alan conveyed is that he's been photographing Edison Bulbs. He doesn't get out much.   As Alan says: "For fun, I photographed a whole bunch of vintage light bulbs (or, rather, modern facsimiles thereof) as I was fascinated by the reflections the incandescent filaments made around the glass envelope."     "I also aimed the macro lens at the filament supports, where I saw a new world of engineering open up."     "I soldered up a triac dimmer to tone the filaments down to a warm orange glow -- I had various bulbs to play with, including coiled, spirals, squirrel-caged and more besides."     "All these light bulbs are a modern pastiche (today's word) on vintage lighting. They were pretty hard to shoot using a macro lens. The depth of field is a few mm and the tiniest vibration (e.g., from passing traffic or me coughing) caused the glowing filaments -- suspended on their support wires -- to 'ring' or go out of focus. Most of all, I enjoyed exploring the reflections within the envelope."   Well, I have to say that I am very impressed, both by Alan's photographic skills and by the Steampunk-esqueness (sometimes it's hard to know where to stop with a word like this) of these little scamps. As I mentioned earlier, I may have to consider using these little beauties to enhance the look and feel of my hobby projects. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in using Alan's images for any reason, they are available for purchase from BigStockPhoto.com .

Engineering is central to my relationship with my wife. That's becuase I am continually fixing everything, a trait that won her over on only our second date. It is engineering that makes the world and our relationship go round. More specifically, it's my real-world application of the problem-solving process. In 2005 as 19-year-old college sophomores at the University of California, Irvine, my wife and I went on our second date to a party at my wife's friend's flat. A typical location for a party—a poorly decorated, sparsely furnished, sad excuse for domicile, but nevertheless, a place of freedom for kids our age. Since we had gone early to help setup, I being a college guy sat down on the couch to watch TV because I didn't cook and was therefore useless. That is, until I saw a strand of Hawaiian lights hanging in the window. Being a lover of electricity (yep, I'm an electrical engineer), I immediately noticed that the strand was burnt out. It was a typical condition for a single strand of twinkle lights poorly maintained by college-aged youth. I asked for replacement lights and guess what, there weren't any. (When have there ever been replacement bulbs when you really needed them?) Without time to take a quick trip to Ace, Home Depot, or even CVS, me having a never-quit, stubborn attitude (another trait that helped win my wife over—cue eye-rolling), I asked if they had any tools. Another "No" along with an eyebrow furrow. Sure they're college girls, but who knows, maybe a handyman parent left a tool-box with a wire stripper and some electrical tape. That answer still didn't stop me, so I asked for any scissors and tape and received just what I expected—a roll of Scotch tape, a pair of pink schoolgirl Fiskar scissors, and a sarcastic "good luck" (the sarcasm coming from my wife's friend). I'm not sure if it was the stubborn guy in me or the guy trying to impress the girl, but I knowingly went against any vague recollection of electrical or UL safety codes: I cut right into the strand of lights (yes, I unplugged it first) to bypass the one light whose semi-transparent brownish tint around the base of the bulb disallowed full transmittance of the backlight I held the bulb up to. Once the wires were stripped and twirled together, I was surprised at how well the Scotch tape actually held everything together, and I did try to put a big glob of tape on there to minimise any shockage. At the moment of truth, no fireworks, no blown fuses, just a beautifully lit strand of Hawaiian Christmas lights and a cool, demure "need anything else?" I was pleasantly satisfied by the looks of surprised amazement when the girls glanced up to a glistening decoration successfully resurrected from the dead. Triumph. Whether it's soldering a faulty diode into the back of a supposedly broken TV, swapping car window motors so it's not an icebox driving down the freeway, or problem-solving a disappointment, my engineering training and passion for the solution keeps it all going in the right direction. Eight years later and the journey continues. Chris Higgins is the CEO of SparqEE, the start-up that brought you the SparqEE CELLv1.0 on Kickstarter. He is a computer and electrical engineer who loves innovating across hardware, software, systems, networking—anything that advances technology in the world. He submitted this article as part of Frankenstein's Fix, a design contest hosted by EE Times (US).

My relationship with my wife is centred on engineering. That's becuase I am continually fixing everything, a trait that won her over on only our second date. It is engineering that makes the world and our relationship go round. More specifically, it's my real-world application of the problem-solving process. In 2005 as 19-year-old college sophomores at the University of California, Irvine, my wife and I went on our second date to a party at my wife's friend's flat. A typical location for a party—a poorly decorated, sparsely furnished, sad excuse for domicile, but nevertheless, a place of freedom for kids our age. Since we had gone early to help setup, I being a college guy sat down on the couch to watch TV because I didn't cook and was therefore useless. That is, until I saw a strand of Hawaiian lights hanging in the window. Being a lover of electricity (yep, I'm an electrical engineer), I immediately noticed that the strand was burnt out. It was a typical condition for a single strand of twinkle lights poorly maintained by college-aged youth. I asked for replacement lights and guess what, there weren't any. (When have there ever been replacement bulbs when you really needed them?) Without time to take a quick trip to Ace, Home Depot, or even CVS, me having a never-quit, stubborn attitude (another trait that helped win my wife over—cue eye-rolling), I asked if they had any tools. Another "No" along with an eyebrow furrow. Sure they're college girls, but who knows, maybe a handyman parent left a tool-box with a wire stripper and some electrical tape. That answer still didn't stop me, so I asked for any scissors and tape and received just what I expected—a roll of Scotch tape, a pair of pink schoolgirl Fiskar scissors, and a sarcastic "good luck" (the sarcasm coming from my wife's friend). I'm not sure if it was the stubborn guy in me or the guy trying to impress the girl, but I knowingly went against any vague recollection of electrical or UL safety codes: I cut right into the strand of lights (yes, I unplugged it first) to bypass the one light whose semi-transparent brownish tint around the base of the bulb disallowed full transmittance of the backlight I held the bulb up to. Once the wires were stripped and twirled together, I was surprised at how well the Scotch tape actually held everything together, and I did try to put a big glob of tape on there to minimise any shockage. At the moment of truth, no fireworks, no blown fuses, just a beautifully lit strand of Hawaiian Christmas lights and a cool, demure "need anything else?" I was pleasantly satisfied by the looks of surprised amazement when the girls glanced up to a glistening decoration successfully resurrected from the dead. Triumph. Whether it's soldering a faulty diode into the back of a supposedly broken TV, swapping car window motors so it's not an icebox driving down the freeway, or problem-solving a disappointment, my engineering training and passion for the solution keeps it all going in the right direction. Eight years later and the journey continues. Chris Higgins is the CEO of SparqEE, the start-up that brought you the SparqEE CELLv1.0 on Kickstarter. He is a computer and electrical engineer who loves innovating across hardware, software, systems, networking—anything that advances technology in the world. He submitted this article as part of Frankenstein's Fix, a design contest hosted by EE Times (US).  

Here's another post, in which we pause for a moment to take a deep breath (hold it... hold it... now exhale), slow down, relax, and start winding down in preparation for the weekend. As part of this exercise, I've gathered a few choice diversions for your delectation, delight, pondering, and rumination. This week's humble offerings are as follows: No. 1: Do you think you are having a bad day? Is it as bad as sending eye-watering amounts of electricity surging through your tongue? Sometimes, no matter how horrifying a video is, you just cannot look away. ( Click here to discover more.) No. 2: Unfortunately, Mehdi Sadaghdar—the star of the previous video—just doesn't know when to stop. His videos on how to change an electric light bulb ( click here ) and how to build an electric guitar ( click here ) cannot fail to make you cringe and wince with empathetic pain. No. 3: I don't know about you, but my eyes are still watering from the previous videos. Let's change pace and look at something that makes one gasp in wonder—a 240-year-old clockwork automaton that can write. ( Click here to discover more.) No. 4: Now I feel in the mood for the video equivalent of comfort food. One of my all-time favourite videos is the trick the Improv Everywhere group played in Grand Central Station. Even if you've seen this before, it's always worth another look. ( Click here to discover more.) No. 5: Speaking of improv, another of my all-time favourite videos is the one where over 200 dancers perform "Do, Re, Mi," from The Sound of Music in a Belgian train station. Once again, even if you've already seen this, you need to watch it again, because it's simply impossible to view this all the way through without ending up with a great big beaming smile on your face. ( Click here to discover more.) As usual, if you know of any interesting sites you'd care to share, please comment below.