[Elecraft] smaller caps?
I am serious: What is the motivation driving smaller and smaller electronic products? Possible answers: smaller means using less stuff to make it and thus cheaper? smaller is cuter? smaller is a marketing feature? smaller is more handy? But when the hand phone, the caculator, the iPod, the mp3 player, the memory stick, the 706, etc etc are so small that they can not be easily be operated with normal human fingers, what is going on? One of my students had her computer thumb memory thingy hanging from her ear lobe. I got the business name card from my eye doctor printed in 6pt. type, way too small for his clients to read. The greying of America and of ham radio indicates the need for bigger type, bigger radio buttons, etc., AND louder cel phones and louder everything, too. I am puzzled so can I imagine soon a new marketing: It's BIGGER! Charles Harpole [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Discover sweet stuff waiting for you at the Messenger Cafe. Claim your treat today! http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_SeptHMtagline2 ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
[Elecraft] smaller caps?
I am serious: What is the motivation driving smaller and smaller electronic products? Possible answers: smaller means using less stuff to make it and thus cheaper? smaller is cuter? smaller is a marketing feature? smaller is more handy? But when the hand phone, the caculator, the iPod, the mp3 player, the memory stick, the 706, etc etc are so small that they can not be easily be operated with normal human fingers, what is going on? One of my students had her computer thumb memory thingy hanging from her ear lobe. I got the business name card from my eye doctor printed in 6pt. type, way too small for his clients to read. The greying of America and of ham radio indicates the need for bigger type, bigger radio buttons, etc., AND louder cel phones and louder everything, too. I am puzzled so can I imagine soon a new marketing: It's BIGGER! Charles Harpole [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Can you find the hidden words? Take a break and play Seekadoo! http://club.live.com/seekadoo.aspx?icid=seek_hotmailtextlink1 ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] smaller caps?
In a message dated 9/19/07 8:12:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: What is the motivation driving smaller and smaller electronic products? smaller means using less stuff to make it and thus cheaper? Yep. Also less cost to pack, to ship, and to store. Look at the cost of packing, shipping, and storing, say, a DX-100 and K2/100. That all comes out in the price. But when the hand phone, the caculator, the iPod, the mp3 player, the memory stick, the 706, etc etc are so small that they can not be easily be operated with normal human fingers, what is going on? Depends what you mean by normal. And people buy the things. One of my students had her computer thumb memory thingy hanging from her ear lobe. I remember carrying punched card decks, reels of computer tape (magnetic and paper) and those multiplatter removable disks that went into drives the size of a washing machine. No thanks. The greying of America and of ham radio indicates the need for bigger type, bigger radio buttons, etc., AND louder cel phones and louder everything, too. How much more are you willing to pay for it? 73 de Jim, N2EY ** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] smaller caps?
I can think a few reasons, in addition to the aforementioned reduction in inventory costs and shipping charges. It makes for smaller PCB assemblies - less copper/solder, etc. smaller packaging means less resources. If the foundries don't need to produce huge volumes of plastics, ceramics and other materials, then they may be able to improve the purity and quality of the materials also. It leads more toward throw away modules which can fit in you're recyclers bin. If all I had was one radio, I wouldn't care too much how big it is but wouldn't expect a truck load of features either, like we get now. With three rigs on the desk, it's nice they all fit on it. So there is a strong 'green' incentive from many angles. The average refuse company in CA now collects a $20-$35 fee for that old monitor. Thank goodness for the flat screens! I remember the first transistor radio I had - a Regency. Cost $65 in 1956. Ge transistors too, and it ate those 22v mercury stack batteries for a snack. But what a dream to carry around while delivering papers after school. (I think I needed so many batteries from falling asleep at night listening to it.) So the tiny parts make it harder to kit build - wait til it comes in fully integrated VLSI. That's already revolutionized the PC business. I see the entire radio in a couple chips sooner than you can imagine. The ONLY reason its not there now is the lack of volume in those markets. Case in point is the cellphone or maybe the pda is a better example - with video graphics, it's a better computer than we had 15 years ago, camera, music all day, actually more music in one of those than my entire collection of 40 years. It goes on and on. If we have a reason for 20 or 30 million people to be hams - the K4 will probably fit in the palm of your hand. PS I love to build kits and really miss Heath. I'm buying up as many QRP and other kits as I can to fill the future void. After that I guess we'll just need to design some. Al WA6VNN ** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
Re: [Elecraft] smaller caps?
Look at the cost of packing, shipping, and storing, say, a DX-100 and K2/100. That all comes out in the price. Depends what you mean by normal. And people buy the things. 73 de Jim, N2EY = Also, we didn't have to carry our DX-100's into the computer room to update the software. 73 Rick Dettinger K7MW ___ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
