Patrick Mannion

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Before exceptionalism comes can-do-ism

Two questions came up at the recent DESIGN West conference in San Jose: How do we rebuild America, and why did I come here? The first question arose during a panel comprising UBM Electronics editorial directors, including myself, and moderated by Karen Field, our boss and UBM Electronics’ vice president of content. The point of the panel was to discuss and answer questions from... More

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It’s my turn to tell Apple what to do

Make me a pair of decent headphones. That’s it. Then take the remaining $87 billion left over after the stock buy-back and go figure out how to stop people who don’t know what they’re talking about from telling you what to do. It’s pretty amusing when you think about it. Apple is right now the most exciting and successful technology company in the world and yet... More

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Patents: Where's yours (and how do you get them)?

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, patents are a mark of accomplishment and every engineer would like one, or ten, under their belt. Where’s yours? Despite the recent moves to reform patent law in the face of an onslaught of patent troll activity (don’t hold your breath on rapid or useful change) just navigating the halls of patent filing successfully should... More

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DesignCon 2012 Panel: Test gurus share vision to accelerate your ‘time to answer’

The countdown begins: On Wednesday next at DesignCon 2012 I’ll be moderating a panel comprising four of the sharpest minds in the electronics industry as they explore the cutting edge of technology and what it means for you, the test engineer. It’s important to note at this point that this panel is a new addition to DesignCon, and its primary purpose is to be an interactive... More

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DesignCon: It’s time to start designing

At the time of this writing, I am preparing to fly to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) where I am looking forward to unearthing and putting before you for evaluation some truly innovative, exciting, and useful technology and devices from among the thousands of gizmos and gadgets that will inevitably catch my curious eye. By now, you are no doubt already enjoying... More