Electronic controls are cheaper and they can be installed faster. Thats a big reduction in manufacturing cost. They make routine diagnostics easier and they are easy to modify.

Reliability is questionable. A car is a bad environment for digital controls due to the large amount of electrical noise, common mode noise, power supply internal impedance, poor grounding, extreme temperatures, etc.

I don't trust them on critical systems that can casue loss of control.

If you need a cell phone you should stick to developed and marked trails.
That's a good way to get experience and test your equipment and methods.
Blistered feet can disable you for days.
Keep the weight down. Don't carry anything you don't need.

For wilderness areas you need survival training and experience. It's best to use the buddy system.
Check in with the ranger station where you will get any necessary permits and information on local conditions.
Tell them where you are going and when you'll return. It's like filing a flight plan.

The Rockies are great!
Good luck!

I only heard it referred to as "approval". No one talked about it because they didn't want to jinx the project. When the approval comes through everyone gets a slap on the back and a lot of free beer.

That's only one part of a product. When all other aspects are approved then the complete product can be tested. If it does what is claimed and that has medical value, then the product gets approved and moves on to testing in the field. It takes a long time to get something to the point where it's a marketable product.

The FDA requirements on software are strict. There are requirements for coding practices, testing, QA, etc. Inspectors show up, without notice, to check for compliance.
The code reviews are very thorough and require a manager and at least two other programmers.
All code has to be instrumented and scripts written to force execution of all code.
The output traces from instrumentation have to be fully documented. Everything that happens is documented.

They require the source code with all changes documented, test scripts, fully documented code intstrumentation output, full QA test documentation, etc. All these things must be signed by the programmer, reviewers and managers.

All this goes to the FDA along with a system for testing. They review the code, test the system and call with questions.
The FDA is interested in suggestions on improvements to the process.

That process adds a lot to the development time and cost for a project.
It can't guarantee perfection but they take a very good shot at it.

This problem goes back to the first ROMs ever used. ROMs should always be verified. That's basic QC procedure.

The FA doesn't have any real information. Most likely a beta version got into the manufacturing stream. The problem is just sloppy QA.

The fabs moved overseas because of EPA regulations.
That's the same reason a lot of manufacturing is now done off-shore. The cost of dealing with regulations is a bigger factor then labor.

I think the disintegration of the extended family and stable neighborhoods is a big contributor.

When I grew up (1945- ), my dad was a truck driver. My mom stayed home. My grandmother and uncle lived in the same building. There was always a family member to watch us. The neighborhood was like an extension of the family. Everyone was willing to teach us what they knew. We were encouraged to tackle the impossible.

Most of us had Erector sets before by the age of 6. Chemistry sets were later. Nothing was thrown away. If something broke the kids were expected to try to fix it. There was the library if we needed to learn how. If we really got stuck an adult would help us.

When I wanted a short wave radio, my dad asked me for a list of parts. I gave him the list and he took me with him to buy the stuff I needed. "I don't know how" was not an excuse. By the time I started high school I had an o-scope and a work shop in the basement. When we needed something, someone in the neighborhood usually could help us.

We always had adults around that we knew well and could count on. There were no day care centers and no one I knew ever stayed with a baby sitter. We were raised by the cooperation of everyone, including teachers.

For the record we lived near one of the tire factories where a lot of the neighbors were employed. It was a normal neighborhood with a lot of veterans refugees from WW-II.

We were also safe. If someone yelled for help, help would come from every direction.

Being creative is easy in an environment like that.
 

Thanks for the great link.
Good subjects for a Hasselblad.

I read the article and the article, from March, that it references.
I didn't see any proof that the scam exists, other then anecdotes.

Other than the original phone call, what they describe sounds like Microsoft tech support.

Perhaps the scam is a scam.

Spot on.
It's just another way to sell air.

I've seen similar mechanical solutions before and they had the problem you stated. IIRC it was in portable vacuum tube radios that had a seperate bias battery. (1950s)

The only thing that matters is the male female birth ratio which is something like 106:100
So it's approx. 50:50
The day of the week means nothing. It's added to cause confusion.

"IT" covers a really broad range. Help Desk, programing, testing, networking, security, architecture, system administration, backup and recovery, DBA, R&D, management and many other catagories are considered IT. A range for all of IT is too general. Location also makes a lot of difference. If you look at some of the more focused salary surveys you'll still find a wide range.

Don't pay too much attention to salary surveys. Look for interesting gigs that will improve your skills.

I don't know who authorized it. Martial law is the suspension of civil authority and imposition of military authority. The authority is argued about frequently. The citation is usually: Article 1, section 9 of the Constitution.

I'm not sure if 911 was implimented then. I do know that dialing operator didn't work. 911 wouldn't have helped anyway. I was getting priority 1 pages every few seconds to report my positions and situation to my dispatcher and my family.

Maybe you had to be there. It was the epitome of chaos.

I don't see a "RIGHT CONTEXT". The Internet is the electronic equivalent of bill boards. Critical systems should not be connected to a public network. If critical systems are connected to the Internet that is an engineering mistake and should be corrected. There is no excuse for having Internet access to critical systems. Cheap and convenient is not a rational reason to compromise security.

The problem is that there are people in government and industry that don't understand the Internet but they want laws to control it. People in power want to control anything they don't understand.

The problem with the Internet is that once something is put out there, it can't be taken back. Once that happens shutting down the Internet is not going to solve that.

  According to the article:

That doesn't make sense.

The government already has the right, under martial law, to shutoff anything. Since that requires declaring martial law it can't be done secretly. That's the way it should be.