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SchmartBOARD Announces October 2004 Contest Winners

SchmartBOARD, a company that develops “Electronic Circuit Building BlocksTM,“ has started a contest to help introduce their new concept. Schmartboards are targeted towards engineers who would like to avoid having to do multiple revisions on PCB layouts and to students and electronic hobbyists who are tired of wire-wrap board, proto-board and breadboard limitations.

Fremont, CA (PRWEB) October 6, 2004 -- SchmartBOARD is giving away 6 combination packs a month in the US and Canada. Two will be given to professional engineers, two to engineering students, and two to electronics hobbyists each month. Similar contests are running in other countries in partnership with Schmartboard distributors. One only has to sign up once to be entered automatically every month. The direct URL on the Schmartboard website to enter is: http://www.schmartboard.com/index.asp?page=SchmartLAND_contest

The winners for October 2004 are as follows: Professional Engineers, Timothy Kuo-Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose CA, and Bob Smallwood-GE Healthcare, Laurel MD

Students: Mitchell Warren-Oklahoma Christian University, and Sisi Chen-Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Hobbyists: Patrick Mitchell-Duke Energy, Nashville TN, and Eric Lundquist-The Robot Group, Austin TX

Schmartboards are pre-traced printed circuit boards that are connectable like building blocks. We call this patented product, “Electronic Circuit Building Blocks”. They allow one to build electronic circuits on a SchmartBoard block by block, and then connect the blocks together to form a functional board. Because the boards are pre-traced, the need for wire jumpers is minimized, as opposed to breadboards or wire-wrap boards. The combination pack that will be sent to contest winners has 24 assorted Schmartboards with connectors and jumpers. The suggested retail is $49.95.

About SchmartBOARD
SchmartBOARDTM is committed to helping engineers, students, and hobbyists develop electronic circuits faster, easier, and less expensively than previously possible. Schmartboard’s patent pending Electronic Circuit Building Blocks makes this possible.

Zuken launches new promotional CADSTAR bundles for the Americas

Apr 19, 2005 - CADSTAR, Zuken's Windows-based desktop PCB design solution, introduces highly competitive promotional bundles for the Americas, providing essential functionality at reduced prices.

In recognition of the unique competitive nature of the EDA market in the Americas, Zuken has improved its value proposition with a Basic and Professional bundle, offering even greater value at more competitive prices.

The CADSTAR Basic product bundle includes the enhanced version of Zuken's desktop PCB Design Suite with a six-layer autorouter, and contains all the necessary tools to design a PCB from concept through to final manufacturing output. The CADSTAR Professional product bundle, targeting high-speed PCB design applications, combines all the features of CADSTAR Basic plus the advanced tools needed for the entire PCB design to manufacturing process.

Maintenance for one year is supplied free of charge for both the Professional and Basic bundles, and includes the Exchange Library, an on-line parts library with 130,000+ components.

CADSTAR Basic is available from $4,995 per seat, node-locked or networked, and CADSTAR Professional starts from $8,995 per seat, node-locked or networked. Please visit www.cadstarworld.com/americas for more information and details of this promotion.

3M Intros Better Embedded Capacitance Material

Online staff -- Electronic News

2/16/2005 - Austin, Texas-based 3M unveiled today what it says is an improved embedded capacitance material with a dielectric thickness of 8 microns and a capacitance density over 11 nanofarads / square inch.

The company claims it is among the thinnest and highest capacitance density materials available for embedding planar capacitance in circuit boards that fabricators and OEMs can use without a license.

“Using embedded capacitance for decoupling high-speed electronics offers many benefits, such as improved noise margins, faster signaling, less-radiated emissions and reduced capacitor counts,” said Bill Balliette, new business development manager at 3M’s electronic solutions division, in a statement.

“This thinner laminate gives design engineers more space to work with,” he mentioned.

The laminate material allows designers and manufacturers of high-speed digital printed circuit boards to achieve higher speeds while simplifying design tradeoffs, the company explained. When used as a power-ground core in a multi-layer PCB, the material becomes a decoupling capacitor inside the board.

Further, the material allows designers to eliminate large numbers of decoupling capacitors, increases useable board area, enables faster signaling, lowers radiated emissions (EMI), and saves engineering time associated with power distribution design and board layout. PCB fabricators can use the material in military, automated test equipment, computer and telecommunications applications.

And since thin dielectrics require the use of very smooth copper foils, 3M said its product offers good adhesion between the dielectric and the very smooth copper foils.

Limited quantities of the material are available for initial testing.

UP Media Group Announces Conference Program for PCB East 2005

The 10th anniversary PCB Design Conference East is scheduled for October 10-14, 2005, at the Expo Center of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. PCB East 2005 is the premier East Coast conference and exhibtion for printed circuit board (PCB) engineering, design and manufacture professionals.

ATLANTA, GA (PRWEB) June 30, 2005 -- UP Media Group Inc. (UPMG) is pleased to announce the final conference program and event schedule for PCB Design Conference East 2005--the premier East Coast conference and exhibition for printed circuit board (PCB) engineering, design and manufacture professionals. The 10th anniversary PCB East 2005 will be held on October 10-14 at the Expo Center of New Hampshire, in Manchester, NH, a location that’s central to the New England technology corridor and only a short distance from Canada’s “Silicon Valley North.”

PCB East 2005 features a five-day conference program of targeted Professional Development and Technical Conference courses, plus a keynote address, a wide variety of free special networking events and a terrific two-day exhibition of the industry’s hottest products and services.

The PCB East three-day Technical Conference (Tues. – Thurs., Oct. 11 - 13) includes 30 short courses—26 of which are new to PCB East. The Technical Conference is bracketed by 12 Professional Development Certificate Program courses: nine full-day tutorials and three two-day Design Excellence Curriculum (DEC) courses. Five of the 12 Professional Development courses are new to PCB East. Professional Development Certificate Program course attendees receive certificates of completion following the show.

“This year's conference program is one of the best we've ever put together. The topics are timely and targeted, and the list of speakers reads like an industry who's who,” said UPMG President Pete Waddell. “To celebrate the 10th anniversary of PCB East, we’re planning a variety of networking events and fun activities designed to provide our attendees, exhibitors and speakers with the opportunity to build new friendships and make important and lasting industry contacts. Several of these events are new to the show and are sure to be talked about for months afterwards.”

The Welcome Luncheon and Industry Icon Roast on Mon., Oct. 10 at noon will be the first special event held at this year's show. For now, the roastee’s name is being kept under wraps but clues will be “leaked” on the show Web site during the weeks leading up to the show. Free to all Monday attendees, others may register to attend this plated luncheon event for only $25.

The Keynote Address will be held on Wed., Oct. 12 at 12:30 pm. This year’s keynote speaker and topic will be announced at a later date on the PCB East Web site.

The two-day product and service exhibition will be held on Wed., Oct. 12 and Thu., Oct. 13. The hours of the two-day exhibition are: Oct. 12, 10 am – 6:30 pm and Oct. 13, 10 am – 4 pm. For the latest list of exhibitors, visit www.pcbeast.com.

To celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary, a special Opening Night Reception, featuring food, drinks and more, will be held on the show floor on Wed., Oct 12 from 5 – 6:30 pm. Book signings by industry authors will be held during the Opening Night Reception and at other times during the exhibition in the PCB East Book Store.

Pub Night at Jillian's, featuring live music by the infamous Porch Dawgs, will provide attendees with a night of free pool, darts and shuffleboard, plus food and drinks, on Wed., Oct. 12 from 7 – 11 pm at Jillian’s in downtown Manchester.

An Ice Cream Social will be held on the show floor on Thu., Oct. 13 from 2 – 4 pm, providing everyone with a chance to socialize while enjoying an afternoon treat. Other new events for conference attendees include Dinner With Strangers and Trivia Night. Details are available on the show Web site.

Registration for the two-day exhibition and most special events is free. The complete PCB East 2005 conference brochure, which provides detailed information about the conference program, speakers, special events, registration packages, special discounts, travel and more, is available for download at www.pcbeast.com.

About PCB Design Conference East
PCB Design Conference East is the premier East Coast conference and exhibition for PCB engineering, design and manufacture professionals. The 10th anniversary PCB Design Conference East will be held on October 10 - 14, 2005, at the Expo Center of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. The PCB industry’s leading product and service exhibition will be held on October 12 - 13. To download the complete conference brochure or to learn more about the show, visit www.pcbeast.com.

About UP Media Group Inc.
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, UP Media Group is a privately held company that specializes in magazine publishing and in trade show and conference production. UPMG currently publishes two high-tech magazines, Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture (www.pcdandm.com) and Circuits Assembly (www.circuitsassembly.com), and one weekly high-tech e-mail newsletter, PCB UPdate (www.pcbupdate.com). UPMG also produces two annual conferences for the PCB design and manufacture industries: PCB Design Conference West (www.pcbwest.com), which is held in the Silicon Valley area each spring; and PCB Design Conference East (www.pcbeast.com), which is held in the Boston area each autumn. UPMG also is a partner in PBR Seminars (www.pbrseminars.com), which produces live and on-demand technical Webinars for PCB industry professionals.

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