I'm not a person who is easily annoyed. There is one thing, however guaranteed to drive me right up the wall. It is manufacturers who make it extraordinarily difficult or impossible to obtain data or pricing on their products. Right below this is manufacturers or dealers who will not post or discuss prices without having to talk to a sales person.  The latter being a hallmark of most CAD/CAE software like my experience with the QLED software discussed earlier.

My most recent experience with this has been with Aptina. Aptina is the new name for the CMOS Imaging division of Micron which was recently spun off with its own identity.  I was interested in a CMOS video sensor for a new project and was redirected from the Micron site to their new site.  I quickly discovered that no information was available except product brochures without registering.

Well.... OK, I generally dislike having to register to obtain data sheets too, but will do so if I can't obtain them any other way.  So I register.  I wait for a confirmation email with my password and log back in. I'm then immediately confronted with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which I have to agree to before going any further. I'm not happy at this point and read through it and decide to agree to it and move on. At this point I go back to the product page and click on the data sheet link. whereupon I am presented with the following notice:

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We have been working on a project that needs a low cost camcorder with an emphasis on audio quality over video quality. Part of this search has been looking for a less than $500 camcorder and preferably less than $300 unit with an external microphone jack.  This is due to the horrible internal microphones and sound quality on most consumer camcorders. You have only to listen to 99.9% of all Youtube videos to know what I mean. The manufacturers have dropped this feature on most everything below $500-660 dollares and it is getting rarer on sub $1000 models.

Aiptek has had several hybrid camcorder/camera models it markets overseas in the sub $300 range that have external microphone jacks, but only recently introduced a model here with that feature.  The model in question is the Model HSHD. The specifications in short are:

• 1280 x 720 H.264 Video @60fps
• 1280 x 720 H.264 Video @30fps
• (Also 848 x 480 WVGA H.264 @ 60fps)
• 2GB Built-in Storage
• MOV Video Format
• 32GB SDHC Card Slot Expansion
• External Microphone Jack
• MP3 Player
• 2x Digital Zoom w/ Fixed Focus & Macro Setting
• HDTV Component Output
• Up to 3 Mega Pixel Digital Camera (actually fixed at 3M)
• 2.4" Swivel-Reversible LCD
• Night Shot
• Easy Charging via AC or USB

I purchased this camera from Circuit City almost entirely on the basis of the external microphone jack feature to see if it would really improve the audio. If you are considering it for this feature I would keep looking. The external microphone performance was a big disappointment as described below.
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It's hard to believe its been another month already. We've been busy here working on a lot of new projects and I thought I would share some preliminary information on at least one new project with you.

We have partnered with some folks who have been working diligently on a solution to the problem of Apple Mac users and Linux users being left out in the cold by the glucose meter community. They are working on both a software solution and a web portal that can be used to download and chart data from blood glucose meters from a Windows, Mac or Linux platform. They have successfully compiled and run the core software on all three platforms and read data back from the OneTouch® meters.

Check back here frequently for a link to their site and more information as it develops.  It is our intent, along with our partner's to provide a one-stop portal that will support all meter types and be able to share information directly with your Physician if desired and free you and them from restrictive proprietary software.

Thanks again for the tremendous response to the OneTouch® compatible cable. They have been flying out of here as fast as we can produce them. We should also have a cable solution for the Abbott Freestyle and Bayer meters working soon as well.

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We've had a couple of calls from customers who had just received our cable and had the latest version of the OneTouch® Software (version 2.3.2) already installed and had trouble getting the software to recognize the cable and meter.  Lifescan has added an extra cable driver package that must be downloaded and installed as well as the management software. They state is is only for the newer UltraLink®, UltraMini® (with data port) and Select meters, but it appears is is necessary for all of the meters. The additional meter driver software can be downloaded here.

We have not gotten our hands on an UltraMini® (with data port) or Select meter yet to test. We will post a definitive result when we get it here first.

We are also currently working on adapting the cable to the Abbott Freestyle series of meters and the Bayer Breeze2 and Contour meters for use with their respective software.  We are also on the lookout for a good, low cost and Windows VIsta compatible IR to USB adapter for use with the Roche Accu-Chek® and similar models with IRda data ports. If you know of one or have tried one let us know.

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We were asked frequently when we first introduced our FPGA and CPLD development products for a low cost JTAG programmer compatible with our boards and the Xilinx development software. We responded and developed the Parallel port cable based on the Xilinx original reference design.

Since then we have been asked by those who no longer have a parallel port on their desktop or laptop for a USB design that doesn't depend on a USB-Parallel Port adapter. We looked long and hard and finally found a vendor with a Xilinx Platform USB compatible unit that was at a reasonable price point. We got one and have been evaluating it on our lab for the last couple of months.

I'm pleased to say it has worked on everything we have thrown at it and has become our main Xilinx JTAG tool for final test on all of our Xilinx development boards. We are now happy to add it to our product lineup. You can order it directly here.

The unit is compact, USB bus powered and works with target voltages from 1.5 to 3.3V. We are trying to determine if it can also be used with 5V IO. It has both a ribbon cable jumper and a flying lead cable. The 2mm ribbon cable connector pinout is identical to the Xilinx platform USB cable.

These are in stock now and we can generally get them from our supplier in 3-4 days if we run out.

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First of all many thanks to all of you for the spectacular response to our OneTouch® compatible USB-Serial meter cable. We are working furiously to keep up with the demand. Its hard to believe its been a month since the last entry, but an indication of how busy we have been keeping up with your response. We are running low on the free meters and are down to only UltraMini® meters which unfortunately don't have a data port, but have been well received nevertheless.

Thanks to customer Mike who informed me today he had just tried his cable with the new UltraLink® Meter that is being provided with the Medtronic MiniMed Paradigm® REAL-Time Insulin Pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. He indicated that the cable worked to upload data to the MiniMed Carelink site, but that he had to install a new driver for the UltraLink meter in order to upload data to the LifeScan® software.

We continue to work on cables for other meters and are looking for a good low-cost USB-IR receiver that will work with Vista and the Accu-Check meters with an IR data port.

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As a recently diagnosed diabetic without health insurance I am painfully aware of the high cost of "treatment." I looked long and hard at testing supplies, meters and which brand would be the lowest recurring cost for things like test strips. If you are in a similar situation I know you have done the same thing.

What we decided on was the Lifescan OneTouch® line of meters and supplies, if for no other reason than they were the only line that could use the same test strips across all of the meters in the line. What we also found is that in the finest tradition of "Gillette" marketing all of the test meter companies will gladly give you the meter in exchange for perpetual purchase (or insurance or Medicare if you are lucky enough to have it) of the test strips.

Most companies will also give you the software for your PC for free. What they definitely don't give away is the little cable to attach the meter to the PC. Most of the meter brands are also stuck selling serial PC cables with antiquated DB-9 connections for $30 a pop. When is the last time you saw a new PC with one of those? To its credit, Lifescan does offer a USB cable but will also hit you up for $30 for it.
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I mentioned in an earlier post about a nifty little program call QLED being distributed by Future Lighting Solutions that does 3D thermal modeling of high power LEDs and Heat sinks, both passively and actively cooled. It sounded neat and based on the demos in the video I thought I'd check it out.

As usual you have to register to download and request a license file via email. So far so good. I got the license in about a day and was able to play with it for awhile and I was impressed generally by the features and relatively intuitive interface. I say relatively only because it didn't pass the "can I do something useful without resorting to RTFM?" test. My first pass through the solution wouldn't converge and it locked up. After going through the tutorials I found the error of my ways and got it to work.

Now for the bad news........... I noticed while running the program that the license was only good for 6 days. Something never mentioned in any of the links to the program, registration page or information when requesting a license. If it sounds too good to be true...... well you know the rest.
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