Valley Services Electronics

“It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” Most of us have heard this in wildly different contexts than PCB design. Still, it’s true more generally: diving beyond the surface is likely to reveal the most critical features, attributes, or characteristics of many things, both esoteric and universal

When I was a kid, I remember leaving on video game consoles overnight when it was “lights out” because my siblings and I were at a point where we couldn’t save and exit the game. Faced with a loss of progress, we decided it was more beneficial to keep the hardware running and pick up where we left off later.

One of my favorite team-building activities from school was constructing a stable tower from marshmallows and dry pasta under a time limit. This brainstorming exercise challenged teams to construct the tallest structure without external support.

For decades, Moore’s Law was a defining experimental rule defining the rate at which the customer demanded significant improvements in computing power and how fast manufacturers were able to furnish this request.

Years ago, I was remapping the functionality of an RC car for a school project. My team and I had to design, shop, build, test, and debug an analog circuit that added cruise control functionality and IR sensing.

Surely many people can relate to a phone charger that only works when the wire is placed in a certain position. Being a bit of a packrat, I have several frayed chargers within the same nightstand that I save for extra parts and replacements.