(1)
OMRON ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
Micro-mini photomicrosensors detect motion, position

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Omron Electronic Components LLC has developed a series of non-amplified, slotted phototransistors in a fixed "U-shaped" housing that integrates both the emitter and detector. Developed for motion and position detection, the EE-SX1 series of transmissive photomicrosensors detect the presence of an object without direct contact."

Readers Say:
"It looks like a useful product."
"Potential use in gas sampling extractive samplers."
"A good implementation of an existing idea."
"Hmmm - would be nice to have a logical output rather than a phototransistor output."
"Sounds quite good. It should be more sensitive."
"No idea how easy to integrate it into the system"
"Photos would help"
"Good product."
"Very useful for tracking process"

USABILITY RANK: 1

(2)
CORNING CABLE SYSTEMS
Connector speeds up installation of fiber-optic cables

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Corning Cable Systems, part of Corning Inc.'s Telecommunications segment, has introduced the OptiSnap connector, a field-installable no-epoxy, no-polish connector that enables quick termination of fiber-optic cables. The OptiSnap connector installs in less than one minute by using the company's high-precision mechanical splice technology. It is suitable for single-mode fiber-to-the-x applications, maintenance and restoration of building cable, and MDU applications where installation setup and teardown time is critical, said Corning. "

Readers Say:

"This is useful as it makes doing fiber easier. Could be key in fiber to the home."

USABILITY RANK: 6

(3)
MOLEX
Micro-USB connectors cut space by more than 50 percent vs. Mini-USB

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Aimed at portable devices such as PDAs, digital cameras and mobile phones, Molex Inc. has introduced its latest Micro-USB connectors that offer a more compact footprint and a volumetric space reduction of more than 50% compared with Mini-USB devices. Molex's latest connectors are compliant with the Micro-USB 1.0 specifications and support the current USB On-The-Go (OTG) supplement, giving users the convenience of mobile point-to-point connectivity. "

Readers Say:

"Not that exciting but could be useful"

USABILITY RANK: 2

(4)
ILLINOIS CAPACITOR
Supercapacitors supply up to 220 farads

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "The DLR series of supercapacitors from Illinois Capacitor offers capacitance values up to 220 farads (F) and higher in custom packs. The packs combine multiple capacitors for combinations of higher voltage ratings or capacitance values. The DLR series includes 14 values ranging in capacitance from 4 F to 220 F with voltage ratings from 2 WVdc to 2.5 WVdc."

Readers Say:
"These sound like the devices from Gould ionics I worked on over 30 years ago but much cheaper."
"Not bad for something AAA to C sized (roughly). The voltage is low (although I suppose I could series string a couple to get 5V at 1/2C). Better for backup than a battery."
"Very innovative product, it will help to improve reliability of microcontroller based products during brownout conditions."
"Very promising in solar applications."
"Good technology. Higher voltage versions would be very useful."

USABILITY RANK: 4

(5)
ENDICOTT INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGIES
Interconnects eliminate plated-through-holes

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Endicott Interconnect Technologies says having to drill plated-through-holes (PTHs) to make signal connections with printed-circuit-boards (PCBs) may become a thing of the past thanks to its HPC-Z interconnections that provide signal connections only where required, with functional isolation for single or double side surface-mount partitions."

Readers Say:
" "Sounds good but more information required, at least some photos would help."

USABILITY RANK: 8

(6)
KNOWLES ACOUSTICS
MEMS sensor detects/receives ultrasonic sound in air

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: " Knowles Acoustics introduces an ultrasonic acoustic sensor (UAS) to detect/receive ultrasonic sound in air. The UAS uses the latest micro-electromechanical (MEMS) technology to provide a robust mechanical device that performs over a wide environmental range."

Readers Say:
"Back when TV remotes were ultrasonic and not infra red, I would have killed for this. Should still find some good apps."
"Very good product."
"The upper frequency was expected to be above 150kHz."

USABILITY RANK: 10

(7)
TECATE INDUSTRIES
Ultracapacitors target handheld devices

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Tecate Industries has expanded the 2.7-V PowerBurst family of cylindrical, radial-leaded ultracapacitor cells, extending the capacitance value range from 0.5 F to 300 F. The PowerBurst ultracapacitors are comprised of the RoHS compliant TPL and TPLS series."

Readers Say:
No comments

USABILITY RANK: 9

(8)
MELEXIS
Hall-effect switch delivers low power consumption for mobile devices

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "Melexis has added a new device to its MLX90248 Omnipolar Micropower Hall-effect switch family. The MLX90248 uses CMOS technology to deliver a non-contact magnetic switch with microwatt power consumption. Typical applications include flip, slide and clamshell portable handsets; personal data assistants (PDAs) and personal entertainment devices."

Readers Say:
"Could have many apps."
"I worked on a project where this would have been great"
"Very good product, it will open door for developing new innovative applications"

USABILITY RANK: 7

(9)
OMNIVISION TECHNOLOGIES
Camera phone sensor incorporates image stabilization, MIPI

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says: "OmniVision Technologies, Inc. has launched the OV3640, which is said to be the first fully integrated 3-megapixel CameraChip sensor in a 1/4-inch format. Based on the company's recently announced 1.75-micron OmniPixel3 architecture, the OV3640 is small enough to fit the standard 8 x 8 mm sockets used in 2-megapixel camera phones, making it suitable as a drop-in upgrade for existing handset designs."

Readers Say:
"I'm a little sketchy on the anti-shake. Is this done "on-chip" - or can it drive an optical antishake element? The data-sheets did not help me with this."
"It seems like this product contributes to the developing of new features to capture high resolution images for small devices."
"We will evaluate this product on FPGA DSP platform."

USABILITY RANK: 5

(10)
CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR
Cypress develops two capacitive sensing methods for PSoC

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says: "Cypress Semiconductor Corp. introduced two sensing methods for its PSoC CapSense capacitive sensing products. The methods are provided in the PSoC Designer integrated development environment as user modules--CapSense Sigma-Delta Modulator (CSD) and CapSense Successive Approximation (CSA)."

Readers Say:
"Great product!"

USABILITY RANK: 3

In case you were wondering, here's how Ultimate Products works: Our editors select up to 10 of the most significant products posted at www.eeProductCenter.com during the calendar quarter. Then, using an electronic balloting process, we submit the products with the accompanying editorial reviews to selected, qualified readers. Those readers score the products by technical significance and
USABILITY on a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest score. The product ranked No. 1 in each category was judged as most technically significant for that category. Relative
USABILITY rankings and selected reader comments are also reported. More than 1,000 of you helped to choose these products. As always, we are grateful for your enthusiastic participation.

Patrick Mannion
Editor-in-Chief, Techonline Network and eeProductcenter.com
pmannion@cmp.com