Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Troubleshooting audio Just in case I come across as knowing more than I really do, I had a heck of a problem yesterday. Cost me 3 hours of work and a lot of embarassment. I was all set to interview National Instruments' Todd Walter for my next Podcast when the microphone part of my headset (phoning over Skype, using Audio Hijack to make a digital recording) wouldn't work. Went out to buy another one after learning more about sound settings on the Mac than I ever wanted to. After doing a bunch of troubleshooting, the only thing I can figure is that the port for the microphone isn't working properly. The sound works (but quality is poor) with the Mac's internal built in mike. Tonight in Atlanta, I've got to find a Circuit City or Best Buy to buy a Logitech USB headset. There are NO USB headsets in all of Sidney, Ohio. One of the downsides of living in a small rural town. We'll hook up again soon, Todd. 8:52:25 AM    comment []

Travels I'm in Atlanta Hartsfield airport. WiFi via Boingo. I have an account, but I think they're dinging me the usual $9.95 for the day. No President's Club out here with free WiFi . I'm waiting on a colleague to arrive from Chicago then on to a busy couple of days listening to what's happening at a number of companies. Today, it's lunch with Alex at B&R Automation. Then from the world of control and automation to instrumentation as we visit Yokogawa. Next stop is with Maureen and Christine at . Doubt that I'll get any light on the acquisition bidding going on there, but if I do that'll be tonght's blog. Tomorrow, we'll see Siemens and AutomationDirect. Then I'll be hanging at the airport again tomorrow night. 5:45 am flight this morning; 9 pm flight out tomorrow night. Two long days. Sunday, I'm off to the ARC Forum in Orlando. I'm stopping by the ActivPlant Summit maybe Sunday evening and for sure Monday morning. The ARC Forum is Tuesday through Thursday. This event is getting amazing. I've already been invited to 5 press events plus asked for 3 or 4 additional meetings. Don't know if I'll have time to actually sit in the Forum. I hope the speakers have good slides! At any rate, there's more happening in Orlando that the last National Manufacturing Week and ISA Expo combined. If you're going to be in Orlando and want to meet up at breakfast time or just after the sessions, ping me or call 937.726.1798. Maybe we can get a serious automation group to meet around coffee one morning. 8:21:30 AM    comment []

Globalization dire straits Jim Pinto's latest newsletter is out. Jim just traveled to India and has been pondering what the impact of globalization will be on American manufacturing. With all the dire predictions that come from linear extrapolations of little pieces of bad publicity, Jim offers these optimistic points: Stop the gloom and doom; let me bring up some positive points. The 3 major drivers of the future economy are: 1. Global, competitive open markets. 2. The evolution from manufacturing and services to knowledge as the foundation for wealth creation. 3. The high rate of technological change. America is still a young country and will not only survive, but thrive, because of it's entrepreneurial spirit. This gives me an opportunity for my usual evangelistic soapbox speech--what are you doing to improve the lot of manufacturing in the US? 8:05:55 AM    comment []