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Offers a look at the history of electronic videorecording (EVR), the predecessor of the videocassette recorder (VCR). Design of the early EVR; How the device works; Operation of the recording system.

Highlights the speech given by Hubert Heffner, then deputy of the Office of Science and Technology, at the 1970 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Solid State Circuits Conference on federal budget for scientific research. Backdrop of the speech; Possible rationales for federal expenditures; Government's role in ensuring innovation.

Addresses the problem of air terminal traffic and the steps taken by the United States Federal Aviation Administration to resolve the issue. Report on the number of midair accidents; Strategy developed by the FAA; Other FAA changes.

Deals with the Honors Cooperative Program (HCP) in California in the 1960s wherein students participants were allowed to work while earning their degrees. Details on the article `The Stanford instructional television network'; Problems encountered by the program.

Discusses the early ballistic missile defense systems in the United States (US), based on the article `Ballistic-missile defense radars,' by Charles M. Johnson, which appeared in the March 1970 issue of `IEEE Spectrum.' Desired characteristics of the system; Two types of missiles that the US relied on 1970; Range of cost of each perimeter acquisition and missile site radar.

Reports on the reaction of environmental groups on the prototype hybrid electric vehicles from Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corporation. Comments from Dan Becker, director of Sierra Club; Response of a Ford spokesman on the environmental groups' reaction; View of the Sierra Club on the gasoline-powered Honda Insight vehicle.

Discusses the need to bring more minorities and women into the field of engineering in the United States. Program set up by Darmouth College to introduce them to the field of engineering; Experience of the four Dartmouth College undergraduates who took classes in engineering degrees.

Evaluates the Honda Insight, a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle developed by American Honda Motor Co. Innovation offered by the automobile; Primary component of the vehicle; Rating earned by the multi-port fuel-injection engine of the vehicle; Emission minimizer of the automobile. INSET: Lithium batteries knock at the door.

Focuses on the benefit offered by space exploration. History of technology that was received by the public positively; How pioneers of airplanes promote the benefit of their discovery; Information on the launching of Supersonic flight and satellite.

Focuses on the proposed automation of the main highways in the United States to curb the number of automobile accidents and eliminate traffic jams. Increasing fatalities caused by traffic accidents; Other proposals for improving the traffic condition; Evolution of automatic control in automobiles.

Explores the effects of the introduction of electrotechnology into artistic media, according to an article in April 1969 by Nilo Lindgren. Sculpture as an example of an art that used engineering expertise; Possible impetus for relationship between artists and engineers.

Presents news briefs on technology in the United States. Court ruling on New York electric vehicle (EV) plan; Completion of EV; Information on the winning entry in the 10th annual American Tour de Sol Electric Vehicle Championship.

Presents electrical and electronics engineering products. Description of active and passive heat sinks from Aavid Thermal Products Incorporated; Web site of Dranetz-BMI for its power-quality monitoring and analysis products; Functions of temperature-compensated crystal oscillators from Ralton Electronics Corporation.

Evaluates Version 4.1 of DADiSP for Windows 95/NT. Enhancements to its Serial Processing Language; Functions; Features; Price.

Reveals that Sir Charles Wheatstone did not invent the famous Wheatstone Bridge. Inventor of the bridge; Why the bridge circuit formation was associated with Wheatstone; Practical devices invented by Wheatstone.

Presents the Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) introduced by Toyota Motor Corp. Features of the vehicle; Total vehicle weight; Capabilities of Prius' permanent magnet motor.

Looks at the relevance of the articles of Daniel V. De Simone and William G. Shepherd written in 1968 on educating engineering students for the profession. Opinion of Shepherd on what an ideal engineer should be; Concurrence between Shepherd and Simone; Accuracy of the prediction made on the use of computers in engineering; Three categories of engineers in Shepherd's plan.

Introduces the 9314CL oscilloscopes from LeCroy Corp. Features of the product; Specification of the oscilloscope; Price range for the oscilloscope.

Discusses the article titled `World War II: Electronics and the U.S. Navy,' by Gordon D. Friedlander which was featured in the December 1967 issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Spectrum. Claim that served as the opening statement and central theme of the article.

Presents various electronic apparatus and products. VSC7136 transmitter-receiver from Vitesse Semiconductor Corp.; T510 series electrolytic capacitors from Kemet Electronics Corp.; Model 5400 digital multimeter series from B+K Precision Inc.

Introduces the peripheral component interconnect (PCI)/C6200 computer motherboard from Loughborough Sound Images Co. Microprocessor used in the board; Features of C6200; Price of the product.

Introduces the Hall-effect sensors developed by Bell Technologies Inc. Features of the sensors; Its applications; Price of the product.

Presents the calculator collector's guide book `The Complete Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators,' by Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm and a baseball clock. Topics included in the book; Other product listings included; Information on the Radar Ball from Rawlings Sporting Goods Co.; Features of the Radar Ball; Prices.

Provides information on Hewlett-Packard's HP 5DX Series II Process Test and Inspection System which enables manufacturers to test printed-circuit boards assemblies. Features of the system; Why the effect of the X-rays on human operators is negligible, according to HP; Price of the HP 5DX Series II system; Three models of the system.

Provides information on MPEG-2 transport stream analyzer program from Manzanita Systems that enables broadcast system providers and equipment developers to verify whether the bit-streams comply with the compression and data stream specifications. Description and capabilities of MPEG-2 system; Complexity of the system; Availability of the program.

Reports that Bourns Inc. has added a thick-film passive resistor-capacitance (R-C) networks to its MiniNet line of tantalum-nitride-on-silicon thin-film resistor networks. Packages offered by the R-C networks; Three capacitor dielectric materials used by the R-C circuits; Price of the MiniNet R-C networks.

The article offers information on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) International Solid-State Circuits Conference to be held in San Francisco, California in February 2011.

The article discusses the history and impact of the flat-panel or liquid crystal display (LCD) television, which is an honorable mention in the "IEEE Spectrum" magazine's top 11 technologies of the decade for 2000s.

The article discusses the history of the MP3 music format, which is an honorable mention in the "IEEE Spectrum" magazine's top 11 technologies of the decade for 2000s.

The article discusses the possible use of plastic for newspapers in 2020 and mentions the history and commercial application of electrophoresis.

The article evaluates the 4-by-4-by-1-millimeter gyroscope from STMicroelectronics NV.

The article features the new trains manufactured by Siemens that can generate electricity while braking and transfer that power to other trains. According to the report, the new trains will be installed in Oslo, Norway, as part of their drive to reduce carbon footprints within the city. Trains developed by Siemens was said to be 30 percent more energy efficient than the best cars currently in service in Oslo, as of September 2007. It states that when a train's operator applies the brakes, the four 140-kilowatt, 750-volt dc electric motors are engaged as generators that uses the kinetic energy of the turning wheels to send current back into the metro's power grid.

The article reports on the closure of several engineering courses at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to a television report, the University's class of 2007 will be the last students to earn degrees in computer science, electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. The remaining engineering courses, such as chemical and biomedical engineering, were included into a conglomeration called the "School of Science and Engineering." The school administration say that the removal of the courses is part of the University's initiative to recover from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. However, many alumni were disappointed about the University's action and they felt that the title of the conglomeration is spurious.

The article offers information on smart parking technologies. It is noted that these new technologies are aiding municipalities meet their aims of gathering revenue for city services and dissuading a small number of cars from monopolizing a limited volume of parking spots. In St. Petersburg, Florida, 40 solar-powered smart meters made by St. Bruno, Quebec-based Cale Systems were installed. Other parking schemes employ wireless communications to enable drivers pay for parking in advance, reserve a space, or add additional parking time.

The article focuses on the SkyStream 3.7, a 1.8 kilowatt residential wind turbine from Southwest Wind Power in the U.S. The tiny wind power plant is the first device to be spun out from the Wind Energy Program of the Department of Energy. According to the company, SkyStream Unit will produce almost 100,000 kilowatt per hour of power during its 20-year design span. The unit is specially designed to be a self-contained appliance. Also, small wind rotors of the SkyStream is close to the efficiencies achieved by large wind turbines, with around 41 percent efficiency.

The article offers world news briefs. Researchers from the University of California in Berkeley introduces its artificial compound eye with multiple hexagonal lenses while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has launched satellites Cloudsat and Calipso. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. has been separated with its corporate partners, Volkswagen and General Motors.

This article reports on the decision of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to eliminate a rule that required the regional Bell operating companies to make their still-developing broadband networks available to rivals at discounted prices. Reversing a longtime stance, the commission no longer maintains that offering customers broadband services on attractive terms requires there to be competing providers of digital subscriber line (DSL) service. The Baby Bells had complained that having to open their networks to DSL rivals at prices set to guarantee the commercial viability of the competitors.

Reports global developments related to high technology industries. Move of Verizon Communications Inc. to extend the coverage of its broadband wireless network to the U.S. largest metropolitan areas; Release of a prototype personal computer optimized for use in developing countries by Intel Corp.; Creation of a credit card-size battery powered by urine by researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

This article focuses on the efforts of Airbus Industrie SA to compete with Boeing Co. with its introduction of its A380 superjumbo jet at the Paris Air Show in Paris, France. The A380 superjumbo jet introduced by Airbus captured great attraction during the show. The massive plane is designed to carry 555 to 800 passengers. The introduction of the plane is intended to displace the Boeing 747 as the world's long-haul carrier of choice.

The article focuses on a snakelike mechanical device called the OmniTread constructed as a reconnaissance machine created by researchers at the University of Michigan's Mobile Robotics lab in Ann Arbor. The machine is capable of walking down stairs, climbing drainpipes, rolling over rough terrain and performing search and rescue missions. The robot has five segments covered in treads enabling it to climb many obstacles including trenches. The system is operated by remote control systems using a tether for both power and commands.

The article discusses the efforts of the U.S. National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) in establishing a incentive program designed to encourage aspects of space exploration other than suborbital flights. The Centennial Challenges Program plans to give a cash award in 2005 to the winners of two challenges. The first challenge involves making a lightweight material suitable for ropelike tethers. The other awards a method for transmitting power without using wires. NASA plans to add challenges involving developers of explorer robots, lunar vehicles and other technologies for 2006.

Reports on head of Stanford University's cardiovascular biomechanics research laboratory, Charles Taylor's development of a three-dimensional digital simulation of the human cardiovascular system, called Aspire.

Reports on record companies' filing of a lawsuit against Gertrude Walton, a woman who died in 2004, for illegally swapping music files.

The article discusses the invention of Aaron Goldin, called Autonomous Gyroscopic Ocean-Wave-Powered Generator, a wave-power device. The invention won Goldin a grand prize in the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. When wave motion causes the buoy in which the device is encased to roll, gyroscopic precession causes the disk in the gyroscope to rotate. The disk turns a crank on a generator, which delivers about 3 watts of power. Goldin points out that, unlike several other wave-power devices being tested, his requires no hydraulics or other intermediate system to transfer power to the generator. Goldin retained a patent lawyer and will spend try to build another prototype.

This article reports on the rejection of the agency's interpretation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by the D. C. Circuit Court regarding an esoteric dividing line between telecommunication services and data services. The court ruled that cable companies had to share the lines going into their subscribers' homes with competing Internet service providers and long-distance companies, just as the local carriers had been forced to do earlier, by the FCC. According to Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican FCC commissioner during the Clinton administration and now a consultant in Washington, the telecommunication industry may pay a price for the courtroom success of companies whose business interests put them at odds with FCC rulings.

This article reports that researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, have found a way to make plastic out of orange peels rather than petroleum, in a way that consumes carbon dioxide rather than adding more of the greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.

Presents the poem "B.A.M. B.A.M. B.A.M.: Who There?," by Willie D. Williams. First Line: manpoem, shadows friend, new North Star nighter; Last Line: backing us forward toward a black future.

This article reports that software engineer Jason Smathers' plea of guilty to facilitating spam was rejected by a judge.