Following my retirement, we have closed our company for new business.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly, our email portal remains open and I would be delighted to hear from you and provide ongoing support or advice.

Richard Thomson

support@rta-instruments.com

Companies represented up to the end of December 2023. Please now contact them directly.

k-Space Associates, Inc.
Phone: +1 (734) 426-7977
requestinfo@k-space.com
https://www.k-space.com

STAIB INSTRUMENTS GmbH
Phone: +49 8761 76 24 0
sales@staibinstruments.com
https://www.staibinstruments.com/

Friday 22 May 2015

Smartwatch Uptick in Mobile Slump

A forecaster predicts that over the next five year that smartwatches could rise to annual sales of 300 to 400 million units.

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Are Apps good for us?

Health apps and wearables make you nervous, not fit, say boffins. Humanity is wasting its time on monitoring life rather than living.

Monday 18 May 2015

Intel's 10nm Secrets Predicted

Another forecaster suggests that Intel will use InGaAs quantum well FETs in its 10 nm process.

Friday 15 May 2015

Dutch on a spurt?

Is natural selection making Dutch people the tallest in the world? Dutch people are the tallest on Earth. A study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests that their height could be the result of natural selection favouring a towering stature.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Amazing Hubble

It was a much different time when the Hubble Space Telescope took off aboard the space shuttle Discovery on this day in 1990. But much like how we've ditched our Umbros for Under Armour and traded our slap bracelets for Apple Watches, Hubble has come a long way since then.

Monday 11 May 2015

Stand for attention

Want kids to pay attention in class? For years, teachers have been searching for ways to get students to be more attentive in class. Maybe the answer is standing desks?

Friday 8 May 2015

Fast frozen food

Formula One's cutting-edge aerodynamic technology is moving into the supermarket chill cabinet. Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the Formula One team, said on Friday they had partnered with start-up Aerofoil Energy to develop a device that will save money and energy by keeping more cold air inside open-fronted refrigerators.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Peel that Apple

Time flies: it's been eight months since Apple announced its (digital) crowning achievement, the Apple Watch. Join us as we make time stand still by tearing down the Apple Watch—and see what makes it tick.

Monday 4 May 2015

World Happiness Report

The world has come a long way since the first World Happiness Report launched in 2012. Increasingly happiness is considered a proper measure of social progress and goal of public policy.

Friday 1 May 2015

Long term data storage

How should one store data for the long term? With, for example, optical media deteriorating over 15 years, magnetic storage losing polarity over decades, cloud services going out of business and the inevitable changes in technology, it is not surprising that retaining information and cherished memories for future generations is greatly discussed. I am no IT expert and merely note the accepted wisdom of making sure that data is backed up in different methods and different formats, coupled with this being an iterative process over time to avoid obsolescence issues. However last month I visited Lincoln Castle and saw their 1215 copy of the Magna Carta. Eight hundred years old and perfectly legible (in Latin), could this example of long term storage be of assistance? Calf vellum and oak gall ink being the storage media. For those interested in taking this further, to make vellum first catch your animal, to make oak gall ink first plant an acorn.