Biking for electricity!
If you’re a sports fan, you’ve doubtless seen those commercials on ESPN.  A sportscaster is trying to work in his little cubicle, but the overhead light flickers.  He gets up, walks down the corridor, opens a door marked Generator Room, and inside is bicyclist Lance Armstrong, taking a break.  “What’s up?” says the sportscaster. Armstrong apologizes quickly and starts pedaling again.
Last year, the TV series Bones gave a similar example, when a “green enthusiast” offered to make the two main characters a fruit smoothie.  He places the ingredients …

Orange County Business Journal Staff
TTM Technologies Inc., a maker of circuit boards for networking gear and the military, is set to close two California factories and move some of the work to its headquarters in Santa Ana.
TTM said after the close of trading on Tuesday that it’s set to close its Hayward and Los Angeles facilities “due to continued weak demand in North America for commercial printed circuit boards and backplane products.”
The move is expected to save about $14 million per year, the company said.
The circuit board manufacturing that was …

The Rush a power adder can add to your internal combustion engine can be a fulfilling and fun experience. The surge of supercharged horsepower or the instant torque of a nitrous hit is sure to put a smile on any gearhead’s face, so long as the sound of said power isn’t accompanied by detonation or misfiring. To make sure that doesn’t happen with our little black, nitrous-sniffing notchback, we called MSD to upgrade our stock ignition system with high-performance components that are sure to light the fire when the cylinder …

Latest Ratings of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs That Look Good and Save Money
YONKERS, N.Y., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Most homes waste energy which costs homeowners plenty, but a new report in the latest issue of Consumer Reports lays out four strategies that together can cut energy bills by $1,500. The cover story of the October issue of Consumer Reports examines ways homeowners can take their home’s energy efficiency to the next level through more-efficient product upgrades and additions as well as simple, low-cost and even no-cost upgrades and actions.
“Some of …

Lines company Transpower New Zealand will be using low-flying helicopters for maintenance work on the power network this week.
Grid performance general manager David Brewer said technicians would use thermal imaging to identify “hotspots” on the national grid.
“Auckland residents should be aware that a helicopter will be flying – in some cases quite low – along the transmission lines in the area and there is no cause for alarm.”
Information collected would help to ensure the integrity of the transmission line, Mr Brewer said.
“These types of programmes allow preventative measures to be …

The worst may be over for the connector industry as connector suppliers report orders are picking up after months of weak demand, plant closings and layoffs.
For buyers, price erosion remains at the industry’s average of 3-5%. Although leadtimes are stable in the six-to-eight-week range, buyers can expect leadtimes to stretch for some connectors as demand starts to slowly increase and suppliers re-adjust their inventory levels.
“It’s been a difficult period of time starting in October 2008. We’ve had nine months of this disaster and that’s plenty of time for companies to …

Zuken, a Japanese electrical and electronic engineering company, announced that it has improved the development process and modelling of new chip sets as well as dedicated high-density interconnect (HDI) for its high-speed design software: CR-5000 Lightning for Power Integrity Analysis.
Zuken’s project is part of MEDEA+, a programme supported by the EUREKA network that promotes advanced cooperative research and development in microelectronics. During the three-year duration of the project, Zuken worked with a number of integrated circuit (IC) vendors and automotive electronic suppliers to successfully develop and improve modelling capabilities for …

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
What we are buying — and not buying — says a lot about how consumers are feeling these days.
It also says a lot about the American economy, considering that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of all U.S. economic activity. Every time we go out to lunch, buy a new sweater or pick up a DVD, we are contributing to the retail sector, the biggest sector in the economy.
Recently, companies from Home Depot to Saks reported results for their latest quarters. Some were strong, some were weak. All …

Analysts at Buckingham upgraded Ford shares to strong buy from accumulate last week, adding that they expect the automaker to report a small third-quarter profit.
The Wall Street consensus is that Ford will lose money in the quarter.
Buckingham also sees the stock price hitting $12 within the next 12 months, and believes there’s a slim chance of Ford issuing more stock ahead of its third-quarter results.
With limited inventory and strong demand from the “Cash for Clunkers” program, “Ford was able to materially reduce incentive spending during the third quarter, which should …

To help stimulate the recovery of the local economy and improve county government revenue, the state Legislature should allow the Salt Lake County Council and Mayor Peter Corroon to eliminate or defer for perhaps 10 years any property tax increase that people would otherwise owe from doing home remodeling or expansion projects that are begun in the next year.
This would help put unemployed contractors and tradesmen back to work and increase sales of building materials and appliances. The increased economic activity may offset any small decrease in direct property tax …