Consumer articles

Growth of the Connected Home

The connected home is a rapidly emerging market and platform for products and innovations. Whether you call it the connected home, smart home or home automation, it is a hub of activity for connectivity and sensor solutions. While mainstream adoption may still be years away, we know this market is poised for growth. It representsRead More

The Evolution of Compression-Style Battery Connectors

For more than 20 years, modular industrial electronics have used many of the same reliable, ruggedized battery connectors that have been trusted throughout the consumer electronics industry. However, these devices are even more susceptible to host connector damage than modular consumer electronics. Now there’s a solution.   Electronic devices with removable battery modules designed to beRead More

Smart Home as a Service – Still a Work in Progress

The way smart home-enabled devices will be installed and will operate is still evolving, and the same is true for the connectors and cabling vendors that supply the industry.   The nearly 31,000 residents that call the Shanghai Culture Garden home live in the four-square-mile enclave surrounded by Parisian architecture and Paris-style shops, truly aRead More

What is SHaaS? And Why Should You Care?

A Comcast survey shows that homeowners want a smart home, but they want services, not a collection of connected devices. What do design engineers need to know about SHaaS when specifying interconnects for these systems?   In April 2016, Comcast released a report entitled, The Safe & Smart Home: Security in the Smart Home Era,Read More

M.2 Connectors for Sleek Smart Home Electronics

Due to the especially personal nature of homes, smart home electronics must be user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and as subtle as possible. The new M.2 connector is designed for use with a wider range of module widths and lengths, and especially smaller computer expansion cards that operate at faster transfer speeds.   Intelligent devices are explodingRead More

The Robots in Your Future

Today we see all types of robotic devices that do everything from vacuum your floors to clean up nuclear waste. Originally focused on industrial and hazardous applications, robots are now appearing in warehouses, hospitals, and even the home. The concept of automated devices that extend human capabilities has sparked the imagination of people for manyRead More

What’s Wrong with Apple?

Currency fluctuation and the cooling of China’s economy notwithstanding, Apple’s predicament is a reflection of tough times across the board in the mobile phone industry.   To industry pundits and casual observers, it came as a shock earlier this year when Apple projected that growth for its iPhone sales would hit the slowest pace since 2007,Read More

iPad Pro’s Smart Connector Changes How We Communicate

Once again, Apple is changing the way we communicate. The new Smart Connector, launched in the iPad Pro last November, utilizes two-way conductive communication that creates an instant connection.   Apple’s recently released iPad Pro is changing (once again) how we communicate. The built-in 12.9-inch Retina display is not the big news. The real excitementRead More

Top 10 Connector Suppliers in the Consumer Market

Out of the top 100 companies, Molex is the top supplier of connectors to the consumer market.   The worldwide demand for connectors in the consumer market was $2.9 billion in 2014. China and Asia Pacific consumed 68% of those connectors by dollar volume. China’s connector consumption was just slightly higher than Asia Pacific’s consumptionRead More

Emerging Technology: Human-Machine Interfaces

As the Internet of Things starts to take hold, how do people engage and interact with the plethora of new connected devices? ABI Research shares an infographic that maps out the significance of current trends in human-machine interface technology.   Machines and computing solutions are increasingly prevalent in our surroundings. People need to interact withRead More

Kycon Vertical-Mount Micro USB Type-B Connector

The Kycon vertical-mount micro USB Type-B connector expands the supplier’s USB series with a design solution for applications with limited board space.  Kycon has expanded its USB series with a vertical-mount micro USB Type-B connector to increase versatility. The vertical-mounting option offers a design solution for applications where board space is a concern. The KMMVX-SMT series comes standardRead More

Configurable Connectors in Mobile Electronics

Today’s market for mobile electronics requires both innovation and very rapid product development cycles. Configurable connectors in mobile electronics may be the answer.     Today’s market for mobile electronics products is fiercely competitive. Product success requires not only creativity and innovation but also an ability to execute very rapid product development cycles. In manyRead More

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