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PRODUCT SHOWCASE Hong Kong Electronics Show bounces back from SARS In spite of the big setback from SARS earlier in the year, Hong Kong has bounced back in a big way to host a very successful electronics trade fair, show-casing products from mainland China and the rest of the world. Even though the Hong Kong Lighting Fair had been split off into a show of its own, the 2003 electronics trade fair was bigger than last year with 1950 exhibitors and 48,291 buyers. If that was not enough, the atmosphere of optimism was boosted even further by the announcement of the CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement). This is a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and China which represents a significant market liberalisation and preferential access to China’s market for all companies incorporated and operating in Hong Kong. No doubt Hong Kong (Kowloon), presently the world’s second biggest harbour and container terminal, is set to see enormous growth in years to come. While a great deal of the show was devoted to domestic electrical and electronic equipment, there was an astonishing range of electronic equipment of all types, as well as a very diverse range of semiconductor and passive Fujifilm’s USB ‘Thumb’ Drive Fujifilm has introduced the xD Picture Card USB ‘Thumb’ drive – an ultra compact USB card reader that can be used exclusively with the xD Picture Card which comes as an accessory with every Fujifilm FinePix digital camera. The $59.95 (rrp inc GST) pocket-sized USB card reader inserts directly into a personal computer’s USB slot enabling images to be easily saved on a PC without any major procedures. It eliminates the need to connect your entire camera to a computer – instead it allows you to use the card as if it were part of your computer. In addition to capturing photos, the xD Picture Card can also store presentations, reports or any other documents which can then be conveniently uploaded to a computer. www.siliconchip.com.au electronic componentry. Some of the interesting new stuff included organic LED displays (See SILICON CHIP, August 2003), all sorts of digital cameras, MP3 players, USB storage and peripheral items, 2.4GHz video/audio links and a wide range of mobile phone and Bluetooth accessories. As was the case in 2002, Hong Kong never fails to impress with the vitality of its people and its economy and the general impression that everything is possible and “will be done”. STEPDOWN TRANSFORMERS The drive is compatible with all Fujifilm xD Picture Cards currently available, ranging in size from 16MB up to 512MB. No driver software is required for Win ME, 2000, XP or Macintosh systems. Driver software for Win 98 or 98SE can be downloaded from the Fujifilm Worldwide Website at www. fujifilm.com 60VA to 3KVA encased toroids Contact: Hanimex 114 Old Pittwater Rd, Brookvale NSW 2100 Tel: 02 9466 2600 Fax: 02 9938 1975 Website: www.hanimex.com.au Harbuch Electronics Pty Ltd 9/40 Leighton Pl. HORNSBY 2077 Ph (02) 9476-5854 Fx (02) 9476-3231 December 2003  53 AV Switching Unit for Home Theatre With so many AV sources these days – DVD players, VCRs, game consoles, satellite receivers and so, what happens if you run out of AV inputs on your TV or Home Theatre system? You’re faced with two options – the expense of buying another unit that can handle more inputs or be constantly forced to pull cables in and out of equipment which is not only an inconvenience but over time it can damage plugs and leads. The new A-3070 remote control switcher from Altronics could be a simple inexpensive solution. It can add 3 more inputs to your system and let you to switch between them (via remote or front panel). It features input connections for connectors for SVHS, optical and RCA making it suitable for most common connections in modern hi-fi and home theatre systems. The A-03070 is not only versatile for hi-fi installs it could also be used to connect security cameras to your television. It’s a cheap and effective way of installing your own video surveillance. The A-3070 has an RRP of $149 and is available from Altronics directly or one of their dealers around the country. Contact: Altronic Distributors Tel: 1300 797 007 Website: www.altronics.com.au Disaster Recovery from PowerQuest Many small businesses lack the enterprise-class machine room environments and expensive robotic tape libraries which are viewed as essential to best-in-class data protection. Others may have small IT budgets or have implemented backup solutions that may not provide sufficient protection. Because of this, small businesses are at risk of critical system outages and data loss PowerQuest Corporation, a global provider of deployment and recovery solutions, announces PowerQuest V2i Protector 2.0 Small Business Edition, the latest version of its popular diskbased backup and disaster recovery solution for Windows servers. V2i Protector 2.0 Small Business Edition creates compressed backup images of a server’s volumes—including operating system, server settings and preferences—that can be used to restore system and data volumes, or individual files and folders, in minutes, as opposed to the hours it can take using traditional backup methods. Windows NT, 2000, 2003 and Small Business Server are supported, giving small to medium-size businesses an easy-to-use and more affordable 54  Silicon Chip solution to automate system and data protection. Backup images can be saved directly to any network storage device such as a RAID array, NAS or SAN. It can also mount backup image files as read-only network or workstation drives that can be shared to other network users. Contact: PowerQuest Australia Level 67, MLC Centre Martin Place Sydney, NSW 2000 Tel: 02 9521 6466 Fax 02 9521 6995 Website: www.powerquest.com Classic “Eddystone” die-cast cases World-famous “Eddystone” die-cast cases are now being marketed in Australia by Hammond Electronics, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of small die-cast aluminium and plastic enclosures. Probably one of the best known brands in the small enclosure sector, the Eddystone range consists of nine sizes of thin wall, shallow lid, general purpose die-cast aluminium enclosures and a further five variants fitted with a deep lid. Hammond’s Australian operation is a manufacturer in its own right and has introduced a further three Australian-designed and manufactured cases to complement the original 14-strong family. The new sizes are 50 x 50 x 21, 92 x 92 x 38 and 125 x 125 x 53mm. Contact: Hammond Electronics GPO Box 812, Adelaide, SA 5001 Tel: 08 0825 0744 Fax (08) 9356 3652 Website: www.hammondmfg.com A PC for $39? No, it’s not a misprint! You can buy a real, live, operational PC for just $39.00 from Oatley Electronics. You get a full 366MHz Celeron computer system with just about everything you need except memory, hard disk and a case. It even has a dual redundant power supply, a CD-ROM drive and a Sound Blaster Vibra 16X sound card. Most of those on their own would cost you more than $39! OK, so they’re not brand new – Oatley describe them as “hardly used” – but waddya expect for under forty bucks? Needless to say, with no hard disk there is no operating system or drivers. And they’re while stocks last! Contact: Oatley Electronics Tel: 02 9584 3563 Fax: 02 9584 3561 Website: www.oatleyelectronics.com www.siliconchip.com.au SILICON CHIP WebLINK How many times have you wanted to access a company’s website but cannot remember their site name? Here's an exciting new concept from SILICON CHIP: you can access any of these organisations instantly by going to the SILICON CHIP website (www.siliconchip.com.au), clicking on WebLINK and then on the website graphic of the company you’re looking for. It’s that simple. No longer do you have to wade through search engines or look through pages of indexes – just point’n’click and the site you want will open! Your company or business can be a part of SILICON CHIP’s WebLINK . For one low rate you receive a printed entry each month on the SILICON CHIP WebLINK page with your home page graphic, company name, phone, fax and site details plus up to 50 words of description– and this is repeated on the WebLINK page on the SILICON CHIP website with the link of your choice active. Get those extra hits on your site from the right people in the electronics industry – the people who make decisions to buy your products. Call SILICON CHIP today on (02) 9979 5644 Our website is updated daily, with over 5,500 products available through our secure online ordering facility. Features include semiconductor data sheets, media releases, software downloads, and much more JAYCAR JAYCAR ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS Tel: Tel: 1800 1800 022 022 888 888 WebLINK: www.jaycar.com.au WebLINK: www.jaycar.com.au BitScope is an Open Design Digital OscillosBitScope is an Open Design Digital Oscillos-cope cope andAnalyser. Logic Analyser. PC software drives and Logic PC software drives BitScope BitScope via USB, Ethernet or RS232 to via USB, Ethernet or RS232 to create a powerful createInstrument. a powerful BitScope Virtual Instrument. Virtual is availableBitScope built and is available tested ortechnical in kit form. tested or in kit built form.and Exten-sive details Extensive details are available on the are availabletechnical on the website. Great for hobbyists, website.university Great for labs hobbyists, university and industry. labs and industry. BitScope Designs Contact: sales<at>bitscope.com Contact: sales<at>bitscope.com WebLINK: bitscope.com WebLINK: bitscope.com A 100% Australian owned company supplying frequency control products to the highest international standards: filters, DIL’s, voltage, temperature compensated and oven controlled oscillators, monolithic and discrete filters and ceramic filters and resonators. Hy-Q International Pty Ltd Tel:(03) 9562-8222 Fax: (03) 9562 9009 WebLINK: www.hy-q.com.au JED designs and manufactures a range of single board computers (based on Wilke Tiger and Atmel AVR), as well as LCD displays and analog and digital I/O for PCs and controllers. JED also makes a PC PROM programmer and RS232/RS485 converters. Jed Microprocessors Pty Ltd Tel: (03) 9762 3588 Fax: (03) 9762 5499 WebLINK: jedmicro.com.au · Hifi upgrades & modification products - jitter reduction and output stage improvement. · Danish high-end hifi kits - including pre- amps, phono, power amps & accessories. · Speaker drivers including Danish Flex Units plus a range of accessories. Soundlabs Group Syd: (02) 9660-1228 Melb: (03) 9859-0388 WebLINK: soundlabsgroup.com.au International satellite TV reception in your home is now affordable. Send for your free info pack containing equipment catalog, satellite lists, etc or call for appointment to view. We can display all satellites from 76.5° to 180°. Av-COMM Pty Ltd Tel:(02) 9939 4377 Fax: (02) 9939 4376 Tel:(02) WebLINK: avcomm.com.au WebLINK: avcomm.com.au We specialise in providing a range of Low Power Radio solutions for OEM’s to incorporate in their wireless technology based products. The innovative range includes products from Radiometrix, the World’s leading manufacturer. TeleLink Communications Tel:(07) 4934 0413 Fax: (07) 4934 0311 WebLINK: telelink.com.au “World Class” Power Amplifier : g h n i ont m o C tM Nex Following the outstanding success of our SC480 power amplifier module published in January & February 2003, we’ve taken some of the lessons learned there and from our Ultra-LD series and applied them to a much bigger power amplifier which pushes the performance boundaries to new limits. New high voltage low noise transistors make it incredibly quiet, while the eight 250V 200W plastic power transistors allow it to deliver 200 watts into 8 ohms and 350 watts into 4 ohms. Music power is even more impressive: 240 watts into 8 ohms and a massive 480 watts into 4 ohms. www.siliconchip.com.au We’ve also used the best available driver transistors and PC board distortion-cancelling topology to obtain a world-class distortion performance which is easily reproducible, just by following the wiring layout diagrams. In terms of performance per dollar (bang for your bucks), this has to be one of our best ever amplifier modules. Don’t miss this issue, on sale late December. December 2003  55