July 27, 2006

Continued strength in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market for packaging machinery, industrial PCs, and ac and dc-motor drives is the order of the day, reports market research firm IMS Research, Wellingborough, U.K.

When a U.S. intelligencegathering-aircraft was involved in a midair collision off the coast of China four years ago, the crew couldn't erase sensitive information from magneticdata-storage systems before making an emergency landing in Chinese territory.

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) expects packaging machinery sales in the U.S. will grow 3% this year, to an estimated $5.854 billion.

Exports of portable power generators from China shot up 60% last year, to USD 1.5 billion.

Inspired by the strange motion of the basilisk lizard, Carnegie Mellon University mechanical engineers have built a robot that can sprint across land and water with equal aplomb.

A recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that as many as 10,000 fatal automobile crashes could be prevented if all vehicles carried electronic stability control (ESC).

The U.S. Navy's Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Div. of Commander, Navy Installations Command, is testing hybrid-lithium vehicles from Hybrid Technologies Inc., Las Vegas.

The retractable roof of the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals new arena in Glendale, Ariz., can be closed to air condition the facility or opened in cooler weather.

Sure-Grip International (formerly Sure-Grip Skate Co.), South Gate, Calif., is the last of the large skate manufacturers to produce its products entirely in the U.S.

Metalforming companies expect business conditions to continue to trend downward during the next three months, according to the June 1, 2006 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report.