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SILICON
SILIC
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Editor
Nicholas Vinen
Technical Editor
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Technical Staff
Ross Tester
Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc
Bao Smith, B.Sc
Photography
Ross Tester
Reader Services
Ann Morris
Advertising Enquiries
Glyn Smith
Phone (02) 9939 3295
Mobile 0431 792 293
glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au
Regular Contributors
Brendan Akhurst
David Maddison B.App.Sc. (Hons 1),
PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov.
Kevin Poulter
Dave Thompson
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2 Silicon Chip
Publisher’s Letter
Where does innovation come from?
This question comes about because of a story written
by Dave Thompson in this month’s Serviceman’s Log.
Normally his stories are a quirky mixture of electronic
detective work combined with tragic-comedy as he copes
with the vicissitudes of working in a quake-affected environment.
He usually manages to sort out faults, source the wanted components for repairs and still manages to maintain
a good humour in spite of everything.
Having visited New Zealand over the Christmas period I have to record my
admiration of that country’s achievement in managing quite good economic
performance over the years since the devastating earthquake in Christchurch in
2011. This comes from a country which is not generously endowed with natural
resources and whose population has had to cope with lots of earthquakes in the
aftermath of the 2011 event.
The contrast of New Zealand’s economic record with Australia’s is even more
stark when you consider our enormous natural resources and our vast export
incomes.
But Dave Thompson’s Serviceman story this month was somewhat out of the
ordinary. Instead of being about an electronic repair it is about his search for a
solution to snoring. This problem probably affects the majority of the population
as they age. It certainly affects the sleep patterns of the snorer and their unfortunate partner and it ultimately can lead to early death if nothing is done about it.
Around the world huge amounts of money are spent on sleep research and
it must be said that the various treatments are not simple, inexpensive or even
particularly effective.
So in the face of that enormous research effort, what chance would Dave
Thompson have of coming up with any solution at all? The result may surprise
you because it certainly surprised me. And millions of dollars were not spent!
Dave just applied some kiwi ingenuity.
As detailed in Dave Thompson’s story on page 58 of this issue, his solution is
a simple VOX circuit which detects the incidence of snoring and then vibrates
the snorer’s pillow to stop him – face it, it’s usually a male. I won’t give you
the full details – read the story for yourself. In fact, readers can do their own
experimenting with the idea using a standard SILICON CHIP VOX circuit and PCB.
What gets me about this story is that Dave came to his solution in a relatively
straightforward way. He wondered whether a VOX circuit might work, tried it
out, did a few mods, lashed up a working prototype and there you are. Incredible. And maybe it may not prove to be the most effective solution but it sure is
worth more development.
So congratulations, Dave.
Now I’m not saying that Dave is a genius (well, maybe he is!) but how is it that
he came up with a simple solution using such a direct approach? What are all
these other researchers doing? Or have such approaches been used in the past
and found wanting? That seems unlikely.
More to the point, given that we have huge resources these days in the form
of almost magical electronic components, enormous databases of info on every
subject available at any time from computers and smartphones, where are all
the younger people with their supposedly more agile brains which are open to
all sorts of new ideas?
What are they doing? By comparison, Dave is an “old dude”.
I haven’t heard of too many breakthrough ideas from all the smart young folk
(apart from millions of useless smartphone apps). Or don’t they know enough
about science in order to have useful ideas?
Leo Simpson
siliconchip.com.au
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