Worldwide Wired vs. Wireless Broadband Connectivity

Scientific American consistently has some of the best graphs and illustrations of any technical magazine, but this new one from IEEE Spectrum that displays broadband data connectivity for wired vs. wireless is right up there in quality IMHO. What distinguishes a good chart from a bad chart? Assuming that all pertinent data is presented, the most important feature is eye catchiness. If an audience is not attracted to your information, you have wasted time. Sure, science purists will argue that a B&W line graph is all that is required to convey important results, but in today's world expectations are higher than, say, in 1879 when Thomas Edison might have been giving a lecture on the performance of various compositions of lamp filaments. Cluttering a chart with superfluous information such as background photos is not only unnecessary but potentially damaging; however, judicial use of color, line styles, and font faces can make the difference between success and failure.

Posted April 2013

Temwell Custom RF Filters - RF Cafe Website

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...