A new IC from Fairchild can link I2C buses with different voltage swings. A data sheet and an application note explain how the device works and how to use it in a circuit.

Touch sensors might look complicated to design, but a new chip from Cypress Semiconductor should help engineers and product designers create touch controls to replace on/off switches or momentary-action pushbuttons. Design software simplifies creating the controls and specifying substrate materials.

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The five-chip family of timing and pulsing chips--TimerBlox--from Linear Technology lets engineers quickly design circuits to create pulses, modulate pulse widths, serve as one-shot (monostable) pulse sources, and create timing delays. The SOT23 packages and 12 dev boards from LTC make it easy to breadboard and experiment with these 6-pin ICs that generally need only one, two, or three external resistors.

Linear Technology had developed a technique that measures the impedance of power-supply connections and creates a proportional feedback signal that lets a switching regulator circuit overcome voltage drops between the supply and its load. The technique uses Virtual Remote Sensing, which the company uses in its LT 4180 chip.