How do you protect your products so counterfeiters cannot copy and sell an equivalent product for a lot less money? Counterfeit products – from complete motherboards, to battery packs, to servers – can cause all sorts of problems and tarnish a legitimate manufacturer's reputation.

In April 2009, Freescale announced its family of MC56F8006 processors, which according to the company will interest developers of motor-control and power-supply circuits.  Although not mentioned in the news release, that family includes the MC56F8002 DSC chip. 

Bill Schweber, a former magazine editor, suggested I read the book, "Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight," by David A. Mindell.  The book details the development of electronic controls used in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space-flight programs, with particular emphasis on the Apollo program.  Younger engineers might not remember the "space race" with the Soviet Union that created a vast and intense engineering effort to land a man on the Moon before the Soviets, but it was a palpable part of the "Cold War."