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.

You can manage large software projects, but you must learn how to apply a new "management" technique such as the Team Software Process (TSP) developed at Carniege-Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. Learn more about it and how to use it.

Two-way radio communications might seem obsolete in the world of Twitter, email, and WiFi hot spots. But in an emergency, you'll find volunteer ham-radio operators often provide equipment and non-commercial communications that save lives. The ham-radio community has grown since the FCC eliminated a Morse-code requirement and the amateur-radio service welcomes new members who have a variety of interests, from emergency preparedness and communications, to designing and building equipment. When all else fails, radio can get through.

Get a handle on Texas Instruments' MSP430 MCUs with the $4.30 Value Line kit. The small MCU--2 kbytes or flash and 128 bytes of RAM--will work well in alarms, game controls, sensors, small consumer devices, electronic locks, light control, and similar applications that don't require a lot of code.

The "community-supported" BeagleBoard project includes a new member, BeagleBoard-xM that uses a new Sitara ARM Cortex-A8 processor from Texas Instruments. TI also offers its own boards and kits, but at about 10 times the cost. The Cortex-A8 processor looks like a good one for high-end applications, so I dare not call it a microcontroller. Find out more about TI's latest Sitara chips and the new BeagleBoard-xM.