Boulder outfit breaks in new gear
Keeping electronic devices free from defects is the mission of a small Boulder company.
The eight engineers at Percept Technology Labs run myriad failure-analysis tests on products ranging from cellphones to toy helicopters.
Most of the company’s analyses are done before a product hits the market. Standard alkaline, rechargeable and coin-cell batteries are also tested in the lab.
Percept’s clients include Microsoft, Maytag, Hewlett-Packard and Gibson Audio.
“We do the intricate testing of circuits and all the things that go wrong,” said Jennifer Sleek, spokeswoman for Percept. “If a company launches a product that isn’t fully tested or doesn’t meet market expectations, warranty costs can really eat their lunch.”
The company tested the battery life of a wireless mouse for Microsoft and designed a robotic arm to simulate repetitive mouse movement.
Privately held Percept was founded 10 years ago and has 16 employees. The company originally focused on testing data-storage equipment for businesses such as Storage Technology Corp. but has broadened its reach in the past two years to take advantage of the growing consumer electronics market. – Kimberly S. Johnson, The Denver Post
LightSnake plugs musicians into PC
Those who like to rock ‘n’ roll all night and party every day may be interested in the LightSnake, a self-contained PC audio system from SoundTech made to let musicians hook up their instruments with a minimum of fuss. The LightSnake is a single cable with a standard USB port at one end and a quarter-inch audio jack on the other. When it is plugged in, the ends of the cable light up and it is ready to serve as an audio input device on Windows and Macintosh PCs and laptops. The only thing left to do is plug in a guitar or other electric instrument for recording.
The 10-foot cord features built-in 16-bit digital sound processing hardware that improves and amplifies the audio before sending it to the PC. It requires no additional software on most operating systems. The LightSnake is available at many online retailers and at Target for about $70. – John Biggs, The New York Times
