Technical English for Electrical & Computer Engineers

Mehdi Delrobaei

Winter 2018

Unit 1: News & Catalogue

“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others

will do their thinking for them.”

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Subjects

• Email

• Cover Letter

• Resume / CV

• Formal Letter

• Complaint

• Lab Report

• Progress Report

• Proposal

• News

• Catalogue

• Advertisement

• Job Posting

• Product Specification

• User Manual

• Service Manual

• Data Sheet

• Business Plan

• Protocol

• Contract

• Review

• Technical Report

• Research Article

• Patent

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News31 Jan. 2018 | 19:00 GMT

At the American Astronomical Society’s 231st meeting, in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, Keith Gendreau, principal investigator for NASA’s Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission described something remarkable: the first successful demonstration of a system to use pulsars for navigation in space.

The basic idea is similar to what is done with the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other global satellite navigation systems. When you use GPS to find your way to Starbucks, you are depending on transmissions from an array of satellites whose positions are precisely known. The timing of the signals you measure can thus be used to deduce the position of the receiver. That works only if the receiver is on Earth or near Earth, however. If you wanted to visit a Starbucks in deep space, you have to find it by some other means. Source: spectrum.ieee.org 4

NASA Scientists Demonstrate How to Navigate in Space By David Schneider

How to Write a Piece of News!

5Source: wikihow.com

“Make sure your news article is complete and finished by giving it a good concluding sentence. This is often a restatement of the leading statement or a statement indicating potential future developments relating to the article topic.”

How to Write a Piece of News!

6Source: wikihow.com

News Report

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Some people like to sneer at gadgets as the trivial amusements of a decadent society. But many technologies that later came to be considered essential parts of modern life began their life as unnecessary technical baubles. For example, in 1970, the first consumer VCR prototype was unveiled at CES, a technology previously only needed by television studios. The home VCR then started the home-viewing and -recording revolution, leading to a critical U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding copyright, and laying the groundwork for YouTube and Netflix.

12 Jan 2018 | 20:45 GMT

CES 2018: The Best—and the

Craziest—Gadgets of the Show

Autonomous luggage, personal airbags, and a machine that folds clothes caught this reporter's attention

By Stephen Cass

Source: spectrum.ieee.org

News Report

8Source: spectrum.ieee.org

Somnox

For better sleep, take a robot to bed! That’s the pitch made by the makers of the Somnox, a bean-shaped pillow. The Somnox pulses gently, as if it was slowly breathing, and the makers claim this movement encourages users to relax and slow their own breathing. The Somnox can also play music or an audio book, automatically turning off when it detects their user has fallen asleep. The $500 robot is expected to start shipping in September.

Somnox pillow at CES 2018.Photo: Stephen Cass

News Report

9Source: spectrum.ieee.org

The FoldiMate is a refrigerator-sized machine that folds clothes. And that’s it! But it was enough to make it—by far—the most popular item I tweeted about at CES, with opinion running toward the “shut up and take my money” point of view, although a significant fraction of responders thought rather that it represented the ultimate in laziness. The version demoed at the show was a partially-working prototype, but the FoldiMate crew hopes to start shipping units in late 2019 for $980

FoldiMate

Photo: Stephen Cass

Catalogue

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Catalogue

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Homework

Write a short description (~ 50 words) about the battery performance of Tesla Model S; considering the fact it would be on your country’s roads!

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