[encantotom]

in the late 80's i was a product manager at intel on some of the first inverter control microprocessors for inverter aircons. we designed a custom chip to do the control of the motors and compressor. inverter aircons as we know them now were first done in 81 by toshiba. then a few years later the other japanese companies entered in. i went to japan frequently then. in japan, most lived in apartments and had very low power coming into each apartment. so anything that would draw high current was not feasible. plus the concept of only having aircon and heat in the main room was acceptable then. the split unit high efficient air cons were a perfect fit. plus, the japanese were totally accepting of new technologies and prided themselves for doing so. here in the usa, it took decades to get hvac installers off of the mercury switched round honeywell thermostats because they didnt understand anything else and end users were reluctant to accept the newer digital thermostats.

i remember that one of the times the exec from a japanese company was so excited to show off a new digital camcorder. it was using fuzzy logic to control it (you will have to look that up). they were going to introduce it in the usa (early 90s) as the fuzzy focus camcorder......they obviously didnt have an english speaker check to see if that was a good name.....ha

i spent 27 years at intel in various marketing, engineering and general management roles. i am glad i am retired and playing with newells now.....ha

tom

a funny story is that at