Meet Betty and Bart Bickerson, husband-and-wife quality analysts who work at different companies. Betty and Bart argue about everything. They argue whether grey is a color. They argue whether tomato is a fruit.

(Thomson Reuters: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Thomson Reuters has released its fourth annual study identifying the top U.S. health systems based on balanced, systemwide clinical performance.

(STEMMER IMAGING: Puchheim, Germany) -- STEMMER IMAGING will be hosting a 3-D Machine Vision Technology Day Feb, 29, 2012, at Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom, as part of its European Imaging Academy Program.

(Konica Minolta: Ramsey, NJ) -- Konica Minolta 3D Scanning Labs now offers a rapid prototyping service, using 3D Systems’ Projet HD 3000 3D Production System.

(The Pyzdek Institute: Tucson, AZ) -- The Pyzdek Institute is making its entire lean Six Sigma training site available via low-cost monthly and yearly subscriptions.

In October 2011, I attended the 3rd Business Excellence Global Conference and the 17th Asia Pacific Quality Conference held at the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.

When Microsoft’s Kinect—a device that lets Xbox users control games with physical gestures—hit the market, computer scientists immediately began hacking it.

Manufacturing is now a global game. The United States is still the world’s largest manufacturer but is no longer the engine for growth it once was. China, Brazil, Australia, India, Singapore, and other countries are building new facilities at a breakneck pace.

(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp. announces the DataMan 300, its most advanced fixed-mount industrial ID reader ever created. The DataMan 300 is designed to handle the most difficult ID code-reading applications on even the highest speed lines.

During a recent holiday debriefing with a friend, I learned that a colleague of hers was feeling guilty because she and her husband were unable to afford an iPad for their daughter.