Articles – Page 122

July 30, 2018

The world is going to hell in a hand basket. I just don’t care anymore.

— Unhappy person

We’ve all experienced this sort of pessimism, either first- or second-hand. It’s the hands-up, “I surrender,” “I’m going to focus on what I can control” feeling… and it’s not the kind of don’t-care pessimism that this article is about. Nor are we going to talk about the Centers for Disease Control. If that’s why you’re here, prepare to be disappointed.</ … Read More → "More Gate-Level Automation"

Xilinx Catapults Itself into AI by Buying DeePhi

FPGA Vendor Adds CNN and Deep Neural Application Technology to its Portfolio

by Steven Leibson

July 25, 2018

I liked it so much, I bought the company. – Victor Kiam

On July 17, Xilinx announced that it had acquired DeePhi Technology Co., Ltd. DeePhi is a privately held, machine-learning startup company based in Beijing that has developed deep-compression and pruning algorithms and system-level optimization for neural networks aimed at many types of AI work. Xilinx Read More → "Xilinx Catapults Itself into AI by Buying DeePhi"

Fog Computing Gets a Champion

Group Hopes to Impose Rationality to Widely Distributed IoT Devices

by Jim Turley

July 24, 2018

“Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.” – Joseph Conrad

I’ll just go ahead and say it: Fog computing sounds like a stupid idea.

By that I mean it only sounds stupid. It’s actually a great idea. Rational, commonsensical. Maybe even inevitable. But it’s one of those things that won’t happen by accident, so we need a group of dedicated overseers to make sure this all plays out the way it should. If all goes well, we should have good, effective fog computing within a few … Read More → "Fog Computing Gets a Champion"

Will I Arrive Alive?

AImotive Discusses Autonomous Vehicle Safety

by Bryon Moyer

July 23, 2018

How do you build a self-driving car? OK, wait, that’s too loose a question. How do you build a safe self-driving car?

A part of the answer involves what some see as the miracle answer to every problem we have now: AI.

So… how do you make AI models safe? Earlier this yearRead More → "Will I Arrive Alive?"

RISC-V Aims for World Domination

Dr. David Patterson Foretells the Next Golden Age of Computer Architecture

by Steven Leibson

July 19, 2018

“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered…” – Austin Grossman

Dr. David Patterson, the newest recipient of the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award along with John Hennessy, launched into his opening remarks during his talk about the past, present, and future of processor and ISA (instruction set architecture) design at the annual dinner meeting of the IEEE-CNSV (IEEE Consultants’ Network of Silicon Valley). Meanwhile, I find that I’m … Read More → "RISC-V Aims for World Domination"

When Your Own Technology Poisons You

Drivers Get Gassed by Cars with Non Intuitive User Interfaces

by Jim Turley

July 18, 2018

“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” — Aristotle

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Car keys are going the way of the dinosaur. But, like dinosaurs, keys evolved over generations until they were perfectly adapted for their time, and it took an unearthly cataclysm to knock them off the top of the food chain. This time, electrical engineers are the killer comet. And, just like the last time, there’s some messy collateral damage.

Intel Acquires eASIC – Why?

Strategic Moves in the FPGA World

by Kevin Morris

July 17, 2018

Intel announced last week that they are acquiring structured ASIC company eASIC into their Programmable Systems Group (PSG). If you haven’t been following along in your major merger primer, Intel PSG was formerly known as Altera – one of the two major players in the FPGA market. Altera has played second fiddle to Xilinx in the Duopoly Symphony for the past twenty seasons or so. This acquisition is the most recent strategic move in the longstanding rivalry between the two companies, and it raises the level of intrigue substantially in the competitive arena.

The Cobalt Wave Continues

Applied Materials Taps Co for Interconnect

by Bryon Moyer

July 16, 2018

Cobalt seems to be making an inexorable move into more and more applications as device features shrink. It’s largely been replacing tungsten in prior forays: for encapsulating copper and for high-aspect-ratio fill.

Well, cobalt now has a new target in its sights: copper interconnect. Yes, even venerable … Read More → "The Cobalt Wave Continues"

MEMS Lidar for Driverless Vehicles Takes Another Big Step

Alibaba builds MEMS Lidars into a Driverless Courier Vehicle

by Steven Leibson

July 12, 2018

“We must understand what infrastructure is needed to support 1 billion parcels a day.” – Jack Ma, Alibaba Executive Chairman

Late in May, Alibaba Group’s Cainiao Network and RoboSense jointly announced G Plus, the world’s first unmanned logistics vehicle to incorporate solid-state Lidar. The announcement coincided with Alibaba’s Cainiao Network 2018 Global Smart Logistics Summit. According to the release: “Alibaba’s Cainiao G Plus is equipped … Read More → "MEMS Lidar for Driverless Vehicles Takes Another Big Step"

Living on the EDGE

Microsoft’s Semi-Secret E2 EDGE Processor Might be the Next Big Thing

by Jim Turley

July 11, 2018

“You say you want a revolution? – John Lennon

There’s leading edge, there’s bleeding edge, there’s double-edged, and there’s over the edge. It’s hard to say which term applies to a new style of processor beginning to sneak out of the labs.

It’s called EDGE – for Explicit Data Graph Execution – and it’s… different. Microsoft itself has designed a custom EDGE processor and implemented it in hardware. Is the software giant really designing CPUs now?

… Read More → "Living on the EDGE"