Articles – Page 171

October 15, 2015

The biggest challenge historically in the high-stakes, cat-and-mouse game between hackers and security/authentication solutions is that stronger authentication solutions tend to create troublesome and annoying user experiences. And any solution that’s not stronger than the previous ones is, almost by definition, not up to the task of stopping attacks. Finding a solution that’s both simple and strong has been elusive.

That dynamic is changing thanks to an industry collaboration driven by the two-year-old FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance. FIDO has developed new protocols that enable simple, strong authentication between the user, device … Read More → "Strong AND Simple"

Emulating the Success of Others

Soft Machines Reveals Shasta, its First VISC Processor

by Jim Turley

October 14, 2015

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” — Charles Caleb Colton

If you’ve been keeping up on weird, ambitious microprocessor designs – and really, who doesn’t? – you’ll no doubt remember Soft Machines and its VISC architecture. We first talked about VISC back in November and December of last year, so it’s been almost 12 whole months without an update. That’s like waiting for new Game of Thrones … Read More → "Emulating the Success of Others"

Debug Tools are for Losers…Oh, and Teams that Meet Schedules

Blue Pearl Brings Sanity to Debug

by Kevin Morris

October 13, 2015

We don’t need no stinkin’ FPGA debug tools! Debug tools are for those “other” engineers. You know, the ones who make mistakes.

As engineers, it’s hard to admit we’re fallible. Most of us have spent our careers, and maybe our whole lives, being lauded for our technical prowess. We pride ourselves on our ability to solve problems quickly, to design things that are robust and reliable, and to anticipate the twists and turns that the real world will throw at our creations.

That’s why I … Read More → "Debug Tools are for Losers…Oh, and Teams that Meet Schedules"

How Fungible Is Your Technology?

Musings on Strength and Vulnerability

by Bryon Moyer

October 12, 2015

Fungible [fuhn-juh-buh l] adjective, Law. 1. (especially of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind. [Source: Dictionary.com Unabridged. Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015]

Fungible. Not a word most of us use on a daily basis. In fact, most of us will probably never utter those syllables. (OK, no fair reading this out loud just to prove me wrong…) Being a legal phrase, … Read More → "How Fungible Is Your Technology?"

Horses for Courses

HSA Foundation Works to Treat All Processors Equally

by Jim Turley

October 7, 2015

Can’t we all just get along? The DSP programmers don’t talk to the CPU programmers; the GPU programmers won’t sit at the lunch table with the device-driver programmers. Hey, gang. We’re all nerds. Let’s work together.

That’s the altruistic but daunting task of the Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) Foundation, a nonprofit group formed to define hardware and software standards that allow all types of processors, regardless of race, creed, religion, orientation, or country of origin, to play well with others.

… Read More → "Horses for Courses"

Xilinx Gets All Arty

Oh, and Ships Their First 16nm Fin-FET Zynq Device

by Kevin Morris

October 6, 2015

Sure, the announcement that Xilinx is now “shipping” their first 16nm FinFET-based super-amazing Zynq UltraScale+ All Programmable MPSoCs is kinda’ a big deal. Zynq UltraScale+ is unquestionably the most capable SoC we’ve ever seen, and it is difficult to even imagine the game-changing applications that will be built with this device.

Just as a refresher, Zynq UltraScale+ is a multi-core heterogeneous computing device that includes quad-core, 64-bit, ARM Cortex-A53s, dual-core Cortex-R5 real-time processors, a Mali-400MP graphics processor, enormous amounts of advanced FPGA fabric, a hardened H.265/264 codec unit, an “Advanced … Read More → "Xilinx Gets All Arty"

Direct Line to the Cloud

RTI Eliminates the HTTP Middleman

by Bryon Moyer

October 5, 2015

We’ve spent quite a bit of energy talking about various communication patterns for use in the Internet of Things (IoT). There’s the ever-popular publish/subscribe (P/S) for sending data around, and then there’s request/reply (R/R) for controlling devices.

And we’ve blithely referred to data being sucked into the Cloud for more processing before commands are sent back down to devices. … Read More → "Direct Line to the Cloud"

The 5 Best Things from World Maker Faire 2015

From “Hello World” to Saving the World

by Larra Morris

October 1, 2015

After the EE Journal team’s inspiring and fascinating trip to last year’s World Maker Faire in New York, we were pumped this year to head out again to the New York Hall of Science in Queens for the 2015 World Maker Faire. Once again, the “Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth” did not disappoint. We came away excited and energized and ready to tinker around with our own Arduino boards, 3D printers, robots, and quadcopters at home.

Without further ado, here are EE Journal’ … Read More → "The 5 Best Things from World Maker Faire 2015"

Engineering Conspiracy

Volkswagen and Beyond

by Kevin Morris

September 30, 2015

We must not do this.

We are not soldiers.

We are not slaves.

Engineers are not mindless minions, obligated to serve at the whims of oppressive overlords. We are among the best and the brightest of humanity. For engineering is the one vocation that most separates humans from other species wandering the planet. Engineers are an exclusive and privileged fraternity instilled with the knowledge, skills, and passion to solve problems, to create things that have not existed before, and to make the world a better … Read More → "Engineering Conspiracy"

Cheat Codes for Your Car

Volkswagen’s Firmware Kerfuffle Highlights Engineering Responsibilities

by Jim Turley

September 29, 2015

“Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” – King Henry II [1133 – 1189], referring to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

In Grand Theft Auto V you can press LB, LT, RB, RT, Left, Right, Left, Right, Right to fly like Superman. Or, in Plants vs. Zombies, you can type the word “future” to give the zombies funny 3D glasses. If you enter the correct cheat code on your PlayStation 4 you can change the players’ jerseys in NBA2K14. But on a Volkswagen Jetta you just have to take it to the shop … Read More → "Cheat Codes for Your Car"