Articles – Page 18

The Man Who Loved Music

December 16, 2024

This article is a book review of an autobiography of Ikutaro Kakehashi, published in 2002 and titled “I Believe in Music.” Kakehashi-san founded the electronic music powerhouse Roland, and this review was triggered by an article I read about the user-programmable Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, an automatic electronic drum machine. Kakehashi’s autobiography details the life of a man who dedicated his life to music, electronics, and entrepreneurship. I found the book to be an amazing story involving the rise of Japan from the bitter ashes of World War II to an economic and electronics powerhouse in the … Read More → "The Man Who Loved Music"

From Concept to Programmable Logic Prototype in Minutes

by Max Maxfield

December 12, 2024

My poor old noggin is currently buzzing with ideas for things I could do with the new line of programmable devices that were recently introduced by the guys and gals at Texas Instruments.

As usual, of course, in addition to these new devices themselves, myriad ancillary thoughts are currently cavorting around my cranium.

Let’s start with Texas Instruments itself. It may not surprise you to learn that this is a Texas-based corporation (talk about a clue). This … Read More → "From Concept to Programmable Logic Prototype in Minutes"

A Bold New Twist on Optical Computing

by Max Maxfield

December 10, 2024

There are obvious attractions to “computing at the speed of light” with photonics-based technology—not just the extremely high speed, although that’s important, of course, but also the extremely low power as compared to transistor-logic-based computational implementations.

I’ve been exposed to a few companies offering various flavors of optical computing solutions over the course of the past couple of years. Until now, however, these have all predominantly involved injecting multiple beams of light at different frequencies and phases into lengths of optical fiber and using interference to perform complex calculations that … Read More → "A Bold New Twist on Optical Computing"

AMD Tweaks Versal Premium FPGAs to Produce Next-Generation Devices

by Steven Leibson

December 9, 2024

AMD has announced the eventual appearance of 2^nd-Generation Versal Premium FPGAs. Plans for this new generation include four devices with 643,456 to 1.5 million LUTs and 3332 to 7616 DSP blocks. Most of the logic fabric inside these 2^nd-generation devices remains architecturally unchanged from the first generation, but there’s been an emphasis on more DSPs and relatively fewer LUTs. This architectural change targets mil/aero, test and measurement, and 6G comms applications. The new Versal FPGA generation will be built on TSMCs 6nm process (N6), a … Read More → "AMD Tweaks Versal Premium FPGAs to Produce Next-Generation Devices"

Will the last person to leave Intel please turn out the light?

by Steven Leibson

December 9, 2024

Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger has left the building – specifically Intel’s headquarters: the Robert Noyce Building in Santa Clara, California. On December 2, Intel issued a press release stating that:

“…CEO Pat Gelsinger retired from the company after a distinguished 40-plus-year career and has stepped down from the board of directors, effective Dec. 1, 2024.”

This is not the normal way to announce the retirement of a high-tech CEO. Normally, such things are pre-announced, not announced after the fact. The announcement’s appearance a day after the fact indicates that things … Read More → "Will the last person to leave Intel please turn out the light?"

Streaming AI Development and Deployment at the Edge

by Max Maxfield

December 5, 2024

I’ve said it before, and I’ll doubtless say it again—I like a simple story that I can wrap (what I laughingly call) my mind around. Too many times have I received a briefing from some overly enthusiastic company spokes-wiffle-waffle-person—you know the kind, they talk quickly and wave their arms around a lot—only for us to arrive at the end of the presentation with me finding myself wearing a rictus smile and thinking, “Say what?” to myself.

Bearing this in mind, you will be happy to hear that I … Read More → "Streaming AI Development and Deployment at the Edge"

The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 6: And Yet More Final Thoughts

by Steven Leibson

December 4, 2024

Before conducting my Zoom interview about the Heath Company and Heathkits with Chas Gilmore – formerly the VP of product development, marketing, and sales at Heath – I sent him a written list of questions so he could review and organize his memories of working at Heath. We covered most of my questions during the interview, which appear in the first five parts of this article series, but we did not touch upon or only partially discussed three of my written questions.

After I’d written the 5-part article series covering the information that we … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 6: And Yet More Final Thoughts"

The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 5: Final Thoughts

by Steven Leibson

December 2, 2024

Towards the end of my interview with Chas Gilmore – formerly the VP of product development, marketing, and sales at the Heath Company – I realized we had not touched on a couple of questions I’d sent to him in preparation for our Zoom call in October: whether any particular Heathkits stood out in his mind, and if he remembered the Heathkit Microwave Oven kit I’d built in the early 1970s. Here are his final recollections from the interview.

Chas Gilmore: You asked if any other particularly ambitious kits come to … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 5: Final Thoughts"

AI-Powered Documentation Generator and Understander

by Max Maxfield

November 26, 2024

Documentation is one of those things that people love or loathe. The people who create it typically loathe doing so. The people who use it can go either way depending on how well it’s written.

I was talking to a friend just a few minutes before I commenced this column. We will call my friend Joe (because that’s his name). Joe has strong views on this topic. Joe is less than happy. Joe says he’s spent the past week trying to decipher documentation that was obviously written by multiple people … Read More → "AI-Powered Documentation Generator and Understander"

The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 4: The Demise of Heathkit

by Steven Leibson

November 25, 2024

Chas Gilmore joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer in the company’s Scientific Instruments group. By 1976, he was director of engineering for Heath’s technical products, which included amateur radio, instrumentation, marine, automotive, and weather products. This article, Part 4 of a series based on an interview with Gilmore, discusses the Heath Company’s changes after its acquisition by Zenith and then subsequently by France’s Groupe Bull. The article begins with Gilmore’s first departure from Heath in 1977 and then continues with his return to Heath in the early 1980s. Gilmore discusses the factors … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 4: The Demise of Heathkit"