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Using Accelerometers to Check for a Fever

The People’s Polyharmonic Posse had a sound. Of course, all serious choruses have a signature sound, but these guys took it further than most. Their leader, Sirius Lee Aihurdthatt, had an incredible ear. He auditioned newcomers by recording them and then seeing how well they blended in with the rest of the group. Heck, after a while, he didn’t even have to do that; he simply knew when he heard someone whether or not they would work.

You see, he was blind, and, yes, it’s cliché to talk about how the … Read More → "Using Accelerometers to Check for a Fever"

Assault on Batteries

I had dinner with a real venture capitalist the other evening, and lived to tell about it. I can’t tell you everything we discussed that night (wink, wink), but I can say that we had a good talk about batteries. No, really.

The VC in question is a partner at one of the primo Sand Hill Road firms and, as usual, he was the smartest guy in the room. Or at least, at my table. The conversation ranged from food, to wine, to rusty cars, to a recent acquisition by Apple. He talks very fast, uses … Read More → "Assault on Batteries"

Middle Child Syndrome

28nm is a calm, mature node. Sure, everyone was excited when it was the first to reach modern price, performance, and cost levels. We applauded when ARM processing subsystems were integrated into 28nm FPGAs, creating a new class of device. And there were accolades when 28nm debuted interposer-based 2.5D packaging techniques. There is even a nice page in the scrapbook where 28nm SerDes transceivers hit 28Gbps speeds – a nice 28/28 symmetry that made everyone feel all warm and fuzzy.

We all know and love 28nm. It’s out there – proven and in full production, … Read More → "Middle Child Syndrome"

Life Under 20

We’re shrinking again. We’re moving past the 20nm node into the 16 or 14 realm (depending on how you or your marketing team counts it). In fact, according to KLA-Tencor, some companies are skipping the 20nm node altogether and moving directly into the teens.

It’s always been the case that new nodes spur new tools, but there are some trends underway at 16/14 that are more than just “smaller,” and they are providing yet more challenges to the semi equipment guys.

Tools for Building

3D NAND probably provides the biggest change, … Read More → "Life Under 20"

A Quantum Computing Milestone

With most of the articles I write, I try to do more than just parrot what someone else said: I really try to understand what it is I’m writing about, at least to some degree.

Not today, folks.

Not even close.

Today we go behind the looking glass into the world of quantum computing. I’m going to try to give a flavor of what I’ve learned in order to understand what’s significant about the news </ … Read More → "A Quantum Computing Milestone"

The Price of Ignorance

Apparently, $48,000 speaker wire is a real thing. You can also find $5,000 boxes for “cleansing” the AC power going into your audio gear. (Be sure to order the $1000 power cord to go with it.) Just the thing to complement the $15,000 granite turntable for your old vinyl records.

Audiophiles must be real idiots. And rich idiots – the best kind.

You can now get “oxygen free” speaker wire with gold-plated … Read More → "The Price of Ignorance"

The Next Moore’s Law

We sit here in our dazed, progress-drunk technology buzz looking back at the half-century rocket ride that transformed not only our industry and engineering profession, but also all of modern civilization. Nothing in recorded history has had as much impact on the world as Moore’s Law. It has re-shaped global culture, dramatically altered politics, and even affected fundamental aspects of the ways human beings work, think, feel, and relate to each other. If this weren’t the single biggest change driver in the history of civilization, it was right up there with democracy, monotheism, combining caramel … Read More → "The Next Moore’s Law"

Data-Centric IoT Messaging

The internet of things (IoT) is all about sensor data and communications. It involves some entity taking the data it receives, making some complex (or even simple) calculations, and then making decisions for the purposes of control or informing someone or something. Of course, there’s more than one way to do this.

The consumer IoT (CIoT) is all about sending the data – probably from your phone or wearable gadget, but, in the future, from various appliances in your home or elsewhere – up to the cloud, which acts as the brain of the system. It’s centralized … Read More → "Data-Centric IoT Messaging"

iWatch, You Speculate Incessantly

I held out as long possible before writing anything iWatch related. The irony is that I am iFatigued with everyone iGuessing about an iUnnanounced product, and yet here I am contributing to the noise. ¡iCaramba! The proverbial last straw: I read a piece comparing Microsoft’s unannounced wearable to Apple’s unannounced wearable. OMG. 

And AFTER deciding to write this piece—but before I could start—another piece appeared with the declarative headline “Here’s Everything We Know About the iWatch.” And because I cannot make up stuff this good, apparently the things we KNOW include:

< … Read More → "iWatch, You Speculate Incessantly"

The Bozo Coefficient

If you sit and watch a busy street for any length of time, you’ll see a surprising number of bone-headed drivers, bicyclists, and even pedestrians. People walk straight into lampposts because they’re staring down at their phones. Drivers pull U-turns in the middle of traffic, run red lights, or head the wrong way down a one-way street. And bicyclists – especially those ones with Spandex logowear – weave in and out, oblivious to all traffic laws, as well as to basic self-preservation.

When did the world get populated with such bozos?

It has been ever … Read More → "The Bozo Coefficient"

featured blogs
Apr 24, 2026
A thought experiment in curiosity, confusion, and cosmic consequences....