Articles – Page 71

May 18, 2021

Lattice Semiconductor has hit their stride, smoothly executing the strategy they laid out a couple of years ago. In the wake of a failed acquisition, the company turned the page, re-focused, and set a course to make their FPGA technology accessible to a broad range of engineering teams designing high-value applications. It’s a solid strategy – bundling their devices with full-stack solutions including hardware, hardware and software IP, software design and customization tools, reference designs, and design services – everything a typical team would need to quickly get an FPGA-based solution up and running, even with no … Read More → "Lattice Powers-up Industry 4.0"

The Secret Power Behind SSDs

Phison Dominates “White Label” Storage Market

by Jim Turley

May 17, 2021

I keep waiting for hard disk drives to die off, but they just never do. Individual drives fail all the time, but the whole category of spinning platter storage has shown a remarkably resilient half-life. I guess Neil Young was right: Rust never sleeps.

The main alternative is solid-state disks (SSDs), and they’ve been getting better and cheaper, threatening to usurp the disk drive’s throne, but we’re not there yet. SSDs are standard fare in laptops now, and they’re the preferred boot medium for high-end desktop … Read More → "The Secret Power Behind SSDs"

Cloud-Based Genetic Algorithms and Computer Vision Applications

by Max Maxfield

May 13, 2021

Do you recall my earlier column When Genetic Algorithms Meet Artificial Intelligence? This reflected my discovery that the chaps and chapesses at Algolux are using an evolutionary algorithm approach in their Atlas Camera Optimization Suite. The idea here is that, when … Read More → "Cloud-Based Genetic Algorithms and Computer Vision Applications"

Voice Activation Gets More Efficient

Ambiq Voice-on-SPOT Development Kit Says Talk is Cheap

by Jim Turley

May 12, 2021

Science fiction is all about “what if.” What if there were no gravity? What if apes developed an advanced civilization after our own? What if we’re living in a computer simulation?

What if voice-activated gadgets used a lot less power? Would that change the way people use them, or make them more useful, or open up new applications? What if?

Tiny fabless chip company Ambiq … Read More → "Voice Activation Gets More Efficient"

Achronix Goes Head-to-Head

Taking Their Bite out of the Middle

by Kevin Morris

May 11, 2021

For leading FPGA suppliers Xilinx and Intel (Altera), the secret to success has always been to beat the other. That’s how duopolies work. For everyone else wanting to wedge their way into the highly-competitive programmable logic market, common wisdom has always been to find a niche.

The niche strategy is more of a survival trick. Numerous companies have made a decent living by zooming in on just one aspect of the FPGA market – military/aerospace applications, ultra-low power applications, small form factor, and so on. Companies chose their niche, … Read More → "Achronix Goes Head-to-Head"

Spectre Bug Rears Its Head Again

Academic Paper Outlines Another Variation of the CPU Security Flaw

by Jim Turley

May 10, 2021

Boo! A scary new variation of the Spectre CPU bug has surfaced, and it may be resistant to the fixes and countermeasures already deployed. Or maybe not.

A band of CS/EE students has published a paper, provocatively dubbed “I See Dead µops: Leaking … Read More → "Spectre Bug Rears Its Head Again"

New Paradigms for Implementing, Monitoring, and Debugging Embedded Systems

by Max Maxfield

May 6, 2021

Are you familiar with the Tracealyzer and DevAlert tools from Percepio? How about the Luos distributed (not exactly an) operating system from Luos? I don’t know about you, but for me, the past few days have been jam-packed with my learning all sorts of exciting nuggets of knowledge and tidbits of trivia pertaining to the implementing, monitoring, and debugging of embedded systems using these little scamps.

I’m not too sure where to commence, so let’s all take a deep breath, start at the beginning, wend our way … Read More → "New Paradigms for Implementing, Monitoring, and Debugging Embedded Systems"

Boréas Does Haptics Better

Specialized Controller and Actuator Reduce Size of Haptic Feedback

by Jim Turley

May 5, 2021

How do you do, fellow youths! This week we’re reviewing the chilliest gadget in the ’hood. I’m pretty sure that’s what it is, anyway.

Canadian startup Boréas has gone all-in on haptics, producing its own controller chip and partnering with TDK for a specialized actuator, to produce what it claims is the smallest, most power-efficient, and “strongest” haptic subassembly available. Like most haptic subsystems, it’s intended … Read More → "Boréas Does Haptics Better"

Journalism 010101

A Peek Inside the Dark and Fevered Mind of a Technology Journalist

by Jim Turley

May 3, 2021

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a journalist? No? Look away now, because here we go.

Journalism is mostly about filtering. There are a lot of things you could write about; the trick is to pick something interesting, useful, practical, and newsworthy. Everyone weights those filters differently.

Sometimes you go in search of the news, and sometimes the news finds you. There’s a whole industry of public relations and investor relations … Read More → "Journalism 010101"

Want to Learn Programming and Microcontrollers?

by Max Maxfield

April 29, 2021

The funny thing about knowing something yourself is that you tend to assume everyone else knows it also. This is especially true on a site like EEJournal that attracts electronic engineers and embedded systems developers from all walks of life. But the funny thing is — when you actually get to sit down and chat with people — you begin to realize how little they typically know outside their own area of expertise.

The same is true the other way round of course. In fact, although I don’t like to boast, … Read More → "Want to Learn Programming and Microcontrollers?"