Jim Turley

A Touch Material for Any Surface

February 4, 2015

flexible material that can be made to conform to pretty much any shape. While this stretchability is a function of the substrate, its conductivity comes from a marriage between a carbon nanotube (CNT) and a Buckyball into a “nanobud.”

(Image courtesy Canatu)

The company is Canatu, and they coat flexible plastic substrates via a room-temperature printing process with this CNTish material; that layer can … Read More → "A Touch Material for Any Surface"

Some People Get It

by Jim Turley

February 4, 2015

Electronics retailer Best Buy is known for catering to mainstream America, not niche audiophiles. So I was surprised to see the company offering an HDMI cable for $1650.99. Granted it’s 8 meters long, but still… It’s a freaking digital cable, folks!

Then I read the reviews. They’re as golden as the connector plating. Go check … Read More → "Some People Get It"

Rezence Wireless Charging Takes Steps

by Jim Turley

January 28, 2015

There have been a couple of developments in the wireless power world over the last couple months, both involving the new Rezence standard. You may recall that this is the new high-frequency resonant approach, as contrasted with the established lower-frequency Qi approach. We’ve reviewed the differences and proliferating standards before.

While Rezence beat out Qi in terms of establishing a resonant (as opposed to inductive, which is … Read More → "Rezence Wireless Charging Takes Steps"

Semiconductor CapEx to grow 5.6% in 2015

by Jim Turley

January 13, 2015

Semiconductor, meet cycle. It’s another up/down go-around for semiconductor capital spending, according to the latest Gartner report that predicts that 2015 will be nearly flat compared to 2014. Non-memory (i.e., logic) chipmakers will spend a total of just 0.8% more this year than last, with 5.6% growth in capital equipment. That works out to $65.7 billion overall, with $41.1 billion in shiny new equipment.

As before, the independant foundries will be spending more than the standalone chip makers (IDMs), and memory will be more active than logic. Gartner further … Read More → "Semiconductor CapEx to grow 5.6% in 2015"

Job Openings at AMD

by Jim Turley

January 13, 2015

Looking for new career opportunities in management? You might try AMD. The big chipmaker just whacked three of its top executives: the General Manager of Computing & Graphics, John Byrne; Chief Marketing Officer, Colette LaForce; and Chief Strategy Officer, Raj Naik. That’s three immediate vacancies in Mahogany Row.

The company isn’t entirely decimated. The heads of HR, Legal, and Operations are still there. And the CTO (Mark Papermaster) and CFO (Devinder Kumar) just got retention bonuses, in the form of new incentive stock options that vest in a couple of years. Issuing them bonuses while … Read More → "Job Openings at AMD"

Shootout at the FinFET Corral

by Jim Turley

January 5, 2015

It’s high noon at IEDM. Both Intel and IBM have “late-breaking news” with their 14-nm FinFET numbers. The giant room is filled to bursting capacity. I’m lucky enough to have some space along the side wall, far from the screen. So far, in fact, that much of what’s on the screen is completely illegible.

Oh, and did I mention photography is not allowed? So… you can’t see the information, you can’t record it even if you saw it… you could busily write what … Read More → "Shootout at the FinFET Corral"

Express Logic’s X-Ware Platform

by Jim Turley

November 11, 2014

The Internet of Things (IoT) is all about platforms. Exactly what constitutes a “platform” is unobvious and left to the reader, however. In some cases, they’re so obscure that you have to pull teeth to find out what the platform actually contains.

Many of the platforms are about the connection between Things and the Cloud (and the Phone). But Express Logic recently introduced their X-Ware Platform, targeted at IoT applications, and its focus is on basic Thing OS and middleware: all of the pieces that allow a Thing to communicate, take on peripherals, … Read More → "Express Logic’s X-Ware Platform"

What Does ConnectOne’s “G2” Mean?

by Jim Turley

October 21, 2014

ConnectOne makes WiFi modules. And they recently announced a “G2” version. Being new to the details of these modules, I got a bit confused by the number of products bearing the “G2” label as well as the modes available – were they all available in one module, or were different modules for different modes? A conversation with GM and Sales VP Erez Lev helped put things in order.

As it turns out, you might say that ConnectOne sells one WiFi module into multiple form factors. Of the different modules I saw, it was … Read More → "What Does ConnectOne’s “G2” Mean?"

Collocated Location Technology

by Jim Turley

September 30, 2014

Location services used to mean one thing: applications that leveraged GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to fix your location and then… do stuff with that information. Of course, GPS isn’t reliable indoors, so there were holes in the system, but, for its time, it was pretty spiffy.

Meanwhile, in a separate corner of the technology world, MEMS hit high … Read More → "Collocated Location Technology"

M2M in Orbit

by Jim Turley

September 18, 2014

This is for those of us that maybe haven’t been paying attention.

The most important concept that turns Things into an Internet of Things is communication. And there are lots of ways to communicate, the favorites of which are wireless. We’ve looked at short-range wireless like WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee. And we’ve looked at Read More → "M2M in Orbit"