With all the talk about 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit processors that is constantly swirling around us, I’m not sure how many of today’s younger engineers are aware that the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004, was a 4-bit machine (although, in hindsight — which is the one true science — the part number is a bit (no pun intended) of a giveaway).
When I first started working for an FPGA company a decade ago, I was stunned to find out how many power supply rails these parts required. I’d never encountered chips that needed five to ten (or more) power supply rails. Even back in the old, old PMOS days, chips needed only three supply voltages and, for a few fortunate decades, 5 volts was all you ever … Read More → "Powering FPGAs is a Giant Hassle. Here’s Some Help."
I was just chatting with the folks at Synaptics about their recently launched FlexSense family of teeny-tiny multi-modal smart sensor processors. Actually, I was thinking about … Read More → "Reimagining How Humans Engage with Machines and Data"
Have you ever heard people talking about a new star of comedy, music, stage, or screen, describing them as “an overnight success”? If you investigate, you often discover that this “overnight success” followed a decade or more of hard work in the metaphorical trenches.
This reminds me of a cartoon I saw once talking about “the ‘peasant look’ that only … Read More → "Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s Superflash memBrain!"
A couple of weeks ago, I was waffling on (as is my wont) about something or other, and I mentioned that my chum Jay Dowling had introduced me to an interesting analog computer called The Analog Thing (THAT). As I said at that time, it took me ages … Read More → "Meet Mythic AI’s Soon-to-be-Legendary Analog AI"
I am aghast, alarmed, astounded, shocked, and horrified. If pushed, I might admit to being flabbergasted (rarely has my flabber been so gasted). If I were feeling uncouth, I might even go so far as to say I was gobsmacked. How could something as awesome as what I am about to discuss have existed for so long without my knowing anything about it?
< … Read More → "You Too Can Rule the AoT with Audio Weaver"
