“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” — Jonathan Swift
What started out as an experiment has become an obsession. I wanted to see what happened to the dinosaurs.
I confess, I have (or had) two big concrete dinosaurs in my backyard. They’re awkward and massive and weigh about 200–300 pounds each. They … Read More → "Computer Vision 101"
EEJournal readers ought to be very familiar with Bitcoin by now. All of the computing fruits of semiconductor technology, including microprocessors, GPUs, FPGAs, and ultimately ASICs, have been harnessed in the frenzied search for solutions to a mathematical problem that serves as “proof of work” that entitles the bearer to Bitcoin, using the rules originally created by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto and published in a paper … Read More → "Blockchain is not Bitcoin—Bitcoin is not Blockchain"
Intel finally succeeded in making a workable DRAM, the 1103, in 1970, and by 1972, magnetic-core memory was on its way out after a 20-year reign as the only memory of choice for mainframes and minicomputers. Compared to DRAM, core memory was slow and expensive. Access times were on the order of microseconds, and attempts to automate core-plane production met with very limited success. They remained hand-woven until the … Read More → "Did Nantero Just Slam the Coffin Lid on DRAMs?"
The dawn of artificial intelligence has ironically coincided with the dusk of Moore’s Law. Just as our collective engineering genius begins to wane on the task of exponential improvements in the performance and efficiency of von Neumann processors, those processors reach a point where they can do a rudimentary job on artificial intelligence applications. Apparently something in the cosmos either has a sinister … Read More → "Birth of the AI Machine"
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered…” – Austin Grossman
Dr. David Patterson, the newest recipient of the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award along with John Hennessy, launched into his opening remarks during his talk about the past, present, and future of processor and ISA (instruction set architecture) design at the annual dinner meeting of the < … Read More → "RISC-V Aims for World Domination"
Intel announced last week that they are acquiring structured ASIC company eASIC into their Programmable Systems Group (PSG). If you haven’t been following along in your major merger primer, Intel PSG was formerly known as Altera – one of the two major players in the FPGA market. Altera has played second fiddle to Xilinx in the Duopoly Symphony for the past twenty seasons or so. This … Read More → "Intel Acquires eASIC – Why?"
