A very basic question, surely, but something that has been surprisingly difficult for many to answer coherently! There is no universally acceptable description or definition out there. Many use digital and mobile interchangeably, some more technology-minded define Digital by use of APIs (and differentiate it from ecommerce… Read More
Alexa – what should tech do next?
In the ongoing debate over substantive use cases and the difference between we “can” do something and we “should” do something, technologists and the firms they work for may be all that stand between the rebirth of innovation and the decline of civilization.… Read More
Will Unicorn Tech Startups Go the Way of the Unicorns?
After a record pace achieved in 2015, there’s no doubt the rate of billion-dollar valuations for startups has cooled down in 2016. But it is too soon to tell if the pause is temporary or reflects a return to the past when billion-dollar valuations for startups were as rare as unicorns.
Success in general brings greater scrutiny and… Read More
Petahertz Electronics?
In the early days of integrated components, we used to think kHz (~10[SUP]3[/SUP]Hz) processing was pretty wild. Those systems were quickly eclipsed by MHz (~10[SUP]6[/SUP]Hz) performers and now we’re blasé about GHz (~10[SUP]9[/SUP]Hz) speeds. Recently (2014), DARPA announced a THz (~10[SUP]12[/SUP]Hz) amplifier, built… Read More
What is Virtualization?
Virtualization is software that separates physical infrastructures to create various dedicated resources. It is the fundamental technology that powers cloud computing.
“Virtualizationsoftware makes it possible to run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on the same server at the same time,”… Read More
What is Deep Learning?
Deep learningis an emerging topic in artificial intelligence (AI). A subcategory of machine learning, deep learning deals with the use of neural networks to improve things like speech recognition, computer vision, and natural language processing. It’s quickly becoming one of the most sought-after fields in computer… Read More
Bacteriography
I recently found a couple of articles which caught my interest, both on roles bacteria can play in electronics. The first has to do with a method to form semiconductor-like structures on a sheet of graphene. Graphene is an excellent conductor but in sheet form but conducts more or less equally in all directions. So the first problem… Read More
Why is Jet-Lag Worse Flying East?
Anyone who travels long distances frequently is painfully familiar with this problem, but you may be wondering why I am mentioning it in this forum. The American Institute of Physics has a Chaos journal which looks at interdisciplinary problems in non-linear dynamics and recently published an article on just this topic.
There… Read More
Real Artificial Neurons
Neural nets are a hot topic these days and encourage us to think of solutions to complex tasks like image recognition in terms of how the human brain handles that task. But our model today for this neuromorphic computing is several steps removed from how neurons actually work. We’re still using conventional digital computation … Read More
Pokemon Go’s Roots in Early Human Behavior
The popularity of Pokemon Go is really no mystery – it has its roots in our hunter gatherer evolution. Pokemon Go was an App that was just waiting to happen. It’s a perfect storm. It is the scavenger hunt brought into the modern age. But more importantly it recapitulates what our ancestors had to do to survive. It taps primal and… Read More
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