There’s another domain in Quantum Computing (QC) which periodically attracts headlines – Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). I thought this worth covering because it does not depend on the ability to do parallel computation on superposition states, so may not be as much at the mercy of limited coherence times. And ultimately… Read More





tinyAVR in 8 and 14 pin SOIC now self-programming
At this week’s Embedded World 2016, Atmel is heading back to 8-bit old school with their news, straight to the low pin count end of their MCU portfolio with a significant upgrade to the tinyAVR family.
According to Atmel’s briefing package, development of the ATtiny102 and ATtiny104 has been in progress for some time.… Read More
Apple Google FaceBook and Person of Interest!
Apple, Google, and FaceBook are making significant investments in artificial intelligence (deep learning) and other advertising (snooping) enabling technology to better serve (exploit) their customers (us) and make trillions of dollars for their offshore accounts. This reminds me (in a very creepy way) of the TV series “Person… Read More
Neural Networks Ready for Embedded Platforms
If you are not yet familiar with the term Convolutional Neural Networks, or CNN for short, you are certainly bound to become in the year ahead. Using Artificial Intelligence in the form of CNN is on the verge of replacing a large number of computing tasks, especially those involving recognizing things such as sounds, shapes, objects,… Read More
S2C opens up FPGA prototyping for PCIe fabrics
Reconfigurable computing began with FPGA cards dropped into expansion slots in workstations. FPGA-based prototyping vendors tended away from that model as interconnect speeds rose and cabling complexity between modules increased. Much faster PCIe interfacing and bigger FPGAs mean revisiting the concept.… Read More
Synopsys at DVCon 2016
It’s that time of year again – DVCon starts on Monday Feb 29[SUP]th[/SUP] and as always should be a packed event. Synopsys plans a big showing, in the exhibit hall, in a sponsored lunch, at tutorials and in papers. Time to get your conference shoes on and go check them out – I plan to be there all week.
One of the most obvious things you will… Read More
Should terrorists prefer iPhone (thanks to privacy)?
The case between Apple and the FBI may not be as limpid as it could be. If you ask me if Apple, or any US or Europe based supplier of high tech system should help the FBI (or any similar organization) and provide the technical support needed to extract information belonging to a terrorist, my answer would be definitely YES.
I don’t know… Read More
TSMC and Intel on the Long Road to EUV
Today is the first day of the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) updates were a big focus.… Read More
SoC power management a study in transition latency
Apple’s recent bout with ‘Batterygate’ highlighted just how important dynamic power management can be. Our last Sonics update looked at using their NoC to manage power islands; this time, we look at their research progress on architectural measures for power management.… Read More
A Brief History of Open-Silicon
In 2003, when Open-Silicon was founded there was a growing need for flexible and innovative ways of getting chip designs manufactured. Semiconductor companies, given the alternatives of COT or traditional ASIC, often were looking for more flexibility without the huge investment and risk of going COT. Let’s look at how Open-Silicon… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot