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Advice for Out-of-towners

Advice for Out-of-towners
by Paul McLellan on 06-02-2014 at 3:29 am
Categories: General

You are visiting San Francisco and you have dutifully read your guide book. Let me give you some contrarian advice.

See the Golden Gate Bridge. The best way is not to drive there or get a taxi, but to rent a bicycle (lots of places on that side of the city, try Googling “blazing saddles”) and cycle across the bridge. You can then go down the hill into Sausalito. There is a regular ferry back from Sausalito to San Francisco and you can take your bike on it. Or you can keep going to Tiburon, almost flat, and get the ferry back from there.

Take a Tour of the Bay but ignore the official tours of the bay. Just take the ferry to Sausalito (from the Ferry Building or from pier 41), have a drink or a bite to eat, and get the ferry back. Cheapest bay tour available and voted the #2 most exciting ferry ride in the world by the Association of American Travel Writers (Kowloon to Hong Kong is #1 so rather a long way to go, and having done it, I don’t think it is even as good).

Ride a Cable Car. But don’t wait in line for 40 minutes at Union Square or Fisherman’s Wharf. Instead, go to the cable car barn on the corner of Washington and Mason. This where the whole system is driven from and you can watch the engines hauling the miles of cable under the streets. Also a museum of everything cable car. And then when you have finished, you can just get on a cable car without needing to stand in line, and go back downtown or to fisherman’s wharf. The best ride is not to sit but to stand on the outside and hang on. Especially around the corners…slightly scary.

Don’t go to Fisherman’s WharfandPier 39. Everybody who lives here will tell you it’s not worth it. OK, so you are going to go anyway. Then at least go and see the Musée Méchanique on Pier 45. It is a huge selection of coin-operated antique arcade machines. It is free although you’ll presumably spend at least a few quarters in the machines.

See Chinatown. Here’s the best way to do it. Go to Union Square. Go shopping if that’s your thing. Then leave Union Square on Stockton Street and walk through the Stockton Street Tunnel. When you come out at the other end you are in the back of Chinatown and it is like you have landed in another country. Stockton Street is the non-touristy part of Chinatown, full of food shops and the like. Go down the hill one block to Grant Street if you feel the need to buy the sort of things tourists like to buy in Chinatown.

Go to Alcatraz. Warning: you must book a few days in advance. You will not get tickets if you just show up. Really. It is June. I’m publishing this far too late, you probably can’t get tickets within a week. Much the best is to take the night tour, which leaves around 6 and gets back around 9. There are fewer people on the island and you get to watch the sun set through the Golden Gate. The ferry leaves from pier 33. You can buy tickets online.

The Exploratorium is the original hands-on science museum. It has moved if you visited it before. It is now on the waterfront at pier 15 in brand-new multi-million dollar accommodations. Local donors are very generous. It is even more amazing than it used to be.

Finally a few shops with some history:

  • City Lights Books founded in 1953 and closely associated with Allen Ginsburg and the other beat poets. A publisher as well as a bookstore, and now an official historic landmark. 261 Columbus at Broadway. Website.
  • 826 Valencia, the Pirate Store. It is actually a place for helping kids 6-18 with their writing skills, but they were in a space zoned for retail so they had to be a store too. They decided to be a pirate supply store. And they are. The story is told in this TED video. They have websites: Writing, Pirates. If you want a T-shirt that says “Cannons don’t sink ships, Pirates with cannons sink ships” then this is the place to visit.
  • Good Vibrations, female friendly sex-shop since 1977. One block from Moscone, 899 Mission Street at 5[SUP]th[/SUP] and 2 other places in the city. And a website. Totally unembarrassing to visit even if you are shy. I’m a guy, sure, but trust me. I’ve taken reluctant asian girls who loved it..
  • Ferry Building Farmers’ Market. On Saturday mornings, so you probably missed it. The quality and range of the produce is extraordinary but you won’t save any money, even compared to Whole Foods. Go early if you want to have fun trying to spot celebrity chefs. In the parking lots around the Ferry Building where Market Street ends at the bay.
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Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Internet But Were Afraid to Ask
by Paul McLellan on 06-01-2014 at 5:28 pm
Categories: General

Every year, Mary Meeker produces a huge presentation (140 slides) on important trends in the internet. This year’s came out at the end of last week. It is well worth the time it takes to go through it. Here is the first slide, effectively the table of contents:

  • Key Internet Trends
  • Status Update: Tech Stocks / Education / Healthcare
  • Re-Imagining Continues
  • Screen + Video Growth = Still Early Innings
  • China’s Epic Share Gains
  • Public Company Trends
  • One More Thing(s)…
  • Ran Outta Time Thoughts / AppendixI am going to pick out a few slides to whet your appetite.

    First let’s look at how fast tablets are growing compared to the historical growth of the PC market. They have already passed PCs in numbers and are still selling at an amazing pace, the line is close to vertical.

    Next, the OS used in smartphones. Eight years ago they were all foreign (Blackberry from Canada, and Symbian from Finland primarily). Now the US has 97% market share between iOS, Android and WindowsPhone.

    Finally, how international is the internet? Probably a lot more than you think. 86% of users are overseas, even for people like Google and Facebook never mind the big China-based internet companies like Baidu and Tencent.

    2019 Internet Trends Report

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Apple is Roaring Back!

Apple is Roaring Back!
by mbriggs on 06-01-2014 at 5:00 pm
Categories: General

Mind you, this post is being written by the same guy who wrote8 Reasons Why I Hate My iPhone 5. I’ve been living with the Samsung S4 for about a year, and am ready to return to the Apple fold. It’s partially that too many, or perhaps the wrong apps running on my phone cause big problems. This manifests itself anywhere from people receiving my calls hearing a modem buzz, to Google Maps and the GPS getting confused every time I use my hiking app. Needless to say I am a frequent rebooter.

I watch Apple very closely as I own some stock. I believe the company has hit and inflection point. When Apple’s Eddy Cue touts ‘best product pipeline’ in 25 years , I buy it. I’m also influenced by the fact that my techie son, at Stanford, has gone from an Apple hater, to an Apple lover. He is so impressed with his MacBook Air that he will be upgrading from his S3, which he doesn’t like much, to the iPhone 6.

I digress. The reasons I believe the Apple will come roaring back, are:

[LIST=1]

  • The healthcare space. I’d think this would be of particularly interest to the readership of Semiwiki, which I understand has a preponderance of male readers in their 40s and 50s. Who, of us, isn’t going to want to monitor their vitals on their iWatch?
  • Payments. Who better to coalesce this ugly and fragmented space, then Apple? I can’t wait until Starbucks sets up a beacon so I don’t have to get my phone out, start my Starbucks app, and try to get the stupid scanner to recognize the barcode on my phone.
  • Home automation. I have to admit that I have always thought this a little silly. I don’t mind turning on my lights and setting my thermostat. I’ve changed my mind. Now that my car doesn’t require me to take the key fob out my pocket to lock/unlock or start the car, it seems archaic to punch the button for the garage door opener and put the key in the front door. I love my NETGEAR VueZone remote video monitoring system, but would it would be nice if it were integrated with my entire system.
  • Beats. Who didn’t think it was silly for Apple to spent $3B? However, after reading that the immensely profitable iTunes gravy train is slowing, this seems to be the injection of cool that the doctor ordered.

    Let’s hope the stock hits $100/share, post 7:1 split, in the very near future, then roars upward from there!

    lang: en_US

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    Always-on and the new wearable core

    Always-on and the new wearable core
    by Don Dingee on 06-01-2014 at 11:00 am
    Categories: Ceva, IP

    Recently, I mentioned smartphone SoCs consume one, maybe two orders of magnitude too much power for broader use in wearables. However, that is only when they are “on”. To save power and stretch battery life, smartphones spend a lot of time napping – display off, sitting still with MEMS sensors powered down, waiting for an incoming phone call or text.

    The wearable use case – beyond the head-shrunken smartwatch, there are actually several use cases – can be quite different Continue reading “Always-on and the new wearable core”

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    Fabless Book Giveaway at #51DAC Reception!

    Fabless Book Giveaway at #51DAC Reception!
    by Daniel Nenni on 06-01-2014 at 5:30 am
    Categories: eSilicon, Semiconductor Services

    eSilicon will be providing books for the first 300 people to attend the Tuesday night networking reception sponsored by SemiWiki. To avoid confusion they will be giving out BOOK COUPONS when you arrive to be redeemed when the event starts so grab a coupon, enjoy the food and drinks! I can assure you this will be the ultimate networking event so get there early and get a book. Paul McLellan and I will be available to sign books if you’d like.

    We have no idea how many people will attend the reception so if you REALLY want a book you might want to visit the eSilicon booth #512 during exhibit hours and get one there. For more information on eSilicon booth activities click HERE. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning at 10:30am I will be there answering questions and signing books and it would be a pleasure to meet you so stop on by.


    If you don’t know eSilicon this would be a great time to meet them. They are featured in our book for a reason, eSilicon transformed the ASIC business and will continue to do so, absolutely. Paul and I started writing about eSilicon after we finished the book in January. You may want to follow us on this because big things are coming, absolutely!

    Quoting Automatically the eSilicon Way
    by Paul McLellan
    Published on 02-13-2014 12:31 PM
    Every ASIC company has a major challenge: they have to work out what it is going to cost to build the customer’s product and commit to deliver it at that price. Too high and you lose the business. Too low and you will wish you’d lost the business. Historically this has been done largely manually. This is an expensive process. A typical ASIC project will be quoted by 2 or 3 potential companies which means that over half of the quotes done do not result in business and are an overhead.

    Getting an MPW Quote on My iPhone
    by Paul McLellan
    Published on 02-25-2014 10:00 AM
    As I blogged about recently, eSilicon have completely automated the quote process for their MPW shuttle service. You can use an online interface that runs in the browser but there is also an app that you can download from the App Store.

    eSilicon on Semiconductor IP Challenges
    by Daniel Nenni
    Published on 03-31-2014 10:00 AM
    On April 18, 2014 in Monterey California there will be a series of discussions on the challenges of IP reuse. These discussions are part of the 2014 Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS). Representatives from IP, ASIC, foundry and EDA will weigh in the challenges and issues. Here is a preview of one of the presentations from Patrick Soheili, VP & GM of IP Solutions at eSilicon.

    IP the eSilicon Way
    by Paul McLellan
    Published on 04-22-2014 07:51 PM
    Pop quiz: eSilicon has a big IP development group in what Asian country? If you didn’t know and you guessed, you probably got it wrong with China or India. It is Vietnam. In fact they have two sites. One in Ho Chi Minh City (that used to be called Saigon) and one in Da Nang.

    The Number One ASIC Racing Team!
    by Daniel Nenni
    Published on 05-04-2014 07:45 AM
    This weekend I was in the pits for the Flying Lizard Motorsports team at the Monterey Grand Prix. It was an auction item (donated by eSilicon) at EDA’s 50[SUP]th[/SUP] Anniversary party last year, and let me tell you it was an amazing experience and a very interesting story, absolutely. But first let me tell you that if you get a “Hot Lap” ride around a racetrack and the driver asks you how fast you want to go just tell him “no limit” and hold on for your life!

    eSilicon @ #51 DAC – Why is a Chip Company at DAC?
    by Daniel Nenni
    Published on 05-16-2014 04:00 AM
    eSilicon is a fabless chip company that is credited with starting the fabless ASIC movement. You can read more about them in the ASIC chapter of SemiWiki’s new book on the fabless semiconductor industry. But why would a fabless ASIC company come to DAC?

    The Silicon ATM
    by Paul McLellan
    Published on 05-26-2014 02:52 PM
    One of the things that eSilicon does is handle all the backend operations for the designs that they do. eSilicon is a fabless ASIC company and so the most visible part of the business is the design (not to mention IP which is a critical input into design these days). But another key part is arranging with foundries like TSMC to get the wafers manufactured, then a test and packaging house which may be in another country, and finally delivering the designs to wherever they are going to be used.

    eSilicon, a leading independent semiconductor design and manufacturing solutions provider, delivers custom ICs and custom IP to OEMs, independent device manufacturers (IDMs), fabless semiconductor companies (FSCs) and wafer foundries through a fast, flexible, lower-risk path to volume production. eSilicon serves a wide variety of markets including the communications, computer, consumer, industrial products and medical segments.

    More Articles by Daniel Nenni…..

    lang: en_US

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    We Need One MILLION Design Starts!

    We Need One MILLION Design Starts!
    by Daniel Nenni on 06-01-2014 at 5:03 am
    Categories: Semiconductor Services

    Design starts are the lifeblood of the semiconductor industry. It’s not just the design start itself, it’s the innovation that goes with it. As the semiconductor industry consolidates and the cost of modern semiconductor design increases you have to ask yourself: Where are the next generation of design starts going to come from?

    Look at the postings on the SemiWiki Jobs Forum, the fabless semiconductor ecosystem is struggling to fill jobs. Since breaking ground on Fab 8 in 2009 GlobalFoundries has created approximately 2,000 jobs and that number is expected to grow by approximately another 1,000 employees for a total of about 3,000 new jobs by the end of 2014. Qualcomm has over 600 openings and even though Intel’s business is in decline they have more than 1,000 openings. So you have to ask yourself: Where are the next generation of semiconductor professionals going to come from?

    The answer of course is the Universities and it is my belief that Silicon Cloud Internationaland the Internet of Things will lead the way:


    SCI establishes secure cloud computing centers for universities and research institutions across the world. SCI’s initial focus is on providing turn-key design-to-manufacturing workflows for semiconductor design.

    At the SCI booth, you will see several demo stations – unlike any other demo stations you have seen before! A diminutive Chrome box client is all that is needed to connect to powerful remote servers to perform real life design tasks on large circuits. Other than a demo on the main features of the system, you will also see:

    SCI’s private cloud and thin client architecture and their unique security model for semiconductor eco-system providers and users

    SCI’s chip design environment set up and workflow management capabilities

    An online and interactive IC design training package developed by North Carolina State University

    A couple of SCI’s partners, Plunify and Optic2Connect will be demonstrating their capabilities using the SCI cloud

    Students from UCLA and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) will be demonstrating and discussing their design work, running in the SCI cloud. The students’ demos are at the University Booth.

    SCI founders will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the attributes of the system. This includes:

    • Mojy Chian, CEO, previously SVP of Design Enablement at GlobalFoundries
    • Marc Edwards, CTO, previously with Nimbis, Synopsys and Cisco
    • Joe Lee, VP of Engineering, a 30 year IBM IC design veteran

    We invite you to visit us at Booth #209C to see how you can be a part of this semiconductor design enablement transformation!

    Silicon Cloud Internationalwas started in 2012 and incorporated in July 2013 in Singapore by veterans of the semiconductor industry. The founders of SCI recognized the benefits of modern cloud computing technology for semiconductor design. The cloud is inevitable and the benefits of cloud-based IC design infrastructure are ubiquitously recognized including, unburdening the user from the cost and complexity of setting up IC design infrastructure, efficient and scalable use of EDA tools and computing hardware (pay-as-you-go), global knowledge sharing and IC design training, and global and collaborative IC design.

    However, data and IP security and managing a very wide IC design eco-system have prohibited the launch of an IC design infrastructure in the cloud. Silicon Cloud International provides a unique and unprecedented technology for security, data tempering, and IP downloading.

    SCI’s market deployment has initially focused on Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions (Malaysia, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and Pakistan). Future plans for additional SCI Cloud data centers include Vietnam, Brazil, Germany, China, and the US.

    More Articles by Daniel Nenni…..

    lang: en_US

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    Active Power Management in UPF Using SPICE, VHDL-AMS or Verilog-AMS

    Active Power Management in UPF Using SPICE, VHDL-AMS or Verilog-AMS
    by Daniel Payne on 05-31-2014 at 9:20 pm
    Categories: EDA

    My former co-worker, Kenneth Bakalar at Mentor Graphics is an expert in AMS modeling languages and UPFmethodology, so he recently teamed up with Eric Jeandeau to author an interesting white paper: Interpreting UPF for a Mixed-Signal Design Under Test. This white paper is based on a presentation made at DVCon earlier this year. The basic idea presented in this 16 page paper is that modern SoCs use lots of power-management techniques to power-down and power-up blocks in the quest to conserve power, and that you should be able to model the effects of this in a UPF-based simulation flow.

    You start out with a digital design and it’s UPF file. Next, you will swap out a digital block for an AMS model where the new electrical ports correspond directly to the previous digital block ports. The AMS model contains extra electrical ports that will supply power to the analog sub-circuit within the model. Each analog power supply connected to the ports will get synchronized with the actual power state of the UPF power domain for this instance.

    As digital signals are connected to electrical nets, it’s required that a signal connect element be inserted to enable communication between digital and analog realms. Here’s a diagram showing a signal connect element:


    General model of a power sensitive, bidirectional signal connect element

    Connect Elements

    Coding examples in VHDL-AMS for electrical to real, and electrical to logic are shown below. If the input analog voltage changes by as much as the tt parameter (1mV), then a new digital value is driven on outp. There’s also a check on the power state, and if either power net is OFF, then the output is driven to voff.


    VHDL-AMS entity for an electrical to real (A2D) connect element


    VHDL-AMS architecture for an electrical to logic (A2D) connect element

    Connect elements are also written for a logical to electrical (D2A).

    When connecting UPF power to analog pins we really want the power/ground pair to be dynamically responsive to the controls described by UPF. The technical solution to this is inserting a power to electrical element (P2E), and here’s the code example written in VHDL-AMS:


    VHDL-AMS model for a P2E

    This P2E model will convert digital input upfin of supply_net_type into an analog voltage, and upfin indicates if the digital power port is powered up or down. The power state control both the voltage and impedance of the branch from vdd to vds, which is then used by the analog blocks. The rise and fall times are also coded.

    The converse of P2E is called E2P, and this connect element is interposed between electrical to power.

    The good news is that the engineers at Mentor have implemented all of these connect elements and supported methodology into the Questa ADMS mixed-signal simulator. An example of how connect elements are used is shown in a mixed-signal design under test, called YDUT:


    Example design under test with a testbench

    AOT_TEST is the top-level and is defined in SPICE, while the XTOP subcircuit is also in SPICE, finally YDUT is the digital Verilog design under test. Verilog instance YSTIM controls all four of the UPF power domains:

    The timing for the power domains is coded in the testbench stimulus, and here’s the timing diagram:

    Multiple tests were written to control each power domain, and here we see that power domain pd_top turns on at 100 us, and two outputs then become active:

    Summary

    It is possible in a UPF design to model the power characteristics by adding SPICE, VHDL-AMS or Verilog-AMS models. Mentor’s Questa ADMS simulator has been extended with two new methods:

    [LIST=1]

  • Providing UPF-controlled, SPICE-level power to AMS instances as needed
  • Defining signal connect elements that are aware of power state of each UPF power domain.

    If you’re visiting DAC this week, then stop by booth #1733 and ask about Questa ADMS.

    lang: en_US

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    Don’t Eat Rubber Chicken in the Best Food City in the World

    Don’t Eat Rubber Chicken in the Best Food City in the World
    by Paul McLellan on 05-31-2014 at 8:55 am
    Categories: Events
    2 Comments

    You are going to DAC next week. And you don’t want to eat a Moscone Center rubber chicken Caesar salad for lunch. But you lack local knowledge. So here are some places within a 10 minute walk (these are just places I like. Nobody is paying me to recommend them).

    The food court in the San Francisco Center on Market Street between 4th and 5th Street. This is to normal mall foodcourts the same way San Francisco Airport food is to normal airports. It’s actually good. There are two food courts, but far and away the best is the one at the 4th street end of the building. Go in the first entrance you come to walking along Market Street and go down the escalator. It has an amazing selection of ethnic food (Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, gourmet burgers, Vegan Chinese…is that even a thing?).

    Indian: Chaat Cafe on the corner of 3rd Street and Folsom. The Tandoori mixed grill is a particularly good bargain if you have a crowd, a lot of meat for not many rupees.

    Thai: Osha on another corner of 3rd Street and Folsom.

    Mexican: Chevy’s on corner of 3rd Street and Howard Street. A chain but a good one. Everything is fresh.

    Brew pub and tapas (yes, both, really): Thirsty Bear on Howard between 3rd and 2nd Streets.

    Pizza: California Pizza Kitchen on 3rd between Mission and Market Streets.

    Chinese: Henry’s Hunan on Natoma Street just off New Montgomery Street. Don’t miss Diana’s Special Meat Pie.

    All these places are a 5 or 10 minute walk from Moscone. Enjoy.

    The Design Automation Conference (DAC) is recognized as the premier conference for design and automation of electronic systems. DAC offers outstanding training, education, exhibits and superb networking opportunities for designers, researchers, tool developers and vendors. The conference is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDA Consortium), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and is supported by ACM’s Special Interest Group on Design.


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    DAC is Next Week!

    DAC is Next Week!
    by Paul McLellan on 05-31-2014 at 3:03 am
    Categories: Events

    DAC starts on Sunday. If you are in San Francisco on Sunday then the first event is the normal welcome reception. This is the ultimate networking event in EDA. It is in the Intercontinental Hotel about a block from the convention center and runs from 5.30 to 7pm. This is preceded by Gary Smith’s traditional kickoff from 5pm to 5.30pm. If you miss it on Sunday it is repeated in the Pavilion on the show-floor early on Monday morning. Dan and I will both be there on Sunday night.

    It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that Dan Nenni and John Cooley don’t have a great relationship. But I’m totally agnostic on it. Cooley’s DAC guide is out and you should totally print it out and use it to guide yourself around the show-floor. It is here. I’m not going to claim that John’s opinions are accurate on everything, he has his biases of course, but I’m willing to bet he has put more thought into what to see at DAC than you have. You have no time, right? We have guides to various companies on SemiWiki, in much more detail, but as a comprehensive guide to DAC you cannot beat John’s guide. So read the SemiWiki guides which have a ton of detail and use John’s guide for the big picture and to fill in the gaps.

    The biggest event of the whole show, better even than the keynotes, is (OK I’m biased) the Tuesday night cocktail party sponsored by SemiWiki and eSilicon where you can get a free copy of “Fabless” the best book ever written (OK, the only book ever written) about the semiconductor industry’s transition from IDM to foundries, the growth of TSMC, EDA’s importance in the ecosystem and more. The book signing and DAC evening is 6-7pm in the Esplanade Foyer. I’ll be there. You should be too (and you don’t have to sign a thousand books).

    Talking of keynotes, Cliff Hou of TSMC is giving the keynote on Monday. It is a slightly weird time so don’t miss it just because you are pre-occupied (hilarious, our CMS doesn’t recognize pre-occupied but suggests pee-occupied as an acceptable alternative. I’m not going there, make up your own joke). It is at 3.25pm in Ballroom 102.

    DAC has two special additional areas of focus this year. IP and automotive. There are special tracks, special panels and so on. Did you know that 30% of the value of a modern car these days is in electronics. Think about it? What recent development in cars (Tesla, hybrids, engine-control ABS, navigation…) is not really just adding electronics to the metal. Delphi used to tell me that GM spun out the wrong bit, they should have kept the electronics and outsourced the metal-bashing. But they went bankrupt due to inherited pension obligations, so not exactly a convincing case.


    More articles by Paul McLellan…