EE Times Current

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Within 10 years, there will be 50 connected devices per person on earth, most estimates agree. In this episode, we speak with Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs, about the Internet of things and the prep work the electronics industry is doing to get the IoT ready for a significant expansion. Also, the automotive market is making some incredible advances with machine vision systems. We talk with Rob Stead, the guy who has been helping to teach the automotive industry how to see.

Cameras are already nearly everywhere recording images, but machine vision takes it all to a new level — vision implies machines actually seeing (or “seeing,” if you prefer). We talk with machine vision expert Jeff Bier about how embedded vision systems are on the verge of becoming ubiquitous. Also, distribution is about as a prosaic a business as exists. We talk with Jens Gamperl about how his company, Sourceability, is shaking up a business where innovation is uncommon.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: What makes engineers tick? We’ve been doing these surveys, called the Mind of the Engineer, every two years going on nearly three decades now. Jim Warrick of Beacon Technology Partners did the most recent survey for us, and it is chock-full of useful data. We talk with Jim about what’s behind the numbers. Also, the electronics industry loves to establish benchmarks — and then trash them for being insufficient for one reason or another. Junko talks with Ian Riches, who just wrote a report on using TOPS (trillions of operations per second) as a measure for AI processors and accelerators.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: When did our electronics become so hard to use? Junko & I lament the sorry state of nominally “smart” phones, “smart” homes, and other “smart” gadgets. Also, the Hot Chips conference was this week — we discuss the designs that surprised and astounded with Tirias Research analyst Kevin Krewell.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: The AAA just evaluated some of the newest driver-assist features in new cars and it was very, very unimpressed. A discussion on why driver assist is so surprisingly bad, with Junko Yoshida, who wrote the story for us. Also, virtual reality – the technology and the art. The VR film The Great C was entered into competition at the Cannes XR festival and emerged as the winner of the Positron Visionary Award. We have a conversation with two of the creators of the Great C, Luke Van Osch and Steve Miller.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: The semiconductor industry is negotiating two seismic events. First, Arm Holdings, one of the most important suppliers of semiconductor IP in the world, is reportedly up for sale, and the likeliest buyer is Nvidia – with Kevin Krewell (Tirias Research). Second, in the midst of a pandemic, a trade war, and supply-chain disruption, US politicians are working on legislation to encourage more domestic semiconductor technology development – with Dan Hutcheson (VLSI Research), James Lewis (Center for Strategic and International Studies), and Jeff Rittener (Intel).

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Reviving semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. This week, we interview Adam Khan, founder and CEO of Akhan Semiconductor; he is joined by Akhan board member vice admiral Charles “Willy” Moore. We talk about manufacturing capabilities, the increasing interest in semiconductors other than silicon, and the requirements of the U.S. military for advanced electronics. Also, we discuss Intel’s intimation it might stop developing new process technologies and what that might mean for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. – and also speculate how Intel might prosper operating a full-time, leading-edge foundry.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Cadence exec Tom Wong wrote an op-ed for us about how Moore’s Law still pertains. We talk with Wong about More Than Moore, and Beyond Moore – where the IC industry is going, and how it’s going to get there. And auto makers are famous – or infamous – for keeping their options open for as long as possible. So why did Ford just put all of its driver-assist eggs in Mobileye’s basket? A discussion with Junko Yoshida.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Analog Devices buying Maxim Integrated is the largest corporate takeover initiated in the semiconductor industry in four years, but it’s not immediately clear why it has to happen. We talk with veteran business journalist Bolaji Ojo who explains why this is a brilliant maneuver by ADI. Also, the world creates 50 million tons of electronic waste every year; we talk with Back Market, a young company formalizing a process for refurbishing electronic devices so they won’t get trashed.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Auto expert Egil Juliussen has crunched the numbers, and he believes that completely battery-operated cars will be more cost-efficient than vehicles with internal combustion engines within 5 years. We talk to him about that. Also, with a trade war going on, managing the supply chain is suddenly a huge priority. How’s that going? We decided to start at the beginning: basic materials.