Episodes

53
Sept. 13, 2019

5G Smartphone ICs | AI and the 4 Clouds | AVs: Competing on Safety

All of the elements of the 5G consumer business are coming together. Network operators are building out infrastructure to expand 5G cellular coverage in more markets. What’s needed next is a wider variety of 5G smartphones. Huawei, Qualcomm, and Samsung – three of the most important manufacturers of integrated circuits for smartphones – all happened to announce new 5G silicon last week. We talk about what was announced and where 5G goes from here. Artificial intelligence is being used to power ...
52
Sept. 6, 2019

A Honking Huge FPGA | “American Factory” Review | A Tale of Two Cities: Hong Kong & Shenzhen

Xilinx just released one honking huge field-programmable gate array. We’ll discuss why anyone would need an FPGA more than one-and-a-half times bigger than the previous biggest. The political protests in Hong Kong have repercussions for the nearby technology hub of Shenzhen – and for the electronics industry at large. Netflix just debuted a documentary called “American Factory” that examines what happened when a Chinese manufacturer of glass products for the automotive market tried to open a p...
52
Sept. 6, 2019

A Honking Huge FPGA | “American Factory” Review | A Tale of Two Cities: Hong Kong & Shenzhen

Xilinx just released one honking huge field-programmable gate array. We’ll discuss why anyone would need an FPGA more than one-and-a-half times bigger than the previous biggest. The political protests in Hong Kong have repercussions for the nearby technology hub of Shenzhen – and for the electronics industry at large. Netflix just debuted a documentary called “American Factory” that examines what happened when a Chinese manufacturer of glass products for the automotive market tried to open a p...
52
Sept. 6, 2019

A Honking Huge FPGA | “American Factory” Review | A Tale of Two Cities: Hong Kong & Shenzhen

Xilinx just released one honking huge field-programmable gate array. We’ll discuss why anyone would need an FPGA more than one-and-a-half times bigger than the previous biggest. The political protests in Hong Kong have repercussions for the nearby technology hub of Shenzhen – and for the electronics industry at large. Netflix just debuted a documentary called “American Factory” that examines what happened when a Chinese manufacturer of glass products for the automotive market tried to open a p...
51
Aug. 30, 2019

RISC-V Microcontrollers | Homomorphic Encryption | VW’s Keyless Innovation

Homomorphic encryption. It’s… well, it’s really complicated. Just stick around and we’ll explain it all. Chinese memory chip supplier GigaDevices just make a huge splash in China introducing a line of RISC-V microcontrollers – the company claims they’re the first general purpose RISC-V MCUs ever. We’ll discuss why this MCUs are significant. Ultra WideBand is back, this time with some brand new capabilities. NXP and Volkswagen collaborated on a clever anti-theft technique for cars that makes us...
51
Aug. 30, 2019

RISC-V Microcontrollers | Homomorphic Encryption | VW’s Keyless Innovation

Homomorphic encryption. It’s… well, it’s really complicated. Just stick around and we’ll explain it all. Chinese memory chip supplier GigaDevices just make a huge splash in China introducing a line of RISC-V microcontrollers – the company claims they’re the first general purpose RISC-V MCUs ever. We’ll discuss why this MCUs are significant. Ultra WideBand is back, this time with some brand new capabilities. NXP and Volkswagen collaborated on a clever anti-theft technique for cars that makes us...
51
Aug. 30, 2019

RISC-V Microcontrollers | Homomorphic Encryption | VW’s Keyless Innovation

Homomorphic encryption. It’s… well, it’s really complicated. Just stick around and we’ll explain it all. Chinese memory chip supplier GigaDevices just make a huge splash in China introducing a line of RISC-V microcontrollers – the company claims they’re the first general purpose RISC-V MCUs ever. We’ll discuss why this MCUs are significant. Ultra WideBand is back, this time with some brand new capabilities. NXP and Volkswagen collaborated on a clever anti-theft technique for cars that makes us...
50
Aug. 22, 2019

‘Smart’ Water Bottles | The Hottest Hot Chip | A Sensors & Photonics Merger

AMS decided to purchase Osram. The former specializes in sensors, the latter in photonics; together they’ll chart an intriguing technological roadmap. We’ll find out what the combination will mean for the market. The Hot Chips conference was held this week. We’ve got a rundown of one of the hottest, an unconventional wafer-scale AI processor from secretive startup Cerebras. Also today: smart water bottles. These are computerized water bottles complete with display screens and WiFI connectivity...
50
Aug. 22, 2019

‘Smart’ Water Bottles | The Hottest Hot Chip | A Sensors & Photonics Merger

AMS decided to purchase Osram. The former specializes in sensors, the latter in photonics; together they’ll chart an intriguing technological roadmap. We’ll find out what the combination will mean for the market. The Hot Chips conference was held this week. We’ve got a rundown of one of the hottest, an unconventional wafer-scale AI processor from secretive startup Cerebras. Also today: smart water bottles. These are computerized water bottles complete with display screens and WiFI connectivity...
50
Aug. 22, 2019

‘Smart’ Water Bottles | The Hottest Hot Chip | A Sensors & Photonics Merger

AMS decided to purchase Osram. The former specializes in sensors, the latter in photonics; together they’ll chart an intriguing technological roadmap. We’ll find out what the combination will mean for the market. The Hot Chips conference was held this week. We’ve got a rundown of one of the hottest, an unconventional wafer-scale AI processor from secretive startup Cerebras. Also today: smart water bottles. These are computerized water bottles complete with display screens and WiFI connectivity...
49
Aug. 16, 2019

Opto Computing R&D | Broadcom Did What, Now? | Testing Autonomous Vehicles

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 16th. Photonics – it’s not just for fiber optics anymore. In this episode, we’ve got a discussion about photonics, quantum sensors, and the potential for an all-optical computer. Broadcom bought Symantec last week. We ask editor Rick Merritt, Why on Earth a chip company would want to get into the market for business software? Over the years, the EDA industry has developed some marvelously sophisticated tools for testing and verifying the design...
49
Aug. 16, 2019

Opto Computing R&D | Broadcom Did What, Now? | Testing Autonomous Vehicles

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 16th. Photonics – it’s not just for fiber optics anymore. In this episode, we’ve got a discussion about photonics, quantum sensors, and the potential for an all-optical computer. Broadcom bought Symantec last week. We ask editor Rick Merritt, Why on Earth a chip company would want to get into the market for business software? Over the years, the EDA industry has developed some marvelously sophisticated tools for testing and verifying the design...
49
Aug. 16, 2019

Opto Computing R&D | Broadcom Did What, Now? | Testing Autonomous Vehicles

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 16th. Photonics – it’s not just for fiber optics anymore. In this episode, we’ve got a discussion about photonics, quantum sensors, and the potential for an all-optical computer. Broadcom bought Symantec last week. We ask editor Rick Merritt, Why on Earth a chip company would want to get into the market for business software? Over the years, the EDA industry has developed some marvelously sophisticated tools for testing and verifying the design...
48
Aug. 9, 2019

5G & Jetpacks | UWB Rises from the Dead | Bob Swan Profile

Are you one of the hundreds of millions of people who can't wait to get a 5G cell phone? Your wait is almost over. Almost. Do you remember ultra-wideband? It was proposed a few years ago. Didn't catch on. But now it's back. The new ultra-wideband is based on a different technology, has new capabilities and is aimed at completely different applications. You'd think they'd come up with a new name, yeah? Also this week, Dylan McGrath got a rare one-on-one interview with Bob Swan, the CEO of Intel...
48
Aug. 9, 2019

5G & Jetpacks | UWB Rises from the Dead | Bob Swan Profile

Are you one of the hundreds of millions of people who can't wait to get a 5G cell phone? Your wait is almost over. Almost. Do you remember ultra-wideband? It was proposed a few years ago. Didn't catch on. But now it's back. The new ultra-wideband is based on a different technology, has new capabilities and is aimed at completely different applications. You'd think they'd come up with a new name, yeah? Also this week, Dylan McGrath got a rare one-on-one interview with Bob Swan, the CEO of Intel...
48
Aug. 9, 2019

5G & Jetpacks | UWB Rises from the Dead | Bob Swan Profile

Are you one of the hundreds of millions of people who can't wait to get a 5G cell phone? Your wait is almost over. Almost. Do you remember ultra-wideband? It was proposed a few years ago. Didn't catch on. But now it's back. The new ultra-wideband is based on a different technology, has new capabilities and is aimed at completely different applications. You'd think they'd come up with a new name, yeah? Also this week, Dylan McGrath got a rare one-on-one interview with Bob Swan, the CEO of Intel...
47
Aug. 2, 2019

Self-Driving: Failure by Design | TinyML | Alibaba’s IC Means So Much

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 2nd. We want the Internet of things to be smart, but being smart requires processing power – which will be lacking in millions of IoT devices. It’s what we call in the business “a conundrum.” But – there may be an answer! You’ll hear what that is. As we reported last week, the biggest companies in the world are beginning to compete with their own chip suppliers. The latest example is Alibaba, which just released a high-performance processor of i...
47
Aug. 2, 2019

Self-Driving: Failure by Design | TinyML | Alibaba’s IC Means So Much

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 2nd. We want the Internet of things to be smart, but being smart requires processing power – which will be lacking in millions of IoT devices. It’s what we call in the business “a conundrum.” But – there may be an answer! You’ll hear what that is. As we reported last week, the biggest companies in the world are beginning to compete with their own chip suppliers. The latest example is Alibaba, which just released a high-performance processor of i...
47
Aug. 2, 2019

Self-Driving: Failure by Design | TinyML | Alibaba’s IC Means So Much

This is your Briefing for the week ending August 2nd. We want the Internet of things to be smart, but being smart requires processing power – which will be lacking in millions of IoT devices. It’s what we call in the business “a conundrum.” But – there may be an answer! You’ll hear what that is. As we reported last week, the biggest companies in the world are beginning to compete with their own chip suppliers. The latest example is Alibaba, which just released a high-performance processor of i...
46
July 26, 2019

How Much is Enough for Hyperscale Companies?

This week we’re mixing it up a bit. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a single topic. It’s how the world’s biggest companies are doing business in ways no company has before – and what that might mean for everybody – not just the technology industry.
46
July 26, 2019

How Much is Enough for Hyperscale Companies?

This week we’re mixing it up a bit. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a single topic. It’s how the world’s biggest companies are doing business in ways no company has before – and what that might mean for everybody – not just the technology industry.
46
July 26, 2019

How Much is Enough for Hyperscale Companies?

This week we’re mixing it up a bit. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a single topic. It’s how the world’s biggest companies are doing business in ways no company has before – and what that might mean for everybody – not just the technology industry.
45
July 19, 2019

Recalling Apollo 11 | What, Exactly, Is a Car? | AI Benchmarks

This week… Artificial intelligence is a vastly complex market. There’s a fierce competition among hardware vendors to be the best platform for AI applications. But first, you have to know what it means to be “the best.” This week, analyst Karl Freund from Moor Insights talks to us about the latest AI benchmarks. Researchers are re-imagining what – fundamentally – a vehicle is. One company just put everything other than the chassis – literally everything – entirely inside the wheels. We’ll expl...
45
July 19, 2019

Recalling Apollo 11 | What, Exactly, Is a Car? | AI Benchmarks

This week… Artificial intelligence is a vastly complex market. There’s a fierce competition among hardware vendors to be the best platform for AI applications. But first, you have to know what it means to be “the best.” This week, analyst Karl Freund from Moor Insights talks to us about the latest AI benchmarks. Researchers are re-imagining what – fundamentally – a vehicle is. One company just put everything other than the chassis – literally everything – entirely inside the wheels. We’ll expl...