Gesture sensing is a hot topic. Apple recently confirmed the acquisition of PrimeSense for a reported $360 million. PrimeSense is an Israel-based company known for its structured light technology. “Gesture sensing of 3D depth without a controller is the standard for game consoles such as Microsoft Kinect for Xbox and new PS Camera for PlayStation 4. Clearly, a future Apple TV is the logical p... » read more

Synopsys won a deal with Germany’s Hyperstone, which will use Synopsys verification tools for SoCs in industrial, automotive and medical applications. As SoCs used in industrial and “safety-critical” markets grow in complexity and move to more advanced process nodes, more advanced tools also are necessary. Si2 uncorked a new release of its OpenAccess scripting interface—oaScript Exte... » read more

Synopsys’ Brent Gregory is looking at real-world experiments to figure out which EDA software is better. Make sure to check out his stats. Cadence’s Brian Fuller interviews two Samsung engineers in a video about the image technology in smart phone cameras and just how far it’s progressed. Hint: Don’t forget to charge your phone on your next vacation. Mentor’s Colin Walls points ... » read more

Scaling The Quantum Slopes Like any task, there are easy and hard ways to control atoms and molecules as quantum systems, which are driven by tailored radiation fields. More efficient methods for manipulating quantum systems could help scientists realize the next generation of technology by harnessing atoms and molecules to create small but incredibly powerful devices, such as molecular electr... » read more

Arctic Neutrinos From Space Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) has observed high-energy neutrinos stemming from outside the solar system, an event that could provide some clues about the universe. Researchers observed the sub-atomic particles at IceCube, a huge neutrino detector in Antarctica. TUM has observed 28 neutrinos that most likely came from cosmic objects. The IceCube observato... » read more

Many people are predicting that power will be the issue that brings Moore’s Law to an end. Power creates heat and that heat can be destructive to chips, so there are two paths forward – the first is to reduce heat and the second is to get it off chip. It seems as if magnets may be the common key to both approaches. Magnetic Transistors New work by researchers at UC Berkeley soon could t... » read more

BANGKOK — One of the many draws for Western travelers here in Thailand and throughout much of Asia, including China, is the availability of cheap consumer electronics. Unfortunately many of these electronic goods — little-known off-brands mimicking better-known counterparts, or white-label devices being passed off as name-brand products to unsuspecting consumers — typically are technologi... » read more

The resurgent interest in 2.5D stacked die, the introduction of ultra-low-power memory and the relentless focus on low power for the Internet of Things are rather predictable progressions to engineers working in the semiconductor industry. What’s less obvious is how these changes are filtering out into the rest of the market and where it needs to go next. While many people have been talkin... » read more

This tutorial from DVCon 2013 covers the basics of Accellera UPF and then focuses on the features of IEEE 1801 that enable the description of more sophisticated power management systems. The tutorial also provides recommendations regarding migration from Accellera UPF to IEEE 1801 and the methodology changes that are required. And, it presents a UPF-based design flow highlighting the practical ... » read more

We live in an age where it’s very easy to suffer from information overload — even when that information leads to better designs. Power optimization tools have been very well received in the market, with almost every major electronics company using these tools and seeing the benefits. Yet, if a power optimization tool shows you everything you can do to improve your design, it’s too much... » read more