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Week 44: IoT impossible Without EDA


Hype and timing aside, the IoT is likely to be the Internet’s next wave. Like all new waves, IoT probably won’t bear much resemblance to the descriptions of today’s prognosticators, though will lean heavily on earlier work and innovation – including by the EDA technologies that remain the core of DAC and our multibillion dollar industry, and the prime enabler of electronic design at lar... » read more

Week 43: Get Ready For A Sizzling DAC Pavilion


We are having some fantastic spring weather here in Oregon. Check out the little video clip of my crazy dog Diesel at the Oregon Coast shot a few weeks back. Mind you, there is no ball in that chucker he’s dancing around for. That’s because, Kismet, my other dog you can see in the foreground, caught the ball and is bringing it to me, occasionally looking back over her shoulder at her somewh... » read more

Week 42: Celebrating The 50th Anniversary Of Moore’s Law At DAC


April 19th will mark the 50th anniversary of Gordon Moore’s now famous paper in Electronics Magazine predicting that the number of transistors on a chip will double every year. In 1975, Moore—Intel’s co-founder—revised the period to every two years, and it is still holding true. Moore’s Law not only became a legendary prediction and long-term planning guide for the semiconductor indus... » read more

Week 41: The Rise Of Security At DAC


All potential attendees interested in security topics should know one thing—the Wednesday keynote on hacking automobiles, while sure to be compelling, will only scratch the surface of security-related content at DAC. Another presenter will talk about how increasing demand for “connected life on the go” and “Internet-enabled everything” opens up a wide variety of security issues for Io... » read more

Week 40: Look Who’s Talking


I have to admit I feel like a child bursting with excitement to announce our designer keynote for Monday’s opening session at DAC. Brian Otis from Google will give a talk entitled, “Google Smart Lens: IC Design and Beyond.” The project made news last summer with the announcement of a licensing deal between Google and Novartis to develop technology to help manage diabetes. It will be great... » read more

Week 39: How Safe Is Your Car?


In the age of increased connectivity, security is a major concern for all of us. Every few weeks seem to bring news of another massive breach, making it impossible not to be wary of the security threats we face every day when paying with our credit or debit cards online or in a store. There are so many examples that I’ve occasionally wondered whether I should go back to cash payments. For now... » read more

Week 38: Finishing The DAC Program


The DAC executive committee convened last week for a two-day meeting to finalize the technical program. We call this the Wintermeeting, which by tradition is usually held at a destination chosen by the general chair. This year it was my turn and I selected a dude ranch in Wickenburg, Arizona. While the meeting serves the purpose of locking down all the final details for the conference program, ... » read more

Week 37: Eliminating Glitches In The Matrix


As I’ve often stated, DAC is very much a team effort. Way back in week five I introduced Chuck Alpert, who is vice chair of the conference. Among other things, this title means Chuck will chair DAC 53 in Austin in 2016. Not that he hasn’t been busy with DAC 52. Chuck worked very hard to put together this year’s conference matrix, basically the overall conference schedule. It was big job, ... » read more

Week 36: A Trip To Houston


I have to admit it, I am impressed. Actually “impressed” doesn’t really capture it. I’m awed. On Friday we had the DAC Technical Program Committee (TPC) meeting in Houston—147 members of the TPC spent the day discussing the submitted papers. It was quite a scene. All of us were in one large room, with each big table representing one subcommittee. By the end of the day in Houston, the ... » read more

Week 35: Automotive At DAC


With my adopted hometown preparing for the Portland Auto Show, I thought it an opportune time to revisit automotive at DAC. Scanning the news releases, it seems that here in Portland the focus will be on things like horsepower, handling and, of course, design — the usual fare for an auto show. In contrast at DAC, we’ll be talking about the rapid increase in content and complexity that has m... » read more

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