Blog Review: April 23

Mentor’s John Day looks backward through a smart rearview mirror from Nissan. No glare, even at night or at sunset, and a wider field of vision. You have to wonder why this technology took so long.

Synopsys’ Karen Bartleson wonders when the IoT will actually arrive, given the delay in durable goods, a concern over security and the effects of government regulation. Answer: When we stop talking about it.

Cadence’s Brian Fuller looks at the possibility of 1 million tapeouts a year, which is the target number colleague Martin Lund has proposed. Maybe that will finally get Wall Street’s attention.

ARM’s Brad Nemire interviews an embedded developer, Denmark’s Jens Bauer, about his current projects, his favorite tools, and his favorite gadget—an OLED display. He doesn’t own a cell phone or a tablet.

Ansys’ Justin Nescott highlights the top five tech articles. Check out the one about the furniture that changes shape according to movement and emotions.

Semico Research’s Michell Prunty is back with more terrifying robots. Imagine seeing one of these little devils crawling up to your door. Has anyone seen the cat?

Independent blogger Gaurav Jalan explains what a sequence library is in UVM and how to set it up. If you’re a verification engineer, this is good information. Even if you’re not, it’s good information.

Mentor’s Colin Walls looks at the multiple definitions of wireless, which will become increasingly important to delineate as we move into an era of things talking to things.

Synopsys’ Mick Posner is taking a drug prescribed for plague and anthrax. Who would have guessed FPGA prototyping is so dangerous.

Cadence’s Richard Goering reports on a speech about pre-silicon prototyping by Intel’s Chris Lawless and the limits of a “shift left” approach.

Ansys’ Murali Kadiramangalam highlights an online course about fluid dynamics from the Eindhoven University of Technology. So why exactly do you want to build your own wind tunnel?

ARM’s Sylvek takes a deep dive into compute shaders, including what they are and how to add them into your applications.

Mentor’s Kamran Shah talks with ARM’s Andy Frame about the IoT and the technology challenges ahead.

Cadence’s Kevin Yee takes to the whiteboard to talk about MIPI PHYs in the first of a three-part video series. This is like analog Wednesday.

And in case you missed the most recent Manufacturing, Design And Test newsletter, here are some more noteworthy blogs:

Executive Editor Mark LaPedus looks at rare earth production and why China’s dominance of the market is creating angst.

Mentor Graphics’ Geir Eide digs into statistical enhancement of scan test diagnosis results, which he says can turn failing test cycles into valuable data.

Dai Nippon Printing’s Naoya Hayashi looks at future problem areas in mask writing, and what can be done about them.

SEMI’s Rania Georgoutsakou observes that the EU’s legislative procedure has begun for responsible importers.

And Semico Research’s Joanne Itow zeroes in on security, proprietary interfaces and inertia as risk factors for progress.