Blog Review: March 2

Ansys’ Bill Vandermark test drives the potential downsides of autonomous cars in his top tech articles of the week. Plus, the world’s first fully robotic lettuce farm and big improvements for old technology.

Synopsys’ Graham Etchells takes a look at what makes FinFET layout methodology different and how ‘smart’ PCells can help.

Mentor’s John Day introduces the Open Lab Alliance, a group of companies joining forces with the goal of speeding up the development of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies through a collaborative test environment.

From a plethora of smartphones to the latest radio technologies, ARM’s Eoin McCann presents six Mobile World Conference highlights.

Also from MWC, Cadence’s Paul McLellan discusses ARM’s take on security. Plus, a virtual reality experience and Formula 1.

In a blog for NXP, Eindhoven University student Yuri Steinbuch discusses his latest project: the world’s first electric touring motorcycle and an 80-day journey around the globe.

The semiconductor industry today is in the unusual position of facing multiple technology inflections at the same time. A Lam Research staff writer takes a look at a few of them.

With the growth of wireless data and charging, will USB fade away? Definitely not, says Synopsys’ Michael Posner.

Rambus’ Aharon Etengoff argues that Features as a Service (FaaS) could open up a wide range of new usage models for semiconductor companies.

And don’t forget the blogs featured in last week’s System-Level Design newsletter:

Editor In Chief Ed Sperling observes that big changes are coming, but not in the usual places.

Technology Editor Brian Bailey questions whether choices based on economics and ROI are the right moral choices.

Synopsys’ Pat Sheridan examines how virtual prototyping impacts power management.

Aldec’s Henry Chan digs into the fundamentals of the newest verification standard.

NetSpeed’s John Bainbridge argues that we need a synthesis tool set for SoC interconnects.

Mentor Graphics’ James Forsyth shows how to make the perfect breakfast at work.

eSilicon’s Mike Gianfagna finds much has changed at high-school science fairs.

Agnisys’ Anupam Bakshi points to important observations from Einstein and New England’s ice traders.

Cadence’s Frank Schirrmeister zeroes in on how to enable the use of connected verification engines.