A Connected Resolution


Let me first start off with wishing everyone a belated but great New Year! I wish everyone good health and a lot of friendship. And hopefully all those software driven devices around you will make your life better. At least that is the goal and the promise from the industry. I’m a big believer in the benefits of a “connected” future. The Internet of Things really has the potential to i... » read more

10 Years Later—Will Project Delays Stop Faster Technology Innovation?


Every January I enjoy looking back 10 years to learn from the past, consider implications for the future, and have fun picking the worst prediction that did not come true. This year I even can combine my annual trip to the garage where I keep some January issues of IEEE Spectrum with reviewing my own blogging. Five years ago in 2009, I did my first “10-year-lookback” that I called “Bac... » read more

2014 Accellera Standards Are Built on Powerful Shoulders


By Adam Sherer Looking out at the fresh snow coating the landscape here in Buffalo, it’s tempting to look toward 2014 and focus only on the fresh and new. However, if I’ve learned anything about this city from the day I arrived here as a freshman EE in 1984, it’s that you don’t bury your foundation. Instead, you recognize it as your greatest strength, the powerful shoulders upon whic... » read more

A Perspective On Open Process Specification


It is the job of the Process Design Kit (PDK) engineers to deliver a high-quality PDK that properly represents the process requirements and constraints and supports the design flows used by their customers. The PDK engineer takes multiple inputs describing the process and the devices and circuitry in the process and generates the output in the form of OpenAccess technology libraries (techDB), d... » read more

Establishing The Calendar


Back in the dawn of time, when man settled down, stopped being a nomad and wanted to plant crops, it became important to be able to measure time. When was the right time to plant crops and to harvest? When could the rains be expected to come? When would the first frost come? It was no longer good enough to trust doing the happy rain dance or to pray to some gods. It was better to know and under... » read more

Joe Costello To Get Back Into EDA?


While other writers in this world rely on gossip, there is a lot more that can come from hard work and paying attention. Perhaps one of the most famous and charismatic people from the EDA world is [getperson id="11147" p_name="Joe Costello"] – former CEO of [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadence"] and still missed by many. Until recently he was CEO of a company called Orb Networks, a streamin... » read more

The End Is Near


Looking back is easier than looking forward, and looking narrow is easier than looking wide. In 2013, there were several fundamental changes. Change No. 1: IP is now a lucrative market. From Synopsys’ standpoint, it’s been a lucrative market for some time. But the acquisitions made by Cadence, beginning in late 2012, coupled with the push by ARM into the micro-server market and the flail... » read more

Plans Vs. Planning


The end of the year is a good time to look back at what’s happened over the past year, and look ahead to what might happen in the coming one. Two quotes that help my thought process when thinking about the might be coming, “Change is the law of life.” from Kennedy, and “Plans are nothing, but planning is indispensable” from Eisenhower. From my perspective, 2013 has been a good year... » read more

Patenting The Holidays


It happens every year — a new batch of [getkc id="16" kc_name="patents"] related to Christmas ornaments, things to rotate trees, or festive light controllers. Activity really did slow down this year with only six new [getkc id="98" kc_name="utility patents"] and five [getkc id="99" kc_name="design patents"] containing the word Christmas in their title, and a further two utility patents wit... » read more

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Software Programmer


To keep up with the continuous introduction of new gadgets and capabilities in our smartphones, cars, houses and stores, it is clear that we need more software programmers. That is why multiple companies are coming up with new and innovative ways to introduce people — especially children — to programming. To lure them, the makers of these programming products try to mask the programming asp... » read more

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