EE Times Current

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: In the last five years, the number of commercial companies looking to exploit nuclear fusion has doubled and investments in those companies have skyrocketed. Why now, after decades of minimal progress? Our guest is Melanie Windridge, plasma physicist and the author of a recent report that surveys the fusion industry.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: We’re going to just space out on this edition of the Weekly Briefing podcast: The US is on the verge of two significant launches, one a project to establish the viability of using lasers instead of radio waves for space communications, the other one of the most powerful scientific instruments ever devised, the James Webb Space Telescope. With veteran aerospace editor George Leopold.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: Exactly 50 years ago, one of the most significant products in electronics history was introduced: the microprocessor. It was inevitable that someone would invent one. It was hardly inevitable that it would be Intel. The story of the first microprocessor.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: The world lacks the ability to track individual health in near real-time. Roswell Biotechnologies says it has married accurate bio-sensing with the economies of scale associated with digital ICs. A conversation with Roswell Biotech founders Barry Merriman and Paul Mola.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: Facebook plans to maintain its business empire by building a virtual empire. But what does betting on virtual reality mean as a practical matter? A rollicking discussion with Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Also, an interview with Avnet CEO Phil Gallagher.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: AI is the biggest story in the electronics industry, and by several measures Sambanova ranks among the biggest AI companies. An exclusive interview with SambaNova chief technologist Kunle Olukotun, who talks about what AI can do, AI supercomputers, and something called “dataflow threads.”

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: Wave power has lagged behind solar and wind, but it has perhaps the greatest potential. This week we talk about wave energy with C-Power CEO Reenst Lesemann and Bill Schmitz, president of Northwest Power. Our other guests include NXP CTO Lars Reger and Gianluca Pisanello from First Light Fusion.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: The world economy is reeling. Despite the travails, the electronics industry has been doggedly slogging on — but can it keep going? A conversation with Renesas EVP Sailesh Chittipeddi about the industry’s improving outlook, fab capacity, customer demand, green engineering, and more. Also, an interview with Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino. Sponsored by Renesas.

On the Weekly Briefing podcast: Prosthetic vision, a common concept in science-fiction, has long been out of reach in reality – but perhaps for not much longer. Researchers are about to start experiments to see if they can restore vision to the blind using prosthetics based on advanced sensor technology. Our guest is Philip Troyk, head of the Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering at Illinois Tech and the CEO of semiconductor supplier Sigenics.

This week’s podcast: AI is different from traditional computing, and it is stressing supporting technology in entirely new ways. That goes not only for processors (as one might expect), but also for memory chips. This week, a conversation with Steven Woo of Rambus, on the special challenges of AI.

This week’s podcast: Some amazing things have been accomplished with AI, but if AI is to become widely adopted, it must be safe and reliable, and there is no framework for demonstrating AI is either. Helen Toner, Director of Strategy at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, talks about what safe, reliable AI should look like.

This week’s podcast: We’ll be talking about the IoT, why AI and ML are critical at the edge, not just for applications, but for security. Our guest this week is Chris Catterton; he’s the head of solution engineering at a startup that two weeks ago was called OneTech but as of this week has been renamed Micro.AI.

This week’s podcast: Facebook is heading for the metaverse, and Nvidia toward the omniverse. These “places” are going to combine the real and the digital in many different ways, but they’ll all depend on display technology. We talk with Jon Peddie and Kathleen Maher from Jon Peddie Research about what a metaverse might be, and what metaverses mean for the electronics industry and, more importantly, for the us as we interface with the world.

This week’s podcast: After designing the world’s first working microprocessor and then pioneering in artificial intelligence, Federico Faggin has one last great frontier left to explore: human consciousness. A free-wheeling conversation with an industry legend on machine learning, quantum physics, experience, and more.

This week’s podcast: Our guest this week is Hassane El-Khoury, who nine months ago was named president and CEO of Onsemi (formerly ON Semiconductor). We talk about the transformation of the company, and what it’ll take to succeed in the semiconductor market when every IC company is going after the same growth markets.

This week’s podcast: Tyson Tuttle spent the majority of his career at Silicon Labs, at the C-level for the last 12 years, and now he’s moving on from the company. A discussion with Tuttle about the risk of betting it all on the Internet of things, on where the IoT might be going, about managing a modern company, and more.

This week’s podcast: You thought the Internet of things was big? Welcome to the Internet of everything. Our guest this week is Qualcomm Technologies VP of engineering John Smee. Qualcomm is one of the companies defining the standards and building the technology of the Internet of everything. We asked Smee for a Big Picture view of what it is and what it could be, and he delivered: the internet, connected cars, smart cities, VR, 5G, edge systems, and so very much more.

This week’s podcast: Our guest is Intel SVP Sanjay Natarajan. There are only three companies in the world that can make the most advanced ICs possible —TSMC, Samsung, and Intel — and lately, people have been wondering about Intel. Intel just announced a roadmap that will take it to 2025 and (the company says) regain its position as the leading IC manufacturer. We talk with Natarajan about Intel “getting its mojo back.”

This week’s podcast: The advantages of making power ICs in materials like gallium nitride instead of silicon are rapidly snowballing. We talk with guest Doug Bailey, marketing VP and applications engineering with Power Integrations, about what the evolution from Si to GaN means for engineers and how they design products, and also about some very tangible consequences for consumers.

This week’s podcast: As the semiconductor sector evolves, we tend to scrutinize the evolutionary steps – the new technologies, the mergers and acquisitions. That elides the big question: what is the industry evolving toward? A discussion with Tirias Research analyst Jim McGregor on where this bus is heading.

This week’s podcast: A few years back, engineers created the SAM car, a vehicle that enabled quadriplegic former Indy racer Sam Schmidt to drive again. Now they’ve followed with the SAM suit, an exoskeleton that let Schmidt dance with his daughter at her wedding. Sam, the SAM car, and the SAM suit, with Arrow Electronics chief marketing officer Victor Gustaf Gao.

This week’s podcast: EE Times just published the 2021 edition of the Silicon 100, our latest list of startups that merit everyone’s attention. In this episode we talk Peter Clarke, the impresario behind the Silicon 100, about the latest round of startups and what the list says about where the electronics industry is heading.

This week’s podcast: An interview with former NSC member Brigadier General (ret.) Robert Spalding, now the CEO of a company that just emerged from stealth mode with a technology that will not only battle-harden modern 5G networks, it’ll help pave the way to the post-smartphone world. The world is courting disaster by making more and more of everyday life reliant on 5G systems that are vulnerable to cyberespionage.

On this week’s podcast: John Glenn was the third person to do everything he’s most famous for as an astronaut, so why does he have such an outsized place in world history? In this episode we talk with Jeff Shesol, who puts Glenn’s orbiting of the Earth in perspective in his new book Mercury Rising. Shesol reveals for the first time ever that Glenn’s flight was far more perilous than anyone had ever let on before.

On this week’s podcast: Colonial Pipeline got hacked, which forced the company to shut down the gasoline supply to much of the East Coast for about a week. People are finally beginning to understand how widely vulnerable we all are to cyberattacks. But how vulnerable are we? And what can we do about it? A conversation with cybersecurity expert Damon Small of NCC Group.

On this week’s podcast: Kristina M. Johnson is an engineer who has had a hand in several innovations in optoelectronics, started companies, run engineering schools, and served in as an Undersecretary in the Energy Department. We talk with her about encouraging young engineers, her experiences in engineering, and about receiving the inaugural IEEE Dresselhaus Medal.

On this week’s podcast: The adoption of renewable energy sources complicates the process of managing power grids. To compensate, the industry is trying to develop massive storage batteries, but what if we were to tap the batteries in electric vehicles instead? We talk with Infineon’s Ritesh Tyagi about vehicle to grid technology, or V2G.

This week’s podcast: Space exploration was once the exclusive province of nation-states. Now space is being commercialized. But what does that mean, exactly? Where are we heading, and how will we get there? In this episode, the new space race — what it means for aerospace, communications, nanomedicine, and for humanity in general. Our guest is futurist Ian Khan.

This week’s podcast: There is so much more to learn before machine vision is anywhere near as capable as human eyesight, but we’re making progress toward that goal all the time. This week we discuss progress in the field of machine vision with Jeff Bier, founder of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance.

This week’s podcast: The concept of smart cities got a lot of buzz 20 years ago, and then the hype died. But in the intervening years, there’s been a lot of activity preparing for a resurgence of smart city efforts. This week we examine what’s happening with smart cities, and why smart city technology might be on the verge of significantly wider adoption, with our guest Mari Silbey of smart city advocates US Ignite.

This week’s podcast: Silicon Labs just sold off a thriving business line that represented 40 percent of sales. Junko Yoshida interviews Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle on why a company would do something like that. Also, the Artful Engineer, with application engineer and singer/songwriter Jim Heckroth.

This week’s podcast: Nvidia is as dominant in its area of expertise — GPUs, as Arm is in its area of expertise — processor core designs. Each already has an enormous amount of market power. Is letting them combine a good idea? A critical look at the proposed combination of Nvidia and Arm with analyst Mike Feibus, who’s got a new report examining the potential merger.

This week’s podcast: Ten years ago, Arm introduced its v8 architecture of its processor cores, which turned out to be a pretty big deal. The company just revealed v9. The announcement was light on details, but details were available if you just looked for them. Tirias analyst Kevin Krewell looked for them. We talk with him about what he found.

This week’s podcast: Every year, the automotive industry is offering vehicles with increasingly autonomous capabilities. There is a problem in how it describes its progress that is already undermining vehicle safety. This week: the trouble with Level 3. Also, workers at an Amazon facility are voting on whether or not to unionize. A look at the nature of work in the high tech industry.

This week’s podcast: People were wondering if Intel would finally get out of the IC manufacturing business. Instead, it’s going to broaden its manufacturing operations in a standalone foundry business. We talk with analysts Jim McGregor and Kevin Krewell, who explain the move. Also, we’ve got a new, up-to-the-minute reference guide on gallium GaN power electronics; we preview what’s in it.

This week’s podcast: Electronics manufacturer love to call their products reliable, but are they really? One way to find out is to take them places where failure is not an option. Our guest this week is engineer and mountaineer Matt DuPuy. We talk about relying on gadgets in places that are hostile to humans and electronics alike. Also — science & art are more akin than we realize. An interview with engineer and musician Jack Weast from Intel.

This week’s podcast: Colin Barnden, an analyst and a regular contributor to EE Times, recently came to an intriguing supposition: car makers are likely to give up their factories, just like most semiconductor manufacturers gave up their fabs. This week Junko and I talk with Colin about his rather startling prediction.

This week’s podcast: The biggest technology companies in the world have been reshaping business, society, and culture – and they’re facing mounting opposition to what they’re doing. A conversation with Robin Gaster, author of the book “Behemoth: Amazon Rising.” Also: the way we’ve been listening to music lately, there’s been little emphasis on audio quality. Qualcomm is seeking to change that with high-def audio technology and what it hopes will be an extensive ecosystem of partners.

This week’s podcast: Nvidia’s proposal to buy Arm is one of the most consequential acquisitions in technology history. Opposition is said to be mounting, but will those opposed put up enough resistance to scuttle the deal? This week, a discussion with industry analyst Mike Feibus about the perils of the merger, and the perils of opposing it.

This week’s podcast: There is only one inherently electronic instrument in common use. In this episode, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the theremin, we talk about the history of the instrument, how it works, and how to play it, with Cyril Lance, CTO of Moog Music, which makes theremins, and with musician Jonathan Segel from the band Camper Van Beethoven.

This week’s podcast: Automakers are beginning to introduce more safety features that can temporarily take over for drivers, and gradually more and more vehicles will be able to drive themselves. However, there’s little clarity for drivers what each feature actually does, when, and under what circumstances. When it isn’t clear who’s responsible – the driver or the car – that’s called “mode confusion.” It’s well known to military aviators, but to hardly anyone else. We talk with former Navy fighter pilot, engineer, and autonomous systems expert Missy Cummings about the risks to motorists if automakers fail to plan for mode confusion.

This week’s podcast: AI is beginning to pervade a boggling array of electronic products. We’ll have a discussion with Geoff Tate, the co-founder and CEO of AI specialist Flex Logix on designing with artificial intelligence. Also, one of the big trends in the electronics industry is the development of open technologies. What do we mean by open technology, and why is it becoming such a big deal now? A discussion with industry analyst Kevin Krewell.

This week’s podcast: Cars have always been mostly mechanical systems; but they’re on their way to becoming mostly electronic systems. Junko interviews Qualcomm SVP Nakul Duggal on the future of electronics in the automotive industry.

This week’s podcast: We feature a conversation with Lars Reger, CTO of NXP about how companies have adapted to managing workers in this new work-at-home era. Intel just hired prodigal son Pat Gelsinger as CEO, and Intel watchers are excited. We’ll talk about Intel’s prospects with Jim McGregor, principal analyst with Tirias Research. Also, a chat with Arm’s Chet Babla about the automotive industry, a hot new market for electronics.

This week’s podcast: Even when virtualized and down-sized, the Consumer Electronics Show is too vast for anyone one person to get through alone. Relying on coverage from EE Times and our full network of sister publications, we take you on a tour of the big surprises, the innovations, the letdowns and a bit of the weirdness of CES 2021.

This week’s podcast: Like so many others, we’re happy to put 2020 behind us, but the past informs the future. We poll our panel of experts on what the world can expect out of the electronics industry in 2021. It’s our Predictions Podcast.

This week’s podcast: The electronics industry is approaching the limits of two fundamental physical barriers, Moore’s Law and Shannon’s Limit. That has some interesting ramifications for nearly every stretch of the global datacommunications network, from undersea cables linking to data centers.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: This week, our podcast is a holiday greeting from EE Times editors around the world — and our families — to you. No matter which holiday you celebrate, sacred or secular, December has become a global gift-giving season. What we want, and our wishes to you, ranging from electronics, to unexpected requests, to good measures of peace, and healing, and joy.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: The capacitive touchscreen was a major leap in HMI, but NextInput is offering further steps: force sensing and gesture. A talk with NextInput CEO Ali Foughi. Also, when we invoke the IoT, we tend to focus on the “things” even though the prerequisite is the “Internet” half of the equation. A discussion on how wireless LANs are enabling some of the biggest IoT applications to date.

The Weekly Briefing podcast: Xilinx's Gen 3 RFSoC is aimed at inherently finicky RF applications like 5G and radar; Pentek founder Roger Hosking talks with us about getting the most performance out of this family of FPGAs. Also, Qualcomm revealed its latest Snapdragon, certain to be heading for hundreds of millions of 5G handsets in China and around the world; a discussion with analyst Jim McGregor about the auspiciously designated 888 (triple fortune in China).