EE Times Current

Of course the pandemic disrupted the supply chain. But what about what happened after that? EE Times editors get together to discuss how the coronavirus has affected the technology industry and far beyond. Our colleagues from China report on what the rest of us can expect to experience in the next 4 to 8 weeks. And if you’re quarantined, our staff film mavens offer a list of recommended films for home viewing.

Europe is betting on hydrogen fuel. What’s the agenda —and how do hydrogen cars work anyway? Also, holograms were a huge fad in the ‘70s; now the technology appears to be on the verge of a commercial comeback. Also, AMD emerged as the big winner as supercomputers move into the Exaflops Era.

In an insanely complicated maneuver, Northrup Grumman repaired a satellite in orbit; Maxim Integrated come up with a unique way to protect IoT devices; and System Plus goes way, way beyond simple teardowns.

Sample a smorgasbord of stories from Germany, the U.S., Spain, and parts beyond. Subjects include a unique AI that can be trained on an edge device (no, really!), a ferroelectric memory, designing semiconductor wafers for 5G, and more.

Proponents of autonomous vehicles are selling a dream they’re hoping you won’t notice is unachievable until it’s too late. In this episode: why that is, and the better alternative. Also, a good chunk of the semiconductor industry seems to be pivoting toward audio. A roundtable on voice recognition, and who’s really listening when we talk to our ovens.

This week: A deep discussion on the semantics and semiotics of virtual reality and augmented reality (with a whole lot about VR/AR technology too). Also, XMOS just released a “crossover processor” for voice applications. We talk to XMOS’ CEO to find out what that means.

A new coronavirus emerged in China less than three weeks ago, and already it is disrupting business and affecting the global supply chain; we assess the damage so far, and get a live report from China. Also, the semiconductor industry creates a significant amount of toxic waste; we discuss a new process to reduce semiconductor waste dramatically.

This week...the Trump Administration has been pressuring economic allies to ban the installation of Huawei 5G network equipment. The United Kingdom just said that it will not accede to that demand. But the story is actually a little more complicated than that. Also, there are efforts all over the world aimed at building a thriving high-tech economy. It’s not as easy as it sounds, however. France is deliberately trying to emulate the organic processes that resulted in Silicon Valley.

This week we’ve got an interview with AMD CTO Mark Papermaster, one of the architects of the bold new AMD…also – a conversation with Ron Black, the CEO of Imagination Technologies, which seems to have its fingers in nearly every emerging technological trend out there. And, our editorial director, Bolaji Ojo checks in with the key question for the electronics industry in 2020 – where should everyone spend their money?

A company called Prophesee has developed a completely new way to capture video with what it calls an event-based sensor. At the recent CES show, we caught up with Prophesee’s CEO, Luca Verre. Today you’ll hear our interview with him. Also, the Consumer Electronics Show. It's vast. CES 2020 was last week. EE Times editors saw more products and technologies, and sat in on more sessions, than we had time to write about. We got together to discuss some of the most fascinating things we saw at the show, including the Prophesee event-based sensor, autonomous boats, data privacy chips, quantum computers, smart toilets, automated cocktail shakers, farm equipment, AI-powered toothbrushes… and more!

Day Three of our special series of podcasts reporting live from the Consumer Electronics Show in the Mojave Desert. In the past couple of years, the automotive industry has dominated CES, and this year it’s happening again. In today’s episode: Qualcomm made some headline news, announcing it is burrowing deeper into the automotive market. Also, a live interview with executives from Infineon and Texas Instruments about adding autonomous functions to cars equipped with driver assist capabilities. Plus, an analysis of a novel approach for autonomous vehicles from Intel’s MobilEye unit; and finally, and finally, Toyota surprised show-goers with a plan for smart cities.

Part 2 of our continued coverage of CES Unveiled. In this episode, we interview NXP CTO Lars Reger and talk with an executive of Atmosic, which has created a nifty new Bluetooth device that harvests energy from its environment to power – well – all sorts of things. Also, a live interview with the developers of a squishable portable speaker and a quick recap from the press events held by AMD, which wowed the crowd, and by Intel, which… didn’t.

This is a special edition of our podcast, with reporting live from the Consumer Electronics Show in fabulous Las Vegas!

This week, we talk with author George Leopold, who’s just given us his list of the five best documentaries about space. And, this year we’re doing something different for our annual year in review. EE Times editors are sharing our favorite interviews from 2019.

The next generation of 5G smartphones, gaming on smartphones, and a proposal to enable everyone to keep their official documents – driver’s license, passport – on their phones. We’ll investigate some Qualcomm’s new products and services, and some of the trends it’s enabling. Also, since Qualcomm’s products are intrinsic to so many worldwide trends, the company is also intrinsic to worldwide trade. We’ll have a conversation about Qualcomm, the electronics industry, and Qualcomm’s largely unknown role in the global market.

You might think that if an auto maker is developing the technology for autonomous driving, then creating the technology for assisted driving – a seemingly less ambitious goal – would practically be a gimme. Think again. Also, you’ve heard about Moore’s Law coming to an end. That’s because the industry is in fact getting very close to reaching the physical performance limits of silicon. But there is ample opportunity to keep improving electronics, and one way that will be possible is by using semiconductors other than silicon. And the role that universities play in new technology development is pretty well established. Or at least it was, until AI came along.