An article in the Wall Street Journal sheds light on how modern computer technology can be used to decipher cryptic messages that may have set the course of history.

Court turns down DVR appeal

Copying a movie or a TV show for the purpose of offering a "networked DVR" service is apparently OK, given the Supreme Court's decision today not to review a lower court's ruling on the matter involving Cablevision.

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Is space exploration still worth it?

I went to see Buzz Aldrin at a book signing recently and during his discussion he waxed lyrical on the importance of going to Mars and how critical space travel is.

That struck me as odd: Why did he think it was necessary to convince people of the importance of space travel? His urging only underscored a heresy that I've been wrestling with internally for some time: Is space exploration still really worth it -- and does anyone even care anymore -- given the many other projects and challenges before us that clearly have more benefit?

I posed this in my DSPDesignLine blog. Join the discussion as right now it seems the passion for space is greatly diminished, though the 'curiousity' is still there. Fast-forward to the end portion of the blog, past my own gushing excitement over meeting Dr. Aldrin, and add your two cents to what is a crucial debate to be having at this juncture in history.

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Open-source hardware is like open-source software, sort of

You're likely familiar with the concept of open-source software. But how about open-source hardware? I was introduced to that concept last week during a visit with Bug Labs, based in New York City. The goal of the Bug Labs approach is to reduce both cost and time to market. Peter Semmelhack, President/CEO of Bug Labs, claims that cost and time to market can both be reduced by 50%.

Bug Labs employs a "Lego approach" to hardware and embedded-system development. By this, I mean that they've developed a base computer, which is built with a Freescale i.MX processor (which uses an ARM core). And they've also built a series of I/O modules, things like GPS, WiFi, a camera, a motion detector, and so on. Those modules literally plug into the base computer (they're even hot-pluggable). When you plug them in, they auto-configure, and work almost immediately.

In all, Bug Labs plans to have about 50 modules available by the end of the year. They're also encouraging customers to design their own modules if they're application-specific.

While this concept is probably not the way to go for real high volumes, for low- and mid-volume applications, it makes sense. Continue reading "Open-source hardware is like open-source software, sort of"

Apple's Jobs recovering from liver transplant

Steve Jobs has been recovering from a liver transplant he received about two months ago.

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Replacement for silicon?

The Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University claimed to have found a replacement for silicon.

Physicists Yulin Chen, Zhi-Xun Shen and their colleagues tested the behavior of electrons in the compound bismuth telluride. ''Such material could provide a leap in microchip speeds, and even become the bedrock of an entirely new kind of computing industry based on spintronics, the next evolution of electronics,'' according to SLAC.

That article can be read here.

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Sun scraps 'Rock' CPU project

Sun has canceled its ''Rock'' processor project, according to The New York Times. That article can be read here.

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Hurray for Huawei

For years, China took flack for the turtle's pace at which it reorganized its cellular providers and handed out contracts for upgrades to 3G. Now the ironic good news is China is finally stepping on the 3G gas in the middle of one of the worst recessions the high tech industry has ever seen.

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Intel/Wind River, Take II

I've had a little time to digest it, and I've even spoken to one of the parties involved—a VP at Wind River—as well as one of their chief competitors. I now understand the rationale, but I stand by my opinion that it's not a smart move.

One of the goals that Intel has is to become a more complete system provider, which they can now do by proving the CPUs, the boards, and now the operating system. This is along the same lines that IBM operates, and fairly effectively, I might add.

Where there was some breakdown is when you try to decipher whether this is play for VxWorks (which I think it is) or Linux. The original announcement said that the acquisition will help Intel become a more formidable player in mobile (with Linux) and embedded applications (with VxWorks). My original contention, which I still stand by, was that Intel could have done this just as easily by being a partner of Wind River.

Another part that I have a hard time with is the statement that Wind River will continue to support non-Intel architecture processors, like MIPS, PowerPC, and ARM. I've been down this road before, and that's typically the company line, but at the end of the day, Intel wants to sell chips—their own, not the competition's.

From the standpoint of the competition, it does two things: one is that it legitimizes Linux for mobile applications. The second is that it strengthens the competition's position on non-Intel architecture CPUs. If you're an Intel CPU competitor, you now have to think long and hard about porting a Wind River OS. Continue reading "Intel/Wind River, Take II"

Wind River acquisition by Intel doesn't make sense (yet)

The story behind the acquisition of Wind River by Intel is just starting to take shape. But my initial reaction is, "Why?" Isn't Intel getting enough support already from Wind River? Is it so that Wind River won't be supporting microprocessors that are competitive to Intel anymore?

According to our Embedded Market Study, Wind River is the leader in embedded operating systems space, with about 18% of our audience claiming to use the Wind River OS. Intel is the fifth highest choice for embedded microprocessors.

The announcement by the two companies claims that Wind River "will become part of Intel’s strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices."

I understand where Intel wants to get to, but what I don't get is, why did they have to acquire the company to get this? Could it be that Wind River didn't want to work with Intel? I doubt that was the case.

It reminds me of when Motorola (now Freescale) acquired Metrowerks a few years ago. At the time, Motorola claimed that Metrowerks would continue to support all processors, but that didn't last very long. That acquisition was on a smaller scale because Metrowerks wasn't the industry leader like Wind River.

Will Wind River stop supporting all architectures except Intel? That would likely be the result over time, similar to Metrowerks.

We'll learn more as the story unfolds, but my initial reaction is that this doesn't make sense. Continue reading "Wind River acquisition by Intel doesn't make sense (yet)"