Blog Post: Analog Applications Spotlight: Anthony Fagnani
Published. May 23, 2013

I'm pleased to welcome Anthony Fagnani to the Power House blog. Anthony is the mind behind the article "Synchronous rectification boosts efficiency by reducing power loss" featured in TI's Analog Applications Journal newsletter. Welcome Anthony! What is the problem/challenge you saw that spurred you to write “Synchronous rectification boosts efficiency by reducing power loss”?  As an applications engineer at Texas Instruments, my group had just released our...

hard drive docking station usage with 3.5'' Hard Drive
Published. May 22, 2013

Chaps, just bought a Hard drive docking station for my 3.5" Hard Drive. This can be used for all sort of things, 3.5, 2.5, SD, USB etc etc, you can see it in the first picture  At the bottom there is a button that has allegedly something to ......

Industry’s First Demo of USB 3.0 SSIC and MIPI M-PHY Passing USB Compliance Tests
Published. May 17, 2013

I’m proud to report Synopsys is the first and only company to demonstrate a real USB 3.0 Host and USB 3.0 Device working with a real MIPI M-PHY and not only demonstrating traffic, but demonstrating how we can pass the tests run by the standard USB Compliance Verifier (USBCV) 3.0. Before we begin, remember that SSIC [...]...

Chris A. Ciufo on All Things Embedded

Intel vs GM: What’s In Store for Intel’s New CEO, President
Published. May 2, 2013

Today chip giant Intel announced outgoing CEO Paul Otellini’s replacement: he’s Brian Krzanich, former Intel COO and likely an Intel lifer. As Otellini bids goodbye at the annual stockholders’ meeting on May 16, Krzanich moves in as the company’s sixth … Continue reading →...

Mocana Device Blog

Huawei And ZTE USB Modems Vulnerable
Published. March 19, 2013

Two Russian researchers reported at Black Hat Europe last week that 3G and 4G USB modems provided by carriers have insecure software, in particular they cited those made by the Chinese company Huawei. Researchers Nikita Tarakanov and Oleg Kupreev looked at modems provided by Russian operators and used in Europe and other parts of the [...]...

Mocana Device Blog

Huawei And ZTE USB Modems Vulnerable
Published. March 19, 2013

Two Russian researchers reported at Black Hat Europe last week that 3G and 4G USB modems provided by carriers have insecure software, in particular they cited those made by the Chinese company Huawei. Researchers Nikita Tarakanov and Oleg Kupreev looked at modems provided by Russian operators and used in Europe and other parts of the [...]...

EDA Blog

Kontron Unveils SMARC Starterkit for Embedded ARM Processors
Published. April 17, 2013

Kontron introduced the SMARC Starterkit. The ready-to-use kit enables developers to get started with embedded ARM processors. The Kontron SMARC Starterkit includes a sturdy transport case, has all the cables already connected and is equipped with all the necessary components, including a display and power supply. All documentation is provided on a USB drive. The [...]...

Verification Martial Arts

SNUG-2012 Verification Round Up – Miscellaneous Topics
Published. March 29, 2013

In my final installment of the series of blogs summing up the various SNUG verification papers of 2012, I try to cover the user papers on the Design IP/Verification IP and SystemC and SystemVerilog co-simulation. Please find my earlier blogs on the other domains here: System Verilog Language, Methodologies & VCS technologies DesignWare core USB3.0 [...]...

Verification Martial Arts

SNUG-2012 Verification Round Up – Miscellaneous Topics
Published. March 29, 2013

In my final installment of the series of blogs summing up the various SNUG verification papers of 2012, I try to cover the user papers on the Design IP/Verification IP and SystemC and SystemVerilog co-simulation. Please find my earlier blogs on the other domains here: System Verilog Language, Methodologies & VCS technologies DesignWare core USB3.0 [...]...

#CHIPS: "Automotive Weight Cut by In-Vehicle Net"
Published. March 20, 2013

First it was drive-by-wire which cut the mechanical linkage between the gas pedal and the engine, now all the rest of the subsystems on a car are getting networked, thus eliminating the need for dedicated wires, potentially saving up to 150 pounds by nixing the need for four miles of copper wire. By using Freescale's smarter Qorivva processors--announced today at Semicon China 2013--connected by Ethernet to satellite 12-MagniV microcontrollers, almost every electronic subsystem in a vehicle can be...

Electronics Engineering Video Blog Podcast

EEVblog #436 – Saleae USB Logic Analyser Review & Teardown
Published. March 9, 2013

Review and teardown of the 8 channel Saleae USB Logic Analyser. Forum Topic HERE...

Frank Schirrmeister Blog

Securing Invisible Things … or “Why Denial Works!”
Published. February 28, 2013

The opening keynote of the Embedded World conference in Germany left me with chills. No, it was not a grand theatrical performance letting me crave for more. It simply scared the bejevies out of me with respect to the safety and security of embedded devices, some of which I use each day. Luckily -- as in so many other areas of life -- the cure simply lies in proper prevention before bad things happen. And guess what, tools like our System Development Suite may be central to the answer!Stuart...

The 20-nm eyes have it right first time!
Published. February 12, 2013

As many of my readers have experienced, getting your first silicon in the lab can be an exciting albeit nervous moment. In this post I am showing 20-nm silicon results – eye diagrams with excellent performance of some of the popular interface IP’s such as USB, PCI Express and MIPI. These all came up working [...]...

FPGA Blog

Microsemi Announces SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA Starter Kit
Published. February 7, 2013

Microsemi introduced the SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA Starter Kit. The tool offers engineers a prototyping platform for the Microsemi SmartFusion2 system-on-chip (SoC) field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The kit supports interfaces like Ethernet, USB, SPI, I2C and UART. It includes a comprehensive breadboard to support unique design requirements. Read more Microsemi Announces SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA Starter [...]...

Windows Embedded Blog

.NET Gadgeteer Robot (blog link)
Published. December 8, 2011

You’ve probably heard about the .NET Gadgeteer kit (link to Microsoft Gadgeteer site – and link to Microsoft Research Gadgeteer site) which gives the ability to rapidly develop cool/interesting hardware/software solutions without needing to know much about hardware – building a simple digital camera that takes photos and stores the images on a USB stick is less than five minutes work (both hardware and software), there’s a set of interesting (and growing) hardware devices that can be added...

Lenovo ThinkVision LT1423p Becomes First USB 3.0 Mobile Touch Monitor
Published. January 28, 2013

March 2012 Optional Updates are on ECE for Standard 7
Published. April 6, 2012

The March 2012 Optional Updates are now available on the ECE site for Windows Embedded Standard 7. The list below applies to Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1 with Windows Media Center for Connected Media Devices installed, and fixes the following issues: KB2685764 - Custom Satellite file cannot be loaded to consume Microsoft EPG data. KB2686747 - Autoplay pop up cannot be disabled in Media Center. The list below applies to Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, and fixes the following issue: KB2685747...

Processors for Raspberry Pi and Arduino CoMs
Published. January 22, 2013

by Jim Harrison Two popular low cost computer-on-modules (CoM) are the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino. Raspberry Pi reportedly sold out the 11,000 unit first production run in one day. So what’s the big deal? Price of $25 or $35 is the big deal. With HDMI and Ethernet 10/100 and USB connections, the credit card [...]...

Laptops and Desktops Blog

CES 2013: HP launches U160 USB-powered travel LCD monitor
Published. January 8, 2013

HP hopes you'll want to take this 15.6-inch display along with you and your laptop....

Denali Memory Blog

The 3D SSD
Published. November 29, 2010

You need three things from a solid-state disk (SSD): speed, capacity, and reliability. You need three things from a portable SSD: speed, capacity, reliability, and diminutive size. And you can’t get much smaller than packing an SSD into the form factor of a USB memory stick. That’s exactly what LaCie has done with its FastKey drive. It’s packed a 30 to 120Gbyte USB 3.0 SSD into the form factor of a slightly oversized USB memory stick but the LaCie FastKey doesn’t perform like a memory stick....

Creating Custom File Systems and the Linux Loop Device
Published. November 5, 2012

A few weeks ago we had a crisis at our house. My son managed to delete the data from my daughter's USB memory stick. Not only did he delete it, but he did it in such a strange way I have no idea what he could have done. She was not too happy since all of her recent school work was on the memory stick. My best guess is that he deleted it by mistake, recognized what he had done, went into the recycle bin, but instead of restoring the files, tried to manually copy the files back to the stick...

Some Final Real-World Assertions for the Holidays
Published. December 20, 2011

My last "real-world assertions" blog post seems to have tickled a bunch of people with my story about the racy narration at the historic Red Fort in Delhi. I've heard from several folks who have also seen the show and had a similar reaction. Just out of curiosity, I did a Web search and found a half-dozen or so other blogs and travelogues with comments similar to mine. Concluding my series, and in the spirit of the holiday season, here are a few final amusing incidents related to shopping...

Conversation Central

The Ridiculously Ubiquitous USB
Published. October 16, 2012

Guest: Jeff Ravencraft, President & COO, USB Implementers Forum, Inc. Host: Karen Bartleson, Sr. Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc. Welcome to the Season 3 premiere of Conversation Central. We have shortened the program and added video. Please give us your feedback. If your browser doesn’t support Flash, click here to download the show and play [...]...