I thought I had done lots of video interviews (44) at last year’s DAC show in San Francisco.   This year I went completely over the top and did 54!

54 EDCAfe Videos Link

One thing I noticed this year is that the interview were going longer and often lasting 5 to 6 minutes.    Everyone had something to say and we’re going to say it!

One video even has a magic trick that really works!  You will be amazed:

“Wicked Rumor, SpyGlass Physical, …and Magic!”

I also did a quick photo gallery of the different booths on the floor of the show.  You can see them at:

64 DAC Exhibit Photos

I hope you enjoy this video blog of the show and learn something that you missed at the Conference.

+Graham

Happy New Year.  A new startup was launched in December that offers a new SPICE simulator that takes advantage of multi-CPU computers to speed analysis of transistor circuits.    Cybereda is the name of the company and was founded by CK Lee, an EDA veteran who has many years experience with analog simulation at companies such as Nassda, Synopsys and EPIC.

The speedup claimed by this new SPICE offering is 10x over popular commercial simulators.  I think they maybe comparing their runtimes to HSPICE.   While faster SPICE simulations are always appreciated, Cybereda also claims that commercial SPICE offerings can easily product incorrect results even with simple circuits.  I took a look at their web-site and they show an example of a MOS device driving a capacitive load.   The commercial SPICE simulator gave the wrong answer.  See http://www.cybereda.com/?page_id=12

My take-away from this is that you always need to check what your SPICE simulator is doing and understand what the impact step-size and tolerance settings have on the results.

Have you been fooled by a SPICE simulation?   Let me know what happened to you.

Best Wishes for Success in 2010!

+Graham

I was at PCB West last week on Sept. 15th.   It was taking place at the Santa Clara Marriott in their large ballroom.  I came in the mid-afternoon so I could take photos for a photo gallery, and to some video interviews for PCB and EDAC Cafe clients.   I had the sense the show was more subdued than previous years but Show management really worked to make it easy for folks to attend, get a free lunch and see some open sessions.  Kudos to Alyson over at Up Media Group for putting an excellent event.

You can see the photo gallery of the show floor at PCB West 2009 Pictures.

The video interviews were with DownStream, EMA Design Automation, Prototron Circuits, Oak-Mitsui and with Valor.  The world of PCB design continues to evolve as it meets the challenges of ever-higher signal frequencies, the need for more efficient and automated methods to create designs, and to improve collaboration.

All of these topics and more are covered in the PCB West 2009 Video Interviews.

Let me know your thoughts about PCBWest and the interviews.

+Graham

Atom processors from Intel are defining the new “netbook” slice of the personal computer market.   They are very popular with ‘power’ users, who want to have another computer to use because of the convenient size and almost disposable cost.  Ultimately targeted for the smaller platforms such as smart phones, Atom-based computers are surprisingly powerful.   If an Atom notebook PC has everything I need to do my day-to-day job then maybe it will begin to steal market share from the traditional notebook market.   Another trend that may accelerate this shift is the use of  ‘cloud computing’ where data is stored in the cloud (some server farm on the net).   Cloud computing reduces further the need for a local high-performance CPU.

Even Intel insiders are wondering what will be the business  impact  caused by the success of the Atom processor.   Will it poison their traditional microprocessor franchise?  Let me know your thoughts!

+Graham

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