WiPry Clarity from Oscium is a tri-band Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer that lets you view wireless activity on Wi-Fi 6/6E, as well as legacy Wi-Fi bands. Using the free Windows or Mac software, the tool displays the invisible wireless landscape to find interference that negatively impacts network performance. It exposes dead spaces, pinpoints sources of interference, … Read more
LightFair 2022, held June 21-23 in Las Vegas, was something of a reboot after last year’s show that took place in New York City during the pandemic. Attendance was approximately the same as last year (about 10,000) but exhibitor count was slightly lower (327 exhibitors) with several significant customary participants choosing to skip this year … Read more
Although wearable and hearable technologies seem like an extension of the previous generation of handheld devices, the innovative features needed to improve their value, user experience, and functionalities add a significant level of complexity. For example, adding sleek features and functionalities into a smartwatch has to be done within a rigid form factor and power … Read more
This article aims to demonstrate the design of a smart brightness-controlled lamp with a motion sensor using a programmable mixed-signal matrix with four outputs, operating voltage up to 13.2 V, and 2 A current per output. The system is created using high voltage macrocells and other internal and external components within the chip to interact … Read more
Look back at my roughly 20 years’ worth of coverage of various iterations of Apple’s yearly mid-summer conference, and you’ll notice that software and services announcements dominate. This should be no surprise; the “D” in WWDC stands for developers, after all, and the bulk of Apple’s developers create software apps that tap into Apple’s operating … Read more
Many years ago I worked in the R&D department of a company which developed and manufactured specialized consumer products. One of our products had a separate power supply which included an LCD display and programmable controls. Those were the days of 8-bit microcontrollers and monochrome LCD displays. I was tasked with designing a test jig … Read more
GrAI Matter Labs (GML) unveiled the GrAI VIP, a sparsity-driven AI SoC optimized for ultra-low latency and low-power processing at the endpoint. According to the company, the vision inference processor drastically reduces application latency. For example, it can reduce end-to-end latencies for deep learning networks, such as Resnet-50, to the order of a millisecond. A … Read more
Do you sometimes get the feeling that everything is junk? Me too. Of course, there's junk, and then there's JUNK. One applies different standards to a $1 toy from China and a high-end product costing five figures. It's the latter I'm going to look at today. Join me in figuring out how you'd design it … Read more
I've tested (and tore down) several network-controllable power switches of late; Belkin’s WeMo and, more recently, TP-Link’s HS100, both Wi-Fi based. Then there's GE's (sold under license by Jasco) Avi-on line. Unlike the others I just mentioned, it's Bluetooth-based, and with a twist. Each Avi-on unit is not only a receiver but also a mesh … Read more
Amazon's Dash Button, which I previously mentioned back in late May 2015, is the ultimate in consumer convenience (or, if you prefer, consumerism gone crazy). Simply press a button on the inconspicuous adhesive-backed device (perfect for attaching to your washer and dryer, refrigerator, counter, or cabinet), and your Amazon account is charged for the purchase … Read more
