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ARM vs. RISC-V

Posted on March 13, 2024 - 6:00 am by

At Critical Link, we spend a lot of time thinking about processors, and for a while now, some of that thinking has been around ARM vs. RISC-V Instruction Set Architectures, or ISA’s which are basically the go-between between hardware and software. So I was very interested to come across an article by Shreyas Sharma, which was published on Wevolver last summer. Sharma’s piece provided a “comprehensive comparison” of these two key architectures, which I’ll summarize here, also offering some thoughts on how Critical Link views the debate.

Let’s set the groundwork with some brief descriptions. ARM is a proprietary ISA. Itself a member of the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) family, ARM has been around in some form since the mid-1980’s. Over time, ARM has become very prevalent when it comes to embedded systems and mobile devices. (Critical Link has developed a number of ARM-based SOM’s.) RISC-V is not exactly a newcomer, but was not commercialized until 2018. Despite its being open source/royalty free, RISC-V hasn’t gained as much traction as ARM. But adoption is rapidly accelerating and is now seen as a more head-to-head ARM competitor, with ARM-based architectures seen as more proven and reliable, while RISC-V is generally viewed as more flexible and, thus, more likely to enable innovation.

Which is not to say that ARM is inflexible. ARM has been licensed by many semiconductor companies who have used the underlying IP to create ARM processor families that have been customized for specific industries and applications. And there are an awful lot of ARM chips out there “with over 180 billion ARM chips shipped to date. Around 30 billion ARM chips are shipped every year.” (Sharma’s article doesn’t include the stats on RISC-V, but the numbers I’ve seen – which admittedly may be a bit out of date by a year or so – put the number of RISC-V processors out there at roughly ten billion.)

Some of the technical highlights of Sharma’s article – which is well worth the read – include the differentiation between the two architectures.

Among other aspects, RISC-V’s design translates into greater modularity and extensibility.

The ISA is designed to be easily extended with custom instructions and coprocessors, allowing for tailored implementations that meet specific application requirements. This flexibility is achieved through a modular design, where the base ISA can be combined with optional standard extensions, such as the M extension for integer multiplication and division, the A extension for atomic operations, and the F and D extensions for single- and double-precision floating-point arithmetic.

The focus of ARM architecture is “on power efficiency and simplicity.”

ARM processors typically implement the ARM and Thumb instruction sets, with the latter providing 16-bit compressed instructions for improved code density and energy efficiency. ARM introduced the Thumb instruction set as an optional 16-bit extension to the traditional 32-bit ARM instructions. This feature enables code size reduction while maintaining reasonable performance, making it suitable for memory-constrained devices like embedded systems.

As noted earlier, there are a number of ARM processor families that enable “specific performance and power requirements.” For high-performance apps, there’s the Cortex-A series. Cortex-R processors are used in real-time applications, while Cortex-M is optimized for energy efficiency and ease of use. So, while RISC-V may be more customizable, the different ARM processor families are to some degree “pre-customized” for specific applications and industries.

Most of the System on Modules Critical Link has brought to market include an ARM processor. These are most commonly of the A variety, for example the dual Cortex-A76 + dual Cortex-A55s that are on the MitySOM-A5E, our Intel/Altera Agilex 5 SoC based solution currently in development. Despite having significantly more processing resources than the Cyclone V SoC, the Agilex 5E will consume 50% less power – a major advantage for developers who are constantly looking for ways to make designs more efficient while also building in more advanced features.

Another of our newer families, the MitySOM-AM62A, includes a Cortex-R5F which customers use for things like managing an EtherCAT master interface, providing safety critical software operation, or real-time handling of attached peripherals.

When it comes to performance, Sharma gives the nod to ARM’s holding the advantage. He does qualify this a bit:

However, RISC-V’s modular nature and customization potential hold promise for specific use cases. The ongoing efforts of RISC-V proponents to narrow the performance gap will be a crucial factor in determining how well RISC-V can match ARM’s established performance standards in the future.

Since power efficiency is one of ARM’s core strengths, it’s no surprise that Sharma gives ARM “a palpable advantage in power efficiency” when compared with RISC-V.

Power efficiency has been a key focus of the ARM architecture since its inception, making it the preferred choice for many mobile and embedded applications. ARM processors are designed to deliver high performance with low power consumption, enabling the development of energy-efficient devices across a wide range of applications…

While RISC-V holds promise due to its customization potential, its open nature requires a more extensive investment of time and resources to fully harness its energy-saving capabilities.

Since it’s been around longer, and has such broad adoption, the ARM ecosystem is far more extensive than that of RISC-V. In Sharma’s view,

… while ARM’s extensive ecosystem offers stability, proven tools, and a wide range of hardware options, RISC-V’s open-source nature fosters collaboration, customization, and innovation.

Sharma also provides some useful discussion on the different business/licensing models for the two architectures. He also gets into use cases. RISC-V: IoT devices such as wearables and home automation systems; ARM: mobile devices, embedded systems, industrial controls, and IoT devices. He does see overlap in many areas, including deployment of both technologies in data centers.)

Sharma’s article delivers on its promise to provide “a comprehensive comparison of [RISC-V and ARM] processor architectures.” There are certainly advantages to each, and while ARM clearly dominates the industrial space – and our offerings — right now, we’re always on the lookout for opportunities to incorporate new (or maybe just new to our portfolio!) technology.

 

Source for image: The Tech Edvocate

 

 

Space age technology

Posted on February 28, 2024 - 5:00 am by

I’m not old enough to remember the first moon landing in July 1969, but I’m pretty sure that my parents were among the millions upon millions of enthralled Americans who watched Neil Armstrong take that first “small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” And as a science-y, tech-y kid I was, of course, interested in the space program.

Science-y, tech-y kids grow up to be science-y, tech-y adults, so naturally, I kept an eye on the February 22 lunar landing of the Odysseus. The landing was a bit marred when, upon touchdown, the spacecraft toppled onto its side. But most of its capabilities remain operational, and so far the mission is considered a success: the first American vehicle to make it to the moon since the Apollo program ended with Apollo 17, which landed in December 1972.

Unlike the Apollo missions, the latest moon landing is largely private. The Odysseus is from Intuitive Machines, a Texas company that runs a commercial lunar program, and it was launched from a Space X rocket.

Still, NASA has played a key role, and the Odysseus carries six NASA instruments.

During the journey to the Moon, NASA instruments measured the quantity of cryogenic engine fuel as it has been used, and while descending toward the lunar surface, teams collected data on plume-surface interactions and tested precision landing technologies. (Source: NASA)

Once the craft landed, the NASA instruments were used for:

…investigating lunar surface interactions and radio astronomy. The Odysseus lander also carries a retroreflector array that will contribute to a network of location markers on the Moon for communication and navigation for future autonomous navigation technologies.

The NASA instruments included their Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing (NDL) guidance system. This technology plays a critical role with respect to descent and landing. And when, just prior to landing, Intuitive Machines experienced a problem with their navigation system, they “leaned on NASA’s guidance system for an assist to precisely land.”

NASA’s instrument operates on the same principles of radar and uses pulses from a laser emitted through three optical telescopes. It measures speed, direction, and altitude with high precision during descent and touchdown.

The other technologies are an experimental device for autonomous navigation; a reflector array for “precision laser ranging;” another demonstration technology – this one a radio frequency mass gauge that will help monitor fuel usage; an instrument that uses radio frequencies “to determine how natural and human-generated activity near the surface interacts with and could interfere with science conducted there;” and stereo cameras to take images that show how the lunar surface is impacted by “the spacecraft’s engine plume during and after descent.”

The NASA technology deployed on the current lunar landing will help with future NASA programs that will send astronauts to the moon looking for water and other resources.

Over time, the technologies developed by NASA end up contributing to civilian products as well.

One of these is close to the Critical Link heart: CMOS technology used in digital imaging applications, and the technology that’s behind cell phone cameras.

NASA technology has also made its way into home air purifiers, “space age” Speedo racing swimsuits, food safety processes, cordless power tools, GPS, CAT scans, Nike’s Air sneakers, dust busters, the jaws of life, memory foam, scratch-resistant lenses…

Who knows what benefits the NASA and other technology used in the current lunar effort will yield down the road. I’m looking forward to finding out, but in the meantime, I’m glad that, after 50 years, we’re back on the moon.

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Information used in this post also came from: NASA 60 Years and Counting, and the Jet Propulsion Lab.  Source for the image: History.com.

 

Technology for the Heart

Posted on February 14, 2024 - 6:00 am by

It’s Valentine’s Day, so thoughts naturally turn to matters of the heart. And at Critical Link, that means matters of cardiovascular technology.

That technology is ultra-critical, especially when we consider that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and few of us will be exempt from experiencing heart-related illness for ourselves and/or for those we care about.

One of the more interesting articles I came across was from Digital Authority Partners, an online marketing services organization (of all things!) that last fall published a very thoughtful high level look at “9 Cardiovascular Health Technologies Doctors Should Know.”

The technologies they focused on are not those that we specifically associate with matters of the heart, but I found it useful to see their perspective. The first technologies they cite are big data and AI “used to detect and predict cardiovascular diseases.”

As it turns out, big data models can predict the likelihood that a patient will develop a cardiovascular disease by looking at clinical, genomic and lifestyle data through disease correlations, drug side effects, and genome research.

One study they looked at reported that “big data can correctly predict the likelihood of a person developing cardiovascular disease in 80% of cases.” Some of the predictive factors are pretty obvious: smoking and weight have long been associated with heart disease, and it didn’t take big data to tell us that. Still, this is good news, in that big data’s more refined predictive capability means that physicians can focus on prevention.

Overall, AI is increasingly used as a diagnostic tool, and will increasingly be used to provide better treatment and outcomes as well.

It’s hard to see the word “blockchain” and not make an association with crypto, but there’s more to it than that. In the healthcare world, blockchain protocols will “make digital transactions [involving patient data] faster and more secure” – and easier to share. Health records are often held in disparate systems, which can make diagnosis and treatment inefficient and error-prone.

Since the first “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” ads appeared, we’ve been aware that voice technologies can save lives. Now we have Alexa, which has “skills” (apps) designed for specific purposes, including one created by the American Heart Association that lets you ask Alexa “to walk you through the steps of CPR…[and to] help users recognize heart attack and stroke victims.” There are plenty of other skills that can help prevent heart disease.

Then there are chatbots, which we typically associate with customer support, but which could also be used to gather health information that help doctors make decisions.

Since lack of fitness is closely associated with cardiovascular disease, Digital Authority points to the potential of mobile gamified (and other m-health) apps that get people moving and lessen the likelihood of their developing heart-related diseases. They also take a quick look at telemedicine, telemonitoring, and “text-messaging interventions.” Interesting to note that “99% of text messages sent by physicians are opened [and] 90% of those are read less than 3 minutes after they are received by patients.” Sounds like a truly effective way to communicate.

Again, this was all pretty high level, but I thought the approach of looking largely at macro technologies and their use was pretty interesting.

And, certainly, other articles I saw underscored the importance of digital health when it comes to cardiovascular diseases. In 2022, the NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information looked at a number of studies focused on the use of digital technology when it comes to coronary artery disease and heart failure. They’re optimistic that even seemingly small applications – like one that reminds someone to take their meds – can lead to better outcomes. Other articles I scanned showed reason to be optimistic.

I’ll end with the words of the American College of Cardiology’s former president, Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, who says “If done correctly, digital transformation holds the answers to the future of cardiovascular care and … truly transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all.”

On Valentine’s Day, here’s hoping that the digital transformation of cardiovascular care will be “done correctly.” As an engineer, I like to think that it will be.

 

Second-hand reporting from CES 2024

Posted on January 31, 2024 - 5:00 am by

Each year, I pay a vicarious visit to CES, the mega consumer technology show held in Las Vegas each January. Here’s some of the products I didn’t see up close and personal:

ZDNet did a best-of-the-best roundup, and not surprisingly it focused on AI technology, which was so central to this year’s show. A few of their choices caught my eye. The TimeKettle X1 Interpreter Hub got their nod as the best overall AI device which “delivers real-time translations in up to 440 languages, with nearly no latency and high accuracy.” It can be used for everything from one-on-one conversations to “real-time translations for up to 20 people in five different languages.” Sounds amazing, and also something that will put a lot of interpreters out of work. The best AI innovation title went to Rabbit’s RI, a hardware device AI assistant that goes well beyond telling you who won last year’s Super Bowl or playing your favorite song. According to its makers, the R1 can “book an Airbnb for you, shop for groceries online and checkout, or start a return for that impulsive Black Friday purchase.”

Everything on ZDNet’s list wasn’t 100% AI-focused. It chose the Holoconnect Holobox as the show’s best overall innovation. This product isn’t quite ready for primetime. No price given, but it’s expensive and it’s the size of a phone booth (which may not mean anything for the youngs, but does let us olds know how big it is – which is too darned big for most people’s living rooms), “but the idea of video calls of the future becoming holograms is super compelling.”

If you’re in the market for a fitness tracker for your dog, ZDNet named the Minitailz Smart Dog Collar the best tech accessory. I’m not sure I need to know how much sleep my pup’s getting, but “one of its most important features is its ability to detect early symptoms of heart disease, potentially saving your dog’s life.”

Tech Crunch devoted coverage to CES 2024’s tech transportation offerings. What stood out for Tech Crunch was that CES is becoming an important auto show, which – as a car guy – works for me. They noted that the US Big Three automakers, along with many other major players (Honda, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, VW…) were all there, with EV’s and AI being the center of attention. ChatGPT voice assistants may well be in your automotive future, as will more and more autonomous driving features, and more and more in-vehicle information and entertainment options.

It wasn’t just cars that Tech Crunch had its eye on. “Electrification has seeped into every corner of transportation from motorcycles and e-bikes to go karts, big rigs, boats and aircraft.” And two new electric scooters from Segway. If you’re more interested in things air-borne, you could go online and buy a personal electric aircraft from Pivotal. If you don’t have the roughly $200K needed for a Pivotal Helix – or even if you do – you may soon be looking to the skies for your Walmart deliveries to come via drone.

Fox News had a report on health tech advances. With the BeamO from Withings, you can do a home health check (including electrocardiogram and oxygen level reading) in just about one minute. If you just want to take your temperature – and do it ultra-fast – there’s the HiitCheck, which lets you measure your temp with your smartphone, in a second without even having to touch your skin. If you or your partner is a snorer, there’s the AI-powered Motion Pillow which “uses sound and pressure sensors to detect your snoring and inflate the airbags to gently move your head and open your airway.” Or you could opt for a full medical AI bed from Ceragem. It may not do much for your snoring, but this “personalized health management platform…can address various health issues, such as abdominal pain, lymphedema, and sleep quality.”

It wouldn’t be CES without robots, so there was the Capsix Robotics iYU “a personal robot masseuse that uses artificial intelligence to customize your massage,” producing an experience that claims to mimic human touch.

NBC News also did some reporting on the robotic action at CES. One of the robots they noted was Doosan’s robot bartender, which provides an alternative relaxing method to a massage. It “uses AI to analyze each person’s facial expression and creates a bespoke cocktail based on the customer’s mood.” Interesting…

NBC also showcased a couple of robotic suits, assistive technology for those needing help walking, running or exercising. Then there’s the PalmPlug, which is not a full suit, but rather a small glove that provides physical therapy for stroke victims. There’s also the Augmental MouthPad which looks somewhat like a retainer and “allows users with physical disabilities to control their touchscreens using their tongues.”

Some technology is just plain fun (like the robot bartender) – and that’s fine – but to me it’s the assistive technology that’s the tech world at its finest.

Anyway, that’s it for what I saw through the lens of a number of media outlets at CES 2024.

What’s on the horizon for 2024

Posted on January 17, 2024 - 6:00 am by

My most recent post took a look at some of the major technology stories for 2023. Needless to say, a lot of attention is centered on generative AI. I ended by saying “Let me go out on a limb with a forecast for 2024: AI will be on everyone’s 2024 trends lists and, come next December, on everyone’s end of year roundup.”

We won’t know about the year-end 2024 roundups for another 11 months, but in terms of trend lists, it sure looks like I called it – at least with respect to Nitin Dahad’s January 2nd piece on embedded.com. He did so through the prism of the embedded technologies that will be at the heart of the products will be on offer at CES 2024, which just finished up (and which I’ll be posting about next time around). Dahad starts out by noting that:

…after the industry ‘hype’ of 2023 around generative AI, [after CES 2024]consumers will begin to understand what it means for them in their everyday lives. Almost every industry vertical will see more connected embedded devices with even more smartness or intelligence at the edge…That means more machine learning (ML) in more and more constrained devices, in the sensors, whether it is for the internet of things (IoT), for industrial automation, for autonomous mobility and software-defined vehicles (SDVs), or for health and wearable devices.

There are three “embedded world” trends that Dahad believes will help bring this about.

First up, he sees improvements in edge intelligence. He focuses his argument on a recent research paper from Apple which addresses the problem of running the large language models (LLMs) essential to AI on devices which are limited when it comes to memory. The Apple solution to “efficiently running LLMs that exceed the available DRAM capacity by storing the model parameters on flash memory but bringing them on demand to DRAM.” Apple claims to have achieved notable success in running large models in constrained environments by reducing “data transfer by reusing previously activated neurons” and increasing “the size of data chunks read from flash memory.” Voila! Edge intelligence equipped for great machine learning and inference.

Dahad also predicts greater visibility when it comes to RISC-V adoption. One indication of the RISC-V market heating up is the founding of Quintauris, a company (backed by some pretty high-powered investors, including NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm) that aims to become the go-to source for all things related to RISC-V based products. Dahad thinks that RISC-V International, the industry association” will be the keepers of instruction set architectures (ISA’s) specifications, and that Quintauris will serves as “a resource for developers needing read-made reference boards and systems for their own development.”

The final embedded technology trend Dahad lists is that the “chiplet business will start looking a bit like IP business.” What does this mean? Well, chiplets are “one of the answers to overcoming the challenges [such as chip scalability, modularity, and flexibility] of enabling the massive compute demands from today’s ML-intensive products, without having to build one monolithic chip at the most advanced (and expensive) process technology available.” Given the promise of chiplets, we should see a buildout of the chiplet business and a proliferation of tools and designs coming from a range of sources.

Again, what’s driving these trends is the growing demand for generative AI/machine learning in all sorts of apps and devices – many of which will have no doubt been on display (virtual and physical) at CES 2024.

 

Image source: Forbes

A recap of the 2023 tech world

Posted on January 3, 2024 - 6:00 am by

When the old year ends and the new year starts, I like to do both a backward look at what happened in the tech year in the past year, as well as what trends are emerging for the upcoming year.

So I’ll ring this year in with a summary of a few articles I saw that recapped 2023.

It will be no surprise to anyone that AI is high on everyone’s 2023 list.

Source: livemint.com

TechTarget’s Kaitlin Herbert reviewed the year from the business perspective, and led things off with a look at the AI arenas that took off last year.

Generative AI holds the promise of revolutionizing various sectors, including personalized education, real-time translation, advanced assistive technologies and streamlined content creation. LLM chatbots — such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard — can increase access to knowledge, foster cross-cultural communication and empower individuals with disabilities.

Herbert raises some cautions, however, regarding built in biases (so far, anyway), the potential for misuse, and a lack of understanding (so far, anyway), that sometimes produces answers and content that are ludicrously wrong. But it’s getting better and better all the time, and, for all our fears that generative AI will end up replacing humans in many high-skilled occupations, it will also lead to new jobs for prompt engineers, content creators, communications professionals, and educators.

The other “big stories” in the tech business that she noted include the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, which impacted many early stage companies; the FTX scam that centered on founder Sam Bankman-Fried, but also involved a number of celebrities who got swept away with their enthusiasm for cryptocurrency (which generally came with a paid gig to endorse it); and the often soap-opera level ups and downs at Twitter/X.

ZDNet’s June Wan focused on 2023’s major tech game-changers. Again, first up was AI, specifically on-device AI, which Wan sees as a big win across the boards.

Running AI applications locally yields four major advantages: 1) All information, including personal, financial, and medical, are stored and processed within the device, not externally, 2) Location data and user preferences and activity can be leveraged to create more personal AI assistants, 3) There will be a noticeable drop in latency and processing times, and 4) The omission of cloud computing significantly reduces the energy consumption of data centers, a betterment for environmental sustainability.

Generative AI for professional workflows was Wan’s next big win, with shout-outs to Canva, Apple, and Adobe for the AI tools they’ve implemented.

Then there’s Microsoft Co-Pilot, the AI assistant for Windows 11 apps, which got more than a little shout out.

At the base level, Copilot on Windows 11 can save users dozens of clicks every day, now that the AI assistant can help navigate those sophisticated location paths to tweak display resolutions, set dark theme timers, and do other mundane tasks. For businesses and enterprises, Copilot will be capable of tackling cybersecurity threats, from risk identification with machine learning algorithms to automated response mechanisms for near-instant defense.

The results of all this?

Such workloads, especially as companies fine-tune these large language models, often require pushing the GPUs (graphics processing units) and RAM in computers and servers to the max, setting a precedent for an AI arms race between the world’s largest semiconductor companies — Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm included. Expect more “for AI” computers, chipsets, and fancy comparison charts in 2024.

The other breakthroughs that Wan noted were wireless TV’s and finger-pinching.

Cutting the cord on your TV may be in the future, but there are questions around latency AND the cost is so far still pretty astronomical, so the wireless TV’s are for those who really want to get in on the ground level of a new technology and have pretty deep pockets.

One of the futuristic wireless TV’s is Displace, where users rely on finger-pinch gestures rather than a remote control. Thanks to devices like the Apple Watch, Apple’s Vision Pro headset, and Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset, finger-pinching will become the new normal, eventually taking the place of the mouse, the trackpad, the capacitive touchscreen.

The devices take different approaches:

The Apple Watch leverages its wrist sensors to track changes in blood flow specific to your index and thumb fingers, while the Vision Pro uses a new R1 chip and sensors to visually map out the skeletal data of your hands.

In the final 2023 technology innovation article I read, Jason Hiner, writing on ZDNet, claimed that 2023 was the biggest year for tech innovation in the past decade. Needless to say, ChatGPT and Generative AI got the nod as the technology that “unleashed a wave of new innovations,” and the Apple Vision Pro headset which Hiner sees as ushering in “a new era for AR and VR.”

That’s the recap for 2023, technology-wise.

Let me go out on a limb with a forecast for 2024: AI will be on everyone’s 2024 trends lists and, come next December, on everyone’s end of year roundup.

Gadgets for the grownups on your list

Posted on December 13, 2023 - 6:00 am by

Okay. You’ve done your tech toy shopping for the kids – maybe after taking a peek at our latest post. Now it’s time to do a bit of shopping for yourself – or for another grownup who’d like to find a tech gadget in their stocking. The list put together by Samantha Schoech in The New York Times is a pretty good one. I’ll summarize it here for you.

Worrying about misplacing your keys? Ever have to get someone to call your missing phone, only to remember that you had the ringer turned off? If so, you’re a candidate for a Bluetooth tracker. Here the recommendation is the Apple AirTag or, for the Android users among us, a Tile Mate.

If you want to make sure a larger Apple AirTagged item – your suitcase or your cello – is securely tagged, Schoech gives the nod the Raptic Link & Lock. This combines a protective case and a carabiner lock. It’s a hefty little gadget, but be warned: a bolt cutter would be enough to remove it. Still, it would work for a less-determined, more casual thief – or for someone who’d picked up your suitcase or your cello by mistake.

You’ve probably already got one in your office, one in your car, and one in your bedroom, but let’s face it, having a portable charger would be useful. The Belkin Boost Charge Plus 10K is pocket-sized and can be used with most handheld devices, and “it has enough juice to charge most smartphones up to three times.” Even better, it comes with two cables, so it can both give and receive a charge at the same time.

If you don’t already have a charger in your car, the iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2 Dash & Windshield Mount will do the trick. No need for charging cords. The device mounts on an AC vent, the dashboard, or in a CD-slot base. (Do folks still play CDs in their cars? Asking for a friend.)

For Apple folks – iPhones, Apple Watches, AirPods – the Mophie 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Stand lets you charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously. (Alternatively, for iPhones 12 or later, there’s the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger, which is MagSafe.

Is your smart home smart enough to warrant a smart plug, there’s the 4-pack TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Slim (EP25), which does just what you want a smart plug to do: “reliable control and scheduling, energy monitoring, and an Away Mode for vacations.” And the price is right. There’s also a six-outlet strip, the TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip (HS300).

Another gadget for smart homeowners is the Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen). Built to perch on your nightstand, this smart display is multi-talent. You should “get this smart display for anyone who wants a better alarm clock that also doubles as a sleep tracker and a handy assistant.” And it doesn’t have a camera, so there’s no danger of it spying on you while you sleep.

For folks (especially Gen Z-ers) who like to decorate with string lights, whatever the season, the Times pick is the TP-Link Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Light Strip L930-5. It sounds like one of the best things about it is that it’s easy to set up and easy to use. Who doesn’t love a “minimal learning curve.”

If you want to gadget up your backyard bird feeder, the Bird Buddy may look like a cute little birdhouse birdfeeder, but it comes equipped with a camera to shoot pictures and videos of visitors (birds and squirrels). It can also connect to the cloud to identify the specific bird that’s snacking at your place. (Not sure if it can also identify anything about the squirrel, but I don’t think there’s all that much squirrel variance.)

At over $500, it’s not exactly stocking-stuffer material, but the Bambu Lab P1P is still a somewhat affordable 3-D printer. The bed is roughly 10 inches cubed, so you won’t be able to, say, print out a new house for yourself, but for hobbyists and small-scale makers, this one might be a hit.

For photographers and videographers, the Joby GorillaPod 1K Kit can be used to mount all sorts of devices (weighing up to 1 kg). The Times “recommends it for taking time-lapses, videos, and low-light photos…[and] for taking timed group shots or selfies.

For folks who want to see an actual picture (albeit one that’s “smaller than a credit card”), the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2 uses Bluetooth to connect to your smartphone. And it comes in colors. A few, anyway: white, pink, and black. (Don’t forget to get some film, while you’re at it.)

If you like to see your pictures, but don’t care to print them out, the Aura Carver is the recommended digital photo frame. A nice touch: “it allows many people to add photos to the frame.” (A nice touch as long as you trust someone not to upload the embarrassing photo that makes you look really goofy.)

Come on. You know you want a drone. And if you want to do drone-photography, the DJI Mini 3 drone camera may be the one for you. While it’s less expensive than many other drone cameras, it still has all the requisite features, including “image and flight stabilization, an included controller, and smart flight modes, in which the drone flies itself to easily capture cinematic shots.” It’s lightweight, and has a 38-minute battery life. (No obstacle avoidance, however, so it could run into a tree or a seagull or something.)

There are a couple of old-schoolish tech gadgets for music lovers. One is the Victrola Houston. (Is there anything more old-school than calling something a Victrola?) The Houston is a tabletop FM radio that comes with “impressive sound quality [and] great reception.” With its Bluetooth capabilities, this device can be used as a speaker.

The second old-school music-related item is the Angels Horn H019 record player. It’s an all-in-one turntable, so easy to set up. Like the Victrola Houston, the Angels Horn comes with Bluetooth capabilities so your giftee can jam to their favorite records and their favorite playlist all in one place.

Nothing earth shattering, but this is a pretty good list, if only for window shopping.

‘Tis the Season for Tech Gifts for Kids

Posted on November 29, 2023 - 6:00 am by

Although my kids are no longer kids, one of my favorite posts of the year is the one where I take a look at the year’s best tech toys. For this post, I’m drawing on ZDNET’s 2023 roundup, which covers a broad age range, and, interestingly, has many picks “that are screen-free, so you don’t have to worry about your loved one staring at a screen 24/7 into the new year, and can feel better about gifting tech.”

With that, I give you the ZDNET Top 15.

First up, the Wishouse Walkie Talkies for Kids. Is there a kid (or an old guy) who hasn’t used (or at least wanted to use) a walkie talking. So what if most kids, after a certain age, have a smartphone. These look like a lot of fun. They’re geared for kiddos as young as 3, come in bright colors, and – as a nod to more current tech than the walkie-talkies of yore – can be charged via USB.

Sure, most photographs these days are taken via smartphones, and few are ever printed out, sometimes you want something for your album or scrapbook. The Kodak Printomatic Digital Instant Print Camera prints out 2”x3” shots and uses Zero Ink technology. No print cartridges. No film. No toner to worry about. The paper is sticky-backed, so you may need to prepare for peeling your kid’s pictures off the woodwork. But another fun, non-screen based gift option.

The Vtech Kiddiezoom Smartwatch 3DX is screenier, but it lets your kids (4+ years) take pictures and videos, and add a range of special effects. Kids can also play games on it, and exchange “preset messages” with other kids with the same watch. Parents can stay in control by setting reminders and letting their kids know when screen time is up.

The Hover-1 Electric Self-Balancing Scooter can go up to 7 mph and travel 3 miles. It’s for kids 7 and up, so you’ll need to keep an eye on things for younger kids. It’s considered entry level, but beware of it for older, bigger kids – or for yourself, if you’re tempted to give it a whirl – as the weight limit is 160 pounds. (The light-up LED wheels are a cool look.)

Nintendo Switch Lite The operative word here is “lite.” The Switch Lite has fewer features than the original; on the other hand, while still pricey, it costs considerably less, and might be a fun starter gaming option for younger kids (six and over) who aren’t seriously into gaming. It’s handheld-only so, since it can’t be used on a TV or console screen, screentime might be somewhat self-limiting.

Fisher Price DJ Bouncin’ Beats is for the real little ones – 9 months to 3 years. Prepare to be a tiny bit annoyed. Or prepare for your kids to be a tiny bit annoyed if you’re buying this for the grandkids. But this looks like a really fun one. Lights, movement, and “more than 75 songs, sounds, and phrases that teach the alphabet, counting, colors, and more. There is also a mic button that kids can press to record and play back with fun remix effects.”

Toniebox Audio Player Starter Set  More screen-free entertainment for kids 3 and up, “with stories, music, and educational content told by the character at the top of the box.” There are a lot of characters available: Disney, Blue’s Clues, PAW Patrol. Perhaps the best feature is that there’s a headphone jack, so your kids can listen away while the annoyance factor is minimized.

Sharper Image Remote Control Gravity Rover Wall-Ceiling Climber Remote control vehicles are usually a big hit with kids, and this one gets the vehicle up off the floor and climbing the walls. It can also rove along the ceiling. Gravity defying at its very best. Just hope that it doesn’t run out of juice and clunk your kid on the head.

Leapfrog Academy Tablet Comes with a variety of “educator-approved apps that explore math, reading, writing, coding, problem-solving and creativity skills” for kids 3-8. There’s also access to a huge content library of games, apps, videos, and music. There’s a kid-friendly web-browsing feature, with parental controls. Parents can also set screen time limits.

Pixicade Mobile Game Maker For kids aged 6 up to 10 (and beyond) who have an early interest in coding and gaming, this toy lets them design a game. They draw their own characters, create the obstacles that those characters will need to get around, and decide what makes for a win. The kids then “snap a pic of [their gaming concepts] and play an animated version of the game they created on a smartphone or tablet.” The kids aren’t actually doing any coding, but they’ll be able to learn about design flow.

With the Purrble Interactive Plush Companion, psychology meets robotics. This is a stuff animal, but it comes with seven embedded sensors that “respond to touch, fidgeting, and movement” with sighs, giggles, grunts, and a dynamic heartbeat. When you give it a hug, it starts purring. Has been proven to alleviate stress and anxiety.

For the pre-iPhone set (4 to 9 years old), there’s Vtech Kidibuzz. It’s smartphone-ish, with a camera, educational apps, and kid-friendly website access. There’s a free chat app through which kids can send text messages to “parent-approved contacts to other KidiBuzz devices and iPhone or Android smartphones.” Looks like enough features to stave off clamoring for a full-featured smartphone – and a lot cheaper.

I don’t know how the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Rocks & Fossils Kit made it onto the tech toy list. It’s definitely old-school. Almost prehistoric. In includes a good-sized rock collection with more than 200 stones, crystals, geodes, minerals, and fossils, as well as a magnifying glass and guide.  It’s obviously a pre-fab collection that may spark an interest in further learning and collecting.

Other than being battery powered rather than relying on fossil fuels, the Razor Pocket Mod Miniature Euro-Style Electric Scooter isn’t all that high-tech either. And it’s definitely pricey. But if you can get your heart out of your mouth long enough to be comfortable with your 13- year-old zipping along at 15 mph, this one might be for you. (And before you hop on, keep in mind that the weight limit is 170 pounds.)

The final item on the ZDNET tech toy list is the CoComelon 2-piece ELA (English Language Arts) Set With this one, we’re back in toddler territory. This “laptop” helps kids learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and animal sounds, and has a lot of buttons to bash on to “activate lights, sounds, and popular educational songs.”

Thank you, Allison Murray of ZDNET for some great gift ideas. Interesting, even if I’m not doing any kid tech shopping of my own.

How smart is your shopping cart?

Posted on November 15, 2023 - 6:00 am by

With Thanksgiving soon upon us, most Americans will be going grocery shopping for turkey and all the fixings if they’re hosting, or for the ingredients for a side if they’ve got an invite to someone else’s dinner.

Some shoppers will no doubt be shopping the old-fashioned way, piling their groceries into their cart and getting in the queue for a living, breathing cashier. Others will be doing self-checkout, doing their own RFID scanning and bagging. Still others may find themselves pushing an AI-powered smart cart.

According to a Forbes article I saw a while back, for supermarkets, the ability to totally avoid the checkout process may be the “killer app” that will bring shoppers who’ve fled to big-box, mass market retailers like Walma

rt or warehouse clubs like Costco back into the traditional brick-and-mortar grocery shopping sphere.

“There is so much room for technology to improve friction in grocery stores, most especially the pain of waiting in line for a cashier, not to mention problems that arise in self-checkout when you are buying more than a handful of stuff,” said John Harmon, Coresight’s senior retail/technology analyst. (Source: Forbes)

Grocery stores have been deploying technology to improve the shopping experience, including the ability to order online – with or without in-store pickup. But shoppers, for the most part, prefer to pick out their own produce, meats, and deli. Some stores, including Wegman’s, a major chain in my area, tried “scan and go” approaches, in which shoppers using a mobile app scanned and bagged as the wandered the aisles. Alas, this approach led to losses that exceeded the losses stemming from self-checkout systems. (It’s easier to keep an eye on shoppers when they’re in a checkout area rather than scanning their items throughout the store. Wegman’s, among other stores, eliminated its scan and go option.

The hope is that smart carts will give “customers the convenience of cashier-less, pick-and-go unattended checkout,” and the stores will experience less shrinkage.

What smart cards will do, of course, is require stores to invest in a lot of technology: cameras and shelf sensors everywhere. Some smart cart tech providers offer systems that clip on to existing grocery carts; others offer fully tricked-out grocery carts.

Last month, embedded.com had a piece that drilled down on the camera technology used by smart carts. In Implementing multi-camera synchronization for retail smart carts, Maharajan Veerabahu writes about some of the cutting-edge technology that will help bring about the smart cart revolution by “leveraging customer identification, tracking, and product recognition algorithms.”

For starters, he defines multi-camera synchronization, which is essential for getting a read on the items that a shopper is putting in their smart cart.

Multi-camera synchronization begins at the hardware frame-level by interconnecting all cameras through a “Master”-“Slave” configuration. This setup allows for individual camera control and the ability to select the number of cameras to be streamed. Such systems enable multi-image capturing, multi-video recording, and multi-network streaming.

The synchronization between multiple cameras can be achieved through hardware and software trigger modes, each having its own advantages and limitations. (Source: embedded.com)

He then goes on to outline some of the challenges developers face – simultaneous readout and low latency – and then looks at the right approach for implementing multi-camera synchronization. Veerabahu describes a solution that calls for six cameras to take in the entire shopping cart.

…by connecting four USB cameras to cover the corners and two MIPI cameras in the center, creating a complete image. The synchronization between the cameras should be for a single interface – either USB or MIPI. Therefore, it is necessary to design the smart cart device to support both USB and MIPI cameras.

Multi-camera synchronization will require “either a hardware trigger or a software trigger mode.” In his instance, “these modes are implemented in USB camera firmware and MIPI camera drivers.” Veerabahu then expands on how the hardware and software triggers are used. He ends his piece by addressing the latency challenge.

In the previously mentioned setup with four USB cameras on an embedded platform, the USB bandwidth may become limiting. To overcome this limitation, increasing the line time of sensor readout can help utilize the available bandwidth effectively. By doing so, the blanking between frame readouts can also be increased, optimizing bandwidth utilization while avoiding frame corruption.

There are a couple of Wegmans in upstate NY that are experimenting with smart carts, but neither is close by. So whether we end up going through the human-powered checkout line, or do self-checkout, the makings of our Thanksgiving feast will be placed in an old-fashioned, not very smart, regular old grocery cart.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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