Archive for April 2017

What It Would Really Take to Run the World off of Renewable Energy

http://interestingengineering.com/really-take-run-world-off-renewable-energy/ With electric power establishing itself even further into our modern society, generating it is becoming an even more complex issue. As we seek to find a sustainable power source, we are naturally drawn to the thought of renewable energy. However, the question remains, what would it really take to run the world completely off of

Invasion of the Hardware Snatchers: Cloned Electronics Pollute the Market – IEEE Spectrum

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/invasion-of-the-hardware-snatchers-cloned-electronics-pollute-the-market Unlike counterfeit electronics of the past, modern clones are very sophisticated.  The counterfeiters make their own components, boards, and systems from scratch and then package them into superficially similar products. The clones may be less reliable than the genuine product, having never undergone rigorous testing. But they may also host unwanted or even malicious software, firmware,

Juicero may be the absurd avatar of Silicon Valley hubris, but boy is it well-engineered | TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/juicero-may-be-the-absurd-avatar-of-silicon-valley-hubris-but-boy-is-it-well-engineered/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook Ben Einstein, general partner at Bolt, served up this excellent teardown of the Juicero on the company blog. If you were wondering how a juice press could possibly cost $400… well, this is how.

Struggling towards 5G | EDN

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/5g-waves/4458307/The-struggle-to-5G?utm_content=bufferf9a50&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  5G is developing so fast it’s hard to get a handle on it, whether you’re responsible for building 5G systems or writing about them. Part of the problem is that 5G is not one proposed standard, it’s a growing set of them.  Every new proposal of this sort complicates the ability of standards bodies

New password guidelines say everything we thought about passwords is wrong

https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/18/new-password-guidelines-say-everything-we-thought-about-passwords-is-wrong/ There is a draft of new guidelines for password management from NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology). There is a number of very progressive changes they proposed. Although NIST’s rules are not mandatory for nongovernmental organizations, they usually have a huge influence as many corporate security professionals.

LEGO power functions with Arduino

LEGO Power Functions is a LEGO electric building system. You have battery boxes to deliver the power, different types of motors to make things move, light, remote control and even connection to a computer. The Power Functions system has 4 wires and uses 9V voltage. The IR Remote Control sends infrared light messages to the IR

Analyzing the spectrum of corporate innovation from R&D to VC | TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/21/analyzing-the-spectrum-of-corporate-innovation-from-rd-to-vc/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook Research and development has been an innovation lifeblood of our economy for nearly 50 years. Innovation is a hot topic, and it can be confusing. With terms like incubator, accelerator and corporate venturing frequently mentioned, but rarely defined, the menu of innovation options can be overwhelming. This article gives overview to those options.

7 considerations to make when securing your Raspberry Pi

https://opensource.com/article/17/3/iot-security-raspberry-pi?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY  This article tries to get you thinking of security at an appropriate level for your Raspberry Pi and IoT projects without scaring you away from playing, experimenting, and innovating. It’s about striking a balance. Don’t let a challenge stop you from trying. Just be aware of the big picture for securing your projects.

ARM Releases Machine Readable Architecture Specification

https://alastairreid.github.io/alastairreid.github.io/ARM-v8a-xml-release/ The companies that design processors all provide specifications of their products. These specifications are usually in the form of books or PDF documents.  It is then up to diligent engineers and academics around the world to read those documents and transcribe the relevant parts into computer languages such as C, C++, Verilog, O’Caml, Coq,