Clive "Max" Maxfield is six feet tall, outrageously handsome, English, and proud of it. In addition to being a hero, trendsetter, and leader of fashion, he is widely regarded as an expert in all aspects of electronics (at least by his mother). Max received his BSc in Control Engineering in 1980 from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, UK. He began his career as a designer of central processing units (CPUs) for mainframe computers. Over the years, Max has designed everything from silicon chips to circuit boards, and from brainwave amplifiers to steampunk "Display-O-Meters." He has also been at the forefront of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) for more than 20 years. He's the author and/or co-author of a number of books, including Designus Maximus Unleashed (banned in Alabama), Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics), EDA: Where Electronics Begins, FPGAs: Instant Access, and How Computers Do Math.
I’m always amazed how one thing leads to another. As part of documenting our ongoing project to build a 4-bit computer from the ground up, for example, I realized that we would have to address a multitude of design considerations. One of these topics is that of switch bounce, which refers to the fact that…
I must admit that I'm generally more focused on the actual “doing” side of things rather than the business-level “who is doing what to/with who” end of the stick. I'm not saying that this is a good or bad thing — it's just the way I'm wired. Thus, when I see an announcement about a group…
Good grief. I can’t believe it. It's almost Crimble. (That's Christmas to you non-Brits.) Where does the time go? I'm too young for all this excitement! This means, of course, that it's that time of the year when we're all desperately looking for appropriate gifts for our family and friends. In some cases, this ends…
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Lattice Semiconductor, one of the last independent FPGA companies, has just announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners — a newly formed, global private equity buyout fund that is headquartered in Palo Alto, California — for approximately $1.3 billion inclusive of Lattice’s net debt, or $8.30…
When I was a young lad, I was always building electronic and mechanical “things” — some of them even worked. A lot of my friends were similarly inclined. Those were the days when it was cheaper to make something than to buy a finished product. Things changed over time. It became cheaper to buy something…
Well, this is a bit of a shocker and no mistake. I've been happily toddling along through life under the impression that the way in which I charge my iPad will prolong the life and efficiency of its battery. Now, however, it seems that my habits may be having the opposite effect (sad face). This…
I'm often asked why, in this era of the Internet, anyone should spend the time and money to physically attend a conference when so much information is available on the web. For myself, I think the answer is obvious — when you attend a conference, you get to meet other engineers and representatives from component…
We are certainly living in interesting times. Over the years I've read a lot of science fiction stories that depicted various flavors of the future, many of which involved the concept of cyber security and nefarious strangers trying to access one's data. Generally speaking, this sort of thing really didn’t affect most of us until…
The concept of the Turing test was first mooted by the legendary Alan Turing in his 1950 paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence . The idea is that a conversation takes place between a human and a machine using a text-only channel like a computer keyboard and screen. In the classical form of this test, an…
I've been thinking about buying (or building) a drone for quite a while now, but I want something substantial like a hexacopter that can carry a decent camera with gimbals and auto-stabilization and suchlike, but they are still a tad expensive so I keep on saying to myself “Maybe next year.” [Drone talk: Register now…