Headworx

Apple has been buying chips from Intel. But now we have learned Intel cannot make the latest generation chips, as they are lagging with the 7nm process. And what once was a heresy at Intel: outsourcing chip manufacturing to a 3rd party fab, is now seriously being considered. And TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is probably the most likely candidate for that assignment, as they are already manufacturing AMD processors using the 7nm process. Now TSMC is probably one of a few potential big acquisitions targets for Apple. Apple likes making everything in house. SO not, especially with the cost-optimizing move from Intel to ARM, Apple might want to own the world's most advanced semiconductor fab. Which may mean Apple will be making Intel processors for Intel. Such turn of events is quite probable, especially as with Intel's manufacturing setback US has effectively lost the semiconductor crown.

The COVID pandemic, and the travel bans and lockdowns in particular have just proven our (global) economy is (mostly) digital now. The impact on businesses (airlines and cruise lines excluded) has been much less than initially feared. Of course this is far from over yet. But still it would be hard to imagine so many activities and developments just going on. Despite the complete change in way people and businesses interact with each other. The Internet has saved us (so far). Which means two things: We are more resilient (globally) to events like pandemics. We are more vulnerable to disruptions (or a collapse) of the global information / communication network. It may be that it is easier now to kill  the civilization with a serious software virus than with a biological one. Or just by cutting a bunch of undersea cables...

Faster is not always better. Or rather - it is very often not the raw numbers but the overall usability of a product (or completeness of a standard) that makes it a winner. From my own turf: what has made Bluetooth mesh the winning offering is the inclusion of the complete set of application layer models . This is what enabled the rapid adoption of Bluetooth mesh in buildings. But back to Thunderbolt 4. It is not faster than Thunderbolt 3. But it includes a number of enhancements that will make the products using it much better. The ones I like the most are: Longer cables. Version 3 has been limited to 60cm. Above that amplified optical cables must be used, and while they work just fine, they are expensive. $50 for a cable is a lot. Version 4 addresses that, enabling standard cables up to 2m. Mandatory power delivery an remote wake-up. This makes Thunderbolt 4 a very clean and interoperable interface for all sorts of laptop docking station. This will not only be the domain of high end ...

Long Term Support is another aspect that true standards bring much confidence into. This is especially important for commercial buildings, as the systems, once commissioned, will stay there not for years, but decades. When proprietary systems are considered, it is unlikely their manufacturers will maintain full backwards compatibility for an extended period of time. The reason is cost, and when you do not need to care about a broader audience, it is easy to make a decision to deprecate older versions. For customers this means the proprietary system which look nicely today, will have to be scrapped prematurely, as soon as one of it components ages and stops functioning. And while manufacturers may claim 5- or 10-year support, such period of time can hardly be considered long term. So how about 30 years? Open standard-based system is probably the only assurance you will be able to find compatible spare parts when something breaks. The original vendor may be out of business or will have s...

June 2020 was when another cross-SDO liaison group was formed. IP-BLiS followes the SDO convergence reinforced recently by initiatives like the OneDM (which proposed the SDF data definition language and served as the launchpad for the Project CHIP ). This was then followed by DiiA (the DALI Alliance) announcing cooperation with Zigbee, Thread and most notably Bluetooth SIG . Standards organizations working together is always a good thing. But listening to the IP-BLiS pitch , there is some insufficiency in what they aim for. Because IPv6 alone does not solve any interoperability problems. And also there are cases (energy harvesting, low latency secure multicast), wthen an IP-based approach doesn’t meet the needs of the market. And I would even go further by saying that IPv6 is not needed to achieve interoperability. Why? Because it is just a Layer 3 (the Network Layer) technology. So it can be used to run thousands of incompatible and not interoperable applications and services on to...

Even though 4K screens have become a norm in offices and homes, and laptops offering increasingly higher resolutions, a second screen is often handy. I have been using the iPad (with the Duet app ) to serve me as a second screen on the road. But at home I've found it cumbersome to keep connecting the iPad. Also very often I run some multi-hour monitoring / diagnostic processes and keeping iPad hooked all the time is not the best idea. On top of that every now and then there is a need to check (or work with) and equipment that requires HDMI screen. Such as the Raspberry Pi. Searching for a solution I found this gorgeous UPERFECT 15-inch portable screen . It is touch enabled, and has a (mini) HDMI input and two universal Type-C ports. And it is super slick. On top of that it works exactly as advertised. In my setups the two configurations I use it most often with are: A secondary (or tertiary, if you count the laptop's display) monitor. All it requires is a proper USB-C connectio...

It is not often that a perfect match is found. But this is the case between Bluetooth mesh and DALI. One is wireless, the other is wired. One distributes the control functions, the other has it centralized. Both are used for professional lighting to control lights and capture data: usage statistics, energy, sensors. I have been working with Bluetooth mesh and DALI for many years. Initially we had the idea to keep the DALI system architecture and use Bluetooth mesh as a wireless carrier for DALI. But over the years, as Bluetooth mesh has been pushing the intelligence and control functions to the end nodes, another approach started making much more sense Let DALI pick up from where Bluetooth stops:at the edge of a luminaire. Luminaires today are fairly complex. Long gone are days of a hot tungsten wire - replaced now by a network of electronic drivers with built in intelligence and sensors. An LED driver is a networked node. There may be just a single one inside a luminaire or there may ...