WOODSIDE, Calif.–There are countless technology executives who attach themselves at the hip to the wine industry, either as connoisseurs, investors or outright owners of wineries or vineyards. Then there’s T.J. Rodgers. The Cypress Semiconductor CEO has invested millions of  his own dollars, blown holes in hillsides and stuffed rootstock into steep-sloping hills and imported special German mechanical harvesters, all in

ANNAPOLIS, MD.–In many ways, it's the age of the sensor. Companies like Zephyr Technology, headquartered here, have seen that coming for years and are working to leverage both sensor and wireless communications technology to make useful products for various markets. More design resources CTO Jonathan Woodward talked to us about Zephyr's BioHarness 3, the latest iteration of a body-sensing technology

(Odometer, 8,836 miles) ANNAPOLIS, MD.–The Super Bowl is this Sunday, featuring some of the most elite football players on the planet.  Over the years, coaches and trainers have fine-tuned players' diet and exercise regimens to turn out better and better players–players who play longer, hit harder, recover more quickly. Now they're turning to technology to turn the crank again. More

WILMINGTON, Mass.–What’s real and what’s not? That’s a fundamental question in design engineering, especially when you’re trying to translate the analog world into the digital. More design resources Take a gyroscope, which has myriad uses but comes up big in safety applications. A gyroscope is supposed to sense rotation, but if it’s taking in data that’s skewed by unwanted acceleration

WILMINGTON, Mass.–It's that time of year. Time when you just realized you haven't bought holiday gifts. You're now panicking, you're sweating, you're cursing your organizational skills. We're here to help. More design resources During our stop at Analog Devices here, we came across four great stocking stuffers that will delight their recipients and help ease your anxiety: The Wheezometer, the

BOSTON–If you think about it, there's a huge new paradigm that's emerging before our eyes (or maybe it's not so visible because so it's so behind-the-scenes). Technologists have done a fantastic job in the past 50 years making computing faster and vastly more accessible. They've done exactly the same thing with communications. The nexus of those two brings us fantastic,

WILMINGTON, Mass.–A cynic might say the National Football League is only interested in protecting its players because owners’ investments in the players are astronomical these days. Nevertheless, there’s an important movement afoot to assess the impact of head trauma, and the electronics industry is riding to the rescue. More accelerometer design resources In July, we spent time with Shockwave Impact and

(Odometer: 1,057 miles) HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.–Jeff Lawson’s company, Zero Defect Manufacturing, is adept at contract design and manufacturing. He’s a longtime engineer who knows his stuff. But his work with his friend Tim Johannes on Shockwave Impact could turn out to be something altogether different. In our earlier post, we described Johannes’ vision for a MEMS-based device, the Shockwave System,

(Odometer: 1,057 miles) HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.–Fred McNeil was a star in the National Football League with the Minnesota Vikings. He often can’t remember his teammates’ names. McNeil has early-onset dementia that doctors believed is linked to his football career. He suffered six concussions in college and the pros, and his experience illustrates a point doctors are increasingly trying to make