Innovations in 3-D printing, personal sensors, personal computers, and data management are some of the trends that will make 2013 “a really exciting year for humanity,” according to Vivek Wadhwa in his take on the Washington Post’s “Tech trends to watch in 2013.” In his predictions, Wadhwa points to the sectors in which innovations will meet opportunity and deliver global

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

ADDISON, Texas–In many ways, it's hard to comprehend the impact of or even quantify counterfeiting. In the old days, it was all about currency and then counterfeiting spread to consumer goods and electronics. Today, its rough embrace has stretched to pharmaceuticals, not only a potentially profitable business for the black hats but life-threatening for unsuspecting consumers.  This is the street fight

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.–You're no doubt familiar with oil-exploration challenges, as we may be nearing so-called peak oil (or in its era already). Deep-well drilling has been increasingly prevalent as we've slurped up "easy oil" during the past 100 years. This situation presents a fascinating engineering challenge, both mechanical and electrical. Not only are oil explorers drilling farther and stressing mechanical and