Monthly Archives: June 2009

Friday puzzle: impossible

Posted on June 5, 2009 by paulmcl

Last week’s puzzle was to calculate the volume remaining after a hole 6” long is drilled through a sphere. When I was a math nerd in high-school I actually knew how to do the triple integral in spherical polar coordinates … Continue reading →

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Lightweight hiking

Posted on June 5, 2009 by paulmcl

A few years ago I walked the John Muir Trail in the highest parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Yosemite Valley to Whitney Portal with my then-girlfriend. Actually, the trail technically ends at the top of Mount Whitney but … Continue reading →

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Patents, CDMA, trolls and standards

Posted on June 4, 2009 by paulmcl

CDMA is also another interesting oddity from a patent point of view. Most patents are tiny pieces of incremental innovation that form the many little pieces you need to build complex technological products. You can’t build a semiconductor without violating … Continue reading →

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Guest blog: Lynn Conway

Posted on June 3, 2009 by paulmcl

Today’s guest blog is by Lynn Conway, who is the Conway of "Mead and Conway," the book on VLSI Design that first moved VLSI Design from its priestly guilds within a few semiconductor companies and into first the universities and … Continue reading →

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Emotional engineers

Posted on June 2, 2009 by paulmcl

People sometimes say that salespeople are emotional, unlike engineers. I think what they mean is that salespeople are (stereotypically) extrovert so if you mess with them they’ll make a noise about it. Whereas engineers are introvert and will just brood … Continue reading →

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Early exits

Posted on June 1, 2009 by paulmcl

I came across the book Early Exits recently. It is definitely worth a read, especially for anyone having anything to do with EDA startups. An early exit is one after a relatively small number of years at a relatively small … Continue reading →

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