TI releasing something "game changing" on Sept 16th - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 02:47:13 am
content: I saw this (ad?) on EDN's website:QuoteGuesses?(no, I have no inside knowledge)I could just be something lame of course...

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 02:52:17 am
content: Ha! Do I sense a name change? Naw.

author: Skimask
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 03:02:44 am
content: Moving to China with everybody else?

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 03:11:46 am
content: A free hamster with the purchase of 10,000 chips?

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 03:14:44 am
content: They're leaving the chip business to concentrate on selling overpriced calculators?

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 03:40:10 am
content: Probably another acquisition

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 03:52:17 am
content: I'm pretty sure free hamsters would be "Game changing".

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 04:36:41 am
content: I've never got any free animals of any kind. I guess I'm playing the wrong game.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 05:31:29 am
content: Maybe I am obtuse, but isn't "we're sensing something game changing" a play on words?I'll bet Dave's bottom dollar that it's a sensor product.Actually I thought I read somewhere that TI was due to come out with a new higher resolution MEMS sensor this month.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 05:33:09 am
content: Yea - I thought of that too. Maybe some "wireless sensors on a chip" kind of thing. Would go well with the "internet of things" trend.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 06:08:58 am
content: Yup, that was also the first thing I thought of when I read that. New sensor Stuff-onna-Chip thingy.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:02:32 am
content: Assuming they haven't been bought by Microsoft. Or Apple.(Nokia having been Borged by Microsoft. Sheesh.)

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:05:22 am
content: Quote from: mrflibble on September 05, 2013, 06:08:58 amThat would be "new" enough to make a sensor "game changing" though?

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:12:15 am
content: What about an energy harvesting chip with a built in sensor and bluetooth?Can you do enough "energy harvesting" to do near-feild communications (something like bluetooth) and send a burst of data once a minute or something?So it would be a wireless, battery-less sensor?

author: tinhead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:13:34 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 05, 2013, 07:05:22 amif they would acquire e.g. Silabs or Cypress, then for sure

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:27:23 am
content: What else!A cheap thermal camera sensor!Alexander.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:59:39 am
content: Integrated MEMS microphone, Gyro, accelerometer, haptics driver, speaker driver and "who cares about this" stuff.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:08:58 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 05, 2013, 07:05:22 amKeep in mind... game changing bytheirdefinition.I get pretty cool magazines from Future... full of ads that often talk about revolutionary/game-changing/mind-blowing technology. When the marketing guys get their hands on something, you know it turns to bullshit in record time

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:50:14 am
content: Wishful thinking, a major breakthrough in FRAM manufacturing process that made it a lot cheaper.

author: M. András
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 09:17:34 am
content: Quote from: BravoV on September 05, 2013, 08:50:14 amand much larger sizes

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 09:33:46 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 05, 2013, 07:05:22 amAccording to the TI marketing department, absolutely! According to the rest of the world, probably not. But we'll see.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 01:37:17 pm
content: Quote..and their choice of game.e.g. DLP was game-changing in the projection market, but little else.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 02:22:09 pm
content: Hmm... one idea that kind of fits - an open hardware 3D graphics engine?TI has a background of doing fast DSP/RISK CPUs, so they'd have some related expertise.'Game changing', because it's for gaming, but most importantly _changing_ because the current state of open-ness in 3D engines is an abysmal disaster. There's currently no fully documented 3D hardware engine that I know of - all of them are secret, with only binary-blob software drivers publicly available. And those only for Windows, plus if you're very lucky, a deliberately flakey version for Linux.The end result is, that if you want to do a 3D graphics engine for some non-Windows platform (that isn't Linux either) you are totally out of luck.Putting it another way, if someone wanted to challenge the Wintel OS monopoly, with an OS and GUI that was actually a decent 3D environment (as opposed to Microsoft's retarded 'Metro' Win8), they JUST.PLAIN.CAN'T at the moment. Regardless of how much the world needs some way to escape from the Microsoft insanity. (Which doesn't involve the 'million monkeys' different kind of insanity of Linux.)So.... I WISH that's what TI has up their sleeve. But I doubt it will be.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 04:41:01 pm
content: Some lame stuff like a new MSP430 Launchpad version. I mean, TI is currently paying EDN to hype the MSP430. If Ti coordinates its marketing a bit it should be something related to the MSP430.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 04:57:49 pm
content: Hmm. How about sensors to be used in gaming systems?

author: JoeyP
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 05:26:27 pm
content: Quote from: tinhead on September 05, 2013, 07:13:34 amAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Bite your tongue. It's bad enough that they eliminated competition by acquiring National. It would really suck if they acquired either of those two (of my favorite) companies!

author: komet
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 06:23:07 pm
content: QuoteThe electronics related words in that sentence are "sensing" and "tuned". They also mention "game". So it is a wireless sensor that would be useful for a games console. What kind of sensor? The word "hear" indicates that it is audio related. But a microphone is nothing to write home about. So it must be something other than that. How about hearing sounds that exist only in the mind? That must be it. It is a sensor that reads your mind.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:14:45 pm
content: They are gonna present a touchscreen calculator with voice annunciation!!! YES!!!

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:21:49 pm
content: TEXAS-SHAPED DIES! Better fitting under their logo, saving footprint. With tiny little bibles and barbeque pits in it ?

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 07:45:43 pm
content: Something game changing? They bought Microsoft AND Nokia?

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:10:04 pm
content: Maybe they're going to stop suing people who hack their calculators.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:27:02 pm
content: Maybe they bought "Parker Brothers" and are planning on a Monopoly?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Brothers

author: MacAttak
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:40:47 pm
content: Single-chip solution that does everything the Kinect v2 does?Just add 4 microphones, an appropriate camera module, and IR led w/ diffraction system (or however the hell they achieve that projection grid)?For $2.50 in single unit quantities?

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2013, 08:41:54 pm
content: This coincides with the iPhone release date roughly.....hmmm.

author: hightmare
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 10, 2013, 07:29:16 pm
content: Move along, nothing to see hereIt's just some stupid msp430 LaunchPad that cost like Tiva LaunchPad, but offer less.http://software-dl.ti.com/msp430/msp430_public_sw/mcu/msp430/MSP430_ezFETLite/latest/But it will be red, not green.If you don't want to wait, you can buy it now:https://estore.ti.com/msp-exp430f5529lp.aspxBut Tiva LaunchPad is better and you can buy at discount Stellaris LaunchPad for only $8. You don't need 16bit dev board, we are not 80's anymore.Edit: I was wrong.http://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/analogwire/archive/2013/09/16/inductive-sensing-meet-ldc-the-industry-s-first-inductance-to-digital-converter.aspx

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2013, 03:11:50 pm
content: Here's the eval board:http://www.ti.com/tool/LDC1000EVM

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2013, 04:58:46 pm
content: I can actually see some neat design with this chip. I wonder if we can multiplex the input with analog switches, that would be super awesome.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2013, 07:53:13 pm
content: Probably thishttp://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4421072/Texas-Instruments-inductive-to-digital-converter--LDC--Necessity-breeds-invention

author: Alexei.Polkhanov
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2013, 09:49:54 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on September 16, 2013, 07:53:13 pmSo that is an LCR meter on a chip?

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2013, 10:12:53 pm
content: LC-tank resonance meter. The position resolution claimed in the user guide is pretty impressive, range is a bit on the small side though.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 01:36:02 am
content: Bah. So much for using it as a general purpose metal detector. Or at least, their 'WEBENCH Inductive Sensing Designer' doesn't envisage such use:"ERROR: Distance has to be less than 7 cm. Resolution has to be less than 999 um."I still wonder if it's possible though. There are products call pin-pointing wands, that are quite expensive. Used for when you have a shovel-full of dirt, and somewhere in it there's a very small metalic object. One way is to pass successive halves in front of the detector coil, discarding portions that don't contain anything. Another way is with a wand, that has only a small area of sensitivity right at the tip.All the links in one place:http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4421072/Texas-Instruments-inductive-to-digital-converter--LDC--Necessity-breeds-inventionhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ldc1000.pdfchip data sheetEvaluation module:The LCD1000EVM is available for $29.00 UShttp://www.ti.com/tool/ldc1000evm?DCMP=sva-psp-ssp-ldc1000-en&HQS=sva-psp-ssp-ldc1000-pr-evm-enhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ug/snau150/snau150.pdfLDC1000 Evaluation Module User Guide (PDF 2196 KB)http://www.ti.com/sva-psp-ssp-ldc1000-pr-webench-enSystem designers can create a custom sensor coil and configure the LDC in seconds with TI's new WEBENCH Inductive Sensing Designer. The online tool simplifies the sensor coil design process and provides configuration settings for the LDC based on the coil’s characteristics, application requirements and system performance needs. The optimized design can be easily exported to a variety of popular CAD programs, to quickly incorporate the sensor coil into the overall system design.

author: hightmare
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 06:13:50 am
content: Quote from: mrflibble on September 16, 2013, 10:12:53 pmSo is this better than connecting pins 2.6 and 2.7 of msp430 to LC-tank and measuring ACLK frequency?

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 10:38:05 am
content: So, what is the "game changing"?Alexander.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 11:04:00 am
content: Quote from: firewalker on September 17, 2013, 10:38:05 amIt's a phrase used by marketing departments to indicate something normal people would describe as "mildly interesting".Other than that, this might be interesting to measure table vibration amplitute & frequency for setups that are really sensitive to that. Assuming it can update fast enough.

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 08:02:07 pm
content: Quote from: firewalker on September 17, 2013, 10:38:05 amWell, I still had to come to work today, so whatever it was it didn't change the game all that much.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2013, 08:29:32 pm
content: That's just life telling you you're in the wrong game...