The 1980s presented many significant challenges to the Heath Company’s kit business. Commercial electronic equipment had become abundant, and automated assembly, especially with the advent of surface-mount technology, drove down the labor costs in many consumer products including stereo receivers, televisions, and Ham gear. Microcomputers and PCs became the main focus of attention. While Heath continued to develop new, more advanced products for the amateur radio … Read More → "“H” is for Heathkits and Hams: Part 4 – The 1980s, 1990s, and the end"
Part 3 of this article series covers a period of sustained growth for the Heath Company. The company’s amateur radio equipment kits continued to sell well, but by the end of the 1970s, its most advanced radio kits were already becoming too difficult to build for less advanced kit builders. Meanwhile, the company’s early microcomputer kits quickly started to dominate Heath’s product portfolio.
Read More → "“H” is for Heathkits and Hams: Part 3 – The 1970s"
My podcast guest this week is longtime friend of the show Matt Burns from Samtec! Matt and I chat about the trends driving the adoption of high performance, small form factor open standard SoMs. We also discuss the details of the PCI Express 7 specification and the newest endeavors being developed by the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies.
… Read More → "Open Standards and the Rise of Embedded Ecosystem SoMs"
I want you to put your “imagining hat” on. If you don’t own an “imagining hat,” you’ll just have to imagine that you have one proudly perched on the top of your head. Let’s start by imagining an accelerator card whose core processing device demands 2,000 amps (my eyes are already watering).
Now imagine multiple accelerator cards on a motherboard in … Read More → "Next-Generation Power Technology for Data Center Accelerator Cards"
Part 2 of this article series covers a period of explosive growth for the Heath Company as its amateur radio equipment kits captured a larger and larger share of the market. This article series is based on a presentation by Chas Gilmore (W8IAI), a life-long Ham who joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer and worked at the Heath Company for more than two decades, … Read More → "“H” is for Heathkits and Hams: Part 2 – The 1960s"
There’s a famous saying along the lines of, “Predicting things is difficult, especially about the future.” This quote has been attributed to many people, including Mark Twain, Niels Bohr, and Yogi Berra. In Yogi’s case, however, it’s usually phrased as, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
I know that when I staggered into the current millennium, … Read More → "Predictions for Multi-Die System Designs in 2025"