Categories
Blogging Conferences

Can’t ESCape Wanting To Go

Horrible pun in the title, my apologies.

However, the exciting news is that I will be attending ESC Silicon Valley in a few weeks! I just worked out the details for my trip and will be there from Tuesday, May 3rd until Thursday May 5th.

I’ve been to ESC Chicago and ESC Boston in the past year, but the Silicon Valley version seems to have more seminars, a bigger show floor and more going on in general. That’s to be expected in relation to the relative number of attendees that will likely be there. And of course each time they have a different ESC, some of the courses and people speaking seems to change at least a little to keep up with new technology.

This is exciting for me personally because I’ve never been to Silicon Valley before. Even more puzzling, I’ve never been to the Bay Area or even California before. I’m such a homebody. But I’m looking forward to seeing what’s out there, enjoying the beautiful weather and hopefully seeing some of the local sites.

How did I get the chance to go? Element 14 is sending me as part of their Roving Reporter program. I’ll have video, audio and written updates from the show floor each day. I’m also planning on sitting in for Brian Fuller’s live streaming and interviews from the conference. And of course no trade show would be complete if I didn’t try and record an episode of The Amp Hour with Dave!

My co-conspirator for the recently completed 555 contestJeri Ellsworth–will be there also. Jeri is a keynote speaker on Thursday morning of ESC and will also be a roving reporter. We’ll try and show the conference from an engineer’s perspective and have some fun.

If you know of any must-see places in San Jose, I’d love to hear about them. And if you’re going to be around the conference, let me know! I’d love to hang out and talk or even grab a beer. There’s at least one beer-themed event called “Beer and Boards” which will probably be a good time to hang out and talk about nerdy stuff.

I’ll try and post links here (and definitely on my Twitter account) to the stuff I produce for Element 14. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this Silicon Valley thing is all about!

Categories
Analog Electronics Economics Supply Chain

DC powered home

Either my readership has extended to people at multinational corporations or the idea is intrinsically viable enough to actually work! Either way, I’m happy.

Junko Yoshida of EE Times reports that Sharp Corp and TDK corp have both displayed home mock-ups that include DC modules running of of solar cells and do not require any AC/DC or DC/AC conversion (thereby saving power wasted on the conversion process). This is reminiscent of when I asked if DC can power an entire home. They cite instances of using DC power to directly use in LED home lighting, flatscreens and various other commercial products.

Looks like the idea is catching on, I can’t wait until it becomes possible for everyone!