Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and Dave

Hosted by Rob Wyatt and PJ McNerney and Dave Lewanda

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Latest episode

Jun 2025

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EN-US

About the show

Rob Wyatt and PJ McNerney and Dave Lewanda discuss the latest and greatest news in the tech world and to figure out where things have been, where they are, and hopefully where they are going.

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24 recent

June 8, 2025Episode 446 min

WWDC 2025 Predictions

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!It's that time of the year again...WWDC!Last year's conference was dominated by Apple Intelligence...which never really materialized...what's this year's conference going to bring us?Rob, PJ, and our new co-host, Dave Lewanda (bio episode coming soon) get together to discuss what will be this year's focus.Will we finally get an answer around Apple Intelligence?Are there new features and/or hardware around the bend?Could this "Developer Conference" actually be something that "Developers" want?All of this and more in the latest episode of Tricky Bits!

June 3, 2025Episode 31 hr 11 min

Graphics APIs - History and Today

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Way back in the 1960s...computer graphics were born with Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad...then in the early 80s, James Clark at Silicon Graphics publishes his paper on the geometry engine...becoming the birthplace for IRIS GL (later, OpenGL).Then came DirectX...along with a flurry of also-rans...With the explosion of commodity hardware in the mid-90s, games, graphics, and APIs would never be the same. Join Rob Wyatt and PJ McNerney as they take a look down memory lane and explore the evolution of graphics APIs through the decades and ponder what the future might look like with these mighty compute engines.

May 5, 2025Episode 21 hr 14 min

Apple Intelligence - Where is the Promised Magic?

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!25 years ago, Avery Brooks of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame, was on a commercial for IBM...where, after decades of promises, asked the question that was on everyone's minds: "It's the year 2000...I was promised flying cars. Where are my flying cars?"In a similar vein, this latest episode explores the current state and historical context of Apple's AI venture, Apple Intelligence. The Steve Jobs's era ended announcements with 'available today'; and yet the present-day promise of AI features have yet to materialize. Is Apple able to deliver on its AI promises? Is anyone? Either way, what are the challenges and pitfalls and utility of any approach?Come join the fun with the latest episode of Tricky Bits

February 27, 2025Episode 11 hr 0 min

Moving and Grooving to RISC-V

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Exploring NVIDIA's Move from ARM to RISC V in GPUsRob and PJ return to discuss NVIDIA's strategic shift from Falcon and ARM microcontrollers in their GPUs to the open-source RISC V. The conversation delves into the history, technical considerations, and licensing challenges of microprocessors. They examine why ARM's longstanding presence is being challenged by RISC V, especially for embedded controllers, its flexibility, and cost advantages, alongside security concerns and the future potential of open-source hardware.00:00 Welcome Back to Tricky Bits00:27 NVIDIA's Shift to RISC V Microcontrollers02:02 The Role of Microcontrollers in Modern Devices04:33 Technical Challenges and Limitations06:18 Designing Custom Microcontrollers16:33 RISC V: The New Contender18:00 Comparing ARM and RISC V24:13 Apple's Strategic Choices31:48 RISC V Maturity and Market Penetration33:58 Challenges and Security Concerns36:53 Financial Incentives and Reference Models40:48 Comparing RISC V and ARM42:25 Security Concerns with Chinese RISC V Chips49:22 Microcontrollers and Their Ubiquity54:34 Future of Processor Diversity58:28 Open Source Innovation and Ecosystem

June 2, 2024Episode 2052 min

WWDC Predictions

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!WWDC is coming up and Rob and PJ have some opinions!AI is in the air for everyone this season and WWDC is likely going to be no exception....but with so much AI processing happening in the cloud and Apple having been so focused on data privacy, security, AND user experience...how IS Apple going to thread this needle?Will they push more stuff to the cloud to bring the widest support to folks?WIll they deprecate more hardware to make the user experience the best they can do?Should they even bother with AI at this time in any meaningful way ahead of having some strong use cases?Join Rob and PJ as they make some prediction ahead of WWDC...and see how well they did during the event itself!

May 27, 2024Episode 1952 min

Microsoft's Arming with ARM for the Future...But Is This a Break From History?

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Microsoft recently introduced its CoPilot + PCs as a fully integrated lineup...based on ARM processors (Qualcomm's Snapdragon specifically), unified memory, and requirements around the onboard TPUs.Hmm...sound very Apple-like, no?With an apparent revitalized push back into the consumer space, what does this mean for the future of the hardware? Specifically, the Wintel era meant infinite flexibility, configurability, and backwards compatibility, stemming all the way back in time.Will the voices of prosumer builders be silenced on Windows? Will developers rejoice as Windows powered machines with MacBook form factors come to bear? Could this actually be better for everyone to have more stable hardware platforms?Come join us as we dive into these topics to prognosticate towards a potentially better future for computing...

May 18, 2024Episode 1846 min

The Emperor Has No Clothes : Tech is Boring

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Hype is all around around the tech stories that are out there....Apple has a terrible ad for a thinner iPad!Google is leaving San Fran and moving jobs overseas!Announcements around AI that is going to revolutionize everything!!!Tech companies are acting like big corporations!!!Maybe it is just us...but does anyone get the impression that tech news is actually a bit boring right now? Perhaps we are just exhausted from the constant barrage of "bigger", "smaller", "better", "faster", "newer", "revolutionary, "evolutionary", "different"...But it does feel like a moment when tech is really trying to keep its whizz bang growth cycle going...and not start to admit that these companies, while still wildly profitably, are transforming into the value, blue chip stocks (oh, no, we're IBM!) who are trying to eek out more profit from ads on smart TVs rather than actually innovate.Join us as we rant a little bit on the current state of affairs!

April 26, 2024Episode 1743 min

CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, Neural Engines, and the Rest

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!CPUs have been around for forever as the heart of computers....then came GPUs to enable cool real time graphics...and later bitcoin mining...then some clever folks figured out how train AIs on them...which leads to a new explosion of processing units tuned specifically for AI development (see Google's TPUs, Apple's Neural Engines, Meta's MTIAs).Why do we have them all? And what the heck do they all mean? And why should we care? Come explore a bit of the magic and differences amongst these different types of processing units that is powering your phones, games, and the explosion in AI development!

April 16, 2024Episode 1647 min

Hacking the Apple M-Series via Prefetching Exploits

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!In the arms race of computational performance gains and big market splashes...security issues can pop their ugly head, something going all the way down to the hardware level...and when they happen, they can be brutal.In this episode of Tricky Bits, Rob and PJ discuss a recent article and research on hacking into the M-series chips, using clever attacks to extract data that is, ideally, supposed to be kept secret. What are the nitty gritty details of how this attack is successful?How does company culture and processes affect approaches to hardware development? And did we back ourselves into a corner by becoming less efficient programmers?Link to article: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/03/hackers-can-extract-secret-encryption-keys-from-apples-mac-chips/Link to research:https://gofetch.fail/

April 9, 2024Episode 1550 min

Interview with NeuroSync Labs

Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Ever wondered why a virtual rollercoaster can leave your stomach in knots, despite never leaving your living room? Strap in and brace yourself as we unpack the enigma of VR-induced nausea with the expert insights of Nemanja Milosavljevic from Neurosync Labs. Our latest episode of Tricky Bits zooms in on the battle between our eyes and our inner ear when diving into the digital deep end, bringing to light the vestibular system's pivotal role in the physical disorientation we face in virtual landscapes.Hold onto your headsets — this session isn't just about identifying problems; we're all about the solutions. Learn about how the groundbreaking C-Infinity device can sync your senses, offering an immersive experience with a solid grip on reality. By integrating force measurements with natural motion, this ergonomic innovation could be the key to unlocking a future of comfortable, nausea-free virtual exploration for a number of VR experiences. Join us as we envision an electrifying era of VR, where the technology we discuss today might just redefine our gaming experiences tomorrow.NeuroSync Labs: https://neurosyncvr.com/

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