Monday, March 25, 2024 - 10:38 ">  •  By Peter Winston  •  Software Development, embedded systems
Embedded software development is undergoing significant transformation – and trending toward greater complexity – driven in large part by the transition from conventional embedded systems to Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The move toward IIoT has broad implications, including cybersecurity mandates, edge computing, greatly expanded connectivity and opportunities to leverage machine learning (ML). Most Impactful Embedded Development TrendsFrom where I sit, six trends are most impactful – certain to quickly reshape product development in the near term and beyond. They are…
Monday, March 4, 2024 - 14:18 ">  •  By Boris Ralchenko  •  Embedded, Software Development
Borrowed from the natural realm, the term ecosystem has become a popular – some say overused – buzzword in the tech world, though there’s no consensus about its precise meaning. Some think of an ecosystem as a group of appliances and devices designed to work harmoniously together, creating a cohesive user experience. Others want the term to describe “a group of interested actors working together informally, and in doing so, creating more value than any one of them could individually.” My take is this: at its core, a digital ecosystem encompasses the complex web of relationships…
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 - 12:09 ">  •  By Sergei Zheleznov  •  Software Development
Human perception is predominantly visual, with 97% of external information received through sight, while other senses like hearing and touch contribute only 3%. Recognizing the profound impact of visual information, major tech players like Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft have invested heavily to advance computer vision technologies.  And these investments have paid off. For instance, Facebook’s money and computational resources have elevated its deep-learning AI facial recognition software DeepFace, which has achieved unprecedented 97.3% accuracy – nearly hitting human-…
Tuesday, August 15, 2023 - 11:57 ">  •  By Lisandro Pérez Meyer, Stephanie Van Ness  •  Linux, embedded systems
Your customer asked you to build a Linux-based device. You’re a skilled developer but not experienced with embedded Linux. Here’s a quick overview of the key elements of Linux-based development you’ll need to master in order to successfully move from working prototype to Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Basics of Developing a Linux-Based Device Let’s start with the very basics: what is Embedded Linux? With embedded Linux, an embedded system is built with an operating system that uses the Linux kernel. The distribution is smaller and includes fewer features and less processing power than a…
Monday, May 1, 2023 - 11:11 ">  •  By Murat Cezan  •  Software Development
As developers know, design patterns are crucial to the success of code. If you are a new Flutter developer, you may have encountered patterns such as MVVM. BLoC – or Business Logic Components – is a reactive pattern that separates an application's business logic from its UI logic. The purpose is to make the code easier to maintain and test.  BLoC works based on a library. The BLoC pattern at its core handles asynchronous events and creates a continuous flow with a reactive programming approach. Reactive programming refers to a design paradigm that relies on asynchronous programming…
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 - 08:05 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness, Jay Noble  •  Testing, Software Development
The key to effective software testing is striking the right balance between automation and manual testing methods. Automation testing, in which the test case is executed by a tool rather than by a human, represents 80% of the software testing market according to Absolute Reports, in large part because it is highly accurate. Still, there are many situations that call for manual testing. Though it may not always be as accurate as automation, the inclusion of human decision-making in the process provides greater flexibility. For certain types of tests, like usability testing, human testers can…
Friday, October 8, 2021 - 10:26 ">  •  By Boris Ralchenko  •  Software Development
It happened many moons ago when a professor of programming said on the first day of class, “last year I taught three programming languages during this course. This year I decided to drop one. We will not study Cobol as it is a dying language and I’m sure you’ll never hear about it after your graduation.” “We will learn Fortran,” he continued. “There are many packages written on Fortran so you may have to support it.” He paused and looked at the class. “The most important language you’ll learn here is Pascal,” he said. “It is the language of your future."  Of course, time has shown he…
Friday, March 26, 2021 - 14:33 ">  •  By Jeff Tranter  •  development tools
When it comes to processor architectures, you're probably familiar with x86 and ARM, but have you ever heard of RISC-V? If not, you owe it to yourself to learn something about this up and coming technology that I expect will become more widely used in the future. I'll explain RISC-V — but first, let's talk ISAs. An Instruction Set Architecture or ISA is an abstract model of a computer architecture, defining such things as the register model and machine code instructions. A realization of an ISA, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), is called an implementation. Widely used ISAs…
Friday, July 31, 2020 - 10:27 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness, Mark Hatch  •  touchscreen, User Experience
Contact-less processes that enhance the user experience are essential in light of COVID-19. Join us August 13 for a live webinar exploring technology that allows you to deliver peace of mind for your customers. Despite strides made in terms of access to PPE, availability of virus-killing cleaning products and widespread acceptance of hand-washing protocols, COVID-19 continues to make people uncomfortable when using public touchscreen devices, such as ATMs. The fear of infection has compelled many consumers to change their behavior or go out of their way to avoid interacting with public…
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 07:09 ">  •  By Peter Winston  •  Open Source, medical device, Qt
This ongoing series provides a close-up look at our work helping two non-profit organizations, RespiraWorks and Project RED, create low-cost ventilators to fight COVID-19 in countries with developing economies. Progress reports will be posted regularly. June 4, 2020 No one likes surprises on projects, and I have written many times about how to prepare for and budget for the unexpected. But those are negative surprises. Positive surprises, on the other hand, are welcome. A few days ago, I got just such a surprise. Thanks to all the blogging and the publicity we’ve…
Monday, April 13, 2020 - 10:15 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness  •  touchscreen
We live in a touchscreen society. From ATMs and grocery store checkouts to airport ticket kiosks and fast-food self-serve ordering stations, there are public touchscreen kiosks and point-of-service (POS) touchpads everywhere. They’re popular because they offer exceptional convenience, allowing people to quickly get the information or item they want without having to wait for human assistance. But, in our current climate, where the mere mention of coronavirus germs cause heightened anxiety, are touchscreen kiosks safe to use? The short answer is yes...if. If they are cleaned frequently and…
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - 09:14 ">  •  By Mark Hatch  •  Qt, Embedded, GreenHouse
You just shipped your impressive new product, built on the latest System on a Chip (SOC) from XYZ Microsystems. You chose this SOC because it decreased your parts count and reduced your manufacturing bill of materials. And with its fast CPU, this SOC powers your product to process four times as many samples as your earlier devices. Your C-suite is ecstatic. Your sales team is over the moon, convinced it’s going to wipe out the competition. Fast forward six months. Senior management is thrilled by your progress as manufacturing hums along at top efficiency. But you’re so laser-focused that…
Monday, February 10, 2020 - 08:58 ">  •  By Peter Winston  •  Qt, embedded systems, GreenHouse
Successful touch devices appear deceptively simple to the user. In reality, they are highly complex and challenging to build because they require so many different skills. Each device requires custom hardware, touchscreen, operating system and web connectivity, as well as  custom software. Getting it right is the difference between winning or losing before you ever get to market.  ICS has devised a smarter way to build embedded devices. In fact, it’s a sophisticated solution to a complex problem. Built on the popular Qt framework, our rapid development toolkit eliminates…
Monday, July 1, 2019 - 13:15 ">  •  By Steve Holcomb  •  Qt
Regular Expressions are tools for finding patterns in data. They are an extremely powerful tools, but are also full of arcane rules and cryptic combinations of symbols. Good user interface (UI) design can use Regular Expressions, but shouldn’t require the end-user to enter the Regular Expressions themselves. A well-designed interface can allow the end-user to quickly and easily use Regular Expressions when searching, sorting and filtering data. Here’s an example, a short application that demonstrates one use for Regular Expressions. (It is a Qt project, which can be compiled and…
Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - 13:12 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness  •  Software Development, UX Design
Despite advances in the tools, languages and hardware available to developers, software projects still run into trouble — they miss deadlines, hit intractable technical obstacles and run over budget. In our recent webinar Winning Applications: Lessons Learned from 500+ Successful Projects, Integrated Computer Solutions CEO Peter Winston offered a number of ways to avoid most of the roadblocks that can impede your efforts. In this blog, Winston shares big picture guidance and tackles a few in-the-weeds questions that were submitted by webinar participants but not addressed during the…
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 - 07:39 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness, ICS Development Team  •  gamification, Voice Recognition, alexa
There’s a common theme running through technology: new things come onto the market and everyone says “That’s the next best thing!” But then it isn’t. Well, at least not right away. It takes time for people to understand the new technology, and as that happens the tech starts to get used in unexpected ways. That’s the case with games, including that Family Night staple, the board game. We’re beginning to see the integration of voice control, smart screens and gesture tech into not only digital games but traditional ones as well. And Thinkables — games you can control with your mind — are…
Thursday, January 31, 2019 - 10:58 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  interactive games
People love to play games, which explains why clients keep asking us (the folks at Integrated Computer Solutions) to develop games for them to use at trade shows and conferences. We’ve built a wide variety of game types, including target games, races, puzzles, 3D immersion and competitive games. For this year’s Computer Electronics Show (CES) we whipped up a captivating package-delivery game for Indiegogo showcasing the products and services of its client Ingram Micro, which offers technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Here’s how we did it. About the Game This…
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - 09:35 ">  •  By Stephanie Van Ness, ICS Development Team  •  gamification, web
At Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS), we create a lot of games for our clients for use at trade shows and conferences, and for sales teams to show off products. We’ve built a wide variety of game types, including target games, races, puzzles and 3D-immersion games. Most-often requested are trivia-based games. Regardless of game style, we’ve found interactive games succeed when game creators follow these five simple rules: 1. Understand Motivation  Why would someone play the game? To win a prize (extrinsic motivation), bragging rights or because it’s fun (intrinsic…
Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 14:36 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  web
With the acceleration of technology, being a web developer today is like being inside Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. If you’re not familiar, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was an absurdist look at the end of the world. More specifically, a black comedy political satire about Cold War-fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. (Seems relevant today, no?) Anyway, if you strip away the politics, Dr. Strangelove essentially was about how a simple decision could morph into absolute chaos. If you’re a…
Friday, August 17, 2018 - 11:34 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  web
That’s right, I said it. And I stand by it. Building cross-platform software can be easy if you know how to do it. Sure, it used to be impossible. You had to decide on your platform upfront and build to that platform. Or build two completely different platforms. But these days, you can build your app and then decide which platforms to deploy it to. How do I know? I have a recent client project to thank for this insight. My client wanted to create an interactive web game that also ran locally on sales reps’ Windows computers when they were not connected to the internet. The game was a fairly…
Friday, June 22, 2018 - 09:36 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  Raspberry Pi, gamification
Thinking of building large gameshow-like interactive experiences? Want to use your Raspberry Pi to talk to your computer? Interested in integrating custom controllers with your games? If so, this blog is you. We were tasked with creating an interactive experience — a Plinko-like game — for attendees to play at a trade show. It was a pretty cool project. We're sharing this walk-through so you can build your own. But first, let's get this out of the way: what exactly is Plinko? Ever seen The Price is Right? Plinko is one of the show's most popular games. In the physical game,…
Friday, May 18, 2018 - 07:30 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  voice app, alexa, chatbot
Do you pay attention to every word someone else says? Or even every word your home device says? Probably not. As humans, we listen for contextual clues to tell us when we need to pay closer attention. But how does your chatbot know to do that? Think about it. Alexa is still a young girl, er chatbot, without the sophisticated communication skills of an adult. She’s relying on us — developers — to offer the guidance and direction she needs to elevate her listening, comprehension and speaking skills. For instance, she needs a little help understanding verbal emphasis and a speaker’s pauses.…
Friday, May 18, 2018 - 05:34 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  Intel
ICS engineers have published a set of papers on the Intel Developer Zone website that discuss utilizing parallel processing to improve performance in 3D graphics intensive applications, such as gaming. In this domain, realism is important as an indicator of success. In order to mimic the actual world, many things need to happen at the same time which requires parallel processing. Each article covers the topic using a different graphics system: Unity 5.6 Vulkan 1.0 Unreal Engine 4 Direct3D 12 Moving from single-threaded to multi-threaded processing on the CPU, the articles advance…
Monday, February 26, 2018 - 11:45 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  voice assistant, alexa, siri
Voice will soon be in every gadget. At least, that’s the vision a lot of industry watchers share. And, they’re probably right. Already, Alexa, Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant will happily listen to and act upon your every word. Who can resist that? Certainly not consumers — something brands have noticed. That's one reason a number of heavyweights, among them Starbucks and Nestlé, have developed their own brand-specific voice assistants and voice-skill apps. The goal is to ensure that the information served up by Alexa and her cronies includes them, a clever…
Monday, January 22, 2018 - 11:19 ">  •  By Mark Hatch, Stephanie Van Ness  •  UX Design, Software Development, product development
You’re a product manager. Your company is counting on you to get a new product to market quickly. Not just any product — a product your customers will love. So how do you rapidly develop something that works while ensuring it's something people will like to use? Integrating user experience (UX) design methodologies into software development projects so you end up with a sound product useful to your customer can be challenging. That’s because today’s typical product-development process requires you to create and complete the UX design before software development begins. UX’s…
Thursday, December 7, 2017 - 14:23 ">  •  By ICS Development Team  •  web, cybersecurity, security
Business today is digital. Software-dependent. That means nearly every company is exposed to a growing number of potential vulnerabilities. Major system hacks — anxiety-inducing and costly to fix — regularly make the news. Hacker's preferred target: the application layer. Fortunately, protecting your application layer is straightforward. Here’s a look at what hackers see, how they break in, and what you, the web developer, can do to prevent it.  Securing Traffic What hackers see: They know speed is important to your site; that the page load time matters for SEO and the user…
Friday, October 13, 2017 - 08:57 ">  •  By ICS Development Team, ICS UX Design Team  •  VR, online shopping
You know that moment in the Wizard of Oz when the drama switches from black and white to color? The story becomes magical. A whole new viewing experience where anything seems possible. Well, that moment will soon happen on the web.  In the near future, now-familiar 2D websites will transform into vivid 3D experiences — turning online shopping into a whole new ballgame. Flat images will be replaced with 3D objects (mixed reality) that can be customized to meet shoppers’ specific needs.  In other words, websites will become a whole lot more interesting. As an added bonus, the…
Monday, September 18, 2017 - 09:57 ">  •  By Peter Winston  •  IoT, cybersecurity, connected device
With the expansive Equifax breach still making news, the focus on cybersecurity is again intense. At ICS, security is always top of mind as we aim to build — and help others build — connected devices that integrate substantial security features. In my last blog I framed the issue and offered a number of telling statistics. This week, I’m sharing some tips device manufacturers can follow to strengthen security, as well as some measures enterprises that rely on IoT devices can take immediately to better protect themselves. Though not intended as a comprehensive plan, these measures can have a…