Alicia White

All these things where you have, like in toys where you have to shave off pennies so you end up with a processor that should not be able to do this much, but you are packing in every piece of RAM, every cycle is spoken for. And that optimization, it's... People bring me their Arduino projects and they say, it works. All the features work most of the time.

All these things where you have, like in toys where you have to shave off pennies so you end up with a processor that should not be able to do this much, but you are packing in every piece of RAM, every cycle is spoken for. And that optimization, it's... People bring me their Arduino projects and they say, it works. All the features work most of the time.

and I look at it and see all of the things that isn't going to work. Usually there's like, I just want it to connect to the internet so I can get the data back. Like, okay, so you have to have a database for the data you want, the cloud data, the cloud data of interest. But you may also need to monitor the devices to make sure that they check in?

and I look at it and see all of the things that isn't going to work. Usually there's like, I just want it to connect to the internet so I can get the data back. Like, okay, so you have to have a database for the data you want, the cloud data, the cloud data of interest. But you may also need to monitor the devices to make sure that they check in?

What if this is a medical device and you need the user to be using it? So if they aren't using it, you need to know. And then what if it's had some faults? What is the fail safe? Can you actually hurt someone? What firmware version is it on? And these are all cloud problems. But these are cloud problems that have to be solved with the device.

What if this is a medical device and you need the user to be using it? So if they aren't using it, you need to know. And then what if it's had some faults? What is the fail safe? Can you actually hurt someone? What firmware version is it on? And these are all cloud problems. But these are cloud problems that have to be solved with the device.

And as you scale from one or two or three devices in your house that you're playing with, that you're building, or even 10 devices in your tiny startup office into thousands or millions. I worked at Fitbit, and this was a huge problem as they scaled. Oh, I mean, orders of magnitude. That database became bigger and more people had to access it.

And as you scale from one or two or three devices in your house that you're playing with, that you're building, or even 10 devices in your tiny startup office into thousands or millions. I worked at Fitbit, and this was a huge problem as they scaled. Oh, I mean, orders of magnitude. That database became bigger and more people had to access it.

And yet you don't want someone to know where President Obama is right now because he tends to wear a Fitbit watch. That's the sort of data you don't want to get out. And yet you still need to know if every device is up to date and if their batteries are degrading more quickly because on the new firmware, Yeah, there's a lot. There really is a lot. It's not insurmountable.

And yet you don't want someone to know where President Obama is right now because he tends to wear a Fitbit watch. That's the sort of data you don't want to get out. And yet you still need to know if every device is up to date and if their batteries are degrading more quickly because on the new firmware, Yeah, there's a lot. There really is a lot. It's not insurmountable.

And there are companies all the time that are trying to make it simpler. Do they succeed? Some of them. Some of them succeed pretty well, but it's never, sometimes they talk about it being Lego blocks. Like I used to have to develop a lot more stuff. But now I get my drivers from whatever repository I'm working. I get them from the chip vendor or from the RTOS vendor.

And there are companies all the time that are trying to make it simpler. Do they succeed? Some of them. Some of them succeed pretty well, but it's never, sometimes they talk about it being Lego blocks. Like I used to have to develop a lot more stuff. But now I get my drivers from whatever repository I'm working. I get them from the chip vendor or from the RTOS vendor.

I don't have to write drivers anymore. And other pieces of code like IMUs, most of that code comes from somewhere else. I used to have to write it. I don't anymore. It's really nice. But there's still this... the shimming of it together to try to get it all to work together given the time constraints or whatever other limitation there is to the embedded system.

I don't have to write drivers anymore. And other pieces of code like IMUs, most of that code comes from somewhere else. I used to have to write it. I don't anymore. It's really nice. But there's still this... the shimming of it together to try to get it all to work together given the time constraints or whatever other limitation there is to the embedded system.

I guess that's another way that I have defined embedded systems is that they are purpose-built for what they do. And so they don't have a lot of extra resources.

I guess that's another way that I have defined embedded systems is that they are purpose-built for what they do. And so they don't have a lot of extra resources.

whether it's needing to live underwater for five years on one battery, or whether it's needing to live in your pocket overnight on one battery charge. They don't have extra stuff. And that causes a lot of problems when you need to do extra stuff.

whether it's needing to live underwater for five years on one battery, or whether it's needing to live in your pocket overnight on one battery charge. They don't have extra stuff. And that causes a lot of problems when you need to do extra stuff.

I do. I do. I really like puzzle solving. And I'm not super afraid of math. So if I need to add up where all of my memory is going or be able to look at a memory map file and see hex addresses, those don't really scare me. I know that they're just addresses. They just look funny.

I do. I do. I really like puzzle solving. And I'm not super afraid of math. So if I need to add up where all of my memory is going or be able to look at a memory map file and see hex addresses, those don't really scare me. I know that they're just addresses. They just look funny.