Articles by Mark N. Vena

NTT Research, a branch of conglomerate parent firm NTT, last week announced that it would expand the size of its optical research center by 2023 During its Upgrade 2023 event, the company's technical user, customer, and partner conference in San Francisco, NTT proffered an expansive view of how it believes networking infrastructure must change. NTT...

Spatial audio has excited the audio market ever since Apple announced movie and TV content supporting it in iOS 14 at the WWDC event in June 2020. Spatial audio essentially delivers surround sound and 3D audio through headphones via dynamic head tracking. Typically, it's not a feature found in traditional audio speakers Over the past two decades si...

Last week, I wrote about my longing for Windows users to have the same robust experience that macOS users have for accessing iMessage on their Mac devices. Intel's Unison app, now available on select Intel Evo-certified laptops from HP, Lenovo, and Acer -- and presumably more Windows laptops in the future -- is a modest step in the right direction ...

The inability to share data easily and reliably between a smartphone, laptop, or desktop has been a source of aggravation for Windows PC users who also possess an iPhone Apple has solidified a strong ecosystem reputation with its products and core device operating systems by highlighting the advantages of enabling files, text messages, and even the...

Personal computer sales recently began to slow down to levels not seen since early 2020, before the pandemic turbocharged the PC space By all estimates, PC manufacturers are battening down the hatch for yet another challenging year after shipments fell markedly in 2022....

It's no secret that the smartphone has dramatically cannibalized the traditional digital camera space over the past several years. According to Statista, worldwide revenue for digital cameras was US$21.26 billion in 2022, down from a high of $29.03 billion in 2014 At Wednesday's Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event in San Francisco, Samsung unveiled its new ...

Videoconferencing, podcasts, and webinars surged in popularity during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 as remote work became part of the new normal. With the pandemic now in the rearview mirror, video communications techniques have shown no sign of slowing down What's been amusing to me is that despite the pervasiveness of video communications, ...

CES is undeniably the most famous and influential tech show on the planet, held yearly in Las Vegas With the pandemic still hanging over the world last year, its 2022 attendance was a shadow of its former self, attracting only 45,000 people -- down from its pre-Covid high 150,000 -- with dozens of exhibitors canceling their on-floor presence days b...

An interesting thought occurred to me while I was on Thanksgiving vacation, thousands of miles away from my home in Silicon Valley. While I perform much of my work on a 2021 M1-based MacBook Pro, I sometimes need access to a Windows PC for specific applications that are unavailable on macOS My recent problem was that my Dell XPS 13 Plus was back in...

Calix has been one of the major success stories in the highly competitive technology communications space over the past several years. Although it's a company that few consumers would immediately recognize by name, the Calix cloud and software platforms empower internet service providers of all categories and sizes to transform and electrify their businesses...

MediaTek's brand is often associated with affordable, budgeted, Android phones. However, the company has made incremental inroads into the more premium, high-performance models. The launch of the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chipset is a potent step in that direction Like all smartphone chips, the Dimensity 9200 is a system on a chip (SoC), which means ...

AMD, on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas, held a launch event to take the wrappers off its next-generation desktop graphics family. The event was a refreshingly brief but powerful overview of the innovation that AMD continues to bring to the graphics space In a bizarre but fascinating manner, it was interesting to see that much of the ho-hum or negative pre-lau...

While watching the live stream of last week's formal announcement of the Matter smart home initiative, I couldn't resist recalling Samuel Becket's classic existentialist play, "Waiting for Godot," where two characters participate in several discussions and encounters while awaiting Godot, a proxy for God, who never arrives After all, the Matter ini...

One of the joys of doing my work is getting exposed to scores of new and disruptive products. The Thanksgiving and December holidays are quickly approaching, so it’s the time of year when I'm fortunate enough to evaluate new tech products that merit attention. It's a tough job, but someone has got to do it Keep in mind that my comments are not in...

With the trouncing of the San Francisco 49ers by the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, it is fair to say that Infineon Technologies had a much better week than the Niners. After all, Infineon used Levi's Stadium, the 49ers' home, to host its annual OktoberTech event OktoberTech is conducted in several cities globally. Infineon uses the event to show of...

Significant scientific research recognizes that the climate over the past decades has influenced humans and animals. Reasonable people can debate, and should, about the severity effect level. But it's also rational to ask what the world can do to mitigate the impact of climate change in a pragmatic, cost-friendly, and scalable manner Schneider Elec...

For the last year, I've contemplated installing an electric vehicle (EV) charger in my multi-dwelling condo in San Jose. Mind you; I don't yet have an EV. But I have friends with EVs who frequently visit, so I figured it could be beneficial and convenient for others. Furthermore, I believe an EV charger couldn't hurt from a condo resale standpoint if I decide to move from the Golden State...

I was fortunate to get a chance to spend some time with Amazon's new robotic sidekick, Astro, over the past week Presumably named Astro because of Amazon's fondness for the lovable dog on the 1960s cartoon series "The Jetsons," it is now available on an invite-only basis for $1,000. However, the price will eventually climb to $1,450 when it becomes...