Articles by Howdy Pierce

FreeRTOS is a wonderful choice for a whole class of small embedded devices. Whether discussing its simplicity and ubiquity or its small size and open-source nature, the real-time operating system aspect is actually the least interesting thing about FreeRTOS.

Great engineers need to have an environment optimized around performing deep work.

Today’s discussion at Cardinal Peak involved Banksy’s latest stunt. In case you missed the news, a print of one of Banksy’s most famous street murals, “Girl With Balloon,” appeared to destroy itself only seconds after it was auctioned by Sotheby’s for a record sum of $1.4M. Shortly after the destruction, Banksy posted an Instagram video... View Article

Empower your organization with IoT temperature monitoring solutions. Cardinal Peak's innovative approach ensures compliance and efficiency for critical environments.

I was disappointed in CES this year. Aside from minor tweaks, virtually everything on display in 2018 was also on display in 2017. Although I did see the world’s first “mixed reality dimensional guidance device,” I’m not sure what it is, but with that name I want it! Evidently, I’m not the only one whose... View Article

Discover the surprising world of floating point math and its quirky rules, from negative zero to division by zero. Delve into IEEE 754 standards and understand why infinity isn't just a number.

I’m super excited to announce that Mark Carrington will be joining Cardinal Peak as president at the beginning of the year. Mark is a seasoned Silicon Valley executive who comes to Cardinal Peak with a wealth of relevant experience in finding solutions for customers and building successful world-class teams. I’m looking forward to working with... View Article

Discover how Cardinal Peak integrates deep work principles to enhance engineering excellence and client value. Embrace focused productivity today!

Like possibly everyone else who grew up watching Sesame Street, I loved Apple’s new ad featuring the Cookie Monster using Siri to help make cookies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbWyYr82BM And the behind-the-scenes follow-up is possibly even funnier if you haven’t seen it. The pairing of the childlike Cookie Monster and Siri is pure genius. Great as these ads... View Article

I attended the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month, and the biggest single category again this year was the Internet of Things, or IoT. Evidently, out of nearly 4,000 exhibiting companies, nearly a quarter displayed an IoT product. Meanwhile, for the last two years running, “Internet of Things” has been at “peak of inflated... View Article

I shouldn’t admit it, but I’m old enough to remember picking television shows very differently than we do today. Sonny, back when I was a kid, there were fewer choices in programming, it was impossible to time-shift, and if you missed something, you were out of luck. Out of necessity, shows were written on the... View Article

I’ve got a new article up at Entrepreneur: “What Does the ‘Freelance Economy’ Mean for Engineers?” Here’s a taste: What does mean for entrepreneurs across many fields? I’m convinced that the use of freelancers can lead to greater flexibility, with fewer traditional limitations. And that in turn can be a source of great competitive advantage... View Article