GEORGE GILDER HHmmI ISBN 0-393-05763-1 USA $22.95 CAN. $32.00 Thanks to the digital technology revolu- tion, cameras are everywhere—PDAs, phones, anywhere you can put an imaging chip and a lens. Battling to usurp this two-billion-dollar market is a Silicon Valley company, Foveon, whose technology not only produces a superior image but also may become the eye in artificially intelligent machines. Behind Foveon are two legendary figures who made the personal computer possible: Carver Mead of Caltech, one of the founding fathers of information technology; and Federico Faggin, inventor of the CPU—the chip that runs every computer. George Gilder has covered the wizards of high tech for twenty-five years and has an insider's knowledge of Silicon Valley and the unpredictable mix of genius, drive, and luck that can turn a start-up into a Fortune 500 com- pany. The Silicon Eye is a rollicking narrative of some of the smartest—and most colorful- people on earth and their race to transform an entire industry. PUBLISHED TITLES IN THE ha NTE RPRI SE SERIES George Gilder The Silicon Eye Tim Parks Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, andArt in Fifteenth-Century Florence KenAuletta Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire Rich Cohen Machers and Rockers: Chess Records and the Business ofRock & Roll FORTHCOMING TITLES Richard Rayner California Capitalists Stanley Bing Rome: The Rise and Fall ofthe First Multinational Corporation James Buchan Adam Smith Jagdish Bhagwati Terrified by Trade BY GEORGE GILDER The Party That Lost Its Head (with Bruce Chapman) Men and Marriage Man Visible Wealth and Poverty Recapturing the Spirit ofEnterprise Microcosm LifeAfter Televsion Telecosm The Silicon Eye The Eye Silicon George Gilder & S Atlas Books W. W. Norton 8c Company NewYork• London Copyright©2005 byGeorge Gilder All rights reserved Printed in the United States ofAmerica First Edition Forinformationaboutpermission toreproduce selectionsfrom this book, write to Permissions. \V. \V. Norton &Company. Inc.. 500 FifthAvenue. NewYork. NY 10110 ManufacturingbyThe CourierCompanies. Inc. BookdesignbyChrisWelch Production manager:Amanda Morrison LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gilder. George F., date. The silicon—eye George Gilder, p. cm. (Enterpr> Includes index. ISBN 0-393-05763-1 (hardcover) — — 1. Foveon (Firm) 2. Hightechnologyindustries California—Santa ClaraValley iSantaClara Countyi 3. Digital electronics. 4. Photography Digital techniques. 5. Electronic digital computers. 6.Artificial intelligence. 7. Computervision. 8. Visual perception. 9. Cellulartelephones. 10. Mead. Carver. 11. Faggin, Federico. 1941- I. Title. II. Enterprise (NewYork, NY. HC107.C2H53342005 338."621367'09-94_3—dc22 2004030994 \\. \Y. Norton & Company. Inc.. 500 FifthAvenue. New York. N.Y 10110 www.wwiMHton.com \\. \\. Norton & Company Ltd.. Castle House. 75/76Wells Street. LondonWIT3QT "-90 . For Louisa Contents Prologue Who Is Carver Mead? 13 THREE MEN AND A CAMERA Delbrtick Bursts In 23 The Fourth Camera 31 Merrill's View 47 The Charged Competition 57 Annealing Neurons 63 THE FORGOTTEN FOUNDER FF 69 Beyond the Silicon Gate jj Tobermory 87 The Hopfield Net 93 Part Three THE CATAND THE CAMERA U 1 Carverland 101 Michelle in 1 2 Misha 125 1 D Synaptics 139 4 The Analog Perplex 147 Seizing the Sword 159 16 The Cat 175 Teleology at Oxford 185 White Rabbit 193 Part Four FOVEON ' Merrill's Magic 201 ZU Lyons Den of Many Colors 209 Photokina 2000 and Beyond 223 ZZ Foveon's Disruptive Challenge 233 Holy Kammoli! 251 RAW Foveon in Vegas 261 Epilogue Camera's End 277 Glossary 287 Acknowledgments 299 Index 303 The Eye Silicon