Re: Elektor Electronics new website

From: ted (edaudio2000_at_yahoo.co.uk)
Date: 02/25/05 

Date: 25 Feb 2005 02:20:30 -0800

>Good point. Myself I don't think it's any longer possible to increase
reader
>numbers. The whole industry has these past 30 years devolved into say
an
>85%-15% digital/analogue split, maybe finally to stablize at a
90%-10%
>level. The people who buy the mag's just seem born that way and
curious wrt
>analogue systems. Digital systems/process/programming etc being
regarded
>only as a means-to-an-end.
Well, Ms Josifovska has done a very good job at improving the look of
the IEE magazine, so I wish her well with EW. I also hope the use of
advertorial pieces is just a temporary thing. I agree with you that if
it continues this way, it won't last. You need a bit more substance if
you are paying nearly 4 pounds for a magazine.

>The uni's must now turn out 85% DSP/computing specialists. But how
many of
>these are willing to fork out £3.25 of their own money for a special
>interest 'DSP World' or 'Practical DSP' mag'?. How many programming
mag's
>are even on sale?.
I think electronics has matured to such an extent that newcomers (eg
uni students) are not the inquisitive/creative types any more, but
simply implementers. It has become like other professions like
accountancy and dentistry. Learn the trade, use the tools, and that's
it. No research/innovation involved (as it used to be the case) when
engineers had to be innovative in their designs in order to get ahead.

>Thought I'd lost a couple of mags but you might be pleased to hear
they were
>found filed in the "In case of this requirement, mug up on these
selected
>articles before looking anywhere else" bookshelf section, (web I/O
and USB
>Scope).
Thanks for the compliments. I usually write these articles on the back
of a project I was doing at the time. So that the research time has
already been done (and paid for). Writing the piece is much easier
that way. I could not contemplate researching the material just for
the article.

>Essentially you seem to be writing stuff that will be of interest to
readers
>of EW. Shurely we're all basically enthusiasts,
Unfirtunately, a lot of areas are non-starters. I had an idea on
Zigbee, but obtaining any decent information is next to impossible.
The 802.15 bits are all easily obtainable, but the zigbee section is a
closed book to mere mortals like me. It is getting more and more like
this for all new technologies...a pity really..

>While rummaging through the issues back to 1988 I spotted a few
articles
>that I remember well and would like to see more of.
There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant! And yes, I have the Scientific American "Amateur Scientist"
CD. Full of amazing stuff!!!

Regards

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