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Tim's World

Having been trained as an engineer, first in mining and then electronics, I decided to pursue a future in technical journalism, leaving the electronics industry in Central Scotland for the publishing world in London.

The company I joined in 1986 is the one I am with now, The IML Group. Although my first magazine was with the now defunct Electronics Showcase, I shortly moved onto Electronics Product Design as Assistant Editor. My company had other ideas about my immediate future however and I was soon to be made Editor on a number of other engineering titles within the company before returning to electronics in 1994 as Editor of Electronics Manufacture & Test, the sister magazine to EPD.

The opportunity to expand my role by taking on the editorship of EPD in 2008 was an exciting one, given that the magazine had established itself as the only quality monthly publication in the electronics design field, and the successful launches over the last two years of this web site, the associated newsletter and the much acclaimed e-Legacy awards.

Recent articles;

It's NOT the economy, stupid! (02 December 2008)
There can be little doubt that the main topic on most people’s minds is job security in this reportedly rocky economic climate. More..

Spend, spend, spend – but do it wisely (25 November 2008)
I am not the most cavalier of people with money, but I'd guess that many would share my belief that being given a bit more, or making prices a bit cheaper, is not going to send us off on a consumer frenzy. More..

Electronica – life is still out there! (18 November 2008)
I went, I saw, I got sore feet. More importantly, I got a refreshing reminder of an industry that is far from in the doldrums. More..

Automotive - how low can it go? (11 November 2008)
When times have been bad in the past the automotive sector has always helped the electronics industry keep motoring. More..

Firework night - in Munich? (04 November 2008)
Admittedly the fireworks will be metaphorical rather than real, but next week's big exhibition is sure to find the industry in party mode. More..

Life on Mars is too expensive (21 October 2008)
Space exploration is good fun. Those of us with scientific minds love the feel of discovery when someone finds out that life on Jupiter’s moons is possible, or a probe on Mars reveals a hidden ice cap or two. More..

Modular approach to an embedded future (14 October 2008)
The idea of embedding components, or circuits, within circuits has always been an attractive one to designers as it maximises use of the space available. More..

The fast and furious world of automotive (07 October 2008)
Which markets are we, in the UK electronics industry, particularly strong? Medical, aerospace, and industrial electronics roll off the tongue, and when it comes to design you can add comms. More..

Fight back against recession (30 September 2008)
Don’t panic! You are reading the right newsletter, but there have been some changes at Electronic Product Design magazine. More..

Your website, Mr. President (23 September 2008)
Did you know there was a presidential election campaign underway in the USA at the moment? Unless you have been on Mars, I expect you do know, but how did you find out? More..

Hitting heady heights at the Roof Gardens (16 September 2008)
Lunch at a top London venue, meeting the great and the good of electronics, congratulating this year’s e-Legacy Awards winners. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it. More..

Off with his head! It’s criminal (09 September 2008)
Justice is meted out differently today, but as crimes cross international borders, will countries have to rethink crime and punishment? More..

My, how the back-to-school kit has changed ! (02 September 2008)
Back-to-school shopping: words that sink the spirits of Hayes Major and Minor, who have been running amuck since July. But now it’s not jumpers and pencil cases on the shopping list. More..

Hacked off with getting ripped off? (26 August 2008)
No-one can credibly explain why products cost so much more in the UK. This woman is taking a stand and just not paying! More..

When the laptops bite back (19 August 2008)
The criminal fraternity is getting more tech-savvy, pinching laptops and digital cameras, but the good guys are still one step ahead. More..

Lightweight, but not on the wallet (12 August 2008)
Lenovo’s X300 is lightweight enough, but dragged down by Windows Vista – and the price tag. More..

The sun shines on the righteous at the British Motor Show (05 August 2008)
Some days, I just love my job! Last week, I went to the Excel Centre for the British International Motor Show. There it was obvious that British car design is streets ahead of the competition. More..

Rise above the recession (22 July 2008)
No-one can avoid the dreaded R word, but there are some companies producing recession-busting electronics design that rise above the global slump. More..

We’re all goin’ on a summer holiday, no more emails for a week or two (15 July 2008)
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday, we’ll take the iPod too-ooo, for me and yooooou (with apologies to Cliff and The Shadows!) More..

Will nomad make Xilinx nimble? (08 July 2008)
Moshe Gavrielov, CEO of Xilinx, hopes to make the leading programmable logic company nimble and fighting fit. More..

Don't call if you are up over down-under now (01 July 2008)
On airplanes, I will happily change places so people can sit together and chat so I can catnap/read/watch the film in peace. More..

Can an engineer be appealing? (24 June 2008)
The European Commission has predicted that Europe will have 20million skilled SET vacancies by 2030, and over half the female workforce are leaving the profession before they reach the age of 40. More..

In space, no-one can hear you twitter (17 June 2008)
Are you one of the 17,000 people that tuned into the Phoenix Mars Lander twitter page last month? Do you thrill to the news that it is digging in the dirt looking for signs of life? More..

It must be true - I read it on the web (10 June 2008)
The blind faith that used to be reserved for anything read in a newspaper has transferred to a touching belief that the web cannot lie. More..

Why The Carphone Warehouse and Orange made me see red! (06 June 2008)
Nothing ticks me off more than bad service, except bad service that costs me money. Which is why I won’t be shopping in the Carphone Warehouse again and I will never be on an Orange network! More..

If tax is the stick, where’s the carrot? (03 June 2008)
Is the Government as green as it wants us to think? To change our car driving behaviour it taxes motorists, but where are the tax breaks that will also make us change our ways? More..

New ideas can inspire the jaded (27 May 2008)
It’s not often a CEO truly evangelises, but after meeting Rob Anders, I was convinced that new ideas fuelled by energy can be a motivating force that carries all in its wake. More..

YouTube politics (20 May 2008)
As if MPs did not have enough to deal with, now they are YouTube stars, and not always in the way the spin doctors intended. More..

Sounds familiar… or sounds similar? What’s in a name? (13 May 2008)
The choice of a company’s domain name has raised smiles and blood pressures recently and led to some entertaining revelations. More..

What can Eastern Europe teach UK industry? (06 May 2008)
I met Zytronic’s new CEO, Mark Cambridge and found that things had changed all over Tyneside since my last visit. More..

I lost myself in the Stellar Xda (22 April 2008)
“That’s a bit like giving a one-legged man a top-of-the-range mountain bike,” said Mr H sourly, as I paraded the new Xda Stellar and demonstrated the navigation software. More..

Is it RIP for ASICs? (15 April 2008)
There are some things I know for sure. I know the dodo is long gone. But ASICs? Are they as extinct as a sabre tooth tiger? Or more a giant panda, close but hanging in there? More..

The truth behind the Remploy headlines (08 April 2008)
Caroline Hayes speaks to Remploy’s general manager Rick Cook to discover more about the job cuts that made the news. More..

Neighbourhood wars (01 April 2008)
Sarkozy’s visit to the UK last week was a bid to deepen the entente cordiale between the two countries and to endear the idea of Europe to the Brits. Not gonna happen. More..

I travelled through Terminal 5 and survived (30 March 2008)
When I first got the travel details for a long haul flight, I thought this is either going to be something to brag about, being one of the first to do T5 or it would be a nightmare. More..

Come try, come buy the P1i (25 March 2008)
It is not often my 12 year old son thinks I'm even luke-warm, let alone cool, but I certainly earned some brownie points when I road-tested Sony Ericsson's P1i. More..

Don’t look to the chancellor to boost UK electronics (18 March 2008)
If last week’s budget was a boyfriend, he would have been dumped: All take and no promise of good times to come! More..

Ohhhh, Mrs, twitter ye not? (11 March 2008)
Middle-aged professionals have taken the ‘youth technology’ of twittering and made it work for them. More..

When good ideas are not enough (04 March 2008)
Good and virtuous ideas alone can fail to motivate, just look at Energy-Saving Day. Demonstating simple ideas work is the way to inspire others into action. More..

When does censorship apply to the internet? (28 February 2008)
The internet is a marvellous way to find or relay information, but how free should speech be? And who decides? More..

Take care of data and it will take care of you (27 February 2008)
Violent murderers have been convicted thanks to DNA evidence, but that does not justify a universal database. More..

Is it a hazard that RoHS is a toothless tiger? (20 February 2008)
The RoHS directive is 18 months old and, like any toddler, is chaotic, unruly and causing havoc. More..

Generation Y: What? When? How? (13 February 2008)
Is Generation Y the answer to progressing electronic design in this country? This Generation X-er thinks certainly not - unless we act fast ! More..

Introducing Weekly Update from Electronic Product Design (13 February 2008)
Welcome to this, the first Weekly Update, which marks a new period in Electronic Product Design's 28 year history. More..