Decline of E+WW

[Andrew Holme]

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

 

[Mike Harrison]

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

I didn't renew my sub this year as I don't have a lot of confidence that it will be around for
another year - in the last year or two there were some pretty dire issues - one had about 4 pages of
hex listing in a pretty thin issue...
I'm also getting pretty bored with people arguing about the nuances of high-end audio and the
endless wibblings of Ivor Catt et al.
An increasing part of the article content seems to be coming from component manufacturers.
I Too was somewhat surprised to see game reviews in the latest issue....
It's not available in many newsagents nowadays, which will probably be the nail in the coffin...

 

[Mike Meakin]

Couldn't agree more - picked one up in W H Smiths and couldn't believe how
pathetic it was. Cancelled my subscription a couple of years ago.
Considering what a wonderful journal it was, it is very sad end.

Mike Meakin

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Andrew Holme <[email protected]>

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

Well, Cyril Bateman and occasionally others are struggling to keep it
alive. The problem is undoubtedly that very few people have the time
and/or inclination these days to write articles for publication. Even
though the mechanics of production are absurdly easy these days; word-
processing, graphics programs, maths programs, simulators etc.. You
don't even have to snail-mail the MS.

If the new editor hasn't changed the policy, the payment for articles is
not inconsiderable. You might enquire.

 

[Helmut Sennewald]

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

Hello Andrew,
I have bought it a few times in the past. It had costed me
a leg and an arm here in Germany.
I recommend to try Elektor. They have interesting articles
and projects and a big amount of readers at least in Germany
and the Netherlands.
I don't know how popular Elektor is in the UK.
I guess Elektor is the only independent electronics magazine
which will survive in the long term.

http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/

Best Regards,
Helmut

PS: I am not an employee of Elektor.

 

[Winfield Hill]

John Woodgate wrote...

I read in sci.electronics.design that Andrew Holme wrote

Well, Cyril Bateman and occasionally others are struggling to keep it
alive. The problem is undoubtedly that very few people have the time
and/or inclination these days to write articles for publication. Even
though the mechanics of production are absurdly easy these days; word-
processing, graphics programs, maths programs, simulators etc.. You
don't even have to snail-mail the MS.

If the new editor hasn't changed the policy, the payment for articles
is not inconsiderable. You might enquire.

I agree, it's not an either / or situation. So let's get writing!

 

[Reg Edwards]

Can anybody remember the good old days when QST and other USA amateur radio
magazines could be bought on the newstands at British main-line railway
stations? Nice reading material between Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverly
on the Flying Scotsman in the dining car.

 

[Richard Webb]

I find Elektor easier to find in the UK than Electronics World. I find
Elektor a bit more 'hobbyist' than Electronics World. But then again I
haven't read Electronics World for quite a while now for the same reasons as
everyone else!

Rich

 

[Paul Burridge]

Can anybody remember the good old days when QST and other USA amateur radio
magazines could be bought on the newstands at British main-line railway
stations? Nice reading material between Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverly
on the Flying Scotsman in the dining car.

Sorry, Reg; a bit before this G4's time.

 

[john jardine]

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

The stuff from Cyril Bateman is priceless. How he gets the time I just do
not know.
regards
john

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

John Woodgate wrote...



I agree, it's not an either / or situation. So let's get writing!

Have they done a transcranial magnetic stimulator?


--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[Kryten]

I agree.

For far too long it has been padded out by people like Ivor Catt (or Imor
Twatt IMHO) waffling about stuff so esoteric that only a few like-minded
gasbags are bothered to argue with. And as for the obsession with high-end
audio, it is hardly going to make a difference unless you work for a hi-fi
company. HiFi is so Hi that remaining % is in the placebo domain...

I have a glance at E&WW when I visit my local library / newsagent, but I
haven't seen anything I would part with hard cash for.

When I was a kid (1980s!) I bought mags to get ideas for neat things I could
make and do.

Elektor is better at this but I reckon most of each serious project is a
microcontroller system.
Heck, who can't design that bit? Or it is a trivial circuit from a
chip-maker's app note.

I reckon they ought to just make one microcontroller foundation (CPU, LCD,
KBD) and just publish the add-on bits for particular projects.

Trouble is, the standard for something cool to make has long exceeded what
amateurs can make at home.

At one time for example, Byte mag might have published an article for a
frame grabber that was way cheaper than commercial ones. Nowadays, you can
buy USB TV dongles for less than an hour or two of most engineer's time.

Circa 1980, you could design a significant commercial product in your garage
with COTS parts, and become a major player if you had a few hundred bucks
(e.g. Steve Jobs and Apple). I can design better products than that today,
but commercial standards have improved a thousand fold. Magazine projects
can't really compete!

Winfield Hill wrote

I agree, it's not an either / or situation. So let's get writing!

To which I reply "we are!"

To paraphrase Andy Warhol, "In the future, everyone will be famous for
fifteen megabytes".
(or whatever the typical limit is at the time)

I have filled my own 15 MByte of web space with stuff personally polished by
me.
I have now got another site with a 50 MByte quota!


The other problem is that not many engineers are good writers.
Winfield Hill and Paul Horowitz an exception of course.
I was a technical author for four years, so I hope I can write fairly well.
But most engineers I meet are not good communicators.
Often they have the attitude that if they have to explain something you are
too stupid to be worth the effort of explanation.


It is true magazines have declined, but then again you can google for what
you want and discard a lot of the crap...

 

[Winfield Hill]

Dirk Bruere at Neopax wrote...

Have they done a transcranial magnetic stimulator?

I don't think so, so get cracking! BTW, one of the PhD graduates
of my lab is going into that area; he think it's the cat's pajamas.

 

[mc]

I reckon they ought to just make one microcontroller foundation (CPU, LCD,
KBD) and just publish the add-on bits for particular projects.

Atmel is onto that with their $20 "Butterfly," which is a CPU, support
circuitry, and LCD display, programmable with their $20 ISP module (as I
understand it). It has lots of logic-level inputs and outputs and you can
easily add a keypad of additional buttons.

 

[The Phantom]

There are computer game reviews and gadget advertorials in the Feb 2005
Electronics & Wireless World. Is this finally the end?

If you gave me a choice between the Internet, as it is now; and the
electronics magazines we had in the '70s: I'd have to choose the Internet;
but I do miss those magazines ...

This happened to the popular electronics magazines in the US 20 or more years ago. I
continued to subscribe to EWW since 1973 because the British publishers weren't afraid of
math. I once saw an article in one of the American magazines, Poptronics or Electronics
Now, or some such, where the author actually *apologized* for including E=IR in his
article.

Given the state of popular culture, are we surprised by this?

Apparently Gresham's law doesn't apply only to currency.

 

[John S. Dyson]

This happened to the popular electronics magazines in the US 20 or more years ago. I
continued to subscribe to EWW since 1973 because the British publishers weren't afraid of
math. I once saw an article in one of the American magazines, Poptronics or Electronics
Now, or some such, where the author actually *apologized* for including E=IR in his
article.

Given the state of popular culture, are we surprised by this?

Apparently Gresham's law doesn't apply only to currency.

The public fear of simple algebra that can be used to help explain simple
concepts is very very disappointing. I remember many years ago in high
school, where so many kids were unbelievably 'dense' on the most simple
math concepts. There is obviously a kind of thinking that not all
people are endowed with... Not bringing the issue of political disagreement
into this discussion, but on a higher level, the mass misunderstanding
of many political issues and being overwrought(sp) with hate is kind of
similar to the hate/fear/loathing against simple high school level math.

I know that the other students weren't 'stupid', but I cannot understand
the fear of simple (trivial) math AT ALL.

John

 

[Jonathan Kirwan]

I don't think so, so get cracking! BTW, one of the PhD graduates
of my lab is going into that area; he think it's the cat's pajamas.

This article about it was strangely interesting...

http://www.wireheading.com/brainstim/savant.html

Jon

 

[Winfield Hill]

Kryten wrote...

To paraphrase Andy Warhol, "In the future, everyone will be famous
for fifteen megabytes". (or whatever the typical limit is at the time)

I have filled my own 15 MByte of web space with stuff personally
polished by me. I have now got another site with a 50 MByte quota!

Links, please.

 

[Dirk Bruere at Neopax]

This article about it was strangely interesting...

http://www.wireheading.com/brainstim/savant.html

I'm starting to look into it seriously.
However, most of my posts to date have been on religious NGs.
Anyway, I'm going to start a thread here and see what comes up.
"Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)"

My interests are mainly with respect to altered states of consciousness and
religious experience.

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millenium
http://www.theconsensus.org

 

[mc]

I know that the other students weren't 'stupid', but I cannot understand
the fear of simple (trivial) math AT ALL.

You have to remember that it is often taught badly - the emphasis is on
calculating speed rather than on understanding. Mathematics and physical
education are the 2 subjects that can be made arbitrarily hard by an inept
teacher. Most other subjects come out too easy if the teacher is inept; not
those two.