Napier strengthens team with addition of Boris Sedacca
We're very excited to be able to annouce that Boris Sedacca joined Napier yesterday, strengthening ou account management and in-house writing capabilities. Boris is a journalist of vast experience, having held editorial positions at several leading technology titles, including Electrical Times, Drives & Controls, Electrical Products, Which Computer?, Computing and Computer Weekly. Boris also speaks French, strengthening Napier's in-house language skills.
DATE 09 call for papers
The oranisers of DATE 09 have issued a call for papers. The submission deadline is 7 September 2008 - not much time after people return from their holidays! In addition to the general call for papers, the organisers are requesting dedicated papers for their application design, test/tools and embedded software tracks; and there will also be two days dedicated to multicore applications and SoC development strategies. For help getting your paper in on time, email Napier.
The next Napier recruit?
Everyone at Napier is excited over the birth of Joshua Harvey Russell-Hunt, Emma's second baby. Many of our clients know Emma well, as she manages the Napier press process, driving the translation and checking processes as well as ensuring that releases distributed efficently and effectively. Joshua was born at the start of the month, with this recent picture showing how well he has done in his first month of life.
ED Europe wins award
The American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE) recently awarded Electronic Design Europe a Bronze Award in the Digital Publications, General Excellence category. Many congratulations to Paul Whytock and everyone at ED Europe for this achievement.
I think it is particularly impressive for a European digital magazine to win an award against so many Aermican competitors. It's great to see European publications recognised for their digital leadership - "old Europe" really does have some outstanding online expertise!
Napier's distribution research
Readers of Napier News may be interested to know that Napier is conducting a research study into the perception of distributors across Europe. I know that the study will be very useful for marketers working in both distributors and manufacturers, and we will be publishing the headline results in our Napier News email that will appear at the end of August.
No Napier News email for July
With the European electronics media fairly quiet, and many of our readers - and me! - on holiday, I'm not planning to send out an email issue of Napier News this month. the website will be updated during August, and we'll send our normal update at the end of the month.
SENSOR+TEST 2009 - Call for papers
The organisers of the "SENSOR+TEST Conference 2009 group" (which includes the parallel shows SENSOR 2009, OPTO 2009, and IRS² 2009) have issued a call for papers. This year each event will hold its own individual conference track, presenting more speaking opportunities. The submission deadline is 25 September 2008.
Voting open for e-Legacy awards
Voting is now open for IML's eLegacy awards, simply visit the awards website to vote.
40th Birthday of New Electronics
Congratulations to New Electronics on its 40th birthday, which was celebrated in the 22nd July issue.
Another promotion for Paul Whytock
Only recently after he was appointed European editor for Microwaves and RF - in addition to his role editing ED Europe - Paul Whytock has been promoted to European Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Design Group. Paul is now responsible for developing the European coverage and content of Electronic Design, Microwaves & RF magazine, Power Electronics Technology, Automotive Electronics and Military Electronics, as well as continuing to write ED Europe. Many congratulations to Paul - we wish him all the best in promoting the exciting European market across the globe.
Weka's Sommernachtsfest 2008
If, like me, you were unable to attend Weka's Sommernachtsfest this year, you'll be pleased to know that you can see video and images of the event on the elektroniknet.de website. Sadly the weather took a disappointingly English turn, with the theme for the evening ending up as "I'm singing in the rain"!
New editor for A&D
Publish-Industry's automation title, A&D, has appointed Wolfgang Kräußlich as the new editor,
Napier branches into writing about sports!
We ghost write a lot of articles for our clients, but this project was something different. Mike has co-authored a book about the oldest speed skating club in the UK, with the hardback and paperback both available from Lulu.
Dispute between Bodo and PSDE rumbles on
The Munich court of appeal has overturned earlier court rulings that restricted the branding of Bodo's Power in the case between Bodo and AGS Media, publishers of PSDE. I don't think this makes a huge difference to the two titles, as Bodo's Power has re-branded pretty effectively (and clearly the word "Bodo" is more important to the magazine's brand than "Systems"!). We understand that there are other issues to be resolved by the courts, and will report on them if they will have an impact on either title. From our point of view, however, the more successful titles in Europe, the better!
How long will TechInsights publish ESE?
We understand that TechInsights have contracted Phil Ling, editor of Embedded Systems Engineering for three months. Whilst this is great news, and hopefully will be a good way to support the Embedded Systems Show, it's concerning that there appears to be no perminant editorial contract. Publishing two embedded titles in English would be difficult for anyone, but at least there is a short-term commitment to the title. We'll let you know more on Napier News as soon as we hear...
Registration open for aae2008
Registration is now open for aae2008 (advanced Automotive Electronics 2008), the vehicle electronics show organised by UMR Ltd. For more information, including the conference programme, visit www.aae-show.co.uk [site now offline].
Press release report card
Just for fun - there is an online service that will grade your press release: www.pressreleasegrader.com. I'm not sure that any of these services would help anyone other than the least knowledgable marketing managers, but it's worth a go to see what the system thinks of your releases.
Automotive Electronics Congress 2008 programme announced
The programme for the International Automotive Electronics Congress 2008 has been released. This Reed-organised conference has again attracted a roster of high-quality speakers, although sending out the announcement that the programme was finalised with the spam-like subject line "Our meeting on November 3-4, 2008" had me cringing!
Videos of PCIM
Missed PCIM? No problem, with the online videos of the event! Here are some of the videos online:
Videos of the conference sessions (update: link no longer available) on Darnell's Power Pulse
Interviews and other coverage on Electronic Design Europe's website
What does all this video coverage mean for shows? In practice I think that the coverage will only serve as event promotion and will - if anything - encourage visitors to attend. Creating videos at events simply is a way magazines and suppliers to create multi-media content in a cost-effective way. I don't see the videos ever replacing the interaction you get at shows, in fact they really overlap with articles and press releases, providing a richer way for comapnies to communicate new products through online media.
Future Horizons mid-term industry forecast seminar
Future Horizons will be holding their popular mid-term Industry Forecast Seminar on 22nd July 2008 at the Hilton Kensington, London, England. For more information visit the Future Horizons website.
All new all-electronics.de
Hüthig has re-launched the all-electronics.de portal, with a new look and channel structure. we liked the clean look, although perhaps there could be some more stories on the home page. The best thing about the re-design is the channel approach, which allows you to select channels by product, magazine or both, ensuring that your search for information is quick and effective.
The site contains daily updated news, product reviews, events, job markets and articles, and all editorial content from elektronik industrie, AUTOMOBIL-ELEKTRONIK, IEE, productronic and elektronikJOURNAL.
Tech Insights buys EDA assets
United Business Media's TechInsights division has acquired the assets of EDA Ltd, including the Embedded Systems Show and Embedded System Engineering (ESE) for £125,000. We'll be interested to see how things move forward, and particularly keen to see ESE survive as an independant publication, although its future must be uncertain because of the overlap with TechInsights' Embedded Systems Europe. Keep checking Napier News for more information!
AMCC wins advertising awards
Last night I was lucky enough to be with AMCC at the Storage Awards 2008, where they won the advertising effectiveness award for their "Out of this World" campaign. It's great to see our clients recognised for their innovative marketing, and AMCC has consistently delivered sunning advertising creative that really does help grow sales.
AMCC just missed out on a second award, being named runner up in the connectivity product of the year category.
No extension to e-legacy awards
Proving that European marketers can work to a deadline, there will be no extension to IML's e-legacy awards, breaking a tradition of deadline extensions for awards events. With over 80 entries the awards should be a great success - good luck to everyone who entered!
ACAL finalists in PSDE's GreenPower Leadership award
Congratulations to our client, ACAL, who were named by Power Systems Design Europe (PSDE) as a finalist in their 2008 GreenPower Leadership Awards for their Extreme Capacitance article authored by Louise Early. The photo shows Steve Carr picking up the award from PSDE editor Cliff Keys.