Star Media takes on Power Electronics Europe
Star Media has been appointed as the UK representative for Power Electronics Europe. This appointment follows soon after their signing of Elektronik Journal. Additionally Star has been appointed as the representative in UK, Benelux and the Nordic region for Semiconductor Manufacturing, the monthly US title from CMP.
How HTML Code Affects E-Mail Deliverability
We thought that this article from ClickZ would be interesting to anyone running or planning email campaigns.
.eu TLD moves forward
Nobody seems to know why it has taken so long, but ICANN has finally authorised the delegation of .EU as a ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain). The registration process will be managed by EURid. This news doesn't yet mean that you can register domain names - registrations will only be available in the last quarter of this year for public bodies and trademark holders. Open registrations are not likely to begin until 2006.
Upcoming RTC Group conferences
Registration is now open for RTECC Madrid(to be held on 10th May 2005 at the Crowne Plaza, Madrid), RTECC Barcelona (12th May at Meliá Barcelona) and RTECC Moscow (26th May at the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow). Although small table-top events, the Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conferences are important events on the embedded calendar in both Europe and the USA.
ED Europe - what happened?
ED Europe parted company with their only European sales person a few weeks ago. Recently the magazine has announced the contacts that will support European customers from the US. Contact us to find out more about the new organisation. At Napier, we're really greatful for the lengths that Paul Whytock, the editor, has gone to try to ensure that the problems during this transitional period were minimised. Thanks Paul!
The pagecount of the February issue of the magazine was disappointing (British understatement!). This is a real pity, as Paul is not only a nice guy, but also a bloody good editor. Hopefully things on the commercial side can be turned round quickly - it's not a good sign if in March the magazine website only has the media pack for the previous year.
IEE takes the strain out of NEPCON
If you plan to attend NEPCON this year (taking place at the Brighton Metropole on 11 - 12 May 2005), you'll need to visit the IEE lounge. As well as wowing you with their comprehensive range of publications, and offering you the opportunity to achieve the Chartered Engineer (CEng) qualification, they will also be offering refreshments to weary visitors. Register on the IEE website.
Didn't I always say that Reed published the best electronics magazines????
Don't worry! We're not running advertising for REG (Reed Electronics Group). We are just recounting the words of Duncan Kirk, the advertising manager who has added the electronics titles published by Reed UK to the portfolio of catering titles. Duncan's last role in the electronics sector was working for Electronics Times/EE Times UK, leaving him claiming that he didn't really mean all those things he told us when trying to persuade clients to advertise with CMP.
What's New in Industry reduces frequency
It's tough for all publishers! What's New in Industry is switching from a monthly to a bi-monthly (6xyr) frequency from the March 2005 issue.
Future Horizons annouces details of IEF2005
Future Horizons will hold the 14th Annual International Electronics Forum, from 1st to 3rd May at the Hilton Malta, Portomaso, Malta. These conferences are one of the most important events of the year for the semiconductor industry and attract many of the industry's leading figures.
Last year, David Manners wrote that "Triumph and despair met at the Future Horizons IEF 2004 conference which took place in Prague last week. Triumph that the industry is back in classical recovery mode; despair that the industry's basic technology is running out of steam." This year, however, we're promised by the organisers that attending will "ensure your company is better prepared to benefit from the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead on the road to the global digital Utopia". Perhaps a little too enthusiastic for a European audience. Editors (and executives) that are looking to drive the car of hope down that road to the "global digital Utopia" - as well as those people that just want to top up their tans - can register online.
IEE/FSA International Semiconductor Executive Forum
The IEE and FSA are again working together to bring us the IEE/FSA International Semiconductor Executive Forum & FSA Suppliers Expo EUROPE, to be held from 11 - 12 May at the Mermaid Conference and Exhibition Centre, London. The forum brings together the leading players from fabless semiconductor companies, suppliers and analysts. Extending an already wordy title, the launch of the first FSA Suppliers Expo EUROPE aims to replicate the success of similar events in the US and Taiwan.
World Economic Forum rate Europe's Technology
The World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report placed four European countries in the top six. The rating are based on everything from an assessment of how the countries' legal frameworks support IT development to the use of IT by consumers. The strong showing by the Scandinavian countries will not be a surprise to most Europeans.
Global Information Technology Report - Top 15 countries
1. Singapore
2. Iceland
3. Finland
4. Denmark
5. US
6. Sweden
7. Hong Kong
8. Japan
9. Switzerland
10. Canada
11. Australia
12. United Kingdom
13. Norway
14. Germany
15. Taiwan
IEE Innovation in Engineering awards
The IEE Innovation in Engineering Awards have been launched, with 14 different categories ranging across a number of engineering disciplines, from manufacturing and electronics to security and telecommunications. The awards, and the Faraday medal, will be presented at Savoy Place on the 14th September, coinciding with a conference on “Commercialising Future Technologies”.
Perhaps the most interesting award is the Flipside award which will need the winner to impress the teenage readership of Flipside. This must be the most challenging award to win - and unlike the other awards - the IEE has not yet provided any guidelines on what can be done to grab the attention of this most demanding audience.
European IC industry awards
Eurosemi has announced the launch of their IC industry awards. They have split the awards into two categories, with the first category - including awards for yield management and wafer processing - primarily voted by the device manufacturers and the second category - with awards for R&D marketing and best start-up - also voted for by the toolmakers and other providers in the industry. Nominations are open until 20th April, and sponsorship opportunities are still available. The awards will be announced at Semicon West.
Mobile phone companies battle over colour
Intellectual property rights are very well protected in Europe - in many cases more so that in the USA. For American readers that don't know the easyGroup, a guy called Stelios has set up a number of businesses from internet cafes and car rental to a successful airline. He's used the "easy" brand for all the businesses and also made unsubtle use of the colour orange. Now he wants to enter the mobile phone market, Orange is claiming "rights regarding the use of the colour orange". It remains to be seen how the case progresses, and whether the fact that the two companies actually use different colours (PANTONE 151 for Orange and PANTONE 021 for easyMobile) will make any difference. The technology industry, however, has managed to survive companies using similar colours - one shade or blue or another is used in most high-tech branding. To find out more about the use of colour in branding, contact our design guru, Bill.
Study finds out what customers see on your website
Marketing Sherpa has released the results of their recent eyetracking study. Importantly they have looked at the differences between consumer and b2b sites, something that is often overlooked in other studies. Get the PDF presentation and download the audio here.
Embedded Industry's biggest get-together
Embedded World closed with a total of 11,000 visitors (36% from outside of Germany), allowing the organisers to continue to claim the show to be the biggest embedded gathering in the world. Although the visitor numbers were flat compared with last year the number of exhibitors were up over 20% and conference participates up 25%, proving that - in Europe at least - trade shows are not dead.
Goodbye MeasComp
MeasComp 2005 will be the last year of this popular show. From next year, the show will merge with Sensor and the smaller Kongressmesse O.M.P (Optical and Microtechnical Products Congress) and will have the snappy title "Sensor – Fachmesse für Messen und Prüfen" ("Sensor — Trade Fair for Measuring and Testing"). The new show will be held annually in Nuremberg.
Embedded World opens with 20% increase in exhibitors
Embedded World has opened, with a 20% increase from 2004 in the number of companies exhibiting. The organisers claim that more than one third of the exhibitors are from outside Germany, emphasising the international element of this event. The show closes on Thursday.
Want software? Just make an offer.
Ashampoo, makers of PC utility software has introduced a new way of selling software - forget price lists, and just make them an offer! Click here to bid.
Elektor upgrades websites
Elektor, the news stand title with versions for the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands has announced an update to their websites. The main addition is the availability of an article archive back to 1998, although they have also tweaked the security of the sites and added an online marketplace and forum. The sites provide news as well as articles, and you can sign up for a weekly Email newsletter.
Although the editorial has a hobbyist focus, recent readership surveys showed that many of the readers of Elektor are involved in the electronics industry:
64% of the German readers, 49% of the Dutch, 68% of the Frrench and 65% of UK readers use Elektor in their jobs. Additionally almost a third of the readers have research and development jobs.
New Electronics automotive special extends circulation
New Electronics will be running a 16 page supplement on automotive electronics in the march 22nd issue. Interestingly this issue will also extends the circulation by about 10%, with 2000 additional copies being sent to automotive industry decision makers taken from the circulation of NE's sister publication European Automotive Design.
Apple upsets reviewers
I like Apple, and I'd really quite like a Mac Mini. But I think that the way Apple has dealt with the review process that is so important for the IT market really shows that being open and honest with the press is the best - well actually only - way to succeed. One 6th Feb, the Sunday Times gave the Mac Mini a generally good review, and strongly recommended that consumers buy the more expensive version - great PR? Unfortunately the review machines provided were effectively custom models, with double memory.
This week the reaction of the reviewer, David Hewson, to the realisation that even with the more expensive version still needs you to spend an extra £50 to bring the memory up to 512MB was not quite such a positive view of Apple: "Apple would be doing all its customers a favour by selling all its products with an adequate specification from the outset." Not quite such good publicity.
The moral of the story is that ultimately if you try to bend the rules, technical journalists will eventually catch you out. Of course you are going to want to put your products in the best light, but be honest and open. Of course, I'd still love a Mac Mini (even with 256MB of memory), so if anyone from Apple is reading........
Style Guides – what does the BBC think?
In the electronics industry, style guides can be pretty dull: mainly consisting of how to write technical terms and abbreviations, as well as preserving the various trademarks and pet terms used by a company. Despite this, style guides are crucially important as consistancy does make communications more effective. But are style guides given enough attention? I thought it would be interesting to see how one of the most respected news agencies in the world - the BBC - deals with issues of style.
The good news is that their style guide is freely available - go the the BBC Training website to download it. The bad news is it is 92 pages! Burried within these pages is one of the best sentences I have ever seen in a style guide: "If in doubt, ask yourself how you would tell the story to the man on the Manchester tram, and use that as your guide." Fabulous! This is the secret to good style - make your message simple, clear and easily understandable.
Another gem is the section on using Americanisms, which says, "Many American words and expressions have impact and vigour, but use them with discrimination or your audience may become a tad irritated." Classic British understatement! Other interesting parts include the "superfluous words" section, and also the apparently reassuring fact that none of us will be assasinated, as this only applies to "royalty and seriously prominent members of society". Sadly we can be "murdered" or "killed"!
Hopefully by thinking about the purpose of a style guide - to help people communicate more effectively with your company's audiences - you will end up producing better style guides, and therefore better marketing material. Once you have done this, you can think about how style is maintained across different languages: a complex subject, and you may want to talk to us about the pitfalls and problems you will encounter!
Yahoo launches "test" version of contextual searches
Yahoo has launched Y!Q, an first attempt at developing a contextual search. The aim is pretty ambitious for both users and websites. If you are on a web page, the Y!Q toolbar will let you highlight text, click a button, and "automagically" (yes, Yahoo really did make this word up!) relevant results will be returned. If you manage a website, you can incorporate Y!Q into the site, allowing relevant results to be returned to any visitor to your site (although don't forget that your major competitor may be returned as a result!). Clearly if this concept takes off, then anyone involved in online marketing needs to be very careful about what results will be returned by a contextual search of the site, and also should tie in paid advertising and search engine optimisation to the keywords that Y!Q picks from their website text.
Does it work? Perhaps not that well. We tried installing the Y!Q Toolbar, and then ran a contextual search on the example on the Y!Q help page. This example talks about search engine conferences, but when we tried a contextual search, Y!Q looked for links about search engines, but totally failed to look for search engine conferences. Oops!
3GSM preview
People from the mobile comms industry will be upsetting their partners this year as 3GSM starts on Valentines day. With over 1 billion subscribers, GSM has done pretty well as a technology, but the main concern for the visitors and exhibitors is whether higher bandwidth mobile connections will allow operators to sell more content and services, and actually make money out of the incredibly expensive licences that were purchased across Europe. As well as the usual events, there will be a charity auction, and you can bid for many of the items by GSM text message. Items include a trip to the Tour de France, and a replica of Jan Ullrich's bike. Fortunately the trip to the Tour doesn't require the winner to ride the bike in the race!