I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

It’s Friday, and I’ve spent the last few days breaking in my new laptop. It’s a Mac, and it’s been a while since I used one of these.

It occurred to me that the last time I used a Mac, there was no email and no internet. I was editor of my college newspaper. I had just voted for Clinton, because that’s what you did in your 20s. We had Apple Classic II monitors with screens the size of a postcard, and we were on the cutting edge of desktop publishing.

Students submitted articles on 3.5” loppy disks or on notebook paper, sometimes written in pencil. That’s where I learned to edit, and to do it quickly. We won awards every year. Good times.

Now I’m on a new MacBook Air, and it’s slamming fast. It just feels tight, like nothing was left to chance. After 30 years of Microsoft equipment, I’m accustomed to computers that just freeze up for no reason. But this Mac just works the way it should. What a concept!

So, it’s been a good week, and a busy week in our industry as well. As we head into the weekend, enjoy a variety of recently published articles and columns. See you next time.

Institute of Circuit Technology: A Novel Approach to Recycling PCBs
Published March 10

We all love our cool electronic devices, but we can’t keep tossing them into landfills when they wear out. Editor Pete Starkey brings us a great review of an ICT webinar that focused on the technical and regulatory problems associated with recycling electronics. Presented during the organization’s annual meeting on March 2, this webinar featured speakers Emma Hudson, Jack Herring, and Colin Martin.

Planning Your Design Education Strategy
Published March 9

Once you land a job as a PCB designer, you realize that you need to continue your education and training throughout your career. But where do you start? We asked Eric Bogatin to share his thoughts on setting up your lifelong design education strategy. As a college professor and a signal integrity instructor, Eric has a pretty circumspect viewpoint on this topic. 

IPC APEX EXPO From a College Student’s Perspective
Published March 8

One of the highlights of IPC APEX EXPO 2022 was seeing all the young people who have recently joined our industry. One of these is Hannah Nelson, an electrical engineering major at Valparaiso University. In this article, Hannah discusses her role as the new student director on the IPC Board of Directors, and some of her takeaways from IPC APEX EXPO 2022.

Smart Factory Insights: CFX IIoT Open-Source Hardware
Published March 9

IPC’s Connected Factory Exchange standard (CFX) is taking manufacturing to the next level, but much of the industry is still using old, “dumb” equipment. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, can CFX become fully optimized with these older machines? In this column, Michael Ford explains how CFX can actually bring out the best in your not-so-new equipment and provide visibility across the shop floor.

It’s Only Common Sense: A Frictionless Future
Published March 7

Is impatience a good thing? It can certainly lead to some positive outcomes. In this column, Dan Beaulieu addresses our need to have everything right now, and how this impatience is driving companies in our industry to do better each day. And don’t say it can’t be done. As Dan points out, “Every time someone says that something is impossible, a damn fool goes out and does it.”