I received a nice note from Paul Rako regarding the Analog Aficionado party that he helps arrange every year around this time. What follows is his note; then the press release. Everything you need to know is here:
OK, analog lovers. The Analog Aficionado party is less than two weeks away, the Saturday before ISSCC:
Saturday, February 16, 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
David's Restaurant
5151 Stars and Stripes Dr, Santa Clara, Calif., 95054
(408) 986-1666Texas Instruments has signed on as a sponsor once again, and so has Analog Devices. The Multisim folks from National Instruments are sending a representative and they offered to chip in if we run out of dessert.
Power supply company founder Bob Boschert is coming, as is Bob Pease's widow Nancy and son Ben. Robbie Shergill and Nick Gray are coming. Jeff Keyzer is coming in from Seattle. Scott Wurcer is flying in from Boston. I told authors Sergio Franco and Ron Quan to bring a few books to sell. Media legend Dave Bursky is attending, as is Steve Ohr. Several PR people are coming. Mark Alden and Gayle Bullock from TI. Ron Wilson, my former boss at EDN magazine, and his wife Donna. I am asking some fine folks from Maxim as well as my friend Doug Dickinson from Linear Tech.
We will have more food this year and I think I can spring for iced tea and soft drinks. I figure to get some food out early, 5:30 p.m., so feel free to pop in early and leave early if you have other obligations. The party shuts down at 9:00 p.m., so there is still plenty of time to go clubbing and hit the raves.
Bring your gizmos and curiosities. Greg Schaffer just told me he will bring his vacuum tube multi-vibrator he built as a kid. Todd Bailey, Eric Schlaepfer, and Ted Selker always have some cool projects for you to admire, as will Stanford's Tom Lee.
* * * For immediate release:
The fourth annual Analog Aficionados party is Saturday February 16, 2013. The party is at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara, 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., in the heart of Silicon Valley. Analog electronics tech workers and their guests are welcome to attend. The party is also well-attended by students, college professors, and tech media. Please RSVP to the email listed on the party blog page so we can have a badge ready for you and your guests: RSVP, Analog Aficionados.This year's party is in honor of Hans Camenzind, the designer of the ubiquitous NE555 timer chip. Hans passed away last August. Already confirmed as attending are professors from MIT, San Jose State, Georgia Tech, San Francisco State, Carnegie Mellon, and UC Santa Cruz. There will be industry luminaries from Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Linear Technology, Fairchild, and Intersil. Experienced analog experts such as Dave Fullagar, the designer of the uA741, will mingle with young students and working engineers from all over the country.
Attendees of previous Analog Aficionado parties are enthusiastically awaiting this year's event: “I wouldn't dream of missing this. I had such a great time last year,” said Todd Bailey, a consultant that came from New York for last year's party. “I know that Yi Yao was able to attend last year after he heard about it from us and was super-pumped to attend,” reports analog blogger Chris Gammel. Notes Felipe Jimenez, a San Jose State grad student, “I would love to go as I had a great time last year.”
Sponsors of the 2013 party include transistor maker Linear Systems, and media giant UBM, home of EETimes, EDN, and Planet Analog. Also reprising their sponsorships are analog IC makers Texas Instruments and Analog Devices.
I will be at the Analog Aficionado party this Saturday. I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones! This is the “Who's Who” of Electronics, I look forward to meeting Bob Pease wife and son.
Steve – take good notes and let me know what I am missing. Thanks.
Is there a waiver or anything for mechanical engineers without a strong analog background to attend?
Hey Steve, I just got Analog Circuit Design Volume 2: can you bring it out and ask Bob Dobkin to autograph it? Of course, it only weighs 50lb!!:) It's at least 4x the size and heft of volume 1. Holy cow! It's gotta be the definitive Bible of analog. Thanks Bob — and Jim Williams.
Hi Patrick,
I'm looking forward to seeing Bob Dobkin and my Linear Tech friends. I can ask Bob to autograph the book for you. Yes, it's chock full of great applications and designs and I love the front cover sub-title “Immersion in the black art of analog design” Most of my analog mentors called analog the “black art”
I will be reviewing Volume 2 on my EDN Analog Design site and posting a few exciting and informative chapters as well.
>> I will be at the Analog Aficionado party this Saturday
I think there are still fun in this busines. I like the name but I cannot be there. I hope to be in the main Party which is the ISSCC. Hope one breakthrough innovation that will change the industry is coming.
>> Is there a waiver or anything for mechanical engineers without a strong analog background to attend?
Sure – you can catch up with the MEMS portion of this work. Analog designers have a lot to do with sensor designers made possible by MEMS. If you design MEMS, this party will have something for you, I am sure.
>> I will be reviewing Volume 2 on my EDN Analog Design site and posting a few exciting and informative chapters as well.
Hope you can also share some of the contents on Planet Analog which I visit more regularly. Thanks
Both Brad and I will be there at the Analog Aficionados dinner on Saturday—we will discuss posting Linear Tech's new Volume II on Planet Analog
>> Both Brad and I will be there at the Analog Aficionados dinner on Saturday—we will discuss posting Linear Tech's new Volume II on Planet Analog
How was the party? Any update for the community.
I will have a slideshow and more details on my EDN Analog Design site, but:
I was thrilled to attend and meet engineers who I read about in my text books. This group included Scott Wurcer, the designer of the AD524, a great instrumentation amplifier; Dave Fullagar, designer of the ubiquitous uA741 (I can't count how many circuits I designed in my 40 year career with the 741!) and countless other giants in the semiconductor industry including Maxim and Linear Tech founders, former presidents and CEO's of Linear Technology, Intersil, Fairchild and on and on!
From time to time, I will use material from the book as the basis for blogs.
>> I was thrilled to attend and meet engineers who I read about in my text books.
Please where is this party taking place. ISSCC? How are you going to meet all these guys in one place. I am interested to meet them also.
It happens every year around this time at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara, CA. Watch for an announcement in EDN next year in my Anablog site plus Brad Albing will have details on Planet Analog
>> It happens every year around this time at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara, CA. Watch for an announcement in EDN next year in my Anablog site plus Brad Albing will have details on Planet Analog
OK – I will surely do so. But if you can remind us via comment or post, priceless.
>> This group included Scott Wurcer, the designer of the AD524, a great instrumentation amplifier; Dave Fullagar, designer of the ubiquitous uA741 (I can't count how many circuits I designed in my 40 year career with the 741!)
Good to know the human elements behind these products. The major problem has been the reward levels in our industry. We do not generate a lot of margins because of competition. Otherwise, these names will be in Bahamas enjoying the nice sun
Will do goafrit2—I will blog about next year's party as will Brad Albing well in advance