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Analog aficionados party 2014
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 . As you arrive at David's Restaurant, your badge will be on a table at the left. This year we will probably put these tables outside since we will need all the room we can get. We have over 230 people signed up already.  . The party starts at 5:00 so come early. Food is coming out at 6:00. Many of us are going early, 2:00 or 3:00 PM just to hang out and catch up with out-of-towners like Todd Bailey and Arlie Stonestreet II.  |
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And do come for the food. We will have beef and lamb carvings,
vegetarian, vegan and soft drinks. Thanks to long-time sponsor Linear Systems continuing their support, and previous sponsor
UBM doubling last year's contribution, and now Atmel being even more generous this year, our food budget has more than doubled.
Unlike last year where I tried to bring the food out in batches, we will bring it all out at 6:00. Well not all, the
chocolate-covered strawberries will be after you have devoured all the entrees. This is not a sit-down affair, we want you to
mingle and grab food and drink from all around the venue. One great thing about the venue is the big bar right in the middle, for those of you that like something stronger. As in previous years, you will have to pay for your own drinks, we don't want it getting too crazy. If you get drunk and kill yourself or someone else, neither I nor the restaurant, nor the sponsors are responsible.  Please feel free to bring your spouse, Audio expert Bob Cordell and his wife flew in from the East Coast last year and had a great time. All we ask is you use the link in the introduction to sign up for a badge. |
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 We love when media and PR people show up to mix with all the engineering types. Last year, Gayle Bullock and Mark Alden from Texas Instruments came and had a great time. The party is for tech people, media people, PR folks, and both professors and students. I am sorry to say that because I moved the party to Sunday, Dennis Monticelli, a Texas Instruments fellow, will have to be up in San Francisco practicing for the IEEE ISSCC conference later in the week.  A popular attraction last year was the Table of Analog Curiosities. Here we see a giant 555 timer chip made by Sunnyvale kit maker Evil Mad Science, with a discrete transistor version of a 555 built by Google employee Eric Schlaepfer. This was in honor of last year's honorie, Hans Caminzind, the inventer of the 555 timer chip, perhaps the best selling IC in history. Eric and Evil Mad Science have made a kit on a PCB they can show off this year. |
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 The Table of Analog Curiosities filled up so fast audio guru Steve Williams had to leave the bulk of his show-and-tell in the car. We won't make that mistake this year.  Steve Williams did bring in one retro-tech analog curiosity, Here Evil Mad Science co-founder Windell Oskay examines the inside of Steve's portable record player.  The Analog Aficionados party actually goes back 20 years, when Jim Williams would host an Analog Dinosaurs party at his house. I was glad to re-start the tradition after a decade- long hiatus. It was especially poignant when both my mentor, analog great Bob Pease and Jim died within a week of each other in 2011. That's Bob on the left and Jim on the right, with analog wild man Bob Widlar on the screen above, making a droll gesture. |
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 ....but I am just as honored with real-life radio-TV engineer Bob Getsla rearranges his schedule so instead of babysitting the 24kW KTSF transmitter Sunday night he can be with us at the party.  The party not only honors analog, It is conducted in an analog fashion. Tim Regan, right, the amplifier applications manager for Linear Technology, told me he did not want to lug the $170 worth of books by Bob Dobkin and Jim Williams home. So I looked to my left and there was San Jose State University student Donald Flowers II. I thought it would be fitting to give a student such a nice windfall. To his credit, Donald said he would donate the books to the EE department at SJSU, so the whole student body could enjoy the books. In a similar fashion, when the event director at Atmel offered to hire a comedian or other entertainer, I declined. This is just a show up and hang out and be loose and informal event. |
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 So swing on by the Analog Aficionados party Sunday, February 9th 2014, and you can be smiling like Keiko and Jian. I am still pondering an honoree for this year's party. Aficionado David Goodson was nice enough to send the list of 16 tech people that passed away in 2013. Doug Englebart, the inventor of the mouse is a good candidate. Right now I am leaning to Jerry Fishman, from Analog Devices. Sure, he was in management, which should exclude him, but Harry Holt told me he called ADI decades ago and Fishman answered the phone as an apps engineer. That qualifies Fishman as an Aficionado in my mind. Dan Sheingold wrote a tribute in the Analog Dialog. This year Linear Systems will once again be a quadruple sponsor. Planet Analog, EDN, and EETimes are a quadruple sponsor. I am happy to report that Atmel, where I currently work is not only a quintuple sponsor, but is helping with the organization. Our food budget is over double. Ken Coffman from Fairchild offered to get them to sponsor, but we may already be oversubscribed. Perhaps Fairchild will get you get dessert. I have not even asked Texas Instruments or Analog Devices, since it seems we are in good financial shape. |
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This is the same venue I had the Bob Pease and Jim Williams
remembrance in June 2011, and the aficionados party in 2012 and 2013.
This is the fifth annual Analog Aficionados party. Harry Holt sent me a note regarding Jerry:
Steve Taranovich has started coverage of the event at EDN, and will be doing follow-ups after the event. |
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Food food food. We are bringing it out early since it all went so fast last year:
 Thanks again to this year's sponsors. In addition to legacy sponsors Linear Systems and UBM/EDN/EE|Live!/EETimes/Planet Analog, we have a new sponsor Supply Frame/Hackaday/FindChips.
They work on tools and websites to help engineers, makers, hackers, etc
connect with, search, socialize, & share content and resources. And
then we have Atmel, my great company, who is not only a quintuple
sponsor, they are also helping with badges, logistics and the placemat. |
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| I have put up pictures from previous Analog Aficionado parties. The
bulk of the pictures were taken by retired Linear Tech employee Fran
Hoffart. In addition there are pictures from Ed
Fong, Ron Quan, and Steve Leibson, as well as a few of mine. 2013 Aficionados (172 Pictures) http://bit.ly/1ht2i5j 2013 Aficionados (11 Pictures) http://bit.ly/1dsGoIg 2013 Aficionados (146 Pictures) http://bit.ly/1cVRQj8 2013 Aficionados (21 Pictures) http://bit.ly/KzUIZ3 2013 Analog Preficionados (11 pictures) http://bit.ly/1amWIgu 2012 Aficionados (264 pictures) http://bit.ly/XtWs3W 2012 Preficionadoes at the Duke of Edinburgh (24 pictures) http://bit.ly/XPqh1u 2011 Aficionados (194 pictures) http://bit.ly/Ud27hV 2010 Aficionados (189 pictures) http://bit.ly/10w3Lzj  Note the party is not at the banquet hall you see driving in, it is in the restaurant itself. That area marked "New parking deck" is
finished. Santa Clara built it for 49ers stadium across the street. |
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Here are the people already signed up:
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Here is the first press release: 1-16-2014 For immediate release: The fifth annual Analog Aficionados dinner party is Sunday February 9, 2014. The party is at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara, 5:00 to 9:00PM, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Analog electronics tech workers and their spouses are welcome to attend. The party is also well-attended by students, college professors, PR professionals, and tech media. Please RSVP to the survey monkey link on the party blog page so we can have a badge ready for you and your guests: http://www.rako.com/Articles/73.html This year's party is in honor of Jerry Fishman, the CEO of Analog Devices. Jerry passed away suddenly last March. 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 Atmel, 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. Many authors will be there including Sergio Franco, Bob Dobkin, Ron Quan, and Earl McCune. Silicon Valley CEOs such as Tunç Deluca and Dave Bell have attended past events. We expect over 200 people this year. The food budget has more than doubled from 2013. |
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| 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." Already signed up are attendees coming from Brooklyn, New Jersey, Kansas, Arizona, and Boston. Sponsors of the 2014 party include transistor maker Linear Systems, and media giant UBM, home of EETimes, EDN, EE Live! and Planet Analog. Also sponsoring is microcontroller maker Atmel. Analog company PR staff are welcome to attend and circulate this within their company. Permission is granted to reproduce any of the over 1000 pictures of previous parties linked on the party blog page in coverage of this event. |
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