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[The following is
the frontpiece to the Dec. 2012 EE Times. I wasn't going to post it,
because it doesn't transfer directly from print to online. But I've
received so many questions from readers, electronics companies, and the
marketing and public-relations communities, that I feel this is the most
effective and transparent way of answering your queries.]
The December 2012 issue you've just received in the mail marks an important milestone in the evolution of EE Times
-- it's our last regularly scheduled print edition. There will be special issues in the future, likely in digital form. But our "interface" will permanently segue from your mail carrier to your Internet Service Provider.
I'm supposed to tell you that this is a good thing, that our Web site has become a vital, online community destination where you interact with your peers, where you can read articles that are fresher than those in dead-tree version, where there are slideshows and videos and EE Times University. Lots and lots of valuable, technical stuff. Fortunately, this has the virtue of being true. And yet.
Forty years of history is a heavy load to summarize, and say sayonara to, in a 500-word essay. (To be clear: EE Times
is NOT going away. Come visit EETimes.com
. Often. Attend EETimes University
; come to our great live events, DesignCon
and Design West
Firstly, it's important to respectfully address a question many of you are going to have: "I love EE Times; Why are you doing this?" Some may add: "This is outrageous. Please cancel my subscription."
Me, I love EE Times
, too. That's why we’ve decided to focus our resources -- our incredible team of technology journalists, subject matter experts, and electronics industry partners -- on the platforms where there's the biggest economic and audience bang for the buck. Notwithstanding the crowded newsstands we all see, print ain't it.
Let me put it bluntly: protesting that you personally read print and only print says much about you but nothing about demographics, economics, or modern information-consumption patterns. If you're my age, your first exposure to trade publications was taking them along for a read when you took a 15-min break at work in the morning. I'm not talking coffee break, either.
Today, newly minted engineers get their news by typing in a bookmark, launching an app, or chatting with a colleague. Often, they don't know or care where that information comes from, as long as it speaks to their immediate needs. This logically points towards busting through brand agnosticism and making EETimes.com
the best darn must-read site on the planet.
I personally believe we are in a post-literate society. It's just that no one has solved the Hulu voodoo economics equation for the tech sector. Videos remain expensive and time-consuming to create. That's changing, albeit slowly. Remember that it took almost a decade for the lowly CD-ROM to become mainstream.
I'd analogize our collective relationship with what you're holding in your hand to a long marriage that's fallen apart. It doesn't mean that the good stuff never happened, nor that you don't look back fondly on a past which seems simultaneously distant and immediately accessible. (Maybe it's in our brains' L1 cache.)
What it does mean is, it's time to move on and embrace the future. So put this issue in a shrine-like place next to your Beatles albums and your 1986 New York Mets cap. Pick it up every now and again and think fondly about the old days. Then put it back and click through to EETimes.com
. Because we've got work to do, problems to solve, and the future to build.
[P.S. Dear readers, vendors, PR and marketing professionals, industry executives: If you'd like to offer feedback, if you have questions, or if you'd just like to talk, please don't hesitate to email me at firstname.lastname@example.org or call me at 516-562-7386. And thanks for listening, understanding, and continuing to be a part of the EETimes community and family.]