Clive "Max" Maxfield

#MaxCoolBeans: Accuracy of Google vs. Apple Calculators www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/ac... If you’re like me, all three of these videos will leave your brain buzzing with ideas, thoughts, and unanswered questions.

Magical Monthly Magazines A nostalgic look back at the monthly magazines of yesteryear that inspired generations of tinkerers.

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: Magical Monthly Magazines www.hackster.io/news/magical... A nostalgic look back at the monthly magazines of yesteryear that inspired generations of tinkerers.

The Wizard of Oz and Mozart Meet Gen AI and Agentic AI www.eejournal.com/article/the-... I’ve barely managed to wrap my mind around the concept of Generative AI, only to find that the current buzz on the street is increasingly turning to the topic of Agentic AI.

Plug-in Replacement APDs Dramatically Boost the Performance of Optical Systems On the off chance you were wondering, the city of Sheffield in England boasts two main seats of learning: Sheffield University (a.k.a. the University of Sheffield) and Sheffield Hallam University. …

Plug-in Replacement APDs Dramatically Boost the Performance of Optical Systems www.eejournal.com/article/1112... Phlux Technology's Aura Noiseless InGaAsSb APDs significantly enhance performance in optical ranging, imaging, and communication systems.

Awesomely Interesting Electronic Projects for Beginners, Part 7 Adding switches to our breadboard and using them to control our display.

Awesomely Interesting Electronic Projects for Beginners, Part 7 www.designnews.com/electronics/... Adding switches to our breadboard and using them to control our display.

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: The Sounds of Yesteryear (Part 2) www.hackster.io/news/the-sou... From shellac to 8-track: A joyride through the golden age of analog audio formats.

Powering the Ambient IoT with Over-the-Air Wireless Power Networks The older I get, the more I recall how new technologies made their way onto the market and into the collective consciousness when I wore a younger man’s clothes. Paradoxically, it also seems that t…

Powering the Ambient IoT with Over-the-Air Wireless Power Networks www.eejournal.com/article/powe... RF-based, over-the-air (OTA) wireless power technology for the Ambient IoT—a pervasive network of tiny connected devices embedded in the environment or in everyday objects.

An Awesome Addition to the Power Supply Market There’s a familiar expression along the lines of, “You can’t teach an old Max new tricks,” but that’s not true because I’m learning new tricks all the time. Take power supplies, for example… I’m as…

An Awesome Addition to the Power Supply Market www.eejournal.com/article/an-a... The folks at XP Power say it’s time to “up the game” in power supply space (where no one can hear you scream).

#MaxCoolBeans: Don’t Tell Me the Contents Have Settled! www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/do... Manufacturers cover themselves by saying “Contents may settle” in fine print on the package, to which I reply, “Pull the other one—it’s got bells on it!”

Awesomely Interesting Electronic Projects for Beginners, Part 6 Diving and delving deeper into the C/C++ programming waters.

Awesomely Interesting Electronic Projects for Beginners, Part 6 www.designnews.com/electronics/... Diving and delving deeper into the C/C++ programming waters.

The Sounds of Yesteryear (Part 1) From groovy grooves to whispering wires, marvel at mankind’s marvelous methods of making musical memories.

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: The Sounds of Yesteryear (Part 1) www.hackster.io/news/the-sou... From groovy grooves to whispering wires, marvel at mankind’s marvelous methods of making musical memories.

Is AI Poised to Run Amok (Part 1)? I know… I know… everywhere we turn these days, we’re presented with yet another story focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and/or machine learning (ML). Do we really need one more? Well, since I…

Is AI Poised to Run Amok (Part 1)? www.eejournal.com/article/is-a... Like so many other things, the problem with AI is that it’s a double-edged sword.

Simulating Antenna(s) to Bits and Back in Wireless Communication and Radar Systems Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by a company whose name requires no introduction, so I won’t introduce it (I’m joking—I’ll introduce it later). The topic of this talk was t…

Simulating Antenna(s) to Bits and Back in Wireless Communication and Radar Systems www.eejournal.com/article/simu... MathWorks provides tools to simulate every aspect of a wireless communication system or radar system, from the antenna(s) to digital bits and back again.

#MaxCoolBeans: Step Away from the Edge (Web Browser)! www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/st... Why do the links in Outlook emails always open in the Microsoft Edge web browser, even if you have another browser set as your default?

Eclectic Electronic Emporiums Let’s take a nostalgic romp through the dusty stores of yore, fossicking for forgotten treasures and techno-mystical wonders.

Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: Eclectic Electronic Emporiums www.hackster.io/news/eclecti... Let’s take a nostalgic romp through the dusty stores of yore, fossicking for forgotten treasures and techno-mystical wonders.

WTW (“What the What”)? Another 100 Mindboggling Columns! “Good grief, Charlie Brown!” I just exclaimed upon realizing that I’ve hit another 100-column milestone (including this one) here on EE Journal. That makes 400 columns since I joined the community.…

WTW (“What the What”)? Another 100 Mindboggling Columns! www.eejournal.com/article/wtw-... It’s easy for articles to quietly sink into the digital depths of the interweb, rarely being granted an opportunity to bask once more in the light of day, so let's not let that happen here!

Remarkable Rotary Dial Delights I’m a weak-willed man. I was fully intending to write this column on the topic of simulating radio frequency (RF) designs and devices, including communications and radar systems, when… SQUIRREL!!! …

Remarkable Rotary Dial Delights www.eejournal.com/article/rema... Have you ever noticed that nothing is as simple as it seems, and that there’s always more to things than meets the eye? Take rotary telephone dials, for example...

#MaxCoolBeans: The Curious Case of the African Tigger www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/th... Can you help me track down the source of the poem titled “The African Tigger is Fading Away”?

"To be fair to you, I did click through, and apparently it isn't part of the generative scam; but ideally this would be clear from the headline."

What? the part where I said "AI-Driven PCB Layout is Really Real" in the title wasn't clear enough? (ROFLOL)

Teaching AI to Semiconductor Students, Engineers, and Fabs My mission today is to inform you about a university course that is no longer offered and a master’s degree program that is not yet available. Intrigued? Read on… To set the scene, first let …

Teaching AI to Semiconductor Students, Engineers, and Fabs www.eejournal.com/article/teac... Having field-tested a core course, PDF and CMU are now collaborating on the curriculum for a new master's degree

Radical Retro Cans From phonautographs to funky “cans:" Exploring the quirky history, technology, and timeless style of retro headphones.

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: Radical Retro Cans www.hackster.io/news/radical... From phonautographs to funky “cans:" Exploring the quirky history, technology, and timeless style of retro headphones.

I agree with you about using AI for non-AI things (it's like seeing "Gluten Free" labels on products that never had gluten in the first place) -- but my column talks about something that really does use AI, so my AI qualifier is deserved here.

You May Scoff, But AI-Powered PCB Layout Is Really Real Recently, I re-watched the epic science fiction movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Although this film was released in 1968, I don’t think I saw it on the big screen until 1969, when I was 12 years old. …

You May Scoff, But AI-Powered PCB Layout Is Really Real www.eejournal.com/article/you-... From what I’ve seen, Quilter could happily tackle anything in the Really Simple, Low-Medium, and Medium PCB categories. It won’t be long before it starts to extend its reach into higher-complexity boards.

Next-Generation Motion Sensing Facilitates Immersive Spatial Audio www.eejournal.com/article/next... CEVA's MotionEngine Hex tracks 6-DoF, augmenting an IMU with a UWB position sensor, thereby enabling next-gen controllers and RealSpace spatial audio systems.

Retro Gadgets, Gizmos, Tools, and Technologies www.eejournal.com/article/retr... If anyone questions me in the future, I’m going to say, “My retro-styled neo-Victorian retro-futuristic Prognostication Engine sits right at the beautifully hand-carved intersection of retro and steampunk.”

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: Holy Sizzling Soldering Irons, Batman! www.hackster.io/news/holy-si... My first soldering iron was a traditional copper bit device, which I heated over a ring on my mum’s gas cooking stove in our kitchen.

#MaxCoolBeans: Two Things You Don’t See Every Day www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/tw... I don’t know which of these videos is better: humans playing games with water pixels or robots playing games.

AI depiction of people wandering through a time tunnel maze

#MaxCoolBeans: Tortuously Tricky Time Tunnels www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/to... Suppose you were offered a one-time chance to take a pill that would instantly transport you and whatever you were wearing and carrying 200 years into the future.

Image of an old cathode ray tube (CRT) television with a picture of a modern recreation of a vintage Commodore 64 personal computer on the screen.

#Throwback_Thursdays on @Hackster.io: Not-so BASIC! www.hackster.io/news/not-so-... Many of today’s older engineers and computer gurus “cut their teeth” on the BASIC programming language.

Wow! That’s Some AI SOM! Sometimes people say things that are both obvious and unexpectedly insightful. “Unexpected,” in the sense that I hadn’t thought of it myself—yet once I heard it, I was surprised it hadn’t already o…

Wow! That’s Some AI SOM! www.eejournal.com/article/wow-... Virtium Embedded Artists launch their iMX8M Mini DX-M1 SOM, which integrates a quad-core application processor and a 25 TOPS AI hardware accelerator chip with associated memory on a board with a compact 82mm x 50mm footprint.