Hello,

Many of us got our start as engineers with Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Meccano sets, and LEGO blocks.

The older crowd has seen LEGO evolve with Bionicles (my kids' favorites), Technic, Mindstorms (bought two sets, kids wouldn't touch them) and, now "SMART Play."

Read about LEGO SMART Play in Cabe's CES 2026 writeup - I've also included a few short opinions from prior years on LEGO's evolution from basic brick sets. You can build cars with even the basic brick sets, so no emails about how this isn't an automotive topic, lol.

Alan provides a good argument against treating lithium BMS hardware as a building block, where a few parameter changes to accommodate LFP chemistry likely isn't good enough.

Rounding out today's newsletter is a 5G wireless telematics solution from Hyundai Mobis and some automotive qualified NPN and PNP transistors from Diodes Inc.

enjoy,

-andyT

From Around The Web

The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs since President Trump took office. A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies:

https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-government-has-lost-more-10-000-stem-ph-d-s-trump-took-office

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a 40-year license for the Goldendale Energy Storage Project on the Columbia River. The project can store electricity for 12 hours and generate 1,200 megawatts of carbon-free electricity from its three hydro turbines—enough to power about 500,000 homes in the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Gorge has massive wind farms, for which this pumped storage "gravity battery" would enhance availability. Of course, "environmentalists" are in opposition because, you know, burnt coal is what the tough kids inhale between cigarette puffs.

https://columbiacommunityconnection.com/the-dalles/fed-energy-commission-issues-40-year-license-to-goldendale-energy-storage-project-near-john-day-dam