Electronic Design Weekly: Apr. 20-24, 2026

Editorial: Welcome to Electronic Design Weekly

Many, many years ago when I was starting out as an engineer, I would spend lots of time poring over the various magazines and technical publications available to gain insight into what was new, different, and what I might be able to use in my work. At larger organizations, we shared these by tacking up a list of engineers and crossing our names off after we read them, often cover to cover.

It’s been a while since Electronic Design has been in print. Of course, the internet came into play and now artificial intelligence (AI) has been added to the mix, but the need for a good source of technical information hasn’t emerged. Hence our return to regular virtual issues with Electronic Design Weekly.

Continue reading the rest of the editorial

"Inventors" Cartoon Series

by Andy Turudic

ElectronicDesign's Technology Editor Andy Turudic's (and occasionally a reader's concept) weekly 2D take on inventors, engineers, scientists, students, and the workplace, as well as inventions, technology, and project limitations—all with his own unique recipe of humor, sarcasm, and cynicism along with a dash of curmudgeon.

With the launch of ElectronicDesign Weekly, and inspired by Cabe Atwell, my artistically endowed colleague, I'm going to see if I can keep a cartoon series going here, each week.

The drawing is Google Gemini AI generated from my own prompt iterations, because I'm a lame artist, but the content is human. It'll be mostly mine...BUT...I'm game to include reader ideas/concepts.

Not to worry — "Rocks-anne," the cave dwellers' co-op student, joins the character cast (cavemen Don, Al, Chris, Joel and The Boss/VC), in upcoming comics, as does "Hilda." I'm struggling with "character drift" as Google's dev team cronies try to instill their social/body-image agenda, via hardcoded AI bias, into character generation (of a CARTOON) when all I need is having MY recognizable cast positioned and posed. They don't like Rocks-anne's appearance even though Google generated the original character after several prompts of me refining Rocks-anne's look.

After an hour of various prompts and resets/reloads to insert my character into the comic scene, I bumped into Asia waking up. It killed image generation completely, despite me upgrading out of my own pocket to get my work done....another flaw in the AI resources rollout is tyranny by the majority.

Please shoot me an email, subject line: "toon idea" and a very short (I get a LOT of messages) description of the concept that fits into the template you see in the cartoon series, which I'm calling "Inventors" (cavemen inventing things, with an optional boss/venture-capitalist thrown in as an invention cynic/critic). If I use it, I'll mention you by first name and last initial, though the cartoon will still be signed by me. 

With that, here's the first one.

enjoy,

-andyT

"Engineering on Friday" Cartoon Series

by Cabe Atwell

Cabe Atwell, a Technology Editor for ElectronicDesign, illustrates this engineering life of ours. An engineer's day isn't filled with just working. Cabe explores art, culture, and all aspects of the life we lead.

My cartoons are hand-drawn. I do not, and will not, use AI for my art.  

“Engineering on Friday” is a cartoon series I’ve been doing off-and-on for over a decade. I thought it would be fun to share it on a regular basis here at ElectronicDesign.

I don’t get paid for this.

It’s truly a labor of love.

I have 8 “toons” already posted. But this week’s is one of my favorites.

Yes, every single time. I hear it (in my head). Billie Jean starts playing without fail.  

If you are wondering, they often use PIR sensors to detect people… not their innate magic. 😊