Electronic Design Weekly: Aug. 10, 2026
In This Issue
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Editorial: Obsolete is Canceled
I was hired to design a replacement for an obsolete audio IC. I did it. I made a digital replacement. It worked much like an MP3 player. Instead of burning the audio sample onto the audio IC, the user just copies them over to an SD card or onboard non-removable flash memory.
The original analog IC was made sometime in the '60s or '70s. The company I worked for had an enormous product line that essentially revolved around these chips. But, they were always at the mercy of the suppliers having stock. Instead of planning for that, though, they went into crisis mode when that stock suddenly dried up. Scrambling and stumbling.
I recommended that the company take on the manufacturing of the original ICs. Just because it’s old technology doesn’t mean it has to disappear. The original chip worked. Worked well. Why replace it with a kludged together digital emulator? But the end of the story is they didn’t take on the manufacturing of the audio IC. The old product line ended in its original form.
But, I see the end of obsolescence. In fact, I see it happening already…
Click to continue reading.
Editor's Choice: From the ElectronicDesign Archives
These articles were chosen by the editors at ElectronicDesign that complement the new articles above. They’re included in our regular newsletters.
Andy's Picks from Around the Web
An Oil Giant Is Ripping Out Its Gas Pumps To Install BYD’s 1,500kW Flash Chargers. Link
Trump administration to pay German firm $1.22bn to cut offshore wind leases. Link
California Town Says Flock Cameras Misread License Plates 71% Of The Time. Link
Salem Brought a Guillotine To Oppose New Data Center. Company Reps Left, Feeling “Unsafe”. Link
20,000 People Are Publicly Vouching For a Man Accused of Cutting Down Flock Cameras. Link
Developer ported Word for Windows 1.1a from 1990 to run natively on Windows 11. Link
AI psychosis is the new leadership blind spot. Link
Amazon’s new 7.65GW Texas AI data center power plant could become the largest source of CO₂ pollution in the US. Link
Top economist warns that the AI math doesn’t make sense: ‘Profits are currently being funded by investors rather than earned from customers’. Link
Cabe's Picks of the Week
We’re not the only ones in our network of website that have talked about remanufacturing and obsolescence. Take a look:
- 8 Steps to the Reverse-Engineering Process — Control Design
Outlines a practical process for analyzing and recreating existing machinery. - Three Ways to Apply 3D Printing to Maintenance Management — New Equipment Digest
Shows how 3D printing can replace obsolete or hard-to-find parts. - Q&A: Moog Exec Talks 3D Printing for Space — Machine Design
Discusses scanning and additive manufacturing for recreating aerospace hardware. - Longer Life for Old Semiconductors — Machine Design
Explains how discontinued semiconductor devices can be put back into production. - Understanding the Hydraulic Repair, Rebuild, and Remanufacturing Industry — Power & Motion
Covers rebuilding and remanufacturing hydraulic pumps, motors and valves.
Modern Camping – becoming one with nature... our way.
Can we even call it camping anymore? More like, being outside with all our electrical gear.
I talk about going camping recently and my inspiration after this link.
Or see my whole Engineering on Friday cartoon catalog here.
From the Inventors Comics Collection
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About the Author
William G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.
Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.
You can visit my social media via these links:
- AltEmbedded on Electronic Design
- Bill Wong on Facebook
- @AltEmbedded on Twitter
- Bill Wong on LinkedIn
I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.
Roger Engelke Jr.
Managing Editor - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
Roger manages the websites and print issues for Electronic Design and Microwaves &RF.
Cabe Atwell
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Cabe is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design.
Engineer, Machinist, Cartoonist, Maker, Writer. A graduate Electrical Engineer actively plying his expertise in the industry and at his company, Gunhead. When not designing/building, he creates a steady torrent of projects and content in the media world. Many of his projects and articles are online at element14 & SolidSmack, industry-focused work at EETimes & EDN, and offbeat articles at Make Magazine. Currently, you can find him hosting webinars and contributing to Electronic Design and Machine Design.
Cabe is an electrical engineer, design consultant and author with 25 years’ experience. His most recent book is “Essential 555 IC: Design, Configure, and Create Clever Circuits”
Cabe writes the Engineering Life & Engineering on Friday blog on Electronic Design.
See Cabe's cartoons & comic strips here.
James Morra
Senior Editor
James Morra is the senior editor for Electronic Design, covering the semiconductor industry and new technology trends, with a focus on power electronics and power management. He also reports on the business behind electrical engineering, including the electronics supply chain. He joined Electronic Design in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Andy Turudic
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Andy Turudic is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design Magazine, primarily covering Analog and Mixed-Signal circuits and devices and also is Editor of ED's bi-weekly Automotive Electronics newsletter.
He holds a Bachelor's in EE from the University of Windsor (Ontario Canada) and has been involved in electronics, semiconductors, and gearhead stuff, for a bit over a half century. Andy also enjoys teaching his engineerlings at Portland Community College as a part-time professor in their EET program.
"AndyT" brings his multidisciplinary engineering experience from companies that include National Semiconductor (now Texas Instruments), Altera (Intel), Agere, Zarlink, TriQuint,(now Qorvo), SW Bell (managing a research team at Bellcore, Bell Labs and Rockwell Science Center), Bell-Northern Research, and Northern Telecom.
After hours, when he's not working on the latest invention to add to his portfolio of 16 issued US patents, or on his DARPA Challenge drone entry, he's lending advice and experience to the electric vehicle conversion community from his mountain lair in the Pacific Northwet[sic].
AndyT's engineering blog, "Nonlinearities," publishes the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Andy's OpEd may appear at other times, with fair warning given by the Vu meter pic. His cartoon series, "Inventors", appears each week in Electronic Design Weekly.
