I love Fridays… They’re the only thing that’s different about being retired so far. I try very hard to keep Fridays from being either an IBM or BETA workday.… Right now I’m spending a lot of my Fridays on a new project I’m helping lead called  ‘OnBoard’ . It’s a project to get more kids designing electronics. We actually have a bit of a crisis going in that there’s a strong wheel to build more semiconductor manufacturing and electronics design around the world and yet there are not enough students going into electronics. Computer science is up by 90% in the last five years and electronics appears to be down by almost that same amount. Our idea is to create interest in electronics design in high school kids by allowing them to design fun electronic printed circuit boards. It may sound esoteric but it’s really the basis for every electronic device that you are I have.… It’s gotten so easy to create custom circuit boards… You can use online open source tools… Design your circuit. Hit a button and the thing will be completely manufactured for you on the other side of the planet and you’ll have it back in your hand to test within a week. It’s truly remarkable. Here’s some examples of the cool kinds of things that were going to help kids build

The Group I’m working with us on this is the wonderful organization http://hackclub.org which happens to be based in Shelburne Vermont. The founders Zach and Max and all of the team there. Al, Daisy, Mel, Lexi and some hack club members Kevin,. Maggie Kamalyaa… are all so great to work with. 

 

I’m really excited about this …. watch this space !

nite all, nite sam

-me