I tell you truly; the young spelling checkers of today are falling down on the job. For example, mine just told me that “approacheth” in the title was not a valid word. I beg to differ because — as I’m sure you already know — this is the archaic third-person singular simple present indicative form of approach. The real problem is that I don’t think this was actually considered to be archaic back in the mists of time when I was young LOL.

Moving on, I just wanted to make sure you knew that the 2021 Embedded Online Conference (EOC) will be held May 17-18-19 & 20. Quite apart from everything else, we will be celebrating 50 years of the microprocessor. In fact, embedded legend Jack Ganssle will be giving a must-see keynote: The Microprocessor at 50.

A lot of loquacious luminaries (Click image to see a larger version)

Looking at the line-up, I see lots of familiar faces along with some new friends. For example, Dr. Johan Kraft, CEO of Percepio, will be giving a presentation on Painless Multithreading: How to Verify RTOS Best Practices at Runtime. There are two reasons I picked Johan out of the pack of presenters: (a) because he appears first on the front page and (b) because I just got off the phone with him and Mike Skrtic, who is Percepio’s VP of Marketing and Sales.

If only you’d heard what Johan and Mike just told me, you’d be squirming in your seat in excitement. Of course, you will be able to hear all about this if you Register for the Conference. Once you’ve registered (it would be best to do so soon before all the good virtual seats are taken), while you are counting down the days for the 2021 conference to start, you can watch as many talks as you want from the 2020 conference. Furthermore, all the talks from the 2021 conference will remain available on demand until the May 2022 conference, thereby giving you a year to feast your eyes and ears.

“But Max,” I hear you cry, “even though this conference has presentations that meet or exceed those of pre-pandemic live conferences, and even though the Embedded Online Conference is MUCH cheaper and an INCREDIBLE value for money at only $190, I can’t afford the $190!”

I know how you feel. Money is in short supply for me these days also. Well, I’ve coaxed and cajoled and wheedled and whined on your behalf. Eventually, I wore the organizers down, and they say I can share promo code MAX90 with you. This little beauty will grant you a $100 rebate, so you’ll pay only $90 instead of $190, but it’s only good until the end of April when the conference price will jump to $290 (Eeeek!).

Also, for your delectation and delight, you can easily access the Full Conference Schedule, which includes the ability to add the titles you are desperate to see into the calendar of your choice (e.g., Apple, Google, Office 365, Outlook, Yahoo). I was just marking some “must see” presentations for myself, and I only just realized that my own humble offering Not your Grandmother’s Embedded Systems — which takes place on May 19 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) — comes right after Johan’s talk, so I’ll be watching him present and then immediately presenting myself, if you see what I mean.

I’m so happy that 2020 is behind us (the year, not last year’s conference) and I’m really looking forward to watching the other presentations and giving my own at this year’s Embedded Online Conference. Dare I hope to see you there?