Alan Brandon

I wrote a short article on a neat gadget called the DidgiLife DDV-JF1. It’s a pocket-size HD video camera and video projector in one unit. Click the image to read the article.

I have two more articles up on Gizmag.com this week. The first is a piece about Energizer’s new tactical flashlight, and the second article covers Honeywell’s Prestige programmable thermostat.

Here’s a cool picture from the IEEE’s 125th anniversary photo stream on Flickr.

What are those people doing? It looks like they’re reading. What are they reading… wait are those manuals? Printed manuals! How old is this picture anyway?

The  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) turns 125 years old this month, and I want to give a shout out to the organization that has been a big part of my career as a tech writer.

The IEEE turns 125 this month

The IEEE sets the standard for, well, standards. According to the IEEE they publish about 30 percent of the world’s literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields and have a portfolio of nearly 1,300 standards and projects under development.

Some of the IEEE standards I have worked with over the years include:

• IEEE 802.3 — Ethernet networks
• IEEE 802.11 — Wireless networks
• IEEE 1394 — Serial bus known as “FireWire” and “i.LINK”
• IEEE 488 — Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation, formerly known as GPIB and before that as HPIB.
• IEEE 1284 — Parellel port

I started writing professionally straight out of college. Actually, I started even before I graduated. I needed a writing practicum to complete my writing degree, and so my first gig was as a part-time, junior technical writer at a company that made T1 line cards for AT&T. It stuck, and I have been stringing words together in the telecommunications industry ever since. Along the way I have been a technical writer, marketing copywriter, illustrator, and editor.

In this space I hope to explore various aspects of technical and marketing writing including the business, the craft, the tools, and the words themselves.