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14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2023 In 1989, the family-friendly science fiction adventure film, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," was released. is movie, with a grammati- cally incorrect title, follows the misadventures of inventor Wayne Szalinski, played by Rick Moranis, who accidentally shrinks his children and their friends down to a minuscule size with his experimental shrinking machine. rough a series o f u n f o r t u n a t e events, the chil- d r e n e n d u p stranded in their b a c ky a r d , a n d because of their size, it becomes a t r e a c h e r o u s and gargantuan w i l d e r n e s s . A s t h e y try to navigate their way home, the kids encounter a series of larger-than-life obstacles. ings that generally would not be a problem now pose a huge chal- lenge: the lawn turned into a vast jungle and everyday objects became life-threatening. ey face menacing insects, unpredictable weather conditions, and are forced to sleep inside a LEGO brick. As an industry, we live in our own version of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." PCB designs are shrinking smaller and smaller with each design spin. Our industry demands the latest and greatest, where innovations coming off the line must be smaller and sleeker and have all the latest new func- tions, which, as we know, determines the fit and form. Mi n ia tu r i z a t i o n and integration is a growing trend with electronics. Manufac turer s have pushed that trend to the very edge of the envelope; some would say they've pushed too far. One exam- ple is smartphones, which have become increasingly com- pact, resulting in smaller screen sizes and, consequently, smaller virtual keyboards. is is a problem for me, because I suffer from a common condition called Fat Finger Syn- Honey, I Shrunk the PCBs Elementary, Mr. Watson Feature Column by John Watson, CID, ALTIUM