When I was a young lad, my mother used to tell me I was special — I foolishly thought she was giving me a complement.

My father used to tell me “You're beautiful when you're asleep.” I thought that was a complement also. It was many years later when I thought “Hang on just a minute…”

But it turns out I am special after all (my mother will be so proud). I must be, because the guardian of the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) portal has bestowed a top-secret, ultra-special, don't-tell-anyone code on me.

This is for ESC Minneapolis, which will take place 4-5 November 2015. It seems that anyone in possession of this code — MAGMAX15 — can bounce over to the Registration Page and get 15% off the current rate for Conference passes, which means the a Conference Pass price of $764.15 (as opposed to the current Advanced Rate of $899).

I also hear that this is only good until 23 October, but that's OK because — as I said — this is ultra-top-secret so I'm not going to be telling anyone about it.