This week we discuss lasers, internet of things, and static electricity. Our extremely opinionated guest has a lot to say, including some scatological humor. The associated Linker post went up early for this one, please check it out. Scary robot litter box...
The linker post for this episode is Be Excellent to Each Other . Dennis Jackson spoke with us about drones (and Airware ), simple code, and learning. Hobbyist drones and UAVs on Amazon: tiny and cheap , medium (Christopher's gift), and please-I'm-drooling-right-now . Only the last one may be an Airware platform (Dennis could neither confirm nor deny). Airware's breakdown of proposed FAA rules Simple code: Cyclomatic complexity Chris Svec's episode on empathy driven design (he'll also be at ESC B...
The Linker post for this episode is RTOSs and Brownies . Joel Sherrill ( @JoelSherrill ) spoke with us about real time operating systems, free and open source software, interns, and space. RTEMS home page and wiki Google Summer of Code (the FAQ is the best part!) and ESA Summer of code (awesome tagline: In space no one can hear you code). The LEON is the ESA Sparc core with open source VHDL and extensive use by ESA. Some projects RTEMS is used on include the Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission , th...
The Linker post for this episode: Make Anything James @Laen Neal from OSHPark spoke with us about starting a business, helping open source hardware, and throwing wild parties. OSHPark got its start from DorkbotPDX . If you are in Portland, Oregon, check out their meetup (started out on Mondays, now first Tuesday of the month, look at the CymaSpace meetup calendar for the Maker Meetup). Open Source Hardware Association (OSHA) PCB Design School blog Bay Area Maker Faire 2015 is May 16-17, Bring a ...
The Linker post for this episode: How to Win the Hackaday Prize (and Other Design Challenges) Sophi Kravitz, electrical engineer and Hackaday Mythical Creature, came on to leak the new Hackaday Prize details! On twitter, she's @SophiKravitz and often has the reins of @HackadayPrize . Sophi mentioned Matt Berggren's PCB workshop (oh! and a Solid talk too !). All three of us have been trying to make time for Contextual Electronics (now with fewer time constraints!). Hackaday Omnibus HardwareCon (s...
The Linker post for this Episode: Solving a Different Problem ThingM's Tod Kurt ( @todbot ) joined us to talk about the most important part of every embedded system: blinking lights. ThingM has been making I2C lights ( BlinkM , MinM and MaxM ) since 2006. The newer, more productized USB light is the Blink(1) (there is a coupon near the end of the show). Blink(1) had two successful kickstarters ( second one ). The BlinkMs have an ATTiny85 (which is also on the Adafruit Trinket ). The Blink(1)s ha...
Chris Savage ( @SavageCircuits ) talks about building a community and about stopping projects when life intrudes. His site is Savage Circuits . He has a YouTube channel . He has Savage Circuit TV which are the longer, more in depth videos and Short Circuit for the shorter ones. Also see his forums . Chris works for Parallax and had some kit suggestions: BOE-BOT (board of education bot), its successor the ActivityBot , and the ELEV-8 Quadcopter Kit . Chris is also a writer for Nuts and Volts . At...
Same day PCBs?!? Danielle Applestone ( @dapplestone ) chatted with Chris and Elecia about desktop CNC milling using @OtherMachine 's OtherMill. OtherMill links: features tools and materials (neat!) store (kits!) instructables (chocolate spaceships!) kickstarter page miniature mocha pot brass, err.. aluminum turbine (also: what Elecia heard ) stories of people using OtherMill Synthetos TinyG controller (also see the Make write up about TinyG ) BANT (budget, authority, need, timing): more info...
Chip Gracey spoke with us about founding @ParallaxInc , chip design, and the Propeller with its many cores. Parallax Some notes on open sourcing the Propeller Propeller One Verilog forum Propeller products Elecia has a very old Propeller Starter kit but is tempted to get the PropStick USB . Many years ago, Chris got a Basic Stamp 2 module (like this one ) to control a camera in his RC airplane:...
86: MADEUPICAL WORD Erin McKean ( @emckean ) is a lexicographer, programmer, and start-up founder. We spoke to her about Wordnik (the online uber dictionary), Reverb (smarter recommendations), and her many books. Wordnik : Adopt-a-word Developer Erin's favorite list Reverb Erin has written many books , some about words, one about dresses ( The Hundred Dresses ), and one fiction novel about The Secret Lives of Dresses . She has also given two TED talks . Watson on Jeopardy Brian Garner talks abou...
Scott Miller built a hula hoop with Bluetooth, an inertial measurement unit, a 32-bit processor, an 8-bit processor, and a slew of individually addressable LEDs. It makes wild patterns when you move. Scott's "normal" company, with all of its ham radio equipment, is Argent Data Systems . The hula hoops are Hyperion Hoops . You can buy a hoop . They are also on Facebook or you can watch the mesmerizing lightshow on YouTube (also here and here ). Yes, the hula hoop does speak DMX512 , doesn't every...
The founders of Bluestamp Engineering spoke with us about running a hands-on summer engineering program for high school students (while keeping their day jobs). Bluestamp website , Twitter ( @BlueStampEng ), YouTube channel full of student projects and Facebook page . Dave Young ( @daveyoungEE ) is also the principal engineer at Young Circuit Design . Robin Mansukhani is also CEO of Alzeca . Robin also gave a TED talk about learning by doing....
Raman Pi creator Mark Johnson ( @flatCat_ ) spoke with us about spectrometers, 3D printing, and competing in the Hackaday Prize. Raman Pi project on Hackaday.io Hackaday prize semi-finalist video Mike Szczys' Fl@c@ bio on Hackaday.com Open Source Fusor Research Consortium Wikipedia: spectrometer , Raman spectroscopy , fusors , and optical coherence tomography Weird Stuff is a Bay area electronics surplus store Raman Pi also has its own website...
Jen, Chris, and Elecia talk about the movies that influenced them to go into engineering. Real Genius ( imdb , Amazon ) Star Wars ( imdb , Amazon ) Choose Your Own Adventure books ( Amazon , wiki ) Wargames ( imdb , Amazon ) Ghostbusters ( imdb , Amazon ) Star Trek: The Next Generation ( imdb , Amazon ) 321 Contact, show and magazine ( imdb (tv)) The Muppets Show ( imdb , Amazon ) Sneakers ( imdb , Amazon ) Phineas and Ferb ( imdb , Amazon ) Sisterhood of Spies ( Amazon ) Crytonomicon ( Amazon )...
Chris and Elecia babble up a show about gifts, conferences, and makers. Embedded Systems Conference is put on by UBM. The conference is in Boston May 6-7, 2015, Santa Clara July 20-22, and Minneapolis November 4-5. The Santa Clara proposal deadline is January 9th. O'Reilly's Solid Conference is June 22-25 in San Francisco. Proposals are due January 12th. Fitbit Surge ( Amazon ) Kerbal Space Program and some controllers and telemetry boards from other people CrossyRoad is on iOS and Android (This...
Bill Winterberg ( @BillWinterberg ) chatted with Elecia about leaving embedded engineering to become a financial planner then to being a technology adviser to other financial planners. Bill's company is FPPad . You can subscribe to his newsletter and watch Bits and Bytes , his video blog (or read it). Bill and Elecia met at LeapFrog . Bill was instrumental in making the original LeapPad Learning System . When Elecia mentioned Domini Social Investments , Bill mentioned Vanguard Total Stock Market...
Vicky Tuite ( @vixter55 ) came on the show to chat with Chris and Elecia about EVAOS , a company that upgrades Ford trucks into plug-in hybrids. Feminist Hacker Barbie She’s Geeky Bay piggies (BayPIGgies)...
Chris Svec ( @christophersvec ) has an idea about adding empathy to software development. It is a good idea. His blog is Said Svec . He works for iRobot and they are hiring. (Chris' email is given toward the end of the show but if you hit the contact link here, we'll pass along info to him.) Obligatory cat video Embedded has an episode devoted to impostor syndrome . O'Reilly's Head First book series is pretty awesome. Elecia is still talking about Thinking, Fast and Slow as a great way to unders...
Sophi Kravitz ( @SophiKravitz , G+ ) joined us to talk about working on neat things: Wobble World , Oculus Rift , Unity , goldfish training, and BlueStamp Engineering . Sophi's company is Mix Engineering Leap Motion vs. Microsoft Kinect Goldfish driving (vid) Quit Your Day Job on Element14 , previously on Super Green Dot Advertising in SkyMall Thermoelectric Firestarter...
Ron Sparks ( @ txNgineer , AG5RS) spoke with us about the convergence of makers and ham radio enthusiasts. The alternative internet: AMPRNet ( wiki ) aka 44 net South Texas Balloon Launch Team Pecan Pico AmSAT SatNOGS (their site , their hackaday entry , and the video Elecia liked) Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Network ("whisper"). Also on wiki ....
Glenn Scott and Nacho Solis spoke with Elecia about content-centric networking , being research scientists, and working at PARC . [Note: Elecia was the recording engineer and her inexperience showed by not hitting that other little button on the software. Nacho's mic ended up bad but Chris mostly fixed it... the sound gets better after the first five minutes.] Twitter: Nacho ( @isolis ), CCN ( @projectccnx ), and PARC ( @PARCInc ) CCNX website (includes contact link) CCN enabled Riot OS...
John Schuch ( @JohnS_AZ ) talked with us about being a semifinalist in the Hackaday Prize, his project, and entering other contests. John's webpage John's Hackaday Page Winning Entry on Mouser 500 Challenge Honorable Mention on Circuit Cellar's ChipKit2012 Many contests are announced on Circuit Cellar and searching the EEVBlog forums . IRC channel mentioned is TYMKRS...
Christopher and Elecia look through listener email, check in on what past guests are up to, and consider the best and worst of science in recent fiction. Hackaday Prize Finalists (and the 50 Semiinalists ) Saleae Logic Pro 16 (related: Drive the Boat with a Wii Mote ) Darma Kickstarter (related: Resonant Frequency of My Butt ) Peep sign up to be notified of their Kickstarter (related: Vision for Simple Minds ) EMSL Halloween round up and open house on Nov 13 (related: Mwahahaha Session ) Silicon...
Emile Petrone ( @emilepetrone ) talked with Chris and Elecia about Tindie : buying, selling, changing the rate of hardware innovation, having a burgeoning start up, connecting government agencies to craft electronics, etc. We talked about many amazing projects on Tindie but there were so many, it is hard to call them out. Arduboy and AirPi Raspberry Pi weather station are two that stood out....
Intellectual property attorney Judith Szepesi ( @Judith_IP ) discusses what Elecia (and startups) need to know about patenting. Judith is a founding partner at HIPLegal, LLP . They will soon have a guide to addressing patent trolls (link to be added when available). Ask Patents - a Stack Exchange site to discuss patents (and patent trolls) Judith and Elecia both recommend the Patent It Yourself book from NOLO Press (always get the latest of this). Even if you seek legal counsel, you'll have a be...
Rob Faludi ( @Falud i), author of Building Wireless Sensor Networks and chief innovator at Digi International , spoke with us about Zigbee, writing, and experimenting. Rob's blog Books we talked about: Building Wireless Sensor Networks (of course!) Creativity, Inc. Make: Wearable Electronics...
Mike Szczys ( @Szczys ) discusses @Hackaday , the SPACE! prize, being a professional musician, and visiting Silicon Valley. Hackaday.com blog including Mike's post about Why Open Design is the way forward Hackaday.io project site Hackaday Prize All entries 50 semifinalists Science fiction contest winners (previous contest) Mike was on the judging panel to winnow down from 800 entries to 50. Some projects that he thought were particularly awesome that didn't make the semifinalist cut. Intelligent...
Angie Chang ( @thisgirlangie ) joined us to talk about the coding bootcamp Hackbright Academy , their upcoming hardware hackathon, Girl Geek Dinners , and the extreme awkwardness of networking. Sign up to be a hackathon mentor (not gender limited) or to be on the waitlist to attend (women only). Get your team together on Hackathon IO . Sign up to be a Hackbright Academy mentor. Oh look! Elecia signed up to speak on Sunday ! Grace Hopper Conference The article on Peter Thiel and women founders by...
In front of a live audience, Chris and Elecia talk about their experiences with FAA and FDA. This show was recorded live in front of the Silicon Valley Automotive Open Source meetup group at Hacker Dojo . The Wikipedia article on DO-178B is a good place to get an overview of the FAA process (even for other levels of concern). For FDA, their guidance is the best place to start. Also see their 510k information . Finally, note that all class III (3, very high risk) require the more difficult Premar...
Jack Gassett ( @gadgetfactory ) is the creator of the open source FPGA Papilio development board. He joins Chris and Elecia to answer the age-old question of how to get started with FPGAs. Jack's company is Gadget Factory . Chris got the Papilio Pro and Arcade MegaWing . Recommended reading: Mike Field's book Introducing the Spartan 3E FPGA and VHDL (FREE! With code!) Mealy and Tappero's Free Range VHDL (FREE!) Sundar Rajan's Essential VHDL : RTL Synthesis Done Right Roger Tokheim Digital Electr...
