The more I think about live language translation in AirPods or phones, the more it makes me want to practice my Spanish language learning. It is amazing tech, but is yet another innovation that moves us away from direct connection (he writes on his blog)
I’ve been thinking about books in the age of LLMs. I mean, sure, the LLMs will shamelessly rip them off. But the books themselves sit as a kind of quiet solitude from the rest of the madness of the modern internet. I think that’s more my speed these days.
This is my first ’thought’ post type. I miss twitter, so I’ll just put those thoughts here.
Moving up the stack, from hardware to IoT
This post talks about my past few years of work doing hardware consulting and realizing just how many clients are looking for help building IoT projects. I’d like to offer more services to that segment of customers, so I need to take on more skills. In the process, I joined a startup that enables people just like me.
Some of the content of this article was also discussed on my podcast The Amp Hour, on episode 569
Improve your circuit toolbox – Simple designs that will save your next product
I had the honor of speaking at the 2018 Hackaday Superconference over the weekend. It is one of my favorite conferences of the year. The engineers and makers I met there are focused on using their creative energy to make the world a more interesting and better place. I posted a preview of this talk in my “Humble Indicator LED” post earlier this year. This later morphed into the talk shown below. It’s about circuit designs that I have found or used in my life to save products. Watch the talk here:
The humble indicator LED
I proposed a talk to the Hackaday Superconference yesterday titled, “Improve your circuit toolbox: Simple designs that will save your next product”.
While I don’t know if the talk will be accepted, I thought it could be a good discussion regardless and thought I could write out some thoughts here. I haven’t been writing much lately and wanted to stretch my muscles again, so why not?
The first circuit on that list will be an indicator LED.
Yep, that simple of a circuit. Allow me to share a diagram:
Redirecting Beams
For the audio fans out there: I discussed this topic on episode #358 of The Amp Hour
The past couple of years have been a mix of life events for me: I started my course full time, immediately jumped back into the work force (part time), traveled a bunch, started new projects, sold my old stuff, moved to Chicago, I met my podcast co-host in person and started my life over. It’s been a wild ride. Though there have been ups and downs, I’m super grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and the people I’ve been able to work with.
A bundle of glass on the seafloor
I’m writing from a plane to Australia, coming off a couple days of holiday in Queenstown, New Zealand. Something was tickling my brain that inspired me to start writing
- How beautiful it was in NZ (photos on Instagram)
- How quickly we acclimate to things
By the end of my 5 days, I wasn’t exactly yawning at the mountains and beautiful scenery. But I also wasn’t snapping pictures of it non-stop like I did at the beginning of my trip. This is felt like the “hedonic treadmill“. Humans are very good at acclimating to the things in life, including the good things. I stopped to think about another way this acclimatization has impacted me:
Pro Bono Engineering
Today I’m announcing a new project: Pro bono engineering. I will be offering a couple hours per week to those in need in an attempt to make a positive impact.
The concept of pro bono is nothing new. It is a common practice in law and medicine. Sometimes as a method for writing off hours at a tax break (though that is on shaky ground with the IRS) and sometimes as a public service; the American Bar Association recommends donating time to those in need to maintain good standing with the law community. And while engineering doesn’t really have a centralized organization for licensure (yes, the National Society of Professional Engineers acts as this for some fields), it is still an important thing to think about. Really it’s about helping people who are not able to afford services. Other precedents exist for this as well, like Engineers Without Borders (EWB), but I am not aware of this existing for electronics/tech projects.
Intermission: Act 1 of 3
I turned 33 last week.
While I have no guarantees of making it to 99, I like the idea that this birthday could potentially mark the first third of my journey to living to 99. Who knows? I could live even longer…or I could die tomorrow. Either way, I like the idea of being a third of the way to a destination; the numbers tickle my brain. It also presents a good time to pause between the acts in the play of my life and make some announcements.