Podcasts about PCBS

When it comes to supporting your baby's brain development, few nutrients get as much attention as DHA, an essential omega-3 fatty acid. In this episode, we answer a listener's questions about omega-3s during pregnancy. Learn how much you need, where to get them, and whether a supplement is necessary. Get a breakdown of the difference between ALA, EPA, and DHA, and why the ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 is important. If you consider supplementing your diet with omega-3s, learn what to look for in a high-quality supplement and how to reduce the risks of toxins like PCBs and heavy metals.     Thank you to our sponsor   New parents love the Pathways.org Baby Milestones App because it offers the support they need during those early days at home. The First Week Survival Guide has everything from safe sleeping practices to why your baby cries and how to address it, plus tips for feeding, diapering, and swaddling. The Pathways.org Baby Milestones App continues to support you and your baby through the toddler years with personalized guidance based on your baby's birth date. You can even get a head start by adding your due date now. You'll get expert-backed tips and video-based activities that can help your baby meet key developmental milestones. The best part? It's completely free—no paywalls, no subscriptions, ever. Download the Pathways.org Baby Milestones App and get expert-backed support from day one: Apple Store Google Play     Read the full article and resources that accompany this episode.     Join Pregnancy Podcast Premium to access the entire back catalog, listen to all episodes ad-free, get a copy of the Your Birth Plan Book, and more.     Check out the 40 Weeks podcast to learn how your baby grows each week and what is happening in your body. Plus, get a heads up on what to expect at your prenatal appointments and a tip for dads and partners.     For more evidence-based information, visit the Pregnancy Podcast website.

In this episode, host Sean Grady sits down with Jim Galligan, Senior Vice President at TerraTherm, to discuss advanced thermal remediation technologies. Jim, an industry veteran with over 34 years of expertise, dives deep into thermal conduction heating (TCH), electrical resistance heating (ERH), and steam-enhanced extraction (SEE)—powerful techniques used to remediate recalcitrant contaminants like PFAS, chlorinated solvents (PCE, TCE), PCBs, dioxins, and petroleum hydrocarbons.Learn how thermal remediation effectively targets complex contaminant source zones, even beneath buildings or challenging infrastructure, and discover why depth and geology are no longer barriers. Jim dispels common myths about thermal technologies, addresses lifecycle costs compared to traditional methods like chemical oxidation, and explains critical factors such as power infrastructure and hydrogeological site characterization.Ideal for environmental consultants, remediation engineers, and project managers looking for proven strategies to achieve rapid and reliable cleanup goals. Join us as we uncover how TerraTherm is driving innovation in environmental remediation, offering sustainable solutions and unparalleled performance in treating soil and groundwater contamination.#EnvironmentalTransformation #ThermalRemediation #TerraTherm #SoilCleanup #GroundwaterRemediation #PFAS #environmentalengineering 00:00 – Introduction to the Environmental Transformation Podcast01:15 – Meet Jim Galligan: 34 Years in Thermal Remediation03:25 – Overview of TerraTherm and Its Mission06:40 – What Is Thermal Remediation? Key Technologies Explained10:55 – Thermal Conduction Heating (TCH) Deep Dive13:45 – Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH) Explained16:05 – Steam-Enhanced Extraction (SEE) Use Cases18:10 – Ideal Site Conditions for Thermal Remediation22:30 – Treating Deep Contaminant Zones: Why “Deeper Is Cheaper”25:00 – Real-World Project Examples and Case Studies29:15 – Site Selection and Design Considerations33:45 – Comparing Lifecycle Costs of Thermal vs. Chemical Treatments37:20 – Power Infrastructure Needs and Utility Coordination41:50 – Debunking Common Myths About Thermal Remediation50:10 – Regulatory Cleanup Goals and Treatment Effectiveness54:20 – Remediation of PFAS, Dioxins, PCBs, and VOCs59:30 – Thermal's Impact on Soil and Microbial Recovery1:03:00 – Thermally Enhanced Bioremediation and Future Innovations1:06:40 – How to Design an Effective Thermal Treatment System1:10:00 – How to Contact TerraTherm and Learn More

This week on The Simple Electronics Podcast, I congratulate Carl The Pumpkin Man on his recent Pumpkin Jam, I talk about electronics events and talk about some of the costs incurred last year!This episode is brought to you by PCBWay! get 5 PCBs (or more) for 5$ USD plus S/H:https://pcbway.com/g/85ZlGGCarl's video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i_7wCGuWAcGoogle Form for suggestions for the 1-day challenge:https://forms.gle/UuGZC61ePXa2MM1c7Thanks for listening!

Discover how to design innovative 3D structural electronics using Altium Designer with product manager Jack Henriques. Learn about printed electronics, 3D-MIDs, functional surfaces, and how to create circuits on three-dimensional substrates beyond traditional flat PCBs.   Explore the toolset that lets you place components on curved surfaces, route traces along contours while maintaining consistent width, and develop complex multi-layer printed electronics. This episode of the OnTrack podcast demonstrates how Altium Designer enables revolutionary form factors for next-generation electronic devices.  

Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they talk about the best stories and hacks of the week. This episode starts off with a discussion of the Vintage Computer Festival East and Philadelphia Maker Faire -- two incredible events that just so happened to be scheduled for the same weekend. From there the discussion moves on to the latest developments in DIY soft robotics, the challenge of running Linux on 8-pin ICs, hardware mods to improve WiFi reception on cheap ESP32 development boards, and what's keeping old smartphones from being reused as general purpose computers. You'll also hear about Command and Conquer: Red Alert running on the Pi Pico 2, highly suspect USB-C splitters, and producing professional looking PCBs at home with a fiber laser. Stick around to the end to hear about the current state of non-Google web browsers, and a unique new machine that can engrave circuit boards with remarkable accuracy. Check out the links over on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

In this episode of The Simple Electronics Podcast, I sit down with Basement Electronics to talk about April Fool's videos, Home Assistant and what we're doing this year!This episode is brought to you by PCBWay! get 5 PCBs (or more) for 5$ USD plus S/Hhttps://pcbway.com/g/85ZlGGFind him here:https://bsky.app/profile/curisireland.bsky.socialhttps://www.youtube.com/c/BasementElectronicshttps://www.facebook.com/basementelectronicshttps://www.patreon.com/basementelectronicswww.basementelectronics.comCheck out this video of his:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVvs7UjOS1EThanks for listening!

It might not be Pi Day anymore, but Elliot and Dan got together for the approximately 100*Pi-th episode of the Podcast to run through the week's coolest hacks. Ultrasound seemed to be one of the themes, with a deep dive into finding bugs with sonar as well as using sound to cut the cheese -- and cakes and pies, too. The aesthetics of PCBs were much on our minds, too, from full-color graphics on demand to glow-in-the-dark silkscreens. Is automation really needed to embed fiber optics in concrete? Absolutely! How do you put plasma in a bottle? Apparently, with kombucha, Nichrome, and silicone. If you need to manage your M:TG cards, scribble on the walls, or build a mechanical chase light, we've got the details. And what exactly is a supercomputer? We can't define it, but we know one when we see it. Check out all the links over at Hackday!

Agency says PCB monitoring and mitigation will continue For many people, much of the news coming out of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the second Trump administration has been disheartening. Lee Zeldin, the former New York State legislator who was recently appointed to lead the agency, has said he intends to roll back dozens of regulations, slash the agency budget by 65 percent and eliminate its scientific research department. "We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate-change religion," he said in a news release on March 12. Zeldin described regulations targeting greenhouse-gas emissions, the primary driver of climate change, as "hidden 'taxes' on U.S. families." But announcements from the EPA's Albany office, which oversees the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site, have a different tone. "We are full speed ahead with our full team," said Project Director Gary Klawinksi, an EPA veteran, earlier this week. He said that includes the continuing monitoring and clean-up of pollutants called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that General Electric dumped into the river from two manufacturing plants over a 40-year period that ended in 1977. The pollution ended commercial fishing in the river and kicked off decades of legal battles. The EPA will continue to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to clean the river, Klawinski said. He noted that, as part of a settlement agreement with the agency, GE has to reimburse his office for the work. "It's all set up under different, various legal agreements, and those legal agreements are important," he said. Klawinski said Superfund programs appear to be off the table from funding cuts and freezes that are taking place elsewhere. The agency also receives some of its funding from outside the federal government. "It's my understanding that the Superfund program remains an important part of both the EPA and this administration's work, regardless of who is reimbursing the projects," he said. At EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., a representative said "work continues apace at Superfund sites" because "the president's priorities and Administrator Zeldin's first pillar of Powering the Great American Comeback is providing every American with clean air, land and water." In the last days of the Biden administration, Klawinski's office released a final version of its latest five-year review of the cleanup. It confirmed the findings of a draft released in July 2024 that determined the EPA doesn't have enough information to determine if GE needs to continue to dredge sediment from the Upper Hudson to remove PCBs. Klawinski said that the agency plans to release an addendum by 2027 - and possibly as soon as this year - which will make that determination. Local environmental groups, banding together under the name Friends of a Clean Hudson, released their own report in November 2023, analyzing the data that the EPA used and concluding that it has enough to rule the cleanup hasn't worked. For more than a decade, the groups have warned that the clean-up was doomed to fail because initial measurements of the contamination were flawed and GE wasn't targeting PCB "hot spots." Last week, 15 members of Congress from New York and New Jersey, including Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, and Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican whose district includes Philipstown, signed a letter to Zeldin urging him to declare that the cleanup has not worked, based on 2023 and 2024 data. But in Albany, Klawinski said "we just don't scientifically have enough years of data in order to be able to, with enough confidence, make a decision" about the effectiveness of the cleanup. While the data shows that the level of PCBs in fish and sediment are declining, "are they going down in a way that meets the expectations of the record of decision in those legal agreements?" he asked. Klawinski said his office is analyzing the most recent data, which wasn't included in the five-year report. It...

On paper, fish have everything required to be an excellent staple to many diets. They're rich in protein, vitamins, trace elements, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, and aren't too high in calories. The only downside is that fish live in an increasingly polluted environment. What with heavy metals and plastic waste invading the oceans, more and more people are concerned about the pitfalls of eating fish. After all, they can be contaminated by chemical pollutants such as PCBs, methylmercury, or dioxins. These endocrine disruptors can have very harmful effects such as causing neurological disorders or forms of cancer. Furthermore, food derived from fish flesh is also likely to be contaminated with microorganisms such as bacteria and parasites. Should we stop eating fish then? Should I avoid any other types of fish? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: What is Sisu? What does Mercury in retrograde mean? Does the Mediterranean diet lower risks of dementia? A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Joseph Chance. First broadcast : 3/4/23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Simple Electronics Podcast I talk about my recent Livestream with Aecert Robotics' transmitter kit and some electronics news!This episode is brought to you by PCBWay! get 5 PCBs (or more) for 5$ USD plus S/Hhttps://pcbway.com/g/85ZlGGHere are relevant links to today's episode:https://www.aecertrobotics.comhttps://www.ti.com/about-ti/newsroom/news-releases/2025/2025-03-11-ti-introduces-the-world-s-smallest-mcu--enabling-innovation-in-the-tiniest-of-applications.html?HQS=evt-tsw-null-ew_2025_mspm0_small-twit-pr-null-ww_en_awrhttps://hackaday.io/project/202616/gallery#288833f962d9653023777ad4922f62f4https://hackaday.com/2025/02/22/kicad-9-moves-up-in-the-pro-league/#more-759691Thanks for listening!

This week's EYE ON NPI is a NAND in the HAND, it's ISSI Serial NAND Flash chips (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/i/issi/serial-nand-flash) available in a variety of sizes and footprints. These are great options for folks that need more data storage on their PCBs, but don't necessarily want an SD card. DigiKey has a selection of 1Gbit and 2Gbit chips, so you have tons of storage for data logs, images, recordings, or even filesystems. And the price is great, you'll pay much less per byte when buying NAND flash There's plenty of times you'll need to access non-volatile memory on your microcontroller: graphics or audio files for a user interface, maps or almanac data for telemetry, sensor or usage logs, interpreted code scripts, firmware updates, security certificates, etc. these files are too big to be stored in simple EEPROM chips (https://www.digikey.com/short/0rf9t7qb) that max out at a few kB. The next step up is to use NOR Flash (https://www.digikey.com/short/jfp3bvph) - you can get up to 256 Megabytes in size! (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/issi-integrated-silicon-solution-inc/IS25LP02GJ-RHLE/24617385) Compared to EEPROM which comes in 1-Wire, I2C or SPI, you definitely have to use an SPI interface for NOR Flash. It's also possible on many chips to have 4-bit-at-a-time QSPI or even 8-bit OSPI interfacing for fast reads. And that's the thing that's really nice about NOR: instant reads of any byte anywhere in memory just like EEPROM. Unlike EEPROM you can't write just one byte at a time anywhere in the storage, you have to write 'page' and erase a 'sector' at a time - each page tends to be about 256 bytes, a sector is often 4KB. That means if you want to update a file, you'll need to read the whole 4K block into a memory cache, change the bytes you want to, then erase and re-write the block out. The good news though is once you write out a page, you can pretty much assume it will stay for many years: there's rarely corrupted data in NOR flash. And, although erasing and writing is a bit of a pain, the instant-access means NOR is great for 'XIP' or other dynamic memory access. If NOR is so great, why bother with NAND? One is cost: a 2MB NOR chip isn't too bad about 45 cents in quantity (https://www.digikey.com/short/zff49fb7) but once you get to the biggest 256 MB ones (https://www.digikey.com/short/vffmp583) the pricing gets high pretty quickly: $15 in tray quantities. Considering you can get a 64G SD card for that price, NOR isn't very cost effective. Second is sizing: if you want 1GB for large files, it just isn't available. For that kind of density you need NOR flash. NAND flash is the kind of flash you get when you buy a USB key or microSD card, although those have USB or SDIO interface chips (https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2013/where-usb-memory-sticks-are-born/) that are wire bonded to the NAND flash chips. You get a lot more for the price: instead of $15 for 256MB NOR, its $3 (https://www.digikey.com/short/r77p0922). You also don't need more pins! We always thought that NAND flash required a lot of pins since it comes in 48-TSSOP (https://www.digikey.com/short/8zqbmw31) but turns out that you can get it in a QSPI 8-pin format. That makes it easy to integrate without needing an 8-bit wide memory controller. However, the architectural decisions that give ISSI NAND (https://www.digikey.com/short/jtp8ppdb) the massive size & low cost that we love also make it more complex to use than NOR flash. For one, you can no longer get random access to any byte you like. Instead, an entire page must be read at once into a 2176-byte cache, and then can be accessed. This is fine for most uses except we can't use XIP anymore and there are probably some memory access use cases that don't work nearly as nicely. Also that high density means that bits are more likely to go 'bad' and flip. While you can sorta-kinda get away with not doing error correction or wear leveling on NOR, you absolutely must do error correction and wear leveling on NAND! ISSI includes a simple multi-bit ECC system that can handle repairing up to 8 bits per 2176-byte page. And, every time there's ECC errors, you will need to 'refresh/rewrite' the data to clean it up. That refresh counts against the 60K or 100K write cycle - you are more likely to need wear-level management, even if you don't expect to write that often. Basically, check if your microcontroller SDK has a NAND controller library (https://github.com/D-Buckingham/NAND_flash) that can manage this all for you. So, if you need to level up your storage, with easy-to-use SPI or QSPI-interface, ISSI has many NAND (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/i/issi/serial-nand-flash) options to let you quickly and inexpensively add 1 or 2 gigabits of non-volatile memory with built in ECC support and block cache. DigiKey will be stocking them shortly, sign up (https://www.digikey.com/short/jtp8ppdb) to be notified when they drop into stock mid-next month!

This week, we were all over the place with a bunch of different designs and experiments. After last week's analysis of the TLV320DAC3100, we made some updates to the design and re-booked prototype PCBs. We also designed a triple-matrix bonnet: with our latest work on getting HUB75 RGB matrices working on the Raspberry Pi 5, we can now do matrix control on the latest Pi 5 chip. But we're limited by the RP1 chip, so to get big displays going, we'll need multiple strands—these don't use significantly more bandwidth because half of the pins are shared. Finally, we ended the week by getting another older prototype working: the SAM-M8Q is an entry-level all-in-one GPS from u-blox. It comes with both UART and I2C interfaces, plus a built-in antenna, so it's ready to go out of the box. The NMEA interface is trivial, but we also wanted to try out the UBX interface, and thankfully, Claude 3.7 was able to vibe-code it for us in a jiffy.

We leak (Bad) Nvidia Blackwell info, discuss RDNA 4, and dissect Strix Halo Reviews! [SPON: Support MLID by utilizing a $30 coupon for JLCPCB premium 6-layer PCBs: https://jlcpcb.com/6-layer-pcb?from=getcoupon ] [SPON: Use "brokensilicon“ at CDKeyOffer for $23 Win11 Pro: https://www.cdkeyoffer.com/cko/Moore11 ] 0:00 Middle-aged Man Hobbies (Intro Banter) 3:43 RTX 5070 Ti Reviewed & "Launched" 11:25 RTX 5090s & 5070 Tis Spotted with Missing ROPs - Performance Loss Confirmed 18:47 RTX 5070 & 5060 Production Issues Alleged 20:38 (NEW Leak) RTX 5070 Supply Whispers 26:26 Nvidia Kills PhysX 34:50 AMD sets RDNA 4 Reveal for Feb 28th Amongst Performance Leaks 48:08 AMD Strix Halo Reviewed 1:05:03 AMD Medusa Point & Olympic Ridge Leaked 1:14:05 Nvidia Black Screens, R9 9950X3D Pricing, PS6 Release Date (Wrap-Up) 1:21:15 Battlemage B990 vs RTX 5090, RTX 6090 Specs, GPU Evolution (Final RM) https://www.techspot.com/review/2955-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-ti/ https://youtu.be/BnHaarxf7pg?si=Gxq3b1a0vLb5SExV https://youtu.be/UMPK1SeMEZM?si=YeOUoVAjUYB80GWX https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-ventus-3x/37.html https://youtu.be/sTbGIiGvlIU https://x.com/dnystedt/status/1892394411876843744 https://www.techpowerup.com/332884/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-spotted-with-missing-rops-performance-loss-confirmed-multiple-vendors-affected https://www.techpowerup.com/332844/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-and-rtx-5060-reportedly-faced-production-issues https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/physx-quietly-retired-on-rtx-50-series-gpus-nvidia-ends-32-bit-cuda-app-support https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dUjUNrbHis https://x.com/McAfeeDavid_AMD/status/1890102891119276284 https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-series-gaming-performance-leaked-rx-9070xt-is-42-faster-on-average-than-7900-gre-at-4k https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/laptop/ryzen/ai-300-series/amd-ryzen-ai-max-plus-395.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVbm2a6lVBo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7HUud7IvAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiHr8CQRZi4 https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-AI-Max-395-Analysis-Strix-Halo-to-rival-Apple-M4-Pro-Max-with-16-Zen-5-cores-and-iGPU-on-par-with-RTX-4070-Laptop.963274.0.html https://youtu.be/jek6D3fY1X8 https://youtu.be/G0ET6qpfrFg https://www.techpowerup.com/332583/amd-zen-6-powers-medusa-point-mobile-and-olympic-ridge-desktop-processors https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/user/15//557655//?comment=3502723 https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/557712/verified-priority-access-geforce-rtx-5090-and-rtx-/ https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/ryzen-9-9950x3d-and-ryzen-9-9900x3d-listed-at-usd699-and-usd599-same-prices-as-last-gen https://www.techspot.com/news/106761-tsmc-fast-tracks-3nm-chip-production-arizona-counter.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106820-lenovo-thinkbook-flip-ai-laptop-features-towering-oled.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106824-borderlands-4-locks-september-23-release-gta-6.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106863-sony-printing-money-releasing-playstation-games-pc-former.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106855-playstation-6-likely-launch-2028-former-sony-exec.html

Bundle tickets for AIE Summit NYC have now sold out. You can now sign up for the livestream — where we will be making a big announcement soon. NYC-based readers and Summit attendees should check out the meetups happening around the Summit.2024 was a very challenging year for AI Hardware. After the buzz of CES last January, 2024 was marked by the meteoric rise and even harder fall of AI Wearables companies like Rabbit and Humane, with an assist from a pre-wallpaper-app MKBHD. Even Friend.com, the first to launch in the AI pendant category, and which spurred Rewind AI to rebrand to Limitless and follow in their footsteps, ended up delaying their wearable ship date and launching an experimental website chatbot version. We have been cautiously excited about this category, keeping tabs on most of the top entrants, including Omi and Compass. However, to date the biggest winner still standing from the AI Wearable wars is Bee AI, founded by today's guests Maria and Ethan. Bee is an always on hardware device with beamforming microphones, 7 day battery life and a mute button, that can be worn as a wristwatch or a clip-on pin, backed by an incredible transcription, diarization and very long context memory processing pipeline that helps you to remember your day, your todos, and even perform actions by operating a virtual cloud phone. This is one of the most advanced, production ready, personal AI agents we've ever seen, so we were excited to be their first podcast appearance. We met Bee when we ran the world's first Personal AI meetup in April last year.As a user of Bee (and not an investor! just a friend!) it's genuinely been a joy to use, and we were glad to take advantage of the opportunity to ask hard questions about the privacy and legal/ethical side of things as much as the AI and Hardware engineering side of Bee. We hope you enjoy the episode and tune in next Friday for Bee's first conference talk: Building Perfect Memory.Show Notes* Bee Website* Ethan Sutin, Maria de Lourdes Zollo* Bee @ Personal AI Meetup* Buy Bee with Listener Discount Code!Timestamps* 00:00:00 Introductions and overview of Bee Computer* 00:01:58 Personal context and use cases for Bee* 00:03:02 Origin story of Bee and the founders' background* 00:06:56 Evolution from app to hardware device* 00:09:54 Short-term value proposition for users* 00:12:17 Demo of Bee's functionality* 00:17:54 Hardware form factor considerations* 00:22:22 Privacy concerns and legal considerations* 00:30:57 User adoption and reactions to wearing Bee* 00:35:56 CES experience and hardware manufacturing challenges* 00:41:40 Software pipeline and inference costs* 00:53:38 Technical challenges in real-time processing* 00:57:46 Memory and personal context modeling* 01:02:45 Social aspects and agent-to-agent interactions* 01:04:34 Location sharing and personal data exchange* 01:05:11 Personality analysis capabilities* 01:06:29 Hiring and future of always-on AITranscriptAlessio [00:00:04]: Hey everyone, welcome to the Latent Space podcast. This is Alessio, partner and CTO at Decibel Partners, and I'm joined by my co-host Swyx, founder of SmallAI.swyx [00:00:12]: Hey, and today we are very honored to have in the studio Maria and Ethan from Bee.Maria [00:00:16]: Hi, thank you for having us.swyx [00:00:20]: And you are, I think, the first hardware founders we've had on the podcast. I've been looking to have had a hardware founder, like a wearable hardware, like a wearable hardware founder for a while. I think we're going to have two or three of them this year. And you're the ones that I wear every day. So thank you for making Bee. Thank you for all the feedback and the usage. Yeah, you know, I've been a big fan. You are the speaker gift for the Engineering World's Fair. And let's start from the beginning. What is Bee Computer?Ethan [00:00:52]: Bee Computer is a personal AI system. So you can think of it as AI living alongside you in first person. So it can kind of capture your in real life. So with that understanding can help you in significant ways. You know, the obvious one is memory, but that's that's really just the base kind of use case. So recalling and reflective. I know, Swyx, that you you like the idea of journaling, but you don't but still have some some kind of reflective summary of what you experienced in real life. But it's also about just having like the whole context of a human being and understanding, you know, giving the machine the ability to understand, like, what's going on in your life. Your attitudes, your desires, specifics about your preferences, so that not only can it help you with recall, but then anything that you need it to do, it already knows, like, if you think about like somebody who you've worked with or lived with for a long time, they just know kind of without having to ask you what you would want, it's clear that like, that is the future that personal AI, like, it's just going to be very, you know, the AI is just so much more valuable with personal context.Maria [00:01:58]: I will say that one of the things that we are really passionate is really understanding this. Personal context, because we'll make the AI more useful. Think about like a best friend that know you so well. That's one of the things that we are seeing from the user. They're using from a companion standpoint or professional use cases. There are many ways to use B, but companionship and professional are the ones that we are seeing now more.swyx [00:02:22]: Yeah. It feels so dry to talk about use cases. Yeah. Yeah.Maria [00:02:26]: It's like really like investor question. Like, what kind of use case?Ethan [00:02:28]: We're just like, we've been so broken and trained. But I mean, on the base case, it's just like, don't you want your AI to know everything you've said and like everywhere you've been, like, wouldn't you want that?Maria [00:02:40]: Yeah. And don't stay there and repeat every time, like, oh, this is what I like. You already know that. And you do things for me based on that. That's I think is really cool.swyx [00:02:50]: Great. Do you want to jump into a demo? Do you have any other questions?Alessio [00:02:54]: I want to maybe just cover the origin story. Just how did you two meet? What was the was this the first idea you started working on? Was there something else before?Maria [00:03:02]: I can start. So Ethan and I, we know each other from six years now. He had a company called Squad. And before that was called Olabot and was a personal AI. Yeah, I should. So maybe you should start this one. But yeah, that's how I know Ethan. Like he was pivoting from personal AI to Squad. And there was a co-watching with friends product. I had experience working with TikTok and video content. So I had the pivoting and we launched Squad and was really successful. And at the end. The founders decided to sell that to Twitter, now X. So both of us, we joined X. We launched Twitter Spaces. We launched many other products. And yeah, till then, we basically continue to work together to the start of B.Ethan [00:03:46]: The interesting thing is like this isn't the first attempt at personal AI. In 2016, when I started my first company, it started out as a personal AI company. This is before Transformers, no BERT even like just RNNs. You couldn't really do any convincing dialogue at all. I met Esther, who was my previous co-founder. We both really interested in the idea of like having a machine kind of model or understand a dynamic human. We wanted to make personal AI. This was like more geared towards because we had obviously much limited tools, more geared towards like younger people. So I don't know if you remember in 2016, there was like a brief chatbot boom. It was way premature, but it was when Zuckerberg went up on F8 and yeah, M and like. Yeah. The messenger platform, people like, oh, bots are going to replace apps. It was like for about six months. And then everybody realized, man, these things are terrible and like they're not replacing apps. But it was at that time that we got excited and we're like, we tried to make this like, oh, teach the AI about you. So it was just an app that you kind of chatted with and it would ask you questions and then like give you some feedback.Maria [00:04:53]: But Hugging Face first version was launched at the same time. Yeah, we started it.Ethan [00:04:56]: We started out the same office as Hugging Face because Betaworks was our investor. So they had to think. They had a thing called Bot Camp. Betaworks is like a really cool VC because they invest in out there things. They're like way ahead of everybody else. And like back then it was they had something called Bot Camp. They took six companies and it was us and Hugging Face. And then I think the other four, I'm pretty sure, are dead. But and Hugging Face was the one that really got, you know, I mean, 30% success rate is pretty good. Yeah. But yeah, when we it was, it was like it was just the two founders. Yeah, they were kind of like an AI company in the beginning. It was a chat app for teenagers. A lot of people don't know that Hugging Face was like, hey, friend, how was school? Let's trade selfies. But then, you know, they built the Transformers library, I believe, to help them make their chat app better. And then they open sourced and it was like it blew up. And like they're like, oh, maybe this is the opportunity. And now they're Hugging Face. But anyway, like we were obsessed with it at that time. But then it was clear that there's some people who really love chatting and like answering questions. But it's like a lot of work, like just to kind of manually.Maria [00:06:00]: Yeah.Ethan [00:06:01]: Teach like all these things about you to an AI.Maria [00:06:04]: Yeah, there were some people that were super passionate, for example, teenagers. They really like, for example, to speak about themselves a lot. So they will reply to a lot of questions and speak about them. But most of the people, they don't really want to spend time.Ethan [00:06:18]: And, you know, it's hard to like really bring the value with it. We had like sentence similarity and stuff and could try and do, but it was like it was premature with the technology at the time. And so we pivoted. We went to YC and the long story, but like we pivoted to consumer video and that kind of went really viral and got a lot of usage quickly. And then we ended up selling it to Twitter, worked there and left before Elon, not related to Elon, but left Twitter.swyx [00:06:46]: And then I should mention this is the famous time when well, when when Elon was just came in, this was like Esther was the famous product manager who slept there.Ethan [00:06:56]: My co-founder, my former co-founder, she sleeping bag. She was the sleep where you were. Yeah, yeah, she stayed. We had left by that point.swyx [00:07:03]: She very stayed, she's famous for staying.Ethan [00:07:06]: Yeah, but later, later left or got, I think, laid off, laid off. Yeah, I think the whole product team got laid off. She was a product manager, director. But yeah, like we left before that. And then we're like, oh, my God, things are different now. You know, I think this is we really started working on again right before ChatGPT came out. But we had an app version and we kind of were trying different things around it. And then, you know, ultimately, it was clear that, like, there were some limitations we can go on, like a good question to ask any wearable company is like, why isn't this an app? Yes. Yeah. Because like.Maria [00:07:40]: Because we tried the app at the beginning.Ethan [00:07:43]: Yeah. Like the idea that it could be more of a and B comes from ambient. So like if it was more kind of just around you all the time and less about you having to go open the app and do the effort to, like, enter in data that led us down the path of hardware. Yeah. Because the sensors on this are microphones. So it's capturing and understanding audio. We started actually our first hardware with a vision component, too. And we can talk about why we're not doing that right now. But if you wanted to, like, have a continuous understanding of audio with your phone, it would monopolize your microphone. It would get interrupted by calls and you'd have to remember to turn it on. And like that little bit of friction is actually like a substantial barrier to, like, get your phone. It's like the experience of it just being with you all the time and like living alongside you. And so I think that that's like the key reason it's not an app. And in fact, we do have Apple Watch support. So anybody who has a watch, Apple Watch can use it right away without buying any hardware. Because we worked really hard to make a version for the watch that can run in the background, not super drain your battery. But even with the watch, there's still friction because you have to remember to turn it on and it still gets interrupted if somebody calls you. And you have to remember to. We send a notification, but you still have to go back and turn it on because it's just the way watchOS works.Maria [00:09:04]: One of the things that we are seeing from our Apple Watch users, like I love the Apple Watch integration. One of the things that we are seeing is that people, they start using it from Apple Watch and after a couple of days they buy the B because they just like to wear it.Ethan [00:09:17]: Yeah, we're seeing.Maria [00:09:18]: That's something that like they're learning and it's really cool. Yeah.Ethan [00:09:21]: I mean, I think like fundamentally we like to think that like a personal AI is like the mission. And it's more about like the understanding. Connecting the dots, making use of the data to provide some value. And the hardware is like the ears of the AI. It's not like integrating like the incoming sensor data. And that's really what we focus on. And like the hardware is, you know, if we can do it well and have a great experience on the Apple Watch like that, that's just great. I mean, but there's just some platform restrictions that like existing hardware makes it hard to provide that experience. Yeah.Alessio [00:09:54]: What do people do in like two or three days that then convinces them to buy it? They buy the product. This feels like a product where like after you use it for a while, you have enough data to start to get a lot of insights. But it sounds like maybe there's also like a short term.Maria [00:10:07]: From the Apple Watch users, I believe that because every time that you receive a call after, they need to go back to B and open it again. Or for example, every day they need to charge Apple Watch and reminds them to open the app every day. They feel like, okay, maybe this is too much work. I just want to wear the B and just keep it open and that's it. And I don't need to think about it.Ethan [00:10:27]: I think they see the kind of potential of it just from the watch. Because even if you wear it a day, like we send a summary notification at the end of the day about like just key things that happened to you in your day. And like I didn't even think like I'm not like a journaling type person or like because like, oh, I just live the day. Why do I need to like think about it? But like it's actually pretty sometimes I'm surprised how interesting it is to me just to kind of be like, oh, yeah, that and how it kind of fits together. And I think that's like just something people get immediately with the watch. But they're like, oh, I'd like an easier watch. I'd like a better way to do this.swyx [00:10:58]: It's surprising because I only know about the hardware. But I use the watch as like a backup for when I don't have the hardware. I feel like because now you're beamforming and all that, this is significantly better. Yeah, that's the other thing.Ethan [00:11:11]: We have way more control over like the Apple Watch. You're limited in like you can't set the gain. You can't change the sample rate. There's just very limited framework support for doing anything with audio. Whereas if you control it. Then you can kind of optimize it for your use case. The Apple Watch isn't meant to be kind of recording this. And we can talk when we get to the part about audio, why it's so hard. This is like audio on the hardest level because you don't know it has to work in all environments or you try and make it work as best as it can. Like this environment is very great. We're in a studio. But, you know, afterwards at dinner in a restaurant, it's totally different audio environment. And there's a lot of challenges with that. And having really good source audio helps. But then there's a lot more. But with the machine learning that still is, you know, has to be done to try and account because like you can tune something for one environment or another. But it'll make one good and one bad. And like making something that's flexible enough is really challenging.Alessio [00:12:10]: Do we want to do a demo just to set the stage? And then we kind of talk about.Maria [00:12:14]: Yeah, I think we can go like a walkthrough and the prod.Alessio [00:12:17]: Yeah, sure.swyx [00:12:17]: So I think we said I should. So for listeners, we'll be switching to video. That was superimposed on. And to this video, if you want to see it, go to our YouTube, like and subscribe as always. Yeah.Maria [00:12:31]: And by the bee. Yes.swyx [00:12:33]: And by the bee. While you wait. While you wait. Exactly. It doesn't take long.Maria [00:12:39]: Maybe you should have a discount code just for the listeners. Sure.swyx [00:12:43]: If you want to offer it, I'll take it. All right. Yeah. Well, discount code Swyx. Oh s**t. Okay. Yeah. There you go.Ethan [00:12:49]: An important thing to mention also is that the hardware is meant to work with the phone. And like, I think, you know, if you, if you look at rabbit or, or humane, they're trying to create like a new hardware platform. We think that the phone's just so dominant and it will be until we have the next generation, which is not going to be for five, you know, maybe some Orion type glasses that are cheap enough and like light enough. Like that's going to take a long time before with the phone rather than trying to just like replace it. So in the app, we have a summary of your days, but at the top, it's kind of what's going on now. And that's updating your phone. It's updating continuously. So right now it's saying, I'm discussing, you know, the development of, you know, personal AI, and that's just kind of the ongoing conversation. And then we give you a readable form. That's like little kind of segments of what's the important parts of the conversations. We do speaker identification, which is really important because you don't want your personal AI thinking you said something and attributing it to you when it was just somebody else in the conversation. So you can also teach it other people's voices. So like if some, you know, somebody close to you, so it can start to understand your relationships a little better. And then we do conversation end pointing, which is kind of like a task that didn't even exist before, like, cause nobody needed to do this. But like if you had somebody's whole day, how do you like break it into logical pieces? And so we use like not just voice activity, but other signals to try and split up because conversations are a little fuzzy. They can like lead into one, can start to the next. So also like the semantic content of it. When a conversation ends, we run it through larger models to try and get a better, you know, sense of the actual, what was said and then summarize it, provide key points. What was the general atmosphere and tone of the conversation and potential action items that might've come of that. But then at the end of the day, we give you like a summary of all your day and where you were and just kind of like a step-by-step walkthrough of what happened and what were the key points. That's kind of just like the base capture layer. So like if you just want to get a kind of glimpse or recall or reflect that's there. But really the key is like all of this is now like being influenced on to generate personal context about you. So we generate key items known to be true about you and that you can, you know, there's a human in the loop aspect is like you can, you have visibility. Right. Into that. And you can, you know, I have a lot of facts about technology because that's basically what I talk about all the time. Right. But I do have some hobbies that show up and then like, how do you put use to this context? So I kind of like measure my day now and just like, what is my token output of the day? You know, like, like as a human, how much information do I produce? And it's kind of measured in tokens and it turns out it's like around 200,000 or so a day. But so in the recall case, we have, um. A chat interface, but the key here is on the recall of it. Like, you know, how do you, you know, I probably have 50 million tokens of personal context and like how to make sense of that, make it useful. So I can ask simple, like, uh, recall questions, like details about the trip I was on to Taiwan, where recently we're with our manufacturer and, um, in real time, like it will, you know, it has various capabilities such as searching through your, your memories, but then also being able to search the web or look at my calendar, we have integrations with Gmail and calendars. So like connecting the dots between the in real life and the digital life. And, you know, I just asked it about my Taiwan trip and it kind of gives me the, the breakdown of the details, what happened, the issues we had around, you know, certain manufacturing problems and it, and it goes back and references the conversation so I can, I can go back to the source. Yeah.Maria [00:16:46]: Not just the conversation as well, the integrations. So we have as well Gmail and Google calendar. So if there is something there that was useful to have more context, we can see that.Ethan [00:16:56]: So like, and it can, I never use the word agentic cause it's, it's cringe, but like it can search through, you know, if I, if I'm brainstorming about something that spans across, like search through my conversation, search the email, look at the calendar and then depending on what's needed. Then synthesize, you know, something with all that context.Maria [00:17:18]: I love that you did the Spotify wrapped. That was pretty cool. Yeah.Ethan [00:17:22]: Like one thing I did was just like make a Spotify wrap for my 2024, like of my life. You can do that. Yeah, you can.Maria [00:17:28]: Wait. Yeah. I like those crazy.Ethan [00:17:31]: Make a Spotify wrapped for my life in 2024. Yeah. So it's like surprisingly good. Um, it like kind of like game metrics. So it was like you visited three countries, you shipped, you know, XMini, beta. Devices.Maria [00:17:46]: And that's kind of more personal insights and reflection points. Yeah.swyx [00:17:51]: That's fascinating. So that's the demo.Ethan [00:17:54]: Well, we have, we can show something that's in beta. I don't know if we want to do it. I don't know.Maria [00:17:58]: We want to show something. Do it.Ethan [00:18:00]: And then we can kind of fit. Yeah.Maria [00:18:01]: Yeah.Ethan [00:18:02]: So like the, the, the, the vision is also like, not just about like AI being with you in like just passively understanding you through living your experience, but also then like it proactively suggesting things to you. Yeah. Like at the appropriate time. So like not just pool, but, but kind of, it can step in and suggest things to you. So, you know, one integration we have that, uh, is in beta is with WhatsApp. Maria is asking for a recommendation for an Italian restaurant. Would you like me to look up some highly rated Italian restaurants nearby and send her a suggestion?Maria [00:18:34]: So what I did, I just sent to Ethan a message through WhatsApp in his own personal phone. Yeah.Ethan [00:18:41]: So, so basically. B is like watching all my incoming notifications. And if it meets two criteria, like, is it important enough for me to raise a suggestion to the user? And then is there something I could potentially help with? So this is where the actions come into place. So because Maria is my co-founder and because it was like a restaurant recommendation, something that it could probably help with, it proposed that to me. And then I can, through either the chat and we have another kind of push to talk walkie talkie style button. It's actually a multi-purpose button to like toggle it on or off, but also if you push to hold, you can talk. So I can say, yes, uh, find one and send it to her on WhatsApp is, uh, an Android cloud phone. So it's, uh, going to be able to, you know, that has access to all my accounts. So we're going to abstract this away and the execution environment is not really important, but like we can go into technically why Android is actually a pretty good one right now. But, you know, it's searching for Italian restaurants, you know, and we don't have to watch this. I could be, you know, have my ear AirPods in and in my pocket, you know, it's going to go to WhatsApp, going to find Maria's thread, send her the response and then, and then let us know. Oh my God.Alessio [00:19:56]: But what's the, I mean, an Italian restaurant. Yeah. What did it choose? What did it choose? It's easy to say. Real Italian is hard to play. Exactly.Ethan [00:20:04]: It's easy to say. So I doubt it. I don't know.swyx [00:20:06]: For the record, since you have the Italians, uh, best Italian restaurant in SF.Maria [00:20:09]: Oh my God. I still don't have one. What? No.Ethan [00:20:14]: I don't know. Successfully found and shared.Alessio [00:20:16]: Let's see. Let's see what the AI says. Bottega. Bottega? I think it's Bottega.Maria [00:20:21]: Have you been to Bottega? How is it?Alessio [00:20:24]: It's fine.Maria [00:20:25]: I've been to one called like Norcina, I think it was good.Alessio [00:20:29]: Bottega is on Valencia Street. It's fine. The pizza is not good.Maria [00:20:32]: It's not good.Alessio [00:20:33]: Some of the pastas are good.Maria [00:20:34]: You know, the people I'm sorry to interrupt. Sorry. But there is like this Delfina. Yeah. That here everybody's like, oh, Pizzeria Delfina is amazing. I'm overrated. This is not. I don't know. That's great. That's great.swyx [00:20:46]: The North Beach Cafe. That place you took us with Michele last time. Vega. Oh.Alessio [00:20:52]: The guy at Vega, Giuseppe, he's Italian. Which one is that? It's in Bernal Heights. Ugh. He's nice. He's not nice. I don't know that one. What's the name of the place? Vega. Vega. Vega. Cool. We got the name. Vega. But it's not Vega.Maria [00:21:02]: It's Italian. Whatswyx [00:21:10]: Vega. Vega.swyx [00:21:16]: Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega.Ethan [00:21:29]: Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega. Vega.Ethan [00:21:40]: We're going to see a lot of innovation around hardware and stuff, but I think the real core is being able to do something useful with the personal context. You always had the ability to capture everything, right? We've always had recorders, camcorders, body cameras, stuff like that. But what's different now is we can actually make sense and find the important parts in all of that context.swyx [00:22:04]: Yeah. So, and then one last thing, I'm just doing this for you, is you also have an API, which I think I'm the first developer against. Because I had to build my own. We need to hire a developer advocate. Or just hire AI engineers. The point is that you should be able to program your own assistant. And I tried OMI, the former friend, the knockoff friend, and then real friend doesn't have an API. And then Limitless also doesn't have an API. So I think it's very important to own your data. To be able to reprocess your audio, maybe. Although, by default, you do not store audio. And then also just to do any corrections. There's no way that my needs can be fully met by you. So I think the API is very important.Ethan [00:22:47]: Yeah. And I mean, I've always been a consumer of APIs in all my products.swyx [00:22:53]: We are API enjoyers in this house.Ethan [00:22:55]: Yeah. It's very frustrating when you have to go build a scraper. But yeah, it's for sure. Yeah.swyx [00:23:03]: So this whole combination of you have my location, my calendar, my inbox. It really is, for me, the sort of personal API.Alessio [00:23:10]: And is the API just to write into it or to have it take action on external systems?Ethan [00:23:16]: Yeah, we're expanding it. It's right now read-only. In the future, very soon, when the actions are more generally available, it'll be fully supported in the API.Alessio [00:23:27]: Nice. I'll buy one after the episode.Ethan [00:23:30]: The API thing, to me, is the most interesting. Yeah. We do have real-time APIs, so you can even connect a socket and connect it to whatever you want it to take actions with. Yeah. It's too smart for me.Alessio [00:23:43]: Yeah. I think when I look at these apps, and I mean, there's so many of these products, we launch, it's great that I can go on this app and do things. But most of my work and personal life is managed somewhere else. Yeah. So being able to plug into it. Integrate that. It's nice. I have a bunch of more, maybe, human questions. Sure. I think maybe people might have. One, is it good to have instant replay for any argument that you have? I can imagine arguing with my wife about something. And, you know, there's these commercials now where it's basically like two people arguing, and they're like, they can throw a flag, like in football, and have an instant replay of the conversation. I feel like this is similar, where it's almost like people cannot really argue anymore or, like, lie to each other. Because in a world in which everybody adopts this, I don't know if you thought about it. And also, like, how the lies. You know, all of us tell lies, right? How do you distinguish between when I'm, there's going to be sometimes things that contradict each other, because I might say something publicly, and I might think something, really, that I tell someone else. How do you handle that when you think about building a product like this?Maria [00:24:48]: I would say that I like the fact that B is an objective point of view. So I don't care too much about the lies, but I care more about the fact that can help me to understand what happened. Mm-hmm. And the emotions in a really objective way, like, really, like, critical and objective way. And if you think about humans, they have so many emotions. And sometimes something that happened to me, like, I don't know, I would feel, like, really upset about it or really angry or really emotional. But the AI doesn't have those emotions. It can read the conversation, understand what happened, and be objective. And I think the level of support is the one that I really like more. Instead of, like, oh, did this guy tell me a lie? I feel like that's not exactly, like, what I feel. I find it curious for me in terms of opportunity.Alessio [00:25:35]: Is the B going to interject in real time? Say I'm arguing with somebody. The B is like, hey, look, no, you're wrong. What? That person actually said.Ethan [00:25:43]: The proactivity is something we're very interested in. Maybe not for, like, specifically for, like, selling arguments, but more for, like, and I think that a lot of the challenge here is, you know, you need really good reasoning to kind of pull that off. Because you don't want it just constantly interjecting, because that would be super annoying. And you don't want it to miss things that it should be interjecting. So, like, it would be kind of a hard task even for a human to be, like, just come in at the right times when it's appropriate. Like, it would take the, you know, with the personal context, it's going to be a lot better. Because, like, if somebody knows about you, but even still, it requires really good reasoning to, like, not be too much or too little and just right.Maria [00:26:20]: And the second part about, well, like, some things, you know, you say something to somebody else, but after I change my mind, I send something. Like, it's every time I have, like, different type of conversation. And I'm like, oh, I want to know more about you. And I'm like, oh, I want to know more about you. I think that's something that I found really fascinating. One of the things that we are learning is that, indeed, humans, they evolve over time. So, for us, one of the challenges is actually understand, like, is this a real fact? Right. And so far, what we do is we give, you know, to the, we have the human in the loop that can say, like, yes, this is true, this is not. Or they can edit their own fact. For sure, in the future, we want to have all of that automatized inside of the product.Ethan [00:26:57]: But, I mean, I think your question kind of hits on, and I know that we'll talk about privacy, but also just, like, if you have some memory and you want to confirm it with somebody else, that's one thing. But it's for sure going to be true that in the future, like, not even that far into the future, that it's just going to be kind of normalized. And we're kind of in a transitional period now. And I think it's, like, one of the key things that is for us to kind of navigate that and make sure we're, like, thinking of all the consequences. And how to, you know, make the right choices in the way that everything's designed. And so, like, it's more beneficial than it could be harmful. But it's just too valuable for your AI to understand you. And so if it's, like, MetaRay bands or the Google Astra, I think it's just people are going to be more used to it. So people's behaviors and expectations will change. Whether that's, like, you know, something that is going to happen now or in five years, it's probably in that range. And so, like, I think we... We kind of adapt to new technologies all the time. Like, when the Ring cameras came out, that was kind of quite controversial. It's like... But now it's kind of... People just understand that a lot of people have cameras on their doors. And so I think that...Maria [00:28:09]: Yeah, we're in a transitional period for sure.swyx [00:28:12]: I will press on the privacy thing because that is the number one thing that everyone talks about. Obviously, I think in Silicon Valley, people are a little bit more tech-forward, experimental, whatever. But you want to go mainstream. You want to sell to consumers. And we have to worry about this stuff. Baseline question. The hardest version of this is law. There are one-party consent states where this is perfectly legal. Then there are two-party consent states where they're not. What have you come around to this on?Ethan [00:28:38]: Yeah, so the EU is a totally different regulatory environment. But in the U.S., it's basically on a state-by-state level. Like, in Nevada, it's single-party. In California, it's two-party. But it's kind of untested. You know, it's different laws, whether it's a phone call, whether it's in person. In a state like California, it's two-party. Like, anytime you're in public, there's no consent comes into play because the expectation of privacy is that you're in public. But we process the audio and nothing is persisted. And then it's summarized with the speaker identification focusing on the user. Now, it's kind of untested on a legal, and I'm not a lawyer, but does that constitute the same as, like, a recording? So, you know, it's kind of a gray area and untested in law right now. I think that the bigger question is, you know, because, like, if you had your Ray-Ban on and were recording, then you have a video of something that happened. And that's different than kind of having, like, an AI give you a summary that's focused on you that's not really capturing anybody's voice. You know, I think the bigger question is, regardless of the legal status, like, what is the ethical kind of situation with that? Because even in Nevada that we're—or many other U.S. states where you can record. Everything. And you don't have to have consent. Is it still, like, the right thing to do? The way we think about it is, is that, you know, we take a lot of precautions to kind of not capture personal information of people around. Both through the speaker identification, through the pipeline, and then the prompts, and the way we store the information to be kind of really focused on the user. Now, we know that's not going to, like, satisfy a lot of people. But I think if you do try it and wear it again. It's very hard for me to see anything, like, if somebody was wearing a bee around me that I would ever object that it captured about me as, like, a third party to it. And like I said, like, we're in this transitional period where the expectation will just be more normalized. That it's, like, an AI. It's not capturing, you know, a full audio recording of what you said. And it's—everything is fully geared towards helping the person kind of understand their state and providing valuable information to them. Not about, like, logging details about people they encounter.Alessio [00:30:57]: You know, I've had the same question also with the Zoom meeting transcribers thing. I think there's kind of, like, the personal impact that there's a Firefly's AI recorder. Yeah. I just know that it's being recorded. It's not like a—I don't know if I'm going to say anything different. But, like, intrinsically, you kind of feel—because it's not pervasive. And I'm curious, especially, like, in your investor meetings. Do people feel differently? Like, have you had people ask you to, like, turn it off? Like, in a business meeting, to not record? I'm curious if you've run into any of these behaviors.Maria [00:31:29]: You know what's funny? On my end, I wear it all the time. I take my coffee, a blue bottle with it. Or I work with it. Like, obviously, I work on it. So, I wear it all the time. And so far, I don't think anybody asked me to turn it off. I'm not sure if because they were really friendly with me that they know that I'm working on it. But nobody really cared.swyx [00:31:48]: It's because you live in SF.Maria [00:31:49]: Actually, I've been in Italy as well. Uh-huh. And in Italy, it's a super privacy concern. Like, Europe is a super privacy concern. And again, they're nothing. Like, it's—I don't know. Yeah. That, for me, was interesting.Ethan [00:32:01]: I think—yeah, nobody's ever asked me to turn it off, even after giving them full demos and disclosing. I think that some people have said, well, my—you know, in a personal relationship, my partner initially was, like, kind of uncomfortable about it. We heard that from a few users. And that was, like, more in just, like— It's not like a personal relationship situation. And the other big one is people are like, I do like it, but I cannot wear this at work. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Because, like, I think I will get in trouble based on policies or, like, you know, if you're wearing it inside a research lab or something where you're working on things that are kind of sensitive that, like—you know, so we're adding certain features like geofencing, just, like, at this location. It's just never active.swyx [00:32:50]: I mean, I've often actually explained to it the other way, where maybe you only want it at work, so you never take it from work. And it's just a work device, just like your Zoom meeting recorder is a work device.Ethan [00:33:09]: Yeah, professionals have been a big early adopter segment. And you say in San Francisco, but we have out there our daily shipment of over 100. If you go look at the addresses, Texas, I think, is our biggest state, and Florida, just the biggest states. A lot of professionals who talk for, and we didn't go out to build it for that use case, but I think there is a lot of demand for white-collar people who talk for a living. And I think we're just starting to talk with them. I think they just want to be able to improve their performance around, understand what they were doing.Alessio [00:33:47]: How do you think about Gong.io? Some of these, for example, sales training thing, where you put on a sales call and then it coaches you. They're more verticalized versus having more horizontal platform.Ethan [00:33:58]: I am not super familiar with those things, because like I said, it was kind of a surprise to us. But I think that those are interesting. I've seen there's a bunch of them now, right? Yeah. It kind of makes sense. I'm terrible at sales, so I could probably use one. But it's not my job, fundamentally. But yeah, I think maybe it's, you know, we heard also people with restaurants, if they're able to understand, if they're doing well.Maria [00:34:26]: Yeah, but in general, I think a lot of people, they like to have the double check of, did I do this well? Or can you suggest me how I can do better? We had a user that was saying to us that he used for interviews. Yeah, he used job interviews. So he used B and after asked to the B, oh, actually, how do you think my interview went? What I should do better? And I like that. And like, oh, that's actually like a personal coach in a way.Alessio [00:34:50]: Yeah. But I guess the question is like, do you want to build all of those use cases? Or do you see B as more like a platform where somebody is going to build like, you know, the sales coach that connects to B so that you're kind of the data feed into it?Ethan [00:35:02]: I don't think this is like a data feed, more like an understanding kind of engine and like definitely. In the future, having third parties to the API and building out for all the different use cases is something that we want to do. But the like initial case we're trying to do is like build that layer for all that to work. And, you know, we're not trying to build all those verticals because no startup could do that well. But I think that it's really been quite fascinating to see, like, you know, I've done consumer for a long time. Consumer is very hard to predict, like, what's going to be. It's going to be like the thing that's the killer feature. And so, I mean, we really believe that it's the future, but we don't know like what exactly like process it will take to really gain mass adoption.swyx [00:35:50]: The killer consumer feature is whatever Nikita Beer does. Yeah. Social app for teens.Ethan [00:35:56]: Yeah, well, I like Nikita, but, you know, he's good at building bootstrap companies and getting them very viral. And then selling them and then they shut down.swyx [00:36:05]: Okay, so you just came back from CES.Maria [00:36:07]: Yeah, crazy. Yeah, tell us. It was my first time in Vegas and first time CES, both of them were overwhelming.swyx [00:36:15]: First of all, did you feel like you had to do it because you're in consumer hardware?Maria [00:36:19]: Then we decided to be there and to have a lot of partners and media meetings, but we didn't have our own booth. So we decided to just keep that. But we decided to be there and have a presence there, even just us and speak with people. It's very hard to stand out. Yeah, I think, you know, it depends what type of booth you have. I think if you can prepare like a really cool booth.Ethan [00:36:41]: Have you been to CES?Maria [00:36:42]: I think it can be pretty cool.Ethan [00:36:43]: It's massive. It's huge. It's like 80,000, 90,000 people across the Venetian and the convention center. And it's, to me, I always wanted to go just like...Maria [00:36:53]: Yeah, you were the one who was like...swyx [00:36:55]: I thought it was your idea.Ethan [00:36:57]: I always wanted to go just as a, like, just as a fan of...Maria [00:37:01]: Yeah, you wanted to go anyways.Ethan [00:37:02]: Because like, growing up, I think CES like kind of peaked for a while and it was like, oh, I want to go. That's where all the cool, like... gadgets, everything. Yeah, now it's like SmartBitch and like, you know, vacuuming the picks up socks. Exactly.Maria [00:37:13]: There are a lot of cool vacuums. Oh, they love it.swyx [00:37:15]: They love the Roombas, the pick up socks.Maria [00:37:16]: And pet tech. Yeah, yeah. And dog stuff.swyx [00:37:20]: Yeah, there's a lot of like robot stuff. New TVs, new cars that never ship. Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking like last year, this time last year was when Rabbit and Humane launched at CES and Rabbit kind of won CES. And now this year, no wearables except for you guys.Ethan [00:37:32]: It's funny because it's obviously it's AI everything. Yeah. Like every single product. Yeah.Maria [00:37:37]: Toothbrush with AI, vacuums with AI. Yeah. Yeah.Ethan [00:37:41]: We like hair blow, literally a hairdryer with AI. We saw.Maria [00:37:45]: Yeah, that was cool.Ethan [00:37:46]: But I think that like, yeah, we didn't, another kind of difference like around our, like we didn't want to do like a big overhypey promised kind of Rabbit launch. Because I mean, they did, hats off to them, like on the presentation and everything, obviously. But like, you know, we want to let the product kind of speak for itself and like get it out there. And I think we were really happy. We got some very good interest from media and some of the partners there. So like it was, I think it was definitely worth going. I would say like if you're in hardware, it's just kind of how you make use of it. Like I think to do it like a big Rabbit style or to have a huge show on there, like you need to plan that six months in advance. And it's very expensive. But like if you, you know, go there, there's everybody's there. All the media is there. There's a lot of some pre-show events that it's just great to talk to people. And the industry also, all the manufacturers, suppliers are there. So we learned about some really cool stuff that we might like. We met with somebody. They have like thermal energy capture. And it's like, oh, could you maybe not need to charge it? Because they have like a thermal that can capture your body heat. And what? Yeah, they're here. They're actually here. And in Palo Alto, they have like a Fitbit thing that you don't have to charge.swyx [00:39:01]: Like on paper, that's the power you can get from that. What's the power draw for this thing?Ethan [00:39:05]: It's more than you could get from the body heat, it turns out. But it's quite small. I don't want to disclose technically. But I think that solar is still, they also have one where it's like this thing could be like the face of it. It's just a solar cell. And like that is more realistic. Or kinetic. Kinetic, apparently, I'm not an expert in this, but they seem to think it wouldn't be enough. Kinetic is quite small, I guess, on the capture.swyx [00:39:33]: Well, I mean, watch. Watchmakers have been powering with kinetic for a long time. Yeah. We don't have to talk about that. I just want to get a sense of CES. Would you do it again? I definitely would not. Okay. You're just a fan of CES. Business point of view doesn't make sense. I happen to be in the conference business, right? So I'm kind of just curious. Yeah.Maria [00:39:49]: So I would say as we did, so without the booth and really like straightforward conversations that were already planned. Three days. That's okay. I think it was okay. Okay. But if you need to invest for a booth that is not. Okay. A good one. Which is how much? I think.Ethan [00:40:06]: 10 by 10 is 5,000. But on top of that, you need to. And then they go like 10 by 10 is like super small. Yeah. And like some companies have, I think would probably be more in like the six figure range to get. And I mean, I think that, yeah, it's very noisy. We heard this, that it's very, very noisy. Like obviously if you're, everything is being launched there and like everything from cars to cell phones are being launched. Yeah. So it's hard to stand out. But like, I think going in with a plan of who you want to talk to, I feel like.Maria [00:40:36]: That was worth it.Ethan [00:40:37]: Worth it. We had a lot of really positive media coverage from it and we got the word out and like, so I think we accomplished what we wanted to do.swyx [00:40:46]: I mean, there's some world in which my conference is kind of the CES of whatever AI becomes. Yeah. I think that.Maria [00:40:52]: Don't do it in Vegas. Don't do it in Vegas. Yeah. Don't do it in Vegas. That's the only thing. I didn't really like Vegas. That's great. Amazing. Those are my favorite ones.Alessio [00:41:02]: You can not fit 90,000 people in SF. That's really duh.Ethan [00:41:05]: You need to do like multiple locations so you can do Moscone and then have one in.swyx [00:41:09]: I mean, that's what Salesforce conferences. Well, GDC is how many? That might be 50,000, right? Okay. Form factor, right? Like my way to introduce this idea was that I was at the launch in Solaris. What was the old name of it? Newton. Newton. Of Tab when Avi first launched it. He was like, I thought through everything. Every form factor, pendant is the thing. And then we got the pendants for this original. The first one was just pendants and I took it off and I forgot to put it back on. So you went through pendants, pin, bracelet now, and maybe there's sort of earphones in the future, but what was your iterations?Maria [00:41:49]: So we had, I believe now three or four iterations. And one of the things that we learned is indeed that people don't like the pendant. In particular, woman, you don't want to have like anything here on the chest because it's maybe you have like other necklace or any other stuff.Ethan [00:42:03]: You just ship a premium one that's gold. Yeah. We're talking some fashion reached out to us.Maria [00:42:11]: Some big fashion. There is something there.swyx [00:42:13]: This is where it helps to have an Italian on the team.Maria [00:42:15]: There is like some big Italian luxury. I can't say anything. So yeah, bracelet actually came from the community because they were like, oh, I don't want to wear anything like as necklace or as a pendant. Like it's. And also like the one that we had, I don't know if you remember, like it was like circle, like it was like this and was like really bulky. Like people didn't like it. And also, I mean, I actually, I don't dislike, like we were running fast when we did that. Like our, our thing was like, we wanted to ship them as soon as possible. So we're not overthinking the form factor or the material. We were just want to be out. But after the community organically, basically all of them were like, well, why you don't just don't do the bracelet? Like he's way better. I will just wear it. And that's it. So that's how we ended up with the bracelet, but it's still modular. So I still want to play around the father is modular and you can, you know, take it off and wear it as a clip or in the future, maybe we will bring back the pendant. But I like the fact that there is some personalization and right now we have two colors, yellow and black. Soon we will have other ones. So yeah, we can play a lot around that.Ethan [00:43:25]: I think the form factor. Like the goal is for it to be not super invasive. Right. And something that's easy. So I think in the future, smaller, thinner, not like apple type obsession with thinness, but it does matter like the, the size and weight. And we would love to have more context because that will help, but to make it work, I think it really needs to have good power consumption, good battery life. And, you know, like with the humane swapping the batteries, I have one, I mean, I'm, I'm, I think we've made, and there's like pretty incredible, some of the engineering they did, but like, it wasn't kind of geared towards solving the problem. It was just, it's too heavy. The swappable batteries is too much to man, like the heat, the thermals is like too much to light interface thing. Yeah. Like that. That's cool. It's cool. It's cool. But it's like, if, if you have your handout here, you want to use your phone, like it's not really solving a problem. Cause you know how to use your phone. It's got a brilliant display. You have to kind of learn how to gesture this low range. Yeah. It's like a resolution laser, but the laser is cool that the fact they got it working in that thing, even though if it did overheat, but like too heavy, too cumbersome, too complicated with the multiple batteries. So something that's power efficient, kind of thin, both in the physical sense and also in the edge compute kind of way so that it can be as unobtrusive as possible. Yeah.Maria [00:44:47]: Users really like, like, I like when they say yes, I like to wear it and forget about it because I don't need to charge it every single day. On the other version, I believe we had like 35 hours or something, which was okay. But people, they just prefer the seven days battery life and-swyx [00:45:03]: Oh, this is seven days? Yeah. Oh, I've been charging every three days.Maria [00:45:07]: Oh, no, you can like keep it like, yeah, it's like almost seven days.swyx [00:45:11]: The other thing that occurs to me, maybe there's an Apple watch strap so that I don't have to double watch. Yeah.Maria [00:45:17]: That's the other one that, yeah, I thought about it. I saw as well the ones that like, you can like put it like back on the phone. Like, you know- Plog. There is a lot.swyx [00:45:27]: So yeah, there's a competitor called Plog. Yeah. It's not really a competitor. They only transcribe, right? Yeah, they only transcribe. But they're very good at it. Yeah.Ethan [00:45:33]: No, they're great. Their hardware is really good too.swyx [00:45:36]: And they just launched the pin too. Yeah.Ethan [00:45:38]: I think that the MagSafe kind of form factor has a lot of advantages, but some disadvantages. You can definitely put a very huge battery on that, you know? And so like the battery life's not, the power consumption's not so much of a concern, but you know, downside the phone's like in your pocket. And so I think that, you know, form factors will continue to evolve, but, and you know, more sensors, less obtrusive and-Maria [00:46:02]: Yeah. We have a new version.Ethan [00:46:04]: Easier to use.Maria [00:46:05]: Okay.swyx [00:46:05]: Looking forward to that. Yeah. I mean, we'll, whenever we launch this, we'll try to show whatever, but I'm sure you're going to keep iterating. Last thing on hardware, and then we'll go on to the software side, because I think that's where you guys are also really, really strong. Vision. You wanted to talk about why no vision? Yeah.Ethan [00:46:20]: I think it comes down to like when you're, when you're a startup, especially in hardware, you're just, you work within the constraints, right? And so like vision is super useful and super interesting. And what we actually started with, there's two issues with vision that make it like not the place we decided to start. One is power consumption. So you know, you kind of have to trade off your power budget, like capturing even at a low frame rate and transmitting the radio is actually the thing that takes up the majority of the power. So. Yeah. So you would really have to have quite a, like unacceptably, like large and heavy battery to do it continuously all day. We have, I think, novel kind of alternative ways that might allow us to do that. And we have some prototypes. The other issue is form factor. So like even with like a wide field of view, if you're wearing something on your chest, it's going, you know, obviously the wrist is not really that much of an option. And if you're wearing it on your chest, it's, it's often gone. You're going to probably be not capturing like the field of view of what's interesting to you. So that leaves you kind of with your head and face. And then anything that goes on, on the face has to look cool. Like I don't know if you remember the spectacles, it was kind of like the first, yeah, but they kind of, they didn't, they were not very successful. And I think one of the reasons is they were, they're so weird looking. Yeah. The camera was so big on the side. And if you look at them at array bands where they're way more successful, they, they look almost indistinguishable from array bands. And they invested a lot into that and they, they have a partnership with Qualcomm to develop custom Silicon. They have a stake in Luxottica now. So like they coming from all the angles, like to make glasses, I think like, you know, I don't know if you know, Brilliant Labs, they're cool company, they make frames, which is kind of like a cool hackable glasses and, and, and like, they're really good, like on hardware, they're really good. But even if you look at the frames, which I would say is like the most advanced kind of startup. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was one that launched at CES, but it's not shipping yet. Like one that you can buy now, it's still not something you'd wear every day and the battery life is super short. So I think just the challenge of doing vision right, like off the bat, like would require quite a bit more resources. And so like audio is such a good entry point and it's also the privacy around audio. If you, if you had images, that's like another huge challenge to overcome. So I think that. Ideally the personal AI would have, you know, all the senses and you know, we'll, we'll get there. Yeah. Okay.swyx [00:48:57]: One last hardware thing. I have to ask this because then we'll move to the software. Were either of you electrical engineering?Ethan [00:49:04]: No, I'm CES. And so I have a, I've taken some EE courses, but I, I had done prior to working on, on the hardware here, like I had done a little bit of like embedded systems, like very little firmware, but we have luckily on the team, somebody with deep experience. Yeah.swyx [00:49:21]: I'm just like, you know, like you have to become hardware people. Yeah.Ethan [00:49:25]: Yeah. I mean, I learned to worry about supply chain power. I think this is like radio.Maria [00:49:30]: There's so many things to learn.Ethan [00:49:32]: I would tell this about hardware, like, and I know it's been said before, but building a prototype and like learning how the electronics work and learning about firmware and developing, this is like, I think fun for a lot of engineers and it's, it's all totally like achievable, especially now, like with, with the tools we have, like stuff you might've been intimidated about. Like, how do I like write this firmware now? With Sonnet, like you can, you can get going and actually see results quickly. But I think going from prototype to actually making something manufactured is a enormous jump. And it's not all about technology, the supply chain, the procurement, the regulations, the cost, the tooling. The thing about software that I'm used to is it's funny that you can make changes all along the way and ship it. But like when you have to buy tooling for an enclosure that's expensive.swyx [00:50:24]: Do you buy your own tooling? You have to.Ethan [00:50:25]: Don't you just subcontract out to someone in China? Oh, no. Do we make the tooling? No, no. You have to have CNC and like a bunch of machines.Maria [00:50:31]: Like nobody makes their own tooling, but like you have to design this design and you submitEthan [00:50:36]: it and then they go four to six weeks later. Yeah. And then if there's a problem with it, well, then you're not, you're not making any, any of your enclosures. And so you have to really plan ahead. And like.swyx [00:50:48]: I just want to leave tips for other hardware founders. Like what resources or websites are most helpful in your sort of manufacturing journey?Ethan [00:50:55]: You know, I think it's different depending on like it's hardware so specialized in different ways.Maria [00:51:00]: I will say that, for example, I should choose a manufacturer company. I speak with other founders and like we can give you like some, you know, some tips of who is good and who is not, or like who's specialized in something versus somebody else. Yeah.Ethan [00:51:15]: Like some people are good in plastics. Some people are good.Maria [00:51:18]: I think like for us, it really helped at the beginning to speak with others and understand. Okay. Like who is around. I work in Shenzhen. I lived almost two years in China. I have an idea about like different hardware manufacturer and all of that. Soon I will go back to Shenzhen to check out. So I think it's good also to go in place and check.Ethan [00:51:40]: Yeah, you have to like once you, if you, so we did some stuff domestically and like if you have that ability. The reason I say ability is very expensive, but like to build out some proof of concepts and do field testing before you take it to a manufacturer, despite what people say, there's really good domestic manufacturing for small quantities at extremely high prices. So we got our first PCB and the assembly done in LA. So there's a lot of good because of the defense industry that can do quick churn. So it's like, we need this board. We need to find out if it's working. We have this deadline we want to start, but you need to go through this. And like if you want to have it done and fabricated in a week, they can do it for a price. But I think, you know, everybody's kind of trending even for prototyping now moving that offshore because in China you can do prototyping and get it within almost the same timeline. But the thing is with manufacturing, like it really helps to go there and kind of establish the relationship. Yeah.Alessio [00:52:38]: My first company was a hardware company and we did our PCBs in China and took a long time. Now things are better. But this was, yeah, I don't know, 10 years ago, something like that. Yeah.Ethan [00:52:47]: I think that like the, and I've heard this too, we didn't run into this problem, but like, you know, if it's something where you don't have the relationship, they don't see you, they don't know you, you know, you might get subcontracted out or like they're not paying attention. But like if you're, you know, you have the relationship and a priority, like, yeah, it's really good. We ended up doing the fabrication assembly in Taiwan for various reasons.Maria [00:53:11]: And I think it really helped the fact that you went there at some point. Yeah.Ethan [00:53:15]: We're really happy with the process and, but I mean the whole process of just Choosing the right people. Choosing the right people, but also just sourcing the bill materials and all of that stuff. Like, I guess like if you have time, it's not that bad, but if you're trying to like really push the speed at that, it's incredibly stressful. Okay. We got to move to the software. Yeah.Alessio [00:53:38]: Yeah. So the hardware, maybe it's hard for people to understand, but what software people can understand is that running. Transcription and summarization, all of these things in real time every day for 24 hours a day. It's not easy. So you mentioned 200,000 tokens for a day. Yeah. How do you make it basically free to run all of this for the consumer?Ethan [00:53:59]: Well, I think that the pipeline and the inference, like people think about all of these tokens, but as you know, the price of tokens is like dramatically dropping. You guys probably have some charts somewhere that you've posted. We do. And like, if you see that trend in like 250,000 input tokens, it's not really that much, right? Like the output.swyx [00:54:21]: You do several layers. You do live. Yeah.Ethan [00:54:23]: Yeah. So the speech to text is like the most challenging part actually, because you know, it requires like real time processing and then like later processing with a larger model. And one thing that is fairly obvious is that like, you don't need to transcribe things that don't have any voice in it. Right? So good voice activity is key, right? Because like the majority of most people's day is not spent with voice activity. Right? So that is the first step to cutting down the amount of compute you have to do. And voice activity is a fairly cheap thing to do. Very, very cheap thing to do. The models that need to summarize, you don't need a Sonnet level kind of model to summarize. You do need a Sonnet level model to like execute things like the agent. And we will be having a subscription for like features like that because it's, you know, although now with the R1, like we'll see, we haven't evaluated it. A deep seek? Yeah. I mean, not that one in particular, but like, you know, they're already there that can kind of perform at that level. I was like, it's going to stay in six months, but like, yeah. So self-hosted models help in the things where you can. So you are self-hosting models. Yes. You are fine tuning your own ASR. Yes. I will say that I see in the future that everything's trending down. Although like, I think there might be an intermediary step with things to become expensive, which is like, we're really interested because like the pipeline is very tedious and like a lot of tuning. Right. Which is brutal because it's just a lot of trial and error. Whereas like, well, wouldn't it be nice if an end to end model could just do all of this and learn it? If we could do transcription with like an LLM, there's so many advantages to that, but it's going to be a larger model and hence like more compute, you know, we're optim

This week on EYE ON NPI we're eatin' our Wheaties (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvyInWTLM8s) - it's the Analog Devices MAX96714 Single GMSL2/GMSL1 to CSI-2 Deserializer (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/base-product/analog-devices-inc-maxim-integrated/175/MAX96714/737256) a way to send high resolution digital video over a co-ax wire without losing quality. These advanced serial-deserial sets - we'll call them SerDes for short - let you minimize cabling, for reduced weight and complexity when passing high speed video from cameras or to displays over single flexible RG coax. It's easier than ever these days to add high quality video or camera sensing to your products: boards like the Raspberry Pi can do dual 4K HDMI and up to two DSI / CSI ports on the Compute Modules (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/single-board-computers-sbcs/933?s=N4IgTCBcDaIMYHsC2AHArgFwKYAIkIBM0AbLEAXQF8g) but the cables that they come with tend to be short, maxing out at 500mm long. (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/raspberry-pi/SC1130/21658263) That's because the MIPI protocol used for data transfer is designed for ultra high speeds over low cost flex PCBs, from say a laptop motherboard to the laptop monitor or webcam. Now, we do sell looooong cables (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2144) that are 2 meters long but with the caveat that they are well outside the expected spec. They do work! But we wouldn't put it in a product that goes to customers. So what do you do if you have a car, where the seats and dashboard have monitors but the main processor is probably in the back of the car, far from the hot engine? That's where Analog Devices got inspired from the Cable TV of our youth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television) that would let kids of the 90's watch dozens of channels using...only one cable! The cable, in this case, is a coaxial cable: one copper wire surrounded by a plastic dielectric, then a braided metal ground return. Coax cables are flexible but rugged, and DigiKey stocks thousands of different types (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/coaxial-cables-rf/475) by the foot or reel. So they make an excellent physical transport layer for video in aggressive environments because they are shielded yet flexible. With GMSL you need two chips: a serializer like the MAX96717 (https://www.digikey.com/short/3pcv09pn) and a de-serializer like the MAX96714 (https://www.digikey.com/short/3jqw8tj8). Between the two, connect said coax, then configure both sides for the data format you want and boom, you have a transparent video link! The serializer will take the digital data, then turn it into a serialized-packetized-data-packet on a single wire. That thin wire can fit into spaces that would normally be a challenge such as cars / aerospace where weight is at a premium, robotics where the shielding will protect the signal integrity, and medical where high rez cameras have to fit in tiny spaces. GMSL even supports 'power over coax' where a DC signal can be used as a carrier for the high frequency data - so you really can have one thin cable for everything. Depending on which generation of GMSL you choose, you will get either 3 Gbps or 6. A small portion of that is 'upstream' communication, thats used for IRQs, video/camera control and extra I2C or GPIO. If you need stereo or quad camera/video , you can use a quad deserializer: you will still get 4 coax cables in but it'll be smaller and perhaps better synchronized than having four separate deserializers. To get started, we recommend picking up the MAX96714-BAK-EVK eval board (https://www.digikey.com/short/nh82vrbc), which is not inexpensive but does have everything you need to get started with the MAX96714 (https://www.digikey.com/short/3jqw8tj8). Note you'll also need the serializer! One thing that's nice is that if you want to get set up with a Raspberry Pi to start, you can order the Pi Cam Eval board (https://wiki.analog.com/resources/eval/user-guides/ad-gmslcamrpi-adp) which is an adapter for the eval to use off-the-shelf Pi camera modules, pick up at DigiKey (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/analog-devices-inc/AD-GMSLCAMRPI-ADP/21678785). Then to set up the configuration you can use the Linux driver to have automatic setup (https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/media/i2c/max96714.c) without a separate configuration program. If you'd like to try out GSML for your next long-distance video product, you can pick up the Analog Devices MAX96714 Single GMSL2/GMSL1 to CSI-2 Deserializer (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/base-product/analog-devices-inc-maxim-integrated/175/MAX96714/737256) today from DigiKey because it's in stock for immediate shipment! Book now and you can be zipping along MIPI CSI data at 6Gbps by tomorrow afternoon.

On this episode, we'll dive into the world of electronics testing with an expert within the electronics testing industry, Robert Boguski,  President and Owner of Datest. Robert brings 44 years of experience in the design, fabrication, assembly, and testing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electronic systems. Under his leadership, Datest has become a premier provider of advanced, integrated PCBA testing and inspection services, serving both contract manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers since its founding in 1984. Robert's extensive background includes active participation in industry associations such as APICS, SMTA, and IPC, reflecting his commitment to advancing the field. He is also a columnist for Circuits Assembly Magazine, where he shares his insights on industry trends and challenges.  In this episode, we'll explore Robert's journey in the electronics manufacturing industry, the evolution of testing technologies, and his perspectives on the future of electronics testing. Join us as we gain valuable insights from a leader whose career has been dedicated to excellence in electronic testing and manufacturing.Robert's Info:Robert Boguskirboguski@datest.comDatesthttp://www.datest.com

The answer is: Elliot Williams, Al Williams, and a dozen or so great hacks. The question?  What do you get this week on the Hackaday podcast? This week's hacks ran from smart ring hacking, to computerized tattoos. Keyboards, PCBs, and bicycles all make appearances, too. Be sure to try to guess the "What's that sound?" You could score a cool Hackaday Podcast T. For the can't miss this week, Hackaday talks about how to dispose of the body in outer space and when setting your ship's clock involved watching a ball drop.  

On this week's episode, Maria talks with attorney Tom Bosworth. They discussed appearing on the news, his large tiktok following (that is definitely not boring), PCBs in school, DEI in law firm hiring, Maria's long lineage of law, and Dan Ambrose makes a surprise appearance. Get in touch with Tom at https://tombosworthlaw.com/ Guest Tom Bosworth (@lawyertombosworth) on Instagram), at age 33, became the youngest lawyer in the history of Pennsylvania to obtain a jury verdict in excess of $10 million for a living client as lead counsel. Recently, Bosworth was designated by the independent attorney group Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Pennsylvania, a designation reserved for the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state who are 40 or younger or practicing 10 years or less. Host Maria Monroy (@marialawrank on Instagram) is the Co-founder and President of LawRank, a leading SEO company for law firms since 2013. She has a knack for breaking down complex topics to make them more easily accessible and started Tip the Scales to share her knowledge with listeners like you. _____ LawRank grows your law firm with SEO Our clients saw a 384% increase in first-time calls and a 603% growth in traffic in 12 months. Get your free competitor report at https://lawrank.com/report. Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app Rate us 5 stars on iTunes and Spotify Watch us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram and TikTok

On this week's episode, Maria talks with attorney Tom Bosworth. They discussed appearing on the news, his large tiktok following (that is definitely not boring), PCBs in school, DEI in law firm hiring, Maria's long lineage of law, and Dan Ambrose makes a surprise appearance. Get in touch with Tom at https://tombosworthlaw.com/ Guest Tom Bosworth (@lawyertombosworth) on Instagram), at age 33, became the youngest lawyer in the history of Pennsylvania to obtain a jury verdict in excess of $10 million for a living client as lead counsel. Recently, Bosworth was designated by the independent attorney group Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Pennsylvania, a designation reserved for the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state who are 40 or younger or practicing 10 years or less. Host Maria Monroy (@marialawrank on Instagram) is the Co-founder and President of LawRank, a leading SEO company for law firms since 2013. She has a knack for breaking down complex topics to make them more easily accessible and started Tip the Scales to share her knowledge with listeners like you. _____ LawRank grows your law firm with SEO Our clients saw a 384% increase in first-time calls and a 603% growth in traffic in 12 months. Get your free competitor report at https://lawrank.com/report. Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app Rate us 5 stars on iTunes and Spotify Watch us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram and TikTok

Coming soon! We were catching up on a recent Hackaday hackchat with Eben Upton (https://hackaday.io/event/202122-raspberry-pi-hack-chat-with-eben-upton) and learned some fun facts: such as the DVI hack for the RP2040 was inspired by a device called the IchigoJam (https://www.hackster.io/news/ichigojam-combines-strawberry-and-raspberry-to-deliver-a-raspberry-pi-pico-powered-educational-micro-66aa5d2f6eec). We remember reading about this back when it was an LPC1114, now it uses an RP2040. Well, we're wrapping up the Metro RP2350 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/6003), and lately, we've been joking around that with DVI output and USB Host support via bit-banged PIO, you could sorta build a little stand-alone computer. Well, one pear-green-tea-fueled-afternoon later we tried our hand at designing a 'credit card sized' computer - that's 3.375" x 2.125", about the same size as a business card (https://hackaday.com/2024/05/07/the-2024-business-card-challenge-starts-now/) and turns out there's even a standard named for it: ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 (https://www.iso.org/standard/70483.html). Anyhow, with the extra pins of the QFN-80 RP2350B, we're able to jam a ridonkulous amount of hardware into this shape: RP2350B dual 150MHz Cortex M33 w/ PicoProbe debug port, 16 MB Flash + 8 MB PSRAM, USB type C for bootloading/USB client, Micro SD card with SPI or SDIO, DVI output on the HSTX port, I2S stereo headphone + mono speaker via the TLV320DAC3100 (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/tlv320dac3100irhbt/2353656), 2-port USB type A hub for both keyboard and mouse or game controllers, chunky on-off switch, Stemma QT I2C + Stemma classic JST 3-pin, EYESPI for TFT displays, 5x NeoPixels, 3x tactile switches, and a 16-pin socket header with 10 A/D GPIO + 5V/3V/GND power pins. The PSRAM will help when we want to do things like run emulations that we need to store in fast RAM access, and it will also let us use the main SRAM as the DVI video buffer. When we get the PCBs back and assembled, what should we try running on this hardware? We're pretty sure it can run DOOM. Should that be first? :) We also need a name. Right now, we're just calling it Fruit Jam since it's inspired by the IchigoJam project.

The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s. Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia UP, 2023) traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates. Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s. Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia UP, 2023) traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates. Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s. Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia UP, 2023) traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates. Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s. Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia UP, 2023) traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates. Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s. Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia UP, 2023) traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates. Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements.

Stephen Hawes started Opulo, a company that builds the Lumen Benchtop Pick and Place. Opulo designs open source hardware and sane software for building your own PCBs in your lab.

Orca mourns second calf since 2018 in a devastating report that J35 was seen floating her dead calf on January 1st, 2025. In this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, host Andrew Lewin discusses the tragic story of J35, a Southern Resident Orca, who lost her second calf, J61, shortly after its birth. The episode highlights several critical factors contributing to the high mortality rate of orca calves in this endangered population, which currently numbers only 73 individuals. Reasons for Calf Mortality: Food Scarcity: The primary prey of the Southern Resident Orcas, Chinook salmon, is in decline. The orcas rely exclusively on this species for sustenance, and with only a 20% survival rate for calves, the lack of adequate food supply is a significant concern. The orcas need a sufficient quantity of Chinook salmon to support their growth and health, especially during the early stages of life. Chemical Contamination: Orcas are among the most contaminated marine mammals due to bioaccumulation of toxins such as PCBs and DDT. These chemicals can impair reproductive and immune functions, potentially affecting the health of calves from birth. The presence of these toxins in the environment may contribute to the inability of calves to survive past their first year. Environmental Disturbances: Factors such as vessel noise and pollution disrupt the orcas' habitat, further complicating their survival. Increased shipping traffic and climate change exacerbate these issues, leading to a more challenging environment for the orcas. Reproductive Challenges: The Southern Resident Orcas are a long-lived species that take time to reach sexual maturity. With a low calf survival rate, the population struggles to maintain its numbers, especially as older individuals begin to pass away. The episode emphasizes the urgent need for conservation efforts, including habitat restoration and pollution control, to improve the chances of survival for orca calves and the overall health of the Southern Resident Orca population. Center For Whale Research: https://www.whaleresearch.com/ Follow a career in conservation: https://www.conservation-careers.com/online-training/ Use the code SUFB to get 33% off courses and the careers program.   Do you want to join my Ocean Community? Sign Up for Updates on the process: www.speakupforblue.com/oceanapp   Sign up for our Newsletter: http://www.speakupforblue.com/newsletter   Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3NmYvsI Connect with Speak Up For Blue: Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube  

We got our WLED-friend PCBs (https://blog.adafruit.com/2024/12/02/leftovers-layout-wled-board-revision-a-completed/) and are testing it with various LED grids. First, we tried out a 16x16 NeoPixel grid that runs on 5V. Since that worked well, we're now onto a much bigger 60 x 60 grid - that's 3,600 LEDs! These are some NeoPixel pebble (https://www.adafruit.com/product/6024) netting samples we're also testing at the same time; each one has 20 x 60 pixels and uses 12V power, so it's a good test of the DC pass-through for higher voltages. Since WLED has a limit of 2000 pixels per output, this demo uses the three output ports that are then 'merged' together in memory to make a single large grid. We have more to test soon: the onboard IR receiver, USB PD, I2S microphone, extra I/O pins, and I2C, so watch for those videos as they come together. Coming soon - https://www.adafruit.com/product/6100 Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ ----------------------------------------- #wled #neopixels #ledart

We got our WLED-friend PCBs today, and we only made one mistake: the wrong resistor on the 3.3V feedback line. Now that it's fixed, the board seems to work great with the latest version of WLED (https://kno.wled.ge/basics/tutorials/)! we are checking all 4 signal outputs with this handy 256-LED grid that sits on our desk. Next, we will test the onboard IR receiver, USB PD, I2S microphone, extra I/O pins, and I2C. We'll also do an Arduino IDE board definition in case folks want to use it as a generic ESP32-to-LED-driver board. We're calling the board "Sparkle Motion" for now, but if you have other naming ideas, let us know - if we pick your name, you get a free board (https://www.adafruit.com/product/6100). Sign up, coming soon. Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ ----------------------------------------- #wled #ledscreen #electronics

Discover how innovation meets sustainability with Steve Driver, CEO of Jiva Materials as we uncover the transformative journey of creating a green solution for printed circuit boards (PCBs). When industry veteran Steve teams up with young innovator Jack, sparks fly, igniting a revolution in electronic materials. Together, they're addressing the pressing need for sustainable options within an industry known for its resistance to change. From overcoming skepticism to reaching significant milestones in 2024, learn how this dynamic team has navigated the challenging path of introducing a disruptive product that promises to reshape the market.Explore the strategic moves that brought them to the forefront, including securing a major American OEM as a customer and the importance of OEM involvement in promoting the product's life-cycle benefits. Steve shares valuable insights into the excitement and hurdles of bringing a new technology to market, emphasizing the vital role of fresh talent in keeping the industry vibrant. Whether you're an industry insider eager for the latest in green technology or simply curious about the future of PCBs, this episode is packed with lessons on innovation, collaboration, and the drive to commercialize a sustainable product in a competitive landscape.EMS@C-Level at electronica 2024 was hosted by IPC (https://www.ipc.org/)Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com).You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

What if the future of Europe's microelectronics industry hinges on the critical yet often overlooked role of printed circuit boards? Join me as I sit down with Matthias Pirs, the Director of Corporate Affairs at AT&S, to explore this narrative and the dangers it poses. Matthias explains his strategic role in advancing AT&S, a leading manufacturer of high-end PCBs and IC substrates, as they ambitiously transition into the semiconductor industry. Discover how AT&S is amplifying its global influence with substantial investments, such as their 500-million-euro development in Austria, aimed at fortifying production capabilities to meet cutting-edge trends like AI and advanced packaging. Gain insights into the complexities of the European microelectronics ecosystem as Matthias sheds light on the challenges and opportunities it faces. He highlights the critical role PCBs play in securing supply chains and the European Union's efforts, supported by the industry, in fostering resilience and competitiveness. Hear about the pivotal function that trade associations like IPC serve in rallying the industry for collective advocacy. Matthias underscores the necessity of a united front in communicating with EU policymakers, reflecting on IPC's successful initiatives to amplify the industry's voice. Tune in for a compelling discussion on the future of PCBs and Europe's place in the global market.EMS@C-Level at electronica 2024 was hosted by IPC (https://www.ipc.org/)Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com).You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

In the last podcast, I discussed sources of toxins and how they can impact the brain and development.In this podcast, I'll focus on ways to reduce exposure. I say reduce because there is no way to completely eliminate our exposure to toxins. This reality can be liberating for those who struggle with perfectionism.If you're new at this, feel good about starting. Avoid feeling bad about what you haven't done yet. (Negative thoughts aren't great for detoxification;)For me, lowering exposures has been a stepwise process. When I began, I had to avoid overwhelm and resist trying to do everything at once.Though I've familiarized myself with the most researched toxins and their specific health impacts, I try to focus more on what I can do to avoid them so I can get on with life and not think about them.Some of the most researched toxins (last I checked) include mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, PBDEs, organophosphates, glycerophosphate, BPA, BHA, BHT, PCBs, sodium benzoate, butane, tartrazine dye, potassium bromate, ADA, BVO, yellow food dye number's 5 and 6, red dye number 40, bovine growth hormone, synthetic hormones, ractopamine, phthalates, parabens, phenylenediamine, oxybenzone, acrylic, DEA, triclosan, PFAS including PFOS, benzene, chlorine, chloramine, ochratoxin, trichothecenes, aflatoxin, chaetoglobosin, gliotoxin, and zearalenone.Electromagnetic fields, though not “toxins,” are considered toxicants, which have similar impacts on our bodies and brains. I've previously shared how we can start to assess and lower those.To learn more about the root causes of brain symptoms and the consultations that I offer, visit courtneysnydermd.comDisclaimer:This podcast is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment for yourself or others, including but not limited to patients you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit courtneysnydermd.substack.com

In this conversation, David Schild, the executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association America (PCBAA) gives a post-election update on the organization's continuing efforts to expand congressional to support and strengthen the US PCB supply chain. He discusses the critical implications for both professional engineers and the electronics industry. Additionally, he discusses upcoming opportunities with a new incoming 119th Congress in 2025, including early efforts to secure a 25% tax credit for companies purchasing PCBs in the US.

In this conversation, Shane Whiteside, President and CEO of Summit Interconnect, discusses the current state of the PCB industry, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities for growth. He emphasizes the importance of a resilient supply chain, especially in light of recent geopolitical tensions and the lessons learned from COVID-19. Shane also highlights the role of design engineers in ensuring the reliability of PCBs and the advocacy efforts of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) to secure tax credits and support for the industry.   

We've been testing the Trinamic/Maxim/Analog/WeylandYutani TMC2209 (https://www.digikey.com/short/8r5m38h8) breakout we designed, and it's working great - the step/dir interface plus the micro-step select allows a microcontroller to control a stepper with just GPIO and true-to-its-name it is a very silent stepper driver, much quieter than the A4988 (https://www.digikey.com/short/tfjt88dd)! There are a few different I/O pins on the TMC: Index tells you when a full step is completed, which is handy to know when you want to change stepper modes on the fly. Diag lets you know when a power or motor failure has occurred. It can also tell when the motor has stalled if it's configured to. Finally, and most interestingly, is the UART interface: this unidirectional pin lets you read and write configuration registers, set 1-128 microsteps, change current limiting, and detect stalls for 'auto homing'. So far, everything works; we're just going to swap the direction of the potentiometer so it twists clockwise to increase the current limit and book PCBs! Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ ----------------------------------------- #tmc2209 #steppermotordriver #silentdriver

This week on the big 300th episode, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos teamed up to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week. So basically, business as usual. First up in the news: it's time for the Hackaday Europe 2025 call for proposals! Do you have a tale of hardware, firmware, or software that must be shared with the Hackaday crowd? Then this is your chance to regale us with a 20- or 40-minute talk. You know we love to hear new voices, so be sure to consider proposing a talk. On What's That Sound, it's a results show week. Congratulations to [Kelvin] who was one of many that correctly identified it as the Wii startup sound. Kristina will just be over here with her Pikachu64 with the light-up cheeks. Then it's on to the hacks and such beginning with a rather nice reverse-engineering of the PS1, which surprisingly did it with a two-sided board. Then it's on to a smartphone home server, magic eye images in a spreadsheet, and the math behind the music of 80s. Finally, we talk about disc cameras, the hovercraft revolution, and a whole mess of keyboards. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

This week on the big 300th episode, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos teamed up to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week. So basically, business as usual. First up in the news: it's time for the Hackaday Europe 2025 call for proposals! Do you have a tale of hardware, firmware, or software that must be shared with the Hackaday crowd? Then this is your chance to regale us with a 20- or 40-minute talk. You know we love to hear new voices, so be sure to consider proposing a talk. On What's That Sound, it's a results show week. Congratulations to [Kelvin] who was one of many that correctly identified it as the Wii startup sound. Kristina will just be over here with her Pikachu64 with the light-up cheeks. Then it's on to the hacks and such beginning with a rather nice reverse-engineering of the PS1, which surprisingly did it with a two-sided board. Then it's on to a smartphone home server, magic eye images in a spreadsheet, and the math behind the music of 80s. Finally, we talk about disc cameras, the hovercraft revolution, and a whole mess of keyboards. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

In this episode, Collin Stoner, co-owner of Zenode.ai, shares how his frustration with tedious component searches led to an AI-powered tool for engineers. After designing over 250 PCBs, he and his co-founder created Zenode.ai to streamline workflows and save time, while retaining engineering judgment and intuition in their designs. Built by engineers for engineers, this tool uses AI and NLP to eliminate repetitive tasks and boost productivity. Don't miss this game-changing innovation that is FREE  for design engineers!  

The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Sensors and triggered content have been part of digital signage for probably 20 years, but they weren't widely used for a lot of that time because putting a solution together involved a lot of planning and custom electronics. A Dutch company called Nexmosphere has changed all that, offering a wide range of different sensors that trigger content to digital signage screens by sensing the presence of people or reacting to an action, like someone lifting a product up from shelf to get a better look. Nexmosphere has developed its own set of low-cost custom sensors and controllers that make it fast and easy for digital signage solutions companies, including pure-play CMS software shops, to add triggered content capabilities. Nexmosphere focuses on the hardware and makes an API available to partners. I chatted with CEO Hubert van Doorne about the company's roots and how his customers are now using sensors to drive engagement in retail. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Thank you for joining me. Can you give listeners a rundown on what Nexmosphere is all about?  Hubert van Doorne: Oh, yes. I'd love to do that. Nexomsphere is all about sensors for digital signage and to make any digital signage system interactive and by interactive, we do not mean only by pressing a button or touching something on a screen, but it's much more of letting the digital signage installation respond to actually the person in front of it. So it can be a presence sensor. It can be something that you touch or lift the product and that way make an interactive system at Nexmosphere, build a platform of a lot of different sensors that can be hooked up easily to the system and in that way for the system integrator and really help in building this sort of system. It's something that's been done for decades by a lot of companies who made their own sensors so in that case, it's not real rocket science, but the beauty of the product is that you can take any of these sensors, bring them together and you don't need any development time to have a proof of concept running and I think that's the real strong point of what we offer.  Yeah, I've been in this sector for a very long time, and I can remember, when I was working with one company, we had a guy who I think worked out of a motor home somewhere in Arizona or California or something like that, and he would design boards that could be used for very early iterations of sensor-based detection, presence sensor, that sort of thing, but it was a lot of work and there was nothing off the shelf that you could buy to do all that. I suspect that there's a whole bunch of companies that said, “Oh, thank God, I can just order this and it's already sorted out.”  Hubert van Doorne: Exactly. It's actually also how the company started in 2015. We were a part of a display company making POS materials for in-store and we developed our own sensor set for Sonos and for Philips to go into the European stores, but what we saw is that the number of stores was heavily declining and the complexity of every system was really growing. So we needed something modular that was not just for one group of displays. We needed something for five thousand, you could make the same part of electronics, but now we need it for 200 stores, something still affordable to build, and that's how the idea started off of making a more standard solution that you can plug and play. And, first, when we came to the market, everybody was like, “No, we will build something ourselves, that's much easier.” But then, over time you saw these numbers of installations decline. concept stores would only be maybe five stores or ten stores and then slowly evolve over time and that was getting difficult to make something really solid, and robust in small numbers. So that's where we really saw that the companies coming to us. Like indeed, what you say, thank you, you're developing this because it's only a very small part of the total installation cost and compared to a screen or a media player, we are only a fraction of the cost, but it's adding a lot of functionality. So in the end, if it's not working, it's a problem. but it's also not something where you can really save a lot of money because it's only a small part of the budget.  When you say it's a small part of the budget, are we talking tens of dollars or tens of euros or hundreds of euros on a typical installation?  Hubert van Doorne: It depends, but if you go for a presence sensor by screen, you have it over, $40-$50 a sensor. So that's only a few percent of the total installation, and of course, we go also to museum experiences where we have 20-40 sensors in one set, and then maybe you go to a few thousand euros, but in the end, it's never a very expensive set of gear, because, in the end, it's just small electronic bits that you can very well pick the right size that you need for your project. So there's very little that you do not use in the end.  What's the range of types of sensors that you do?  Hubert van Doorne: In terms of applications, we have a couple of real main areas and the first one is absolutely by far present sensing and its presence and motion. So if someone is in front of a display, if he's approaching or moving across or where he is exactly standing that sort of application, but it's very much based on seeing where a person is and depending on where he or she stands, trigger the content or just for statistics, counting how many people are there. And, the second, large area is what we call lift and learn. So if you pick up a product you can actually display information about this product over video, because we know which product's being lifted. Typically we have about seven different technologies that can lift and learn. So we have a lot of different sensors for different products, but in the end, it is all for the same application of building a lift and learning. Another bigger area is LED lighting which you use as guidance. So a third area that we do is, guidance where you really can guide people, for example, in a museum, where to look if you light up an exhibit, but it can also be in a cosmetic store. If you have different products and you make your selection on, for example, a tablet light up the products that match this selection. So LED lighting, it's not so much a sensor, it's more an actuator, but that's what we do a lot as well, and the fourth, biggest pillar is what we call UI elements and that's anything to do with, for example, normal push buttons, but it can also be air buttons so that you just hold your hand somewhere on a position very close to the screen and it already triggers so you don't have to really touch, air gesture that you can do with your hand in the air. That's all elements where you really want the user to do an interaction with the screen that is not on a touch screen and those elements, that's another important group of sensors. And then we have a lot of small, little special sensors. They're fun, but it's not the big chunk. Did you find as you were growing the company that you started adding these things because people were asking about it or you just saw that people are struggling with understanding where to look next and so on… so let's use LEDs to light guide them?  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, I think it's a bit of both. Of course, we had already very early clients who helped us also. By asking the right things like, “Hey, this is something we could really use. So can you build something for us?” But also looking at ourselves, we have a very strong team, with a lot of ideas where they really look at what is needed now in the market and how we can find a technology that can really be well suited to do this and I think that's also a little bit where we differentiate ourselves from others.  You do have great industry sensors. They are very expensive. They are very good but, for larger rollouts, and larger deployments, they are far too expensive to make a big rollout or too complex. Yeah, you have the cheap stuff, but in the end, it's also not something that can really scale because you cannot really adjust them exactly how you have to use them in mainly a retail environment, but also we see them now in more and other environments where if you use too many standard sensors then you cannot customize to how it should behave in that area and you can also get a lot of misreads and I think that's the strong point of our sensors that we really build something that you just connect and it works in that retail environment.  A good example I always give is a presence sensor. We had a competition using exactly the same chipset from ST Microelectronics, but the fact that somebody walked in front of it and there was a minimum timing of a few milliseconds. A person should be there for half a second because otherwise a person cannot appear in half of a fraction of a second and be gone again but if you have a very fast sensor and you think, oh yeah, that was a person you also have to look at the application. It's not in a shopping center that somebody comes in and then a half second is gone again. So that must be a misread somewhere from the sensor, and that's how you very cleverly can filter how sensors should work, and I think that that's why we really make them for the, we call retail environment. That's our main application area, and if you want to use it in other areas there, it will work as well, but retail is just a very harsh environment where it should always work. Are these devices that you're somewhat buying off the shelf, so to speak, or are you pretty much going down to the wood and designing these from scratch and sourcing the different components and maybe designing your own PCB and so on?  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, it's a good question. All PCB design is completely done by ourselves, but the actual sensor is often a technology that we use. It's a standard chipset available from one of the big manufacturers like Sharp or anyone who makes real sensors for the industry where we take just the sensor chip part, put it on our own PCB, and really make it a solution that fits the digital signage market.   So do you have contract manufacturing that makes this stuff over in Shenzhen or somewhere or are you doing that in the Netherlands?  Hubert van Doorne: Some of our PCB manufacturing or most of our PCB manufacturing itself is done in China but we also have some clients who prefer the European stamp. So for some of the products, the PCBs are also made in Europe, and then end assembly and end-of-line testing are all done in the Netherlands. So that is where we really make the product and put all the software on and package it as a final product.  If you look at the qualification, most of the products are really made in the Netherlands. It's not that we have a contract manufacturer somewhere in China who builds our complete box. We want to have that control at the end still in the Netherlands.  Yeah. So you're definitely not just rebadging something that's made for the China market and client your own?  Hubert van Doorne: No, absolutely not. For this, it would also be a little bit too complex. I have to say, of course, some accessories like cables or that sort of thing is of course, the standard stuff we sell, we do not make anything nonspecial ourselves, but all the sensor part controllers, everything that's, that's true, including if you look to the products, all the casings, everything is our own design. You mentioned presence detection. Can you work with computer vision platforms and drive analytics, or is it very kind of basics, sensing the saying, “In an hour, these many people appear to be in front of the display?”  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, we do a little bit different than computer vision. I think honestly the computer vision guys are making great products. The only problem often is that you cannot put a camera or it's something that needs to be calibrated to the space. Typically our sensors are something that you can just drop in the space and it will start working and also on a different price point, but if you look, what we can provide is that we can see if there's someone in front of the sensor and we can measure the distance on a, like a centimeter-accurate. So we know it's a half inch where someone exactly stands and if she, for example, now moving towards display or moving away we get all this trigger data delivered to the digital signage player. And with third parties, partners of ours, for example, you can have beautiful dashboards that can give you insights like, “This was the opportunity to see” and “So many people engaged with the product.” There you can see a complete dashboard exactly at that time of the day. It was busier because, in this area, more people were standing at that sort of statistics we could easily provide them.  Yeah, for many years I have wondered about computer vision, the applicability for a lot of digital signage applications, this idea that you're going to serve content based on the demographic profile of who's in front of the screen. It just didn't hit me as something that would ever be done very much, and I'm curious if your customers and partners generally find that, you know what, just having a sense of how many people the opportunity to see and so on is more than enough. We don't need to get that granular. We don't need to micro-target individual viewers. Hubert van Doorne: I would say if you talk to the advertising companies, it's sort of the holy grail and they're all looking for the solution, and it's not that it's not coming, but it's also the question of how would you target your audience and I think that's something that's being asked a lot, but if you see what is the technology needed for it, and if I see how far digital signage is now off still often, not even, if you see just in the store, like looping content, yeah, you could already be much more responsive than just looping content. And that's also not being done. So before we leap into light years ahead of what we could do, and yes, technically we can do, but if, for example, already the advertisers have problems delivering the right content at the right time, this becomes something very, time-sensitive to really have it in an auction platform and very quickly delivered. So for sure, it's something where, slowly the whole advertising market will go, but I personally do not have the feeling that it will very quickly come into large deployments.  Yeah. People are still freaked out about the idea of a camera being on them, even though there are cameras all over a store watching for security reasons. Hubert van Doorne: Yeah. But it's also about how would you like to use it. I think showing content at the relevant position. There was once a client and this was many years ago, but it was about in-store materials and he was a manufacturer of cat food. So he says, “If somebody is in front of the shelf with all the cat food, that's the perfect moment to advertise because I know my customer is a cat owner, or at least someone who wants to feed the cat, and if he's male, female, and their age” and I think that's a very relevant thing.  If you look into a store layout or for all the media advertising in the store if you know where the shoppers are already in the store, you can also tell a lot about what would be relevant content to show and that it's not only based on age demographics or demographics like male, female. I think that's something typically the advertisers do to slice the market and spice up the market. But I think there are different ways to do that in a very elegant way as well.  Are you competing with touch or is it just another approach? Hubert van Doorne: I think we work well together with touch even. I think we are hyper-focused on the sensor market, and that's the same, as what I say about computer vision. I think they make lovely products and also people who do mobile phone tracking, and it's a huge market of all kinds of inputs and sensors you can do and a lot of manufacturers have great touch screens, and I think what we do is just add another layer of possibilities of sensing something that can work well together.  There's a bit of an orchestration to some of these experiences, right? if you have presence sensing, you can be 10 feet away and you might get one message if you're closer. If you move closer to a screen, it can trigger a different message and maybe guide them using the LED light bars and things like that. It seems to me I've seen demos of this when I've walked through your stand at shows like ISE.  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, that's definitely the presence sensor can just be to make something different than a looping video. I always say for the presence sensor, it's the same as reading a book. I would like to start on page one, and if you want to tell a story to your customer, why are you starting somewhere in the middle? Because it's a looping video. You will never be synchronized. If somebody approaches the screen, it'll always be in the wrong spot. And I think with a presence sensor, you can have a nice triggering content that really attracts the people to come close to the screen, and when they're close and when they are in range, I would say you can start firing your message and have your story being told. A nice thing about the sensor is that you can actually time how long is the person standing in front. and is he watching the whole advert or is he halfway moving away? And that comes to another thing that you can very nicely do is, of course, the A/B testing. If you have different content, you can say, hey, with this content, just where the end is a little bit longer and a little bit more flashy, people stay six seconds longer, so this is better content to show. So in that way, you can really optimize your content and your message by measuring how long people are looking and how can we improve.  Now, if I'm a CMS software company, or a retail solutions company of some description, if I want to do that, am I having to write the software to create that experience, or is that somewhat templated or available within your end of the solution?  Hubert van Doorne: That's a very good question. Technically we are a hardware provider. So the only thing we do is deliver the hardware that's capable of delivering triggers to the media player, and that can be over USB or over network or RS22 and we deliver that trigger message, and then you need a CMS that can actually really sense what to do with the trigger and there's absolutely no software from our side. It's just then the software of the CMS where you can, really in that UI setup like, for example, in a BrightSign, you have Bright Author, and then you can select from a list like, If sensor three is triggered, then I want to start video number five and when this is done, I want to have that started. So that's something that can be done via the CMS.  I noticed on your website that you have three kinds of distinctions or tiers or whatever or partners. You've got full partners. You've got fully compatible and then partially compatible. What's the distinction between them?  Hubert van Doorne: It's a very good one. We are still missing the official explanation on the website. So we'll add that over time, but no, maybe good to start with our partners that are really strong partners in the industry where we often exhibit together, we do trade shows together and we do projects together where we really team up and make something work for the integrator as a complete set. So that's our real industry partners.  There are also a lot of CMSs that deliver a nice software solution, but in the end, we are not very closely working with them together, but the application works well and that's where we say it's a compatible CMS. So that means that all functionality will work, but we don't know that many details about the CMS. So if you want to know how our solution will work with that CMS, best to contact the CMS and they can tell you more about how the integration works because we cannot keep track of 50 different CMSs, how they all work, and how they all work in detail. Lately, we added the partially compatible and that's the reason that we have a few that do a lovely integration on two or three of our sensors, and it's a very nice UI where you can set everything, but it's not working with every sensor. It's just, for example, our few popular sensors where it does work with, and they say yeah, but we can easily make a widget for this client and then it can work with any sensor, yeah, but it's not something that you can just connect and it just will work. So we say, with these companies, it does work, but for some specific centers. So please watch out and contact the company if you want to use it for this specific specific sensor, and ask them if it's working. So that's why we made these three different tiers. These sensors are generally very small, and in a lot of cases, you would never even know they're there, right?  Hubert van Doorne: Exactly.  Is that by design, a necessity even? Or is it just that's the state of miniaturization where you can do that?  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, I would say the fact that you can make it very small is because it's retail, nobody wants to see tech. So the more you can hide it, the better it is, and yeah, I think we make quite a big effort to make the sensors as small as possible because they are much easier to integrate. So yeah, I think there are some options where you can have more bulky systems, but we always try to make them as small as possible. I've spent quite a bit of time lately talking to different display manufacturers and R&D companies about emerging displays, and one of the things I talk about is with stuff like micro LED, there will be a time when you'll be able to include a sensor right within the display. So just because the pixels are so small, you could put a sensor device in there as well. So you're not just looking at a screen, you're also looking at something that can do some degree of sensing.  Have you started to look at that at all, or is that just out there somewhere?  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, we do see that, I think I can take a parallel to a couple of years ago. We were quite growing big in the room booking systems that we did little LED strips that you could add to the system and then you saw the first screens popping up where they had the little LED strips integrated, and we are not selling any LED strips anymore for booking. That's just where the industry goes. But I don't see that as a bad thing, because I think, for example, if Samsung decides to add a presence sensor in every one of their screens, then that's the next step where we say okay, then maybe our sales of single presence sensors will go down, but there are other sensors again, where you would like to measure again.  So I think it's sort of the same as you see media players integrating into screens. If people are using it a lot, it makes sense to make it in one unit. I'm happy to see that everything gets less complex and is being integrated into one unit, and I think it's more our job to, for all those things that cannot go into super high volume, that there is space in every screen, then maybe you need a present sense or just looking at a different angle then right in front of the screen. That will be something that's never added to the screen. because it's a typical application.  There are two components, right? There's the sensors and then there's controllers. How does that break down and do you need both? Obviously you need the sensors.  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, and you do need the controllers. What we did with our hardware structure is that we have a lot of sensors and they all come back to the same little connector. It's what we call Xtalk and it's like a mini USB, and that's actually every sensor can be hooked into any controller, and then the different controllers we have is just to oversee the whole system setup and to have one, yeah, let's say a sort of USB hub where you have one communication channel to the media player and our controller is then, really doing the power supply for all sensors, seeing what's connected and being the host the communicator to the media player.  And we have different controls because for example, for something like LED lighting, you can get a controller with an LED driver already embedded on board, so it makes it much easier to control LED strips and the same for example for audio switching and we have a lot of different controllers that have different functionalities built in just to make it more easy and have it integrated in one system.  How do you know if everything's behaving as it's supposed to?  Hubert van Doorne: It's a good question. The nice thing is that our system, our controller is completely monitoring all sensors and the system integrator can also always see if all sensors are online even exact serial numbers and everything that's connected.  It looks like very simple tech, but in the end, you can, within a dashboard, for example, completely monitor your system health and see even if somebody is plugging something in a different port. You can already see that the system's setup has changed. So that's how we can monitor and see if something is not working or needs attention over time. That's something that's really needed if you do large-scale rollouts, and I think, yeah, everything we build is just made for maintaining it or giving it a possibility to roll out in big volume. Is that your device management dashboard, this is purely an API that you can integrate into a system integrator or whatever.  Hubert van Doorne: It's just the API where we deliver that, and we have then our partners that can deliver you a complete dashboard already that you don't have to build something yourself, but if you have the as a system integrator, I want to build my own dashboard, you're free to use our API and you don't need any license. Then it's just free. You buy our hardware and there's no license cost.  Is there an emerging kind of tech that you're now looking at that you think you can add to the stack or could be a big deal like lift and learn and presence sensing has been around for a very long time. People who've been in this industry and doing retail solutions understand it, but is there new stuff coming?  Hubert van Doorne: Not so much on the sensor part. For example, last year, we added weight sensors also for lift and learning so it's a completely different technology. Radar technologies are improving. So yes, we always continuously monitor what's available and there will be new additions, but I think that will not be complete wow in the industry now there is the Holy Grail that this is possible. It will be just additions over time.  What we do see is that there is a very strong appetite for green signage products and what we will do is next year we will launch a new product in that area so that we can also deliver to more verticals than only the retail and experiences as we become more and more interested in other verticals.  I was curious about digital signage. If you work in the industry, you think it's quite a big industry, but in relative terms, it's quite small and narrow. Is there enough of a business for you just within digital signage, or is it important to branch out?  Hubert van Doorne: No, I think it's definitely big enough for digital signage now because there's almost hardly any competition. I always say our biggest competitor is no sensor. So in a project somewhere that the sensor is being skipped, but, it is fast growing and I think digital signage itself is growing, but I think also you see much more areas where it becomes, yeah, it's a discussion, is it digital signage or, it's a screen somewhere in an area, if you call it digital signage or not, we see more and more screens coming up and more and more data becoming available in the digital world.  So I think, yes, the number of screens will be quite growing in the next few years and I think, there's a very big market we can service.  Yeah, I've written a number of times and talked to, or when I've done talks with companies, about what I call boring signage and the idea of using sensors that maybe you would think about for parking garages and available stalls and so on, and using that in airports for very busy restrooms and things like that to have displays out front that kind of give you the state of availability of that.  It sounds dumb, but I think it's incredibly valuable and again, it's just applying sensors in a creative way.  Hubert van Doorne: Oh, yeah, and we see regularly that our sensors are being used in completely different order verticals. So your toilet example is one where they used our sensors, and even to see if the bin is full in the restroom. So it's not that we are not able to provide those markets. It's only that we communicate and we read the development for the retail space.  But yeah, you will see more and more areas opening up where it becomes interesting and, that's something we definitely can branch out of, over, over time as well. For the moment, we are really focused on the retail space because I think there's a lot to win still, but yeah, the sensor technology will go not to retail or experience centers only.  Retail gives you scale too that you don't necessarily get with washroom solutions.  Hubert van Doorne: No, and I think very important is that, in the retail space, data is hugely important for AI to see. How can I do my shopper assortment? How can I see how people are behaving in the store? And actually by providing the sensors that can really measure.  We have, for example, now a retailer in the UK that's only using the sensors to see how people are moving in front of the shelf. There's not even digital signage anymore, and I think, that gives the importance of knowing what people are doing, that they want to deploy a system in more than a hundred stores to measure to just see how they can improve and make better operation. You're in Eindhoven?  Hubert van Doorne: Yeah, that's right.  How big is the company at this point?  Hubert van Doorne: At this point, we are only a very small group. We are around 25 staff and now slowly growing our sales team as we see the market really starting to develop before it was a lot of interest and smaller projects and sometimes a bigger rollout of 500 stores or something, but now you really see, since last year volume coming in and that's really nice that we can now scale and now we are really from the sometime away from the startup and now a scale-up. So that's also where it will happen with the staff in the same way.  You mentioned being involved with another company back in 2015? Are you completely a private company or do you have ties to a larger firm?  Hubert van Doorne: No, it's a completely privately owned company. At that time, we were part of a display company, but that one stopped in business and this was completely carved out as an individual company and it's completely independently operating. If people want to find out more, they get you on nexomsphere.com? Hubert van Doorne: Yes, that's the perfect place to start, and if there's any question, please reach out to one of our team members or the emails. We are like not all companies always, but we are responsive to our emails, and we like to help people with any question they have because that's the first step in exploring what sensors can do. You're at ISE, right?  Hubert van Doorne: Of course, and that will be really exciting with some new products. You should not miss as an integrator, even if you're not interested in the retail space. So I would definitely see common visitors.  All right. Thank you for spending some time with me.  Hubert van Doorne: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure. Have a great day.

We just had a turkey nap and are now back to work. These vertical-mount 1.14" IPS TFT displays have 240 x 135 pixels and are 'stackable' horizontally on a breadboard or perfboard. There are just enough pins to control the TFT and backlight, so if you want to individually control each display, just have them share the SPI and DC pins, then have a unique chip select pin for each. These could make for cute 'flip' display simulations or faux nixie bulbs. The prototypes work fine; we just need to adjust the slot size. The panelized PCBs can be booked, and there is pie. Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ ----------------------------------------- #newxie #prototype #success

We got our Allegro A4988 stepper driver breakout PCBs back and are ready to test them. First, we verified that STEP and DIR worked (yes!) and that the LEDs lit (yes, but we need to tweak the resistors to make the brightness even). Then we tried all of the stepper-settings, you can select 1, 4, 8, or 16-microsteps. All the sleep/reset/enable pins work. Finally, we checked the current limiting functionality with a potentiometer that can be twisted to select up to 2A current per coil. This directly affects the torque, so it's easy to test by verifying that we can stall the motor with hands or vise-grips. We'll order these with 2oz copper and get them into production next! Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ ----------------------------------------- #a4988 #stepperdriver #electronics

This week's EYE ON NPI is super spacey - it's Wurth Elektronik SMD Spacers (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/w/wurth-electronics/smd-spacers) a variety of pick-and-place-able hardware components that solder directly to your PCB designs during in a standard SMT line, and speed up your assembly and simplify your mechanical design. The first thing you'll learn as an engineer is that not only do you need to worry about your schematic being correct, and the layout being manufacturable and optimal for signal and power integrity, but you also have to make sure it fits into whatever enclosure the mechanical engineer cooked up. Worse, sometimes that mechanical engineer is you! For example, a common design requirement is to have a front panel, and then you have to mount the PCB against it with standoffs or spacers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacers_and_standoffs) so that the buttons, knobs and switches are accessible but protected. We used this technique with the first Adafruit product x0xb0x (https://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/fab/finish/index.html) - in this case we used hex standoffs (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/board-spacers-standoffs/582). These come in a vast array of configurations, lengths and threads. There's female-female, female/male and even unthreaded ones. By mixing and matching, plus adding machine screws and lock washers you can construct any sandwich of PCBs. Standoffs work great, but they add a lot of time to the assembly process: they have to be manually lined up with the PCB holes, they need lock washers to keep them from rotating in place, and they can fall into the enclosure during assembly or repair. Being metal that means shorting against all your nice PCBA components! That's why we're big fans of SMT solder-able standoffs. We've used them in our designs like the Adafruit Macropad (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/5128/14635377) and Memento (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5420) camera. We love that they come on pick and place reel, with pickup tabs, and solder nicely in place using a standard SMT processing method. They always have the same uniform height, same location, and will not twist when attaching the machine screws on the other side. The Wurth Elektronik SMD spacers (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/w/wurth-electronics/smd-spacers) are available in a huge variety of configurations. For the threaded type: lengths from 1mm to 15mm and M2, M2.5 or M3 thread. For unthreaded spacers, hole diameters of 2.25mm, 2.7mm or 3.3mm. They also have male-thread spacers (https://www.digikey.com/short/bchz92w0), and the REDCUBE WP-SMRA series (https://www.digikey.com/short/mbnzwrvz) right-angle spacers which are brilliant and should allow for full-sided enclosures without wrangling. Which we've never seen before! If you want to try the full range, pick up a SMT Spacer Design Kit (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/w%C3%BCrth-elektronik/977990/5965155). All are available on tape and reel / cut-tape and are in stock at DigiKey for immediate shipment. Order today and you can start integrating these stand-offs into your next PCB design. See the parts on DigiKey https://www.digikey.com/short/cpvn4db7 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4CVYb8nTE Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------

Fresh from their 2024 On Tour of Eastern European EMS companies, Eric Miscoll, Publisher of EMSNOW and Dieter Weiss, Founder of in4ma share their thoughts with Philip Stoten in this must-hear interview recorded at electronica. The conversation begins with Dieter's findings from his recent European PCB research, including speculation about why an EMS company they visited in Lithuania is convinced they must build PCBs in-house for their products and customers. The discussion covers the outlook for the industry overall in the Baltic region, how labor issues are driving many strategic decisions in Europe, and the many examples of impressive highly technical manufacturing capabilities and automation they witnessed on their tour.Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com).You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

What is Ultra High Density Interconnect (UHDi) technology, and why is it critical for modern PCB designs? How does collaboration between designers and fabricators ensure the success of UHDi boards? In this episode of The Printed Circuit Podcast, host Steph Chavez from Siemens talks with Anaya Vardya, CEO of American Standard Circuits, about Ultra High Density Interconnect (UHDi) technology and its growing importance in industries like telecommunications, aerospace, and medical devices. Anaya explains how UHDi enables smaller, higher-performance PCBs through advanced techniques like microvias and optimized layouts. He also discusses the key challenges in manufacturing these complex boards, such as sequential builds and specialized equipment. Listeners will learn about the importance of early collaboration between designers and fabricators to avoid costly mistakes and delays. Anaya and Steph also touch on the future of PCB technology and the increasing need for advanced solutions like UHDi. What You'll Learn in this Episode: What is UHDi technology? (3:15) Feedback from the SMTA International Electronics Manufacturing Conference (5:00) What are the design advantages of using UHDi? (6:35) What are the disadvantages of using UHDi? (9:35) What are some typical applications where UHDi would be implemented? (12:25) What are the manufacturing challenges of UHDi technology? (14:15) Where can designers or engineers learn more about UHDi technology? (19:20) Connect with Steph Chavez: LinkedIn Website Connect with Anaya Vardya: LinkedIn Website

NX Gamer joins to evaluate the PS5 Pro, XBOX's Future, Nvidia Blackwell, and RDNA 4. [SPON: Use YTE7P50 for $50 OFF FlexiSpot E7 Desk: https://bit.ly/4fia2XV (US) https://bit.ly/4fkF41e (CA)] [SPON: Use WP20OFF for $20 OFF FlexiSpot Walking Treadmill! https://bit.ly/3CnXpMa (US)] [SPON: FlexiSpot Black Friday Sale! Up to 65% OFF! Chance to win free orders: https://bit.ly/4euSqXo ] [SPON: Use "brokensilicon“ at CDKeyOffer's Black Friday Sale to get Win 11 Pro for $23: https://www.cdkeyoffer.com/cko/Moore11 ] [SPON: Get JLCPCB 6-layer PCBs for just $5 & Register for $80 Coupons here: https://jlcpcb.com/6-layer-pcb?from=MLD ] 0:00 Welcoming back Michael 4:30 PS5 Pro Opening Thoughts 9:18 CPU Analysis – Zen 3 Performance? 27:11 GPU Analysis – RTX 4070 Performance? 38:32 Who should buy the PS5 Pro? 50:27 Will Sony Kill Physical? Is $700 MSRP here to stay? 57:17 The Future of XBOX 1:09:10 Will Microsoft remove XBOX Series S Mandates? 1:13:13 Will Nintendo bring games to PC? 1:22:36 AMD RDNA 4 - PS5 Pro prove it's Great? 1:30:54 Can RDNA 4 take market share from Nvidia? 1:40:42 AMD Zen 5 vs Intel Arrow Lake 1:51:16 Will AMD or Samsung or Apple buy Intel? 1:55:08 Nvidia APU Performance Leak 1:58:43 The Future of Ray Tracing & Next-Gen AI in PS6 Check out NX Gamer! https://www.youtube.com/c/NXGamer Last time Michael was on: https://youtu.be/9dRpq5mMs8g NXGamer PS5 Pro Review: https://youtu.be/0lU1tuWg-zA?si=r1zp43vttybCVzFf NXGamer PS4 Boost Analysis: https://youtu.be/bUuEwJ8leCI?si=mmCiA_Jj1FErQOUo Initial MLID PS5 Pro Analysis (from announcement): https://youtu.be/jGRxqfG7RxY Recent Blackwell Performance & Pricing Leak: https://youtu.be/EbEPwJvtA5M Pictures & Specs of Nvidia GB203: https://youtu.be/V_UHVWcfeTg RTX 5090 24GB Laptop Leak: https://youtu.be/Gy4HAJdjeRA Extra RDNA 4 details and delay confirmation: https://youtu.be/LVXGDPKWsss Comprehensive RDNA 4 Details: https://youtu.be/XLX0FmeFVh8 https://www.pcworld.com/article/2516084/intel-pledges-to-fix-arrow-lake-after-launch-didnt-go-as-planned.html https://insider-gaming.com/ps5-pro-sales-better-ps4-pro/ https://youtu.be/bUuEwJ8leCI?si=u0rmj1NBqtgzfVxj https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/break-out-the-worlds-tiniest-violin-ps5-pro-scalpers-are-having-a-tough-time-reselling-units-because-its-in-stock-basically-everywhere/ https://gamerant.com/ps5-pro-disc-drive-scalpers/ https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-ceo-says-xbox-is-intent-on-manifesting-a-multiplatform-future https://www.techpowerup.com/review/alan-wake-2-performance-benchmark/7.html

Chris and Dave discuss troubleshooting a dead short in a PCB, the slow march of time, retirements, whether 2 layers is sufficient on PCBs, and much more!

With the 2024 Hackaday Supercon looming large on the horizon, Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this episode off by talking about this year's badge and its focus on modular add-ons. From there they'll go over the results of a particularly challenging installment of What's that Sound?, discuss a promising DIY lathe that utilizes 3D printed parts filled with concrete, and ponder what the implosion of Redbox means for all of their disc-dispensing machines that are still out in the wild. You'll also hear about custom macropads, lifting SMD pins, and how one hacker is making music with vintage electronics  learning kits. Finally, they'll reassure listeners that the shifting geopolitical landscape probably won't mean the end of Hackaday.io anytime soon, and how some strategically placed pin headers can completely change how you approach designing your own PCBs. Check out the links over at Hackaday, and tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Today on Elixir Wizards, Bryan Green shares how he transformed a vintage 1930s rotary phone into a fully functional cell phone using Elixir, Nerves, and a mix of hardware components. Bryan shares the highs and lows of his project, from decoding rotary dial clicks to troubleshooting hardware issues with LED outputs. He explains why Nerves was the perfect fit for this project, offering SSH access, over-the-air updates, and remote debugging. You'll also hear how Elixir's concurrency model helped him manage hardware inputs and outputs efficiently using GenStateMachine and Genservers. Elixir and Nerves really shine when modeling real-world systems. Bryan dives into how he used a finite state machine to track the phone's states and handled inputs from the rotary dial and hook switch via GPIO. For hardware enthusiasts, Bryan's advice is to embrace this “golden age” of DIY electronics. Whether you're experienced with embedded systems or just curious on where to start, Bryan's VintageCell can inspire you to tinker with a hardware engineering project. Key topics discussed in this episode: Advantages of functional programming and immutability in Elixir Building hardware projects using Adafruit components Why Nerves was the best choice for the VintageCell project Interpreting rotary dial clicks using GPIO and circuits.gpio Troubleshooting hardware issues with LED diagnostics Challenges in optimizing wiring and PCB design Benefits of Nerves: SSH access, OTA updates, and remote debugging Modeling real-world systems with Elixir and Nerves Implementing a finite state machine with GenStateMachine Managing input with Genservers for rotary dial and hook switch Leveraging community resources like Discord, Elixir Slack, and forums Practical advice for keeping hardware projects on track Potential applications from SMS servers to home automation Links mentioned: Vintage Cellphone: Bridging the Past and Future with Elixir (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hetzVpjmo) Seven Languages in Seven Weeks https://pragprog.com/titles/btlang/seven-languages-in-seven-weeks/ Seven More Languages https://pragprog.com/titles/7lang/seven-more-languages-in-seven-weeks/ Node.js https://github.com/nodejs https://nerves-project.org/ https://www.arduino.cc/ Adafruit Circuit Playground https://www.adafruit.com/category/965 Adafruit 3D Printed Star Trek Communicator https://learn.adafruit.com/3d-printed-star-trek-communicator Adafruit FONA 3G Cellular + GPS Breakout https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-fona-3g-cellular-gps-breakout/overview https://github.com/elixir-circuits/circuitsgpio Nerves SSH https://hex.pm/packages/nervesssh OTA (over-the-air) Updates with NervesHub https://www.nerves-hub.org/ https://github.com/kicad Waveshare 4G Hat for Raspberry Pi https://www.waveshare.com/sim7600e-h-4g-hat.htm https://hexdocs.pm/genstatemachine/GenStateMachine.html https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/GenServer.html https://www.sparkfun.com/ https://www.digikey.com/ USB-C Gadget Mode with Nerves https://github.com/nerves-project/nervessystemrpi4/issues/18 https://livebook.dev/ https://codestorm.me/ https://github.com/codestorm1/vintage_cell/ Special Guest: Bryan Green.

On paper, fish have everything required to be an excellent staple to many diets. They're rich in protein, vitamins, trace elements, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, and aren't too high in calories. The only downside is that fish live in an increasingly polluted environment. What with heavy metals and plastic waste invading the oceans, more and more people are concerned about the pitfalls of eating fish. After all, they can be contaminated by chemical pollutants such as PCBs, methylmercury, or dioxins. These endocrine disruptors can have very harmful effects such as causing neurological disorders or forms of cancer. Furthermore, food derived from fish flesh is also likely to be contaminated with microorganisms such as bacteria and parasites. Should we stop eating fish then? Should I avoid any other types of fish? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: What is Sisu? What does Mercury in retrograde mean? Does the Mediterranean diet lower risks of dementia? A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Joseph Chance. First broadcast : 3 avril 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The RP2350 Feather has an FPC output connector for accessing the HSTX - high-speed transmission - peripheral. This lets us drive DVI displays really easily! Today, we got the prototype PCBs for our HSTX to DVI adapter board; after connecting up a 22-pin FPC cable, we can test out DVI driving via CircuitPython. With HSTX, we don't need to overclock or use PIO, and there's a lot more RAM on the RP2350, so we can easily do 320x240 with 16-bit color and have plenty of SRAM left over. It would be neat if we could do DVI from the PSRAM as a framebuffer at some point for really big displays! #adafruit #circuitpython #rp2350 Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------