Levitating Globe Teardown, Part 2
Part 1 of this article was really more of an extended (and cynical) product review. In this part of the article, I actually take things apart (sometimes a bit more suddenly than I meant to) and show you some innards.First the globe. I knew there was a magnet in there someplace, because it's obviously plastic and it also attracts metal. I had intended to gently part the globe at the glue bond along the equator. I started by trying to gently flex the thing on my work...
Levitating Globe Teardown, Part 1
I've been kicking some ideas around for a long time for a simple and inexpensive platform I could use for control systems experimentation for the beginner. I want something that can be controlled easily in a basic fashion, yet that provides some depth: I want to be able to present ever-more challenging goals to the student, that can be attained by fancier control algorithms all on the same device.
I'm currently looking at magnetic levitation. It's fun, it has the potential to be...
Massive Open Online Courses ( Transforming education )
Emerging trends in online education have opened up unforeseen learning opportunities for aspiring students. Eminent instructors from the best names in the industry such as Stanford, MIT and Harvard provide several courses with video lectures online.
Named MOOCs, Massive Open Online courses are accelerating the learning process in a radical manner. Online universities like Coursera, edX, Udacity, Khan Academy and Udemy offer courses which are professionally relevant.
It starts with an LED
And slowly builds up from there.
I have been an embedded software engineer for many years. I was programming when I was a teenager before then, as a high school student involved in an NSF program called "National Science Foundation Summer Science Training Program (for High School Students)" or as we would rattle off during that summer of exquisite learning, NSFSSTP. We were taught to program in Fortran and taught the fundamentals of Calculus. It was a very enriching experience.
When it...
A part of history
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 40-year anniversary celebration of the formation of my high school's radio station (KVHS). The current students and staff of KVHS hosted a birthday party for the radio station and invited former alumni and teachers and the public to share in the celebration. On hand was a pretty good showing of the current and former students and teachers that helped build one of the most successful student-run radio station programs in...
Configuration Management: Why Developers are Avert to
A few reasons why developers have aversion towards "Software Configuration Management Systems"
(1) They do not understand the importance of configuration management. - It is a common and logical reason. But, it is also a very dangerous sign for any organization. If their developers do not understand the importance of configuration management; then it is highly likely that developers even do not understand the other fundamentals of software development. The situation becomes worst...
Nokia in Soup Again?
After suffering a big blow its image due to faulty "BL-5C Batteries", Nokia seems to have landed in another trouble. Company's decision to shutdown its manufacturing plant in Germany, has sparked strong public ire towards Nokia in the country. The strong political and government support to the Anti-Nokia movement, might mean a further Erosion of Company's Image and loss of revenue in Germany (and some other...Next time you refer to an Optical Disc
I recently came across this interesting (and lesser known) fact about Optical Discs:
The word disc, in reference to DVD or CD, should be spelled with a c, not a k. The generally accepted rule is that optical discs are spelled with a c, whereas magnetic disks are spelled with a k. For magneto-optical discs, which are a combination of both formats, the word is spelled with c because the discs are read with a laser. The New York Times, after years of head-in-the-sand usage of k for...
Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Pay it Forward
A popular car bumper sticker reads, "If you can read this, thank a teacher!" I might say, "If you can read THIS (article on Embedded Related), then you've been blessed with great experiences and/or great educators or volunteers that got you excited about tech and helped you believe that you had a future in this field!" Why not pay it forward by helping other children have those same great experiences? As we enter another season of giving, I hope you consider doing what you can to support the hundreds or thousands of non-profit organizations, educators, and volunteers around the world who are getting kids excited about tech the same way YOU got excited about tech. In this article, I'll share with you a handful of organizations that I know of or donate to that have this mission. How do you like to give back?
It starts with an LED
And slowly builds up from there.
I have been an embedded software engineer for many years. I was programming when I was a teenager before then, as a high school student involved in an NSF program called "National Science Foundation Summer Science Training Program (for High School Students)" or as we would rattle off during that summer of exquisite learning, NSFSSTP. We were taught to program in Fortran and taught the fundamentals of Calculus. It was a very enriching experience.
When it...
Definite Article: Notes on Traceability
Electronic component distibutor Digi-Key recently announced part tracing for surface-mount components purchased in cut-tape form. This is a big deal, and it’s a feature that is a good example of traceability. Some thing or process that has traceability basically just means that it’s possible to determine an object’s history or provenance: where it came from and what has happened to it since its creation. There are a...
Scorchers, Part 1: Tools and Burn Rate
This is a short article about one aspect of purchasing, for engineers.
I had an engineering manager once — I’ll leave his real name out of it, but let’s call him Barney — who had a catchy response to the question “Can I buy XYZ?”, where XYZ was some piece of test equipment, like an oscilloscope or multimeter. Barney said, “Get what you need, need what you get.” We used purchase orders, which when I started in 1996 were these quaint forms on...
Oh Robot My Robot
Oh Robot! My Robot! You’ve broken off your nose! Your head is spinning round and round, your eye no longer glows, Each program after program tapped your golden memory, You used to have 12K, now there is none that I can see, Under smoldering antennae, Over long forgotten feet, My sister used your last part: The chip she tried to eat.
Oh Robot, My Robot, the remote controls—they call, The call—for...
Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Who needs source code?
Many developers feel that the supplying source code is essential for licensed software components. There are other perspectives, including the possibility of it being an actual disadvantage. Even the definition of source code has some vagueness.
A part of history
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 40-year anniversary celebration of the formation of my high school's radio station (KVHS). The current students and staff of KVHS hosted a birthday party for the radio station and invited former alumni and teachers and the public to share in the celebration. On hand was a pretty good showing of the current and former students and teachers that helped build one of the most successful student-run radio station programs in...
Next time you refer to an Optical Disc
I recently came across this interesting (and lesser known) fact about Optical Discs:
The word disc, in reference to DVD or CD, should be spelled with a c, not a k. The generally accepted rule is that optical discs are spelled with a c, whereas magnetic disks are spelled with a k. For magneto-optical discs, which are a combination of both formats, the word is spelled with c because the discs are read with a laser. The New York Times, after years of head-in-the-sand usage of k for...
Pay it Forward
A popular car bumper sticker reads, "If you can read this, thank a teacher!" I might say, "If you can read THIS (article on Embedded Related), then you've been blessed with great experiences and/or great educators or volunteers that got you excited about tech and helped you believe that you had a future in this field!" Why not pay it forward by helping other children have those same great experiences? As we enter another season of giving, I hope you consider doing what you can to support the hundreds or thousands of non-profit organizations, educators, and volunteers around the world who are getting kids excited about tech the same way YOU got excited about tech. In this article, I'll share with you a handful of organizations that I know of or donate to that have this mission. How do you like to give back?
On optimizing manual soldering
When faced with manual soldering of thousands of components, speed and efficiency become pivotal. Here are some takeaways from my own experience attempting to optimize such a process.
Configuration Management: Why Developers are Avert to
A few reasons why developers have aversion towards "Software Configuration Management Systems"
(1) They do not understand the importance of configuration management. - It is a common and logical reason. But, it is also a very dangerous sign for any organization. If their developers do not understand the importance of configuration management; then it is highly likely that developers even do not understand the other fundamentals of software development. The situation becomes worst...
Next time you refer to an Optical Disc
I recently came across this interesting (and lesser known) fact about Optical Discs:
The word disc, in reference to DVD or CD, should be spelled with a c, not a k. The generally accepted rule is that optical discs are spelled with a c, whereas magnetic disks are spelled with a k. For magneto-optical discs, which are a combination of both formats, the word is spelled with c because the discs are read with a laser. The New York Times, after years of head-in-the-sand usage of k for...
Nokia in Soup Again?
After suffering a big blow its image due to faulty "BL-5C Batteries", Nokia seems to have landed in another trouble. Company's decision to shutdown its manufacturing plant in Germany, has sparked strong public ire towards Nokia in the country. The strong political and government support to the Anti-Nokia movement, might mean a further Erosion of Company's Image and loss of revenue in Germany (and some other...Demoing Your Software
I came across this interesting blog entry on "Product Demo". Apart from touching upon some public speaking and presentation skills, it contains facts and data which you might find plenty useful.Baking in Process Improvements
Today I want to talk about process improvements with an example.
Recently, a relative of mine was busy preparing for a garage sale. She had also wanted to make a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, but ran out of time. So I offered to make the cookies with her daughter, who I will call Spunky Shoes. She handed me a printout of the recipe, which I have listed below:
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies(from Danielle Rye’s
Project Log: Pixelblaze Christmas Lights
Festive fun and the hacker spirit combine in my janky attempt to adorn my house with addressable LEDs! In this post, I show you how I used a Pixelblaze and a cheap strip of WS2811 RGB LEDs (and not a little bit of hot glue and paper clips) to make a super cool set of Christmas lights.
Stuck with Jira — and Stuckons
I’m venting today, because I am very frustrated with Jira’s quirks and limitations as issue-tracking software. I spend too much time each day sifting through notification messages, and managing issues in Jira.
I’m also trying to get my head around some tough aspects of project management, and I’ll share some of that thinking with my usual signal-processing-plus-zany-perspective approach.
But first: Jira.
(Disclaimer: the opinions expressed herein are my own, and do...
