Trolling venture capital and the death of Hacker Camp Shenzhen

hacker-camp

The sixth and final Hacker Camp Shenzhen begins in a few days. We’ll do the typical tours, market shopping, factory visits, and lots of eating and drinking. There are around 30 purchased tickets, and another dozen repeat campers and locals coming along to help.

Hacker Camp has been amazing because of the totally cool people who come, but the stench of death has been noticeable for a while. Shenzhen has become too damn trendy and Hacker Camp is attracting the wrong kind of people.

Hacker Camp is about authentic connections with hackers from all over the world, and getting hands on experience exploring the massive resources available here. So, when an executive assistant at a major venture capital firm on Sand Hill Road tries to weasel into a sold out event like this:

Hi Ian,

My name is Theresa and I got your contact information from Anjney. I was hoping you could help me with getting a ticket for Mike to the Hacker Camp on March 24-26th. The camp is now sold out.
Anything you can do would be greatly appreciated! J

Thank you!

Theresa

_EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT _
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
2750 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Then our ‘executive assistant’ sends a reply like this:

Hi Theresa,

Thanks for inquiring about Hacker Camp Shenzhen. Tickets sell extremely fast, we are both sold out and over-sold.

There is an Elite VIP package available exclusively to VCs. For $25,000USD we will strap a Go-Pro camera to one camp participant and one small dog named LingLing. At the end of the camp we’ll send you the videos by DHL!

Now you are no doubt thinking “Two perspectives for $25,000, that’s a lot of value!” You’re right! So if you want, you can pay more!

Thanks again for inquiring about Hacker Camp Shenzhen.

Best regards,

Lynn Lacanaria

Executive Assistant
Shenzhen Dangerous Prototypes Electronics Technology INC
1106A Galaxy Plaza, Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen, China

We email detailed instructions to campers. We have a forum. There’s a WeChat group for communicating with other campers. Today we got an email from an executive assistant at another venture capital firm asking basic questions that are easily answered via any of these avenues.

It’s clear these three participants from a VC firm haven’t personally read the emails or joined the WeChat group. If they’re so disconnected from the event that an executive assistant is following up on Hacker Camp then there’s no reason for them to be here.

We grumbled in the WeChat group and by almost unanimous decree decided to refund their tickets. While discussing the situation, someone in the group mentioned they were researching alternative investment strategies, including checking out the best uitbetalende casino’s 2024 to see which platforms were offering higher payouts. We assume they’re mid-air and that poor executive assistant will have to forward our profanity-laden response when they hit the ground. We’re sure they’re lovely people, but people who haven’t prepared for the camp shouldn’t come.

Hacker Camp is a fun way to meet amazing people and get fresh perspectives on the resources in Shenzhen. As Shenzhen gets trendy, for example the 20 page spread in the latest Wired magazine, it’s harder and harder to maintain an authentic experience.

In the future we hope to ditch the Hacker Camp Shenzhen name and create something new. Something more informal and curated. There will likely be an application and interview process to filter out non-hackers. It’s been clear for a while that Hacker Camp isn’t sustainable in the form we want to present, and today venture capital people with executive assistants killed it for good.

Counterfeit Macbook charger teardown: convincing outside but dangerous inside

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Ken Shirriff writes, “What’s inside a counterfeit Macbook charger? After my Macbook charger teardown, a reader sent me a charger he suspected was counterfeit. From the outside, this charger is almost a perfect match for an Apple charger, but disassembling the charger shows that it is very different on the inside. It has a much simpler design that lacks quality features of the genuine charger, and has major safety defects.”

Details at Ken Shirriff’s blog.

19th century radio technology meets the Beaglebone

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Ashish Derhgawen built a coherer-based receiver with a simple decoherer mechanism, and connected it to a Beaglebone to decode the received signals:

In my last post, I described how I made a spark-gap transmitter and receiver. For the transmitter, I used a car’s ignition coil to produce high voltage sparks, and for the receiver, I used a coherer to detect the transmissions. A coherer is a simple device – it consists of iron filings between two electrodes. Normally the filings have very high electrical resistance (tens of megaohms), but when the coherer detects electromagnetic waves, its resistance drops to about 10-20 ohms.

More details at Ashish’s blog.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “19th century radio technology meets the Beaglebone”

Atmel SAM D09 Development board

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Dan Watson has designed a development board for the Atmel SAM D09 microcontroller:

The Atmel SAM D series of 32-bit microcontrollers includes several devices, each with a long list of features at great prices. Perhaps the best known of the series in the maker community is the SAM D21 due to its use on the Arduino Zero. However, there are several other devices in the product line that are worth taking a look at. The smallest of the bunch is the SAM D09 that comes in a 14-pin SOIC package. The 14SOIC package is one of my favorites. It is easy to solder, easy to break out on a PCB, and takes up little board space. I decided to order some SAM D09C chips and design a small development board in order to learn more about the capabilities of the device.

Project info at The Sync Channel blog.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

IRToy We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: Iris Recognition SFH 4780S

an_osram_iris_recognition_SFH4780S

This application note from OSRAM describes the use of the SFH 4780S in iris recognition (iris scanning) as illumination module. Link here (PDF)

Personal authentication is becoming a key requirement for various electronic devices. Besides of the pin number, today most systems are based on so called biometric “properties”. Biometrics can include fingerprints, facial features, retina, iris, voice, fingerprint, palmprints, vein structures, handwritten signatures and hand geometry. All these biometrics have various pros and cons. However, only iris recognition claims to be a ‘hard-to-spoof’ system in combination with an ultra-low false acceptance rate (i.e. one in a million). Additionally, it also features greater speed, simplicity and accuracy compared to other biometric systems. The traits of iris recognition systems rely on the unique patterns of the human iris which are used to identify or verify the identity of an individual.

App note: Eye safety of IREDs used in lamp applications

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This application note from OSRAM describes the possible hazards of infrared LEDs (IREDs) used for lamp applications with respect to the IEC-62471 standard and how to classify IREDs according to different risk groups. Link here (PDF)

As the radiated optical power of light emitting diodes (LEDs) has increased in recent years, the issue of eye safety has received an ever-increasing amount of attention. Within this context there has been much discussion about the right safety standard either the laser standard IEC-60825 or the lamp safety standard IEC-62471 to apply to the classification of LEDs. Before mid 2006 all LED applications were covered by the IEC-60825. Today most of the LED applications are covered by the lamp standard. Other than lasers, lamps are only generally defined in this standard as sources made to produce optical radiation. Lamp devices may also contain optical components like lenses or reflectors. Examples are lensed LEDs or reflector type lamps which may include lens covers as well. The status quo is, that for different applications of LEDs, like data transmission or irradiation of objects, different standards have to be used: data transmission IEC-60825 & lamp applications IEC-62471. Both safety standards do not cover general exposure scenarios and are not legally binding.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

BP

Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

Building a “$5 Forth computer” – first steps

adaptors

Ken Boak writes:

In this post we look at a new MSP430 FRAM based device – the MSP430FR2433. It has 15K of FRAM, 0.5K of Info FRAM and 4K bytes of SRAM. As well as the memory, there are 3 serial communications interfaces, a multichannel 10 bit ADC and 3 timers. All of this in a tiny low cost package – which makes an almost perfect Forth Computer.
The MSP430FR2433 from Texas Instruments costs about $1.36 in volume – and $2.58 in 1 off.
With a little creative design, low cost parts and a tiny 2 layer pcb we are en-route to offering a Forth Computer which could cost as little as $5 when produced in volume.

More details at Ken’s blog.

nRF24L01+ 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity with the tinyK20 board

nrf24l01-transceiver-with-tinyk20

Erich Styger writes:

I’m using the tiny and inexpensive Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ transceiver (see “Tutorial: Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ with the Freescale FRDM-K64F Board“) in many projects: it costs less than $3 and allows me to communicate with a proprietary 2.4GHz protocol in a low power way (see “IoT: FreeRTOS Down to the Micro Amps“). I have that transceiver now running with the tinyK20 board too.

More details at MCU on Eclipse site.

OpenGarage, an Open-source WiFi garage door opener

Ray Wang has published a new project called OpenGarage, an open-source garage door opener based on ESP8266 and the Blynk app:

Today I am very excited to introduce you to OpenGarage — an open-source, universal garage door opener built using the ESP8266 WiFi chip and the Blynk app. I’ve wanted to finish this project for a while, as there have been multiple occasions where I left the house in a hurry and forgot to close my garage door, or locked myself out of the house, or had to let a friend or handyman in while I was away. Having a WiFi-based garage door opener (which I can access remotely using my mobile phone) would be super convenient. Recently as I started learning about ESP8266, I found it to be the perfect platform to help me complete this project.

Project info at Rayshobby.net.

Ultimate geeky desk sockets

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Here’s a geeky desk sockets project from Luke. He writes:

I wanted a few more functions than just a desk USB Hub.
Looking on the net i came across this youtube video . This was the type of thing i was looking for but it had far too many functions and too large.
I decided to list the things i would like:

1) USB Hub (powered)
2) SD card reader
3) Basic adjustable psu
4) Mains socket
I decided rather than making something scratch i would see if there was anything available i could just modify to fit all my criteria.

Project info at Luke’s blog.

Using Altium for a DirtyPCBs order

altium

Jarrett  has written an article describing a technique of using Altium for a DirtyPCBs order:

This is a pretty rare combo: using a premium PCB package with the budget board house.
Kinda funny.
Generally these small run PCB houses provide DRU and CAM files for EAGLE design rule checking and Gerber outputs, respectively. Because I’m using Altium, I had to make it up as I went along.
It gets much easier when you understand what Gerber files are. While we’re all used to standard, unified output formats that contain all of the data we need, Gerbers are very much still a holdover from manufacturing in the 80s.
When you export these, a whole bunch of files get generated. This is intimidating, but don’t panic! They all have different extensions like GBO, GTL, etc. These are all the same type of file.

Details at Jarrett’s blog.

Via the contact form. Thanks for the tips!

(Nothing less than) The perfect tea timer

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Michael from Acidbourbon has built the “perfect” tea timer project.  He wrote a post on his blog detailing its assembly:

Maybe you just drink coffee, so this article might not catch your interest. However, if you enjoy a cup of black or green tea now and then, you’re likely familiar with the frustration of letting your tea steep for a bit too long, only to end up with a bitter taste. To prevent this, you might turn to your smartphone’s timer function. You unlock the screen, open the timer app, set it for “3:00” minutes, press start, and pour boiling water over the tea. As the timer starts counting down, it’s easy to draw a parallel to how players are drawn to great casinos not on gamstop, seeking the perfect balance between thrill and risk. Much like timing your tea perfectly, these platforms offer an exciting escape, but they also require careful consideration to avoid unpleasant outcomes. When the timer finally beeps, you’re scrambling to manage the hot and wet teabag, fumbling to silence your phone with wet fingers. The stress of it all is a reminder that precision matters, whether in steeping tea or choosing the right link slot gacor gambling platform.
Of course that is a first world problem and you could just deal with it. Or if you are a tinkerer, like me, you might want to build yourself the perfect tea timer. The desired properties are:

Very small
Extremely simple user interface
When finished it plays a short melody and goes to standby by itself
Not expensive
Long battery life

Project info at Acidbourbon site.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “(Nothing less than) The perfect tea timer”

STM32 FM song transmitter using tricky crystal feedback modulation

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Vinod writes, “This is an FM transmitter directly made from STM32F407 discovery. It transmits the wav file stored in internal flash via FM at 100MHz.
The modulation over here is happening by a tricky feedback from the analog output of the same mcu to the crystal oscillator there by disturbing the crystal frequency and creating frequency modulation.
It works nicely than expected an getting a very good range and comparable to normal single transistor FM transmitter.

More details at Vinod blog.

Via the contact form.

Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading “STM32 FM song transmitter using tricky crystal feedback modulation”

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

IRToy We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: Enhancing workplace safety in hazardous locations with PICO® 259-UL913 intrinsically safe fuse

an_littlefuse_littelfuse_fuse_pico_259_ul913

Application note from Littelfuse about their (IS) intrinsically safe fuse which doesn’t produce sufficient heat that could trigger sparks which are dangerous in an explosive environment. Link here (PDF)

Gases, petroleum products, and airborne dusts tend, by their very nature, to be explosive if sources of sparks or excess heat are present. Over the years, these hazards have led to some catastrophic losses of life and property. In response to this hazardous potential, regulatory bodies around the world, including Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., have worked to establish and refine a standard that will minimize the hazards associated with these working environments. UL 913, which was originally issued in 1971, establishes the standard for “Intrinsically Safe Apparatus and Associated Apparatus for Use in Class I, II, and III, Division 1, Hazardous (Classified) Locations.”

The purpose of this standard is to specify requirements for the construction and testing of electrical apparatus, or parts of such apparatus, having circuits that are not capable of causing ignition in Division 1 Hazardous (Classified) Locations as defined in Article 500 of the National Electrical Code, ANSI/NFPA 70. Limiting exposure to high surface temperatures and requirements for dust-tight enclosures are key aspects of the UL913 standard.

App note: Controlling LED lighting using triacs and quadracs

an_littlefuse_littelfuse_triac_quadrac_led dimming_appnote

Solid State device and circuits for controlling LEDs lighting, replacing conventional incandescent lamps, an App note from Littlefuse. Link here (PDF)

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are fast becoming the most popular lighting option. Industry forecasts anticipate the market will continue to expand at an annual rate of 20% from 2011 to 2016, with the greatest growth coming in the commercial and industrial lighting sectors. As incandescent lamps have been made largely obsolete, given the U.S. government’s mandate to save energy, they have frequently been replaced by LEDs due to their long life (typically 25,000 hrs.) and the ease of adapting them to many different socket and shape requirements. However, LED lighting control presents a few problems not encountered with incandescent lamps. For example, with much less current from the LED load, normal types of triacs may be challenged in terms of latching and holding current characteristics.

Triacs make up the heart of AC light dimming controls. Triacs used in dimmers have normally been characterized and specified for incandescent lamp loads, which have high current ratings for both steady-state conditions and initial high in-rush currents, as well as very high end-of-life surge current when a filament ruptures.

Because they are diodes, LEDs have much lower steady-state current than incandescent lamps, and their initial turn-on current can be much higher for a few microseconds of each half-cycle of AC line voltage. Therefore, a spike of current can be seen at the beginning of each AC half-cycle. Typically, the current spike for an AC replacement lamp is 6–8 A peak; the steady-state follow current is less than 100 mA.

Designing an AC circuit for controlling LED light output is very simple when using the new Q6008LH1LED or Q6012LH1LED Series Triacs because only a few components are required. All that is needed is a firing/triggering capacitor, a potentiometer, and a voltage breakover triggering device.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

BP

Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”

Measuring SDR noise figure

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David has written an article on measuring SDR noise figure:

One number I wanted to know was the Noise Figure (NF) of the SDR. Mark has a bunch of SDRs so we got on a roll and checked out the NF on all of them.

Now there are a lot of people playing with SDRs, but very few tutorials on HowTo engineer radio systems. For example, how to answer questions like “can I send this many bit/s over X km with SDR hardware Y?” So I thought it might be useful to explain how we measured Noise Figure (NF) and present the results for a bunch of SDRs.

More details at Rowetel site.