Mundane ‘aha!’ moments, mistakes, and mental models
A while back, I bought some LED pendants that I put on my dogs when I send them our into the yard at night to do their business. The pendants help me see where ...
Author: charlie
The Twelve Projects of Charlie
Based on my notes, on 15jul20 I will have completed one year since I started researching and designing a project for work that set me off on my crazy maker ride...
Working up to a proto step by step
I just posted a description of a tangible concept demo I recently built. There were a few new things in this, such as learning how to use the serial connection,...
Optoisolation and tangible concept demonstration
I work at a company that offers hardware-based cybersecurity products and services. Our major product is a network appliance, called a data diode, that restrict...
Building another tangible experience
At the end of last year, one of our product managers heard about my bioreactor demo. He thought it would be great to have something similar for software he was ...
Learning to KiCad with the other foot
My wife, who was a crack soccer player in her youth and an overall able athlete, is full of sport metaphors for life. One, particularly relevant to the story to...
Hacking hardware
This past month or so I’ve delved into hacking hardware (not building, but taking apart). I’m leading the efforts at Owl, the company I work with, t...
Pause for station identification
Wow. The world is such a different place since my last station identification. I’m writing this in the midst of the largest global disruption since perhap...
The value of the open source community
One of the most valuable components of open source hardware and software making is availability of code and guides built by a community around a solution, hardw...
Fun with cardboard circuits
The usual progression for making printed circuits is (very roughly) you design the circuit, prototype it on a breadboard, design your PCB, and iterate on your P...