522: The Information Is In Poop
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Sonia Grego speaks with us about a topic no one likes to talk about, but could be used to monitor personal dietary health and widespread disease outbreaks. Toilets! Sonia leads Duke University’s Smart Toilet Lab and the spin out Coprata which makes the Microbiome Activity Tracker. As discussed in the show, when developing a project far from where it will be deployed, there are many common issues. The chapter of Sonia’s recent book gives an excellent introduction to the unexpected environment far from the comfort of desks. The book is (free online!) , See , the as...
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521: Are You The Tiny Domino?
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Kenneth Finnegan entertained us with stories about accidentally contributing to the internet’s ability to network. Wondering how the internet works? All those terms about IPv4, IPv6, BGP, OSPF, CDN and other alphabet soup? Check out the YouTube videos by . Kenneth writes about his adventures on his blog, . Some of the posts related to this show are: We also mention FCIX aka or the You can also find Kenneth at where you will find more about half-dollars, nickels, and trains. If you also secretly long to run a locomotive, take a look at the program at WPRM. The title is...
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520: All Sorts of Interesting Facts About Teeth
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Chris and Elecia apologize, discuss uses and abuses of chatbots, reach out to an uncertain manager, try to help someone out of their professor’s draconian rules, and extol the joys of reading. is in Oakland, CA, US. It is wonderful! Some suggestions for UncertainManager: Hang in there! You are probably doing better than you think. Audio books are great! In the US, many libraries have digital libraries with extensive audio collections. There are several apps with different catalogs for the same library Libby, Kanopy, Hoopla, and Palace (check out the California shelf at...
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519: The Password Is All Zeros
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Mark Omo and James Rowley spoke with us about safecracking, security, and the ethics of doing a bad job. Mark and James gave an excellent talk on the development of their safecracking tools at . It included a section of interaction involving the lock maker’s lawyers bullying them and how the Electronic Frontier Foundation () has a to support security research. As mentioned in the show, the US Cyber Trust Mark baseline has a very straightforward checklist; is the overall standard, is the technical checklist, is the non-technical (process/maintenance) checklist. Roughly the process is...
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518: Nothing We Can Do About Frogs
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James Cameron spoke with us about programming for and operating a large telescope. The show is a blend of astronomy, engineering on the fly, and weird lady bug habitats. The (AAT) is part of the Australian National University’s in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. The AAT has an where you can check in on a very dark sky. James was on where we talked about the Forth programming language and his experiences with One Laptop Per Child. Unrelated to the AAT, Chris took this image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) from his over 9 hours (multiple days), stacking...
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517: A Direct, Sensible Podcast
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Nathan Jones and Chris Svec give Chris and Elecia their 2025 performance review. Donations went to , an organization that provides funding and support to low-income and first-generation college students as well as free STEM tutoring for underserved schools. Embedded has already sent in the for a total of over $5000. Here is . We mentioned the , a small but mighty microscope. Also, mentioned was the book The show this week is sponsored by us. And you. Please consider on or . Or tell a friend about the show.
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516: Voices From the Cataclysms of the Universe
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Sophi Kravitz joined us to talk about art, science, and engineering. You can see on Sophi’s website ). A subset of the artwork had a short stay for a demo at . The completed work will be shown in 2026. Sophi mentioned collaborating with two sonic environment artists and . is an ionizing radiation detector. move through space at nearly the speed of light, generally originating far away and long ago. You can also see them in a We also talked about using sculpting in Blender (there are many online video introductions). Sophi does EE consulting and system quality checking...
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515: Script Boomers
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Nick Kartsioukas joined us to talk about security in embedded systems. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is the primary database to check your software libraries, tools, and OSs: . Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP, ) has information on how to improve security in all kinds of applications, including . There are also cheatsheets, Nick particularly recommends . Wait, what is supply chain security? Nick suggested a : it is about your code and tools including firmware update, a common weak point in embedded device security. Want to try out some security work?...
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514: Just Turn Off All the Computers
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Philip Koopman joined us to talk about embedded systems becoming embodied and intelligent. We focus on the safety considerations of making an intelligent and embodied device. Phil’s new book is . It uses robotaxis as an example as it discusses safety, security, human/computer interface, AI, and a bit of legal theory for tort negligence. If you’d like a taster, Phil gave a wonderful summary in his video: This new book is intended for a wider (less devotedly technical) audience than his book . Phil was last on the show in episode where we spoke about his book Thank you! ...
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513: I’m Sorry You Learned Something
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Jason Turner of C++ Weekly and Empty Crate spoke with us about the joy of puzzles, the changing directions of an interesting career, and the C++ programming language. I mean, of course we talked about C++. But only a little. Jason recently published , a book of puzzles for the logically minded. It teaches programming concepts as engaging puzzles: recursion, binary, assembly, Lisp, regular expressions. You may not know what you are learning but you’ll likely find you know a lot more about how computers work afterward. For the puzzles, paper is better than electronic. But you can...
info_outlineWe spoke with Janet Hansen about the world of professional costumery (with electronics) and becoming an artist.
Janet’s business is Enlighted where you can find custom illuminated clothing as well as Janet’s ready-made art. Janet’s personal site is janethansen.com which is more focused on her artistic pursuits.
Janet mentioned Seeed’s MSGEQ7.
We talked about Janet’s light up pillow with Debra Ansell on 494: All Tech Is Wearable — Embedded.
If you’re interested in the intersection of neuroscience and engineering, you might want to check out what Mouser Electronics is doing with Brain-Computer Interfaces. It’s all about how you can control machines with your mind, and it’s one of the coolest areas of innovation right now. Mouser’s Empowering Innovation Together site has great content on BCIs, from videos to in-depth articles and podcasts that break down the tech. If this piques your curiosity, head over to Mouser.com/empowering-innovation and explore what’s happening with BCI and other exciting developments in the world of design and engineering.