Citizen Engineer – Consumer Electronics Hacking and Open Source Hardware
Phillip Torrone
Ladyada
This is a hands-on session on all the things you’re not supposed to do (but want to) with the gadgets that fill our drawers and shelves: transform an old VCR into an automatic cat feeder, use open interfaces to control Roomba robotic vacuums. Projects like these (and others, such as WRT54G hacking, iPod Linux, car-computer hacking, etc.) are part of a growing trend where consumers are going back and hacking what they buy. Just as computer hacking is closely tied to the Open Source software movement, so can such embedded gadget-hacking lead to an Open Source hardware movement.
Saturday 1200
Area A
The Geeky, Personal, and Social Impact Sides of Creating Defensive Technology
Mitch Altman
Ladyada
Ever wish you had the power to turn off a TV in a restaurant or disable an intrusive cell phone? Social defensive technologies are “reality hacking” devices that give us the sort of sociopathic control we’ve come to enjoy on the Internet alone. Three years ago, Mitch decided he’d had enough of televisions and designed the TV-B-Gone, a universal “off” keychain remote. Around the same time, Ladyada designed a personal RF jammer. Together they will discuss these projects in the context of reclaiming personal space, culture-jamming, and how we can design technologies that do what we really want. Don’t expect good WiFi/cell reception.
Sunday 1000
Area A
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Select Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: PyCon AU 2024 Talks, New Raspberry Pi Gear Available and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
