EP#62: Yo Ho Ho and a Technological Bottle of Rum

Kent Johnson, Senior Corporate Advisor at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation joins us this week to discuss the multifaceted role of religious diversity in the workplace.  Topics range from addressing challenges, fostering inclusivity, and integrating faith with mental health support. We discuss authentic expression and trust building, social media's impact, interfaith collaboration, and the intersection of religion and science. Join us for this exploration of how religious diversity is an important aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. 🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! Defining Religion Broadly: Extending beyond adherence to sects and emphasizing shared values, principles, and beliefs that individuals adhere to with ardor and faith.Religion as a Business Issue: Affecting employee retention and workplace satisfaction. Highlighting the importance of employees feeling seen, appreciated, and free to express their beliefs.Challenges in the Workplace: Fear of disruption due to religious expression and the perception that religion is irrelevant to work, or prejudice for different ideologies. Authenticity and Trust Building: Building trust in the workplace, emphasizing the positive impact of transparency and realness in fostering an inclusive environment.Religious Diversity Initiatives: Faith groups collaborating on community service projects, and inclusive worship services during religious holidays.Social Media and Echo Chambers: The impact of social media on amplifying echo chambers and reinforcing biases, contributing to increased polarization in society.Religion and Science: The intersection of religion and science, highlighting potential areas of activity and dialogue around this topic.Healing Through Interfaith Collaboration: The positive impact of interfaith collaboration, such as visiting each other's places of worship.Authority and Religion in the Workplace: The impact of an individual's position on expressing religious beliefs in the workplace is discussed.Wearing Symbols and Openness: Discussion on wearing religious symbols in the workplace as an invitation for questions and engagement.Integration with Mental Health Support: Connection between faith in the workplace and addressing mental health issues. Highlighting the issue of loneliness in the workplace.Avoiding Compulsion: Stressing that sharing about one's faith should not be compulsory, advocacy for an open-door policy rather than a forced one.Relevant links:Religious Freedom and Business Association Get in touch with Kent!  He’d love to hear from you. Check out our episode about engineering ethics with Kent: EP413 The Gray Zone with Kent JohnsonAbout MacroFab:This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. We Want to Hear From You! Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

27 Feb 202458min

Parker and Stephen dive into the world of batteries, sparked by the BetaVolt BV100's claim of a 50-year lifespan. With discussions on its construction, potential applications, and recycling challenges, they unpack the implications of this revolutionary energy source.🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! Discussion Highlights: Introduction to the BetaVolt BV100 Battery: Overview of the Chinese-developed atomic battery boasting a 50-year lifespan, built with a Nickel-63 isotope and diamond semiconductor material.🔋Low Power Output and Future Plans: Discussion on the BV100's low power output and plans for a higher-powered version in 2025, anticipated to be larger in size.Bad Movie Tangent: Parker's love for terrible movies, including Leprechaun 2 with its leprechaun go-kart scene and the Tremors movie series. Sequels that violate their own universe rules.Battery Terminology: Explanation of nuclear vs. atomic vs. beta voltaic batteries, with a mention of photovoltaic technology.Recycling Challenges: Consideration of the challenges associated with recycling radioactive materials, including uranium ore. ♻️Decay Curve and Output Analysis: Deliberation on the decay curve and power output over time of the BV100 battery.Phone Application: Speculation on the potential use of the BV100 battery in smartphones, with the possibility of lasting 50 years without needing to be recharged.📱Quiescent Draw Calculation: Calculation of the quiescent draw that a smartphone would pull from the BV100 battery over a 24-hour period.Limitations and Usage Scenarios: Discussion on the limitations of low power and various usage scenarios for a nuclear-powered phone, including limited functionality and screen usage.Satellite Thrusters Application: The potential application of atomic batteries in satellite thrusters, particularly with the release of the higher-powered version.🛰️Radioactive Safety Concerns: Concerns raised about the proximity of radioactive elements to users' heads in a phone and its potential safety implications.☢️Quantum Entangled Energy Transmission: Extremely speculative discussion on quantum entangled energy transmission and its potential applications in the future. Questions to our listeners: Invitation to Quantum Physicists: How badly did we mess up quantum mechanics? We’d love to have an expert join us to discuss quantum mechanics for a future episode!  Also, if this becomes a real thing, how would you use 100 microwatts at 3 volts? Relevant links:Betavolt BV100 Atomic Battery Quantum Entanglement and Multispace ConceptionOur last design contest: EP188 Design Contest - Useless Machines Wrap UpAbout MacroFab:This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. We Want to Hear From You! Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts! And join our online Discourse discussion hub at forum.macrofab.com to keep the conversation going with electrical engineering experts and experimenters! You can also email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

20 Feb 202442min

Join Parker and Stephen as they delve into Japan's decision to phase out floppy disks and CD-ROMs for government submissions. From reminiscing about nostalgic tech quirks to analyzing the challenges and benefits of this transition, they explore the implications for industries and digital competitiveness. Discussing Japan's slow tech evolution, resistance to cloud systems, and the enduring use of floppy disks in various sectors, they ponder the future of outdated tech and its impact on global standings. Tune in to gain insights into the end of an era and what it signifies for technology and society.🚨Contest Announcement 🚨: Introducing a new Circuit Break contest! This contest is themed around building food-related electronic projects. We’re offering over $5,000 in cash prizes, themed trophies, and free prototyping from MacroFab. The deadline to submit is March 31st, 2024. Thanks to Mouser Electronics for sponsoring the contest prizes! Discussion Highlights: War on Floppy Disks 💾: Discussing Japan's decision to end the use of floppy disks in government operations.Implications of Technological Obsolescence: Speculating on the challenges of transitioning from physical media to digital storage.Comparisons to Government Processes: Stephen shares his experience with outdated military specifications and discusses the reliability of military-grade components.Automotive and Military Testing: Comparison of testing standards for automotive, military, and space applications, highlighting similarities and differences.What does this mean for Parker’s FD5? 😭: The implications for Parker's FD5 camera and its reliance on floppy disks, is this a ticking time bomb? Nostalgia vs. Modern Replication: Discussion on replicating vintage aesthetics with modern tech, including Parker's use of a disposable camera lens on a mirrorless camera.Grease Weasel: Explanation of the grease weasel device and its role in preserving data from old floppy disks.Floppy Disk Bombs: Stephen shares a fun and dangerous way of combining matches with floppy disks.  Don’t try this at home kids 🔥. Digital Competitiveness: Japan ranks 32 in digital competitiveness. What are the factors that affect a country's technological advancement?Industrial Use of Floppy Disks: Some industries still use floppy disks, including automotive, medical devices and avionics. Chuck E. Cheese used them until at least 2023.Secure. Contain. Protect. (SCP): Tangent about SCP, a copypasta site about different creatures in an organization called Secure. Contain. Protect. Predictions for Technological Obsolescence: Speculation on the last industrial or commercial use of floppy disks and potential next tech equivalents.We want to hear from you, so head over to our discourse to let us know: What industries that you work in are still using floppy disks?What will be the next tech equivalent of a dinosaur? Relevant links:Japan government accepts it’s no longer the ’90s, stops requiring floppy disksOur last design contest: EP188 Design Contest - Useless Machines Wrap Up Parker’s FD5 Camera: EP379 Taking Pictures With Magnetic Flux SCP Foundation Chuck E. Cheese still uses floppy disks in 2023, but not for longThank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

13 Feb 202441min

Discuss this episode.We welcome Chris Gammell, Developer Relations Lead at Golioth, to explore the exciting world of IoT (Internet of Things) and hardware. Chris brings his extensive engineering background to Golioth, a software company with a unique approach to IoT solutions. Join us as we delve into Golioth's distinct strengths in security, developer experience, scalability, reliability, and interoperability. Discover the future of IoT device provisioning and explore Chris's intriguing projects. If you're curious about IoT, Golioth, or the challenges and solutions in this space, don't miss this insightful episode with Chris Gammell.  Some of the topics we cover include: Getting the gang back togetherDeveloper relations = Application engineeringA hardware guy in a software worldCloud engineers vs. software engineers: what’s the difference?CockroachDB “will never die”What does Golioth do?Learning about the Constraint Application Protocol (aka CoAP)Golioth vs. other IoT companiesWhat is “Follow Along Hardware?” Security by Default Tales From the EncryptBack to BoschMicrodecisions with huge implications“You don’t know what you don’t know”Individual key sets to minimize multiple device issuesWhen Blu-ray got crackedShout out to Joe GrandGolIoTh…Monitoring in the back endBright, multicolored PCBs“Business in a box”Getting into ZephyrWhat is Golioth’s weakness?About our guest:Chris Gammell, the Developer Relations Lead at Golioth, combines his hardware expertise with Golioth's software focus in the realm of IoT. With a background in electrical engineering, he bridges the gap between hardware and software worlds, ensuring that Golioth addresses potential challenges proactively.Relevant links:Golioth.ioIoT Product Manufacturing with Golioth and MacrofabChris Gammell on LinkedInFollow Along Hardware blog post from Chris Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

6 Feb 202455min

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Brenden Duncombe to the show to discuss the pros and cons of continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (aka CI/CD) for hardware. Continuous integration (CI) refers to the practice of automatically and frequently integrating code changes into a shared source code repository. Continuous delivery and/or deployment (CD) is a two-part process that refers to the integration, testing, and delivery of code changes. In theory, CI/CD helps organizations avoid bugs and code failures while maintaining a continuous cycle of software development and updates, but we wanted to learn more about this with Brenden, so Parker and Stephen asked him about CI/CD, and also covered the following:Brenden’s product development background“What is a Director of Customer Engineering?”A brief history of CI/CDWhy it’s the opposite of a nightmareUnit tests for software…how does it work for hardware?Pinball Wizardry A “smearing” vs. a “silo”Test-driven dev benefits over the entire dev cycleIs CI/CD a hard concept to sell?How to make the investment worthwhileThe Hardware Regression StruggleWhen start-ups aren’t really prepared for contract manufacturers What is the ideal development cycle?Building something for your contract manufacturer? Always build twoTeenage Engineering Prep your firmware people with dev boards before the hardware reaches them“Like taking your specification doc and writing a test doc on top of that”Standard Fixtures and Future MacroFab Projects+ more!About our guest:Brenden Duncombe is the Director of Customer Engineering at MacroFab. His extensive experience in Electrical and Systems Engineering, and his leadership in steering engineering teams from concept to manufacturing, make him an essential voice at Macrofab.Relevant links:Enhancing Operational Safety: Cyber-Resilient Approaches for Physically Secure PCB DesignsWEBINAR - January 30Brenden Duncombe on LinkedInWhat is CI/CD?Circuit Break Podcast #15: Ridiculously Blinking LEDA guide to continuous delivery in embedded developmentCircuit Break Podcast #40: Update on the MacroDuino and FX DEV BoardDevOps vs CI/CD – The Key DifferencesThank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

30 Jan 202445min

Prepare to plug into the world of electrical engineering on Circuit Break - A MacroFab Podcast. Join two adventurous engineers, Parker Dillmann and Stephen Kraig, as they dissect the latest tech innovations, break down industry news, navigate the challenges of DIY projects and engage in compelling conversations with industry experts. Their real-world practical experience fuels their infectious passion and serves as the driving force behind a show that delves into both theoretical concepts and practical issues engineers face.  Parker and Stephen speak with fellow engineers, makers, hackers, and business leaders, creating a dynamic space for discussing challenges in the realm of electrical engineering. They unravel the origins of product updates, ponder the lab-to-marketplace journey of technological advancements and reverse engineer the engineering process. They love to speculate about the decisions dev teams have made and boldly offer their own opinions. The show provides a unique window into electrical engineering for recent graduates and current students, who want a sense of what job markets and workplaces are looking for. About MacroFab:This show is brought to you by MacroFab, which provides a platform for electronics manufacturing services (EMS), hardware development, designing and prototyping for individuals, startups, and businesses. Key MacroFab services include PCB (Printed Circuit Board) fabrication, assembly, and testing. Customers can use MacroFab's platform to upload their PCB designs, select components, and specify manufacturing requirements. MacroFab streamlines the electronics manufacturing process, making it more accessible to a wider range of users, from hobbyists to professional engineers and business owners, many of whom Parker and Stephen welcome to the show regularly. About Parker and Stephen:Parker brings a rich background in Embedded System Design and Digital Signal Processing (DSP). His journey in engineering began in 2005 when he hacked Nintendo consoles into portable gaming units. The following year, he pioneered an Atari 2600 video mod, eliminating RF fuzz and producing over a thousand mods. With a background in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Parker’s areas of interest include robotics, microcontroller theory and design, and image and signal processing with DSPs.Stephen Kraig started his electronics career in 2003 crafting musical-oriented circuits. An avid guitar player, Stephen channels his passion into manufacturing audio electronics, including guitar amplifiers, pedals, pro and other audio gear. He has spent close to a decade perfecting his brewing rig to make the best beer possible, often sharing his experiments with listeners. A Texas A&M Electrical Engineering graduate with a B.S, Stephen has served as the COO of William Mathewson Devices.  We Want to Hear From You! Subscribe to Circuit Break wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what you hear or have something to say, join our online Discourse discussion hub to keep the conversation going with EE experts and experimenters! That’s also where we break down additional content based on each episode, and ask you, our dear listeners, to tell us who you want to hear from and what you want us to explore.

24 Jan 20241min

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Joe Grand to the show to discuss insecure IoT devices. Inspired by a recent incident where Bosch wrenches were infected by ransomware called DRILLCRYPT, the guys asked Joe to join them to talk about how attackers could compromise the safety of the wrench and cause safety issues for users. Of course, this kind of breach could impact almost any company and its products, and so many topics were covered, including:“Actually, it’s Dr. Grand…”If you’re in attack mode, firmware updates are greatSupply chain issues are hard enough to manage without these security breachesA lack of security can be a business decisionGive me convenience or give me threatsThe hardware industry isn’t as well-versed as the software industry isHow to update 10,000 devices in the fieldHacking is problem-solving (someone tell the FBI)“If you’re not being sued, you’re not working hard enough’Sourcing parts and the risk of getting counterfeit partsWhy a firmware update shouldn’t disable your carResisting Big ToiletSubscription models for…everything…The importance of Design For Security measuresIs getting hacked more of a marketing problem than an engineering issue?Engineering ethics and hacking and designAbout our guest:Joe Grand, also known as Kingpin, is a computer engineer, hardware hacker, teacher, advisor, daddy, honorary doctor, and occasional video maker. He has been creating, exploring, and manipulating electronic systems since the 1980s. This is his third appearance on our show and first since 2019!Relevant links:Enhancing Operational Safety: Cyber-Resilient Approaches for Physically Secure PCB DesignsWEBINAR - January 30Bright Minds, Brighter Future Day of Innovation and Networking Event - February 1Meet Joe GrandDRILLCRYPT vs. BoschVulnerabilities on Bosch Rexroth Nutrunners May Be Abused to Stop Production Lines, Tamper with Safety-Critical TighteningsCircuit Break Podcast #73: Joe Grand: The Origin StoryCircuit Break Podcast #185: What You Are Designed To Do - A Joe Grand Manufacturing AdventureThank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

23 Jan 20241h 6min

This week Parker and Stephen welcome Kent Johnson to the show to discuss ethics in engineering. It’s a topic that has been alluded to over the course of Circuit Break, but this is the first time Parker and Stephen have delved into it with a real expert on the matter. Yes, most companies have standards and regulations and a moral code that guide them but, as Kent suggests, there are more ethical gray areas in the realm of engineering than we might realize. Topics covered here include:Discovering something isn’t being done properly at your new jobAgreeing to work on something with life-or-death consequences, and you don’t really know what you’re doingBypassing important project safety tests to meet a deadlineCrediting others in an age of ChatGPT and redefinitions of plagiarismHow do you credit and use open source code?Why siloed departments at companies are causing such harm to work dynamicsThe tyranny of the specThe true dangers of “failure” or “gotcha” work culturesAccepting accountability and being willing to changeAvoiding QC by zipping the lip+moreAbout our guest:Kent Johnson is Senior Corporate Advisor for the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and a management consultant on religious diversity at work. With over 37 years of experience as a Senior Counsel at Texas Instruments, Kent is a seasoned legal expert who specializes in corporate law, ethics, product liability, antitrust, medical/FDA law, and mergers and acquisitions. Since leaving Texas Instruments in 2018, Kent has been helping companies adopt best practices regarding religious diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He is also Stephen’s father-in-law, so this really a family show this week.Relevant links:Kent Johnson (LinkedIn)Religious Freedom & Business AssociationWhy Are Ethics Important In Engineering?Circuit Break Podcast #14: Discrepant DiodesCircuit Break Podcast #410: Eighth Annual MacroFab Star Wars Christmas Special Somehow this Podcast ReturnedJoin the Circuit Break Discourse Community!Thank you for listening to the MacroFab Engineering Podcast!  We’d love to hear what you think of the show so please tweet at us @MacroFab and join our Circuit Break Community for discussions or email us at podcast@macrofab.com.

16 Jan 202457min