The Internet of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: Part 1

As recently as a year ago I was thrilled about the mass market traction being gained by "The Internet of Things". I revamped my blog to talk about making a ZigBEE coffee pot!!! However, products I have discovered in the subsequent months have caused me to re-evaluate my stance.

The Internet of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is a series of posts aimed to document specious examples of modern buzzword consumer tech. Don't worry about holding onto your hat, surely we can find a maker to 3D print an IoT enabled wearable to replace it.

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Throughout history, the drive of technology has been improving the quality of life. A common aim to achieve this objective is taking a tedious or labor intensive task, and handing it over to a machine. From dishwashers, to calculators, to Roombas, the examples are as varied as they are endless.

The classic examples stand as such because the cause and effect is universally obvious. I spend too much time doing dishes, I will invent a machine to do it for me. I do not like long division, I will invent a machine to do it for me. I get too many scratches giving my cat piggy back rides, I will invent a machine to do it for me.

The description of the Quirky Refuel does its best to convince you that it has a place among these indispensable, life improving products:

"Nothing puts the kibosh on a cookout faster than an empty propane tank. With Refuel, you'll never get caught off guard by said BBQ bummer again. This super smart propane tank gauge connects to the Wink app on your mobile device so no matter where you are, you’ll always know when it's time to refuel."

My red flag for IoT devices is anything along the lines of "...no matter where you are, you'll always know when it's time to..."

In this specific context, what does that mean? I am out to dinner with my wife on a random Tuesday, and am suddenly possessed by the need to know how much propane I have? I am debugging firmware at 2pm the next day, when OMG HOW MUCH PROPANE DO I HAVE??!? It's Friday, 5am at the gym. I am unloading the squat press machine. The 45 pound plate tugging on my arm... this feels familiar... OMGWTF IS MY PROPANE TANK LESS THAN HALF FULL ?!!!??!!???????

I cook outside a lot, and just fail to see how having this information persistently at my fingertips would ever be useful. In the absolute best case scenario, I am shopping for things I plan on cooking within the next hour or two, wonder if I am good on propane, check my phone and discover that I am not... and have to drive back home to pick up my tank and go get it refilled??? I suppose this solves a problem for people who both cannot figure out if they can make it through a cook by just picking up the can, AND are extraordinarily concerned about both completing their cook without interruption and optimizing trips to the propane store.

So if eliminating these 5 second checks (which require you to be next to the tank) improves your life, this is a worthwhile product.

That is only half of my issue with it though.

This product retails for $49.99. A brand new 20# propane tank costs ~$30. Just keep a full tank as a backup, and your problem is solved.

It isn't a fun solution, but sometimes improving your life is pretty simple ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Boring Machine Disturbs Sleep

It is the day before my team was scheduled to present our senior project. We had spent months designing, prototyping, and testing circuits for a vacuum tube guitar amp and a handful of effects.

We handled all of the documentation first, assuming it would be the worst part of our final prep. The effects were already installed in their shiny enclosures. The only thing left to do was assemble the amp. I had gone through the pre-amp, power amp, and tone stack separately, and the assembly at this time reflected that, with a handful of modules jumpered together. It didn't sound great, but it worked.

It is 10pm the day before my team was scheduled to present our senior project. Re-Assembling the amp in a presentable enclosure is taking a lot longer than I had assumed. My three teammates are with me, but mainly for support. I mean... I didn't really have measurements for wire, and how many people can really solder inside an 8"x12"x2" enclosure?

It is 4am the morning my team was scheduled to present our senior project. 2 teammates have left... I am baffled by how long this is taking.

It is 8am the morning my team was scheduled to present our senior project. I finally finish. My teammate grabs a guitar and I connect the amp to the speaker cabinet. He turns it on... nothing. We are too tired to panic and skip straight to sulking. I grab a meter to start checking things, but the issue jumps out at me as soon as I open the amp: the fuse holder we mounted in this case is empty. Our test rigs had not used fuses, because we were just some wild (stupid? lucky?) kids I guess. We designed it into the final assembly for obvious reasons.

A quick re-wire to test the balance of the work validated the non fuse related portions of the project, so we went to Village Inn and ate breakfast. On the way back to my duplex we stopped at RadioShack and bought a fuse.

I restored the project to spec prior to our presentation. Somehow self oscillating delays and hendrix riffs mangled by logic gate glitch synth effects command enough attention to keep people's attention away from checking your wiring up against your schematic.

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Most technically inclined people have a complicated relationship with RadioShack.

The function which determines the ultimate aim of one's view of The Shack has a lot of variables. What are your feelings on newspapers? Have you ever saved a project by driving 2 miles to buy an op-amp? How much does spending $3 on an op-amp bother you? Where does an employee directing you to the section of the store which sells boomboxes after hearing "op-amp" fall on your "Rage - LOLZ" spectrum?

Personally? I have always appreciated RadioShack.

I will never understand how they made enough money to stay open.

Their inability to capitalize on the hacker/maker/STEM momentum of the past 5ish years is as confounding as it is depressing.

Trying to upsell a cell phone plan to a man buying a 555 timer always struck me more as a bizarre joke than a call to consumer arms.

Every non conference attending work trip I have ever made has featured a trip to RadioShack. Design engineers usually get sent on trips because something they designed is not working in a pretty significant way. Working on the road is an art in and of itself, especially if you don't check a bag (fun fact: you can't carry on a screw driver that is >6" long, but a PCBA that can talk ARINC-429? Totally fine!), but you will always need something you don't have. A tool, a part, some wire, etc.

The parts bin at RadioShack is limited, but I have solved a lot of problems with it. Their cheap soldering irons are terrible, but when swapping some resistors will send you home earlier than waiting for a replacement PCBA, you make it work.

It is easy to mock RadioShack, but I always saw it as the store in a mall that sold perf boards. How can you tell me that the world is a better place now that I cannot buy a perf board at the mall???