# Headless Units and Baseless Batteries - KiCad Kickoff Kopophobia

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2014-07-30
- Length: 1h 28m
- Episode: 209
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/209-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia/

## Summary

Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics explains his decision to release his KiCad video course to the public domain, citing the rapid evolution of the open-source EDA tool and a desire to give back to the community. Dave Jones from EEV Blog critiques a Kickstarter campaign for a 'graphene' AA battery, demonstrating through basic physics calculations that its claimed charging speed and capacity are impossible. The hosts also discuss the challenges of hardware accelerators, the technical feasibility of Google's micro-inverter competition, and new tools like an automated part-picking solver.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=0) Introduction and KiCad Release
- [2:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=151) KiCad Versioning and Community Tools
- [10:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=612) Critique of Graphene Battery Kickstarter
- [52:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=3125) Hardware Accelerators and VC Funding
- [1:13:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=4384) Google Micro-Inverter Challenge
- [1:21:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-07-30-headless-units-and-baseless-batteries-kicad-kickoff-kopophobia#t=4892) EDA Solver and NeoPixels

## Topics

- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)
- [Prototyping & iteration](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/prototyping)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- KiCad (tool)
- Contextual Electronics (company)
- Altium (tool)
- Eagle (tool)
- EEV Blog (company)
- Tesla (company)
- Google (company)
- LittleBits (product)
- NeoPixel (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [353: Red for the Ones That Might Blow Up](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-11-26-353-red-for-the-ones-that-might-blow-up) (Embedded.fm)
- [35: All These Different Reasons Why You Might Want to Do Something](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-01-15-35-all-these-different-reasons-why-you-might-want-to-do-something) (Embedded.fm)
- [The Spark Gap - Episode 24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-spark-gap/2015-01-07-the-spark-gap-episode-24) (The Spark Gap)
- [324: I'll Let You Name Your Baby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-03-19-324-ill-let-you-name-your-baby) (Embedded.fm)
- [Ep 214: Jet Engine Hair Dryer, Comic Sans Type Balls, and Belief in Graphene](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2023-04-14-ep-214-jet-engine-hair-dryer-comic-sans-type-balls-and-belief-in-graphene) (Hackaday Podcast)

## Citing this page

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