The Amp Hour · 1 Mar 2021 · 1h 16m · Episode 532
Dave Jones of EEVblog and Chris Gammell of Contextual Electronics discuss the Blackmagic Design Video Assist ISO, analyzing its Xilinx Zynq FPGA and ARM processor architecture. They explore the financial and operational risks of product recalls, citing Jones's experience with a PCB thickness defect in his 121 GW multimeter and a massive field repair of seismic streamers caused by swelling rubber bands. The conversation also covers the Texas power grid failure, the closure of Fry's Electronics, and the Perseverance rover landing on Mars.
early-stage companies and large enterprises
Other shows on the same ground, closest first.
Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss the closure of Maker Media, a GPS hardware failure grounding flights, and a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ power management chip vulnerability. They also review community hacks including a vintage speech synthesizer, an SOIC test clip debug connector, and a mechanical drum machine, before analyzing the Takata airbag scandal.
Hosts Carl and Corey revisit topics from their first 31 episodes, discussing the NXP acquisition of Freescale, MakerBot's layoffs, and Tesla's certified pre-owned program and Powerwall. They also analyze the John Deere firmware ownership controversy, the performance trade-offs of No-OS and Lua on microcontrollers, and the evolution of the Raspberry Pi. The episode highlights specific components like NXP current-sensing MOSFETs and the PCA8550 I2C dip switch, while addressing software bugs in Boeing 787 generator control units and the importance of checking simple parts like LDOs.
Andrew Ikenberry, founder of Electrosmith and Qu-Bit, discusses the Daisy Seed platform, an embedded system for audio processing featuring an STM32H750 microcontroller and external SDRAM. He details the 'codec saga,' where supply chain disruptions forced three hardware redesigns (AKM, Cirrus Logic, TI) due to factory fires and obsolescence. Ikenberry explains how Electrosmith manages in-house SMT assembly in San Clemente to maintain quality control and iterates on manufacturing processes like reflow profiles to ensure reliability for B2B customers.
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss a week of hardware hacks, including a 3D-printed wire connector design by Harvey Mudrunchka and a tuning fork clock by Chris Slyka. They analyze the Texas power grid failures caused by freezing natural gas infrastructure and wind turbines, and examine Tesla's recall of pre-2018 Model S vehicles due to eMMC flash memory wear-out from excessive logging. The episode also covers reverse-engineering an air quality meter with Ghidra, spinach-based photo prints, and the use of automotive bedliner to finish 3D prints.
Hosts Alvaro and Jen reflect on four years of the Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast, discussing the evolution of the field from FPGA bitstream extraction to modern crypto-mining and ransomware economics. They highlight specific reverse engineering projects, including Asahi Linux’s port of Linux to Apple’s M1 processor and a DEFCON presentation on hacking smart meters to map power outages during the Texas snowstorm. The episode also covers Alvaro’s impromptu teardown of a Q Health COVID-19 test, detailing the microfluidics and chemical exposure risks involved.
The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.