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Bowie and The Brown Note

Feb 2, 2011 · 1 hr 5 min · Episode 28 · 62.8 MB

0:00-1:05:26

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The 555 contest continues onward! Everyone is getting excited! Dave's classic 1976 vintage Signetics 555 timer chip (which he destroyed! RIP). Can anyone beat it?
WOTW
- William
  - L-shaped bench photos
- Laurence White
  - Photo tour of the workshop
- Mr. J from Boston
  - Home workbench
  - Radio gear
Rants
- Dave doesn't like how all those cupcakes he's sending to US Senators have been blasted with high energy rays!
Shoutouts
- Dino Segovis linked here from his site!
- MAKE has a new live show! Great production value!
Discussion Points
- Dave plays the lotto!
- Plastic transistors are improving in the lab...could help for future printable electronics.
- Using lasers in board/chip construction followup:
  - @chrisindallas alerts us to PBeam technology for chips
  - And laser board cutters are already available for £80K
  - Cherish notes there are external forces pushing new methods to reduce chemicals in processing
- Perhaps the economy is picking up? NI plans to increase headcount 19% next year.
- ADI and NI have a free SPICE package that is pretty fancy. Bloated software but Chris liked it at first glance.
- Microchip still charges $900 for open-source software you can download and compile for free.
- Intel had a bit of a snafu with one of their latest chips. Time for heads to roll? Or is it a $700 million lesson like at IBM back in the day? (thanks to Eduardo for the link!)
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