Jul 4, 2015

ESP8266 meets NodeMCU

ESP8266 meets NodeMCU

Yesterday, I made great progress on playing around with the ESP8266, the $2 Wifi Module [http://www.ebay.com/itm/151657399118][1]. I will continue to document my progress on this blog. First,

Jul 3, 2015

Hello (ESP8266) World

Hello (ESP8266) World

Yesterday, I sat down and played with my shiny new ESP8266 module. I also got the Huzzah Breakout Board [http://adafruit.com/products/2471] from Adafruit, which uses an ESP module. Actually, I&

Jun 30, 2015

Lean Manufacturing, v2

The concept of “Lean Startup” is pretty pervasive in tech. This idea comes from Lean Manufacturing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing], which argues the benefits of small batch production. Smaller batches

Jun 25, 2015

Making Custom PCBs

Making Custom PCBs

PLEASE NOTE: I've written a new and improved version of this guide [https://blog.nyl.io/hello-world-custom-pcb-fritzing/]. Yeah! Updates!!We've all see something like this before. The simple breadboard

Jun 23, 2015

Internet Dog Treat Dispenser (v3)

Internet Dog Treat Dispenser (v3)

Once upon a time, a few dog people (people who love dogs, not dog+people hybrids) made a remote controlled dog treat dispenser. You know, because that's what dog people do

May 12, 2015

Why Ghost

Every year or so, I test out some new blogging platform. It's fun, I suppose. Trying out new technology. For a little over a year, I've been writing on

May 4, 2015

Sightreading

I once heard of a concert pianist who prepare for concerts by reading the scores. On the plane ride over to a particular concert, he will look at the score and think about

Apr 26, 2015

Are Brands Becoming Irrelevant?

Last Friday, somebody asked me, “what’s your favorite fashion brand?” This question caught me a bit off guard. It’s a perfectly reasonable question, especially since we were at a talk about

Apr 13, 2015

Perfection is Arrogance

We’ve all worked with these people. Perfectionists. Exacting people who want things done a specific way. Their way. The perfect way. At least that’s what they hide behind. This idea that

Apr 12, 2015

Ownership to Accessibility

The world is shifting from valuing ownership to valuing accessibility. I use Rdio to access music. I own very few CDs. I use Kindle to access books. I trim down my bookshelf every

Apr 11, 2015

Good Design, Bad UX

Good Design, Bad UX

This parking sign project popped up in my newsfeed a few times last week. LA is piloting this new signage design [http://www.lamayor.org/mayor_garcetti_unveils_new_easy_to_read_parking_

Apr 9, 2015

Genuinely Curious

Genuinely Curious

I once sat down at a lunch table with some strangers, and we started chit chatting. It was one of those situations where we talked to fill the silence, because awkward noise beats