The Amp Hour

By The Amp Hour (Chris Gammell and David L Jones)

The Amp Hour is a weekly conversation about electronics and the people who design them.... more

4.9

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FAQs about The Amp Hour:

How many episodes does The Amp Hour have?

The podcast currently has 745 episodes available.

The Amp Hour episodes:

August 09, 2011Shonky Stiver Stultiloquence
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Just when you thought the names of episodes couldn’t get any weirder…
US economy seems to be diving again, hopefully it will not seriously impact the electronics industry.
If it does, Chris thinks startups will be even more reliant on Angel Investors like Paul Buchheit (creator of Gmail)
Is DIY finally going mainstream, as Wired suggested recently? An article from Futurismic seems to think this is a bad thing and that money coming in will ultimately hurt the "Maker Movement".
One bad thing could be that people could license their projects as Open Source Hardware (like the Penguino) ... but then not be open!
One thing that comes with more visibility...money. And the US government is funding small startups, some of which might be OSHW. Modeled after a program at Stanford.
University of Michigan is also starting a program for burgeoning startups, granting new Masters of Entrepreneurship Degrees.
Have you ever seen an electronics-inspired license plate out on the road before?
Embedded Eric sent in the entry he submitted to the Touchstone Semi design contest that is wrapping up. A 4.4 uW 555 clone that can run at 18 Hz. Awesome!
Shoutouts:
Our pal and regular guest, Jeff Keyzer of MightyOhm, has a new OSHW Geiger Counter Kit. He'll be showing one off while he's at the Chaos Communication Camp in Berlin.
Chris's good friend Dave Young just finished running a program teaching high school kids electronics over 6 weeks. The kids have written up their impressions of the program and they are/will be posted to the Blue Stamp Engineering blog portion of the site.
Shonky Product of the Week:
First pointed out on the EEVblog forums, "Fuel Savers" for cars seem like an utter load of bunk.
Forum member oPossum did a great review of a 'popular' one and found a few passives and a linear regulator.
This Day in Nerd History:
Neville Mott passed away in 1996. He was a theoretical physicist who helped discover some key points in metal/oxide transitions in semiconductors. He won the 1977 prize in physics and the "Mott Transition" is named after him.
Video of Dr. Mott from 1985, along with many other Nobel Prize winners, is available from the BBC.
Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, writes about the need for boredom to inspire creativity. Too many devices preclude boredom these days.
A writer at Gizmodo maintains that creativity is still possible and cites the design of the iPhone as an innovative product. What is the iPhone designer like though?
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1h 6min
August 02, 2011An Interview with Jack Ganssle - Embedded Elchee Epexegesis
Embedded industry maven and prolific writer, Jack Ganssle, joins us on The Amp Hour this week.
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Dave called Chris a "young whippersnapper" (actually "young feller", but the same sentiment) in writing about Jeri's chip making.
A former colleague of Jack's maintained that spec's for computers were driven by the porn industry and how much traffic they expected their servers to handle.
Dave notes that the "big thing "a few years back was the soft processor promise (inside FPGAs) and now it has reversed.
Jack mentions that he likes the Altera C-to-H functionality, but that it's always going to be a tradeoff.
Dave is working with the Actel (Microsemi) Igloo Nano. The same size as two 0603 decoupling caps! Tiny!
Jack thinks the rash of mergers will continue based upon the costs involved in making chips.
Jack also takes Dave's side on the home-printed chip debate.
Jack has a strong stance on work-life balance and tries to take 4 months off per year. Chris has been experiencing the opposite lately.
The embedded systems conference in India only had 400 or so attendees but was a passionate bunch of people.
When asked about the Maker Movement, Jack responded "Finally!". Industry is taking notice too, Autodesk just bought Instructibles.
Back in the day, Jack got his start building radios as a ham operator (N3ALO).
Writing (technically or otherwise) is an important skill for modern engineers. Presenting in front of nerdy audiences is important too!
People can hear/read more from Jack in his weekly column on Embedded.com or from his bi-weekly(ish) newsletter.
Thanks again to Jack for coming on the show! His industry insight is unparalleled and we hope to get to talk to him again soon!
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1h 7min
July 26, 2011Biarchy Birthday Bavardage
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Happy Birthday to us! One year in the bag! Thanks for all of our wonderful listeners!
From the EEVBlog forums, user "dics" is listening to The Amp Hour on a breadboard! Awesome!
Tech Shop SF is matching donations on a new campaign to spread the word of Hacker/Makerspaces in the community.
Chris's alma mater, Case Western Reserve, is talking about starting something called "Thinkbox". Could be a school/hackerspace joint space, hopefully as well stocked as a Tech Shop. If it materializes, we think it should be called a Hackerversity™
There are other examples out there in existence today, but not quite a fully public/private sharing with good funding. Some examples:
BUILDS
MITERS
SPaRC
MIT Media Lab
Dave is excited about the possible re-release of the HP15C calculator.
Funky Hakko guide to soldering. Perhaps it was lost in translation but some of the "stories" in this are downright creepy. We prefer "Soldering is Easy"
Another post from the EEVblog forums, a member asks about how much fudge factor a design should have, specifically relating to power budgets.
Chips continue to pull in system level functionality. Does this affect the role of a hardware designer? Examples of "all in one" type chips:
Radar front end
ECG Processor + Front End
An audio codec (DSP, DAC, ADC, PGAs, op amps, etc)
COTW: The temperature sensing Texas Instruments TMP006, a thermopile based sensor with a serial output.
This Day In Nerd History: Joseph F. Enbelberger was born (July 26th). He developed the first industrial robot in the US and is referred to as the "Father of Robotics". Also co-founded Unimation in 1965.
New segment, yet to be named ("wank of the week" doesn't seem to fit the bill). If you hear about bogus products or claims, send them our way. Though not a product, the TI "Thank An Engineer" videos receive honorable mention for having "engineer" in the title but not actually being about engineering...
That's all for this week. Looking forward to another year of shows! Remember, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook or now on Google+
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1h 8min
July 19, 2011An Interview with Jeri Ellsworth - Carnassial Chip Chemicals
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Our friend and previous guest, Jeri Ellsworth, returned to the show to talk about her latest projects. And holy wow, they are pretty great!
Jeri discusses the process of making transistors in your home using household chemicals, silicon wafers and a small kiln or oven. More info on her process of making the chips over at her recently created "JeriEllsworthJabber" channel.
The making of a silicon ingot (we called it a boule on the show)
Later, the Japanese industry perfected some of the processes.
These days, discoveries come in the form of creating an all organic processor.
In the silicon process used today, they are creating 20 nm line widths while still using 193 nm technology!
Jeri is talking to Intersil about doing some work for them. Dave mentions that it's important for chip companies to get their names out there
An EEVBlog forum member pointed out that the Fluke87 removed expired patents on the latest rev.
This Day In Nerd History: Intel was incorporated in 1968. The founders were Andy Grove, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce.
Jeri explains more about her Software Defined Radio mentioned on a previous episode of The Amp Hour.
Not as many links as usual, but that's because we were too busy talking about electronics (as requested!). Keep an eye here for a video later today.
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1h 9min
July 12, 2011Vafrous Video Vaniloquence
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7J_tFBVfY
Our initial try of Google Plus “Hangouts”! Hopefully all the interuptions and the concentration on a new medium didn’t interrupt our usual shabby quality of podcast (thereby downgrading our rating to “godawful”). We had fun and hopefully will be able to use it to pull in guests in an easier way and somehow get back to the shabby quality everyone is used to!
This Week in Nerd History:
Nikola Tesla was born and reddit was celebrating. There's a video explaining him to anyone who's never heard of him. Alternately, stick your finger in your electrical outlet, he's to thank!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEJNJ0rFSe8
David Jones (fine, Bowie) recorded Space Oddity 5 days before the Apollo launch and released it on July 11th, 1969. He also played Nikola Tesla in "The Prestige"
Everything is in beta at Google, it seems. They recently cancelled their power meter and Microsoft followed suit with their "hohm" service a few weeks later.
Google+ is fun but do we need more social networks? Chris likes it for the video. Dave likes it for not being Facebook (like XKCD said it)
Last shuttle launch was this past week. Neil deGrasse Tyson had some choice words and showed obvious disappointment.
The open source DMM idea was advanced a bit further by a new member of the EEVforum. Great use of Google Sketchup.
The new DMM could use the recently released Open Hardware License instituted by CERN. The mailing list also says it's ok to say "Open Source Hardware".
Dino from Hackaweek of tried building the USB "cough switch" we discussed last time. Ended up learning a lot from a webinar about USB.
The Amp Hour has a YouTube account (but might not get used right away because of length restrictions on YouTube videos)
WTF?
Cleveland apparently has a semiconductor company! Cool! It's called ER Semiconductor and they make image sensors.
The Phillipines is trying to boost their chip industry by sponsoring the design and manufacture of a new microprocessor, the Rizal.
Why bring the chip company to you when you can hire out of Silicon Valley? Huawei (out of China) is expanding a design center in SV.
May be due to the fact that manufacturing in China is less of a deal than previously, according to a recent Time Magazine article.
Shoutout:
The ham community. Chris was cleaning out his inbox and amazed at how helpful the community of "elmers" is. Unfortunately, the community is shrinking and mentors don't create interest in subjects.
More videos like the one of Shatner explaining microcontrollers. Sponsored by Bell Labs and hosted at the AT&T tech channel.
The YouTube video of our show should be up shortly but can be found over at Dave's YouTube channel for EEVBlog.
...more
1h 7min
July 05, 2011Callow Cough Coverups
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What would be the best way to create a "cough switch" or "kill switch" for a USB based podcasting microphone?
EMSL created an AWESOME 555 Timer Footstool. Such a great replica!
Design Spark corrected us on what their new plugin does, in relation to Google Sketchup.
Dave is wondering what kind of criteria to use to evaluate all different CAD packages objectively. Let us know in the comments!
Harry from Robogaia linked here. He just started a new business from his home!
Richard (@SJGadgetGuy) also linked here from his new site. Thanks!
Dave recently fixed a Leapster for a friend's child.
Great segment on PBS about the Maker movement and how it can help education.
More sexist marketing for electronics, this time from PCB Pool.
Cool walkthrough tour of Advanced Circuits board house on Base2.us. Shows just how many steps are required to make a board!
The printed electronics battle rages on! Dave may have won the battle but Chris will win the war!
A recent(?) announcement about a pen that can draw conductive lines between components.
A recent IEEE Spectrum article discusses a soup of suspended nanotubes could help fabricate new transistors.
Datasheet of the week! A Hammond Mfg datasheet has a rotating 3D model built into the datasheet. Cool!
EEVblog forum members working on an open source DMM. Need to watch out for Kickstarter pitfalls.
EE Times article about a recent TI conference showcases the technology they'll be focusing on (and likely other competitors will follow suit):
Medical electronics, especially for personal instrumentation (would you like a portable ultrasound unit to see where your vein is, before we stick in that needle?)
Touch responsive and touch-feedback haptics for communications and entertainment devices (feel that screen vibrate locally, as you strum the virtual guitar strings)
Microcontroller-based digital power control (so long, analog closed loops)
Power management for photovoltaic panels, portable batteries, and electric and hybrid electric vehicles (EVs, HEVs)
Smart energy grids, power monitoring and home appliances
Advanced motor control, with smarter algorithms and with improved drivers and FETs
"Soundbar" electronics for turnkey home-audio system designs
Data acquisition ICs and subsystems for harsh environments, -55⁰C to +210⁰C (definitely not for the "casual" board designer)
Superspeed USB (USB 3.0) transceivers, which push the standard to 5.0 Gsps raw data-transfer rate (10× USB 2.0) while improving power efficiency, maintaining backwards compatibility, and enhancing data-transfer efficiency
...more
1h 10min
June 28, 2011Analog Devices, Design Spark - Unusual Usenet Usurpation
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This week focused more on electronics! Think we talk about something too much or too little? Let us know in the comments!
Chris finally got a chair and wowsa does it make a difference!
Finding parts online can be tough with distractions, apparently extended internet use can affect the brain. What's a datasheet hunter to do?
If you're still a USENET junkie, Dave is on the sci.electronics.design (accessible through Google Groups).
Shoutout to Junko Yoshida for some of the great articles she writes. Really enjoyed the piece on "The Land of the Rising Silence" when she visited Japan.
Students in the US can get Amazon Prime for a year (Chris got 1-night shipped his chair for $4). Dave dislikes how they won't ship anything but books to Oz.
Dave has been looking for the lowest power 16+ bit A/D converter he could find. All told he found 2412 from over 24 different companies. Crazy!
COTW: The AD7691 from Analog Devices. 18 bits and only 108uW @ 8kHz. Wowsa!
Speaking of low power, our friends from Touchstone Semi have been getting some press from their initial announcements. They're 2nd sourcing components from Maxim IC...hopefully without any issues.
Design Spark has a new plugin for their free CAD software that allows 3D models (incorporated in version 2) to be exported to Google Sketchup. Cool!
With the CADspan plugin for Google Sketchup and 3D printing, it's conceivably possible to make an entire prototype for <$100.
Dave looking for preferences on CAD packages for future OSHW projects. Your opinion?
Have there been any large-scale open source hardware projects? Chris and Dave can't think of any.
Obama announces robot initiative. Only $70 million but the idea is great. Won't be creating jobs anytime soon though!
This Day in Nerd History:
June 26th (oops!) -- Maurice Wilkes was born. Founding father of many microcomputing principles and techniques (in the '40s, no less!)
June 27th -- The inaugural run of the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
June 28th -- Milan, Italy inaugurated the first central European electricity power station.
Lightning Round:
Company gets approval to store your Facebook data for future employers to look at. Yipes!
The patent system in the US gets approval in the house. If signed into law, it'd be "First to file" instead of "First to invent'.
That's all for this week. Be sure to leave us some comments and find us on Twitter or Facebook!
...more
1h 6min
June 21, 2011Bob Pease, Jim Williams - Posthumous Pease Porridge
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Though it’s been a sad week for the field of analog engineering, we want to honor Bob Pease and Jim Williams’ passing. They were wonderful educators, engineers and people and we felt honored to even talk about them on the show. Please share any comments you might have about either of these two great men in the comments section.
Chris just returned from a friend's wedding and wrote an engineer's guide to Vegas.
Ivan Hamilton was nice enough to send along a copy of Silicon Chip magazine. It's a great! Ivan has some great projects of his own on his website!
Bob Pease died while driving home from Jim Williams funeral, doubling the loss of great analog engineers.
Paul Rako has a touching obituary and a comment section with many people sharing fun stories from the past
Bill Schweber also has a great piece about Bob, along with the story we read on air about how he resigned from Philbrick.
If you're in the Bay Area and would like to attend, EDN is remembering both Bob and Jim, tomorrow, June 21st.
If you're looking for a feed-only option to find out when the latest Amp Hour is posted, check out The Amp Hour twitter account.
If twitter isn't enough, we could buy a Top Level Domain (TLD) for $185,000. How about theshow.theamphour? or We're.nerds?
Friend of the show, Jeri Ellsworth, has been working on a great Software Defined Radio in recent videos. Chris tries to explain (wiki does better).
The price of LEDs to drop 90% in 4 years? How?
Dave needs a new camera. Is he at the high end? Or does he need to go higher?
Perhaps he should buy a pair of these videocamera sunglasses, being funded by Kickstarter. Could be a good way around this Apple DRM-at-concerts idea, recently patented.
New Android-specific processor being made by a fabless house in China? Could be similar to the ill-fated Java-based processor idea.
Other chip companies playing nice? AMD and ARM striking up deals to make chips talk better.
Get free copies of AutoDesk to get started with their software. Good for the hobbyists!
Other hobbyists are heading out to space! Awesome!

We’ll keep Jim and Bob’s families in our hearts. Be sure to read some of their old app notes (mentioned in the show) or watch some old videos (also mentioned in the show) to remember just how awesome they both were!
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1h 5min
June 15, 2011Apple HQ and Vintage Arcade Games - The Mothership Manifesto
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Very sad news, Jim Williams of LTC analog fame has suddenly passed away
The Art of Electronics 3rd Edition is the Duke Nukem Forever of the electronics industry.
Jeff reminisces about his old Commodore Amiga and mentions the Amiga on an FPGA, and Dave talks about Jamma consoles.
Agilent impress with their response to the U1272A Multimeter problem.
Malcolm Faed took Dave for a ride in the Mitsubishi iMiEV Electric car.
Jeff revealed he went for a spin in the new Nissan LEAF a few weeks back.
Talk about the excellent documentary Who Killed The Electric Car?
Apple are planing a new 12,000 employee "Mothership" Headquarters on the old HP Building campus.
Steve Jobs lobbyed for it personally at a Cupertino Council Meeting:
Dave hates the "virtual event" promotion UBM Electronics and EEtimes are doing for The Woz's ESC Fireside chat
(link not added out of protest)
Dave mentioned the 20-30% first year salary fee Headhunters get for new hires. How much do they charge in your country?
Are 8bit Micro's dead? Why not use a 32bit ARM chip instead?
Jeff has been playing with the Papilio FPGA Board and the XprotoLab
...more
1h 12min
June 07, 2011Autorouter, Datasheets & Obscure Chips - Cloddish Collegiate Conversations
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The Amp Hour has a new server! Let us know if it is working ok for you.
Daniel Garrido linked here from his project site. Some great projects over there! (sorry if I butchered your name!)
Open Hardware Summit is on again this year and are looking for entries for presentations.
Bre Pettis of Makerbot will be on The Colbert Report. Fun interviews, Chris liked the Dean Kamen interview.
Dave re-worked the EEVforum because he was not allowed to start a forum with 'Altium' in the name.
Are Autorouters getting any better? Dave has seen the post from 'Silicon Farmer' before, comparing autorouters vs manual.
Windell from ESML told Chris about Toporouter. It looks 'wiggly', but apparently works well.
Australia and the US seems to have quite a few differences culturally when it comes to higher education. What is college/Uni like in your part of the world?
Peter Thiel is offering $100K to 20 students if they drop out of school and start a business.
Another way students to get $100K: Win the DARPA DIY Drones competition.
Chris and Dave correct their silliness about a camshaft vs. a driveshaft.
And even though we don't know much about cars, Top Gear and Car Talk are some of our favorite shows!
Dave has an offer to ride in an iMiev next week. Cool!
Chris talked to another Aussie last week and he mentioned a board in 2x3". The metrification of Australia took more than 10 years to complete!
Dave spent several days looking through 22 different manufacturers web sites and almost 400 devices for a suitable Lithium Ion charger chip!
Would be much easier for reading datasheets with something like this. S0 cool!
COTW: The AD633 is an analog multiplier and has a great application section of the datasheet. How did Chris not know about these??
...more
1h 4min

FAQs about The Amp Hour:

How many episodes does The Amp Hour have?

The podcast currently has 745 episodes available.

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