The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast

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#40 – Adafruit, Chip heist, Hackerspaces – The Kit Conniption

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This week focused mainly around building a kit business, namely keeping costs down, keeping revenues in check and how to license your project.

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  1. Regarding the fb datacenter, the most mazing part of it is that they don’t have any AC UPS system. Typical datacenters have huge AC UPS power systems that power the facility long enough for the generators to kick on and transfer power from street over to generators while the UPS keeps everything alive. Cost of these systems is enormous. By having small DC UPS systems on redundant power supplies it simplifies the whole facility immensely. The DC systems are smaller, more reliable and eliminates the AC transfer switching system entirely. It was also interesting to see that they run their AC supplies on such higher voltages than the typical 110V or 208V we use in most US datacenters. Besides increased efficiency, the increased voltages results in needing smaller gauge copper wiring which with todays copper prices can save you an enormous amount of money on the facility build-out.

    • Each server is configured with two power supplies, One AC and one DC. The AC runs off of street power, no UPS inline with it. The DC supply runs off of small DC plants in each row keeping wiring costs down. If AC power is lost, the DC system keeps the servers running for up to 90 seconds, which is more than enough time for the AC generators to start up and provide AC power to the servers until street power returns.

  3. Hi, love the podcast! I disagree about nobody watching a video version of the podcast. Many enjoy watching the video versions of podcasts on the Twit network, most of those having no major visual component of the show. It’s great to put names to faces, especially when guests are on.

  4. Hacker spaces are handy though when you have equipment that is too big for your home. We have a Haas CNC mill, lathe, and sheet cutter at ours. Wouldn’t be able to fit that in a garage really. Not everyone has an oscilloscope so its handy to use one there. Its not really a replacement for a decent set of tools but gives you access to an expanded set that you normally wouldn’t have access to.

  5. Also, one other thing. Is there any way you could setup the comments so they don’t reset the page after you submit? Its annoying to have to reload the audio again and find my place.

    • If I understand you correctly you mean the links in the blog?
      I use opera and you can right click to open these in a new tab or window, view them and still listen to the podcast. I try not to use I.E. but think it has the same sort of feature, if not try Opera it’s fast and funky.

      • No, they mean actually posting a comment while listening. If you hit “submit” on a comment it reloads the whole page and the recording restarts. It’s annoying, I apologize.

        I’ll look into it some more. Might mean more AJAX in the comments (slower load times, higher likelihood of breaking) but that’ll probably fix it. If people have seen this implemented well in other places, let me know.

        • Think it works for comments too. As it opens a NEW page it refreshes that page and not the one you are listening to. Listening to the Amphour and posting this comment….About to submit 3…2…1

  6. Hi guys, thanks for discussing hardware licences today. I’ve decided to go with the OSHW license. Quite excited about learning more about it, an interesting topic for sure.

    On a different subject…

    An amusing idea for a live show: Instead of the usual format, Chris and Dave could race against the clock to build something from scratch out of discrete parts. It would be like an electronics version of those dumb cookery gameshows 😀
    Maybe something simple like a flipflop circuit or an AC smoothing rectifier. That would be so funny to see you guys frantically soldering stuff together. I’d stay up to 3am to watch that for sure. 🙂

    Cheers.

    ANW

  7. TI social media conversation agents == spammers in disguise

    The one really gaining from this TI activity is of course this Aimee Kalnoskas. She is new in the company, so needs to show some initiative and set a mark. That’s why people like her come up with such big initiatives, to impress the big guys high up in the food chain.

    Did you notice how she first dissed older engineers? They aren’t early adopters. Sure they aren’t, they have a clue. And unlike Kalnoskas they have some work to do, instead of wasting their time doing the facebook thing. Aimee kid, these old grumpy guys are the ones building the products that put food on your table, too. They build things, while you just cost the company money throwing buzzwords around.

    • Hi, Norbert,
      Yes, I am relatively new to TI but I’ve been covering the electronics industry as an engineering trade press editor and writer for 26 years. Our conversation agent initiative (it’s a group effort) is designed to train all TI-ers and all the TI engineers who answer questions for our customers on the TI E2E community and who, hopefully, get out on other communities and help to solve customers’ problems. Remember that social media is more than Facebook and Twitter. You are all “committing” social media now by participating in forums and blogs – and that is a great thing!
      Perhaps my comment about early adoption was taken out of context. Engineers (hardware and software) are the folks who made social media possible because they conceived the platforms that we rely on to use social media (i.e. networks, software, etc) But it has been our experience that engineers are not necessarily the first ones to adopt the very things they build. I’ve heard it referred to as “the engineering paradox”.
      Oh, I would never diss engineers. I love engineers. My father was my favorite EE and I grew up with an oscilloscope as my nightlight — and that’s when I really was a kid. 😉
      cheers,
      Aimee

    • The point is, I’d rather get proper support than having to do the social media dance in public to get the attention of a company. I don’t want to have to air a company’s dirty laundry in public.

      It is not a big win if a company answers a twitter posting or does other social media junk. It is just a PR show. It often indicates that the company neglects normal support channels. Instead they have decided it is cheaper to occasionally do damage control when something is about hitting the fan.

      What companies create here, and social media fans unfortunately applaud them in doing so, is a rat race where only the ones shouting the loudest and making the biggest waves are supported. The rest can rot.

      Companies’ social media communications are typically extremely dishonest. They try to convey the message “We are listening to our customers”. While in reality they just react to the few ones shouting the loudest, having the most popular blogs or the largest number of followers. It is not listening to customers, it is an efficient way to ignore most of the customers without getting caught.

      Recruiting a company’s engineers as “social media conversation agents” is just the next step in optimizing that system. Instead of having to pay support staff doing proper support, and PR staff doing the typical PR lies, engineers now have to pretend doing support and doing the typical PR lies at the same time, creating the illusion their employer cares. They have to do it for free, on their own time, while taking all the risk. E.g. risking to get fired for telling the truth in public.

      And heaven forbid the engineers are older and wiser and know better than exposing themselves in public, risking their jobs, and wasting their free time for the company.

  8. Regarding the kit business..

    How does the Adafruit distributorship work? You supply them the parts/pcb, and they sell the assembled boards?

    Or does the term ‘kit’ imply that they would only distribute your parts/pcb… the end customer would assemble it him/herself?

    • I believe they use the design and do all the procurement and manufacturing themselves. As Dave said, they give a portion of the proceeds only as a good faith thing, hardly as a necessity. I applaud them for it and I’m sure it will continue to bring people to them with good ideas who do not care to manufacture them on their own.

    • Adafruit mostly do kits I think. They will either just buy the kit from you (typically for 50% of the retail price), or you can let them kit it for a commission.
      Sparkfun will do similar, and they also sell fully built units.

  9. The issue of “Arduino” branding is not of open source. Richard Stallman argued that branding should be encouraged and it does make free (not open source) projects more viable, which is true. You don’t loose any freedom or information by applying a trademark or band name to it. It could be a happy medium for open source designs to grow in.

    Hey, look, I am no where as close to being as knowledgeable in free software as RMS is. I just think this point he makes is quite valid and addresses some of Dave’s and Chris’ comments in this show about the kit business.