elago

What success of Signal? I use To in Android for texting but only a small percentage of my contacts are even using it.

However I'm not really convinced Signal is all that secure in the Android ecosystem, and I trust Open Whisper Systems even less than bigger tech companies to not fold under pressure.

Do you think the internet is the same as it ever was? I think the internet, it's uses, and the ISPs, have all changed and that it's worth revisiting regulations applied. There are valid arguments, but the fact that we were fine without regulations previously does not mean we will continue to be as companies grow to the point where they can't be competed with anymore.

I also am satisfied with what the pcb industry provides anyways, but couldn't this 3d printing technique produce more than 2 layer boards? That seems like at least one potential improvement beyond milling a copper board.

I do wonder how well the non-conductive material handles the heat of soldering though.

I think it could be cool to combine the circuit board and enclosure into one thing, even though that's terrible for serviceability.

No. Signals okay for a drop in replacement for a phones built-in text messaging app (unfortunately really few of my contacts are using it) but once I'm on a laptop/PC there are way better messaging apps imo.

Signal feels slightly like the pigs in Animal Farm getting everyone riled up against the unjust farmers, only to take their place.

I also use Vimium and can't live without it, then switched to Qutebrowser which solved some issues that were always annoying me with Vimium, specifically:

1) Vimium key bindings don't work on the new tab page, and don't work until a web page finishes loading. The Qutebrowser key bindings are more first class and built in to the browser, so you can fully trust them to work all the time.

2) Qutebrowser is much better with webpages that also implement their own key bindings. There is pass-through mode which disables all Qutebrowser key bindings (except escape to leave pass-through mode) and lets the web page interpret all keystrokes.

Unfortunately I still keep the other browser around because of compatability, but I have much more hope that Qutebrowser will eventually render pages better rather than Chrome/Vimium ever getting a better interface.

Consider either a thermoelectric generator[1] or sterling engine[2]. Either of these can produce power given a hot and cold reservoir. Of course neither device is appropriate for this specific application (the temperature differential between 'surface' air and air in the high atmosphere), but they demonstrate the concept that any temperature gradient represents a form of potential energy.

Whether or not this specific design is an effective way to capture usable energy, I am not sure about. But, having something hot on one end, and cold on the other is a form of potential.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_generator [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine#Theory

>You can only extract energy from a tube like this if there's some energy potential between the two ends.

The difference in temperature between the air at the bottom of the tube and the top of the tube is that potential.

Admittedly I'm not extremely advanced in embedded design, and work more on prototype r&d than production applications with really high stakes (life safety, expensive equipment failure)

I've always been really repulsed by labview for a few reasons: expensive, proprietary, vendor lock in to national instruments. Also prefer text only rather than graphical click and drag programming.

For these reasons I'd choose python over labview in a hypothetical project where the hardware could be chosen to support either