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A Double-Kettle All-Electric Brewing System with MSP-430

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For those who know me, beer isn’t just about the drinking.  It’s also about the brewing.  I’ve casually brewed beer for years, only getting serious with my own setup a year ago.  However brewing in front of a stove can be annoying  especially when trying to brew 2 different batches at once.  To make the experience better, I created a system that meets the following goals:

  • A pair of electric kettles based on the system that The Electric Brewery creates, running off a dryer outlet.
  • Variable power set with a knob, similar to a stovetop interface
  • The ability to shut one side off for only brewing one batch
  • Kettles that unplug from the system as to not disturb the other batch
  • Running off a microcontroller that allows for future design improvements
  • A quick and easy design, enabling fast development and implementation

I’ve got the entire system up and running, and it works great!  I’ve already brewed one batch and I have plans for friends to come over this weekend to continue the fun.  I’ve posted all of the design files at Element14, including a BOM (Bill of Materials) so anyone else can build, enjoy, and improve upon the system.  Here’s a video of me showing it in operation:

Check out the complete system HERE!

A good cellular provider experience.

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I had an odd experience yesterday with my cellular provider.

It was a good experience.  



I know, right?  Who says that nowadays?

But it's true.  I switched to Sprint about 3 months ago.  I received a bill that had something on it that I didn't understand.  On a Saturday  I called Sprint and was on hold for less than a minute (huh.. that's new).  The person who answered was not a native English speaker, but it took me a few minutes to figure that out- which is great.  No communication issues there.

The charge was an extra $10 a month that made sense, but hadn't been explained to me by the store employee.  This, of course, pissed me off and based on previous experiences, I simply said "fine... screwed by yet another phone company" and hung up in disgust.

End of story.  Well... no.

Several hours later, the SAME customer service rep called me back.  She told me she'd talked to her supervisor and they would remove the $10 charge, for 3 months, since no one explained it to me.  

I know, it's only a $30 credit, but damn.... I have never had a phone company give a crap about a complaint I made before, let alone have them react to it in the exact right way: "We'll refund your money, but now that you know about it, and why, we'll charge it from this point forward".

So, they addressed my concern, they gave me a reward, and they preserved their ability to charge me that $10 a month without pissing me off every time I see the bill.

Impressive.

Maybe I'm wrong; maybe this was an anomaly of some sort, but if this is the 'New Sprint", I'm sold.

And yes, that's a Galaxy S III (my new phone).  And yes, I love it, still, after 3 months.  Had the iPhone 4s, don't miss it at all.


Scott on life, politics, podcasting, technology & business

A good cellular provider experience.

Posted on by
I had an odd experience yesterday with my cellular provider.

It was a good experience.  



I know, right?  Who says that nowadays?

But it's true.  I switched to Sprint about 3 months ago.  I received a bill that had something on it that I didn't understand.  On a Saturday  I called Sprint and was on hold for less than a minute (huh.. that's new).  The person who answered was not a native English speaker, but it took me a few minutes to figure that out- which is great.  No communication issues there.

The charge was an extra $10 a month that made sense, but hadn't been explained to me by the store employee.  This, of course, pissed me off and based on previous experiences, I simply said "fine... screwed by yet another phone company" and hung up in disgust.

End of story.  Well... no.

Several hours later, the SAME customer service rep called me back.  She told me she'd talked to her supervisor and they would remove the $10 charge, for 3 months, since no one explained it to me.  

I know, it's only a $30 credit, but damn.... I have never had a phone company give a crap about a complaint I made before, let alone have them react to it in the exact right way: "We'll refund your money, but now that you know about it, and why, we'll charge it from this point forward".

So, they addressed my concern, they gave me a reward, and they preserved their ability to charge me that $10 a month without pissing me off every time I see the bill.

Impressive.

Maybe I'm wrong; maybe this was an anomaly of some sort, but if this is the 'New Sprint", I'm sold.

And yes, that's a Galaxy S III (my new phone).  And yes, I love it, still, after 3 months.  Had the iPhone 4s, don't miss it at all.


Scott on life, politics, podcasting, technology & business

E14 Article: Watching The Business Case for Open Hardware Unfold

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Last week I went to the Open Hardware Summit with a skeptical eye to the ability for someone to generate a realistic business model when giving away everything they design.  How can one pay the engineers to design a product when the competition get the same design files without having to pay them?  And I’m not alone in the fear that an open design will result in a ‘fast follower’ will dominate the market and leave a pittance to the innovator.

But I’ve found that it’s more nuanced that simple protection of an idea.  First, people will copy designs no matter what license is used.  Second, there are additional methods of offering value to a customer beyond the physical product and the price point.  I talk about it in my latest Element14 Article…

…The reason I was so excited to attend OHWS was the license’s requirement disallowing the use of a non-commercial clause.  This clause means that the designer cannot limit others’ use of the design files for commercial purposes.  Many people worry that a design can be copied as-is and produced at a lower price than the designer offers thanks to reduced R&D costs. I am not yet sure how valid the concern is, however the outcome is currently being defined which makes for a very exciting time…

Read the full article HERE!

Oldie but goodie: Custom eWorld Screens.

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Ran across these and thought I'd throw them out there.  These are customized screens to the Apple eWorld service (my group at Apple created the software for this service) that was around in the early 90's (pre internet days).  Some appear to be copies, but they're all slightly different.  More on eWorld here if you're interested:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EWorld

Enjoy.























Scott on life, politics, podcasting, technology & business

Oldie but goodie: Custom eWorld Screens.

Posted on by
Ran across these and thought I'd throw them out there.  These are customized screens to the Apple eWorld service (my group at Apple created the software for this service) that was around in the early 90's (pre internet days).  Some appear to be copies, but they're all slightly different.  More on eWorld here if you're interested:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EWorld

Enjoy.























Scott on life, politics, podcasting, technology & business

E14 Article: What Makes A Great First Project?

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I love the experience of cracking open a new design platform and seeing what it can do, and how it can be used.  However there are so many out there!  What about the individual options are the best for attacking a project?  How can one ensure that the experience will be the best possible, preventing an immediate hate of the platform?  I write about all of this on Element14′s news section…

Thanks to the NYC Maker Faire this weekend, there has been a lot of discussion of new project ideas becoming a reality.  With the wide array of different development platforms that are coming out for FPGAs, Microcontrollers, and even complete computing solutions, there is always a system out there to be explored.  It can be intimidating to approach such a wide array of possibilities, so what is it that makes for the best first projects?…

Read the full article HERE!