Hacker News: borgel

New comment by borgel in "Tracy Kidder has died"

borgel — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:17:41 +0000

A book certainly worth reading for anyone who hasn't. It's interesting to see how little common (modern) project and management pitfalls and tricks have changed in 50 years!

New comment by borgel in "Pixel 10 Phones"

borgel — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:11:56 +0000

Did you get a chance to try the original Pixel Fold? Definitely not small like an iPhone 13 mini, but smaller than contemporary devices by a good bit!

New comment by borgel in "Pixel 10 Phones"

borgel — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:10:54 +0000

I've enjoyed using a Moto razr+ 2024. If you're interested in trying one check out used devices, their value seems to crater. I think I got mine for ~$300 last year on eBay (while it was still the current gen device)

New comment by borgel in "Enough AI copilots, we need AI HUDs"

borgel — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:03:39 +0000

Same. It's very handy to be able to ask for one-off tools for things that I _could_ try to figure out, but probably wouldn't be worth the time. My favorite example so far was a Python script to help debug communication between a microcontroller and a motor driver. I was able to dump the entire datasheet PDF for the driver into Gemini and ask it for a Python CLI to decode communication traffic, and 30 seconds later it was done. Fantastic bang/buck ratio!

New comment by borgel in "Spending Too Much Money on a Coding Agent"

borgel — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 18:22:48 +0000

Interesting, I'm fairly new to using these tools and am starting with Claude Code but at the $20 level. Do you have any advice for when I would benefit from stepping up to $100? I'm not sure what gets better (besides higher usage limits).

New comment by borgel in "Nordic Semiconductor Acquires Memfault"

borgel — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 03:50:14 +0000

Love Memfault, very happy customer. Hopefully this is a great exit for everyone and a great future for the products.

New comment by borgel in "Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)"

borgel — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 04:55:33 +0000

That's definitely true! But if both are in one app you don't need to remember who uses Signal and who doesn't; it just works. Now with two apps, you have to run that mental check before sending a message and choose the right app.

New comment by borgel in "Notkia: Linux phone in the shape of Nokia, with LoRa + WiFI + BT connectivity"

borgel — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 16:15:48 +0000

Punkt MP02 might meet your needs. https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/

New comment by borgel in "Waymo begins driverless rides in San Francisco"

borgel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 21:28:15 +0000

Interestingly, the Waymo vehicles do actually have a screen on top, though I'm not sure what they're planning to use it for. Here's a photo [1].

[1] https://www.wallpaper.com/transport/waymo-division-autonomou...

New comment by borgel in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2022)"

borgel — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:10:45 +0000

SPAN is a software and hardware company working to accelerate the transition to widespread home electrification and solar energy adoption, important requirements for achieving decarbonization goals over the next decade.

To get there, we are building a portfolio of products that manage and control energy usage:

* SPAN Panel – our flagship product – is a smart electrical panel designed for residential homes that actively manages and monitors solar, battery storage, electric appliances, EV charging, and the connection to the electric grid. Our panel offers homeowners actionable insights and unprecedented control over their home electricity usage.

* SPAN Drive – our new EV charging accessory – pairs with SPAN and brings charging home. Available Spring 2022.

* SPAN Power Assist – our opt-in demand response platform – helps grid operators shed loads during large-scale grid events.

We have a great product-market fit and a straightforward business model: we design and manufacture consumer hardware, which we sell to homeowners, builders, electricians, and solar and energy storage installers. We’re also working with industry-leading partners to offer our panel product through their extensive networks.

If you’re friendly, curious, and invested in applying your skills to scaling decarbonization, check out our jobs page at the top for a full list of current openings. If you have questions about any role, please post here or send an email to hiring@span.io.

Keyword bingo: Rust, firmware, C, Python, MQTT, embedded Linux (Yocto), real-time operating system (FreeRTOS), ARM, hardware, electronics, AWS

New comment by borgel in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2022)"

borgel — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:05:21 +0000

To get there, we are building a portfolio of products that manage and control energy usage:

* SPAN Drive – our new EV charging accessory – pairs with SPAN and brings charging home. Available Spring 2022.

* SPAN Power Assist – our opt-in demand response platform – helps grid operators shed loads during large-scale grid events.

Keyword bingo: Rust, firmware, C, Python, MQTT, embedded Linux (Yocto), real-time operating system (FreeRTOS), ARM, hardware, electronics, AWS

New comment by borgel in "2021-22 Tesla Model Y earns highest IIHS accolade"

borgel — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 01:02:57 +0000

To chime in on the pity party; ordered a Ford Mustang Mach E at the start of April 2021. Original estimate was 3 months to delivery. Currently the delivery estimate is 10 months, but no one seems to be able to tell if that's real or not.

New comment by borgel in "Samsung plans $17B chip plant in Taylor, Texas"

borgel — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 20:46:38 +0000

Not sure about industrial, but they have grid scale battery storage with their Megapack product. Hornsdale in Australia has been operating for a few years. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/tesla-fulfills-...

New comment by borgel in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2021)"

borgel — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 15:56:42 +0000

Span | Firmware, Backend, Mobile, Mechanical, Electrical, More! | SF Bay Area HQ | Full Time (visa welcome), Interns | https://www.span.io/careers

Span is reinventing the electrical grid to move us towards a distributed future. That means powerful edge compute and real time controllers integrated into buildings that can intelligently manage the flow of energy between connected systems. We don’t have time to ineffectually fumble at half-measures over the next decade, so instead Span is fast-forwarding to the grid of 2050. Distributed energy is a critical tool in solving the climate crisis and Span is a key part of the grid-wide overhaul that necessarily comes with it.

We are currently shipping the second iteration of our original product, the Span electrical panel in volume and generating revenue (in addition to multiple funding rounds). There is a significant amount of work left to realize the full potential of that product, and we are working on new and exciting things which have not yet been revealed.

If you're interested in working on an important problem with kind, smart people Span is the place to be! We are hiring across all engineering disciplines (and many other domains as well!) to work on current and future products. Check out the jobs page at the top for the full suite of openings. Happy to answer more detailed questions with specific information about certain roles here as well.

Keyword bingo: Rust, firmware, c, embedded Linux (Yocto), real time operating system (FreeRTOS), hardware, electronics

New comment by borgel in "The VT-69 portable data terminal"

borgel — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 17:47:47 +0000

If people are unsure if this is real, various versions have been built and exist already [1].

[1] https://twitter.com/ViolenceWorks/status/1321669741790945281

New comment by borgel in "Show HN: How to make full colour PCB art"

borgel — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 19:21:00 +0000

It's not exactly the same thing, but there's an app that does AR overlays of PCBAs [1] to help with debug. I haven't used it, but it's a pretty neat idea.

[1] https://www.inspectar.com/

New comment by borgel in "Wyze $20 Smart Watch"

borgel — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 23:05:06 +0000

It's possible, but my impression is that no MMU makes it difficult. Here is an example [1] of Linux on a Cortex M4 (a very boring STM32F4XX)

[1] https://elinux.org/STM32

New comment by borgel in "Wyze $20 Smart Watch"

borgel — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:58:14 +0000

With 512KB RAM and 16MB flash[1] I assume it's a microcontroller and doesn't run Linux.

[1] https://wyze.com/wyze-watch.html#pageDetails

New comment by borgel in "Wyze $20 Smart Watch"

borgel — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:56:20 +0000

I finally bit the bullet and replaced the battery in mine. It wasn't my favorite process, but it seems to have turned out fine. Used a hand rolled bead of Sugru [1] to re-seal it. Not sure I'll ever be able to try again, but at least now it works again.

[1] https://sugru.com/

New comment by borgel in "iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro"

borgel — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 03:42:52 +0000

I believe it does NOT include the camera bump.