joey castillo
@joeycastillo.bsky.social
purveyor of Oddly Specific Objects
This is maybe the biggest FINALLY in my career as a purveyor of Oddly Specific Objects: Open Book Touch is in prelaunch at Crowd Supply! Now with WiFi, plus a higher-resolution display, warm/cool frontlight, and capacitive touchscreen. Subscribe for updates here! www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specif...
Open Book Touch
A pocketable, open-source backlit e-reader
www.crowdsupply.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:38 PM
This is maybe the biggest FINALLY in my career as a purveyor of Oddly Specific Objects: Open Book Touch is in prelaunch at Crowd Supply! Now with WiFi, plus a higher-resolution display, warm/cool frontlight, and capacitive touchscreen. Subscribe for updates here! www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specif...
wow okay there are dark patterns and there are DARK patterns…
September 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
wow okay there are dark patterns and there are DARK patterns…
The story of our time is this: the bad guys win, and it's not even close. Remember the whole "It gets better" campaign? That was wishful thinking: a hope, not a promise.
It Does Not Get Better. YOU get better at handling the bad thing. The sooner you embrace this reality, the better off you'll be.
It Does Not Get Better. YOU get better at handling the bad thing. The sooner you embrace this reality, the better off you'll be.
February 4, 2025 at 1:57 AM
The story of our time is this: the bad guys win, and it's not even close. Remember the whole "It gets better" campaign? That was wishful thinking: a hope, not a promise.
It Does Not Get Better. YOU get better at handling the bad thing. The sooner you embrace this reality, the better off you'll be.
It Does Not Get Better. YOU get better at handling the bad thing. The sooner you embrace this reality, the better off you'll be.
Well folks: I think the party may be over when it comes to quick-turn circuit board fun. “For avoidance of doubt, duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321 shall not be available… on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on February 4, 2025.” www.reuters.com/world/trumps...
Trump's Canada, Mexico, China tariffs suspend loophole behind fentanyl shipments
President Donald Trump's new tariff orders against Canada, Mexico and China all contain clauses suspending a duty-free exemption for low-value shipments below $800 that is widely seen as a loophole that has allowed shipments of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the United States.
www.reuters.com
February 2, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Well folks: I think the party may be over when it comes to quick-turn circuit board fun. “For avoidance of doubt, duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321 shall not be available… on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on February 4, 2025.” www.reuters.com/world/trumps...
when it comes time to assemble this thing, future-joey owes me a beer for being so thoughtful
February 2, 2025 at 7:21 PM
when it comes time to assemble this thing, future-joey owes me a beer for being so thoughtful
wait so you’re telling me the NFC championship game is sponsored by TurboTax… and the AFC championship game is also sponsored by TurboTax… which means that no matter who loses, TurboTax wins? Again: this feels very on the nose.
January 27, 2025 at 1:03 AM
wait so you’re telling me the NFC championship game is sponsored by TurboTax… and the AFC championship game is also sponsored by TurboTax… which means that no matter who loses, TurboTax wins? Again: this feels very on the nose.
Ladies and also ladies, I have good news…
January 22, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Ladies and also ladies, I have good news…
God grant me the courage to change
the things that I can change,
and the serenity to accept
that the things that I cannot
will require more effort.
the things that I can change,
and the serenity to accept
that the things that I cannot
will require more effort.
December 29, 2024 at 12:37 AM
God grant me the courage to change
the things that I can change,
and the serenity to accept
that the things that I cannot
will require more effort.
the things that I can change,
and the serenity to accept
that the things that I cannot
will require more effort.
Solving a Sensor Watch motion problem: sleep looks like long periods w/o motion, but so does taking off the watch. By adding one more signal to the mix, I think we've got it: a long stationary period generally means sleep, unless accompanied by a rapid temperature drop. Then it's an off-wrist event.
November 30, 2024 at 3:14 PM
Solving a Sensor Watch motion problem: sleep looks like long periods w/o motion, but so does taking off the watch. By adding one more signal to the mix, I think we've got it: a long stationary period generally means sleep, unless accompanied by a rapid temperature drop. Then it's an off-wrist event.
Last week I finished my final code for the Sensor Watch accelerometer. Just plotted the data I gathered at 5 minute intervals — orange represents orientation change events, and blue represents minutes without any motion at all — and I'll be damned if that doesn't look like sleep & activity tracking.
November 25, 2024 at 3:24 PM
Last week I finished my final code for the Sensor Watch accelerometer. Just plotted the data I gathered at 5 minute intervals — orange represents orientation change events, and blue represents minutes without any motion at all — and I'll be damned if that doesn't look like sleep & activity tracking.
Samples of a last-minute change to the accelerometer board arrived last week. Been wearing it ever since; seems all good! This morning I finished a self-test procedure that lets me quickly validate all the functionality of manufactured boards, and just like that, an order for 2000 more is in flight.
November 23, 2024 at 10:38 PM
Samples of a last-minute change to the accelerometer board arrived last week. Been wearing it ever since; seems all good! This morning I finished a self-test procedure that lets me quickly validate all the functionality of manufactured boards, and just like that, an order for 2000 more is in flight.
found while digging around for an Arduino. This is not my handwriting.
November 11, 2024 at 8:54 PM
found while digging around for an Arduino. This is not my handwriting.
Need a distraction from Election Day jitters? At 2:00 EST (11:00 PST) join me and Alex Glow for a Hackster Café livestream! We'll be talking Sensor Watch Pro, my new, MORE hackable board swap for the Casio F-91W that's on Crowd Supply now. That's in 2 hours; set a timer! https://youtu.be/G85LlKGHFdc
November 5, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Need a distraction from Election Day jitters? At 2:00 EST (11:00 PST) join me and Alex Glow for a Hackster Café livestream! We'll be talking Sensor Watch Pro, my new, MORE hackable board swap for the Casio F-91W that's on Crowd Supply now. That's in 2 hours; set a timer! https://youtu.be/G85LlKGHFdc
I will be bringing a couple dozen of these with me to Hackaday Supercon. The "Sensor Watch" SAO is not Sensor Watch — hence the quotes — but it is an I²C segment LCD driver that's easy to control with MicroPython. To get folks started, I have once again put copious documentation on the back side :)
October 28, 2024 at 6:42 PM
I will be bringing a couple dozen of these with me to Hackaday Supercon. The "Sensor Watch" SAO is not Sensor Watch — hence the quotes — but it is an I²C segment LCD driver that's easy to control with MicroPython. To get folks started, I have once again put copious documentation on the back side :)
…and for Patreon subscribers, today was a twofer: for business-tier patrons, a dive into Oddly Specific Objects' Q3 financials: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114640593 and for everyone else, mechanical drawings of the custom spring connector we're having made: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114641633
October 24, 2024 at 10:38 PM
…and for Patreon subscribers, today was a twofer: for business-tier patrons, a dive into Oddly Specific Objects' Q3 financials: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114640593 and for everyone else, mechanical drawings of the custom spring connector we're having made: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114641633
For this week's Sensor Watch Pro backer update, I wrote about the new accelerometer sensor add-on, and how I'm using it for sleep and activity tracking: https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-watch-pro/updates/sleep-tracking-with-sensor-watch-pro-and-the-accelerometer-add-on
October 24, 2024 at 2:57 PM
For this week's Sensor Watch Pro backer update, I wrote about the new accelerometer sensor add-on, and how I'm using it for sleep and activity tracking: https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-watch-pro/updates/sleep-tracking-with-sensor-watch-pro-and-the-accelerometer-add-on
Life Pro Tip: How to install a package using homebrew:
brew install package
[Ctrl] + C
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install package
brew install package
[Ctrl] + C
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install package
October 22, 2024 at 3:42 PM
Life Pro Tip: How to install a package using homebrew:
brew install package
[Ctrl] + C
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install package
brew install package
[Ctrl] + C
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install package
Last night I finished a sleep tracking proof of concept for Sensor Watch Pro: it counts orientation changes & motion events per hour. Adds 600 nA to the power budget. Sensor Watch data at left; Oura data at right. Note the period of Deep Sleep, and that period of low motion counts from 1:00-3:00 AM…
October 20, 2024 at 3:24 PM
Last night I finished a sleep tracking proof of concept for Sensor Watch Pro: it counts orientation changes & motion events per hour. Adds 600 nA to the power budget. Sensor Watch data at left; Oura data at right. Note the period of Deep Sleep, and that period of low motion counts from 1:00-3:00 AM…
see, if I were cleverer I would have used my return-from-the-void post to share an actual photo of Sensor Watch Pro, and mention that it's live on Crowd Supply. But hey: better late than never. www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specif...
October 19, 2024 at 10:54 PM
see, if I were cleverer I would have used my return-from-the-void post to share an actual photo of Sensor Watch Pro, and mention that it's live on Crowd Supply. But hey: better late than never. www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specif...
Testing, testing: is this working? I'm going to try to be active on all the non-Twitter socials, thanks to an app that lets me cross-post stuff. Anyway here's a gadget: today's work power profiling Sensor Watch Pro's new accelerometer add-on.
October 19, 2024 at 10:10 PM
Testing, testing: is this working? I'm going to try to be active on all the non-Twitter socials, thanks to an app that lets me cross-post stuff. Anyway here's a gadget: today's work power profiling Sensor Watch Pro's new accelerometer add-on.
I could have sworn I posted something here once before!
February 15, 2024 at 3:08 AM
I could have sworn I posted something here once before!