iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 15h

Playing with stepper motors ... as one is known to do on an overcast weekend ...

Oscilloscope screen showing 2 waveforms which are slightly out of sync. They both are increasing in amplitude.

Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's October 1st which means it's time for the Bradán Lane Foundation grant review committee to start reading through the 200+ applications 😳 bradanlanefoundation.org

bradanlanefoundation.org

- Bradán Lane Foundation

a private 501(c)(3) foundation established to contribute to public charities which support underprivileged youth education and skills development

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

No matter what the day will bring, this view never gets old 😍

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The CH32V203 Trinkey has native USB, a neopixel, a piezo speaker, a touch sensor, button, LED, 224KB flash, and 20KB ram. I'm using them for the "Adventures of Sara Cladlow" text adventure games. They would be cool for CTFs, word games, puzzles, ASCII art, and more!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Nimby: "Diesel prices don't affect me. I drive a Hybrid." Also Nimby: "Why is food more expensive? Why are my cheap goods more expensive?" Farmers and Truckers: <shaking their heads>

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

When applying paste to a PCB ... If it's OK, do it over. If it's GOOD do it over. If it's Excellent, it's good enough.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Ordering a full sized unframed stencil can save USA buyers some money because it will fall below JLCPCB's dimensional limits for Global Standard Direct Line (cheap) shipping. If you have an old framed stencil you can strip it down to reuse its frame. The total process takes 5-10 minutes.

1. Strip down old framed stencil (left as an exercise for the reader)
2. Determine which side of the new stencil is the bottom
3. Apply 3" wide tape to the perimeter of the bottom of the stencil so approximately 3/4" is on the stencil
4. Align the stencil to the bottom of the frame
5. Wrap the tape from the stencil around one of the long sides of the frame
6. Apply as much tension as you are able while wrapping the opposite long side (you really won't be able to apply much tension but do your best)
7. Repeat for the short sides
8. For good measure, apply a second layer of 3" tape, this time starting from the top of the frame and wrapping down to the stencil
9. Flip the stencil bottom down
10. Apply a bead of epoxy resin to the seam between the inner frame and stencil (you can use regular epoxy or other hardened adhesive but I use UV resin because it is convenient because you can cure it quickly)

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

They made a movie about the current political situation in the USA !! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeper_...

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Oh My. This could explode if other municipalities uncover similar undocumented surveillance.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

5 hours with no action other than to check on it each hour. The electrodes are clean. I likely could have pushed the current a bit more. I'm happy with the product. 👍🏼

A quart mason jar with an clean emerald green nickel acetate solution.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A little hydrogen gas in the making ...

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A friend from halfway around the world got me thinking. Sometimes it's hard truths. Today, it spurred me to swap the coin I carry. While the coin is cool, it's the words that have been intrusive to my thoughts recently.

$--- title: Hacker's Manifesto author: The Mentor --- ==Phrack Inc.== Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The following was written shortly after my arrest... \/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/ by +++The Mentor+++ Written on January 8, 1986 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"... Damn kids. They're all alike. But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world... Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me... Damn underachiever. They're all alike. I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..." Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me... Or thinks I'm a smart ass... Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here... Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.$

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

+++The Mentor+++
_______________________________________________________________________________

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

@apple left out the new Apple Watch AI features require an iPhone 16 or newer. I just canceled my order.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Better #badgelife through chemistry! 😎🪫⚗️🧪

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Time dulls the pain. It's been 3 months since I had to "fix" the button switches on the DCNextGen Tanuki Badge. I keep this on my desk as a reminder ... and a warning.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The internet is like hair. You miss it when it's gone.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The Badge Maker's creed ... "Never Let Them See You Bodge"

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

** CH32V Trinkey ** This thing is so cute! It's only 1/2" wide and 1-1/2" long. It's modeled after the @adafruit.com Trinkey boards. It could be used for a few different tasks but I'm using it for my "Adventures of Sara Cladlow" text adventure games.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

When making smaller PCBs, a common process is to "panelize" multiple copies of the PCB into a larger "panel". I like my working panels to be around 100-150mm by 150-200mm. This often means an array of 2x2 up to about 2x6. I many need to use a larger matrix for my eChallengeKey PCBs 😳

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

For the 2027 eChallengeCoin, Sara Cladlow is flying solo ... this time to Vatican City in "Sara and the Chronovisor" (working title for now)

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Continuing the ideation process for a fictional story, I described a device to Gemini. Even with all the text slop and inaccuracies, the renderings help with imagining plot elements and scenes.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Every Apple Maps user should report "name is wrong" for the mis-labeled "Lake Ontario".

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Pancreatic Cancer is fast and often lethal. Now there is a new FDA approved oral medication. It has the ability to save the lives of many super rich patients. www.npr.org/2026/08/27/g...

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

There should be a little Frank-N-Furter in everyone 🤔

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Using Gemini to visualize a storyboard for the next “Adventures of Sara Cladlow” in which Sara and the TEC team find themselves in a race to confirm (or debunk) the existence of the Chronovisor.

AI generated images with a young Irish woman as the focus. In a cab. On a plane. At Vatican City.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

"To drink is human; to sway, stumble, and accidentally reinvent gravity is the mark of a true seeker." - Aristoddle

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I think I should be worried. I have an entire field of baby Audrey II's 🫪

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This trailer is absolutely gorgeous! I couldn’t help imagine the labor involved. Then I remember how US manufacturing went to places with cheap labor and how AI is being used to cut labor costs. Art like “SAGE OF REX” can’t be made commercial anymore. 😕

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The "Choose Your Own Charity" eChallengeCoin initiative has exceeded all of my expectations! The participants have collectively donated more than $5000 across these great youth STEM organization!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A reddit post shares a dilemma for some @defcon.bsky.social attendees with medical needs. Both use equipment which relies on Bluetooth. At DEFCON these systems break down. Neither claims malicious intent. Both are ask the community for help. www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/s/I...

reddit.com

From the Defcon community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the Defcon community

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Designing on a 50" 4K monitor can lead to some serious misrepresentations of your work. I was once again reminding that "object is real life are smaller than they appear" 🫪 My eChallengeKey is a wee bit smaller than I imagined!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Introducing the eChallengeKey! The Adventures of Sara Cladlow in USB key form 🤩

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Pause for 30 seconds and listen ...

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

@adafruit.com has a niche offering called a Trinkey. It's kind of a cool idea - an absolute minimal PCB that has a USB-A built into the PCB. It's great for simple, purpose-built electronics. I'm making Trinkeys for my text adventure games 😎

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

SUCCESS! I have ported the eChallengeCoin Text Adventure Games to the low cost CH32V203 chip. This drops my BOM cost from about $6 to less about $1. My plan is to offer the games in the @adafruit.com Trinkey formfactor.

screen shot of the opening screen from the text adventure game "Sara and the Missing Artifacts"

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Ahhh .... life back on the farm!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

the DCNextGen Tanuki CTF Badge This tamagotchi-inspired badge grows by consuming CTF flags. Every DCNextGen attendee was a 1-point flag and there were 24 15-point flags in villages across DEFCON. Pressing badges together exchanged flags. Congratulations #DCNextGen youth!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Catahoula Nick realizing I am going on a trip. Catahoula Nick realizing his favorite sitter is coming to stay.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I am tired and sore on the Sunday night of DEFCON. I wonder if the effort and exhaustion is worth it. But I remember the DCNextGen youth and the intensity of their focus, learning village skills and connecting with peers and realize, it's a tiny down payment on our future.

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

TIL: until today, I had never heard or read the message from Abraham Lincoln... "added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things"

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Congratulations to the DEFCON Next Generation for their success in the Aerospace Village Gate-Agent challenge! The ADS-B Badge is a worthy prize!

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

The *LAST* opportunity to do a pickup of the "choose your own charity" eChallengeCoins is tomorrow (Sunday) between 9:15am and 9:45am in front of W316 (LVCC Level 3).

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Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

eChallengeCoin "choose your own charity" picks at DEFCON !! - Friday, Saturday, Sunday 9:30-9:45am outside W316 (LVCC L3) - Friday 4-4:30pm Badgelife Village Look for the guy wearing a bright orange shirt (and a GOON badge)

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