Mar 13, 2021

#2: Solid, ESP32, Vaccine manufacturing

By Simply Explained • Issue #2 • View online

Hi there!

About a month ago, I sent my first newsletter. I’m still quite new to this, so let me know what you think about these ;)

In this issue, I’ll share my latest work, and point you towards interesting stuff I found online.

Enjoy!

Xavier

Latest video

In the latest Simply Explained video, I take a look at Solid. A new kind of web that aims to fix our issues with online privacy.

It was started by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web. He wants to give us back control of our personal data.

How? By putting all your data in a single place that’s under your control.

Solid - A Better Web (Simply Explained)

New ESP32 content!

The ESP32 remains my favorite microcontroller because it’s so versatile. I’ve published some new tutorials for it:

4 new video tutorials showing how you can use FreeRTOS to multitask (on Arduino and ESP-IDF) That brings the total video count for the ESP32 series to 23!

A blog post about the ESP32 camera board and how you can crop images on the board itself. Seriously, these cam boards are awesome. They only cost $10 and have decent image quality. Ideal for securing your home, monitoring your 3D printer,…

Cool Stuff I Found on the Internet

And finally, here’s some interesting stuff I found on the internet over the last few weeks.

Why Is This Flower on Wikipedia Suddenly Getting 90 Million Hits Per Day?

A picture of a flower was causing Wikipedia some headaches. It normally received a few hundred hits per day, but suddenly spiked to 90 million! Turns out, it was a popular app in India that caused these requests. The issue has been fixed, but it’s fun to read through the investigation at Wikipedia’s side.

www.vice.com • Share

Making Vaccine

Could you make your own COVID19 vaccine? Apparently, yes! This guy ordered everything he needs to create his own vaccine and tested it out.

It’s based on the open-source RaDVaC vaccine (which theoretically allows everyone to make their own). Interesting read!

www.lesswrong.com • Share

Myths of Vaccine Manufacturing

In Europe, vaccine production & deliveries are a mess. Some people suggested that this is caused by the pharmaceutical industry keeping their “recipes” secret. They say companies should open their recipes so everyone can produce vaccines.

As it turns out, it’s not that simple. This article walks us through how mRNA vaccines are made and what that means for the supply chain.

blogs.sciencemag.org • Share

Thanks for supporting Simply Explained. Hope you enjoyed this newsletter.

If you have some feedback, ideas, or suggestions: hit reply and let me know!

Xavier