[Pompous and poorly-performed British accen Salutations, and welcome aboard my time dirigible.
I am Zack Freedman, gentleman voyager of time and space. This whole coronavirus nonsense
grows quite tedious, wouldn't you agree? Well, I propose we tune the phlogistoscope
to an alternate dimension, one in which this vile virus has yet to proliferate.
So, focus your goggles, pour a nip of your favorite absinthe, and enjoy the show.
[Steampunk mechanism ticking]
[Steam whistle tooting]
Since there's no particular danger in going outside in 2020, I've been crisscrossing New
York City's most tightly packed conferences and successful co-working spaces, building technology
wherever it's needed. When the mission is in the field, I have to bring my workshop with me, so
I've been refining an all-purpose mobile workshop for nearly a decade. Presenting... the Voidstar Bag.
The Voidstar Bag is perpetually stocked with a special set of tools and supplies for soldering,
debugging, coding, and constructing, and today we're going to turn it inside out. The foundation
of any go bag is the bag, and I picked a spicy one. This might look like the kind of backpack
your kid carries to school as they get on the bus every morning, but it's NOT. This is the Chrome
Moto Barrage, a backpack designed for bikers. It's waterproof, it's nearly indestructible, and it has
a neat secret feature right here in the front pocket, but let's save that one for later. So,
let's start in this zip pocket below the roll top. This has my field meter, a Fluke 323. When I'm in
the field, I'm likely to deal with high voltage AC, so this thing gets permanent residence in this
bag. This pocket also holds tools like the logic analyzer, Bus Pirate, JTAG programmers, supplies,
and other things I pick based on what I think I'll encounter for that particular project.
The bottom of this pocket is coated in powdered Altoids dust, because I once threw a tin of mints
in there and I forgot about it for a few months. All Chrome bags have waterproof main pockets,
and that is a real get-out-of-jail-free card when there's a
m o i s t s u r p r i s e.
These things are seriously waterproof - I've been drenched in countless crazy downpours,
and I don't think I've ever seen a drop of water make its way in there. This particular model has a
laptop sleeve, but my laptop is just too plump to fit in it. My work machine is a mid-2013 Macbook
Pro. This video came out in 2020 - the computer is just really, really old. I think this series
of Macbook Pros were, like, the pinnacle of laptop engineering. They had a great selection of ports,
they had a decent keyboard, they had that spiffy MagSafe adapter, they had giant batteries...
don't laugh at the mac, it's a Unix machine with a native BASH shell. None of that Windows PowerShell
garbage or having to compile my own wi-fi drivers on Linux. I haven't upgraded it in seven years
because it still works fine for laying out boards and writing code. [Sarcastically] It's not like
all my clients dried up and I had to become a full-time youtuber who edits videos all the time!
That would be preposterous! The point is, tools exist to solve problems. As long as the tool works
fine and it solves the problem, I don't even think about replacing it. Nearly everything in this bag
is kind of old and a little busted, and I'm really proud of that. It means I pick solid stuff and
I take care of it. I like my crusty-ass gear; I trust it and we got HISTORY. Take my tablet
for instance - this is the Asus T102H, and when I bought it, it was the lightest and cheapest
Windows tablet available. See, the Macbook is just too heavy to, like, cradle in my arm and
carry around, so I use this for monitoring serial data, sniffing stuff with the logic analyzer,
running wireless tests, etc. It's also nice for... [Squeaking noise as bag slowly falls over]
I remember running through apartment buildings with this
hacked-together XBee diagnostic dongle, desperately trying to debug a wireless project,
and I remember getting more and more excited as I realized I had actually made a connection
through five stories of an apartment building. The screen cracked when this thing fell onto the hard
concrete of a boiler room floor, but it still works fine... Wait a sec... Is that the screen
protector that's cracked, and not the screen itself? One minute.
[Time-lapse scraping and cracking sounds]
IT'S ALIIIIIVE!!
A tablet's great, but it's always nice to have a pen and paper around. This is my Muji notebook,
which lacks the pretentious street cred of a Moleskine, but it does have engineering-friendly grid paper and it lays flat.
So, I talked earlier about the secret feature, and now it's time to take a look at that.
See, this front panel here isn't an outer pocket.
[RRRRRRIP!!!]
It's a built-in tool roll!
This thing keeps the delicate tools from jingling around, and I can even use this S-biner,
which doubles as a bottle opener, to hang the bag like a shelf.
I fly to hacker cons and hackathons all over the world to s...
[Expensive crashing noises]
I fly to hacker cons and hackathons all over the world to safely meet people face-to-face in close
indoor proximity, and these tools look awfully sus when viewed through an x-ray.
When I inevitably get stopped in airport security, the rigorously-trained TSA agents
can snoop to their hearts' content without having to pull anything out, so we can move
on to the fun part of the pat-down faster. Down here, we have all the soldering stuff;
the screwdrivers, precision tools... Up here, we got USB cables, wall warts, ethernet adapter, and
also USB serial adapters. I have a 5V and a 3.3V FTDI adapter so I can always plug in. Finally, I
have a pair of wired headphones in case there's a crying baby and my Bluetooth headset finally eats [REDACTED].
Lemme show you my Bluetooth headset. This is a Plantronics Voyager Legend. I use this
for audiobooks and podcasts, and NOT talking, because the mic doesn't work. Gotta leave one
ear open for SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. This thing has broken at least five times,
and it's now held together with Zap-a-Gap, Kapton tape, and hope. It's followed me around through
every project, to the toughest jobs... Oh, man. Do you have a gadget that you just keep repairing
and refuse to let die? Leave a comment. That [REDACTED] makes me cry. Let's talk about my
mobile soldering setup. When it's time to throw down, I deploy this adorable little soldering
stand. I snap the appropriate tip into my Miniware TS80 soldering iron, and I plug it into this
EXTRA THICC USB pack. I have a bunch of gimmicky Miniware products like this electric screwdriver,
but the TS80 is the real deal. [Electric screwdrivery noise]
The USB cable is heatproof and it also doesn't restrict movement.
I have snack-size tubes of lead-free solder and no-wash flux, a spool of solder braid,
and a set of ESD-safe tweezers to complete the set. If I need to restrain the victim, this
Sharpie is wrapped in blue tape that's great for nailing down boards. Finally, I pack a spudger,
for spudging purposes. When you're building a kit like this, it's important to pick tools that
are a little overspecified, because it gives you more flexibility. This battery pack can recharge
all of my devices for, like, days on end in addition to running the soldering iron all day.
I want my tools to have redundancy - like, these flush cutters can strip wires.
These flush cutters are American-made Crescent brand, the same guys that invented the adjustable
crescent wrench. Along with the flush cutters, I have a pair of Crescent precision needle-nose
pliers. They have a super-slim profile, but they can also withstand a lot of gripping, if I have
to, [sheepishly] y'know, unscrew something. This pair of strippers goes from 20- to 30-gauge. I
want the strippers to be fine because I can use my Leatherman to strip thicker wires.
[Creepily] I do like the slim profile of a fine high-end stripper.
The cheap strippers are just awkward and dull and they don't fit very well.
[Oozing dark badassitude] Allow me to show you my blades.
I have two knives, and I bring one or both if I think I'll need it on the job.
This is the Leatherman Surge, which is designed around these replaceable and sharpenable
wire-cutter and stripper blades. I've replaced the saw blade with a diamond file,
replaced the awl with a super-stealthy SD card holder, and whenever I travel,
I replace the blades with these 3D-printed dummies to get through airport security.
I never check my bags, by the way - did I mention that? It carves at least two hours of air travel
off every time. This is my only knife knife, the CRKT Pilar. The finger notch and drop point make
this a really precise utility knife. It's great for opening boxes, ripping cardboard,
cleaning 3D prints, and scraping crud. It's probably not a great weapon, but that's fine.
I rely on my cybernetically enhanced body to defend myself.
[Whirring servo sounds]
Going back to the bag, the X-Acto knife is good to have for scraping solder mask, cutting paper,
picking off cruft, and other delicate tasks that the clunky-ass Leatherman is just too macho for.
Fiberglass PCB material is totally abrasive and really hard on knives, so I fitted the X-Acto
with this high-quality zirconium blade. I could've just carried around some spare blades instead, but
I'm worried they'll break loose and Final Destination my ass. The screwdrivers are
crap from Harbor Freight, which happens to have a much thinner shaft and finer tip than
the higher-end drivers. These screwdrivers aren't full-tang, so I can't use them as chisels,
but that's just the price you pay to get deep into a Nerf blaster. Last thing in the roll is Dave
Jones' EEVblog PCB ruler, which has: A) millimeter marks, B) wire gauges, and C) a platypus. Finally,
we have some trail rations. It's important to stay well-fed and well-hydrated in the field, because
when you're building electronics, everything is gonna go wrong. I stock my bag with Clif bars,
homemade granola, and other snacks.
[Muffled talking with mouth full of Clif bar. It's gross]
[Gulp]
As for dihydrogen monoxide, I like this Nalgene water bottle because I can
snap it to one of my shoulder-strap carabiners so it can't drip on any electronics. Remember,
the bag is waterproof in the other direction too, so if this thing sprung a leak in the
main compartment, it would really suck to be a computer. I also pack a pair of
rubber gloves because it's really easy to accidentally touch live wires and get
[Electricity zapping and crackling]
[Muffled thud]
[Soft sound of sizzling bacon]
Oh, my. It appears that timeline is a touch... abbreviated.
[Corpse still sizzling]
Well, fear not, for I shall broadcast a new expedition into
the majestic world of electromagnetism every single Monday! Pull that notification lever
and release the subscription valve to join in wherever - and whenever - you are! Now,
I'm afraid we must part company, for I have a time paradox to avert. It seems I've been sighted at a
Beanie Babies conference in 1998. Until we meet again, I wish you the very best possible future.
[Sizzling continues]
So, my monocle is a little slippery today, so I've had my lovely assistant glue it down! Behold!