deviance

Hi,

I'm learning electronics and documenting my way as I go. I'm periodically creating YouTube videos where I try to explain in simple terms what I've created, learned and understood, to help others who are also at a beginner level like me.

Today I've created this video:

DIY dual power supply & function generator! Explained! https://youtu.be/ybsgdeOz3js

In this video I am showing and explaining: - how to build a straight-forward dual power supply: For input it uses a simple supply, such as a single battery. It offers 3 output pins: HIGH, LOW and MIDPOINT (aka positive, negative and 0) - how to build a signal generator, using the ICL8038 chip + some external components for selecting frequency, duty cycle, etc. - how to amplify the signal and optionally apply an offset to it and then present it to the output as a "usable" low impedance signal.

Hello,

I am working on creating a YouTube educational channel in my spare time, with content about about game development, electronics, and also bits of science/general knowledge (explained visually). I know growing an audience takes time and perseverance but I was wondering if there is a way to bootstrap an initial audience of say an average of 5-10 views per day? This way I could have (ideally) some feedback from people (what to change, improve, stop doing, start doing, etc.)

Since posting to forums, communities, etc. is frowned upon as spam / self promotion / etc. (which I'm not saying is wrong), what other options are there?

It also crossed my mind about promoting the channel with Youtube AdSense Ads. But is this "legal"? I don't want my channel terminated for misconduct in this regard. I mean it's perfectly OK to promote a Google Play app/game like this, but what about promoting an actual YouTube video with a 5-10 snippet from the video itself ?

What small business can one start with relatively low initial investment (e.g 2000-20.000 $) and low domain specific knowledge, but decent general engineering knowledge ? I'm thinking specialized production machinery, e.g CNC, 3D printer, etc. to mass produce / custom produce common / custom tools / products of relative simplicity but high enough demand (e.g cotton swabs, PCBs, as some examples that come to mind).

On a more philosophical note, I observe that: - we are flooded by products, information, ads, etc, a seemingly abundance of everything. - production becomes more centralized (due to complexity) - individuals are more and more limited in their ability to self sustain (consequence of the above) - anxiety, depression, agression tends to increase (because of above). More so now, amplified by current pandemic and restrictions. Also, as a sidenote, the pandemic showed as we are not optimally organized (too centralized everything as apposed to more geographically and socially distributed)

In that note, what self sustainable businesses would you think are good to exist more of, to the benefit of the individual and the society as a whole? And what are your thoughts and advices on getting there, one step at a time?

I'd like to bring to attention the question asked here:

https://permies.com/t/85965/Economical-excess-grid-solar-electricity

""" William Bronson wrote: What can we make to sell from any excess electric? Compressed air? Nitrogen or oxygen extracted from.the air? Ice? Dry ice? Purified water? Milled lumber? Split firewood? Hydroponic weed? Hydroponic hops? Server space? ... """

I'm interested in ways of turning the excess electricity + extra work on my behalf + whatever needed equipment into something which is sell-able / profitable. The prices offered by the government for feeding in electricity into the grid are miserably low where I live.

Ideally, the proposed ideas should not be dangerous (e.g. "Compressed air") and not require a substantial initial investment and/or special licensing.

The idea of making ice (mentioned above) and selling it, seems actually pragmatic enough, but there is not much demand for it where I live.

(as a software developer or just someone using software, in whatever field you happen to be working in).

An example:

-> As a software developer, I've come across the need to work with CSV-"like" files several times in my career (at several different jobs), for different reasons.

And it was most frustrating when they had like 100 columns or so. Having to change column 63 at line 58 is not something you do easily in Notepad++. Import to Excel was my way to go, but since the file was not a standard CSV file (e.g. also had sections like an .INI file) it was time consuming: first just select a subsection from the file, save to a different file, import to Excel, modify, paste back, etc. Maybe it was not the best approach, but that's not the point I'm making.

Not having found an existing tool (maybe my problem was too specific) I eventually made a small desktop application which I would use to edit the files directly. The interface was similar to Excel (grid of cells); It was simple and tailored to what I needed.

But maybe you are not a software developer and don't have the "luxury" of building it yourself.

So, would you share your experience of similar situations?

If the solutions to your problems are relatively easy to implement, then someone can create a tool for the job, making your life easier. And on the off chance that these tools are useful and will be wanted by more people (with similar problems) these "tools" can turn into a more general "product", thus a win-win situation in the end.

What i'm saying:

- There are already talented people working in their spare time on e.g. open-source projects (no shortage of people wanting to tackle the problem, if it is reasonable) - The shortcoming is that domain specific problems, which people are facing, are not visible enough (except to them).

If this question should get enough attention and answers, the next step would be to structure the answers into a git repository/website.

What would you be willing to pay a small amount of money for (digital product, service or subscription) - say $1-$5, which you cannot already find online or you can find, but for some reason, you think it's not worth it. Bonus points if it could be considered of actual "value to society" in some way. Not another organization, productivity, finance, conference, social, chat etc. The market is flooded with such generic products. I'm thinking more on the lines of a tool which might help someone in their profession.

I'm a junior developer and just launched my first android app on google play. It's kind of technical (i think) and i was hoping people here, being more technically inclined, would be willing to try it out and help me "reach for the stars" :) I know it says "begging for promotion" all over my face but please don't scorn me for trying. At least tell me whether it's ok to repost, and how often. Thanks.