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There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

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Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#481

Post by ceroxylon »

haritha-j wrote: post #305
charlzee wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a rotating mouthpiece apparently https://vaping360.com/vape-products/fizzy-max-iii-6in1/ I also found it interesting that the mouthpiece position would be detected with microphones rather than any other electronic sensors.

That's such an interesting design choice. Very curious why they went with the mic approach. maybe because it was already there to sense sucking anyway.

The “interesting design choices” in these things knows no bounds… I recently came across one that had a glitter snow globe built into the side of it. Well, more of a snow hemisphere, but still so absurd.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#483

Post by bartread »

GeertB wrote: post #72

For these devices the microcontroller needs to be super cheap. Microcontrollers like the Puya PY32 Series (e.g., PY32C642, PY32F002/F030) can cost in the $0.02 - $0.05 range for the kind of many-million volumes applicable for disposable vapes. These are 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 MCUs, running at a 24 MHz clock or similar, some with 24 KB of ROM and maybe 3 KB of RAM! To put into context: this is 3x the ROM/RAM of the ZX81…

This is exactly it. The tech in these sorts of devices is way overpowered for what they are or need simply because it's a lot cheaper to do it that way than it would be to use more appropriately scaled computing power. Either the "more appropriate" components are no longer in production, or they are in production but are now considered somewhat niche and are only produced in volumes that make them considerably more expensive than the more advanced/powerful options.

So you end up with something that could probably be coaxed into running DOOM at playable FPS (if it had enough RAM and a display) relegated to running a humble - and frankly objectionably wasteful (coupled with questionable health outcomes with long term use) - disposable vape.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#484

Post by lachiflippi »

squigz wrote: post #400
lachiflippi wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refillable vapes used to be the standard around a decade ago, back when a liter of vape base (without nicotine) cost 30€ at max. Disposable vapes pretty much didn't exist. Now the same liter of vape base (still without nicotine) is a "tobacco product" and costs 400€+ due to taxes thanks to decade-long lobbying efforts by big tobacco, turning refillable vapes into a massive niche product due to single-use vapes costin…

Are you referring to VG/PG? Are they really that expensive for you? That's wild.

Yes, 100ml from the same store I bought a liter from for 40€ in 2015 now cost 56€. There is currently a tax of 0.32€ per ml on liquid, no matter if you're buying the base or the finished product.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#485

Post by quickthrowman »

sofixa wrote: post #459
quickthrowman wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cooling for a card access system? A card access system requires zero cooling, it’s a DC power supply or AC transformer and a microcontroller that fits in a small unvented metal enclosure. It requires no management other than activating and deactivating badges. There is no reason to have any of the lock and unlock functionality tied to the cloud, it’s just shitty engineering by a company who wants to extract rent from…

The server running that system needs cooling, yes. You can't just shove it in a closet with zero thought and expect it to not overheat/shut down/catch fire, unless you live in the Arctic.

There are card access systems that don’t require a computer, just a microcontroller. Perhaps if you need to integrate with multiple sites or a backend system for access control rules you can add computers, but card access systems are dead ass simple for a reason; they need to be reliable. The good systems that have computers still allow access in the event of a network failure.

Any access control system that fails in the event that it loses internet connectivity is poorly designed.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#486

Post by floro »

willtemperley wrote: post #324
geraltofrivia wrote: post #291

As a smoker who transitioned to vaping, I see immense health benefits. My home country (India), and others (Singapore, others?) have outright banned all electronic cigarettes which is a regulation I hate. I acknowledge that vapes reduce barriers to entry to kids. This is partly solvable in countries with strong governance. But disposables? Ban that shit

Have you seen the list of substances found in these things? https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/8afbc6e8-9439...

You get downvoted because you're implying substances like methamphetamine are common in vapes (as per your linked article), which it obviously is not, and already highly illegal.

The truth is you can mix your own vape juice from just PG, VG and nicotine. Which are completely harmless to eat (except nicotine) and used in food products. A more rational discussion would be about if inhaling PG and VG is harmful to the lungs, or the additional unregulated stuff you find in flavoring of vape juice.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#487

Post by bluGill »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #276
piyushpr134 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

paper straws do not make any sense any way you look at it. Are we saying that we are okay to cut trees to make straws when we could make them out of petroleum ? Moreover, paper straws are not even recyclable due to water content which makes them soggy. Plastic ones are almost 100% recyclable Most importantly, unlike plastic straws, they are laced with glue and other chemicals which gets ingested.

Isn't this a bit like "paper" cups for coffee / water? We switched to these at work a few years ago, and it's an all-round horrible experience. I swear every other one leaks right away, and those that don't can only be refilled once or twice before they do. So you end up going through like 10 of those a day. I also don't know how "eco-friendly" they actually are, since there's a picture of a dead turtle on them under…

My company told everyone to bring their own mug, which they were expected to wash from time to time. Then they give mugs for "thanks for working here" awards once in a while so they can be sure everyone has one. Soap and a sink are provided near the coffee makers.

Paper cups are still provided, but it is intended visitors not people who work in the building.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#488

Post by mikkupikku »

chpatrick wrote: post #253
vasco wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies very widely indeed. In some countries it isn't a scam because it gets burned like Denmark but other than that majority of recycling just means shipping it to a landfill in a poor country that they promise to recycle.

In Hungary it gets sorted out locally. We also recently implemented a bottle return system that (although it's annoying) produces clean stacks of PET, aluminium and glass, all of which are recyclable.

Even with PET, arguably the most recyclable plastic, most of it doesn't go bottle-to-bottle but rather bottle-to-textile. Because most PET "recycling" doesn't close the loop, so it's dubious to even call it recycling. That said, some bottle-to-bottle recycling of PET is done, and this has been getting better.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#489

Post by pornel »

brk wrote: post #453

Alternate take: Is this really "a ridiculous amount of tech", or just "how things are today"? At one point in history aluminum and other alloys were considered pretty cutting edge. As was in-house electricity and plumbing. Now, those things are just everyday stuff that gets no special regard. When you can build disposable computers at scale for pennies, it might not be "tech" anymore in the sense of cutting edge thin…

Both are true. Today we get a ridiculous amount of tech for ESP32 has a compute power of a PC from the early '90s (it can run Quake!), in addition to having wireless connectivity you couldn't even buy back then.

Re: There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape

#490

Post by bluGill »

vanviegen wrote: post #202
piyushpr134 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

paper straws do not make any sense any way you look at it. Are we saying that we are okay to cut trees to make straws when we could make them out of petroleum ? Moreover, paper straws are not even recyclable due to water content which makes them soggy. Plastic ones are almost 100% recyclable Most importantly, unlike plastic straws, they are laced with glue and other chemicals which gets ingested.

> Are we saying that we are okay to cut trees to make straws when we could make them out of petroleum ? Uhh.. yes? Trees can be grown, just like any agriculture product. > Plastic ones are almost 100% recyclable In theory. However that rarely works out in practice, due to the complications of mixing various types of plastic in a single stream of garbage. > Most importantly, unlike plastic straws, they are laced with…

Natural and biodegradable doesn't mean safe of human ingestion.
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