There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape • Hacker News Board

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

#531

Post by ssl-3 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #357

pkolaczk wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which is why when folks nowadays say "you cannot use XYZ for embedded", given what most embedded systems look like, and what many of us used to code on 8 and 16 bit home computers, I can only assert they have no idea how powerful modern embedded systems have become. Yet, I still need to wait about 1 second (!) after each key press when buying a parking ticket and the machine wants me to enter my license plate numbe…

My first guess was debouncing. They assume that the switches are worn out, deeply weathered, and cheaply made. Each press will cause the signal to oscillate and they're taking their sweet time to register it. When the device is new this is an absurd amount of time to wait. As the device degrades over 10, 20 years, that programming will keep it working the same. Awful the entire time, yes, but the same as the day it w…

Debouncing would be smart, sure. But sometimes, these sorts of embedded machines are weirder than that.

At Kroger-brand gas stations near me, I get to interact with the buttons on gas pumps to select options and enter a loyalty ID.

Those buttons have visible feedback on a screen, and also audible feedback consisting of a loud beep. And there's always delays between button press and feedback.

Some combination of debounce and wear might explain that easily enough.

Except... the delay between pushing a button and getting feedback is variable by seemingly-random amounts. The delay also consistently increases if a person on the other side of the pump island is also pushing buttons to do their own thing.

It's maddening. Push button, wait indeterminate time for beep, and repeat for something like 12 or 13 button presses -- and wait longer if someone else is also using the machine.

I can't rationally explain any of that variability with debounce.

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

#532

Post by Lapsa » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:20 PM UTC

this is a minor reason I like disposable vapes - have seen myself teenagers tinkering with them. has potential to teach a lot

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

#533

Post by GuinansEyebrows » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

DaSHacka wrote: post #300

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax CEOs of vape companies the percentage of their vapes that their company doesn't physically retrieve from customers to be recycled ...

A completely ridiculous and nonsensical proposal I can only assume was said in jest.

Hey, if your entire business plan is to produce actual garbage, maybe you should be held responsible for making sure that garbage has a pathway to proper disposal.

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

#534

Post by triceratops » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

remove-resolve wrote: post #507

triceratops wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the moaning and bellyaching about straws. Are people that bad at drinking from cups? If you aren't a toddler or bed-ridden patient in a hospital (EDIT: or anyone else with physical conditions that necessitate a straw) you should be able to drink without a straw.

Mouth cancer. I can live a normal life EXCEPT I can't allow liquids to touch my lips. Without straws I have to go through agony just to be minimally hydrated. Paper straws get stuck to my necrotic flesh and tear it off. There are a variety of conditions that straws are helpful for. A lot of people have health issues that make it difficult to swallow. A lot of people have mouth and lip conditions. What I don't underst…

I thought "bed-ridden patient" covered everyone who is physically unable to drink without straws due to disabilities or other conditions. I guess that wasn't clear enough though. My apologies. I've edited my comment now.

> What I don't understand is all the moaning and groaning about the smallest piece of plastic that helps a LOT of disabled people have a semblance of normalcy

You have to admit it's been turned into a culture war point by people who mostly don't need straws. They just need boogeymen to rile up people against environmentalism in general.

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

#535

Post by vel0city » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #396

ajb wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU and UK already require sellers to recycle electronics, and we can still afford washing machines. Here is Amazon's page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeI...

Thinking for a moment what "recycling" a washing machine would look like and it's very obvious it would just mean paying a 3rd party to dump it in the 3rd world somewhere to be stripped if at all. Hard to imagine it's not causing more environmental damage by having this policy.

The scrap metal yard near me definitely pays to take washing machines and dryers. There's a lot of steel scrap, some circuit boards, and a motor in there.

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

#536

Post by adrianN » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

Fargren wrote: post #380

adrianN wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m relatively sure that electronics are not recycled properly anywhere. At best some of the metals are extracted (hopefully not by mixing the ashes with mercury).

What would be properly recycling electronics, if not extracting the metals? should the worthless based board to be melted and used for bottles?

Not burning all the ICs and all the other components that still work perfectly fine would be a good start imo.

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

#537

Post by efields » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:29 PM UTC

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…

Wow: the Sinclair ZX81 launched in the UK in 1981 for around £49.95 as a kit (£50) and £69.95 assembled, making it incredibly cheap, and later in the US as the Timex Sinclair 1000 for $99.95 (kit) or $149.95 (assembled)

Cheap for a 1980s computer, now pennies. Wild.

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

#538

Post by tstrimple » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

pests wrote: post #163

zelon88 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point. In America we call this type of deposit a "core charge." The "core" is the component you return to the store to get your deposit back. This is done for components like starter motors, alternators, power steering pumps, batteries, and a variety of other components. The complex components are re-manufactured to like-new specifications and the less complex components are recycled to recover material…

I never thought about it but it is odd car-components are the only thing most people will experience with a "core" charge. Why don't more industries do something similar? Is it just because car ownership and car repair has been such a core (no pun intended) component of American culture? That a system of recycling has been set up?

I was curious about when and where these core charges started. It looks like it was the result of WW2 and the shortage of steel and other materials forcing both the military and civilian manufacturers to turn to recycling and rebuilding parts out of necessity. After the war, the remanufacturing industry was large enough to stand on its own and the concepts stuck around. Some hazardous items like lead acid batteries have legislation helping to enforce the core charges but the rest seem to be market driven.

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

#539

Post by bloppe » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #147

defrost wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are boldly and confidently at odds with the usual explanations of the formation of oil: * https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Oil_formation * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum these other sources all assert that The origin of fossil fuels is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, particularly planktons and algae.

I think they are conflating Carboniferous Period / white rot slowing _coal_ formation with Oil formation.

Ah, yep. Did conflate coal with oil. I guess my nice analogy doesn't quite hold, but the point stands that plastic originally came from organic matter and is technically biodegradable.

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

#540

Post by ssl-3 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC

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.

That is, in fact, exactly what we typically see in reality with local access control system head-ends.

At the doors, there might be keycards, biometrics and PINs (oh my!) happening.

But there's usually just not much going on, centrally. It doesn't take much to keep track of an index of IDs and the classes of things those IDs are allowed to access.