Category: Gadgets

Inside the High-Tech World of USB-C Cables: More Than Just Wires | September 22 2025, 22:50

It turns out USB-C cables are sometimes whole computers inside the odd form factor of a wire. Watching a video where guys from Adam Savage’s dissected an Apple Thunderbolt 4 cable ($130) using a CT scanner, explaining its internals, and comparing it to a similar cable for $12.

The cable connector contains a complex system that includes a full-fledged processor, two power supplies, and many other components. The processor splits data into multiple parallel streams and converts them into differential signals that travel through twisted, intertwined pairs of wires. The system sends two signals simultaneously, but in mirror-opposite directions. This helps protect the signal from interference (from vacuum cleaners, mobile phones, etc.). Indeed, the circuit board inside is nine-layered.

On the internal circuit board, there are interesting serpentine/wavy tracks with sizes in fractions of a millimeter. It turns out, Apple engineers intentionally made them longer to match the overall length with the neighboring longer tracks (because they include turns). This is necessary for the signals to reach the processor absolutely simultaneously, down to the nanosecond.

The cable itself inside is made up of many individually shielded smaller coaxial cables. There are more than a dozen of them.

The cheap cable lacks this smart electronics, no active components inside. It just has connectors and wires.

But the coolest thing – the guys post such scans in the video description as a link to a viewing program. There you can rotate and examine everything on your own. I’ll put it in the comments

Switching from Sony to AirPods Max: A Cautionary Tale on Counterfeits | September 22 2025, 20:44

I made a gift for myself yesterday and bought Airpods Max. I already had Sony WH1000XM3, but I didn’t quite grow to like them. They don’t perform well with multiple devices, especially Macs, and although I find the sound quality decent, I prefer the sound in the Airpods, initially thinking it was due to the codecs, which indeed are a bit chaotic. Sony supports all – SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, and LDAC. Apple devices (Mac, iPhone) do not support aptX and LDAC. Of all the advanced codecs available to Sony, the only one Apple devices can utilize is AAC. Exactly the same codec found in Airpods. But the sound to the ear is noticeably different.

Regarding the new ones, I realized I would be earning an eternity plus still, of course, I decided to buy used. For popular items, if you have a lot of time, you’ll definitely find some in excellent condition and for half the price. And here’s what I found out in the process: nine out of ten “half-price” headphones are fakes. The same situation applies to Airpod earplugs. Sometimes they are of very high quality, but like any counterfeit, they have serious flaws, but as many reviews say, the average ear won’t notice the difference, as counterfeiters don’t skimp on the audio path.

Eventually, I watched a ton of videos on how to distinguish fakes from genuine ones, and managed to buy Airpods in perfect condition yesterday for $180 when their price is $500.

Interestingly, checking the serial number on Apple’s website is no longer a cure-all because they’ve learned to reuse serial numbers from stolen ones. Most importantly: never buy a sealed box. Its outer part is counterfeited such that it can only be differentiated by the slightly less neatly wrapped film. In unpacked “ears,” the differences are more noticeable. The main thing – the headphones must pair with the computer using Apple’s proprietary protocol, which the counterfeiters have not yet been able to replicate.

Popup on iPhone upon first connection: Genuine — with a “Connect” button. Fake — no button, connects via Bluetooth settings.

The material of the headphones — should be metal. Fake — plastic, because metal is more expensive to manufacture. Snap your fingers on them, there should be a specific sound (try it in the Apple Store) — but most importantly, it should be the same on both sides. On the fake, it’s different and distinct.

The material inside the box: Genuine — cardboard (possibly recycled). Fake — plastic. Although cardboard is sometimes used too. An unreliable indicator.

Wrapping of the headphones: Genuine — in paper material. Fake — in plastic or without wrapping. Also unreliable.

Case — Interior material: Genuine — soft, changes color when touched, has text. Fake — hard, does not change color. This is quite a reliable aspect, because fakes will not use more expensive leather.

Noise when shaking: Genuine — noiseless. Fake — the button moves, noise is heard. Ear cups: Genuine — strong magnets, do not fall off. Fake — weak magnets, easily detach or fall off. Screws inside the cups: Genuine — dark. Fake — silver or light. This only works if you have seen the genuine ones. The difference is impossible to describe in words.

Noise cancelation (ANC): Genuine — activates only on the head. Fake — works in any position (even on a desk). Of course, it’s also poor, but detecting this is difficult unless you have the fakes on hand.

We must also check for Spatial Audio. It requires an accelerometer inside. Of course, fakes do not install one – it’s almost unused and why unnecessarily make the design more expensive. But in Spatial, it is used (you move your head – the sound shifts back and forth).

In short, when I was traveling yesterday, I was almost sure I wouldn’t buy anything. But — I got lucky.

Speaking of the Airpods themselves, they have some drawbacks that have been known for several years. I’m okay with them. The headphones are heavier than they could be, they don’t fold as they might, they bump against the chin when worn around the neck, and it’s not very comfortable to wear them that way, the price is high (but okay for used), strange case, and the protective case is huge, half the size of a backpack. Among the very important pros for me — support for multiple devices and perfect integration with Apple devices, good noise cancellation (almost like Sony’s), premium materials, and perfect build quality.

Inside Apple AirPods: Design, Battery, and Antenna Secrets Revealed | August 23 2025, 01:52

Very interesting video about how Apple Airpods headphones work (in the comments). You can read about it, or you can just like this post and go check out the original video in the comments. It has pictures!

Battery. 6 hours of operation, but the capacity is only 2% of the iPhone battery capacity. “Dead zones” in the battery, which lead to reduced operating time, can occur due to sudden temperature changes or even just dropping the headphones on the floor. There is a very dense “layered cake” made from a couple dozen layers of anode-cathode. Batteries of fake AirPods or cheap analogs are much worse. Physics: Poor packaging means less active material and fewer lithium ions moving with each cycle => reduced energy density and increased internal resistance => more energy is lost as heat => battery wears out faster.

Antenna. It is located in the stem because the human head significantly dampens the signal. But there is little space in the stem. Metal strip antenna, size 2 mm by 10 microns(!). That’s thinner than human hair. At such size, it cannot maintain shape on its own. In other consumer electronics, antennas can be etched on the printed circuit board, but this limits them to two dimensions. For the AirPod stem, there isn’t enough space. Therefore, Apple uses a clever solution. They embedded the antenna in the surface of a molded plastic cylindrical part. There, clever conductive plastic is used, with added metal. A laser engraves the exact shape of the antenna in the form of small channels with a rough surface. Then, this groove is subjected to electroplating, first with copper, then covered with gold to protect against corrosion. As a result, a durable conductive track is formed, which matches the 3D geometry of the molded part, which would be impossible to create using traditional machining methods. The plastic not only structurally supports the antenna. Other components are attached to it, such as the cable wrapping around the stem to connect the antenna to the Bluetooth chip, the pressure sensor in the stem.

Microphone. In AirPods, not electret microphones, but MEMS: a microelectronic” version of the condenser type. Well, actually, this is not only Apple – any modern TWS headphones, unless they are the cheapest ones. That is to say, modern microphones are made using the same technology as types – photolithography, layer by layer, only in this case it’s a mechanical device, with calculated cavities and flexible layers. Separately interesting is how they make the cavities – they make holes through which etching solution penetrates inside and dissolves the sacrificial layers of silicon dioxide.

Because of such microscopic size, there are several microphones. But why more than one microphone is needed? At the bottom of the AirPods, you will see a small mesh that allows air to enter the second microphone. When you talk, your voice reaches both microphones, but not at the same time. With a difference of only a few millimeters, the chip can detect a delay of six microseconds between when your voice reaches each microphone. This is enough to determine where the sound is coming from and focus on it. Since it precisely knows the distance the microphones are from one another, the chip can compare each signal and amplify your voice during calls.

The third microphone is for noise cancellation. It is located right in front of the speaker, inside your ear.

The microphones consume about 130 mA, which would quickly drain the battery if they were always active. That’s why they are only turned on when you make a call or use noise cancellation. But AirPods are always waiting for a Siri request. How is this possible without constantly active microphones? Here’s a clever solution. Inside the part that is in your ear, there is a small sensor—an accelerometer. It’s the same type of sensor used in phones to determine orientation. But here it serves a different purpose. Instead of measuring orientation, it senses vibration. When you talk, your voice moves through your jawbone. And this vibration is detected by the accelerometer. This low-power consumption signal is enough to wake up the system and activate the microphones when it senses you want to activate Siri. Imagine that, eh?

The sound in AirPods is tuned not “by ear,” but based on a scientific model of the “ideal sound” (Harman curve), which describes the combination of frequencies most people find most pleasing. For this, there is a complicated system of calculated vents and meshes — to control the air flow, which prevents the occurrence of unpleasant “humming” or sharp sounds inside the ear canal. The larger the cells — more air passes through, smaller — less. Such is the mesh, visible as black things on the white earphone—I thought it was for beauty. No, this is exactly that mesh. But at the same time, some kind of moisture protection must be made, and here the mesh is porous. It is claimed that there is some sort of nano-coating that repels water.

Bluetooth. Why it is so immune to interference. Turns out, it uses frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology (Frequency Hopping). Bluetooth devices quickly switch between different channels many times a second and adapt accordingly.

Scam Alert: The Bond Ring Energy Hoax Following My Oura Ring Purchase | August 20 2025, 20:01

I had just bought the Oura Ring 4 when Facebook started running scam ads about the first ring that saps your energy for its own survival. My precious!..

Unlocking Smartwatches with Unique Heart Rhythms: A Missed Opportunity? | August 06 2025, 16:43

Why has no one made it so that smartwatches only unlock on the wrist of their owner, reading their unique heartbeat or other biometric data? This is in addition to having the owner’s phone nearby.

Officially, you can’t disable this in the settings of an Apple Watch — Apple intentionally made it such that when you put on the watch for the first time each day, it always requires a code, even if the iPhone is nearby. This is due to security policy: the watch may end up on someone else’s wrist, and the phone may just be nearby.

Moreover, every person has unique heart rhythm patterns, which include, for example, slight variations in the intervals between heartbeats, characteristics of the heart signal shape, and how the heart responds to different stresses. These microscopic differences create a unique picture” of heart rhythm that is difficult to fake or replicate. Watches have quite a lot of time, after being worn and before they are needed unlocked, to collect, process, and decide whether to unlock or not.

The Art of Lawn Striping: Creating Light and Dark Patterns with Grass | July 14 2025, 14:42

We constantly drive past fields organized into stripes or checks. I finally found the time to look into how this is done. It’s called lawn striping, and the effect is achieved by bending the blades of grass in different directions.

The direction in which the grass bends determines whether a stripe will be light or dark. When the blades lean away from you, the lawn looks lighter because the light reflects off the broad and long surface of the blade. When the blades lean towards you, the lawn appears darker because you are looking at the tips of the blades (smaller reflective surface) and you see shadows under the grass. Therefore, mowing the lawn in opposite directions (up/down, left/right, north/south, east/west, etc.) creates the greatest contrast between the stripes. Interestingly, since the “color” of the stripe depends on the direction from which you look at it, a light stripe will appear dark if viewed from the opposite side.

This fuss over grass is a very American phenomenon. I overcome my laziness to mow the lawn only when the grass has indecently overgrown (the notion of “indecently overgrown” is also something I adjust each year after receiving tsk-tsk letters from the village administration). My neighbor, however, seems to do it every few days, and I once saw him kneeling in the grass—complaining that someone had dragged something across his lot, dropping some chips in the grass and ruining its perfection. Really, the only thing missing was a pair of scissors in his hands.

Persistent Notifications: The AirPods Pro Annoyance on a Flight | June 26 2025, 12:45

This weird thing appears on the phone and you can’t close it, it just keeps popping up again and again, every second. For about five minutes. It’s almost impossible to use the phone. Turns out, there’s a guy sitting one seat away from me on the plane, opening and closing an AirPods case, chatting with a girl. He’s got nothing better to do with his hands, darn it.

Discover Your Flight Gate Early with This Simple Plane Finder Hack | June 24 2025, 22:08

I just found a lifehack on how to determine your departure gate when it’s not yet displayed on the board. Go to planefinder net, enter your flight, and it shows the tail number of the airplane for that specific departure. Click on the link with the tail number, and it shows where the plane is arriving from—the gate it arrives at is known much earlier than the gate from where the new flight departs. So head to this gate, as it’s almost certain to appear on the board by the time someone gets around to updating it.

Yes, everything will go awry if they change the plane. But it’s very unlikely that the airplane will change, as any replacement has to be the same model otherwise it causes chaos with the already assigned seating, and airplanes are not changed often (although it has happened to me several times). Nonetheless, there’s nothing to do at the airport, and playing the game of guessing the gate is interesting.