ScanCAD Facebook

Just received a Facebook notification this morning that ScanCAD mentioned my name in their page, so decided to check out what's up. Turns out:

In appreciation, I left the following comment:

Thanks to Bill and Jeff for contributing the longest chapter in the book, with useful insights and comparison of different methodologies in PCB-RE.

Hope to catch up with you guys again...

Surprise from the Kingpin

This morning I received a surprise email from Joe Grand (aka Kingpin) giving me a brief update of his encounters at the recent Teardown 2018 event in Portland, Oregon his hometown. He ran into his friend John McMaster and decided to pose for a selfie with my book, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques which, incidentally they're both contributors too:

Now that's totally awesome!

Joe also gave away copies of the book to Bunnie Huang who has a long history of hacking and reverse engineering products, as well as Sean Cross 'xobs' of Studio Ko-Usagi. And both of them 'happen' to reside in the same island-state as me too!

Things are really heating up in the PCB-RE community, just like the weather in Singapore...

Teardown: Portland 2018

The annual Teardown Convention was held in Portland, Oregon this year and had just ended. It is an event where hackers, hobbyists and designers converged and share their ideas, discoveries and inventions through talks conducted in various rooms equipped with the necessary AV equipment:

Portland, Oregon is the hometown of Joe Grand the kingpin so it's no surprise he graced the event with his presence and presentation. What aroused my interest, however, was a talk given by Jeremy Hong, a cool young dude from Wright State University who runs his own business. In his first talk at the convention, he actually recommended my book PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques to the audience:

How cool can that be? In appreciation, I tweeted him:

Thanks, Jeremy, for recommending my book at your Crowd Supply Teardown talk. I owe you a big one! ;)

to which he replied:

No problem! It’s an excellent book and it really needs to get out there.

Since he's also into PCB reverse engineering, I asked if he's interested to write a chapter for my third book, and I got more than what I bargained for:

Definitely! It is an honor. I think I may have a few people in mind (that may be able to contribute to the book as well...)

Well, looks like there is hope for the trilogy book after all...

Korean Extravaganza!

Well, not exactly spectacular but the thought of having my book being listed in a Korean blog as a textbook for the PCB-RE subject is reason enough to dance with joy. Here's the follow-up to my previous post:

Seems that my Korean reader has also bought the sequel book, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques, and given his review on his blog (translated by Google and paraphrased for readability):

There is a lot of content related to the practical work that can be used as teaching material this time. I have not gone through the book, but it's similar to what I'm currently teaching. It is a fact that information related to this field is rare. I am really grateful to the authors for publishing this book on the PCB-RE subject. We will do our best to promote the practice of this niche skillset in Korea.

The reader is even kind enough to provide a link to my blog, and advised his readers to read the book if ever they buy it. As they'll say in Korea, "Kamsahamnida!" That's 'thank you' if you're wondering...

100th Post!

This is my 100th post and what better way to celebrate it than a review from a Korean reader of my book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering? I stumbled upon his blog by accident and was delighted that someone of a nationality thought to be closely related to the Chinese actually bought the color edition of the book, even though he seems not to have a good grasp of the English language!

Of course, the blog is in Korean but thankfully there's Google translate to give a rough (and rather awkward) translation that is still bearably understandable. If you're curious, click on the picture to go to his website and take a look.

Have fun...

First Review from the UK

Am happy to find a new review from a reader in UK for my book, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques:

Fantastic book, with loads of interesting information. From using the right light wavelengths to see through solder mask, to the theory and practical uses of X-Ray to see the inner layers of a PCB; the book has plenty of information at all levels of complexity. 

Highly recommended.

I really appreciate readers who take the time to give their reviews; it's not only a strong endorsement but a great encouragement to spur me to write further and better!