[Pompous and poorly-performed British accen
Salutations, and welcome aboard my time dirigible. I am Zack Freedman, gentleman voyager of time
and space. This whole coronavirus nonsense grows quite tedious, wouldn't you agree?
Well, I propose we tune the phlogistoscope to an alternate dimension, one in which
this vile virus has yet to proliferate. So, focus your goggles, pour a nip of your
favorite absinthe, and enjoy the show. [Steampunk mechanism ticking] [Steam whistle tooting] Since there's no particular danger in going
outside in 2020, I've been crisscrossing New York City's most tightly packed conferences and
successful co-working spaces, building technology wherever it's needed. When the mission is in the
field, I have to bring my workshop with me, so I've been refining an all-purpose mobile workshop
for nearly a decade. Presenting... the Voidstar Bag. The Voidstar Bag is perpetually stocked with
a special set of tools and supplies for soldering, debugging, coding, and constructing, and today
we're going to turn it inside out. The foundation of any go bag is the bag, and I picked a spicy
one. This might look like the kind of backpack your kid carries to school as they get on the bus
every morning, but it's NOT. This is the Chrome Moto Barrage, a backpack designed for bikers. It's
waterproof, it's nearly indestructible, and it has a neat secret feature right here in the front
pocket, but let's save that one for later. So, let's start in this zip pocket below the roll top.
This has my field meter, a Fluke 323. When I'm in the field, I'm likely to deal with high voltage
AC, so this thing gets permanent residence in this bag. This pocket also holds tools like the logic
analyzer, Bus Pirate, JTAG programmers, supplies, and other things I pick based on what I think
I'll encounter for that particular project. The bottom of this pocket is coated in powdered
Altoids dust, because I once threw a tin of mints in there and I forgot about it for a few months.
All Chrome bags have waterproof main pockets, and that is a real get-out-of-jail-free card when there's a m o i s t s u r p r i s e. These things are seriously waterproof - I've been
drenched in countless crazy downpours, and I don't think I've ever seen a drop of water
make its way in there. This particular model has a laptop sleeve, but my laptop is just too plump to
fit in it. My work machine is a mid-2013 Macbook Pro. This video came out in 2020 - the computer
is just really, really old. I think this series of Macbook Pros were, like, the pinnacle of laptop
engineering. They had a great selection of ports, they had a decent keyboard, they had that spiffy
MagSafe adapter, they had giant batteries... don't laugh at the mac, it's a Unix machine with a
native BASH shell. None of that Windows PowerShell garbage or having to compile my own wi-fi drivers
on Linux. I haven't upgraded it in seven years because it still works fine for laying out boards
and writing code. [Sarcastically] It's not like all my clients dried up and I had to become a
full-time youtuber who edits videos all the time! That would be preposterous! The point is, tools
exist to solve problems. As long as the tool works fine and it solves the problem, I don't even think
about replacing it. Nearly everything in this bag is kind of old and a little busted, and I'm really
proud of that. It means I pick solid stuff and I take care of it. I like my crusty-ass gear;
I trust it and we got HISTORY. Take my tablet for instance - this is the Asus T102H, and when
I bought it, it was the lightest and cheapest Windows tablet available. See, the Macbook is
just too heavy to, like, cradle in my arm and carry around, so I use this for monitoring serial
data, sniffing stuff with the logic analyzer, running wireless tests, etc. It's also nice
for... [Squeaking noise as bag slowly falls over] I remember running through
apartment buildings with this hacked-together XBee diagnostic dongle,
desperately trying to debug a wireless project, and I remember getting more and more excited
as I realized I had actually made a connection through five stories of an apartment building. The
screen cracked when this thing fell onto the hard concrete of a boiler room floor, but it still
works fine... Wait a sec... Is that the screen protector that's cracked, and not the screen
itself? One minute. [Time-lapse scraping and cracking sounds] IT'S ALIIIIIVE!! A tablet's great, but it's always nice to have a pen and paper around. This is my Muji notebook, which lacks the pretentious street cred of a Moleskine, but it does have engineering-friendly grid paper and it lays flat. So, I talked earlier about the secret feature, and now it's time to take a look at that. See, this front panel here isn't an outer pocket. [RRRRRRIP!!!] It's a built-in tool
roll! This thing keeps the delicate tools from jingling around, and I can even use this S-biner, which doubles as a bottle opener, to hang the bag like a shelf. I fly to hacker cons and hackathons
all over the world to s... [Expensive crashing noises] I fly to hacker cons and hackathons all over the
world to safely meet people face-to-face in close indoor proximity, and these tools look
awfully sus when viewed through an x-ray. When I inevitably get stopped in airport
security, the rigorously-trained TSA agents can snoop to their hearts' content without
having to pull anything out, so we can move on to the fun part of the pat-down faster.
Down here, we have all the soldering stuff; the screwdrivers, precision tools... Up here, we
got USB cables, wall warts, ethernet adapter, and also USB serial adapters. I have a 5V and a 3.3V
FTDI adapter so I can always plug in. Finally, I have a pair of wired headphones in case there's a
crying baby and my Bluetooth headset finally eats [REDACTED]. Lemme show you my Bluetooth headset.
This is a Plantronics Voyager Legend. I use this for audiobooks and podcasts, and NOT talking,
because the mic doesn't work. Gotta leave one ear open for SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. This thing has broken at least five times, and it's now held together with Zap-a-Gap, Kapton
tape, and hope. It's followed me around through every project, to the toughest jobs... Oh, man.
Do you have a gadget that you just keep repairing and refuse to let die? Leave a comment. That
[REDACTED] makes me cry. Let's talk about my mobile soldering setup. When it's time to throw
down, I deploy this adorable little soldering stand. I snap the appropriate tip into my Miniware
TS80 soldering iron, and I plug it into this EXTRA THICC USB pack. I have a bunch of gimmicky
Miniware products like this electric screwdriver, but the TS80 is the real deal. [Electric screwdrivery noise] The USB cable is heatproof and it also doesn't restrict movement. I have snack-size tubes of lead-free solder
and no-wash flux, a spool of solder braid, and a set of ESD-safe tweezers to complete the
set. If I need to restrain the victim, this Sharpie is wrapped in blue tape that's great for
nailing down boards. Finally, I pack a spudger, for spudging purposes. When you're building a
kit like this, it's important to pick tools that are a little overspecified, because it gives you
more flexibility. This battery pack can recharge all of my devices for, like, days on end in
addition to running the soldering iron all day. I want my tools to have redundancy -
like, these flush cutters can strip wires. These flush cutters are American-made Crescent
brand, the same guys that invented the adjustable crescent wrench. Along with the flush cutters,
I have a pair of Crescent precision needle-nose pliers. They have a super-slim profile, but they
can also withstand a lot of gripping, if I have to, [sheepishly] y'know, unscrew something. This
pair of strippers goes from 20- to 30-gauge. I want the strippers to be fine because I can use
my Leatherman to strip thicker wires. [Creepily] I do like the slim profile of a fine high-end
stripper. The cheap strippers are just awkward and dull and they don't fit very well. [Oozing dark badassitude] Allow me to show you my blades. I have two knives, and I bring one or
both if I think I'll need it on the job. This is the Leatherman Surge, which is designed
around these replaceable and sharpenable wire-cutter and stripper blades. I've
replaced the saw blade with a diamond file, replaced the awl with a super-stealthy
SD card holder, and whenever I travel, I replace the blades with these 3D-printed
dummies to get through airport security. I never check my bags, by the way - did I mention
that? It carves at least two hours of air travel off every time. This is my only knife knife, the
CRKT Pilar. The finger notch and drop point make this a really precise utility knife. It's
great for opening boxes, ripping cardboard, cleaning 3D prints, and scraping crud. It's
probably not a great weapon, but that's fine. I rely on my cybernetically enhanced body to defend myself. [Whirring servo sounds] Going back to the bag, the X-Acto knife is good to have for scraping solder mask, cutting paper, picking off cruft, and other delicate tasks that
the clunky-ass Leatherman is just too macho for. Fiberglass PCB material is totally abrasive and
really hard on knives, so I fitted the X-Acto with this high-quality zirconium blade. I could've
just carried around some spare blades instead, but I'm worried they'll break loose and Final
Destination my ass. The screwdrivers are crap from Harbor Freight, which happens to
have a much thinner shaft and finer tip than the higher-end drivers. These screwdrivers
aren't full-tang, so I can't use them as chisels, but that's just the price you pay to get deep into
a Nerf blaster. Last thing in the roll is Dave Jones' EEVblog PCB ruler, which has: A) millimeter
marks, B) wire gauges, and C) a platypus. Finally, we have some trail rations. It's important to stay
well-fed and well-hydrated in the field, because when you're building electronics, everything is
gonna go wrong. I stock my bag with Clif bars, homemade granola, and other snacks. [Muffled talking with mouth full of Clif bar. It's gross] [Gulp] As for dihydrogen monoxide, I like
this Nalgene water bottle because I can snap it to one of my shoulder-strap carabiners
so it can't drip on any electronics. Remember, the bag is waterproof in the other direction
too, so if this thing sprung a leak in the main compartment, it would really suck
to be a computer. I also pack a pair of rubber gloves because it's really easy
to accidentally touch live wires and get [Electricity zapping and crackling] [Muffled thud] [Soft sound of sizzling bacon] Oh, my. It appears that timeline
is a touch... abbreviated. [Corpse still sizzling] Well, fear not, for I shall broadcast a new expedition into the majestic world of electromagnetism every
single Monday! Pull that notification lever and release the subscription valve to join
in wherever - and whenever - you are! Now, I'm afraid we must part company, for I have a time
paradox to avert. It seems I've been sighted at a Beanie Babies conference in 1998. Until we meet
again, I wish you the very best possible future. [Sizzling continues] So, my monocle is a little slippery today, so
I've had my lovely assistant glue it down! Behold!
