[00:00.000 --> 00:08.000]  We are here right now with Twinkle Twinkie checking out some of his really fun shitty add-ons along with his own badge.
[00:08.020 --> 00:10.040]  Now, how long have you been coming to DEF CON?
[00:10.040 --> 00:11.900]  I've been coming to DEF CON for seven years.
[00:12.020 --> 00:13.260]  Wow, that's awesome.
[00:13.260 --> 00:14.240]  Since 2015.
[00:14.240 --> 00:15.680]  And how long have you been making badges?
[00:15.680 --> 00:19.100]  I've been making badges in earnest since 2017.
[00:19.140 --> 00:20.100]  Oh, wow.
[00:20.100 --> 00:22.720]  Okay, so let's check out the badge first.
[00:22.740 --> 00:23.940]  What is this badge?
[00:24.000 --> 00:26.080]  It's fuzzy and it has googly eyes.
[00:26.080 --> 00:28.900]  It really does feel like something which is just perfect for DEF CON.
[00:28.900 --> 00:32.100]  Yeah, the whole point of this badge is that it's a clock.
[00:32.100 --> 00:33.220]  And that kind of goes with the whole theme.
[00:33.220 --> 00:36.020]  If you're in Vegas, the one thing that Vegas doesn't have is time.
[00:36.560 --> 00:38.240]  So, it's a clock badge.
[00:38.280 --> 00:39.800]  Oh, that's fantastic.
[00:40.100 --> 00:41.340]  And, you know, it is funny.
[00:41.340 --> 00:42.040]  Have you ever looked around?
[00:42.040 --> 00:45.120]  Because, you know, I've never been able to find a clock anywhere.
[00:45.180 --> 00:45.680]  It's funny.
[00:45.680 --> 00:51.380]  I think this is the first badge I've ever found which is like that fuzzy texture with googly eyes on it.
[00:51.380 --> 00:52.220]  This is hilarious.
[00:52.220 --> 00:57.300]  Yeah, it was a big consideration of it because a lot of the times what happens is people buy a badge
[00:57.300 --> 00:59.940]  and then they take it home and their kids play with it and things like that.
[00:59.960 --> 01:02.840]  And I really wanted to play with tactility.
[01:02.940 --> 01:05.820]  And I don't mean just like buttons but also like sensations and things like that.
[01:05.820 --> 01:07.020]  And it's just a fun badge.
[01:07.020 --> 01:08.100]  It's just a touch.
[01:08.120 --> 01:11.180]  Yeah, it looks... now, does it come fully assembled if you have to assemble it yourself?
[01:11.180 --> 01:12.260]  It does. It's completely assembled.
[01:12.380 --> 01:14.100]  It comes with two AA batteries.
[01:14.540 --> 01:17.460]  And on the side there, and it currently is plugged in over USB-C
[01:17.460 --> 01:20.780]  because when you take it home and at the end of the CON, it's a functional clock.
[01:20.780 --> 01:23.160]  You plug it in over USB-C, it's a lot brighter.
[01:23.440 --> 01:25.260]  And it does accurately keep time.
[01:25.260 --> 01:26.040]  Now, here's the question.
[01:26.040 --> 01:29.500]  Can you put an internal battery in it so when I pop out the batteries, is there a result?
[01:29.500 --> 01:33.300]  It does not. It has all your favorite features from your 1990s VCR.
[01:34.020 --> 01:36.200]  That's great. All right, let's jump into some...
[01:36.200 --> 01:39.360]  In fact, if you power cycle it right now, it'll start blinking 12.
[01:39.360 --> 01:43.400]  It'll lose its time and start blinking 12.
[01:45.000 --> 01:46.720]  Oh, that's hilarious.
[01:48.000 --> 01:53.760]  All right, let's jump into some of the shitty add-ons that you've made or simple add-ons, if you will.
[01:53.760 --> 01:55.620]  You have four of them here.
[01:55.760 --> 01:58.180]  First, I need to start with the other googly eyes.
[01:58.180 --> 02:03.240]  This one might be my favorite because it has a big, squishy nose on it and googly eyes.
[02:03.240 --> 02:07.580]  Yeah, it's got a big, squishy seed that's made with a TPU.
[02:07.880 --> 02:17.100]  It took probably about 30 attempts to get it just right to where it's stable enough to where you can press it a bunch of times.
[02:17.100 --> 02:17.980]  And that's the whole point.
[02:17.980 --> 02:23.140]  It follows the same theme as TalkBadge in that it's something for you to fidget with and play with.
[02:23.140 --> 02:25.540]  And it's just a lot of fun being a little blinking.
[02:25.540 --> 02:30.240]  I do love these tactile ones, especially, like, for me, who has, like, two daughters who do get...
[02:30.240 --> 02:34.320]  They want all the stickers from everything. They want all the badges.
[02:34.380 --> 02:39.050]  But, you know, sometimes it's really hard for them to play with some of these other ones where, like, even the DEF CON badge...
[02:39.520 --> 02:43.480]  One, I don't want this to break, but the other one, there's a lot of components that they might be able to chip off.
[02:43.520 --> 02:44.200]  Exactly.
[02:44.200 --> 02:48.960]  This is great. And I do like all the components on the back just, like, aren't really exposed.
[02:48.960 --> 02:52.480]  But I love the tactile ones. This is cool.
[02:52.480 --> 02:54.360]  Now, you said this was made out of what?
[02:54.360 --> 02:59.080]  It's a plastic called TPU, so it's a flexible filament.
[02:59.940 --> 03:01.660]  Does it print out like a 3D printer?
[03:01.660 --> 03:02.240]  Exactly.
[03:02.240 --> 03:02.420]  Oh, cool.
[03:02.420 --> 03:04.220]  So we 3D printed those.
[03:04.220 --> 03:14.540]  We 3D printed them, like, one at a time because the material is kind of finicky to do, but we ended up making 125 altogether.
[03:14.540 --> 03:18.860]  Oh, that's cool. And then, I mean, obviously, we need some sort of Star Wars.
[03:18.860 --> 03:19.480]  Yeah.
[03:19.960 --> 03:24.420]  So this one, can you tell me anything about this one? It looks like you have some ears on it.
[03:24.420 --> 03:26.840]  Oh, wow. You have some cool art on the back, too.
[03:26.840 --> 03:32.440]  Oh, yeah. All of my add-ons, almost all of my badges, really, all have art on both the front and back.
[03:32.440 --> 03:40.480]  And that one's kind of, kind of the idea there, it's kind of for you to enjoy, you know, kind of, not really an Easter egg, but just something a little extra.
[03:40.540 --> 03:45.060]  Oh, that's hilarious. I'm going to show off the back of the avocado one, too, because this is hilarious.
[03:45.120 --> 03:51.520]  Yeah, and the avocado has actually just got, I thought it would be neat just to have, like, little facts about avocados on there.
[03:51.540 --> 03:55.880]  And unexpectedly, I kind of found out where the word avocado comes from.
[03:55.940 --> 03:59.860]  It's actually the Incan word for testicle.
[03:59.860 --> 04:04.780]  Oh, goodness.
[04:04.780 --> 04:10.380]  And guacamole also has a translation, but it's not very safe for work.
[04:11.740 --> 04:17.480]  That's... I don't think I can enjoy avocados in the way I used to. Thank you for that.
[04:17.480 --> 04:17.980]  You're welcome.
[04:17.980 --> 04:22.340]  I learn something new at DEF CON every year, and this one might be the one I hold on to.
[04:22.340 --> 04:26.960]  Some people come away with programming knowledge, or new buffer overflows, or new exploits.
[04:26.960 --> 04:34.300]  I now know that avocados are huevos in your personal way.
[04:34.300 --> 04:36.940]  Okay, let's jump into the other ones.
[04:36.960 --> 04:47.180]  We have a cat. The thing I love about this one is not only, obviously, the eyes glow, which is really cool, but you have this cool gold color you chose for it.
[04:47.180 --> 04:49.420]  I haven't really seen that on many other add-ons.
[04:49.420 --> 05:02.900]  Yeah, so that gold finish is called an enig finish. It's a really common finish for production PCBs, because it's a really stable finish, and it works well with a lot of different kinds of soldering paste and that kind of thing.
[05:02.940 --> 05:12.940]  And for me, the thing about all of my add-ons, or almost all the boards I do, is that they come from the factory this way.
[05:12.940 --> 05:19.500]  They don't usually have a post-processing where they've been painted, or I put a sticker on it, or anything else like that.
[05:19.500 --> 05:33.960]  That is as it is from the factory. I put on the LEDs. On the back of them, they do have some hot glue to kind of act as a light pipe to make the light spread more evenly and give that nice color, which Daft Helmet kind of shows that off as the colors are blending together.
[05:34.520 --> 05:36.620]  Yeah, so you mentioned this one. What was this one called?
[05:36.620 --> 05:37.540]  Daft Helmet.
[05:37.540 --> 05:39.420]  Oh, perfect. Oh, of course.
[05:39.420 --> 05:48.400]  I love the colors on the back end. I do want to flip it on over so you can see what you were talking about. To make the colors shine, you put hot glue over it.
[05:48.400 --> 06:02.740]  Right, exactly. So these have what are called side-view LEDs. In a traditional sense, a side-view LED is traditionally used on the edge of a board for an indicator light that usually is going to a light pipe to go somewhere in the electronic.
[06:02.740 --> 06:14.540]  In our case, I'm using them to display light through the board so that you're not getting blindingly bright LEDs in your eyes, but you still get this nice, cool effect.
[06:14.540 --> 06:31.460]  And in this case, I made it a point to study... I made prototypes of just using the LEDs and I measured the distance of the light and everything like that so that I could space them just enough to where they will blend nice and evenly.
[06:31.500 --> 06:42.560]  And so on Daft Helmet there, between the green and the red, you actually have yellow going between there, but there's no discrete yellow LED. It's the blending of the light colors that gives you that effect.
[06:42.560 --> 06:59.540]  That's... that's actually fascinating. That's really cool. The thing which I've been... as a disclosure, I have been in the past, I've revised my thinking on this, but I've been almost like harsh, we'll say, on some of the badge light pieces.
[06:59.540 --> 07:09.660]  I'm like, hey, it's a blinky LED, it's a blinky LED. But the thing which I've noticed, one, is those blinking LEDs is exactly how you learn. That's where you start and things like that.
[07:09.660 --> 07:23.500]  The other thing which Gowrie has taught me, especially with the artwork, is that without the artwork, eh, it's a circuit board with blinking LEDs. And I think that's the... I think the thing which I really didn't like about... it was like, let's say, the money grab.
[07:23.500 --> 07:36.360]  It was, I'm going to make a piece of junk to sell out there and then just make the money and not really support it and not hear the passion. And that's what I love about talking with you is I'm hearing not only the passion because you want to create these things and they're different.
[07:36.360 --> 07:46.700]  Each one is different. You have the tactile ones, you have... I love the googly eyes again, that's awesome. But then even like, I have to say, I think the daff helmet is my favorite one.
[07:46.700 --> 07:59.580]  Yeah, that is definitely the favorite by far this year for most people, other than an affinity for, you know, the inspiration. It's, you know, it's multiple colors, it's really pretty, it's nice and gold, it's a really clean design.
[07:59.580 --> 08:11.120]  And it was actually a real interesting challenge to make it because the whole point of the add-ons, and I call them simple add-ons, and obviously they have, you know, the shitty origin.
[08:11.120 --> 08:24.740]  But the reason why we call them simple is because there was just kind of a misunderstanding about what they were. People were taking that to mean like it's a negative thing and it's like, no, no, no, that's just meant to imply they were kind of just, you know, made kind of quickly and simply.
[08:24.740 --> 08:36.680]  But it's meant to be an introduction to making badges. The whole point of simple add-ons is actually to attract people to making and getting into making electronics and badges and things like that.
[08:36.680 --> 08:51.220]  And it starts very simply, you have, you've got six pins, you've got one for serial communication, if the badge supports it, and two GPIO ports, if the badge supports it, and most importantly, power and ground.
[08:51.220 --> 09:04.400]  Now in my case, I mainly, I'm focusing on the art aspect of everything. For me, badge making is a demo scene for making unexpected art in a medium that most people don't consider.
[09:04.400 --> 09:14.880]  So it's like when someone takes a bunch of trash and makes this beautiful sculpture out of it. To some people, they just see a pile of trash, but someone put a lot of thought and effort into it.
[09:14.880 --> 09:29.160]  And, you know, same way as like the Commodore 64 demo scenes or similar demo scenes, sorry. And for me, it's making something that doesn't look like a PCB on purpose.
[09:29.160 --> 09:36.180]  Yeah, and that's what's so fascinating too, is like you put such love into some of these things. I'm looking at like, again, the innovation behind doing the hot glue.
[09:36.180 --> 09:44.400]  I have not seen that on other boards where it just kind of like melds together and really creating something the way it wasn't really intended to be.
[09:44.400 --> 09:44.820]  No.
[09:44.820 --> 09:54.500]  And as time goes on, I realized that more and more with these is there is no way when circuit boards were originally created, they're like, these are going to be pieces of art.
[09:54.640 --> 09:54.860]  Exactly.
[09:54.860 --> 09:58.640]  Outside in some weird abstract thing, there's no way they envisioned this.
[09:58.640 --> 10:05.660]  Right. And for me, you know, some people, they collect the badges and some people are really proud of them.
[10:05.660 --> 10:12.240]  They display them and they, you know, they might have to figure out a custom way to power these things that are traditionally battery powered.
[10:12.400 --> 10:15.860]  And my thinking on everything kind of shifted a couple of years ago.
[10:15.960 --> 10:24.560]  So now all my badges, so the SAO badge, which is what these are mounted to, these are a thing that you purchase separately.
[10:24.560 --> 10:30.160]  But the whole purpose of this thing is that while you're at the con, it's powered by AA batteries.
[10:30.160 --> 10:38.960]  But when you take that home, it has USB-C power so that you can just plug it up to a spare little power brick and you can show it off on a shelf or a desk or whatever.
[10:39.060 --> 10:45.680]  That's a great idea, especially with like, I feel like when these started, there was one or two and now there's tons of them.
[10:45.680 --> 10:50.520]  And this is a clever idea to be able to just power them and actually be able to put them on display.
[10:50.520 --> 10:53.220]  Right. And that's kind of the whole point. And they're inexpensive.
[10:53.220 --> 10:59.220]  So even from the purchasing standpoint as a customer, it's meant to be a friendly introduction.
[11:00.400 --> 11:06.060]  Altogether, two little add-ons and that little board is $65.
[11:06.240 --> 11:07.500]  Oh, really? That's not bad at all.
[11:07.500 --> 11:10.140]  So it's actually cheaper than most badges are in the first place.
[11:10.140 --> 11:15.520]  And what I love about the add-ons in general is they're stickers, but they're just plug-and-play stickers.
[11:15.520 --> 11:19.980]  You know, you get the ones you like and then, you know, as your mood changes, you change.
[11:19.980 --> 11:25.440]  Like maybe I want the cat one or maybe I want this Doom add-on or something like that, you know, whatever you're feeling.
[11:25.440 --> 11:27.560]  And there's always something out there for everybody.
[11:27.620 --> 11:35.000]  I tend to focus on things that are more friendly to a larger crowd, mostly because I used to make...
[11:35.000 --> 11:40.520]  I made add-ons and then I'd have people tell me, oh, I'd love that. I'd love to design everything like that.
[11:40.520 --> 11:43.800]  But honestly, if I took that home, it'd scare the hell out of my kids.
[11:45.160 --> 11:50.200]  And so I try to make things that appeal to obviously as many people as possible.
[11:50.220 --> 11:54.780]  But also it's meant to get people who are just like casually looking at it.
[11:55.100 --> 11:59.580]  I think about it not just at the con where people might see it and then buy it.
[11:59.640 --> 12:05.600]  Now I'm thinking about it like you take this, you came home from DEF CON, you go into work, you wrote your little post.
[12:05.600 --> 12:07.100]  This is what I learned at DEF CON.
[12:07.100 --> 12:11.820]  Your boss comes in and talks to you and you have that plugged in on the back, sitting on the windowsill or something like that.
[12:11.820 --> 12:14.140]  And you're like, hey, what's that? And that's a conversation starter.
[12:14.140 --> 12:18.020]  I love the aspect of it being a conversation starter.
[12:18.020 --> 12:23.680]  And the thing which is almost lost when you build something like this is you're not...
[12:23.680 --> 12:27.720]  For instance, I think of the Darknet badge where it's like we had a software team, we had a hardware team.
[12:27.720 --> 12:32.860]  Or the DC-801 badge, they had the software team, the story team, the art team.
[12:33.080 --> 12:38.240]  You are the art team, you are the design team, you are the software team.
[12:38.240 --> 12:45.000]  The badge is a collaborative effort with a past DEF CON badge maker from DEF CON 26, Wire.
[12:45.000 --> 12:50.140]  He did the software and some of the electrical engineering on the DEF CON 26 badge, which is where I met him.
[12:50.140 --> 12:52.380]  And we've since become very good friends.
[12:52.380 --> 12:56.960]  And he helps me out with the really nitty electronic stuff.
[12:56.960 --> 12:59.520]  And then it's my job to do everything else.
[12:59.520 --> 13:06.180]  Design the art, manufacture everything, display it, sell it, all that.
[13:06.180 --> 13:08.380]  But it's very much a collaborative effort.
[13:08.380 --> 13:11.800]  And really, there's no such thing as a solo badge.
[13:11.800 --> 13:12.860]  Not in reality.
[13:12.860 --> 13:17.540]  All the badge makers, we talk to each other, we share what we've learned.
[13:17.640 --> 13:20.440]  And some people feel it's a little unapproachable.
[13:20.440 --> 13:21.740]  And that's not true.
[13:21.740 --> 13:23.280]  You just have to ask.
[13:23.380 --> 13:26.220]  And the information is readily out there.
[13:26.220 --> 13:29.480]  I have multiple videos out there on how to make these and get into it.
[13:29.480 --> 13:33.560]  So, as a question, if anyone loves these things, where can they get these?
[13:33.560 --> 13:38.160]  So, at DEF CON, all my stuff is carried by Hacker Warehouse.
[13:38.320 --> 13:44.920]  So, they take care of all that stuff so that I can enjoy DEF CON and talk with people and do my thing.
[13:45.300 --> 13:48.120]  Online, they're on tendi.com when they're available.
[13:48.260 --> 13:48.900]  That's awesome.
[13:48.900 --> 13:52.280]  Yeah, I know Hacker Warehouse does this for a lot of the different people.
[13:52.420 --> 13:53.660]  Especially with the badges.
[13:53.660 --> 13:56.120]  Like, just, hey, so you can go off and enjoy CON.
[13:56.200 --> 13:57.580]  Get to talk about it.
[13:57.580 --> 13:58.800]  Give you all that conversations.
[13:58.800 --> 14:01.060]  Like, yes, and he'll just take care of that for you.
[14:01.060 --> 14:01.820]  I love that.
[14:01.820 --> 14:04.840]  Yeah, and I want to do it right.
[14:04.840 --> 14:09.060]  You know, Las Vegas has some complicated tax laws and things like that.
[14:09.060 --> 14:14.360]  And so, by him carrying it and basically a consignment, he takes care of all that.
[14:14.360 --> 14:14.740]  You don't really have to deal with that.
[14:14.740 --> 14:16.660]  No one gets a foul of DEF CON.
[14:16.700 --> 14:17.160]  Yeah.
[14:17.160 --> 14:20.860]  And DEF CON is, you know, they embrace the add-ons.
[14:20.860 --> 14:23.580]  It's been an official part of the badge this year.
[14:23.580 --> 14:25.280]  It's been an official part of prior badges.
[14:25.280 --> 14:27.700]  But this year, DEF CON even has their own add-ons, they sell.
[14:27.700 --> 14:28.780]  Yeah, I love it.
[14:28.780 --> 14:30.900]  Again, hey, here's the guest tip for CON.
[14:30.900 --> 14:32.220]  Oh, thank you so much.
[14:32.220 --> 14:33.280]  Thanks for watching.
[14:33.280 --> 14:34.560]  Thanks for sharing.
[14:34.560 --> 14:37.020]  And as always, hack on!