Festive STEM Adventure: Building the Acebott ESP32 QD001 Robot Car with My Daughter
Christmas brought wheels and motors. The Acebott QD001 4WD Robot Kit turned into a weekend project with my 2-year-old. From dodgy GPIO pins to combining IR and WiFi control, here's what I learned about modern robotics kits and why they matter for getting kids into STEM.
Kubernetes 1.35: In-Place Pod Vertical Scaling Reaches GA
Kubernetes v1.35 brings in-place pod vertical scaling to GA after 6+ years. Adjust CPU/memory without pod recreation - but beware anti-patterns. This comprehensive guide covers proper use cases, alternatives like HPA/VPA, and why this powerful feature should be reserved for specific edge cases only.
Bare-Metal Kubernetes Storage: Longhorn Setup (Part 2)
After setting up NFS storage in Part 1, I still had a problem: if my Unraid NAS went down, everything stopped. In this guide, I install Longhorn v1.10.1 on my bare-metal Kubernetes cluster for distributed storage with automatic failover. I tested it by shutting down a worker node, the data survived.
How to Enter Download Mode on Acebott ESP32 Max V1.0
Problem Solved: Flashing firmware on the Acebott QD001 Smart Robotics Car Kit
The Problem
While working on the Acebott QD001
Peek-a-Boo but with ESP32 - Upgrading the Traffic Light Controller with HC-SR04
Upgraded the traffic light with a $2 proximity sensor. Now it detects when my 2-year-old gets close, and the lights respond. Two new game modes: peek-a-boo for toddlers and a progressive distance game. Building on the original ESP32 project with better security, too.
Building a Traffic Light Controller for My 2-Year-Old: ESP32 with Web Interface & OTA Updates
Watching my 2-year-old's face light up when she presses a button and sees the traffic light change made those frustrating CH340 driver issues worth it.
Baremetal Kubernetes Storage: NFS Setup with Unraid (Part 1)
Bare-metal k8s storage made simple: Use your Unraid/Synology NAS + NFS CSI driver for instant ReadWriteMany volumes.
LocalStack: Run AWS Services Locally for Free
Test AWS services on your laptop without spending money. LocalStack runs S3, Lambda, EC2, DynamoDB, and more locally on your machine. This guide shows you how to set it up and start using it for learning or professional development.
Set Up Your Own S3-Compatible MinIO Server in Under 5 Minutes with Docker (No AWS Bills)
Run a fully S3-compatible object storage server on your machine. Use AWS CLI, SDKs, or console—no code changes. Perfect for dev, testing, or on-prem. Docker Compose setup, persistent data, instant buckets. Skip the cloud, own your storage.
Quantum Doomsday 2028: The Day Encryption Dies – Banks, HTTPS, Secrets Exposed
Quantum computers could break modern encryption by 2028-2035. Google's Willow chip and IBM's roadmap show rapid progress toward the 1,673 logical qubits needed to crack Bitcoin and RSA encryption. The "harvest now, decrypt later" threat is already happening. Are we prepared for Q-Day?
