• A used Illumina GA2x sequencer surfaced for ~$10–20 k; participants weighed a full teardown against the bigger prize of regenerating the $5 k consumable flow-cells, which could drop per-run costs to near zero if the “magic” surface chemistry can be replicated.

• DEF CON-derived NSA Playset research showed how PLX USB-to-PCIe bridge chips enable DMA-based memory exfiltration over USB; the open-source SLOTSCREAMER project and $100 pre-flashed boards were offered for hands-on security experimentation.

• Cloud-science compute startups were advised to avoid generic “super-computation made easy” pitches; instead, package pre-configured Docker containers for pharma and target AWS’s $15 k academic grants as a defensible niche.

• The open-hardware StenoBoard stenography keyboard (GitHub, Thingiverse, $300 kit) was highlighted for enabling 200 WPM typing without RSI, while the Registrator Docker-Consul bridge was praised for automatic micro-service discovery in clusters.

• Synthetic-biology standards debate: BioBricks were criticized as obsolete because scar-forming restriction-site rules conflict with modern Gibson assembly and cheap DNA synthesis; Andrew Ellington’s 2012 “On Apologetics” post was cited as a detailed critique.

• Ginkgo Bioworks’ YC acceptance and Glowing Plant’s biotech hype were both criticized; participants contrasted Ginkgo’s MIT platform with its history of iGEM elitism and questioned why well-funded firms still seek seed capital.

• Career trajectories discussed: an undergrad turned down Google/Facebook/Mozilla recruiters to join Ginkgo for wet-lab experience, while D. E. Shaw Research was recommended for internships at the intersection of custom supercomputers and protein-folding MD.

• A 141 MB archive of the diybio mailing-list (2008-present) was shared as required reading to understand how early DIYbio groups like Genspace formed, alongside broader laments that academic biology’s secrecy and paper-notebook culture hinder open-source collaboration.

• ChipWhisperer side-channel analysis platform and plasma antennas for SDR were proposed as future bio- or transhumanist sensing tools, while Firefox OS and Oculus Rift development chatter included Wayland compositor experiments and immersive terminal work for low-vision users.

• Synthetic biology was estimated to account for roughly 25 % of transhumanist progress, alongside AI, BCI, and open-source health tech, with calls for a biology-focused “Hacker News” to raise community signal-to-noise above existing low-quality bio-forums.