- A new open-hardware e-reader project is being considered because the participant is dissatisfied with existing commercial options; the main technical challenge is rendering e-books without running Linux.  
- Discussion of open-source satellite-image reception: one participant is decoding NOAA-18 APT weather images with an RTL-SDR dongle and a simple V-dipole, sharing raw 1.5 MSPS I/Q recordings and technical parameters (137.5 MHz center, 34 kHz RF bandwidth, 256-level AM on 2400 Hz sub-carrier FM).  
- Signal-processing tips exchanged include using orbital-prediction software for Doppler correction, adding a high-pass filter to suppress nearby FM broadcast interference, and the possibility of a phased-array dipole for ~3 dB gain.  
- Historical counter-surveillance technique noted: embedding large numbers of ordinary diodes in concrete (as the USSR did in the new U.S. embassy in Moscow) to create overwhelming false positives for non-linear junction detectors, masking real bugs.  
- Link to the Crypto Museum’s page on the IBM Selectric typewriter “bug” (covert electromechanical key-logger used by the KGB) was shared as background on covert listening devices.  
- Brief debate on life-expectancy gains since 1970: attributed mainly to the collapse of communism and global poverty reduction, with technical advances such as oral rehydration therapy and improved cancer treatment cited as additional factors.