Top all-time · #13573
Novel Bits
Company blog · novelbits.iohardwareprogramming
Novel Bits is the company blog at novelbits.io, writing about hardware and programming. Since 2018, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 9 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers cite Novel Bits for technical Bluetooth Low Energy material, such as throughput limits, the Long Range PHY, and an introductory BLE book. The comments link to these posts as references rather than praising them.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Bluetooth LE consulting, training, and tools for engineering teams, plus in-depth guides on how Bluetooth LE actually works.
What Hacker News says?
2 Mbit/s is the physical bit rate using LE 2M. After accounting for protocol overhead, the max data rate is about 1.4 Mbps. https://www.novelbits.io/bluetooth-5-speed-maximum-throughpu...
Comment linking /bluetooth-5-speed-maximum-throughput/
on “AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless, Apple Confirms”Submitted Show HN: Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth Low Energy – A Developer's Guide as a story · 97 points
HN discussionThere doesn't seem to be enough bandwidth, not even with BT 5.0's 2 Mbps LE 2M which just barely ekes out 1400 kbps after accounting for protocol overhead, just below CD audio's 1411 kbps data rate for 2-channel 16 bit 44.1 kHz LPCM. https://www.novelbits.io/bluetooth-5-speed-maximum-throughpu... Unless ALAC can consistently keep the data rate below 1400 kbps, I don't see how it's possible to have lossless audio ove…
Comment linking /bluetooth-5-speed-maximum-throughput/
on “AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless, Apple Confirms”Submitted Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR): Bidirectional Bluetooth Advertising as a story · 9 points
HN discussionNot an expert in the field, but I have some knowledge. Bluetooth specifies different address types [1] where one of the types are Resolvable Random Private Address. This is used to avoid tracking. TLDR: The address is periodically randomized (typically every 15 min). Part of the address is a hash that lets you identify the device if you previously have bonded with the device (so you have its Identity Resolving Key)…
Comment linking /bluetooth-address-privacy-ble/
on “Make a low-cost Bluetooth LE packet sniffer with Wireshark”Submitted Show HN: Intro to Bluetooth Low Energy E-Book (Free) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionYou could also learn more about the book here: https://www.novelbits.io/introduction-to-bluetooth-low-energ...
Comment linking /introduction-to-bluetooth-low-energy-book
on “Show HN: “Intro to Bluetooth Low Energy” book”Submitted Bluetooth 5 speed: How to achieve maximum throughput for your BLE application as a story · 1 points
HN discussionHave you looked at Bluetooth LE Long Range? I believe more recent phones have it and it claims communication of up to 1km. In practice less in the woods I'm sure. Still a dramatic win over standard Bluetooth though. https://novelbits.io/bluetooth-long-range-coded-phy/
Comment linking /bluetooth-long-range-coded-phy/
on “Show HN: Red Grid Link – peer-to-peer team tracking over Bluetooth, no servers”