There’s an adage coined by [Ian Betteridge] that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered by the word “No”. However, Lorentz invariance – the theory that the …read more
Whenever you buy used computers there is a risk that they come with unpleasant surprises that are not of the insect variant. From Apple hardware that is iCloud-locked with the …read more
Here’s something fun from [Chad Kapper] over on HackMakeMod: Escape Room Lockbox with the Cheap Yellow Display. You may have heard of the “cheap yellow display” (CYD), so-called due to …read more
A common task in a laboratory setting is that of sampling, where a bit of e.g. liquid has to be sampled from a series of containers. Doing this by hand …read more
When we first heard the term “random laser,” we did a double-take. After all, most ordinary sources of light are random. One defining characteristic of a traditional laser is that …read more
AC induction motors are everywhere, from ceiling fans to vehicles. They’re reliable, simple, and rugged — but there are some disadvantages. It’s difficult to control the speed without complex electronics, …read more
Over the course of its nearly 30 years in orbit, the International Space Station has played host to more “firsts” than can possibly be counted. When you’re zipping around Earth …read more
Since the RP2040 microcontroller is available as a stand-alone component, it’s easy enough for third parties to churn out their own variations — or outright clones of — the Raspberry …read more
We’ve been aware of projects like Cosmopolitan that allow you to crank out a single executable that will run on different operating systems. [Kamila] noticed that the idea was sound, …read more
[Anthony Francis-Jones], like us, has a soft spot for the educational electronic kits from days gone by. In a recent video you can see below, he shows the insides of …read more
Writing good, performant code depends strongly on an understanding of the underlying hardware. This is especially the case in scenarios like those involving embarrassingly parallel processing, which at first glance …read more
The balance bikes toddlers are rocking these days look like great fun, but not so great in the snow. Rather than see his kid’s favourite toy relegated to shed until …read more
An audio amplifier was once a fairly simple analogue device, but in recent decades a typical home entertainment amplifier will have expanded to include many digital functions. When these break …read more
This week Jonathan and Randal chat with Jose Valim about Elixir! What led Jose to create this unique programming language? What do we mean that it’s a functional language with …read more
For those born with certain types of congenital deafness, the cochlear implant has been a positive and enabling technology. It uses electronics to step in as a replacement for the …read more
The ESP32-P4 is the new hotness on the microcontroller market. With RISC-V architecture and two cores running 400 MHz, to ears of a certain vintage it sounds more like the …read more
If you search the Internet for “Clone Wars,” you’ll get a lot of Star Wars-related pages. But the original Clone Wars took place a long time ago in a galaxy …read more
Getting a significant energy return from tokamak-based nuclear fusion reactors depends for a large part on plasma density, but increasing said density is tricky, as beyond a certain point the …read more
Drawing tablets have been a favorite computer peripheral of artists since its inception in the 1980s. If you have ever used a drawing tablet of this nature, you may have …read more
[The 8-Bit Guy] tells us how 8-bit Atari computers work. The first Atari came out in 1977, it was originally called the Atari Video Computer System. It was followed two …read more