Stepper motors are undeniably useful, but sometimes they need a bit of gearing to help perform their task. [Gjhudson2008] has a compact gearbox for NEMA 17 or 23 steppers that …read more
Letting go is hard, especially when it concerns an irreplaceable space probe like the two Voyagers. Fortunately JPL engineers have managed to pull off a ‘big bang’ switch on Voyager …read more
You’ve probably heard of rubidium frequency standards, which are used where you need an extremely accurate time or frequency reference. [IMSAI] guy has a good explainer video about what’s actually …read more
It’s a complex world out there, and more than ever folks may find themselves in a situation where they want to keep particular bits of information away from prying eyes. …read more
We’ve probably all got one item in our toolboxes or chests that we really, really don’t like, but find too handy to toss. For [Someone Should Make That], that item …read more
PID controllers are everywhere. They regulate temperature, motor speed, power supplies, positioning systems, process equipment, and probably a dozen things within arm’s reach of you right now. They’re also frequently …read more
Back in the late 90s, Apple was definitely a pretty fruity company, with its aggressively translucent shades of colored plastic that often got described in terms of such fruit variants. …read more
Everyone talks about the weather. This is doubly true for sailors, where bad weather could mean a very bad day. So it isn’t surprising that navies around the world have …read more
The story of Commodore, the famous manufacturer of home computers, is a murky one at best. Commodore fans will decry their woeful marketing and dismal product roadmap, while former employees …read more
Most musical organs use air as their working fluid, but there’s nothing in the rule book that says they have to. Calliopes have used steam for 150 years now, while …read more
It’s rather awkward when you buy a piece of hardware like a sketchy router to make a video about its hidden admin password backdoor – known as CVE-2026-11405 – only …read more
For decades now, companies like Michelin have been teasing us with futuristic-looking automobile tires that don’t use air. Instead, they use a polymer mesh of sorts which maintains the same …read more
After the release of Google’s Chromecast so-called ‘streaming sticks’ have remained a popular form factor, even though such technology is these days part of ‘smart’ TVs. Being curious as to …read more
We’ve always taken a certain childlike joy in seeing tiny things made big, and big things tiny. Evidently [Uncle Stem] is the same way, if this 7x sized 16×2 “LCD” …read more
This week Jonathan chats with Jonathan Pallant about embedded Rust! Learn about the growing Rust driver library, the different ways to build a Rust stack on an embedded device, and …read more
It’s time to return to our no-punches-pulled look at food manufacture, and this time we’re looking at the humble loaf of bread. As before, we’re approaching the subject with a …read more
If you’ve ever thought about the nomenclature of electrical components, potentiometer stands out as a strange name, etymologically suggesting something like a voltmeter. In fact, the component took its name …read more
Once upon a time, telephones were primarily point-to-point communications systems. There were options for three-way and conference calls out there, but by and large the plain old telephone system was …read more
[Mansour] presents an interesting idea in his essay A Common Thread — just as USB-C has become the “One Connector To Rule Them All” in the world of electronics, so …read more
For the past three years [Christopher Mitchell] has been working on his replica of a British Rail Class 800 control cab for a physical train simulator, with the July blog …read more