Braun was once a mighty pillar of industrial design; a true titan of the mid-century era. Many of the company’s finest works have been forgotten outside of coffee table books …read more
Somehow, an Elka Synthex analog synthesizer made it onto [Mend it Mark]’s repair bench recently. It had a couple of dud buttons, and some keys produced the wrong tone. Remember, …read more
It’s generally pretty easy to spot a microcontroller on a PCB. There are clues aplenty: the more-or-less central location, the nearby crystal oscillator, the maze of supporting passives, and perhaps …read more
Are you using a desk mouse like some kind of… normal computer user? Why, beg the heavens? For you could be using an air mouse, of your very own creation! [Misfit …read more
In 2015, Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone founded Relativity Space around an ambitious goal: to be the first company to put a 3D printed rocket into orbit. While additive manufacturing …read more
Some slicers have introduced brick layers, and more slicers plan to add them. Until that happens, you can use this new script from [Geek Detour] to get brick layer goodness …read more
Shell scripting is an often forgotten programming environment, relegated to simple automation tasks and little else. In fact, it’s possible to achieve much more complex tasks in the shell. As …read more
The Amiga has a lot of fans, and rightly so. The machine broke a lot of ground. However, according to [Dave Farquhar], one of the most popular models today — …read more
If you think of old recording technology, you probably think of magnetic tape, either in some kind of cassette or, maybe, on reels. But there’s an even older technology that …read more
“The brickings will continue until the printer sales improve!” This whole printer-bricking thing seems to be getting out of hand with the news this week that a firmware update caused …read more
After recently landing at the Moon’s Mare Crisium, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander craft was treated to a spectacle that’s rarely observed: a total solar eclipse as seen from the …read more
Current measurements are not as handy as voltage measurements. You typically need to either measure the voltage across something and do some math or break the circuit so a known …read more
Everyone loves wireless power these days, almost vindicating [Nikola Tesla’s] push for wireless power. One reason why transmitting electricity this way is a terrible idea is the massive losses involved …read more
MSX computers were not very common in the United States, and we didn’t know what we were missing when they were popular. [Re:Enthused] shows us what would have been a …read more
When your homebrew Yagi antenna only sort-of works, or when your WiFi cantenna seems moody on rainy days, we can assure you: it is not only you. You can stop …read more
Photo-printing kiosks are about as common as payphones these days. However, there was a time when they were everywhere. The idea was that if you didn’t have a good printer …read more
Ever wanted to produce nitrogen fertilizer like they did in the 1900s? In that case, you’re probably looking at the Birkeland-Eyde process, which was the first industrial-scale atmospheric nitrogen fixation …read more
The WebUSB standard is certainly controversial. Many consider it a security risk, and, to date, only Chromium-based browsers support it. But there is a workaround that is, ironically, supposed to …read more
We talk about quantum states — that is, something can be at one of several discrete values but not in between. For example, a binary digit can be a 1 …read more
Ever pried apart an LCD? If so, you’ve likely stumbled at the unassuming zebra strip — the pliable connector that makes bridging PCB pads to glass traces look effortless. [Chuck] …read more