What is the size of a single molecule of oil? What may initially seem like a trick question – answerable only through the use of complicated, high-tech scientific equipment – is actually as easy to calculate as the circumference of planet Earth. Much like how [Eratosthenes] used a couple of sticks to achieve the latter […]
There are a lot of fantastic things about Hackaday Supercon, but for me personally, the highlight is always seeing the dizzying array of electronic bits and bobs that folks bring with them. If you’ve never had the chance to join us in Pasadena, it’s a bit like a hardware show-and-tell, where half the people you […]
Watch out, Gen X-ers — there’s a nostalgia overload heading your way, courtesy of this over-the-air TV simulator. And it has us feeling a little Saturday morning cartoon-ish, or maybe even a bit Afterschool Special. [Shane C Mason]’s “FieldStation42” build centers around a period-correct color TV, and rightly so — a modern TV would be […]
Structure of the Ramtron FeRAM. The image is focus-stacked for clarity. (Credit: Ken Shirriff) Although not as prevalent as Flash memory storage, ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM) offers a range of benefits over the former, mostly in terms of endurance and durability, which makes it popular for a range of (niche) applications. Recently [Ken Shirriff] had a […]
While normally more comfortable with a soldering iron, [LucidScience] recently took a dive into woodworking and hardware store electronics to build a DIY proofing box. It’s a clever design that doubles as furniture, with some cool problem-solving along the way. While it might not be your typical hack, repurposing seedling heat mats and working with […]
July 1981 cover of CompuServe’s magazine. Long before the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, there were other ways to go online, with Ohio-based CompuServe being the first to offer a consumer-oriented service on September 24, 1979. In an article by [Michael De Bonis] a listener-submitted question to WOSU’s Curious Cbus is answered, […]
Many of us are very heavy computer users, and two items that can affect our comfort and, by extension, our health are the keyboard and the mouse. We’ve covered many ergonomic and customisable keyboards over the years, but we are not sure we’ve covered a fully adjustable mouse until now. Here’s [Charlie Pyott] with their […]
It’s not news that Leonardo DaVinci was somewhat ahead of his time, and over the centuries many of the creations in his sketchbooks have been created and proved quite functional. The guys from the YouTube channel How To Make Everything have been looking at one such sketch, a screw thread-cutting machine. At first glance, it seems […]
Welcome back to 2010 and the Asus eeePC Netbook, Seashell series. (Credit: Igor Ljubuncic) It’s often said these days that computers don’t become outdated nearly as quickly as they did in the past, with even a decade-old computer still more than capable of handling daily tasks for the average person. Testing that theory, [Igor Ljubuncic] […]