Have you ever seen a toy and said “That wants to be a deck”? [Attoparsec] did, when his eyes fell upon the Little Talking Scholar, a punch card driven toy from the 1980s. It’s now a punch card driven cyberdeck. The punch card interface on the toy is only six bits, but sixty-four application cards […]
Even within a single type of FDM filament there is an overwhelming amount of choice. Take for example Elegoo’s PETG filament offerings, which include such varieties like ‘Pro’ and ‘Rapid’. Both cost the same, but is there a reason to prefer one over the other, perhaps even just for specific applications? To test this, [Dr. […]
For as mysterious, fascinating, and beautiful as lightning is at a distance, it’s not exactly a peaceful phenomenon up close. Not many things are built to withstand millions of volts and tens to hundreds of thousands of amps. Unsurprisingly, there’s a huge amount of effort put into lightning protection systems for equipment and resources that […]
After getting a new car, [Solo Pilot] missed the automatic garage door opening and closing system their old car had. So they set about building their own, called GarageMinder. On the project page you will find a bill of materials, schematics, and some notes about the approach taken in various versions of the software. [Solo […]
The ZX Spectrum is perhaps most fondly remembered as a home computer and a games machine. [Tito] has grabbed the faithful black plastic box and turned it into a frequency counter as an innovative entry to our 2025 One Hertz Challenge. The code was prepared in assembly using ZASM—a Z80 online assembler. It works in […]
Film maker [David Greelish] wrote in to let us know about his recent documentary: Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa. The documentary covers the life of the Apple Lisa. It starts with the genesis of the Lisa Project at Apple, covering its creation, then its marketing, and finally its cancellation. It then discusses the Apple Lisa […]
Today in the submersibles department our hacker [Rupin Chheda] wrote in to tell us about their submarine project. This sub is made from a few lengths of PVC piping of various diameters. There is an inflation system comprised of a solenoid and a pump, and a deflation system, also comprised of a solenoid and a […]
When asked ‘what makes you tick?’ the engineers at Vacheron Constantin sure know what to answer – and fast, too. Less than a year after last year’s horological kettlebell, the 960g Berkley Grand Complication, a new invention had to be worked out. And so, they delivered. Vacheron Constantin’s Solaria Ultra Grand Complication is more than […]