There are some subjects as a writer in which you know they need to be written, but at the same time you feel it necessary to steel yourself for the inevitable barrage of criticism once your work reaches its audience. Of these the latest is AI, or more specifically the current enthusiasm for Large Language […]
Emulating a 6502 shouldn’t be that hard on a modern computer. Maybe that’s why [lasect] decided to make it a bit harder. The PG_6502 emulator uses PostgreSQL. All the CPU resources are database tables, and all opcodes are stored procedures. Huh. The database is pretty simple. The pg6502.cpu table has a single row that holds […]
When it comes to electronic gadgets, I’m a sucker for a good deal. If it’s got a circuit board on the inside and a low enough price tag on the outside, you can be pretty sure I’ll be taking it home with me. So a few years ago, when I saw USB external hard drives […]
The modern web is a major pain to use without a password manager app. However, using such a service requires you to entrust your precious secrets to a third party. They could also be compromised, then you really are in trouble. You could manage passwords with local software or even a notebook, but that adds […]
Although toasters should be among the most boring appliances in a household – with perhaps just a focus on making their toasting more deterministic rather than somewhere between ‘still frozen’ and ‘charcoal’ – somehow companies keep churning out toasters that just add very confusing ‘smart’ features. Of course, if a toaster adds a big touch […]
In a satisfying blend of classic console restoration and modern modding, [Elliot] from the Retro Future channel has transformed a broken, dirty PlayStation into what they call the “ultimate PS1.” PicoStation ZeroWire. Note the wire. The first step was to deal with the really grungy case. The shell was soaked in dish soap and given […]
Walking on grass, it’s easy, no matter the shoe. How about an inclined trail? Some hiking shoes or nice tennis shoes will do the trick. How about climbing a mountain? Now we are gonna need something special. [Magnus Midtbø] is a professional climber with an acute awareness of this fact and has used shoes of […]
As a company, Fluke has been making electronic test equipment longer than the bipolar junction transistor has been around for. In that time they’ve developed a fairly stellar reputation for quality and consistency, but like any company they don’t support their products indefinitely. [ogdento] owns a Fluke meter that isn’t nearly as old as the […]
Oh sure, you’ve got calculators. There’s that phone program of course, and the one that comes with your OS, and the TI-86 and possibly RPN numbers you’ve had since high school. But what you don’t have is a Flapulator, at least not until you build one. Possibly the be-all, end-all of physical calculating devices, the […]
From laser cutters to 3D printers, having an exhaust duct at the back of a machine is a very common sight. However, these tend to be rather bulky, claiming many centimeters of precious space behind a machine even if you’d want to push it right up against a wall. This issue annoyed [TheNeedleStacker] over on […]