Before a spectrometer can do any useful work, it needs to be calibrated to identify wavelengths correctly. This is usually done by detecting several characteristic peaks or dips in a well-known light source and using these as a reference to identify other wavelengths. The most common reference for hobbyists is the pair of peaks produced […]
Multitasking is something we take for granted these days. Just about every computer we use, from our desktops to our phones, is capable of multitasking. It might sound silly to implement multitasking on lower-spec machines from many decades ago, given their limited resources, but it can be done, as [bchiha] demonstrates on a Z80-based machine. […]
If you’ve ever wanted to pump sound to all the rooms of your house, you might use any one of a number of commercial solutions. Or, you could go the more DIY route and whip up something like the Esparagus Audio Brick built by [Andriy]. The concept is simple—it’s a small unit, roughly the size […]
The solar-powered quadcopter from below. (Credit: Luke Maximo Bell) One of the most frustrating parts about flying a quadcopter is having to regularly swap battery packs, as this massively limits what you can do with said quadcopter, never mind its effective range. Obviously, having the sun power said quadcopter during a nice sunny day would […]
For our 2025 Component Abuse Challenge there have been a set of entries which merely use a component for a purpose it wasn’t quite intended, and another which push misuse of a part into definite abuse territory, which damages or fundamentally changes it. [Ken Yap]’s use of a transistor base-emitter junction as a voltage reference […]
While we’d love to have you all join us in Pasadena, the next best thing is to connect up to the festivities through the magic of the Internet. As always, the main stage talks will be streamed live to our YouTube channel, while the talks taking place in the DesignLab will be recorded and posted […]
Pinball machines have something for everyone. They’re engaging, fast-paced games available in a variety of sizes and difficulties, and legend has it that they can be played even while deaf and blind. Wizardry aside, pinball machines have a lot to offer those of us around here as well, as they’re a complex mix of analog […]
Wi-Fi cameras are everywhere these days, with wireless networking making surveillance systems easier to deploy than ever. [CiferTech] has been recently developing the RF Clown—a tool that can block transmissions from these cameras at some range. The build is based around an ESP32, with three tactile switches and an OLED display for the user interface. […]
There’s something delightfully sci-fi about any kind of volumetric display. Sure, you know it’s not really a hologram, and Princess Leia isn’t about to pop out and tell you you’re her only hope, but nothing says “this is the future” like an image floating before you in 3D. [Matthew Lim] has put together an interesting […]
Possibly the biggest privacy story of the year for Europeans and, by extension the rest of the world, has been ChatControl. Chatcontrol is a European Union proposal backed by Denmark for a mandatory backdoor in all online communications. As always with these things, it was touted as a think-of-the-children solution to online child abuse material, […]