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Graphics calculators are one of those strange technological cul-de-sacs. They rely on outdated technology and should not be nearly as expensive as they are, but market effects somehow keep prices …read more

If you’ve ever run a game server or used BitTorrent, you probably know that life is easier if your router supports UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). This is a fairly …read more

A switch is simple: connect two pieces of metal together and bam! Except, it’s not that simple at high currents. How much current? Just about 400 car batteries worth would …read more

In the early days of aviation, pilots or their navigators used a plethora of tools to solve common navigation and piloting problems. There was definitely a need for some kind …read more

Stream decks are pretty useful in all kinds of contexts, but commercial models can feel a bit pricy for what is effectively a bunch of buttons. [WhiskeyTangoHotel] has whipped up …read more

One of the coolest things about old hi-fi hardware is that it often came with flickety needles that danced with the audio level. You can still buy these if you …read more

An MRI scan is never a pleasant occasion – even if you aren’t worried about the outcome, lying still in a confined, noisy space for long periods of time is …read more

The 3DFX Voodoo was not the first dedicated 3D graphics chipset by any means, but it became the favourite for gamers among the early mass-market GPUs. It would be found …read more

On Friday, Reuters reported that Amazon is going to try to get into the smartphone game…again. The Fire Phone was perhaps Amazon’s biggest commercial misstep, and was only on the …read more

Odds are, you’ve taken pills before; it’s a statistical certainty that some of you reading this took several this morning. Whenever you do, you’re at the mercy of the manufacturer: …read more

Thermal energy storage is pretty great, as phase-change energy storage is very consistent with its energy output over time, unlike chemical batteries. You also get your pick from a wide …read more

The 8051 was an 8-bit Harvard-architecture microcontroller first put out by Intel in 1980.  They’ve since discontinued that line, but it lives on in the low-cost STC8 family of chips, …read more

Although the RTL-SDR is cheap, accessible, and capable enough for many projects, it does have some important limitations. In particular, its bandwidth is limited to about 3.2 MHz, and the …read more

A well-known property of wall warts like power bricks and USB chargers is that they always consume some amount of power even when there’s no connected device drawing power from …read more

We have to admit, we didn’t know that we wanted a desktop electric jellyfish until seeing [likeablob]’s Denki-Kurage, but it’s one of those projects that just fills a need so …read more

Although the CRT has largely disappeared from our everyday lives, there was a decades-long timeframe when this was effectively the only display available. It’s an analog display for an analog …read more

The best part about retro computing is the idea that you’ll save some poor system from being scrapped and revive it to a working state, at which point you can …read more

We’re used to electronic parts of the same type staying predictably the same, sometimes over many years. An early Z80 from the mid 1970s can be exchanged with one from …read more

For better or worse, there are a few instruments that have been pigeonholed into specific genres of popular music. For example, banjos are often heard in bluegrass or folk, harmonicas …read more

We’re all used to it by now, but I’d just like to reflect on how insanely power-packed lithium ion batteries are, and everything that’s afforded us. I’m trying to think …read more