Navarre Bartz – Page 2 – WindowsTechs.com

Hyundai Paywalls Brake Pad Changes

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A baby blue hatchback with red accents drives down a road with blurry trees and a blue sky in the background.

Changing the pads on your car’s brakes is a pretty straightforward and inexpensive process on most vehicles. However, many modern vehicles having electronic parking brakes giving manufacturers a new avenue …read more Continue reading Hyundai Paywalls Brake Pad Changes→

Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A forest green kei truck sits in an actual forest. In its bed is a dark grey box with a small window, wood trim, and a solar panel tilted on its roof. The headlights are on, hinting at the onset of twilight. You have a sudden urge to go glamping now.

Tent camping lets you explore places on foot you could never reach another way, but sometimes you want to camp with a bit more luxury. [Levi Kelly] decided to see …read more Continue reading Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV→

Hovercraft Suitcase Gives Your Luggage a Smooth Ride

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A suitcase made of two rectangular plastic crates latched together sits prone on a concrete floor. The top shell is a beige-ish grey with a navy check and the word "JerseyMaid" on it updside down. The navy bottom crate is navy with the letters "lsen" in large cursive font ant the letters "ORATION" in smaller print below it. Much of the text is covered by a large latch and a power tool battery mount. Bright pink tape affixes a blue tarp skirt to the bottom of the hover suitcase.

The wheels on roller suitcases are one of their primary failure points. After the destruction of the wheel mount on her DIY suitcase, [Laura Kampf] wondered if it would be …read more Continue reading Hovercraft Suitcase Gives Your Luggage a Smooth Ride→

A Deep Dive on Creepy Cameras

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A man holds a license plate in front of a black pickup (F-150 Lightning) tailgate. It is a novelty Georgia plate with the designation P00-5000. There are specks of black superimposed over the plate with a transparent sticker, giving it the appearance of digital mud in black.

George Orwell might’ve predicted the surveillance state, but it’s still surprising how many entities took 1984 as a how-to manual instead of a cautionary tale. [Benn Jordan] decided to take …read more Continue reading A Deep Dive on Creepy Cameras→

Feathers are Fantastic, but Flummoxing for Engineers

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

An image of a pigeon on the left and a breakdown of six of the different kind of feathers on the bird. The bird's right wing is white with black dots and has an arrow pointing to it saying, "Developing wing with feather buds." The left wing is grey with one feather highlighted in pink with the text "Adult wing with feathers" at the end of an arrow pointing to it. The six feather types on the right side of the image are flight feathers, illustrated in pink with the text "enable flight, support aerodynamic loads, morph depending on flying style, building blocks for wing planaform." In green, we have tail feathers and the text "Maneuverability and controlability." In blue are the contour feathers, accompanied by the text, "streamline, camouflage, and sexual display. Found above filoplumes and semiplumes." A black floofy branched structure shows us the downy feathers next to the text "thermal insulation." Filoplumes and semiplumes look to be both thin and bushy feathers in black with the text "Sense underlying feathers, found above downy feathers." Finally, we have a black, stick-like bristle feather with the text "Protect face and eyes, sense surroundings."

Birds are pretty amazing creatures, and one of the most amazing things about them and their non-avian predecessors are feathers. Engineers and scientists are finding inspiration from them in surprising …read more Continue reading Feathers are Fantastic, but Flummoxing for Engineers→

Linear Actuators 101

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A set of three linear actuators set atop a green with yellow grid cutting mat. The electric actuator on the top of the image is silver and has a squarish tube. It is slender compared to the other two. A black, hydraulic actuator sits in the middle and is the largest of the three. A silver pneumatic actuator at the bottom of the image is the middle sized unit.

Linear actuators are a great help when you’re moving something along a single axis, but with so many options, how do you decide? [Jeremy Fielding] walks us through some of …read more Continue reading Linear Actuators 101→

ESticky is a Paperless Post-It

Posted on August 23, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

A hand holds a charcoal-colored rectangle with a black and white screen in taking up most of its face. A bulleted list of items are displayed: "Start work on new blog, Update eSticky FW, Start working on eSticky PCB, New enclosure for eSticky, Buy 18650 battery, Buy 3DP extruder anycubic, FW Update Sigma 18-35."

E-paper screens have opened up a wide variety of novel use cases that just wouldn’t work with the higher power draw of an LCD. [gokux] thought it would be perfect …read more Continue reading ESticky is a Paperless Post-It→

Thermal Batteries for Lower Carbon Industrial Processes

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

$A photo of a large warehouse with many skylights and windows near the roof. In the middle of the image extending out into the distance are hundreds of grey refractory bricks stacked on top of a smaller set of brown bricks stacked on top of pallets. There appear to be rails on the floor of the warehouse and small dollies underneath the pallets.$

Heating things up is one of the biggest sources of cost and emissions for many industrial processes we take for granted. Most of these factories are running around the clock …read more Continue reading Thermal Batteries for Lower Carbon Industrial Processes→

Antiviral PPE for the Next Pandemic

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

In what sounds like the plot from a sci-fi movie, scientists have isolated an incredibly rare immune mutation to create a universal antiviral treatment. Only present in a few dozen …read more Continue reading Antiviral PPE for the Next Pandemic→

China’s Great Solar Wall is a Big Deal

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Navarre Bartz

An overhead image of the Kubuqi Desert Great Solar Wall. It shows a series of clusters of bluish solar panels arranged throughout a light brown and dark brown desert. One of the arrays contains an image of a horse made of solar panels.

Data centers and the electrification of devices that previously ran on fossil fuels is driving increased demand for electricity around the world. China is addressing this with a megaproject that …read more Continue reading China’s Great Solar Wall is a Big Deal→