Navarre Bartz – Page 21 – WindowsTechs.com

IKEA Hack – Kvart into Mic Stand

Posted on June 23, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

A small black microphone in a black 3d printed mount. The mount is attached to an adjustable silver neck attached to a desk clamp from an IKEA lamp.

While audiophiles might spend gazillions of hours finely honing a microphone stand that isolates their equipment from the trials and perturbations of the world, most of us who use a …read more Continue reading IKEA Hack – Kvart into Mic Stand→

An Unexpected Upset in EV Charging Standards

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

Last November, Tesla open-sourced parts of its charging infrastructure, not-so-humbly unveiling it as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). It’s finally taking off with a number of manufacturers signing on. …read more Continue reading An Unexpected Upset in EV Charging Standards→

Kinefox Tracks Wildlife for a Lifetime

Posted on June 17, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

An image of two dogs and a bison wearing harnesses with the energy harvesting system. Text next to the animals says Dog 1 (Exp. 1), Dog 2 (Exp. 2), Dog 2 (Exp. 3), and Wisent (Exp. 4)

Radio trackers have become an important part of studying the movements of wildlife, but keeping one running for the life of an animal has been challenging. Researchers have now developed …read more Continue reading Kinefox Tracks Wildlife for a Lifetime→

Math You Can Wear: Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

A black work mat holds a circular badge with 64 addressable LEDs in a spiraling shape akin to the center of a sunflower. The LEDs have a rotating rainbow spiraling around the circle with red touching violet on one end. The colors extend in bands from the center to the rim of the circle.

Fibonacci numbers are seen in the natural structures of various plants, such as the florets in sunflower heads, areoles on cacti stems, and scales in pine cones. [HackerBox] has developed …read more Continue reading Math You Can Wear: Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge→

Apple II – Now With ChatGPT

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

Closeup of an Apple ][ terminal program. The background is blue and the text white. The prompt says, "how are you today?" and the ChatGPT response says, "As an AI language model, I don't have feelings, but I am functioning optimally. Thank you for asking. How may I assist you?"

Hackers are finding no shortage of new things to teach old retrocomputers, and [Evan Michael] has taught his Apple II how to communicate with ChatGPT. Written in Python, iiAI lets …read more Continue reading Apple II – Now With ChatGPT→

Spaying Cats in One Shot

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

Feral cats live a rough life, and programs like Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) attempt to keep their populations from exploding in a humane way. Researchers in Massachusetts have found a …read more Continue reading Spaying Cats in One Shot→

Navy Program PUMPs Up Hopes for Magnetic Propulsion

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

The Yamato 1, a sleek grey ship that looks vaguely like a computer mouse or Star Trek shuttlecraft. It has an enclosed cockpit up front with black windows and blue trim. It is sitting on land in front of a red tower at a museum in Tokyo.

The “caterpillar drive” in The Hunt for Red October allowed the sub to travel virtually undetected through the ocean, but real examples of magnetohydrodynamic drives (MHDs) are rare. The US …read more Continue reading Navy Program PUMPs Up Hopes for Magnetic Propulsion→

Wii XL is Twice as Nice

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

A white Wii console sits on a grey table in the vertical orientation with its front facing the camera and its back away from the camera at a slight angle to the right. Next to it is a 2x sized replica which dwarfs the diminutive console. A purple light runs across the back edge of the table.

The Wii was a relatively small console when it released, but it packed a big punch when it came to its game library and the impact it had on the …read more Continue reading Wii XL is Twice as Nice→

Beepberry Brings Memory LCD and a Physical Keyboard to Your Pi

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

A BlackBerry Classic-sized device with a BlackBerry keyboard and an e-ink screen. It sits next to an e-ink smartwatch with a grey bezel that matches the 3d printed enclosure of the messaging device.

As the 2020s are seeing the return of the flip phone, could we see a rebirth of other device form factors from before the slab era? [Eric Migicovsky] and [SQFMI] …read more Continue reading Beepberry Brings Memory LCD and a Physical Keyboard to Your Pi→

Glass Robot From a Solarpunk Future

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Navarre Bartz

An orange and green stained glass robot arm sits on a table with a yellow lace tablecloth. It suspends a teabag over a brown teacup. You can see green leaves outside the window behind the bot.

You may have heard of a heart of glass or have a glass jaw, but have you ever seen a glass robot? [Simone Giertz], has taken two of her favorite …read more Continue reading Glass Robot From a Solarpunk Future→