Collaborate Disseminate
A common theme in modern consumer electronics is having a power button that can be tapped to turn the device on, but needs to be held down when it’s time …read more Continue reading Push for On, Hold for Off, AC Edition
During World War II, shipboard life in the United States Navy was a gamble. No matter which theater of operations you found yourself in, the enemy was all around on …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: The Deadly Shipmate
There are plenty of electronic components which were once ubiquitous but once the niche which led to their existence has passed, they fade away to remain a junkbox curio. The …read more Continue reading Why Not Try A DIAC?
Territories across the northern hemisphere are suffering through record-breaking heatwaves this summer. Climate scientists are publishing graphs with red lines jagging dangerously upwards as unprecedented numbers pour in. Residents of …read more Continue reading How To Survive A Wet Bulb Event
It is the bane of worldwide travel: there isn’t just one way to get AC power from the wall. The exact connector — and what you can expect when you …read more Continue reading Tech in Plain Sight: Field Guide to Power Plugs
The world has been shaken to its core by a respiratory virus pandemic. Humanity has been raiding the toolbox for every possible weapon in the fight, whether that be masks, …read more Continue reading The Benefits of Displacement Ventilation
When the widget you’re working on is powered by a battery or a USB charger, running it on the bench is probably pretty safe. But when the object of your …read more Continue reading Tricking a Smart Meter into Working on the Bench
Before Tesla devised beautifully simple rotary machinery, he explored other methods of generating alternating current. One of those was the mechanical oscillator, and [Integza] had a go at replicating the device himself. (Video, embedded below the break.)
Initial attempts to reproduce the technology using 3D-printed parts were a failure. The …read more
Continue reading Building a Mechanical Oscillator, Tesla Style
It looks like Apple is interested in buying Intel’s modem chip business. Seriously interested; a deal worth $1 billion could be announced as early as this week. That might look like a small potato purchase to the world’s biggest company – at least by market capitalization – but since the …read more
If you were to invent a time machine and transport a typical hardware hacker of the 1970s into 2018 and sit them at a bench alongside their modern counterpart, you’d expect them to be faced with a pile of new things, novel experiences, and exciting possibilities. The Internet for all, desktop computing fulfilling its potential, cheap single-board computers, even ubiquitous surface-mount components.
What you might not expect though is that the 2018 hacker might discover a whole field of equivalent unfamiliarity while being very relevant from their grizzled guest. It’s something Scott Swaaley touches upon in his Superconference talk: “Lessons …read more