The ESP32 is looking like an amazing chip, not the least for its price point. It combines WiFi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities with two CPU cores and a decent hardware peripheral set. There wer…

There was a time when building something yourself probably meant it didn't look very much like a commercial product. That's not always a bad thing. We've seen many custom builds that are nearly works ...

Last week, we had a look at a carbon-infused PETG filament. This week, I’d like to show you two composites based on a more common thermoplastic in 3D printing: ABS. Among a whole lot of other…

How do you measure the value of an unknown inductor? If you have an LCR bridge or meter, you are probably going to use that. If not, there are many different techniques you can use. All of them rel…

Although this sort of work is usually reserved for KansasFest and other forums for highly technical and very skilled Apple enthusiasts, [John Brooks]'s release of a new version of the ProDOS operating...

For all the complexity involved in driving, it becomes second nature to respond to pedestrians, environmental conditions, even the basic rules of the road. When it comes to AI, teaching machine lea…

Adjusting the volume dial on a sound system, sensing your finger position on a touch screen, and knowing when someone's in the car are just a few examples of where you encounter variable resistors i...

Many of us have had a radio controlled car at some time in our youth, though it’s probable that none all of us entirely mastered it. There are memories of spectacular crashes, and if we were …

Close your eyes and think of an electric wheelchair. What do you see? Is it sleek, futuristic, and elegant... worthy of the moniker: iChair? No, no it is not. It's a boxy tank-like thing with grey kno...

[caption id="attachment_222300" align="alignright" width="300"] The front of the Soviet jet train on a monument in Tver, Russia. By Eskimozzz [PD], via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption]It started with one ...

While compact disks are seeing an uptick in popularity thanks to a convenient format that offers a lossless high-quality 44.1 KHz sample rate with 16-bit depth, some people are still riding the vinyl ...

[AA7EE] is no stranger to building radios. His latest is a from-scratch build of a 20 meter QRP transceiver based on the popular SST design. Although the SST has been available as a kit, [AA7EE] in…

Long distance driving can be tedious at times. The glare of the sun and the greenhouse effect of all your car's windows make it hot and dry. You turn on the fan, or air conditioning if you have it, a...

[George Trimble] likes to build crystal radios. The original crystal radio builders used high impedance headphones. In modern builds, you are as likely to include a powered amplifier to drive a spe…

When you need a DOOMcano, there's no real substitute. And they're not just selling these things on the street-corner. Nope, friend, you've got to get the hackerspace together and build your own.

Fo...

[VK2ZAY] has a thing for 555 chips. Before the ready availability of microcontrollers, the 555 was the hardware hacker’s swiss army knife. After all, even though the chip is supposed to be a …

No Star Trek until May, 2017, at which time you'll have to pay $5/month to watch it with ads. In the meantime, this is phenomenal and was shut down by Paramount and CBS last year ostensibly becaus...

If you spent the 1980s hanging out at your local record store, and you don't have a hankering for spandex and bouffant rock-god hairstyles, the chances are you'll have more than a few pieces of electr...

Studies have shown reading to children leads to improved academic performance later in life, a trait that will make them more competitive in the workforce, and ultimately happier human beings. It foll...

Ever dreamed of a real, life-sized Transformer in your garage? The Turkish startup Letrons now offers you exactly that: Their animatronic Autobot drives like a car, transforms like a Transformer,...