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Author Archives: Fernando Gomes
The ZX Spectrum Next Arrives
Sinclair Research was best known in the United States for the tiny ZX80, and the ZX81, under its Timex branding. However, they also made the ZX Spectrum which had many features that were — at the time — unusual. A few years ago there was a Kickstarter to recreate a …read more
Posted in retrocomputing, Sinclair Zx Spectrum, ZX Spectrum
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Writing Arduino Libraries, An Expert View
The Arduino IDE has a bit of a split personality. On the one hand, it is a simple environment where you can just pick and choose a few libraries, write a few lines of code, and make lots of interesting things. On the other hand, it is also an ecosystem …read more
Posted in arduino, Arduino Hacks, Arduino libraries, sparkfun
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MIL-SPEC Keyboard Now Salutes USB
When [easyjo] picked up this late ’80s Marconi mil-spec keyboard for cheap, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to convert it to USB — just that it would be worth it. Spoiler alert: those LEDs aren’t a mod, they’re native. They get their interesting shape from the key traces, which …read more
RC Ground Effect Vehicle Skims Over the Water
In the 1960s the Soviet Union began experimenting with what they called ekranoplans, ground effect vehicles (GEVs) that were something of a hybrid between a ship and a large airplane. Their stubby wings didn’t provide enough lift for the vehicle to fly in the traditional sense, the craft essentially rode …read more
Posted in ekranoplan, ground effect, remote control, soviet, toy hacks
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Raspberry Pi 4 Offers Up 2 GB for the Price of One
The Raspberry Pi 4 represents a significant performance increase over previous generations, unlocking potential applications that were simply beyond the abilities of these diminutive Single Board Computers (SBCs) in the past. Some would even argue that the Pi 4, with a quad-core Cortex-A72 running at 1.5 GHz, now holds its …read more
Posted in news, ram, Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 4, SBC, upgrade
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Magnets Make Prototyping E-Textiles a Snap
How do you prototype e-textiles? Any way you can that doesn’t drive you insane or waste precious conductive thread. We can’t imagine an easier way to breadboard wearables than this appropriately-named ThreadBoard.
If you’ve never played around with e-textiles, they can be quite fiddly to prototype. Of course, copper wires …read more
Be Wary Of Radioactive Bracelets And Similar
Before you start cutting up that ‘negative ion’ health bracelet or personal massager, be aware that these are highly likely to contain thorium oxide or similar radioactive powder, as this research video by [Justin Atkin] (also embedded after the break) over at The Thought Emporium YouTube channel shows. Even ignoring …read more
Posted in negative ions, news, PSA, science, thorium oxide
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OpenChronograph Lets You Roll Your Own Smart Watch
At first, smartwatches were like little tiny tablets or phones that you wore on your wrist. More recently though we have noticed more “hybrid” smartwatches, that look like a regular watch, but that use their hands to communicate data. For example you might hear a text message come in and …read more
Posted in Android Hacks, clock hacks, fossil, openchronograph, skagen, smartwatch
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LoRa Mesh Network with Off-the-Shelf Hardware
An ideal application for mesh networking is off-grid communication; when there’s no cellular reception and WiFi won’t reach, wide-area technologies like LoRa can be used to create ad hoc wireless networks. Whether you’re enjoying the outdoors with friends or conducting a rescue operation, a cheap and small gadget that will …read more
Developing Retro Games For Conference Badges With Kate Morris
PCB badges have exploded in popularity in recent years. Starting out as a fun token of entry to a conference, they’re now being developed by all manner of independent groups, with DEFCON serving as the heart of the #badgelife movement. After DEFCON 26, Kate Morris and associates decided to undertake …read more