Glowing and blinking things are some of our favourite projects around these parts, and the bigger, the better. [Thomas] wrote to us recently to share the design and construction of a large LED wall at the Oregon Museum of Science, and the results are nothing short of impressive. The concept involved a large LED wall
Read MoreAmid the massive hue and cry about Facebook’s utter disregard for data privacy, and the illicit use of personally identifiable information, I thought I’d take a step back and examine the company’s data handling from a new perspective. Facebook sells a bunch of targeting methods to advertisers, but are the companies successfully targeting my profile?
Read MoreAluminum bed with new kinematic mount and base on printer Son of Megamax, at the Milwaukee Makerspace [Mark Rehorst] has been busy designing and building 3D printers, and Son of Megamax — one of his earlier builds — needed a bed heater replacement. He took the opportunity to add a Kelvin-type kinematic mount as well. The
Read MoreIf you are a Harry Potter fan, you might remember that one of the movies showed an Isle of Lewis chess set whose pieces moved in response to a player’s voice commands. This feat has been oft replicated by hackers and [amoyag00] has a version that brings together a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Android, and the
Read MorePower supply design is a broad field, requiring entirely different tools and techniques depending on what you’re working with. Creating a low-cost and compact mobile phone charger is a completely different ball game to designing the power supply for a medium-sized laser cutter, for example. [Vasily Ivanenko] has been designing a power supply for a
Read MoreThe worlds’ largest conference about phones is about to kick off. So what happened to the devices we saw last year? MWC 2018: Where are they now? – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreFind out how to watch the Grammy Awards if you don’t have cable. Grammys 2019: Start time, livestream, nominees, performances and more – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreTim O’Reilly / Quartz: Hoffman and Yeh’s “Blitzscaling” offers practical advice for startups but presents a lot of revisionist history and ignores the perils of VC-fueled hypergrowth — The pursuit of monopoly has led Silicon Valley astray. — Look no further than the race between Lyft and Uber to dominate the online ride-hailing market. Hoffman
Read MoreA strip of LEDs may be a simple and flexible way to add light to a project, but they don’t always look natural. There is an easy way to make them look better, though: add a diffuser. That’s what [Nate Damen] did using a 3D printer. He created a diffuser using PETG giving a standard
Read MoreNate Oh / AnandTech: AMD Radeon VII review: at $699, the first 7nm gaming GPU is good value when used as a high-VRAM prosumer card but for pure gamers there are better options — For AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group, 2018 was a bit of a breather year. After launching the Polaris architecture in 2016 …
Read MoreUtopian fantasies centered around miraculous autonomous cars have existed for some time now, but recent developments in the automotive industry have led to an unprecedented amount of hype surrounding these cars of the future. Despite the fact that self-driving cars have made some notable gains over the past few decades, we still have a long
Read MoreMars is sending hot pics to the SpaceX founder. Elon Musk is flirting with Mars on Twitter and it's weird – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreChristina Farr / CNBC: Fitbit launches Inspire, its first fitness tracker available exclusively through its corporate, wellness, health plan, and health systems partners — Fitbit has recently introduced a new activity and sleep tracker. But unlike it’s previous devices, this one is only available if your health plan or employer is signed up with Fitbit.
Read MoreWhile it might be tempting to start soldering a circuit together once the design looks good on paper, experience tells us that it’s still good to test it out on a breadboard first to make sure everything works properly. That might be where the process ends for one-off projects, but for large production runs you’re
Read MoreKirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: On its 10th anniversary, Waymo CTO talks about its early days as a Google project, plans to expand beyond ride-hailing into other commercial applications, more — A decade ago, about a dozen or so engineers gathered at Google’s main Mountain View campus on Charleston Road to work on Project Chauffeur …
Read MoreTaking selfies and posting them on social media is often derided as a narcissistic, self-absorbed, and attention-seeking practice. Filters come in for particular disdain due to the role they play in reinforcing unattainable beauty standards, by making faces lighter, slimmer, and wider-eyed than is natural. Yet feminist, minority, and queer activists have argued selfies can be
Read MoreA half century ago, the 747 made its first flight. The plane went on to change air travel forever. Boeing 747: Queen of the Skies for 50 years – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreBen Thompson / Stratechery: Spotify’s bet on Gimlet and Anchor gives it a foothold into podcasting to apply its listener monetization skills without worrying about sending money to labels — Credit Spotify CEO Daniel Ek with honesty; in a blog post announcing a major move into the podcast space, Ek wrote: Spotify's bet on Gimlet
Read MoreThe Wohome S9920 sounds better than the speakers built into most displays, and that’s a good start. This 0 sound bar scores high with clarity – CNET Source: CNet
Read More[CutTransformGlue] recently posted a build video for “Making Rey’s Star Wars Blaster“, embedded after the break. The construction uses layered MDF sheets to build up the blaster, and it’s a treat to see it taking shape, ending with an amazing paint job. It’s a good way to learn about the techniques used to bring such props
Read MoreThe Audiophiliac picks five of his favorite US-made speakers under $1,000. Are affordable audiophile speakers still made in the US? Yes, yes they are – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreEnter Andrew Whelan. His course Become an Engaging Presenter with Andrew Whelan ($9.99, 65 percent off from TNW Deals) focuses on teaching you what you need to know to swat down the butterflies and not just survive a public speaking engagement, but thrive and benefit from the session. This course will help you conquer your
Read MoreIt’s hard to believe, but the most popular password in 2018 was – get ready for it – “123456,” the winner and still champ six years running. According to internet researchers, that simple numerical string accounted for about 4 percent of the online passwords in use during 2018. In fact, more than 10 percent of
Read MoreSlate: China is taking early steps to protect consumers’ privacy from tech companies, even as it intensifies government surveillance — When Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress last spring, he argued that regulating Facebook’s use of personal data would cause the United States … China is taking early steps to protect consumers' privacy from tech companies,
Read MoreThere’s something enchanting about ancient tools and instruments. The idea that our forebears were able to fashion precision mechanisms with nothing but the simplest hand tools is fascinating. And watching someone recreate the feat, such as by building an astrolabe by hand, can be very appealing too. The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical tool of
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