Blog

Drop-In Switch Mode Regulators

Perhaps the simplest way to regulate a DC voltage is using a voltage divider and/or an active device like a Zener diode. Besides simplicity, they have the additional advantage of not being particularly noisy, but with a major caveat: they are terribly inefficient. To solve this problem a switching regulator can be used instead, but

Read More
An AI voice notes app that really works

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 32, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy weekend, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been writing about AI search engines and the future of Disney Plus, reading about

Read More
Will EVs Kill the Stick Shift Car?

A CNN opinion piece looks at “the moaning about manual transmission’s demise,” noting that “it’s not just Europeans (literally) clinging on. In the U.S., there’s apparently a young (also predominantly male) demographic that is embracing manual driving — championing it as retro, much like Gen Z’s affinity to typewriters and vintage cameras. “They feel there’s

Read More
A Threat Level Monitor For Everyone

A TV news pundit might on any given evening in 2024 look at the viewers and gravely announce that we are living in uncertain times. Those of us who’ve been around for a bit longer than we’d like to admit would see that, scratch our heads, and ask “Have we ever not lived in uncertain

Read More