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ReviewsHome Entertainment & Smart Home
Arduino’s New DIY Kit Makes It Easy to Build Smart Home Gadgets
The Arduino Oplà kit is a simple way to start building Internet of Things gadgets for fun and, for some, profit. The $114 starter kit includes an Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 board—basically a tiny, programmable microprocessor—and an IoT Carrier that looks kind of like a flower with an OLED screen in the center. What you … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Go Full Retro-Photography Geek With This 3D-Printed, DIY Camera
As far as DIY projects go, building a usable street camera sounds pretty daunting. That said, the RUHAcam, a new project by Ping-Hsun “penk” Chen and Ruha Cheng, definitely looks like a fun weekend project for folks who want to create a standalone camera from scratch. The project uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W connected … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Neighborhood Hero Builds AI-Powered Device That Automatically Compliments Dogs Walking By
If you’ve ever wasted an afternoon (or all of 2020) looking at cute dog pictures online, then you already understand what inspired Ryder from the YouTube channel Ryder Calm Down to build an AI-powered machine that can recognize dogs walking past their home and automatically shout compliments to their owners. The creation actually started as … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
These Tiny Chips Give Your DIY Projects Worldwide Cellular Connectivity
Particle is a component company for hobbyists and IT specialists that makes network-connected parts for DIY projects. For years they made mostly wifi devices, allowing users to connect things like robots and 3D printers to the internet. Now, they’ve announced a new system that offers global cellular connectivity for the price of the hardware. The … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Is Your Raspberry Pi Phoning Home to Microsoft?
A new update to Raspberry Pi OS, previously known as Raspbian, has put open-source fans on edge. Why? The new OS is pinging Microsoft servers every time the user updates their apps or the OS itself. The brouhaha is a bit of a tempest in a teapot, because the new OS simply pings repositories that hold … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Raspberry Pi Introduces a New $4 Board, and Its Own Silicon
The Raspberry Pi is one of the smallest and cheapest mini computers you can buy. It has an HDMI port, USB ports, and runs Ubuntu or other open-source operating systems like a champ. The new Raspberry Pi Pico, on the other hand, is like the CPU of a more complex machine. By itself, it can’t … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech News
Find Focus With This DIY Distraction-Free Editor
I’ve tried way too many distraction-free writing devices, from the Freewrite to an old Brother typewriter. As a glutton for punishment, however, I may just build the FeatherQuill while I’m trapped at home. The FeatherQuill is a project by Cameron Coward, a writer and hardware hacker who focuses on 3D printing. The project consists of … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
This Super-Compact Computer Will Let Me Live at Least One Neuromancer Fantasy
Clockwork, makers of the Gameboy-esque GameShell, are back with a new mobile product aimed even more squarely at lovers of retro tech. Their DevTerm is a self-contained computer powered by a low-energy CPU or Raspberry Pi aimed directly at folks who are looking for a low-profile, extremely portable computer for coding, sysadmin work, or writing. … Continued
By John Biggs