ESP32 Altair Emulator Gets Split Personality

If you wanted me to demo CP/M running on an emulated Altair 8800, I’d pull out a tiny board from my pocket. You might wonder how I wound up with an Altair 8800 that runs CP/M (even WordStar), that fits in your pocket and cost less than $10. Turns out …read more

How To Get Into Cars: Aero Mods For More Grip

In 1960, Enzo Ferrari said “Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines”. It’s a quote that’s been proven laughably wrong in decades since. Aerodynamics are a key consideration for anyone serious about performance in almost any branch of motorsport. Today, we’ll take a look at how aero influences the …read more

Airlines Seek Storage For Grounded Fleets Due To COVID-19

Ask any airline executive what their plans were back in January 2020, and you’d probably get the expected spiel about growing market share and improving returns for shareholders. Of course, the coronovirus pandemic quickly changed all that in the space of just a few months. Borders closed, and worldwide air …read more

The Mostly Forgotten Story Of Atmospheric Railway

It doesn’t matter whether you know it as a railway, a railroad, a chemin de fer, or a 铁路, it’s a fair certainty that the trains near where you live are most likely to be powered either by diesel or electric locomotives. Over the years from the first horse-drawn tramways …read more

Your Phone Is Now Helping To Detect Earthquakes

Most people’s personal experience with seismographs begins and ends with simple childhood science experiments. Watching a pendulum make erratic marks on a piece of paper while your classmates banged on the table gave you an idea on how the device worked, and there’s an excellent chance that’s the last time …read more

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FBI Reports On Linux Drovorub Malware

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By Al Williams | August 22, 2020

The FBI and the NSA released a report on the Russian-based malware that attacks Linux known as Drovorub (PDF) and it is an interesting read. Drovorub uses a kernel module rootkit and allows a remote attacker to control your computer, transfer files, and forward ports. And the kernel module takes …read more
Mini Marble-Powered Synth Pays Homage To Its Bigger Cousins

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By Dan Maloney | August 22, 2020

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what then are we to make of something that shares only a few of the original’s design elements, operates in a completely different way, and has been scaled down to a fifth its size? Still seems like flattery to us.

Despite the …read more
Manual Larson Scanner Invites You To Crank It

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By Lewin Day | August 22, 2020

Hasselhoff make Larson Scanners famous. That’s the name for the scanning red lights on the front of KITT, the hero car from the popular 1980s TV series Knight Rider. Despite serving a solely aesthetic role, they remain a fun and popular LED project to this day. Putting a new twist …read more
Seeing The Skill Is Better Than Seeing The Project

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By Mike Szczys | August 22, 2020

Pulling off a flashy project that gets the viral-media hug of widespread approval feels great. Getting there is no easy path to walk and often times the craft that went into a finished project doesn’t even take the back seat but gets no mention at all. Often I find I’m …read more
Stealing Keys From The Sound Of The Lock

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By Al Williams | August 22, 2020

If you are smart, you wouldn’t hand your house key over to a stranger for a few minutes, right? But every time you use your key to unlock your door, you are probably broadcasting everything an attacker needs to make their own copy. Turns out it’s all in the sound …read more
Unique LED Display Inspired By Fighter Jet Dashboard

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By Tom Nardi | August 22, 2020

Last year, [Mangy_Dog] was asked by a few friends to consult on a project they were working on. The goal was to build an authentic replica of an F-18 cockpit, apparently for the purposes of creating a film. The project never materialized, but it did inspire him to take a …read more
Student Rover Explores The Backyard In Tribute

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By Al Williams | August 21, 2020

Three students were a little sad when NASA’s Opportunity rover went silent after 15 years on the Martian surface. So they decided to build their own rover inspired by Opportunity to roam their backyards using an off-the-shelf robot chassis, a Raspberry Pi, and the usual list of parts like motors, …read more