This week, Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Assignments Editor Kristina Panos stood around talking like they weren’t thousands of miles apart. And we mean that literally: Kristina just got an up/down desk, and it turns out that Elliot’s had the exact same one for years.

In between the hammerings on Kristina’s house (she’s getting new siding), we kick things off by drooling over the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and compare a few of them to the same shots from Hubble.

We managed to save a bit of saliva for all the seriously swell keyboards and not-keyboards we saw throughout the Odd Inputs and Peculiar Peripherals contest, all of which are winners in our book.

This week, we ask the tough questions, like why would someone who has never played guitar want to build one from scratch? We can only guess that the answer is simply, ‘because l can’. As lazy as that reasoning may sound, this build is anything but.

Later on, we’ll ogle an ocean of PS/2 keyboards and their new owner’s portable testing rig, complain about ASMR, and laugh about a giant nose that sneezes out sanitizer.

Direct download. And burn it to CD-RW!

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Episode 177 Show Notes:

News:

• First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
• Compare photos from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope
• The James Webb Space Telescope just revealed our universe anew–the view is absolutely stunning – YouTube

What’s that Sound?

• If you think you know the answer to this week’s challenge, let us know!
• Bonus: Kristina is getting new siding put on the house

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

• Overwhelmed By Odd Inputs: The Contest Winners And More
• A Guitar From Scratch
• Trying Out A 3D Printed Microscope Lens Adapter
  • Objective (optics) – Wikipedia
  • Microscope Objectives – Introduction
• Berlin Clock Takes Inspiration From Sci-Fi Sources, Looks Incredible
  • Mengenlehreuhr – Wikipedia
• Use AprilTags To Let Guests Open Your Front Gate
  • OpenMV: The Camera For Your Next Project
  • The Story Of Kickstarting The OpenMV
• A Handy Tester For A Mountain Of PS/2 Keyboards
  • The PS/2 Keyboard Interface
  • Decoding The PS/2 Keyboard Protocol Using Good Old Fashioned Hardware

Quick Hacks:

• Elliot’s Picks:
  • Lift The Veil On RSA With This RSA Calculator
    • Why You Should Totally Roll Your Own AES Cryptography
  • ESP32 Powers Fresh Take On An IoT Geiger Counter
  • Weed Eater String Made From Plastic Bottles
• Kristina’s Picks:
  • Watching A Boat Get Welded Together Is Workshop ASMR
  • Sneeze Into Your Hand, Not Your Elbow With This Nose-Shaped Sanitizer Dispenser
  • Temperature-Sensitive Pac-Man/Ghost LED Matrix

Can’t-Miss Articles:

• Open Firmware For PinePhone LTE Modem – What’s Up With That?
  • How A Smartphone Is Made, In Eight “Easy” Blocks
• Where Are Our Video Phones?