Thomas Edison May Have Discovered Graphene

January 31, 2026 by 11 Comments

Thomas Edison is well known for his inventions (even if you don’t agree he invented all of them). However, he also occasionally invented things he didn’t understand, so they had to be reinvented again later. The latest example comes from researchers at Rice University. While building a replica light bulb, they found that Thomas Edison may have accidentally created graphene while testing the original article.

Today, we know that applying a voltage to a carbon-based resistor and heating it up to over 2,000 °C can create turbostratic graphene. Edison used a carbon-based filament and could heat it to over 2,000 °C.

This reminds us of how, in the 1880s, Edison observed current flowing in one direction through a test light bulb that included a plate. However, he thought it was just a curiosity. It would be up to Fleming, in 1904, to figure it out and understand what could be done with it.

Naturally, Edison wouldn’t have known to look for graphene, how to look for it, or what to do with it if he found it. But it does boggle the mind to think about graphene appearing many decades earlier. Or maybe it would still be looking for a killer use. Certainly, as the Rice researchers note, this is one of the easier ways to make graphene.

Cheap Smart Ring Becomes MIDI Controller

January 31, 2026 by 3 Comments

The Colmi R02 is one of the cheapest smart rings on the market. It costs about $20, and is remarkably easy to hack. [Floyd Steinberg] took advantage of this to turn it into a rather unique MIDI controller.

What makes the Colmi R02 somewhat unique is that the manufacturer did not try to lock out users from uploading their own firmware. You don’t even really need to “hack” it, since there is no code signing or encryption. You can just whip up your own firmware to make it do whatever you want.

To that end, [Floyd] set up the ring to act as a device for musical expression. When connected to a computer over Bluetooth, data from the ring’s accelerometer is converted into MIDI CC commands via a simple web app. The app allows the MIDI messages to be configured so they can control whatever parameter is desired. [Floyd] demonstrates the ring by using it to control filter cutoff frequencies on an outboard synthesizer, with great effect.

You could theoretically just strap an accelerometer to your hand with a microcontroller and achieve similar operation. However, the magic of this is that it costs only $20 and it’s already in a form factor that’s optimized for wearing on your finger. It’s hard to beat that.

Files are on GitHub for those eager to experiment. We’ve previously featured some hacks of this particular smart ring, too, with [Aaron Christophel’s] efforts directly inspiring this work.

Continue reading “Cheap Smart Ring Becomes MIDI Controller” →

Secret Ingredients

January 31, 2026 by 16 Comments

We were talking on the podcast about rope. But not just any rope – especially non-stretchy rope for using in a mechanical context. The hack in question was a bicycle wheel that swapped out normal metal spokes for lighter and stronger high-density polypropylene weave, and if you can tension up a bike wheel and ride it around, you know it’s not your garden-variety twine.

Now, it just so happens that I’ve got basically the same stuff in my parts drawer: some 1 mm diamaeter Dyneema-brand rope. This is an amazing material. It’s rated to a breaking strength of 195 kg (430 lbs) yet it weighs just under one gram per meter, and if you buy the pre-stretched variant, it’s guaranteed to stretch less than 1% of its length under load. It’s flexible, wears well, and is basically in every way superior to braided steel wire.

It’s nearly magical, and it’s just what you need if you’re making a cable robot or anything where the extreme strength and non-elongation characteristic are important. It’s one of those things that there’s just no substitute for when you need it, and that’s why I have some in my secret-ingredients drawer. What else is in there? Some high-temperature tape, low-temperature solder, and ultra-light-weight M3 PEEK screws for airplane building.

But our conversation got me thinking about the parts, materials, and products that are unique: for which there is just no reasonable substitute. I’m sure the list gets longer the more interesting projects or disciplines that you’re into. What are your secret ingredients, and what’s the specific niche that they fit into?

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Playing YouTube From The Command Line

January 31, 2026 by 25 Comments

Generally, one opens a web browser or an app to use YouTube. However, if you’re looking to just listen to the audio, you can actually do that right from the terminal. You just need Shellbeats from [lalo-space].

Shellbeats is primarily intended for playing music from YouTube, and is well equipped for this task. It allows searching YouTube directly from the terminal, as well as streaming tracks or entire playlists from the command line interface. You can also make and edit playlists from within the tool, and even download the whole lot as MP3s if so desired. It’s all keyboard-operated and nicely lightweight. The overall experience isn’t dissimilar from operating a simple LCD-based MP3 player from 20 years ago.

There’s plenty of other fun stuff you can do in the terminal, too, as we’ve explored previously. If you’re working on your own media player hacks, be sure to notify us on the tipsline!

Swissbit 2GB PC2-5300U-555

Surviving The RAM Price Squeeze With Linux In-Kernel Memory Compression

January 31, 2026 by 36 Comments

You’ve probably heard — we’re currently experiencing very high RAM prices due mostly to increased demand from AI data centers.

RAM prices gone up four times

If you’ve been priced out of new RAM you are going to want to get as much value out of the RAM you already have as possible, and that’s where today’s hack comes in: if you’re on a Debian system read about ZRam for how to install and configure zram-tools to enable and manage the Linux kernel facilities that enable compressed RAM by integrating with the swap-enabled virtual memory system. We’ve seen it done with the Raspberry Pi, and the concept is the same.

Ubuntu users should check out systemd-zram-generator instead, and be aware that zram might already be installed and configured by default on your Ubuntu Desktop system.

If you’re interested in the history of in-kernel memory compression LWN.net has an old article covering the technology as it was gestating back in 2013: In-kernel Memory Compression. For those trying to get a grip on what has happened with RAM prices in recent history, a good place to track memory prices is memory.net and if you swing by you can see that a lot of RAM has gone up as much as four times in the last three or four months.

If you have any tips or hacks for memory compression on other platforms we would love to hear from you in the comments section!

The finished product

Crouching Typewriter, Hidden PC

January 30, 2026 by 9 Comments

Go back a couple of generations, and rather than a laptop or a luggable, the office accessory of choice was a portable typewriter. As the 20th century wore on, the typewriter became electric before eventually being eclipsed by luggable and laptop computers. On YouTube, [Prototype] is turning back the clock, by turning an old Smith-Corona electric typewriter into a luggable computer– with a stretch goal of still being able to type.

Yeah, just gutting the typewriter and shoving an SBC inside wasn’t ambitious enough for [Prototype]: his goal is a working typewriter and an x86 gaming PC. To facilitate this, he guts the Smith-Corona keyboard, and 3D-prints a new top plate to add a little more vertical space in the old typewriter. The new top does recreate the original layout and the Corona switches get printed adapters to fit them to mechanical switches [Prototype] is using with a vibe-coded Arduino. Why one would bother with ChatGPT when QMK is right there, we could not say, but feel free to skip 6:20 to 15:00 if you’re watching the video but want to avoid that side quest.

Unfortunately, the “get the keyboard working” side-quest is either faked or deferred to video part II, which has not been posted yet. In this video he demonstrates that he can actuate a single hammer with a servo, but that’s a far cry from a working typewriter so, we’re really hoping he comes through on that promise in Part Two. Even if the build stops with just one hammer, that would give the tactile sound-and-feel that other builds turn to solenoids for. Squeezing a small-form-factor motherboard and graphics card into the old Smith-Corona is also going to be an interesting challenge. It’s certainly going to be a step up from using the keyboard as a terminal.

If you like this project but balk at the idea of destroying a working piece of vintage office equipment, it is possible to turn a typewriter into a USB keyboard non-invasively. 

If you like this project at all, join us in thanking [Katie] for the tip. Not your cup of tea? Tell us what is, with a tip of your own. Continue reading “Crouching Typewriter, Hidden PC” →

Writing An Optimizing Tensor Compiler From Scratch

January 30, 2026 by 2 Comments

Not everyone will write their own optimizing compiler from scratch, but those who do sometimes roll into it during the course of ever-growing project scope creep. People like [Michael Moroz], who wrote up a long and detailed article on the why and how. Specifically, a ‘small library’ involving a few matrix operations for a Unity-based project turned into a static optimizing tensor compiler, called TensorFrost, with a Python front-end and a shader-like syntax, all of which is available on GitHub.

The Python-based front-end implements low-level NumPy-like operations, with development still ongoing. As for why Yet Another Tensor Library had be developed, the reasons were that most of existing libraries are heavily focused on machine learning tasks and scale poorly otherwise, dynamic control flow is hard to implement, and the requirement of writing custom kernels in e.g. CUDA.

Above all [Michael] wanted to use a high-level language instead of pure shader code, and have something that can output graphical data in real-time. Taking the gamble, and leaning on LLVM for some parts, there is now a functional implementation, albeit with still a lot of work ahead.