June 2023

As the summer starts heating up, so does our enthusiasm for discovering new and exciting content! Welcome to the June edition of our newsletter, packed to the brim with stimulating video

Things To Watch

MakerCast - See your favourite Makers Live!

MakerCast - Live from xHain Hack+Makespace in Berlin. This is the show to watch - make sure to set a reminder so you don’t miss it!

Analog to Digital and Back Again

“Hello, and welcome back” - if you’ve watched his videos you’ll be used to his usual opening - but this time it’s slightly different. James Sharman takes us on a journey into the world of Analog and Digital voltages. Sine waves, binary searches, voltage comparators and the infamous 555 timer technique. Buckle up!

Using a Massive Microscope To Look at Your Chips

Matt Venn from the Zero To ASIC Course managed to get access to a particle accelerator facility and scanned a chip containing one of his own designs. We like deep dives into electronics - and this is a deep dive like we’ve never seen before!

Automating Test Equipment With Python

Psychogenic Technologies shows us how code can empower you to control test instruments, and gather vital data right from your desk, making your lab operations efficient, consistent, and, above all, awesome!

Six DIY Electronics Projects for the Creative Soul

Dive into Becky Stern’s vast repository of work as she blends technology and creativity in DIY projects like the “Baguette Wobbler Robot” and the “Cat Food Bowl Access Control”, perfect for both new and experienced DIY enthusiasts - there’s something for everyone.

Production Line Updates from Unexpected Maker

Seon gives us an exclusive look at the new machine on the Unexpected Maker production line and runs one of his FeatherS3 boards through the Juki RS-1R pick-and-place machine. But is it any faster than his old machine? - you’ll have to watch to find out!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall - look at my power bills!

atomic14 takes on the excessively consuming power of his Magic Mirror. It’s an exciting tale of PIR sensors, radar motion sensors, image processing, face detection, and face recognition - but does he actually save any power?

Unleashing VGA Capabilities for the ESP32 S3

bitluni is back adding VGA to ESP32 devices - this time he’s looking at the ESP32 S3 and updating his amazing VGA library to achieve resolutions as high as 800x600! That’s pretty impressive for an ESP32. Follow along on the journey of creating the ESP32 S3 VGA board.

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Tiny Tapeout 4 Launch

Have you ever wanted to design your own ASIC? Tune in to the launch of Tiny Tapeout 4 to learn how.

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Things to Read

The Relay That Changed the Power Industry

One ingenious relay transformed the entire power industry! Let’s take a fascinating journey through engineering history.

Smart Toothbrush Hacking Adventure

Have you ever wondered how smart your toothbrush really is? Dive into this fun exploration of a tinkerer hacking their Philips Sonicare toothbrush.

DeviceScript: TypeScript for Microcontroller

If you love MicroPyhon and CircuitPython then this might be right up your street. Microsoft has launched DeviceScript aimed at microcontrollers for low-power, embedded projects.

Lights, Camera, HACK!

I’m always adding LEDs to my projects to show power and status - but did you realise that you could be opening up a security hole?

Atari Chess - 4K and 128 bytes of RAM!

I’m always complaining about running out of memory and flash storage - but imagine trying to do some of our projects with just 4K of storage and 128 bytes of RAM!

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Closing Thoughts

And there we have it! Our June edition. As ever, we really value and consider your feedback and suggestions, so feel free to leave a comment below. Spread the love and share this newsletter with other enthusiasts.

Until next month, keep exploring, keep innovating, and most importantly, enjoy the process of creation. Here's to a fantastic July!