2026-03-29 07:00:53
[Tommy] at Oskitone has been making hardware synth kits for years, and his designs are always worth checking out. His newest offering Space Dice is an educational kit that is a combination vintage sci-fi space laser sound generator, and six-sided die roller. What’s more, as a kit it represents an effort to be genuinely educational, rather than just using it as a meaningless marketing term.
There are several elements we find pretty interesting in Space Dice. One is the fact that, like most of [Tommy]’s designs, there isn’t a microcontroller in sight. Synthesizers based mostly on CMOS logic chips have been a mainstay of DIY electronics for years, as have “electronic dice” circuits. This device mashes both together in an accessible way that uses a minimum of components.
There are only three chips inside: a CD4093 quad NAND with Schmitt-trigger inputs used as a relaxation oscillator, a CD4040 binary counter used as a prescaler, and a CD4017 decade counter responsible for spinning a signal around six LEDs while sound is generated, to represent an electronic die. Sound emerges from a speaker on the backside of the PCB, which we’re delighted to see is driven not by a separate amplifier chip, but by unused gates on the CD4093 acting as a simple but effective square wave booster.
In addition, [Tommy] puts effort into minimizing part count and complexity, ensuring that physical assembly does not depend on separate fasteners or adhesives. We also like the way he uses a lever assembly to make the big activation button — mounted squarely above the 9 V battery — interface with a button on the PCB that is physically off to the side. The result is an enclosure that is compact and tidy.
We recommend checking out [Tommy]’s concise writeup on the design details of Space Dice for some great design insights, and take a look at the assembly guide to see for yourself the attention paid to making the process an educational one. We love the concept of presenting an evolving schematic diagram, which changes and fills out as each assembly step is performed and tested.
Watch it in action in a demo video, embedded just below. Space Dice is available for purchase but if you prefer to roll your own, all the design files and documentation are available online from the project’s GitHub repository.
2026-03-29 04:00:37
The common narrative around device design is that you can have repairability or a low price, but that they are inversely proportional to each other. Apple’s new budget MacBook Neo seems to attempt a bit of both.
Brittle snap-fit enclosures or glue can make a device pop together quickly during manufacture, but are a headache when it comes time to repair or hack it. Our friends at iFixit tore down the Neo and found it to be the most repairable MacBook since the 2012 unibody model. A screwed in battery, and modules for many of the individual components including the USB ports and headphone jack make it fairly simple to replace individual components. Most of those components are even accessible as soon as you pop the bottom cover instead of requiring major surgery.
As someone who has done a keyboard replacement on a 2010 MacBook, the 41 screws holding the keyboard in brought back (bad) memories. While this is a great improvement over Apple’s notoriously painful repair processes, we’re still only looking at an overall 6/10 score from iFixit versus a 10/10 from Framework or Lenovo.
The real story here is that these improvements from Apple were spurred by Right-to-Repair developments, particularly in the EU, that were the result of pressure from hackers like you.
If you want to push a Neo even further, how about water cooling it? If you’d rather have user-upgradeable RAM and storage too in a Mac, you’ve got to go a bit older.
2026-03-29 01:00:31
Like many high-tech companies Tesla runs a bug bounty program. But in the case of a car manufacturer, this means that you either already have one of their cars, are interested in buying one, or can gain access to its software-bits in another legal manner. Being a Tesla-less individual, yet with an interest in hunting bugs [David Schütz] thus decided to pursue the option of obtaining the required parts from crashed Tesla cars.
Specifically [David] was interested in the Tesla Model 3 and its combined Media Control Unit (MCU) and Autopilot computer (AAP) assembly. In addition to the main unit, it also requires – obviously – a power supply, and the proprietary display. These were all obtained fairly easily, but unfortunately the devices all had their cables cut off, leaving just a sad little stump of wiring with the still plugged-in connectors.
After trying his luck with an incompatible BMW LVDS cable from one of their headunit infotainment systems, he then proceeded to try and use the cable stumps with some creative patching. This briefly worked, but some debris fell onto the MCU board and blew a power rail IC.
Ultimately this IC got swapped after [David] had already purchased a whole new Model 3 computer, leaving him with two units and the easy way out of buying the Dashboard Wiring Harness cable loom that contained the Rosenberger connectors he needed to connect the display to the main unit.
2026-03-28 22:00:32
Hackers can be a strange folk. Our idea of beauty, for instance, can be rather odd. This week, Hackaday saw a few projects that were not just functional – the aesthetics were the goal. I don’t think we’ll be taking over the fine art world any time soon, but I’m absolutely convinced that the same muse that guides the hand that holds the paintbrush sometimes also guides the hand holding the soldering iron.
Take “circuit sculpture”, for instance. Heck, we even give it an art-inspired name that classifies it correctly. This week’s project that got me thinking about the aesthetics of hand-bent wire circuits was this marvelous clock build, but the works of Mohit Bhoite or Kelly Heaton are also absolute must-sees in this category.
Outside of the Hackaday orbit, one of my all-time favorite artists in this genre was Peter Vogel, who made complex audience-reactive sound sculptures that looked as good as they sound.
Is a wireframe animated moving jellyfish art? It was certainly intended to be beautiful, and I personally find it so. Watch some of the video clips attached to the project to get a better sense of it.
In the sculpture world, there is a sub-genre of kinetic art pieces where the work itself is secondary to the beauty of the motions that the pieces pull off. Think ballet, but mechanical. Perhaps my absolute favorite of these artists is Arthur Ganson. If you haven’t seen his work before, check out “Thinking Chair” for the beauty of movement, but don’t miss “Machine with Concrete” if you’re feeling more conceptual.
If you’re willing to buy an insane geartrain as art, what about these 3D printed wire strippers? Is this “art”? It’s clear that they were designed with real intent and attention to the aesthetics of the final form, and am I wrong for finding the way they move literally beautiful?
What’s your favorite offbeat hacker artform?
2026-03-28 19:00:13
There’s an old saying that goes: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. [lds133] must have heard that saying, because when life took the magic liquid out of his Magic 8 Ball, [lds133] made not eight-ball-aide, but an electronic replacement with a Raspberry Pi Pico and a round TFT display.
In case the Magic 8 Ball is unknown in some corners of the globe, it is a toy that consists of a twenty-sided die with a set of oracular messages engraved on it, enclosed in a magical blue liquid — and by magical, we mean isopropyl alcohol and dye. The traditional use is to ask a question, shake the eight-ball, and then ignore its advice and do whatever you wanted to do anyway.
[lds133]’s version replicates the original behavior exactly by using the accelerometer to detect the shaking, the round display to show an icon of the die, and a Raspberry Pi Pico to do the hard work. There’s also the obligatory lithium pouch cell for power, which is managed by one of the usual TP4056 breakout boards. One very nice detail is that instead of a distracting battery indicator, the virtual die changes color as the battery wears out.
We’ve seen digital 8 Balls before, like this one that used an STM32, or another that used a Raspberry Pi to display reaction GIFs. Some projects are just perennial.
2026-03-28 16:00:17
Although not really a cost-effective or a required skill unless you have some very specific needs not met by off-the-shelf power resistor options, making your own own wirewound power resistor is definitely educational, as well as a fascinating look at a common part that few people spare a thought on. Cue [TheElectronBench]’s video tutorial on how to make one of these components from scratch.
The resistance value is determined by the length of nichrome wire, which is an alloy of nickel and chromium (NiCr) with a resistivity of around 1.12 µΩ/m. It’s also extremely durable when heated, as it forms a protective outer layer of chromium oxide. This makes it suitable for very high power levels, but also requires the rest of the power resistor assembly to be able to take a similar punishment.
For the inner tube of this DIY power resistor a tube of alumina ceramic was used, around which the nichrome wire is wound. This resistor targets 15 Ohm at a maximum load of 50 Watt, this means a current of about 1.83 A is expected at 27.4 V. The used nichrome wire has a measured resistance of 10.4 Ohm, ergo 1.44 meter has to be cut and wound.
This entire assembly is then embedded in refractory cement (fireproof cement), as this will keep the wire in place, while also able to take the intense temperature cycling during operation. As a bonus this will prevent toasting the surrounding environment too much, never mind lighting things on fire as the nichrome wire heats up.
As explained in the video, this is hardly the only way to create such a power resistor, with multiple types of alternative alloys available, different cores to wind around and various options to embed the assembly. The demonstrated method is however one that should give solid results and be well within the capabilities and budget of a hobbyist.
An important point with nichrome is that you cannot really solder to it, so you’ll need something along the lines of a mechanical (crimping) connection. There are also different winding methods that can affect the inductance of the resistor, since this type of resistor is by its design also a coil. This is however not covered in the video as for most applications it’s not an issue.
Overall, this video tutorial would seem to be a solid introduction to nichrome power resistors, including coverage of many issues you may encounter along the way. Feel free to sound off in the comment section with your own experiences with power resistors, especially if you made them as well.
