Pixie – the 3W Chainable LED Pixel #AdafruitLearnSystem

NeoPixels are plenty bright, suuuure. BUT ARE THEY 3 WATTS BRIGHT? No! They are not! That’s why you need a Pixie. These chainable smart LEDs are not only super-smart, they are ridonkulously bright with 3W total, compared to 0.2W of a ‘standard’ NeoPixel. Designed by Ytai Ben-Tsvi, these are the ultimate in LEDs.

Each Pixie not only contains that aforementioned 3W LED, it also has a Microchip PIC microcontroller. You send it the color you want to appear at standard 115200 baud (1 byte per color). You can send a longer string of pixel data and it will ‘forward’ along the messages so you can chain them like a shift register. You only have to send the data once per color change. Once set, the microcontroller does all the PWM handling for you.

You do have to send it data every 1 second at a minimum (as a protection against the bright and hot LEDs staying ‘stuck on’, they will eventually timeout if no updates are received)

Check out the full guide!

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Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: Ada Lovelace Day 2026, LED Bubble Hair & More!

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ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

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We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

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BLOG

Ada Lovelace Day 2026

Check out the full post here!

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LEARN

LED Bubble Hair Extensions with Motion Controlled Effects

Make glowing LED bubble hair that reacts when you move your head!

In this project, six strands of seed pixels are built into a hair extension and controlled by an Adafruit RP2040 Prop-Maker Feather. The LEDs show a soft color gradient during normal wear, then the onboard accelerometer detects a head shake and triggers animated rain effects.

A gentle shake creates staggered glowing droplets that fall down individual strands. A stronger shake creates a lightning flash followed by a faster, denser rainstorm.

This is a fun project for festivals, costumes, cosplay, dance performances, or anyone who wants a little weather system in their hair.

See the full guide here!

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YOUTUBE

Voice recorder on a tiny computer!

if the mic demo doesn’t have kids in the background, it’s not real.

See more on YouTube!

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DISCOUNTS

15% off our Halloween Gift Guide

The time crunch starts now! Squeeze in a last minute build and add the code BeGood15 to your cart for 15% off items featured in our Halloween gift guide from Saturday, October 17th – Sunday, October 25th at 11:59 PM EDT.

Check out the full post here!

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Catch up with us on the blog, in the Adafruit Learning System, and on YouTube.

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New nEw NEWs From Adafruit is an email newsletter sent out once a week to subscribers only. It features new products, special offers, exciting original content, and more. Sign-up NOW for the Adafruit weekly Newsletter here: https://www.adafruit.com/newsletter

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NOAA’s 2026-2027 U.S. Winter Outlook – El Niño Looms Large

The 2026-2027 U.S. Winter Outlook map for precipitation shows wetter-than-average conditions are most likely across the Southwest, South and East Coast. Drier-than-average conditions are forecast for parts of the northern Rockies and Great Lakes, and central Alaska. (Image credit: NOAA)

 

A wet warm winter is in store for much of the country. A predicted very strong El Niño weather system will bring wet storms and rain to the South with warmer than average temperatures in the North. Check out how El Niño may affect your area. The question is, will it be a Super El Niño?

“As we know from decades of observations, a very strong El Nino will likely bring a southward and eastward shift to the jet stream for the contiguous U.S., which tilts the odds toward stormier weather across the South,” said Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “While higher chances of rain and snow may bring relief to drought-afflicted areas, too much precipitation on dry soil can fuel destructive flash floods and mudslides. Now is the time for communities and individuals to plan ahead for the upcoming winter.”

Read more! You can track expected precipitation levels out 72 hours here and keep an eye out for weather events that become “Particularly Dangerous Situations”

See the official three month outlook at NOAA and Study up on El Niño–Southern Oscillation via Wikipedia

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Build your own weather station on the Adafruit Learning System:

• eInk / ePaper Weather Station
• Weather Display Matrix
• PyPortal Weather Station
• MagTag Daily Weather Forecast Display
• PyPortal Titano Weather Station
• PyPortal IoT Weather Station

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Nokia 3310 Upgraded with A Custom PCB

Hoani Bryson got first place in a Nokia 3310 Jam for the entry Trick Shot II. To create the game Hoani built custom hardware with a Pi based PCB and tore apart a Nokia 3310, not an easy feat.

The Jam’s goals were to make a game as if it were being made for the Nokia 3310. The general restrictions were:

• • • The game’s draw region is a monochrome 84×48 pixels
    • Audio is limited to what is possible with a Nokia buzzer
    • Only one audio track can play at a time (a Nokia 3310 only has a single buzzer)
    • Game controls are limited to 12 buttons – mouse input is only valid if interacting with a virtual keypad

Rather than work with an SDK and programming interface which I had no experience with, I decided to break the hardware interfaces down, and replace the PCB inside a 3310 with my own custom PCB. One thing I found interesting is that the 3310/3315 models have identical hardware, so swapping the internal PCBs for either will work.

See the full write up at Hoani.net and checkout the web-based version of the game here!

more via Hackster.io:

Rather than develop the game only for an old platform that few still have access to, Bryson built it to run both in a web browser and on physical hardware. To accomplish that, he created an open source game engine written in Go and built around two existing technologies: Ebitengine for desktop and web applications, and TinyGo for embedded devices.

The engine separates game logic from platform-specific hardware functions to keep things neat. Developers implement three primary methods: Setup, Update, and Draw. The engine then handles display output, sound generation, and button input according to the target platform.

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15% off our Halloween Gift Guide

The time crunch starts now! Squeeze in a last minute build and add the code BeGood15 to your cart for 15% off items featured in our Halloween gift guide from Saturday, October 17th – Sunday, October 25th at 11:59 PM EDT.

Some restrictions apply. This code is only applicable to items featured in our Halloween Gift Guide. We cannot add the discount after your order is placed so please remember to use the code! We also do not permit the use of discount codes on purchase orders.

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John Park’s Workshop — LIVE TODAY 10/15/26

It’s JOHN PARK’S WORKSHOP — LIVE! — Coming up at 4pm ET / 1pm PT Today (the usual time, no change to the Workshop show schedule)!  LIVE TEXT CHAT IS HERE in the Adafruit Discord chat!

• Projects: Playdate Crankfruit
• CircuitPython Parsec: STEMMA QT is a Lie!
• Learn Guides
• Gear Report: M-Vave FM-1 alt firmware
• Tool Tips
• CAD: Adafruit Circuit Designer
• Retro Gear
• Coupon Code
• and more!

The live video will be on Youtube LIVE, Twitch, Periscope (Twitter) and Facebook.

Join maker John Park in his workshop each week as he builds, demos, hacks, and mods projects live on air! “John Park’s Workshop — LIVE” is the place to see creative projects come to life, as John uses a wide variety of tools and techniques to make everything from video game controllers to synthesizers to LED dance shoes to arcade games, using digital fabrication, hand and power tools, microcontrollers, and more. Come on into the chat to participate in the fun. Every Thursday @ 4pm ET/1pm PT!

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Motion Sensor for Halloween Animatronics – HC-SR501 PIR + PC817 Optocoupler Enclosure #3DThursday #3DPrinting

Shared by tupsyvejle on MakerWorld:

An enclosure for a DIY motion-trigger module aimed at Halloween animatronics. BOM: HC-SR501 PIR motion sensor, Sharp PC817 optocoupler, 9V battery clip (Type T), KCD1 square 2-pin on/off rocker switch, 100Ω resistor, 1× 9V battery. PLA or PETG body (TPU adjusting cap), 20-30% infill, no supports. Two print files, both 0.2mm layer, 6 walls, 25% infill, ~1.4h each. Easy to assemble + wire; wiring diagram in attached photo (verify before connecting). Pure maker/electronics pick for the Adafruit audience building their own animatronic props.

Download the files and learn more

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Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

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