There are a million and one science fiction reasons auto why this article made me nervous. However, I am neither a scientist nor an astronaut. via Smithsonian
As more species become threatened with extinction, scientists have proposed an ambitious idea to secure the planet’s biodiversity: a back-up repository of animals’ genetic data, frozen and stored on the moon.
In a paper published late last month in the journal BioScience, researchers propose assembling a box full of cryopreserved cells from a diverse range of animal species—then sending it to a shadowed region on the moon, where conditions are naturally cold enough to keep the samples frozen.
What hardware could Midjourney be cooking up? Hopefully not handheld.
Interesting news reported by Tech Crunch:
As for what hardware Midjourney, which has a team of fewer than 100 people, might pursue, there might be a clue in its hiring of Ahmad Abbas in February. Abbas, an ex-Neuralink staffer, helped engineer the Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s mixed reality headset.
Midjourney CEO David Holz is also no stranger to hardware. He co-founded Leap Motion, which built motion-tracking peripherals. (Abbas worked together with Holz at Leap, in fact.)
Mélina Benhamou shared their interactive Interest Machine that uses conductive tape, a circuit playground and NeoPixels on vimeo.
If you’re looking to dive into some British Sci-Fi from the 1980s then Den of Geek has you covered. From weird to wacky, the list has some interesting characters that don’t involve Britain’s most famed time lord.
The 1980s enjoys a privileged, some might even argue inflated position in the sci-fi pantheon. In the US, it was the decade that gave us two thirds of the original Star Wars trilogy, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Terminator and Tron. In TV land, Star Trek got a brand new Generation, Quantums Leapt, Knights Rode, and of course, ALF.
But on the other side of the pond, British science fiction television was doing things the way we British always have – for less money, and a bit more bleak. But it wasn’t all creepy John Wyndham adaptations and hostile alien invasions, the 1980s also delivered a couple of British space comedy classics, along with the most underrated series in sci-fi history.
Read the full list and check out the clips!
We’ve got the New nEw NEW for you right here:
Great Scott Gadgets Cynthion – All-in-One USB Multitool
Great Scott Gadgets’ Cynthion is an all-in-one tool for building, testing, monitoring, and experimenting with USB devices. Built around a unique FPGA-based architecture, Cynthion’s digital hardware can be fully customized to suit the application at hand. As a result, it can act as a no-compromise High-Speed USB protocol analyzer, a USB research multi-tool, or a USB development platform.
Adafruit FPC Breakout for Raspberry Pi 5 DSI or RP2350 HSTX – 22 Pin 0.5mm
This little breakout board is specifically designed for use with Raspberry Pi 5 or our RP2350 boards that have an ‘HSTX’ connector. These devices use a semi-standard FPC connector to pipe high speed data for video transmission over differential pairs. But maybe you want to make a custom setup or adapt to a different product? This doohickey is your pal.
The Raspberry Pi 5 is the newest Raspberry Pi computer, and the Pi Foundation knows you can always make a good thing better! And what could make the Pi 5 better than the 4? How about a faster processor, USB 3.0 ports, and an updated Gigabit Ethernet chip with PoE capability? Good guess – that’s exactly what they did!
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W with Header
If you didn’t think that the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W could possibly get any better, then boy, do we have a pleasant surprise for you! The new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH offers all the benefits of the Pi Zero 2 W, but with one big difference – a pre-soldered GPIO header!
Visit www.adafruit.com/new for more info.
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Check out PiMyLifeUp‘s tutorial on how to use Neofetch!
Neofetch is a super neat command line tool that is written purely in bash. It allows you to quickly and easily get information about your system in an easy-to-read, visually pleasing way.
Some of the information this tool returns are the operating system name, kernel version, number of packages, uptime, and more.
You can even configure Neofetch to display an icon of your choosing and control the information it will gather and display about your Raspberry Pi.
Induction cooking works through magnetism. If a magnet doesn’t stick to the bottom of your pot or pan, it’s not likely to work with an induction cooktop. DestructiveCreativity shared this video on Youtube!
Let’s get cooking! Well, I am not very good at making food, but I can explain how my stovetop wirelessly heats up my pots and pans! We look into the science and history of Induction cooking, and explore the electromagnetic force and how it is related to tesla coils!
The Wireless Inductive Power Night Light is a very simple and easy to complete project from the Adafruit Learn System. All you need is to make one is an inductive charging set, a power supply, leds, an enclosure, and couple other pieces. Check out the full guide!
From the GitHub release page:
This is CircuitPython 9.2.0-alpha.2351, an alpha release for 9.2.0. It has significant known bugs, and will have further additions and fixes before the final release of 9.2.0.
WARNING for nRF52 boards only: If your board has an nRF52 UF2 bootloader whose version is before 0.6.1, you will not be able to load CircuitPython 8.2.0 and later, due to increased size of the firmware. See these instructions for updating your bootloader.
Firmware downloads are available from the downloads page on circuitpython.org. The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board.
To install follow the instructions in the Welcome to CircuitPython! guide. To install the latest libraries, see this page in that guide.
Try the latest version of the Mu editor for creating and editing your CircuitPython programs and for easy access to the CircuitPython serial connection (the REPL).
Documentation is available in readthedocs.io.
CircuitPython has a number of “ports” that are the core implementations for different microcontroller families. Stability varies on a per-port basis. As of this release, these ports are consider stable (but see Known Issues below):
atmel-samd: Microchip SAMD21, SAMx5xcxd56: Sony Spresenseespressif: Espressif ESP32, ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C2, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6nordic: Nordic nRF52840, nRF52833raspberrypi: Raspberry Pi RP2040, RP2350stm: ST STM32F4 chip familyThese ports are considered alpha and will have bugs and missing functionality:
broadcom: Raspberry Pi boards such as RPi 4, RPi Zero 2Wlitex: fomumimxrt10xx: NXP i.MX RT10xxxrenode: hardware simulatorsilabs: Silicon Labs MG24 familystm: ST non-STM32F4 chip familiesaurora_epaper display support. #9488. Thanks @wyrdsec.PinAlarm. #9534. Thanks @Sola85.rgbmatrix on RP2350. #9513. Thanks @tannewt.board.BUTTON. #9531. Thanks @tannewt and @ZodiusInfuser._bleio signatures. #9540 .Thanks @elpekenin.Thank you to all who used, tested, and contributed since 9.2.0-alpha.2350, including the contributors above, and many others on GitHub and Discord. Join us on the Discord chat to collaborate.
A new guide in the Adafruit Learning System today: Visual Studio Code for Education… and CircuitPython by Anne Barela.
Visual Studio Code for Education is a free web editor aimed at students and teachers. It is completely online, so you can access it across devices and platforms. There are several use cases Microsoft aims at including Python, web development, and coding adventure games.
Can VS Code for Education be used for CircuitPython development? Yes! This guide will show you how.
Are there other online environments providing CircuitPython support, again yes, and that will be contrasted with VS Code towards the end of this guide.
Reactor Mag shares the science fiction coming to bookshelves this month.
Meet an alien hive empire, a chief emotional manager, and the daughter of a human and a genetically engineered posthuman in August’s new SF titles!
The Heltec is an open source device using LoRa to send encrypted messages. It does some things your cell phone can’t.
See the full guide from Tim Moody on Medium:
Meshtastic is revolutionizing communication, merging ultra-low-cost microcontrollers with expansive LoRa transponders to enable encrypted messages to traverse miles without cellular infrastructure. This is not just open-source networking; it’s a bold leap into a future where distance is defied and messages are liberated from the clutches of telecom giants. Discover the frontier of decentralized communication at https://meshtastic.org/, where every message travels freely, securely, and boundlessly.
TUKI1048 shared this project on Thingiverse!
The perfect flower bed for on the table. It is quickly assembled and has a collection tank for excess water. You can plant cacti, flowers…
Download files: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6677006
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!
That’s right, Georgia O’Keeffe! When you think of Georgia O’Keeffe, your first thought may be Red Canna or possibly Red Poppies? Well that’s not all that can be found in O’Keeffe’s portfolio. Artsy shares her paintings of New York City.
Though famous for striking paintings of flowers, animal skulls, and the New Mexico desert, O’Keeffe is less often associated with New York City, a subject she portrayed frequently in her early career. “Georgia O’Keeffe: ‘My New Yorks,’” at the Art Institute of Chicago, on view through September 22nd, spotlights a period in the artist’s career focused on urban scenery and a brand-new architectural phenomenon: skyscrapers. In New York, O’Keeffe’s formal exploration and commercial success established the rhythms of a long and celebrated career.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!The Tulip Creative Computer is a portable synthesizer for music and graphics created by Floyd Steinberg using Python.
Tulip, built in the spirit of 80s home computers, is running Micropython as its operating system. Conceived with a clear focus on music, it comes with an internal sequencer and software synthesizer (-framework), MIDI and audio interfaces. You can build it yourself, download a version for Linux, Windows or Mac, or buy the official hardware, which is shown here.
In this video, I show how to utilize Python to solve some day-to-day tasks like arpeggiators and keyboard splits and MIDI routing.
Check out the GitHub page for more details.
Techmoan laments the lack of true high quality boomboxes. In times of yore boomboxes were synonymous with summer, but today they are hard to come by. He sets out searching for something that is portable, has decent speakers and can play physical media. Check out his review of the JVC model RV-NB300DAB.
JVC still sells a big loud portable CD Radio – it’s one of the last true boomboxes.
Boombox Beach Bag with Audio Amp and Speakers
This Friday, August 16, 2024 – Join the community of creators, hackers, educators, and more – celebrating python on hardware! The easiest way to program microcontrollers!
Aaaaand, check out the theme song!
Here at Adafruit on SciFiSunday we like to talk about science fiction. But what about speculative fiction? Is that science fiction or fantasy or what? Foundational science fiction writer Robert Heinlein popularized the term withi his 1947 article “On the Writing of Speculative Fiction.” Many decades later, Margaret Atwood used the term to describe her particularly literary take on science fiction. Here’s more on the history of the term from Celadon Books:
Hugo Award–winning author Ursula K. Le Guin pushed back on Atwood’s assertion in a 2009 article for The Guardian, though, sparking a bit of a literary stir over precisely what “speculative fiction” means. In any case, if we follow Heinlein’s and Atwood’s lead, speculative fiction covers fantastical narratives that nevertheless contain some amount of believability, whether it’s Jules Verne’s adventure classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, popular dystopian fiction like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, or more recent post-apocalyptic literature like Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel or The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Needless to say, plenty of critics, authors, and readers disagree with this definition of speculative fiction, arguing that it’s too restrictive, misunderstands the limitless appeal of the genre, and is, for lack of a better word, snobbish. Almost in protest, some authors, especially writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and Doris Lessing, started using “speculative fiction” to refer to all types of sci-fi narratives. Some publishers even use the term interchangeably with “science fiction” to describe the works they publish.
The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle recently released their Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame 2024 Inductees. Without spoiling the list for you, the class of 2024 includes some super saiyans and a trailblazing Africanfuturist author.
For twenty years, MoPOP has been the proud steward of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, preserving and celebrating this essential component of pop culture history. Once per solar cycle, the public helps usher in a new class of nominees, and a panel of professionals cast their votes to select four new inductees—two creators and two creations.
Read more and check out the full list.
Last month, images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition have been released by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. BBC Sky at Night Magazine shares some of the coolest photographs in the galaxy.
Now in its 16th year, Astronomy Photographer of the Year is the biggest astrophotography competition in the world, and in 2024 received over 3,500 entries from 58 countries across the globe.
Entrants can submit images across a range of categories including People & Space; Planets, Comets & Asteroids; Our Sun; Our Moon; Aurorae; and Stars & Nebulae.
Special prizes include the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and the Anne Maunder Prize for Image Innovation, the latter marking the work of image processors manipulating raw space mission data.
And Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year celebrates the work of astro imagers under the age of 16.
Read more and check out the images.
There are are more cameras connected to the internet than one might realize (like your roomba). This poses massive securitiy risks for personal privacy. Researchers at University of Michigan came up with PrivacyLens to turn everyone into stick figures!
PrivacyLens uses both a standard video camera and a heat-sensing camera to spot people in images from their body temperature. The person’s likeness is then completely replaced by a generic stick figure, whose movements mirror those of the person it stands in for. The accurately animated stick figure allows a device relying on the camera to continue to function without revealing the identity of the person in view of the camera.
Raw photos are never stored anywhere on the device or in the cloud, completely eliminating access to unprocessed images. With this level of privacy protection, the engineering team is hoping to make patients more comfortable with using cameras to monitor chronic health conditions and fitness at home.
See more! and the full details from PrivacyLens: On-Device PII Removal from RGB Images using Thermally-Enhanced Sensing
Here is a cute and minimal enclosure for your Pixel Trinkey to keep it safe during use and transport. This case has been custom-designed and 3D printed to accommodate the reset button, 3-pin JST SH port, and the 4 terminal block outputs. No screws or glue are required; simply snap the two pieces together over the Trinkey.
It’s made of translucent milky white plastic with an SLA process, so you can still easily see the NeoPixel LED shining through, and there are no lines or blobbiness to the print.
No boards, cables, or accessories are included. Designed for the Pixel Trinkey only.
Wokwi is an online simulator for prototyping with Arduino, Pi Pico, ESP32 and more!
Programming Electronics shared this explainer from YouTube going over Wokwi with ESP32.
See more and checkout Wokwi there is also a CircuitPython section fro Pi Pico
Come on by for JP’s Product Pick of The Week ! A new product pick will be revealed. The show airs at 4pm ET / 1pm PT, TODAY!
Check out the livestream right here inside this product page you won’t want to miss it because there will be a HUGE DISCOUNT during the show!
Tune in for:
The live video will also be on YouTube LIVE, Twitch, Periscope (Twitter) and Facebook. LIVE TEXT CHAT IS HERE in the Adafruit Discord chat! Come on into the chat to participate in the conversation!!
Every Tuesday @ 4pm ET/1pm PT!
We’ve got the DS2484 in stock, that our I2C-to-1Wire converter board and we also now have a prototype breakout for the DS2842S-800 which has 8 selectable channels. on one hand, you can always have multiple 1-wire sensors on a single 1-wire bus, but you have to deal with ROM addressing to know which is measuring what. by having 8 separate channels you can be more sure about what each sensor is sensing, and it was pretty easy to add support – just one more function for adjusting the active channel.
We are big fans of Star Trek but we’re also headquartered in NYC and couldn’t make it to SDCC 2024 as we’ve been busy moving. So, if you’re like us, and want to know what’s next or before or during or in an alternate Star Trek universe, we’re just popping this here because we definitely will keep making neat projects and talking about Star Trek on the Adafruit Blog.
Join moderator Justin Simien for a conversation with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman and Producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers, plus Rebecca Romijn (Una Chin-Riley) and Ethan Peck (Spock). Next, Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (n Brad Boimler), Noël Wells (D’Vana Tendi), Jerry O’Connell (Jack Ransom), Creator/Executive Producer Mike McMahan, and Executive Producer Kurtzman take the stage. Then, Simien speaks with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Executive Producers and Co-Showrunners Kurtzman and Noga Landau. Finally, Simien moderates a panel featuring the Section 31 cast, including Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, and Kacey Rohl, Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman, Director/Executive Producer Olatunde Osunsanmi, and a special video message from Michelle Yeoh.
