Arno Schlipf has created gfx-fe, a chromium web-based tool for editing Adafruit GFX fonts, often used in Arduino projects. All you need is a chromium-based web editor on any computer platform.
You can kick the tires on the website and read more on GitHub. Via the Adafruit Forums.
Check out the latest guide in our #electronichalloween series by Erin St Blaine: Dancing Inflatables! Inflatable Halloween and Christmas decorations are becoming really popular and easy to find at local Hardware stores. They light up your yard and fill a big space while still packing away small for the off season. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use a Circuit Playground Express and a Power Switch Relay power supply to create a custom timer for your inflatables. The power supply and relay are rated for up to 120v so are easy to use with even large inflatables, like the 20′ purple octopus tentacles featured in the guide.
From the guide:
Make your holiday display dance this year with Circuit Playground and a relay-controlled power supply. Plug your 120v (or lower) inflatable tentacles, skeletons, reindeer, or monsters into the outlets on a relay controller, connect your Circuit Playground Express, and use Microsoft MakeCode to create a custom timer that turns the outlets on and off at your bidding. Tweak the timing to get them dancing, or create a random timer for organic-looking motion.
No soldering is required – and even if you’ve never programmed anything before, this is a super-easy guide to follow!
It’s time for some scary science fiction movies! Here’s a great list that goes beyond the obvious, from New Scientist:
Splice (2009).
If Re-Animator is a fun offspring of Frankenstein, Splice is the truly monstrous progeny. Vincenzo Natali’s film is another take on laboratory hubris, but what begins as a cautionary tale about genetic engineering becomes something wholly more disturbing. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play a pair of scientists in love, whose attempt to splice animal and human DNA births the humanoid Dren. She’s cute to begin with, but we all know this act of godlike creation isn’t going to have a happy ending. Dren’s development provides some quite stunning creature design, as well as a shocking series of events that may constitute the most violent puberty of all time.
Build your own interactive monsters, powered by Crickit!
It doesn’t take exotic materials to build your own animatronic friend, just a few paper cups, craft supplies, a couple of servos, and a Circuit Playground Express with CRICKIT!
This guide shows how program these crafty monsters with both Microsoft MakeCode – a block-based programming system that’s easy for anyone to use, and CircuitPython, a Python-based language that is the perfect introduction to higher-level programming.
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.
PiDigitizer: An Open-Source Film Digitizer
3D Hangouts – Mac Classic Fruit Jam, Pool Alert and Spider Pumpkin
Catch up with us on our blog, in our learn system , or on YouTube.
Whenever I watch Black Mirror I get into “OMG what is happening?????” mode so if you’re all caught up and need some explanations or just a little bit more, Charlie Brooker dives in to fan-favorite ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity’ with Esquire UK.
This weekend is your last chance to check out the creepy but fun events at the Museum of the Moving Image. Check out their site for the last of the lineup.
We have a few tricks up our sleeve for this Halloween season. Prepare to be ensorcelled by Dark Magic, a wicked screening series featuring pour souls across history plagued by curses, hexes, and all kinds of bad witchery. From a demonic 14th-century tale of feudal Japan to a Danish primer on the medieval origins of witchcraft to a 17th century New England homestead to a supernatural 19th century London to the 21st century American suburbs, these are deliciously creepy horror benchmarks than span history—stylish and scary and a hell of a lot of fun. Each of the titles in this program are featured in the new Museum of the Moving Image book Dark Magic: Scary Movies According to Reverse Shot, an anthology of twenty years of Reverse Shot writing, edited by Michael Koresky and Jeff Reichert, which will be available for sale starting this October in the Museum gift shop. Co-programmed by Koresky and Reichert.
The creation of WakeUpStefani on Instagram, PRAY.IMG is an interactive art collectable. It is a translucent resin cross with an Eink display and GPS. With the click of a button you can get a geographically unique message. The first batch of PRAY.IMG crosses sold out but more may be on the way. More details some good assembly shots from Instagram
PRAY.IMG is a handmade electronic art collectible that blends symbolism, art, and technology. Born out of curiosity for faith in a digital age, the device is meant to be held, questioned, and treasured.
- Includes two interactive game modes: get a sign, and pilgrimage mode (location based) with over 100 unique images.
- Included in the packaging: One of a kind Device with Handmade Rosary, USB-C Charger, Sticker Sheet, Instruction Manual.
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!
Here’s a great Halloween project from Vishalsoniindia via hackster.io:
For me, Halloween is extra special because I am a maker. Whenever this season comes, my head fills up with dozens of new ideas for projects. Sometimes it’s decorations, sometimes it’s costumes, and sometimes it’s props. But this year, I reminded myself: focus on building one thing at a time. That way, I could create something more polished and meaningful instead of jumping from one idea to another.
The story of this project really began with one of my earlier builds. I uploaded an Uncanny Eye Pendant, and in the comments, someone suggested that I should try making a Trapped Soul Pendant. The idea immediately caught my attention. When I searched about it online, I found it both spooky and fascinating. That’s when I thought to myself: Why not take this concept further? Why not make the soul inside the pendant feel real, alive, and struggling to escape?
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!
Here are some scary science fiction books, just in time for some spooky Halloween reading! Here’s more from ScienceFiction.com:
Science Fiction: ‘The Shining Girls’ by Lauren Beukes
It doesn’t get more science fiction than time travel or more horror than serial killers. Combine the two and you get this twisted tale of the haunted Kirby Mazrachi and Harper Curtis, a broken man who finds himself driven to kill when he discovers a house that lets him step into other times. The twist here is that Kirby is one of Harper’s victims except she didn’t die. When Kirby teams up with an ex-homicide reporter they get closer to the mind-bending truth around Harper, but what will happen to them when the killer learns she’s still lives?
The New York Public Library shared 10 books that put you in the fall feelings.
There’s something magical about the first hint of autumn in the air—the way the days get shorter, sweaters get cozier, and a good book becomes the perfect companion. Whether you’re in the mood for heartwarming friendships, a dash of magic, or a twisty mystery to keep you turning pages late into the night, these books offer something for every kind of reader.
AIPRM shared this cool timeline of 50 science fiction technologies presented across different mediums that became a reality.
Once seen only in fantastical stories of adventure and exploration, things like space travel, artificial intelligence, and advanced robotics have since become reality. The parallels between science fiction and modern tech aren’t mere coincidence—sci-fi has long been inspiring inventors to push the limits of reality. Ideas like video communication, AI, and space exploration have transitioned from fictional stories into everyday technology through years of development and breakthroughs. In this analysis from AIPRM, we’ve compiled a list of 50 real-life technologies to showcase their journey from imaginative concept to tangible reality and explore how long it took to bring these futuristic ideas to life.
Tarantula3 shared this neat color adjustable lantern inspired by Minecraft on instructables.
For this Halloween, I’m fusing the creative blocky world of Minecraft with the spooky glow of the colorful RGB LEDs in a fun and simple Halloween project.
Pardon my tinfoil hat but it can be a little unsettling to acknowledge all the electromagnetic waves passing through us; you might as well make extra use of them. Researches at UC Santa Cruz have developed techniques to measure heart beats with Wi-fi. They call the system Pulse-Fi and they captured the readings with a variety of chips, including ESP32, and Raspberry Pi.
Via News at UC Santa Cruz
WiFi devices push out radio frequency waves into physical space around them and toward a receiving device, typically a computer or phone. As the waves pass through objects in space, some of the wave is absorbed into those objects, causing mathematically detectable changes in the wave.
Pulse-Fi uses a WiFi transmitter and receiver, which runs Pulse-Fi’s signal processing and machine learning algorithm. They trained the algorithm to distinguish even the faintest variations in signal caused by a human heart beat by filtering out all other changes to the signal in the environment or caused by activity like movement.
We’ve got the New nEw NEW for you right here
New Products 10/08/25 Feat. Adafruit STHS34PF80 IR Presence / Motion Sensor – STEMMA QT / Qwiic
This week we debuted 18 New Products.
Visit www.adafruit.com/new for more info.
Want to get new products info beamed straight into your inbox? New nEw NEWs From Adafruit is an email newsletter sent once a week to subscribers only. It features new products, special offers, exciting original content, and more. Sign-up for the Adafruit weekly Newsletter here: https://www.adafruit.com/newsletter
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
The No‑Code Indoor Air Quality Monitor with Separate Display guide walks you through building a connected, real‑time environmental monitor using the Sensirion SEN66 sensor — all without writing a single line of code. The project captures key indoor air quality metrics such as temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and CO₂ levels, then sends that data to an external display for easy viewing at your desk or anywhere you choose. It’s powered by WipperSnapper firmware and Adafruit IO Actions, making setup entirely browser‑based and approachable for beginners while still offering robust features for experienced makers.
The guide actually contains two sub‑projects: you can build just the SEN66 sensor module and view its readings in a browser dashboard, or add a second microcontroller and display to create a dedicated, always‑on visual readout. The hardware list includes QT Py ESP32‑S3 boards, a Sensirion SEN66 breakout, optional NeoPixel Sticks for visual flair, and a 20×4 character LCD with an I²C/SPI backpack for simple wiring. Using WipperSnapper, each board is configured entirely online — you select sensors, assign feeds, and start streaming data to Adafruit IO without touching a code editor.
Once the system is running, Adafruit IO Actions let you create automated responses to changing air quality, such as triggering alerts when particulate levels spike or logging historical data for trend analysis. The external display can be placed anywhere convenient, giving you at‑a‑glance insight into your indoor environment. With its modular design, no‑code setup, and clear instructions, this guide makes it easy to bring professional‑grade air quality monitoring into your home, office, or workshop.
Learn more and make your own here.
AI will never have human consciousness. If through some emergent quality occasioned by the sheer complexity of large language models an AI became conscious, it would be fundamentally different than whatever we think we are. A conscious AI would teach us who we are through difference, not sameness. Encountering a conscious AI would be more like first contact with alien intelligence than it would be like looking in a mirror.
To think about what the experience of self-aware AI might be like we might want to turn away from Brent Spiner struggling to understand jokes as the androud Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, or even the passive aggressive monotone of HAL-900. Far more instructive might be the bizarre unknowability of Star Trek’s Q, or the opaque experience of alien contact depicted at the end of 2001. Kubrick’s belief in the impossibility of depicting first contact led him to approach the aliens in 2001 through indirect means. Even Carl Sagan took an indirect approach to aliens, taking a route through religion to arrive at what he thought alien contact might feel like. Here’s more from The Conversation:
Contact makes that reconciliation happen by establishing careful parallels between religious faith and the scientific enterprise as seen in Arroway’s journey and testimony.
For instance, preparing for the trip home, Arroway realizes her experience has become very “theological.” As the novel narrates: “Here were beings who live in the sky, beings enormously knowledgeable and powerful [… who] could clearly visit reward and punishment, life and death, on the puny inhabitants of Earth. Now how is this different, she asked herself, from the old time religion? The answer occurred to her instantly: It was a matter of evidence… There would be five independent, mutually corroborative stories supported by compelling physical evidence.”
Great news for parents of tots! If you don’t want to write off screens entirely but still want something with a semblance of education; Reading Rainbow is the ticket. You may recognize the new host, Mychal Threets, from social media or his guest appearances on Mrs. Rachel.
More from NPR:
After nearly two decades, the classic kids’ show Reading Rainbow is back — with a new host and a new digital format, but with the same mission of encouraging children to “take a look, it’s in a book.”
The original show, which ran for 26 years on PBS with host LeVar Burton, won more than 250 awards, including 26 Emmys and a Peabody Award. It spurred a love of reading for generations of kids.
We’ve put together a guide of some of our favorite books in the Adafruit shop – check em out!
It’s JOHN PARK’S WORKSHOP — LIVE! — Coming up at 4pm ET / 1pm PT Today! LIVE TEXT CHAT IS HERE in the Adafruit Discord chat!
Today’s Project: Juggling PCBs
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 coffee robots, 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!
