Days are still long but getting shorter, with yet another seasonal change on the horizon. It seems like the change in daylight hours is one of those topics we can’t stop discussing year after year. Our obsession with how long the sun is around each day is something SF authors have been tuning into for decades. Check out this fun list from Tor.com.
Earth is blessed with a day neither of extraordinary length nor of extreme brevity. Currently it is about twenty-four hours long. A quick glance at planets like Mercury and Venus shows us that worlds can have days much longer than Earth’s; bodies like Haumea suggest that days could be much shorter.
SF authors have notice this and written books about planets/planetesimals with different day lengths. Consider these five vintage works.
Translucent Smoke Plastic 65% / JKDK K68 Keyboard Shell
Back in my day, if you wanted a mechanical keyboard, you had to purchase a massive IBM Model M Keyboard but now you can DIY your very own compact keyboards with your very favorite layouts to make the keeb of your dreams.
For all the DIY keebfans in the house here is a Translucent Smoke Plastic 65% (K68) Keyboard Shell aka a “JKDK K68” type enclosure. It’s the perfect base to begin your custom keyboard project, especially if you dig a smokey translucent base that can show off your glowy LEDs. It’s also a lot less expensive than a milled & anodized aluminum shell. However, it won’t be as heavy, durable, and flat. That said, it’s a great starter shell. You provide the PCB to match and bolt it into this base. It’s also designed with a slot for a USB C power supply.
Comes with four rubber feet and mechanical screw hardware.
Its a floor wax! Its a dessert topping! It’s an all-in-one benchtop multimeter that’s also a bluetooth speaker, alarm clock and thermometer. It can run off of USB power (plug into any wall adapter for charging your phone or gadgetry) and has built it rechargeable batteries for portable use. Perfect for use on your workbench, coffee table, or Thanksgiving centerpiece — its a great conversation starter!
We couldn’t resist stocking this “its so uncool its flipped around and become cool again” engineer’s toolkit. Why stop at one feature when you can keep adding more, this solidly-built desktop multimeter has everything but the kitchen sink included. Easy to use and has a big honkin’ digital display, packed with all the bonus extras you never knew you wanted until now, including a Bluetooth speaker, alarm clock, and indoor thermometer. It’s even got built-in rechargeable batteries so you can use it on the beach, at a jazz cafe, in the middle of an outdoor wedding, or when the power is out due to a zombie infestation that has destroyed most of civilization.
If you want the look and feel of aeronautical style quick-release connectors, this YC-8 5-pin Connector Matching Pair is an elegant and inexpensive alternative. Sure, they’re not mil-spec but they do work and look great for DIY projects, keyboard builds, robotics, wearables and more. The connector snaps together smoothly, and can disconnect only when the sleeve is pulled, which can be done one-handed with a little practice.
These connectors are most famous for use by keebfans who make their own bespoke mechanical keyboard USB cables. Why? Why not!
Please note: Using these connectors is not easy, you really need to have the exact right diameter (4.5 ~ 5mm) cable for the internal metal-toothed strain-relief grips to fit right, and there’s some delicate soldering to do as well. It’s definitely a level up in required skill from customizing keycaps or doing a PCB group buy.
Espressif’s ESP32-S2 Human Machine Interface Dev Kit 1 (ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1) has been specifically designed for human-machine interfaces in smart-home automation controllers, smart speakers with display, smart alarm clocks, etc.
ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1 is powered by the ESP32-S2-WROVER module, which supports a 4.3″ LCD screen. The development board can have an optional 1,950mAh rechargeable lithium battery installed. There’s lots of peripheral interfaces such as an extra USB serial programming/UART port, SPI, TWAI, I2C, and an SD card. It supports various sensors and functions such as audio playback and recording. Additionally, this development kit supports rapid secondary development, allowing developers to take advantage of the kit’s various onboard resources and expansion interfaces.
Add a splash of RGB LEDs to a project you’re working on, with this adorable 13×9 RGB LED matrix breakout. It features — no surprise — 117 RGB LEDs, each one 2x2mm in size, in a 13×9 grid with 3mm pitch spacing.
Unlike our 8×8 dotstar grid here, these are not NeoPixel or DotStar or other ‘smart’ RGB LEDs. Instead of having a lil chip in each LED, there’s one large controller chip that handles all the PWM for you. The ISSI IS32FL3741 communicates over I2C and can set each LED element with 8 bit PWM for 24-bit color across the RGB elements, for beautiful color! There’s an adjustable current driver so you can brighten or dim the whole display without losing color resolution.
Translucent Smoke Plastic 65% / JKDK K68 Keyboard Shell
Back in my day, if you wanted a mechanical keyboard, you had to purchase a massive IBM Model M Keyboard but now you can DIY your very own compact keyboards with your very favorite layouts to make the keeb of your dreams.
For all the DIY keebfans in the house here is a Translucent Smoke Plastic 65% (K68) Keyboard Shell aka a “JKDK K68” type enclosure. It’s the perfect base to begin your custom keyboard project, especially if you dig a smokey translucent base that can show off your glowy LEDs. It’s also a lot less expensive than a milled & anodized aluminum shell. However, it won’t be as heavy, durable, and flat. That said, it’s a great starter shell. You provide the PCB to match and bolt it into this base. It’s also designed with a slot for a USB C power supply.
Comes with four rubber feet and mechanical screw hardware.
Its a floor wax! Its a dessert topping! It’s an all-in-one benchtop multimeter that’s also a bluetooth speaker, alarm clock and thermometer. It can run off of USB power (plug into any wall adapter for charging your phone or gadgetry) and has built it rechargeable batteries for portable use. Perfect for use on your workbench, coffee table, or Thanksgiving centerpiece — its a great conversation starter!
We couldn’t resist stocking this “its so uncool its flipped around and become cool again” engineer’s toolkit. Why stop at one feature when you can keep adding more, this solidly-built desktop multimeter has everything but the kitchen sink included. Easy to use and has a big honkin’ digital display, packed with all the bonus extras you never knew you wanted until now, including a Bluetooth speaker, alarm clock, and indoor thermometer. It’s even got built-in rechargeable batteries so you can use it on the beach, at a jazz cafe, in the middle of an outdoor wedding, or when the power is out due to a zombie infestation that has destroyed most of civilization.
If you want the look and feel of aeronautical style quick-release connectors, this YC-8 5-pin Connector Matching Pair is an elegant and inexpensive alternative. Sure, they’re not mil-spec but they do work and look great for DIY projects, keyboard builds, robotics, wearables and more. The connector snaps together smoothly, and can disconnect only when the sleeve is pulled, which can be done one-handed with a little practice.
These connectors are most famous for use by keebfans who make their own bespoke mechanical keyboard USB cables. Why? Why not!
Please note: Using these connectors is not easy, you really need to have the exact right diameter (4.5 ~ 5mm) cable for the internal metal-toothed strain-relief grips to fit right, and there’s some delicate soldering to do as well. It’s definitely a level up in required skill from customizing keycaps or doing a PCB group buy.
Espressif’s ESP32-S2 Human Machine Interface Dev Kit 1 (ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1) has been specifically designed for human-machine interfaces in smart-home automation controllers, smart speakers with display, smart alarm clocks, etc.
ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1 is powered by the ESP32-S2-WROVER module, which supports a 4.3″ LCD screen. The development board can have an optional 1,950mAh rechargeable lithium battery installed. There’s lots of peripheral interfaces such as an extra USB serial programming/UART port, SPI, TWAI, I2C, and an SD card. It supports various sensors and functions such as audio playback and recording. Additionally, this development kit supports rapid secondary development, allowing developers to take advantage of the kit’s various onboard resources and expansion interfaces.
Add a splash of RGB LEDs to a project you’re working on, with this adorable 13×9 RGB LED matrix breakout. It features — no surprise — 117 RGB LEDs, each one 2x2mm in size, in a 13×9 grid with 3mm pitch spacing.
Unlike our 8×8 dotstar grid here, these are not NeoPixel or DotStar or other ‘smart’ RGB LEDs. Instead of having a lil chip in each LED, there’s one large controller chip that handles all the PWM for you. The ISSI IS32FL3741 communicates over I2C and can set each LED element with 8 bit PWM for 24-bit color across the RGB elements, for beautiful color! There’s an adjustable current driver so you can brighten or dim the whole display without losing color resolution.
The Biden administration has released a statement saying that threat against the Kabul airport is still looming and that another attack was "highly likely," adding that they will issue a second retaliatory attack to those responsible for the explosion at the airport.
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If you’ve been craving a long walk down NYC’s streets, Watching New York (Instagram or Twitter) is a close second to going outside for actual said stroll. Aside from the beautiful candids, we are so delighted that all uploaded photos are uploaded with permission! From Vogue:
What made you want to start Watching New York?
I was and remain a long time fan of the late, great Bill Cunningham. I was often at my wife’s office on 55th and 5th, crossing my fingers that I would see him in action. Sadly, I never did. On the day he passed [in 2016], I thought shooting street fashion as he had done for all those years would be my way of honoring him. That was the first day I shot street [style] and I never stopped.
If you’ve been craving a long walk down NYC’s streets, Watching New York (Instagram or Twitter) is a close second to going outside for actual said stroll. Aside from the beautiful candids, we are so delighted that all uploaded photos are uploaded with permission! From Vogue:
What made you want to start Watching New York?
I was and remain a long time fan of the late, great Bill Cunningham. I was often at my wife’s office on 55th and 5th, crossing my fingers that I would see him in action. Sadly, I never did. On the day he passed [in 2016], I thought shooting street fashion as he had done for all those years would be my way of honoring him. That was the first day I shot street [style] and I never stopped.
In this article on No Film School, Todd Blankenship provides a rundown of 3D Scanning Apps based on personal experience:
As you start to play with these various scanning apps, you’ll find that they aren’t all created equal. The apps are numerous, and they all offer very different levels of detail, processing time, and overall usability.
