Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

The 17-Year-Old ThinkPad: A Case Study in Robustness vs. Fragility

2025-04-03

This article contrasts a 17-year-old ThinkPad with a modern MacBook, exploring the relationship between product longevity and design philosophy. The ThinkPad, with its modular design, easy repairability, and open ecosystem, demonstrates remarkable resilience, allowing for easy repairs and upgrades even when things break. The author leverages Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Lindy Effect, arguing that products that have withstood the test of time tend to have longer lifespans. In contrast, the modern MacBook, while powerful, suffers from a closed design, difficult repairs, and dependence on Apple's software ecosystem, making it fragile and short-lived. The conclusion highlights the ThinkPad's durability stemming from its modularity and extensive community support, giving it a significantly longer lifespan.

(pilledtexts.com)

Hardware Lindy Effect

MIT's Open-Source Secure Hardware Design Course: Attack and Defense, Hands-On

2025-04-03

MIT's open-source course, Secure Hardware Design (6.5950/6.5951), uniquely teaches students both how to attack modern CPUs and design resilient architectures. Students gain hands-on experience hacking real processors, learning state-of-the-art hardware attacks and defenses. The course, a culmination of years of work, uses a 'Think-Play-Do' philosophy. Students learn through lectures, interactive CTF-style recitations, and labs involving real hardware attacks (no simulators!). The capstone project challenges students to create a CPU fuzzer to discover bugs in real CPU RTL designs.

(shd.mit.edu)

Hardware

Classic 2 Mouse Released: USB-C, Improved Scroll Wheel, and Still Open Source!

2025-04-02

The Classic 2 mouse is here, starting at $144 CAD! This updated version retains the beloved ergonomics of the original Classic, but features a significant upgrade to USB-C connectivity. The biggest improvement is a much smoother, more accurate scroll wheel thanks to a new Raspberry RP2040 microcontroller that resolves previous responsiveness issues. It remains open-source and boasts improved 3D printability. Unfortunately, no upgrade kit is offered for the original Classic.

(blog.ploopy.co)

Hardware

Bypassing JTAG Locks on Microchip SAM4C32 via Voltage Glitching

2025-04-02

A security researcher has discovered a voltage glitching attack that bypasses the JTAG lock on the Microchip SAM4C32 microcontroller. The attack exploits the reset pin as a side channel, injecting a voltage glitch during power-up to disable the security bit and gain unlocked JTAG access. This method may be applicable to many SAM series microcontrollers using GPNVM bits for security. The vulnerability is likely difficult to patch, posing a significant threat to devices relying on these microcontrollers.

(wiki.recessim.com)

Hardware voltage glitching

Astonishing Discrepancies: A Comparison of Acceleration Structure Memory Usage Across GPUs

2025-04-02

This article benchmarks the memory consumption of building acceleration structures (BVHs) for ray tracing across different vendor GPUs. The results reveal significant discrepancies, with the latest NVIDIA GPUs using only one-third or even one-twentieth the memory of AMD counterparts. The article delves into the internal structure of BVHs, contrasting different driver implementations and hardware architecture effects. It analyzes the BVH implementation details of AMD's RDNA2/3 and RDNA4 architectures, explaining the reasons behind the memory usage differences. Finally, the author concludes that BVH memory consumption is heavily influenced by hardware, drivers, and algorithms, and projects future improvement potential.

(zeux.io)

Hardware acceleration structure

OpenChess: An Open-Source Smart Chessboard for Everyone

2025-04-02

OpenChess is a fully open-source smart chessboard designed to make interactive, intelligent gameplay accessible to all. Combining low-cost electronics, 3D printing, and customizable software, OpenChess empowers makers, educators, and chess enthusiasts to build their own connected chess experience without breaking the bank. It's affordable, DIY-friendly, programmable, and modular, allowing for customization of the board, pieces, and electronics.

(thangs.com)

Hardware smart game

DIY Electric Go-Kart: From Junk Hoverboards to Kid's Ride

2025-04-02

A father, inspired by childhood dreams, transformed a simple pedal go-kart into a powerful, all-terrain electric vehicle for his three-year-old son. Utilizing discarded hoverboard motors, inexpensive controllers, and an Arduino Nano, he created a vehicle with both remote-controlled and manual driving modes, a speed limiter, and lights. While improvements like remote steering and regenerative braking are planned, this creative and loving DIY project provides a fun and exciting ride for his child.

(matto.io)

Hardware Kids Toy

Lithium Battery Pack Test: One Week of Lessons Learned

2025-04-01

After a week of using a lithium battery pack for power, the author shares their experience. The charging efficiency of the lithium battery pack is very high, and the discharge voltage drops slowly and predictably. In the test, a 1200W vacuum cleaner load did not cause overheating. However, after five consecutive nights of power supply, the voltage of one battery pack dropped sharply. The reason was inconsistencies in capacity due to differences in the number of cells in each pack; packs with fewer cells showed greater capacity increase at lower C-rates. The author solved the problem by adding cells and rebalancing, concluding that slight imbalances are acceptable as long as the packs don't reach their extreme charge or discharge limits.

(secondlifestorage.com)

Hardware battery pack test

WattWise: CLI Power Monitoring and Management for High-Performance Workstations

2025-04-01

Facing high electricity bills from a power-hungry workstation built for LLM workloads, the author developed WattWise, a lightweight CLI tool for real-time power monitoring and management. WattWise displays real-time power draw, historical charts, and dynamically adjusts CPU/GPU frequencies during peak electricity pricing periods. It integrates with TP-Link Kasa smart plugs (directly or via Home Assistant), offering flexibility and practicality. While currently limited to single plug support and Kasa compatibility, its modular design allows for future expansion.

(www.naveen.ing)

Hardware Power Management CLI Tool

Archaeology of the Pentium's Microcode ROM

2025-03-31

This article delves into the low-level circuitry of the microcode ROM in the original Pentium processor. Using microscopic images of the chip die, the author reveals the ROM's physical structure: two rectangular banks of transistors, each providing 45 bits of output for a total 90-bit micro-instruction. The article meticulously details the functioning of the microcode address register, row select drivers, and output circuitry. It also explains the role of shift registers and XOR gates for testing purposes, and the complexity of power distribution within the Pentium. Ultimately, the author highlights the unexpected complexity of the Pentium's microcode ROM and the optimizations implemented for performance and density.

(www.righto.com)

Hardware

Xfinity XB3 Hardware Mod: Disable WiFi, Save 2 Watts

2025-03-30

A user modded their Xfinity XB3 modem to save power. The XB3, provided with Comcast's cheaper Xfinity NOW service, consumes 14.9 watts. By disassembling the modem and grounding the EN pin on the TPS54328 voltage regulator, the user disabled WiFi, reducing power consumption to 12.5 watts – a 2-watt saving. While the admin page is briefly inaccessible after booting, network functionality remains unaffected.

(gist.github.com)

Hardware hardware mod power saving

Samsung's 2025 Bespoke Lineup: AI-Powered Appliances for the Smart Home

2025-03-30

Samsung finally unveiled its full 2025 Bespoke appliance lineup, initially teased at CES. The highlight is the Bespoke 4-door French-door refrigerator, available with 9-inch and a massive 32-inch Family Hub+ screen (capable of playing TikTok!). AI Vision Inside recognizes 37 fresh and 50 processed food items, generating shopping lists. A hybrid cooling system combines compressor and Peltier technology for energy efficiency and quiet operation; a space-saving Kitchen Fit model is also available. The smart oven recognizes 80 recipes, records cooking processes; a quiet dishwasher auto-detects food residue; the AI washer/dryer completes cycles in 68 minutes; and a cordless stick vacuum boasts 400AW suction and 100-minute runtime. Pre-orders offer up to $1000 off and an extra year of warranty.

(www.engadget.com)

Hardware Smart Appliances Samsung Bespoke

Chiplab Launches: Run Your 6502 Programs on Real Hardware

2025-03-30

Chiplab now offers a service to run your 6502 assembly programs on a real 6502 chip, providing cycle-by-cycle bus traces for highly accurate testing and research. Users upload their code, which runs for 100 cycles, after which a detailed trace of address and data bus values is returned. This approach offers a superior alternative to emulators and lays the groundwork for analyzing more complex chips in the future. The project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(www.emulationonline.com)

Hardware chip emulator

IBM & Family Keyboard Timeline: 111 Key Events

2025-03-30

This illustrated timeline charts key events in the history of IBM, Lexmark, Unicomp, Lenovo, and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions keyboards. It covers significant releases and discontinuations, corporate history (founding, divestitures, OEM changes), and patents. Host devices like PCs, terminals, consoles, and typewriters are also included due to their impact on keyboard development. The full timeline details 111 events.

(sharktastica.co.uk)

Hardware IBM keyboards keyboard history

Raspberry Pi E-Ink Commute & Weather Tracker: Closing the Agency Gap

2025-03-29

The author built a Raspberry Pi-powered e-ink display that shows real-time subway arrival times and weather forecasts, solving a daily morning commute problem. The device displays date, time, upcoming F & G train arrivals for the next 30 minutes, and a 12-hour weather forecast. The project details cover hardware and software design, including data acquisition from the MTA API, display engine, and update strategies to minimize screen flickering and ghosting. The final product is aesthetically pleasing and functional, loved by the author's wife, successfully bridging the 'agency gap'.

(sambroner.com)

Hardware E-ink

Bolt Graphics Unveils Ambitious Zeus GPU Architecture

2025-03-29

Bolt Graphics announced its Zeus GPU architecture, a modular design based on the RISC-V instruction set. Employing a multi-chiplet approach, Zeus scales up to four chiplets, each boasting 64GB of LPDDR5X and abundant high-speed interconnect options like 800GbE and PCIe Gen5. Targeting large-scale GPU clusters through high memory capacity and bandwidth, Zeus aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in high-performance computing. While still in early development, with developer kits slated for Q4 2025, its unique architecture and potential for cost-effectiveness warrant attention.

(www.servethehome.com)

Hardware

Real-Time Chess: A Physical Board That Eliminates Turns

2025-03-29

Tired of the long waits in turn-based chess? A developer has created a real-time physical chessboard that eliminates turns entirely. Each piece has an individual cooldown, enforced by electronics and electromagnets, preventing cheating. The project's PCB designs and firmware are open-source, but the author notes issues like inadequate power distribution and tight tolerances.

(github.com)

Hardware

ESP32 Pomodoro Timer: A Hardware and Software DIY Project

2025-03-29

A software engineer, driven by a quest for productivity enhancement and a desire to help a friend, designed an ESP32-based Pomodoro timer. This timer uses an e-paper display and a rotary encoder, prioritizing a physical device, fun, and intuitive usability. The project encompasses hardware selection (ESP32, e-paper display, rotary encoder, LED, etc.), software development (C++, Arduino framework, GxEPD2 library), and 3D-printed case design. The author shares lessons learned throughout the design process, such as display selection, input method design, LED indicator implementation, and software code management. The final product combines practicality and fun, incorporating Easter eggs.

(github.com)

Hardware Pomodoro Timer Hardware DIY

PCIe Endpoint on Xilinx 7-Series FPGAs: Open-Source Implementation

2025-03-29

This project implements a PCIe endpoint on Xilinx 7-series FPGAs using the PCIE_2_1 hard block and GTP transceivers. It avoids proprietary Vivado IP cores and is compatible with openXC7. The design includes clock generation, GTP transceivers, and the PCIE_2_1 hard block, supporting PCIe Gen1 x1 and Gen2 x1. It's been tested on Alinx AC7100B SoM and Wavelet uSDR. Docker build and run scripts are provided, along with MSI interrupt and kernel driver support. This project is funded by NGI0 Entrust.

(github.com)

Hardware

OpenWrt "Two" Crowdfunding Campaign Approved

2025-03-29

GL.iNet's crowdfunding campaign for OpenWrt "Two", a next-generation router, has been successfully approved by the community. Featuring the MT7988 chip, 10G SFP, 5G copper, 2.5G copper ports, and tri-band Wi-Fi 7, "Two" is expected to retail around $250, with a portion of the proceeds donated to the OpenWrt project. Availability is anticipated in late 2025.

(openwrt.org)

Hardware

DIY Acoustic Camera: Locating Sound Sources on a Budget

2025-03-29

This project details the construction of a low-cost acoustic camera using readily available hardware and open-source software. The author utilizes a miniDSP UMA-16 microphone array and custom Python scripts to capture synchronized 16-channel audio and video. Beamforming is achieved using the Acoular library, visualizing sound pressure levels and merging the results with the video stream. The post includes code examples and a comparison with an earlier attempt using a ReSpeaker 4 microphone array and a GCC-PHAT algorithm, demonstrating a surprisingly effective and affordable approach to sound localization.

(navat.substack.com)

Hardware acoustic camera

Puget Systems' Transparent Take on Tariffs and PC Pricing

2025-03-28

Puget Systems openly addresses the impact of tariffs on its computer pricing. A 20% tariff increase has affected some components (motherboards, power supplies) by 20%, while others (CPUs) see less impact. Puget Systems is mitigating the effects through strategic inventory management, close supplier relationships, and absorbing some costs. They advise customers to consider early purchases to avoid potentially higher prices in June.

(www.pugetsystems.com)

Hardware

Raspberry Pi Stratum 1 PTP & NTP Timeserver: The Time Pi Project

2025-03-28

An open-source project, Time Pi, builds a stratum 1 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) timeserver using a Raspberry Pi 5. Leveraging the TimeHAT add-on board with an Intel i226 2.5Gbps NIC and supporting hardware timestamping, Time Pi achieves high-precision time synchronization, further enhanced by an optional M.2 GPS module. While encountering driver issues with the Intel i226 NIC, the project successfully utilizes Ansible to configure Chrony, NTP, and PTP software, running stably for months. Future plans include outdoor GPS antenna installation, cross-device PTP synchronization testing, and collaboration with Masterclock for advanced time synchronization solutions.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware Timeserver

Pyrex Explosions: The Fall of a Kitchen Icon?

2025-03-28

Since 1915, Pyrex glassware has been a kitchen staple. However, in recent years, numerous reports of Pyrex cookware exploding under heat have surfaced. Investigations reveal a shift in the 1950s to cheaper soda-lime glass from the original heat-resistant borosilicate glass. While tempered, soda-lime glass is far less resistant to thermal shock, making it prone to shattering. Although Pyrex's parent company claims explosions are rare and due to misuse, consumers and experts question this, citing insufficient risk communication. A class-action lawsuit is underway, and consumers are seeking out reliable borosilicate glass alternatives. The incident highlights the importance of material science in everyday products.

(gizmodo.com)

Hardware glass cookware product safety

Two Transistors Mimic Neurons, Promising Breakthrough in Neural Networks

2025-03-28

Researchers have developed a novel device that mimics both neurons and synapses using just two standard CMOS transistors. By controlling the gate voltage, the device can switch between an off state and mimicking neuronal activity with adjustable spiking frequency, and can use spikes to adjust the weights of different inputs. It can function as an artificial synapse with six or more weight levels, and when combined with a second transistor, it can act as a neuron, integrating inputs to influence the frequency of output spikes (varying by a factor of 1000). This stable behavior (over 10 million clock cycles) offers a highly efficient and cost-effective design, potentially significantly reducing the energy consumption and cost of neural networks and accelerating AI advancements.

(arstechnica.com)

Hardware neuromorphic computing hardware acceleration

$10,000 Toyota IMV 0: A No-Frills Truck America Can't Have

2025-03-28

In a US market where new trucks average $59,000, the $10,000 Toyota IMV 0 is a game-changer. This compact pickup, based on the Hilux platform, lacks modern amenities like touchscreens and safety features, but it boasts surprising practicality and ruggedness. It offers a surprisingly spacious bed and cabin, and its manual transmission and rear-wheel drive provide a pure driving experience. While currently only available in developing markets like Thailand, and unavailable in the US, it presents a compelling argument for a simpler, more affordable truck. It suggests a potential shift in market demand towards smaller, cheaper, and more utilitarian vehicles.

(www.motor1.com)

Hardware pickup truck value

The Mystery of the Passive USB-to-PS/2 Mouse Adapter

2025-03-28

Early USB mice often included a green adapter to convert the USB Type-A plug to PS/2. This wasn't a smart adapter; it was purely mechanical, with no circuitry. The mouse itself did the conversion, detecting the signal type (USB or PS/2) and adjusting accordingly. It's analogous to a simple power adapter – the intelligence resides in the device, not the adapter. So, if you find one of these, remember it's just a physical connector; the actual conversion happens within the dual-bus mouse.

(devblogs.microsoft.com)

Hardware Mouse Adapter

DIY Artificial Sunlight: A Software Engineer's Hardware Adventure

2025-03-27

Inspired by a YouTube video, a software engineer embarked on a project to create artificial sunlight at home. Rejecting the bulky parabolic reflector design, he cleverly employed a grid array of multiple lenses and LEDs. The article details the entire process, from 3D modeling and PCB design to CNC machining and final assembly, including challenges faced and solutions implemented. While the final product's brightness fell slightly short of expectations, it achieved a satisfying geometric effect and provided the author with valuable hardware engineering experience.

(victorpoughon.fr)

Hardware Optics

AirPods Max USB-C Gets Lossless Audio, But Is Apple Overhyping It?

2025-03-26

Apple announced that AirPods Max (USB-C) will gain support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio via a firmware update next month, alongside iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. However, Apple's own support documents claim that AAC audio is already virtually indistinguishable from original studio recordings, contradicting marketing chief Greg Joswiak's claim of an "ultimate" audio upgrade. While the improvement from lossless audio alone is minimal, the combination with ultra-low latency will make AirPods Max the only headphones allowing musicians to create and mix in Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking.

(www.macrumors.com)

Hardware Lossless Audio Ultra-Low Latency Audio

AMD Zen Chief Architect Interview: Unpacking the Secrets of Low-Power x86 Design

2025-03-26

This article presents a transcript of an interview between Casey and Mike Clark, the chief architect of AMD's Zen. The discussion centers on low-power design in x86 architectures. Clark dispels the myth that the x86 ISA inherently hinders low-power design, emphasizing the role of market strategy and design priorities. He explains how AMD improves energy efficiency through microarchitectural optimizations (like TLBs and uop caches), balancing bandwidth and power consumption. The interview delves into instruction set size, cache line size, scatter/gather operations, non-temporal stores, CPU pipeline diagrams, and how software developers can better leverage hardware features, offering invaluable insight into modern CPU design.

(www.computerenhance.com)

Hardware low-power design

Category: Hardware