Off-the-shelf gadgets are all well and good—easy to set up, reliable in operation, powerful and smart—but where’s the adventure? We’re living in a golden age of gadget-making, as these DIY projects prove. Save yourself some money and learn more about the ins and outs of electronics by tackling one (or more) of these…
Working out on a stationary exercise bike can get pretty dull really quick. But if you want to make it fun, you might want to hack your bike so you can’t watch TV unless you complete your workout.
If you like the idea of the Amazon Echo, the Google Home, or the Apple HomePod, but you’d rather not spend any money on any of them, would prefer to control as many of the variables as possible, or just want something fun to do over the weekend you can build one at home for yourself by repurposing an old phone,…
There’s something about combining Lego and old Macintosh computers that is just irresistible for hobbyists. The latest edition to the canon is a cute little version of the Macintosh Classic from 1990 that uses a Raspberry Pi and an e-ink display to make it partially function. Best of all, you can have one on your desk…
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with retro video games. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited about the NES Classic Edition; it’s also why I spent my Thanksgiving documenting how to put together a Raspberry Pi-based mini SNES instead of brining turkeys. But building an emulation console from…
With some 30 years of video gaming history now behind us, there’s never been a greater choice of retro games to dig back into, whether it’s on your smartphone or a classic console rebooted for modern times. For the more serious seekers of gaming nostalgia, there are plenty of hands-on projects you can attempt…
The new and improved default OS for the Raspberry Pi isn’t just for hobbyist computer boards any longer. Thanks to an experimental version of the Linux-based software for PCs and Macs, you can use it to reinvigorate an old laptop and get a few more years out of an aging machine.
The NES Classic Edition is almost perfect—short controller cords not withstanding—and if you can buy one, it’s one of our favorite gifts, especially if you don’t want to leave the house. But it only plays NES games, and 30 games at that. Plenty of people—us included—would love a tiny system to play our favorite Super…
The hard-working developers behind Raspbian OS, the custom-made Linux distro tweaked for the Pi, have announced a major update called Pixel (short for Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight, if you’re wondering). It’s now the default OS offered for download by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and here’s why you…
Back in the mid-80's, the “cyberdeck”—the neural-connected, on-the-go interface from William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy—captured the imagination of every cyberpunk fan. IMGUR user D10D3 has uploaded pics of one of the slickest attempts at a real Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7 I’ve seen.
Sure, YouTuber Hugo Doris could have 3D-printed some slick shell for his super-mini Super Nintendo, but when you’re making a one of a kind object, why not craft it by hand?
The smart home revolution definitely isn’t happening overnight. Even with a flood of new devices and platforms available, most of us are still only inching toward fully automated homes. Still, you can take matters into your own hands and speed up the rate of progress with these DIY smart home systems. They’re easy to…
When Nintendo announced the pint-sized NES Classic, people rightly got super excited about the little guy. Although its hardware limitations became more known over time, the gadget is just so tiny, cute, and cheap that it’s easy to look past its faults. But one hardware hacker named daftmike crafted the mini NES…
You’ve probably seen mention of the Raspberry Pi in your travels across the internet, but what exactly is this compact piece of circuitry? What can you do with it and why would you want to? If you’re new to the life of Pi then we’re here to explain everything you need to know and then some.
Some say there’s no such thing as a new idea, which is just a nice way of saying that humans are a staggeringly unoriginal bunch. But a nifty, homemade Raspberry Pi-powered “camera” takes this idea and turns it on its head.
Meet the Gameboy Zero. It’s a classic Gameboy shell with a Raspberry Pi’s heart. But the mod isn’t purely cosmetic.
Amazon Echo is good for a lot of things, but until recently, remote-starting a car wasn’t one of them.
Need some pocketable storage for your pint-sized computer? Western Digital’s new PiDrive is probably the answer, squeezing just over 300GB into its quarter-inch-thick frame—and it’ll only set you back $30.
The Raspberry Pi is a fantastic, cheap, and surprisingly powerful little computer, but it’s rather lacking in the connectivity department. With the Pi 3, that’s all changing
