Some people hate cables with a passion; others are agnostic and prefer cabled peripherals to having to stop and charge their mouse. [Matt] from DIYPerks has the best of both worlds with this wireless-powered, no-cable desk setup.

The secret is embedded within the plywood desk: an evaluation kit from Etherdyne Technologies, Inc consisting of a 100 W RF power supply and its associated power antenna looping around the desktop edge. The mechanism is similar to the inductive charging often seen on phones nowadays, but at higher frequency and larger scale, enabling power to be transmitted several feet (at least a meter) above the desktop.
The range is impressive (this isn’t the maximum), but the efficiency is not advertised.
The kit from ETI contained several PCB-coil receivers, which [Matt] built into a number of devices, including a lamp, heated cup, microphone, speakers, his mouse, keyboard, and even a custom base to run his monitor, which really shows the power these things can pull.

The microphone is a non-Bluetooth RF unit lovingly modified to studio quality, at least as far as we can tell on laptop speakers through YouTube’s compression. The speakers use a pair of Bluetooth modules to negotiate stereo sound while staying in sync. And before you ask “what about signal for the monitor?”– we have to inform you that was taken care of too, via a wireless HDMI dongle. Check it out in the video below.

Of course the elephant in the room here is power usage — there’s a 10 W base draw, and probably a big hit to efficiency vs cabled-everything– but we figure he gets partway to a pass on that by using a Frameworks mainboard instead desktop hardware. Indeed, a full analysis might show that the transmission efficiency of this system is no worse than the power to charge/discharge inefficiencies in a more conventional battery powered wireless setup.

While no wires is pretty clean, we’re not sure this beats the totally-hidden-in-the-desk PC [Matt] built last year in terms of minimalist aesthetic. That Frameworks mainboard also likely lacks the power of his triple-screen luggable, but this was still an entertaining build.

youtube.com/embed/EyR2-C9ggi0?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/08/wirele…

When purchasing high-end gear, it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to include a little swag in the box. It makes the customer feel a bit better about the amount of money that just left their wallet, and it’s a great way for the manufacturer to build some brand loyalty and perhaps even get their logo out into the public. What’s not expected, though, is for the swag to be the only thing in the box. That’s what a Redditor reported after a recent purchase of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, a GPU that lists for $1,999 but is so in-demand that it’s unobtainium at anything south of $2,600. When the factory-sealed box was opened, the Redditor found it stuffed with two cheap backpacks instead of the card. To add insult to injury, the bags didn’t even sport an Nvidia logo.

The purchase was made at a Micro Center in Santa Clara, California, and an investigation by the store revealed 31 other cards had been similarly tampered with, although no word on what they contained in lieu of the intended hardware. The fact that the boxes were apparently sealed at the factory with authentic anti-tamper tape seems to suggest the substitutions happened very high in the supply chain, possibly even at the end of the assembly line. It’s a little hard to imagine how a factory worker was able to smuggle 32 high-end graphics cards out of the building, so maybe the crime occurred lower down in the supply chain by someone with access to factory seals. Either way, the thief or thieves ended up with almost $100,000 worth of hardware, and with that kind of incentive, this kind of thing will likely happen again. Keep your wits about you when you make a purchase like this.

Good news, everyone — it seems the Milky Way galaxy isn’t necessarily going to collide with the Andromeda galaxy after all. That the two galactic neighbors would one day merge into a single chaotic gemisch of stars was once taken as canon, but new data from Hubble and Gaia reduce the odds of a collision to fifty-fifty over the next ten billion years. What changed? Apparently, it has to do with some of our other neighbors in this little corner of the universe, like the Large Magellanic Cloud and the M33 satellite galaxy. It seems that early calculations didn’t take the mass of these objects into account, so when you add them into the equation, it’s a toss-up as to what’s going to happen. Not that it’s going to matter much to Earth, which by then will be just a tiny blob of plasma orbiting within old Sol, hideously bloated to red giant status and well on its way to retirement as a white dwarf. So there’s that.

A few weeks ago, we mentioned an epic humanoid robot freakout that was making the rounds on social media. The bot, a Unitree H1, started flailing its arms uncontrollably while hanging from a test stand, seriously endangering the engineers nearby. The line of the meltdown was that this was some sort of AI tantrum, and that the robot was simply lashing out at the injustices its creators no doubt inflicted upon it. Unsurprisingly, that’s not even close to what happened, and the root cause has a much simpler engineering explanation. According to unnamed robotics experts, the problem stemmed from the tether used to suspend the robot from the test frame. The robot’s sensor mistook the force of the tether as constant acceleration in the -Z axis. In other words, the robot thought it was falling, which caused its balance algorithms to try to compensate by moving its arms and legs, which caused more force on the tether. That led to a positive feedback loop and the freakout we witnessed. It seems plausible, and it’s certainly a simpler explanation than a sudden emergent AI attitude problem.

Speaking of robots, if you’ve got a spare $50 burning a hole in your pocket, there are probably worse ways to spend it than on this inexplicable robot dog from Temu. Clearly based on a famous and much more expensive robot dog, Temu’s “FIRES BULLETS PET,” as the label on the box calls it, does a lot of things its big brother can’t do out of the box. It has a turret on its back that’s supposed to launch “water pellets” across the room, but does little more than weakly extrude water-soaked gel capsules. It’s also got a dance mode with moves that look like what a dog does when it has an unreachable itch, plus a disappointing “urinate” mode, which given the water-pellets thing would seem to have potential; alas, the dog just lifts a leg and plays recorded sounds of tinkling. Honestly, Reeves did it better, but for fifty bucks, what can you expect?

And finally, we stumbled across this fantastic primer on advanced semiconductor packaging. It covers the entire history of chip packaging, starting with the venerable DIP and going right through the mind-blowing complexity of hybrid bonding processes like die-to-wafer and wafer-to-wafer. Some methods are capable of 10 million interconnections per square millimeter; let that one sink in a bit. We found this article in this week’s The Analog newsletter, which we’ve said before is a must-subscribe.

hackaday.com/2025/06/08/hackad…

Sono un fan dello storico Alessandro Barbero, avevo sottoscritto 2 suoi podcast ma ultimamente uno è finito (quello di Intesa S. Paolo) e l'altro rimanda sempre gli stessi da mesi e mesi.

Ce n'è anche un terzo ma è sponsorizzato e il volume dello sponsor è più alto del volume della conferenza, cosa che mi dà molto fastidio.

Avete qualche podcast da consigliarmi? Uso AntennaPod e non riesco a trovarne altri.

#Barbero

Hamas' leadership is leaning toward continuing its war with Israel to avert its own collapse, a Palestinian source familiar with the cease-fire negotiations in Qatar told Haaretz, adding that Hamas understands that it must choose whether to surrender or continue to fight at the price of hundreds, if not thousands, more Palestinian lives.

Quella povera gente è tra l'incudine e il martello.

Inspired by a gag from a mid-90s sitcom Father Ted, [Stephen] decided to create his own talking tape dispenser.

This project is a actually a follow-up to the first version of the dispenser he built back in 2022, and [Stephen] has documented the process thoroughly for anyone wanting to build their own. In the first version, he modified a tape dispenser to house a Raspberry Pi, enabling voice functionality. In the new version, he replaced the Raspberry Pi with a cheaper ESP8266 and designed an entirely 3D printed dispenser that looks closer to the screen-used version.

A clever change was replacing the rotary encoder with a custom encoder embedded in the printed parts. Using a photodiode and an LED, it measures the tape pulled from the spool. As you pull the tape, the encoder calculates the length and announces it through the speaker, just like in the show.

If you’re into prop recreations like this, be sure to check out the winners of our 2022 Sci-Fi Contest.

youtube.com/embed/zKlZgHTyWA4?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/08/bringi…

Saleae logic analyzers seem to have it all: good sampling rates, convenient protocol decoding, and plenty of channels – but not a good way to set rising or falling-edge triggering. [James] found this rather inconvenient when debugging embedded devices, and shared a workaround that replicates these simple triggering modes.

Crucially, the logic analyzer’s software has a repeated triggering mode that fires when the protocol decoder detects a preset value. [James] used a clever trick to turn this into a rising-edge trigger: he set up a simple parallel analyzer, and set the signal in question as both the sampled channel and the clock signal. Since he wanted to detect the rising edge, he set the clock mode accordingly. Next, he loaded the simple parallel decoder’s trigger configuration and set it to detect a value of one, the value of a high signal. When he ran the simple parallel trigger, every rising edge of the input signal would trigger the clock to check for a high value on the line, in turn triggering the analyzer.

It’s also possible to set up a falling-edge trigger by selecting the falling-edge clock mode and setting the trigger mode to detect a value of zero. Setting up more complex triggers involving multiple channels is as simple as calculating the hexadecimal value of the desired state and setting the parallel decoder to trigger on that value. For example, if you want to trigger when one input is low and another is high, you can set the decoder to trigger on a value or one or two, depending on which order the inputs come in.

If all this makes you interested in Saleae logic analyzers, we’ve seen them used for everything from floppy disk preservation to signal generation. We’ve even reviewed their earliest model back in 2009.

youtube.com/embed/VVu-2U9KXYE?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/08/simple…

La terra a noi si restringe
all’ultimo varco ci calca
e, al transito, ci spogliamo delle nostre membra
ci spreme la terra. Se solo fossimo il suo grano per morire e rivivere
se lei fosse nostra madre pietosa di noi
se solo noi fossimo immagini di rocce portate dal sogno come specchi.
Abbiamo visto i volti di chi verrà ucciso dall’ultimo tra noi nell’ultima difesa dell’anima.
Abbiamo pianto alla festa dei loro figli. Abbiamo visto
i volti di chi getterà i nostri figli dalle finestre di questo
ultimo spazio. Specchi levigati dalla nostra stella.
Dove mai andremo oltre il confine estremo?
Dove voleranno gli uccelli oltre l’ultimo cielo?
Dove riposeranno le piante oltre l’ultimo soffio di vita?
Scriveremo i nostri nomi nel vapore purpureo
recideremo le mani al canto perché la nostra carne lo completi.
Moriremo qui. Qui all’ultimo varco. Qui e qui il nostro
sangue pianterà il suo ulivo.

Mahmoud Darwish

Regular ding-dong doorbells are fun and all, but it can be nice to put something a little more special by your front door. To that end, [Arpan Mondal] built this neat little piano doorbell to make visiting his home just a touch more fun.

The heart of the build is an ESP32 microcontroller. It’s responsible for reading the state of five 3D printed piano keys: three white, two black. It’s nowhere near a full octave, but for a doorbell, it’s enough. When a key is pressed, the ESP32 plays a short audio sample embedded within the program code itself. This is done with the help of a PAM8403 audio amplifier module, which jacks up the output to drive the doorbell speaker loud enough to be heard throughout the home. It’s not exactly studio quality audio, but for a doorbell, it sounds pretty solid.

If you’re looking for a fun and easy build to make your home just a little bit more whimsical, it’s hard to beat something like this. Your musical friends will love it—they might even develop an intro riff of their very own. We’ve featured some other fun doorbell builds before, too—the best of which are the Halloween projects.

youtube.com/embed/Bk9v_OFMDGc?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/08/piano-…

"Dovrebbero avviare un'indagine formale sul suo status di immigrato, perché sono fermamente convinto che sia un immigrato illegale e dovrebbe essere espulso immediatamente dal Paese".

rainews.it/articoli/2025/06/ba…

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE - QUESTO È ISRAELE
4 giugno 2025

Questo è Israele. Ecco come appare il Progetto Sionista. I bambini morti. Gli ospedali distrutti. I civili disperati e affamati. Questo è tutto.

Non esiste una versione alternativa di Israele in cui queste cose non stiano accadendo. La visione Sionista liberale di una Soluzione a Due Stati e di un Israele giusto e pacifico esiste esclusivamente nell'immaginazione delle persone che la immaginano. Niente di simile è mai esistito. Tutto ciò che riguarda il moderno Stato di Israele è irremovibilmente ostile a questa visione.

O si sostiene l'esistenza dell'Israele che si vede davanti a sé, o si sostiene la fine dell'Apartheid Sionista. Non esiste una terza opzione alternativa. Non ci sono altre posizioni da considerare. Fingere il contrario significa vivere in una favola.

O vuoi bruciare vivi i bambini o non lo vuoi. O vuoi deliberatamente affamare i civili o non lo vuoi. O vuoi bombardare gli ospedali o non lo vuoi. O si vogliono deliberatamente assassinare giornalisti palestinesi mentre si vieta l'ingresso a Gaza ai giornalisti stranieri o non lo si vuole. O si vogliono Massacrare deliberatamente i civili e distruggere sistematicamente le infrastrutture civili per forzare l'espulsione dei palestinesi da un territorio palestinese o non lo si fa. E se sei contrario, devi opporti allo Stato di Israele.

Questo è Israele, lo Stato. Non solo Netanyahu. Non solo coloni estremisti. Non solo "elementi di estrema destra all'interno del governo israeliano". Israele stesso. Perché tutto ciò che stiamo vedendo fare a Israele è il risultato di tutto ciò che Israele è come Stato.

Tutto ciò che Israele sta facendo è il risultato di tutto ciò che è sempre stato. Non appena l'Occidente ha deciso di abbandonare uno Stato Colonialista in cima a una civiltà preesistente in cui i nuovi immigrati avrebbero ricevuto un trattamento preferenziale rispetto agli abitanti nativi che già vivevano lì, è diventato inevitabile che Israele sarebbe finito nelle condizioni in cui si trova oggi.

Perché non c'era modo di mantenere quello status quo senza sfollamenti di massa e tirannia, violenza e abusi senza sosta. Non c'era modo di creare una società a più livelli in cui un livello è posto al di sopra dell'altro senza indottrinare il popolo ad accettare quel sistema di Apartheid Disumanizzando sistematicamente i membri del gruppo privo di potere.

Stabilite uno status quo di Disumanizzazione di un gruppo di persone e fabbricate il consenso per la violenza e l'abuso contro di loro e, inevitabilmente, vi ritroverete con uno Stato di Apartheid di estrema destra che sta commettendo un Genocidio, così come sicuramente far cadere una pietra da un edificio provocherà la caduta di una pietra a terra.

Quello che stiamo vedendo oggi a Gaza è stato incluso nello Stato di Israele sin dal suo inizio.

Tutti quei bambini morti sul tuo flusso di notizie dei social media sono il frutto di un albero il cui seme è stato piantato dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Quell'albero ha dato sempre più frutti e continuerà a farlo finché rimarrà in piedi. Perché questo è proprio il tipo di albero che è. L'unico tipo di albero che avrebbe mai potuto essere.

Dire "Sostengo Israele ma non sostengo le azioni di Netanyahu a Gaza" è come dire "Mi piace questo albero di mele, ma solo quando germogliano noci di cocco invece di mele". Questo non è il tipo di albero che è. L'albero delle mele produrrà solo mele e l'albero del Genocidio produrrà solo il Genocidio.

I sostenitori di Israele evitano di confrontarsi con verità ovvie come queste. Il sostegno a Israele dipende da una compartimentazione psicologica su larga scala. Tutto ruota attorno all'evitare verità spiacevoli invece di fare i conti con esse in modo profondo e viscerale.

Distogliendo lo sguardo dalle riprese video delle atrocità di Israele a Gaza. Distogliendo lo sguardo dalle contraddizioni tra i valori che pretendono di sostenere e tutto ciò che Israele è come Stato. Distogliendo lo sguardo dalle montagne su montagne di prove che ci fissano tutti in faccia. Questo è l'unico modo in cui il sostegno a Israele può continuare.

Per diventare una specie guidata dalla verità, dobbiamo smettere di nasconderci dalle verità scomode. E uno dei nostri nascondigli preferiti per verità scomode a questo punto della storia è il moderno Stato di Israele, e il sostegno dell'Impero Occidentale ad esso.

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Traduzione: La Zona Grigia

Fonte:
caitlinjohnst.one/p/this-is-is…