Open Hardware and Linux-Centric Devices
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Arduino-powered pickpocket trap catches thieves red-handed
People living in small towns and rural areas may not realize it, but pickpocketing is a genuine issue in big cities. Real-life pickpockets aren’t magic like those in movies, but they can pull an item like a wallet from your pocket without you noticing — it is surprisingly easy to do.
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Testing fast charging damage to smartphone batteries
Most people leave their phones on their chargers overnight, but sometimes you end up at 5% halfway through the day and need to top off your battery. Fast charging is very convenient in such circumstances, but it may be damaging your smartphone’s battery and reducing its capacity over time.
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Transforming A Keyboard To A Mouse In Software
You’ve probably heard the old saying that if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck… So when is a keyboard a mouse? When software makes it quack like a mouse — that is, if mice quacked. [Blackle Mori] took a cheap USB keypad and, using the libevdev Linux system, made it impersonate a mouse.
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Rockchip RK3568 SBC takes up to four AHD cameras, two SATA drives
Boardcon EM3568-AV CAM SBC is powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC and comes with four AHD (analog high-definition) camera connectors and two SATA 3.0 ports to store video data on hard drives. The SBC is also equipped with up to 8GB RAM, up to 128GB eMMC flash, supports MIPI DSI, LVDS, and eDP displays, and features a video composite output, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, WIFi 4 connectivity, an optional 4G LTE module, a few USB ports, and several connectors for expansion.
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Thematic Book Series: How to Build a Low-tech Internet?
We were told that the internet would dematerialize society and decrease energy use. Contrary to this projection, it has become a massive infrastructure and a rapidly growing energy consumer. In this series of articles, Low-tech Magazine examines the reasons behind the ever-expanding resource use of digital communication and what we can do about it. The internet isn’t an autonomous being. Its growing energy use results from decisions made by software developers, web designers, marketeers, publishers, and internet users. By placing communications in a historical context and with the development of its lightweight, off-the-grid, and solar powered website, Low-tech Magazine challenges our high-tech approach to sustainability and highlights the possibilities of alternative solutions.