Awesome Electronics

Artist Daniel Shankalonian takes old circuit boards and other electronics, and recycles them into desktop sculptures. Among his many creations are spaceships from Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek, as well as a model of NASA’s Space Shuttle. He also made an awesome sculpture of BioShock’s Big Daddy bouncer.

Electrical engineer Mehdi Sadaghdar of ElectroBOOM presents a series of simple demonstrations involving magnets, batteries, and wires, each of which might seem magical, but can all be easily explained by science. He might have a goofy approach to teaching, but if you stick around, you might learn a thing or two.

This unique analog wristwatch looks like something that you might find inside of a bomb you’re attempting to diffuse. It’s got a 45mm carbon composite wrapped stainless case, and to the left of its display is a bundle of colorful wiring. Now do we cut the blue wire with the white stripe, or the white wire with the blue stripe?

Electronics geeks would love to have a table like the one that New Yorkshire Workshop made. Watch as the artist painstakingly applies gold leaf to produce jumbo metal circuit board traces on a dyed-blue maple veneer, then gives it a nice shiny clear coat. Watch how he made the twisted “wire” copper legs here.

Sony turned up at CES 2020 with a surprise – a concept car. The Vision-S is designed as a demonstration platform for in-car technologies, from autonomy and safety systems, to entertainment and comfort. The car packs dozens of sensors, multiple widescreen displays, 360º surround audio, and runs on an all-new EV platform.

Computers and other gadgets cram a ton of componentry onto ever more compact circuit boards. But not that long ago, electronic circuits were anything but efficiently packed onto a small green motherboard. Techquickie looks at how we got from there to here.

Electronic Alchemy’s unique 3D printer can output multiple kinds of filaments in a single print, including conductive, resistive, capacitive, and semiconducting ones, allowing it to print out objects with built-in electronic circuits. It’s got eight retractable extruders, so objects can combine up to eight different materials.

Known for their in-depth automotive repair manuals, Haynes is now making a series of kits which let you build your own rudimentary gadgets, including a retro LED handheld game, an analog synthesizer, a working amplifier, a film camera, an FM radio, and a Simon-esque memory game.

Every electronic device we rely on uses printed circuit boards. Scotty Allen of Strange Parts takes us inside the PCBWay factory in Shenzhen, China to see how the pros do it in volume, accurately, and with miniscule parts. If you’re interested in how they make the circuit boards themselves, watch this.

From Siri, to Google, to Alexa, voice based systems are pretty much ubiquitous these days. But how can a computer speak so many different words so well? The 8-Bit Guy looks back at the early days of digital speech synthesis, and how that led us to today’s innovations.

When TV shows and movies want to go back in time, they head to an unlikely place, the LES Ecology Center. This Brooklyn, NY urban sustainability organization has found a new use for old E-Waste, operating a prop shop housing thousands of retro gadgets.

Tattoo artist Georgie Williams specializes in making all black tattoos inspired by circuit boards and technology in general. From single lines to thick blocks of ink, her surprisingly versatile style looks like the mark of a society from the far future.

Voltera’s machine lets you print two layer circuit boards right on your desktop. Its plotter lays down layers of silver-based conductive ink, making circuit prototyping and experimentation crazy simple. it can even prep, heat, and reflow solder for surface-mounted components.

Three sets of educational children’s toys designed to teach basic electronics. Dough Universe comes with colorful conductive dough and circuits that let kids learn about and play with light, sound and motion. The sets are also available separately.

Sony’s KOOV robot construction system is designed to teach kids basic robotic concepts. The colorful blocks snap together, and can be programmed using a graphical interface which runs on tablets and PCs. Modules include buzzers, sensors, and actuators.

Electronic musicians and anyone who needs to combine audio signals will dig Bastl’s miniature mixer which provides five individual channels with up to 20dB gain each in a tiny box that runs on 4 AA batteries. It’s limited only to mono signals, but it’s still a nifty gadget. DUDE!

Elenco’s snap-together electronics kits are a great way for kids and adults to learn the basics of circuit building without tools or soldering. Choose from a variety of different kits which make hundreds of interactive playthings.

A different perspective from Simone Giertz’s visit to Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, China, The Verge stopped by the massive electronics marketplace which has long been home to countless knock-offs, but has been gradually becoming a center for innovation.

Oddball inventor and new Tested host Simone Giertz visited Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, China. It’s arguably the world’s biggest electronics market, offering everything from circuit board components to consumer devices, both legit and fake.

Electronic tinkerer bd594 is back with another cover version of a classic track, as played by his merry band of old school computer and electronic equipment, this time playing The Doors’ Break on Through to the Other Side. Jump to 2:23 for some vocals.

A slick, six-panel snapback hat with an integrated electroluminescent light source. Provides about 8 hours of illumination on a 30 minute charge. Available in blue, green or pink. Video here.

This clever kit lets you turn everyday objects or drawings into working buttons or keyboards for controlling games and other software. As shown in the video, you can even play with your banana.

A unique electronic music-making plaything, the AlphaSphere is covered with 48 tactile, pressure-sensitive pads which can programmed used to control music software on your computer.