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Tandem solar cell achieves 32.5 percent efficiency
The tandem solar cell converts 32.5% of the incident solar radiation into electrical energy. This value is now officially certified and included in the NREL chart.
Topics /
Hardware & Electronics
The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 421 posts.
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The tyranny of the supertweeter
So-called "filter bubbles" aren't necessary; it's enough that some people just tweet more.
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Cache Associativity
Consider a strided incrementing loop over an array of size $N=2^{21}$ with a fixed step size of 256:
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How to estimate an SSD’s working life
The life of an SSD should be more predictable than a hard disk. All you need is its TBW, and the total amount of data written to it so far.
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iPhone 14 Pro Camera Review: Scotland
The iPhone 14 Pro's 48-megapixel camera in the Scottish Highlands — hiking, biking, and boating around the Dunton Kilchoan Estate.
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Audio CD ripping – optical drive accuracy listing
Audio CD ripping - optical drive accuracy listing
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The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
Sometime in 2024, the IEEE will unveil a new 802.11 standard that will bring new capabilities to everyone’s favorite wireless communication standard. But the upcoming 802.11bf standard isn’t for communication — it’s for sensing. The newest version of Wi-Fi layers on the ability to sense people or objects by using math…
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Potential Issues of Using a USB Powerbank as a UPS (2021)
On my recent review of the Blitzwolf BW-P12 10000mAh Power Bank, a reader commented asking whether that particular power bank could be used as a makeshift uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for USB…
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What’s Left in the Apple Silicon Transition
Over at MacRumors, Hartley Charlton pointed out something that hadn’t crossed my mind: Historically, Apple released at least one new Mac model every year in the fourth quarter that runs between October and December, starting in 2001 with the launch of the iBook G3. This means that there has been a new Mac toward the…
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Vulkan update: version 1.2 conformance for Raspberry Pi 4
For the last couple of years, we have been working with our friends at Igalia to bring Vulkan to the Raspberry Pi 4 platform, and today we're happy to announce that we have achieved Vulkan 1.2 conformance from Khronos.
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The Life of Pi: Ten Years of Raspberry Pi
The most successful computer ever to come out of the UK celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
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Wearable Muscles
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a wearable textile exomuscle that serves as an extra layer of muscles. They aim to use it to increase the upper body strength and endurance of people with restricted mobility.
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3Hz Computer, Hold the Transistors
I’m not really one to brag publicly about expensive toys, but a few weeks ago I managed to get one that’s really something special. It is a Curta Type II , a mechanical digital 1 calculator manufactured in Liechtenstein between the 50s and 70s, before solid-state calculators killed them and the likes of slide-rules.
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The hunt for the M1’s neural engine
How can you tell when software uses the Neural Engine in an M1 series Mac? How much power does it use, and what is Espresso? Mysteries unravelled.
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TinyPilot: Build a KVM over IP for Under $100
Using only a Raspberry Pi and an $11 video capture dongle, you can create your own KVM over IP device, allowing you to remotely control a target computer.
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Retro Compaq LTE Laptop Powered by Raspberry Pi
A while ago a came across an old Compaq LTE 286 laptop. When they were first released around 1989, these PCs were somewhat groundbreaking because they were the first to be compact enough to resemble the “notebook” form factor that we take for granted today. Unfortunately this particular unit was pretty much beyond…
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How macOS manages M1 CPU cores
From the 8 cores of the original M1 chip to the M1 Ultra’s 20, this is how macOS manages threads from apps, services and other code.
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Running Julia bare-metal on an Arduino
I don't really have much experience with microcontrollers. I've played around with some arduinos before and the main entry point for my home network is a Raspberry Pi, but that's about it for recent experience. I did take a single course on microcontrollers a few years back though. I am fascinated by them - they're…
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DIY Onewheel – open-source self balancing skateboard
digital build guide
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Exploring FPGA Graphics
Welcome to Exploring FPGA Graphics. In this series, we learn about graphics at the hardware level and get a feel for the power of FPGAs. We’ll learn how screens work, play Pong, create starfields and sprites, paint Michelangelo’s David, draw lines and triangles, and animate characters and shapes. Along the way, you’ll…
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Understanding the global chip shortages
interface (formerly Stiftung Neue Verantwortung) emerges as Europe's premier Think Tank for cutting-edge tech policy. Our expert team navigates AI, cybersecurity, and more, shaping the continent's digital landscape.
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Testing a Cheap ExpressCard to NVMe SSD Adapter on My ThinkPad T430
I got curious about an ExpressCard to NVMe M.2 NGFF adapter I saw on Reddit, so I got one to try out myself, ending up with a total of 4 SSD-s on my ThinkPad T430. Yes, four.
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How do you power a rocket engine?
This article discusses different types of rocket engine cycles, from pressure-fed through gas generator, to full-flow staged combustion.
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What can we learn from leaked Insyde's BIOS for Intel Alder Lake
Leaked story timeline According to the timestamp of the github repository, an unidentified user uploaded the Insyde’s partial firmware solution (4.
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Pocket-sized cloud with a Raspberry Pi
Put your pocket-sized silicon to work as the world's smallest API-driven cloud - to run automation scripts, scheduled tasks, functions and to host web sites
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I built an open-source, AI-powered solar panel that's 95% optimal
This research demonstrates a model-free approach to optimize the energy produced by a dual-axis solar panel using reinforcement learning. Specifically, a softmax actor-critic agent optimizes energy production in a simulated, dynamic lighting environment which is generated from real power data. All s