April has seen my interview with Matt Venn on the Tiny Tapeout project and related topics land on the Make: website, fresh newsletters for the MyriadRF project and the Free and Open Source Silicon Foundation (FOSSi Foundation), the launch of new Raspberry Pi Compute Module boards – though, sadly, not the ones for which everyone’s waiting – Espressif’s acquisition of M5Stack right before it launches a device powered by competitor STMicro’s silicon, a tiny ZX Spectrum-inspired games console, a major hardware upgrade for the MNT Reform laptop, and the promise from Syntiant that its latest “Neural Decision Processor” can deliver 30 giga-operations per second (GOPS) of compute in a microwatt power envelope.
The biggest news, however, was Zilog’s decision to discontinue the venerable eight-bit Z80 microprocessor family – just short of it reaching its 50th anniversary. The move does, at least, finally put to rest many a 1980s playground argument over whether the Zilog Z80 or the MOS 6502 is the superior chip – the 6502 having been selected to prove a foundry model for the production of fully-flexible semiconductors, a paper on which was published this month.
Special thanks to Professor Hamish Cunningham who, following my covering the project on Hackster.io, kindly sent me an unPhone to try – expect to see a hands-on review of that clever little gadget in the near future.
Now to see what May brings!
- DIY Silicon: Design Your Own Chips
- This Energy-Harvesting Keychain Accessory Takes Temperatures at the Tap of a Smartphone
- Nerdiy’s 3D-Printed Framework Turns an IKEA RIBBA Into a Seeed XIAO ESP32C3-Powered ePaper Dashboard
- M5Stack’s BugC2 Converts an M5StickC Microcontroller Into a Compact, Omnidirectional Robot
- YuzukiHD’s Eight-Core Avaota-A1 Includes a 2 TOPS NPU, RISC-V “Remote CPU,” and Connectivity Aplenty
- Frank Bernhardt’s 3D-Printable Housing Turns a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 Into a Slick Passively-Cooled NAS
- Apple’s ReALM Aims to Deliver Context-Aware LLM-Powered On-Device Edge AI Assistants
- Murata’s Type 2GT Module Offers a Tightly-Integrated Route to Tri-Band LoRa for the IoT
- US, UK Pledge AI Safety Collaboration in a Newly-Signed Memorandum of Understanding
- Peter Fairlie’s Meshtastic High-Altitude Relay Station Aims to Extend the Reach of His Home Node
- Arduino Targets Industrial Automation Education with Its New Opta-Based PLC Starter Kit
- NVIDIA Demonstrates Better LLM AI Through LoRA-Tuned Models Optimized in TensorRT-LLM
- Tim Alex Jacobs’ Orchestrion Puts Four Slide Whistles Under MIDI Control
- LLM Guardrails Fall to a Simple “Many-Shot Jailbreaking” Attack, Anthropic Warns
- Variscite Unveils the High-Performance Pin2Pin-Compatible DART-MX95 System-on-Module
- This 3D-Printed Electrospray Source Could Deliver Low-Cost At-Home Sample Analysis
- Hailo’s Latest Accelerator, the Hailo-10H, Promises On-Device Gen AI in a Sub-5W Power Envelope
- This Is the World’s Largest Astronomy Camera, a 3,200 Megapixel Beast to See Through Space and Time
- AMD Aims to Drive On-Device Gen AI with Its New Ryzen Embedded 8000 Series Processors
- Semidynamics Targets Easier, More Efficient Artificial Intelligence with Its RISC-V All-In-One AI IP
- Toradex Targets Edge AI with Its 32 TOPS-Capable Aquila AM69 System-on-Module
- ANAVI’s Dev Mic Is a Raspberry Pi RP2040-Powered Customizable Microphone for Machine Learning Work
- n°Garage’s FlexiBall Is an Icosidodecahedral Surface-Mount Soldering Challenge
- u-blox Unveils New Matter-Capable Bluetooth Low Energy Modules, the ALMA-B1 and NORA-B2
- NXP’s MCX W Series Offers Thread, Zigbee, and BLE Support — with New Bluetooth Channel Sounding
- Espressif’s Guide Offers Easier Risk-Free ESP32-C3 Security Experimentation via the QEMU Emulator
- The unPhone Puts a Hackable, Educational, ESP32-S3-Powered LoRaWAN Gadget in Everyone’s Hands
- Kiu’s KHA Is an “Over-Engineered” Subrack System for RS-485 Smart Home Control
- This Plug-and-Play “Exceptional Point” Tuning Platform Can Boost Optical Sensors’ Sensitivity
- Arm Targets the AIoT with High-Performance Ethos-U85 NPU and Corstone-320 Platform
- Quectel’s BG95-S5 Is a Drop-In Satellite Communications Upgrade for Your IoT Projects
- Syntiant’s Third-Gen “Neural Decision” Chip, the NDP250, Packs 30 GOPS in a Microwatt Envelope
- Seeed Studio’s SenseCAP Watcher Combines Local TinyML with Cloud LLMs to Deliver Smart Monitoring
- SiFive Unveils the High-Performance, AI-Accelerating HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V Development Board
- Alif’s Balletto Microcontrollers Combine BLE and Matter Capabilities with AI Acceleration
- Qualcomm Announces the Edge AI RB3 Gen 2 Chip for IoT and Robotics and a “Micro-Power” Wi-Fi SoC
- Blues Unveils the $19 Notecard XP for Cellular IoT, New “Minimalist” Notecarrier X Series
- The Arm-and-RISC-V RVAM16 Aims to Make It Easier to Move From One Embedded Architecture to Another
- Canonical Extends Long-Term Support and Compliance to the IoT with Ubuntu Pro for Devices
- Embedded World Attendees Spot Unannounced Raspberry Pi Monitor, AI Camera Products
- Silicon Labs’ Latest xG26 Chips Boast the “Highest Combination of Flash, RAM, and GPIO” for Matter
- Intel Goes Gunning for NVIDIA’s Gen AI Crown with Its Gaudi 3 Accelerator
- SparkFun Taps Renesas for Its New, High-Performance Bluetooth Low Energy Thing Plus RA6M5 Board
- Imagination Goes After Linux and Android Smart Devices with Its New Catapult APXM-6200 RISC-V CPU
- Oak Development Technologies Revamps the IcyBlue Feather FPGA Board, Launches a V2 Variant
- Lixie Labs’ Emotiscope Is a “Powerful Bridge Between Sight and Sound”
- The LattePanda Mu Packs an Intel N100 Processor Into a Compact Computer-on-Module
- Tod Kurt’s “picoslidertoy” Delivers 25 Capacitive Touch Inputs to a Raspberry Pi Pico — with Sliders
- The BitByte Is a Teensy 4.1-Powered Handheld Console with a Beginner-Friendly “Micro VM” Environment
- Meta’s OpenEQA Benchmark for Embodied AI Finds Current Vision and Language Models Are “Nearly Blind”
- The 8BitFlux “Poor Man’s Keyboard” Gives Your Apple I or Apple II Flip-Switch ASCII Powers
- This Shrunken ZX Spectrum+ Emulator Boasts a Fully-Working, Albeit Minimalist, Keyboard
- Jay Doscher Revisits the Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit with a Simplified Build, Faster Raspberry Pi 5
- Espressif’s ESP32-H4 Offers Dual-Core Low-Power Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy, IEEE 802.15.4 Capabilities
- Shade Reogen’s PicoNtrol Brings Modern Bluetooth Pads to the Atari 2600
- MNT’s Highly-Open Reform Laptop Gets a Major Speed Boost From New RCORE SOM Upgrade
- GigaDevice Embraces Arm Again with Its Performance-Centric Cortex-M33 GD32F5 Microcontrollers
- James Lewis Puts a Nordic nRF7002 Design Kit to Work Making a Dehumidifier Smart
- OptiGap Turns 3D Printer Filament Into a Bend Sensing and Localization System for Soft Robots
- Sebastian Harnisch’s Slick Programmable Power Resistor Handles Up to 400W
- Radxa’s AICore SG2300x Module Brings 32 TOPS to Bear on Edge AI, On-Device Generative AI
- The RaceBox Micro Is a Teeny-Tiny 25Hz Bluetooth GNSS Data Logger for RC Racing and More
- Hardkernel Unveils the ODROID-H4 Family, Boasting of a 36-83 Percent Performance Boost
- 3D-Printed Document Scanner Captures Sharp Scans with a Raspberry Pi and Camera Module
- Adafruit’s Latest QT Py BFF Offers CAN Bus Connectivity in a Compact Form Factor
- Steve Chamberlin’s VGA Mac Sync-inator Gets Vintage Apple Hardware Playing with Modern Monitors
- MLCommons Releases a Proof-of-Concept Benchmark for Classifying the Safety of Generative AI Models
- Dmitry Dmitriev’s Arduino-Powered Control Unit Gets Vintage Flip-Dot Displays Ticking Once Again
- Atlas Is Dead, Long Live Atlas: Boston Dynamics Drops Hydraulics as It Targets Commercialization
- Intel Aims for Efficient Brain-Scale Neuromorphic AI Research with the Loihi 2-Powered Hala Point
- These 3D-Printed TPU “Soft Skin” Pads Give Robots a Low-Cost, Highly-Sensitive Sense of Touch
- Arm’s Rene Haas Coughs to AI’s “Insatiable Energy Needs,” But Says His Company Can Help
- MLCommons Releases Latest MLPerf Tiny Benchmark Results for On-Device TinyML
- Probabilistic Computers Driven by Stochastic Nanomagnets Hint at Major AI Efficiency Gains to Come
- CRTypist Mimics How Humans Use Touchscreen Keyboards to Improve Future Autocorrect Systems
- Zilog Calls Time on the Venerable Z80, Discontinues the Standalone Z84C00 CPU Family
- This 3D Printer DNGE “Ink” Delivers Flexible Devices Without Mechanical Joints
- STMicroelectronics’ Latest Six-Axis IMU, the LSM6DSV32X, Packs a Machine Learning Core for TinyML
- Kingham Xu’s FryPi Aims to Deliver a Compact Open Source STM32F4 Platform for TinyML Projects
- Eric Benson Emerges From the Vault with This Fallout-Inspired Vault-Tec Cyberdeck Build
- Turn Any HDMI or DVI Display into an Adafruit IO Dashboard with the Ruiz Brothers’ Latest Guide
- This Carbon Dioxide-Guzzling Nanogenerator Hints at Carbon Negative Power for Future Devices
- Tomeu Vizoso’s Open Source NPU Driver Project Does Away with the Rockchip RK3588’s Binary Blob
- Home Assistant Is Now an Open Home Foundation Project — As Its Creators Cast a Wider Net
- Grubby Brings Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to the TI-84+ CE Calculator — Thanks to the Zilog eZ80 CPU
- Blagojche “Bill” Kolichoski’s Soil Moisture Sensor Delivers Wireless Data for Smarter Irrigation
- Chris Combs’ Take on The Great Wave Is a Splash of Electronic Artwork That Watches You Back
- Espressif Snaps Up a “Majority Stake” in Internet of Things Specialist M5Stack
- Researchers Turn to Game Theory to Boost Throughput in Shared Wi-Fi Access Points
- Silicon Labs Targets the “Ambient IoT” with Its Ultra-Efficient xG22E Wireless SoC Family
- Daniel Theurich’s Sleek 3D-Printed Phone Stand Hides an Integrated Qi Standard Wireless Charger
- Arduboy’s Kevin Bates Is Back with an ESP32-S3-Powered All-in-One: The Singleboard Alpha
- Prusa’s Firmware 6.0.0 Brings Easier Object Cancellation and a Surprise Touch Interface
- Alon Borenshtein’s Arduino-Powered BotGammon Robot Plays a Mean Game of Backgammon
- This 3D-Printed Desk Toy Serves as a Tutorial in Servos and Flex Sensors
- Elehobica’s Digital Audio Recorder Captures S/PDIF Sound with a Raspberry Pi Pico
- OctoPrint 1.10.0 Brings Big Performance Gains, a Security Fix — and Earnable Achievements
- Raspberry Pi Expands Its Backwards-Compatible Compute Module 4S Family, Adds More RAM
- Oleg Tarasov Smartens Up a Basic Gas Boiler with an ESPHome-Driven OpenTherm Thermostat System
- These Rubber-Like Micro-Supercapacitors Keep on Ticking Even When Stretched, Folded, or Wrinkled
- Researchers Turn to the Humble MOS 6502 to Prove a Multi-Project Foundry Model for Flexible Chips
- Glen Akins’ Bike Rack Gets Smart Yet Accessible Lighting, Thanks to Zigbee, MQTT, and Python
- Marco Romboli’s Arduino Nano ESP32-Powered Environmental Monitor Celebrates Earth Day in Style
- Arducam’s Pivistation 5 Pairs Hawkeye, Darksee, or Klarity Image Sensors with the Raspberry Pi 5
- Microsoft Announces the Surprise Release, Under a Permissive License, of the MS-DOS 4.00 Sources
- A Single-Photon Lidar System Promises Lighter, Lower-Power 3D Scanning for Drones and More
- Eivind Holt’s Portenta H7-Powered TinyML Camera Tracks Dangerous Icicle Formations
- Nuvoton’s New Dual-Core NuMicro MA35D0 Chips Aim for the Industrial Edge
- Renaldas Zioma Aims to Do What Zilog Won’t: Keep the Vintage Z80 in Production with the FOSS Z80
- Chad Kapper’s Outlet Checkers Tap Into Espressif’s ESP-NOW for Peer-to-Peer Circuit Breaker Tracking
- M5Stack Launches the STMicro STM32MP135-Powered CoreMP135 Module for the Industrial IoT
- Espressif Hits Some Major Milestones with Its Newly-Expanded ESP ZeroCode Development Platform
- Okuboheavyindustries’ “Stellar Proximity Detector” Warns of Solar Radiation Through Blinking Lights
- Edward Kisiel’s SBC Case Builder Will Generate Customizable Designs for Over 100 SBCs and More
- James Fowkes’ Raspberry Pi Mains Power HAT Aims to Reduce the Board’s Total Footprint
- Bantam Tools, Fresh From Its Evil Mad Scientist Acquisition, Launches the New NextDraw Plotter Range
- Google Removes RISC-V Support From the Android Common Kernel — But Denies Abandoning the ISA
- El Correo Libre Issue 73
- MyriadRF OTA: A LimeSDR DMR Tier III Trunked Base Station, EM Eye Eavesdropping, Software-Defined GPS, and More