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Electronics: 15th July 2025

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Published 15th July 2025

🏠 Home Automation & Smart Devices

Howto: Connect IKEA's Trådfri Zigbee Bulbs to a Philips Hue Hub (shkspr​.mobi). Connect IKEA's Trådfri Zigbee bulbs to Philips Hue Hub; explore compatibility, performance issues, and alternative smart switch solutions

Loosely coupled configuration for Home Assistant (blog​.frankel​.ch). Exploring loosely coupled configuration in Home Assistant, utilizing Areas for smarter automation and device management instead of traditional entity groupings

Our Air Conditioner Was Fine… I Fixed It Anyway (thestockpot​.net). DIY zoning control for ducted reverse-cycle AC using ESPHome, motorised dampers, and occupancy sensors to enhance comfort and efficiency

Zehnder ComfoAir & ComfoClime: Interfaces, APIs, Home Assistant Integrations (helgeklein​.com). Explore Zehnder ComfoAir Q and ComfoClime APIs, integration options with Home Assistant, and various connection interfaces for enhanced home automation

🛠️ Development Platforms & Tools

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding SoC and Board Support to Zephyr with CH32V303 (bootlin​.com). Explore adding SoC and board support to Zephyr OS using the CH32V303 with comprehensive setup instructions and example code

Armbian Development Highlights (armbian​.com). Updates on Armbian development, including bootloader improvements, board support enhancements, security features, and community contributions for Linux for ARM boards

RED DA Compliance (Part 2): Espressif’s Platform Support, Templates, and Pathways for Conformity (developer​.espressif​.com). Espressif offers platform support and templates for RED DA compliance, aiding developers in meeting the EN 18031 standard for cybersecurity and network protection

Working in EDA for Real (Finally) (jakob​.engbloms​.se). Jakob Engbloms reflects on his journey in EDA, discussing tools like Simics, Cadence, SystemC, and the merging of software and hardware validation

🥧 Raspberry Pi Development & Setup

hostedpi (bennuttall​.com). Mythic Beasts' Raspberry Pi Cloud powers piwheels project, utilizing Pydantic for data models and Typer for CLI, with plans for a PyCon UK 2025 workshop

Why using crude PWM for sampled audio output on the Raspberry Pi Pico doesn't sound that great (kevinboone​.me). Explores PWM audio output on Raspberry Pi Pico, its limitations, filtering issues, noise, and suggests using external DACs for better sound quality

BTS#3: Removing Unwanted Services and Modules for a Headless Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (fabulous​.systems). Guide to optimizing a headless Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W by removing unnecessary services and modules for improved performance

Developer Diary, Bastille Day (john​.colagioia​.net). Technical updates on Raspberry Pi projects, data recovery from Thunderbird, Stenotype usage, and Notoboto improvements including CSON to YAML conversion

Using a USB Drive for a swap file on a RaspberryPi Zero 2 (whatibroke​.com). Guide to creating a swap file on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 using a USB drive with shell script commands

🤖 Arduino & Microcontroller Projects

Hacking Coroutines into C (wiomoc​.de). Exploring coroutine patterns in C for concurrent management in embedded systems without OS, featuring LED blinking and button interaction examples

Inside the Box: Everything I did with an Arduino Starter Kit (lopespm​.com). Exploration of Elegoo Arduino Uno R3 Starter Kit through various electronic projects involving RGB LEDs, sensors, motors, and programming techniques

Using Arduino Alvik on Fedora Linux (giorgiocomai​.eu). Troubleshooting Arduino Alvik on Fedora Linux: port permissions, IDE options, firmware updates, and setup instructions

Arduino and AY-3-8910 – Part 3 (diyelectromusic​.com). Explore lo-fi digital synthesis with Arduino and AY-3-8910 through amplitude modulation, timer interrupts, and optimizing register writes

Arduino and AY-3-8910 – Part 2 (diyelectromusic​.com). Explore sound generation with Arduino and AY-3-8910, including basic MIDI control, tone generation, envelopes, and implementing polyphony in a DIY project

⚡ DIY Electronics & Circuit Design

Lightning Detector Circuits (techlib​.com). DIY lightning detector circuits using inductors, RF amplifiers, transistors, and sensitivity controls suitable for beginners

Why All Musicians Need a Good Soldering Iron (ifixit​.com). Musicians can use soldering irons for repairs and modifications, including cables, guitar wiring, and more, enhancing their equipment and sound quality

Painting with Electricity (simplethread​.com). Explore anodizing techniques using electricity to create vibrant metal colors for jewelry and bookmaking, featuring niobium, titanium, and various voltage applications

Reverse Engineering a Broken Night Light - Part 1 - Tear Down (mikecoats​.com). Tear down and reverse engineering of a broken night light, exploring its components, RF remotes, and plans for adding smart features

đź”§ PCB Design & Hardware Development

Smart Ring Development (Part 2) - Hardware Design (interrupt​.memfault​.com). Explores hardware design for an open-source smart ring, covering PCB design, BLE MCU selection, antenna design, power management, and user experience considerations

AVR128DA32 Feather Board (technoblogy​.com). AVR128DA32 Feather Board: 24MHz, 128KB Flash, supports C, uLisp, features MicroSD, USB power, excellent I/O connectivity, and battery management

Vibing a PCB - surprisingly good (atomic14​.com). AI-designed ESP32-S3 development board using Atopile and Claude, exploring vibe coding and PCB design, with functional hardware components and layout

Setup Guide for FRDM-IMX93 as Debug Server (mcuoneclipse​.com). Setup FRDM-i.MX93 as a remote debugging server using MCU-Link, pyOCD, and various connectivity options including WiFi and Ethernet

MicroZed Chronicles: Spartan UltraScale+ and the SCU35 Board (adiuvoengineering​.com). Explore Spartan UltraScale+ architecture, SCU35 board features, integrated memory controllers, and example projects like UART-Controlled LED PWM integration using MicroBlaze V

🕹️ Retro Computing & Hardware Mods

You should repaste your MacBook (but don't) (christianselig​.com). Christian Selig discusses the pros and cons of repasting a MacBook's thermal paste while sharing his hands-on experience with the M1 Pro MacBook Pro

EndBOX DIY kit now available (endbasic​.dev). EndBOX DIY kit facilitates building a retro micro-computer powered by EndBOX OS, featuring Raspberry Pi compatibility and disk image downloads

My Apple iBook G4 - hardware upgrades (sizeof​.cat). Exploring hardware upgrades for the Apple iBook G4 including logic board replacement, RAM maxing, and connector adjustments

Game Boy Classic: Backlight Mod and Recapping (rz01​.org). Game Boy DMG-01 backlight modification and recapping guide, including display disassembly, capacitor replacement, and bivert mod for improved contrast

🎯 Specialized Projects & Maker Builds

Advantage360 keymap (summer 2025) (me​.micahrl​.com). Micah R Ledbetter shares his Advantage360 keymap, exploring features, ergonomics, and implications for RSI sufferers, showcasing KeymapKit's new functionalities

Tiny aquarium fish net 3D print (blog​.qiqitori​.com). DIY tiny aquarium fish net using a 3D printer and mesh material, featuring FreeCAD model creation for custom, compact design

Getting the right time: another method (lucstechblog​.blogspot​.com). Automate time adjustment in MicroPython projects using IP address retrieval and timeapi.io to avoid manual daylight saving updates

Enjoy this video about electronic saxophones (blog​.lauramichet​.com). Exploration of electronic saxophones, digital wind instruments, and a unique digital saxophone design shared by Laura Michet

📚 Academic Research

UnIT: Scalable Unstructured Inference-Time Pruning for MAC-efficient Neural Inference on MCUs (arxiv:cs). UnIT enables unstructured inference-time pruning for efficient MAC operations on MCUs, enhancing speed and energy savings without retraining or specialized hardware

Hardware-Aware Feature Extraction Quantisation for Real-Time Visual Odometry on FPGA Platforms (arxiv:cs). Embedded unsupervised architecture for feature point extraction using quantised SuperPoint CNN on FPGA, achieving 54 fps performance in visual odometry tasks

OpenDPDv2: A Unified Learning and Optimization Framework for Neural Network Digital Predistortion (arxiv:cs). OpenDPDv2 presents a unified framework for PA modeling, DPD learning, and optimization, achieving significant energy reduction and improved performance in RF systems

đź‘‹ Before you go

I've got a big favor to ask - keeping Blaze running isn't expensive, but it does all add up, so I'm asking readers like you to help, if you can.
That's why I'm launching a Patreon page!. Nothing flashy, just a way for folks who find value in these newsletters to chip in a little each month. In return, you'll get:

  • Real say in how Blaze evolves — vote on new topics, features, topic curation ideas
  • First dibs on merch (details still cooking)
  • That warm fuzzy feeling knowing you're supporting something that saves you time and keeps you plugged into great tech writing

If you are getting value from blaze, checking this out would mean the world. And if you can't contribute, no worries—the newsletters keep coming either way, and you can follow along on patreon for free.
Thanks for reading and being part of this nerdy corner of the internet. All the best - Alastair.

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