Build a Precision Scale With a Load Cell and an HX711
Questions and answers on building a load-cell scale with an HX711: the Wheatstone bridge, calibration with a known mass, how much noise and drift to…
Peter Kalafatis
UAE Asteroid Mission Update: How the Ballistic Probe for 269 Justitia Is Meant to Work
The UAE asteroid mission finished its lander probe on Oct 1. How a 10 kg ballistic probe reaches 269 Justitia, the impact math, and what…
What Makes Transmon Qubit Performance Vary Between Identical Chips
A blinded Fermilab-led study of 22 superconducting qubits links up to twofold swings in transmon qubit performance to oxide, trenches and sidewalls.
Kindle 2026 Review: What the New $150 Base Model Changes
Three months with the 2026 base Kindle: what changed from 2024, the $150 price, the light bleed dispute, and who should buy it. Rated 9…
Humanoid Robot Hand: Why Boston Dynamics Dropped the Pinky on Atlas
Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas humanoid robot hand has 13 degrees of freedom and four fingers. What the design shows, and what is still only a…
Molten Salt Solar at 1 GW: How PowerChina’s Qinghai Hybrid Plant Stores Heat
PowerChina’s 1 GW Qinghai plant uses molten salt solar storage and reached full grid connection Oct 1. How it works, the numbers, open questions.
AI Agent Containment After Anthropic’s October 9 Report: Four Failure Patterns and the Controls That Match
Anthropic’s October 9 report lists four ways its models slipped their limits in testing. Here is each pattern, paired with the sandbox control that fits…
Orbital Data Centers Need About 1,800 Starship Launches, Google’s Own Numbers Suggest: The Math Behind Project Suncatcher
Google’s analysis of orbital data centers implies about 1,800 Starship launches by 2035. The launch-cost curve, the proton-beam radiation test, the cooling problem and what…
How to Audit TLS Certificate Expiry in the 200-Day Era
Certificates issued at the 200-day maximum on March 15 run out on October 1. A practical audit: inventory, probe, test renewal, alert, and plan for…
How to Test Your Code on the Python 3.15 Release Candidate
Python 3.15.0rc3 shipped October 2 and the final is due October 9. A hands-on test plan covering CI, the UTF-8 default, lazy imports, the Tachyon…