TechnologyIQ

MarsEdit is the software that has kept all  my blogs humming for years now. I recommend it to any Mac user who is blogging via WordPress or Blogger, although it supports other blog engines as well. It is great to be able to edit locally. I have never really liked the WordPress web-based editor and MarsEdit has allowed me to avoid it almost entirely. — Douglas   This update brings long-awaited media syncing functionality for WordPress blogs. After you refresh your blog in MarsEdit 4.5, all the existing images and files from your blog will be available for re-insertion from the Media Manager’s “Published” tab. Historically, this tab has included only files that are uploaded from MarsEdit itself. This limitation was based in shortcomings of the WordPress API (the interface MarsEdit communicates to the blog with), but the API has since been updated to support downloading a complete list of the published media files. For the time being non-WordPress blogs continue to support listing fi...

One of the most useful tools you can make with an Arduino is a CNC machine! In addition to the Arduino Uno, the most significant items you’ll need to make a CNC router are a few NEMA 17 stepper motors, a Dremel, and some 3D printed parts. While it won’t be able to cut through metal, it has more than enough power for cutting wood and plastic. It’s also capable of engraving PCBs. Strap a pen or a laser diode onto the toolhead and you’ve got a makeshift pen plotter or laser cutter. User TheTNR has a great guide on how to create your very own CNC machine, with a video walking you through the whole process. This project is fairly involved and does require some soldering, so beginners beware. If you’re interested in more things to do with your CNC machine, check out our articles on Arduino CNC shields and the coolest router projects! Read 2021 Best Arduino Uno Projects via All3DP An interesting link found among my daily reading

Smartphone photography has come a long way, but that doesn't mean your phone doesn't sometimes need a helping hand to reach its full potential. The best photo editing apps can help take your snaps to the next level – and one of our favorites is the Lightroom app.   The native camera apps on iPhone and Android are fantastic, offering a plethora of automated and advanced controls, but they often lack some of the more expert features you’d get with mirrorless cameras and DSLRs. Not to mention the ability to perform advanced edits to raw files. The Adobe Lightroom app (or 'Adobe Lightroom – Photo Editor and Pro Camera', to give it its full Android name) fills that gap with a powerful shooting and editing solution for both Android and iOS smartphones. The Lightroom app's built-in camera and editing solutions provide a complete package for shooting, editing and sharing your smartphone snaps. And best of all, it’s as easy to use as it is powerful. Read How to master...

People keep warning that Skynet and the great robot uprising is not that far away, what with all this recent AI and machine-learning malarky getting all the attention lately. But we think going straight for a terminator robot army is not a very smart approach, not least due to a lack of subtlety. We think that it’s a much better bet to take over the world one home appliance at a time, and this AI Powered coffee maker might just well be part of that master plan. PCB stackup with Pi Zero sat atop the driver / PSU PCBs [Mark Smith] has taken a standard semi-auto espresso maker and jazzed it up a bit, with a sweet bar graph nixie tube the only obvious addition, at least from the front of the unit. Inside, a Raspberry Pi Zero sits atop his own nixie tube hat and associated power supply. The whole assembly is dropped into a 3D printed case and lives snuggled up to the water pump. Read AI Powered Coffee Maker Knows A Bit Too Much About You via Hackaday An interesting link found amo...

I was a big user of Waze, at least before the pandemic, and I plan on using it a lot once this is all over. I use it for ETA estimates, routing, route changes due to traffic and closures and more. Here are some tips on tuning it to your preferences. Google’s got the navigation app market locked down tight, owning two of the most popular navigation apps for Android and iPhone. Google Maps has lots of excellent features and is pre-loaded on Android phones sold in most places around the world, but in spite of that, Waze has a cult following in several countries, including the U.S. There are lots of people who prefer Waze over Google Maps, and it’s easy to see why—it’s essentially Google Maps with personality. It also has several great features that you should check out. Here are some of the best. Read 11 Wonderful Waze Settings Everyone Should Be Using via Lifehacker

In theory, there’s isn’t much to building a CNC machine. Hook a bit to a motor and move the motor around with some lead screws and stepper motors. Easy. But, of course, the devil is in the details. [DAZ] made a nice-looking and inexpensive rig that probably isn’t the most precise CNC in the world, but it looks like it does a good enough job and he claims he spent about $50 on it. The video below shows some of the work it has done, and it doesn’t look bad. This isn’t a rainy afternoon project. You’ll need to cut some wood and 3D print many parts. The drives use M8 threaded rod. Electronics is just an Arduino running standard software. Read A $50 CNC via hack a day An interesting link found among my daily reading

The additional steps and costs involved with shooting on film often put many photographers off. What if you could have the best of both worlds and use digital in your older film cameras? Digital and analog cameras have for the most part stayed on opposite sides of the track. There have been several attempts in the past to merge these two worlds but nothing concrete has ever taken off. Enter stage left Befinitiv who recently took it upon himself to build a custom film cartridge for his analog camera so it could act as a digital one. At the heart of this creation is a Raspberry PI Zero W with a camera module and battery. What I love about this particular incarnation of "digital film" is that all of the electronics fit neatly inside the camera body itself. This crucially means that you don't have to modify your beloved antique cameras in any destructive way which would be a major deal-breaker for many of us. Read Convert Any Analog Camera to Digital With This DIY Hac...

Looking for a way to obtain all your Instagram content? There is a quick and easy way to do so. Instagram offers a free "Download Data" function that downloads all the content you've ever posted to Instagram, or any actions you've made on the site such as comments and likes, and sends it all to you via email. Here's how to make use of this simple process to save all your Instagram content. Read How to download everything you've posted on Instagram via Mashable! An interesting link found among my daily reading