GoKawiil
Tech News
Nicolas Bras has spent years crafting over 1,500 unusual musical instruments from reclaimed wood, scrap metal, PVC pipe, and 3D-printed parts. His creations blend traditional acoustic principles with unconventional materials and fabrication methods to produce distinctive sounds not found in standard instruments.
Raspberry Pi confirmed that its firmware locks boards to their factory-installed RAM capacity, preventing users from swapping in higher-capacity chips. Engineer and forum moderator PhilE said the restriction, rolled out in firmware updates since late 2024, exists to stop resellers from installing larger RAM chips of dubious quality and passing boards off as higher-spec devices. He told users attempting DIY RAM upgrades or repairs that the effort is futile because the firmware also checks other device attributes beyond chip size.
Samsung's Good Lock support team has confirmed it is investigating a bug in the DIY Home feature of the Home Up module, which lets users freely arrange app icons and folders. Affected users say hidden folders show a noticeable delay before app icons appear, while regular folders open instantly, with the issue surfacing after updating from One UI 8.5 to One UI 9.0.
Custom hardware maker Tru Narla has built a compass-like device that ignores magnetic north and instead orients itself toward the nearest Taco Bell location. The project uses GPS and directional hardware, repurposing skills common in cyberpunk-style DIY electronics for a playful, consumer-friendly gadget.
Illustrator and researcher Avery Robinson published an essay examining how heavy metal's iconic distressed visual style—torn flyers, gritty band logos, smudged toner—originated from the limitations of cheap photocopiers and low-quality paper used by DIY scenes decades ago. The piece argues these analog printing flaws became a deliberate aesthetic choice that metal culture has preserved even as design tools moved to digital.
A self-taught maker spent eight months of spare time designing and constructing a wall lamp using laser-cut Plexiglas, LED strips, and wood paneling, despite having no prior woodworking or LED experience. The project began as an ambitious idea for a living-room art piece but was scaled back to a simpler bedroom lamp using beech wood to match existing furniture, intended as practice for a future, more elaborate build.
Unable to find furniture combining a workbench's depth with a living-room look, the author built a custom unit by mounting a reused desktop board atop IKEA Kallax shelving units. The project was driven by budget constraints, since custom cabinetry ran about €1,000 per unit while kitchen cabinets, though cheaper, lacked acceptable styling for a living space. The final build reused an old desk's leftover top panel secured onto the Kallax base.
The project explains how to construct a compact potato grow box using standard lumber, deck screws, and simple materials that can be cut for free at hardware stores. Layering potatoes as they grow inside the tall box allows gardeners to yield up to 100 pounds of potatoes from just four square feet of space. The guide includes a materials list and step-by-step instructions for assembling support posts and side panels.
A shopper compiled a complete starter tool kit for new homeowners using early Labor Day sales across Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart, totaling under $375 before tax and shipping. The centerpiece is a Ryobi 18V ONE+ 4-tool combo kit discounted to $199 at Home Depot, paired with other basics like a saw, screwdrivers, and a stud finder from the other retailers.