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When people make their own printed circuit boards at home or in the workshop, they typically try to make things as simple as possible: that usually means single- or at most double-layer designs at a pretty hefty feature size, hand-soldering, and minimal complexity. Sometimes, though, you need to use smaller components, particularly when working with surface-mount parts - a bonus for the homebrew PCB maker, as surface-mount technology means you don't have to drill any holes through your board. To add to the excellent guides from Chris Holden we showcased back in June we now have Emiliano Valencia's latest Instructable: TinyDice....

We've spoken about ways to reduce the power draw of Arduino-based projects in the past: last year we were fascinated by Nick Koumaris' temperature sensor running for an entire year from just three cheap rechargeable AA batteries, while Edward Mallon had some tips in October this year on minimising power drain in a data logger by removing unnecessary components. Other approaches have included zero standby current circuits and a switch to solar power, and now our friends at SparkFun have published a tutorial on reducing the power draw of any Arduino-based circuit. Designed to be accessible to beginners, although some of...

Growing a plant indoors can be a surprisingly tricky proposition. Too much or too little light, and it will wither and die; forget to water it or pop away on holiday for a week or two and you'll likely have the same outcome. Design house Letmeknow believes it has a solution: an open-source Arduino-based all-in-one device it calls the Jarduino and describes as "the first smart and autonomous vegetable garden." While 'garden' may be pushing it a little - the Jarduino being roughly large enough to hold a single small plant - the project is nevertheless interesting. A custom Arduino-compatible...

Many makers consider batteries to be a consumable object. Even rechargeable models have a finite lifespan, and when they're done they're done. Some, though, dive deeper: we've looked at Micah Toll's customisable Maker Batteries in the past, and the impressive ground-up iron-air open hardware battery project, but Well Done Tips' latest Instructable sits somewhere between the two in terms of complexity and accessibility: refurbishing old multi-cell nickel metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries. The project began as a means of eking a little more life from power tool NiMH battery packs. Inside each pack is a series of cells, soldered together using spot-welded tabs;...

"Standards are great," the old saying goes; "everyone should have one of their very own." Nowhere is this more obvious than in the Internet of Things (IoT), where products from one manufacturer - Philips Hue lightbulbs, for instance, or Google-owned Nest's thermostats - so rarely integrate with those of another. Shiny things vendor Apple has a standard of its own, dubbed HomeKit, which is designed to heavily integrate into its iOS mobile operating system and the Siri voice-activated assistant thereon. It's seen reasonable uptake with third party manufacturers, but it can still be difficult to find exactly what you need...