Building a Simple Ribbon Synth

The usual input device for playing a synthesizer is the good old piano keyboard. However, you don’t have to stick to such pedestrian interfaces when making music. [Daisy] has a fun build that shows us how to put together a ribbon synth that makes wonderful little noises.

Naturally, the heart of the build is a ribbon potentiometer (also known as soft pots). It’s essentially a touch sensitive strip that changes in resistance depending on where you touch it. You can slide your finger up and down to vary the output continuously; in musical contexts, they can behave rather like a fretless instrument. [Daisy] employs one of these potentiometers in such a role by hooking it up to a Daisy Seed microcontroller board, which reads it with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The resistance values are used to vary the pitch of a dual-saw synthesizer programmed in the plugdata framework.

We’ve featured some other great ribbon synths over the years, too, like this tribute to the Eowave Persephone. They’re not the ideal choice for those that prefer their notes on pitch, but they’re beautifully fun to play with when you’re getting a little more experimental.

youtube.com/embed/iUDOLJ1Ki84?…

hackaday.com/2025/11/29/buildi…

Il 10 dicembre evento di Articolo 21 nella sede di Libera. Riflessione sulla “strategia della tensione” con la rappresentazione di “Io so”

Quest’anno la festa annuale di Articolo 21 si terrà il 10 dicembre e sarà incentrata nell’approfondimento della strategia della tensione. Una data non casuale, per ricordare la strage di Piazza Fontana, l’attentato terroristico avvenuto il 12 dicembre 1969 nella sede della Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura a Milano, che causò la morte di 17 persone. L’appuntamento è alle 17 in via Stamira 5 a Roma, sede di Libera che aderisce al programma. Momento clou dell’evento sarà la rappresentazione teatrale “Io so” a cura di Associazione TerraTerra, di e con Elena Ruzza, testo di Davide Rigallo e musiche di Matteo Cantamessa.

Introducono la portavoce e il presidente di Articolo 21, Elisa Marincola e Paolo Borrometi, con Giampiero Cioffredi, responsabile di Libera Lazio e Gian Mario Gillio, giornalista di Riforma-Eco delle valli valdesi

Dopo lo spettacolo Elisa Signori Rocchelli interverrà sul tema “Quel filo che lega il passato al presente”; a seguire Beppe Giulietti intervista Manlio Milani, coordinatore delle associazioni dei familiari vittime delle stragi. Manlio Milani riceverà il Premio Articolo 21 per il 2025.

Vi aspettiamo.

Il 10 dicembre evento di Articolo 21 nella sede di Libera. Riflessione sulla “strategia della tensione” con la rappresentazione di “Io so”

articolo21.org/2025/11/io-so-r…

dicorinto.it/associazionismo/i…

Hacky Thanksgiving

It’s that time of year when we eat perhaps a little too much food, and have maybe just a few too many sips of red wine. But it’s also when we think about what we’ve been grateful for over the past year. And here at Hackaday, that’s you all: the people out there making the crazy projects that we get the pleasure of writing about, and those of you just reading along. After all, we’re just the hackers in the middle. You are all Hackaday.

And it’s also the time of year, at least in this hemisphere, when the days get far too short for their own good and the weather gets frankly less than pleasant. That means more time indoors, and if we play our cards right, more time in the lab. Supercon is over and Hackaday Europe is still far enough in the future. Time for a good project along with all of the festive duties.

So here we sit, while the weather outside is frightful, wishing you all a pleasant start to the holiday season. May your parts bin overflow and your projects-to-do-list never empty!

This article is part of the Hackaday.com newsletter, delivered every seven days for each of the last 200+ weeks. It also includes our favorite articles from the last seven days that you can see on the web version of the newsletter. Want this type of article to hit your inbox every Friday morning? You should sign up!

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Presto la pubblicità su ChatGPT! Sarà ultra mirata e fine delle testate online

Finora ChatGPT è stato privo di pubblicità: niente banner, niente promozioni nascoste. Anche le versioni a pagamento funzionavano senza offerte insistenti. Ma le cose potrebbero cambiare presto.

Come segnalato dall’utente X (ex Twitter ) con lo pseudonimo Tibor , nella versione beta dell’app Android ChatGPT (1.2025.329) sono comparsi riferimenti a una nuova funzionalità pubblicitaria. Il codice conteneva frasi come “funzione pubblicitaria”, “contenuto bazaar”, nonché “annuncio di ricerca” e “carousel di annunci di ricerca”.

Per ora, sembra che gli annunci pubblicitari appariranno solo nelle ricerche integrate, ad esempio quando l’intelligenza artificiale accede a Internet per rispondere a una query. Ma col tempo, le possibilità potrebbero espandersi ulteriormente.

Ciò che è particolarmente interessante è che la pubblicità potenziale in ChatGPT può essere altamente personalizzata. L’intelligenza artificiale conosce molti dettagli dell’utente, a meno che, ovviamente, le impostazioni pertinenti non siano disattivate.

Ciò significa che il targeting sarà personalizzato non semplicemente in base agli interessi generali, come sui social media, ma specificamente in base al comportamento e alle esigenze di una persona specifica.

OpenAI non ha ancora annunciato ufficialmente il lancio della pubblicità, né ha specificato quando o come potrebbe apparire.

Ma il fatto stesso che tali elementi siano già presenti nel codice indica che il vettore di monetizzazione sta cambiando. Se ChatGPT iniziasse a guadagnare dalla pubblicità, ciò potrebbe avere un impatto non solo sul prodotto stesso, ma anche sul modo in cui interagiremo con i chatbot in futuro e su quanto potremo fidarci di loro (questa rimane una questione aperta).

L'articolo Presto la pubblicità su ChatGPT! Sarà ultra mirata e fine delle testate online proviene da Red Hot Cyber.

The Next Big Thing won’t be AI—because something that’s already everywhere doesn’t count as “next” anymore. It’ll be everything AI made you miss.

I’ve spent enough time watching hype cycles spin like a malfunctioning ceiling fan to finally say this with a straight face: the Next Big Thing isn’t a single thing at all. It’s a cluster of technologies that quietly moved from “sci-fi” to “oh wow this actually works” while everybody else was still arguing about whether a chatbot could replace a copywriter.

Synthetic biology is the first one. People still hear “synbio” and imagine glowing frogs or ethically questionable Jurassic Park internships, but the real story is that we can now program cells like we program servers. Not perfectly. Not cleanly. And definitely not without the occasional fermentation tantrum. But we’re crossing the threshold where enzymes, materials, fuels and drugs can be brewed like beer. This isn’t replacing one industry. It’s rewiring half the economy. And unlike crypto, you can actually hold a bioreactor and it doesn’t ask you to “HODL.”

Stats:

• Global synthetic-biology market size ≈ USD 14.3 billion in 2024.
• Projected synthetic-biology market size ≈ USD 63.8 billion by 2032 (CAGR ~20.7%).
• VC / private investment into the synbio sector in 2024: USD 12.2 billion.
• Global industrial enzymes market (a major synbio-driven sub-sector) ≈ USD 13.94 billion in 2024.
• Drop in cost of genome-scale sequencing/synthesis over past two decades — enabling widespread bio-engineering (i.e. plummeting input costs for synbio R&D).

Further reading:

1. fortunebusinessinsights.com/sy…
2. synbiobeta.com/reports/2025-in…
3. grandviewresearch.com/industry…

Batteries aren’t just improving. They’re mutating. Sodium-ion is the breakout star — cheap, abundant, non-flammable — and it blows a hole straight through the old lithium-only worldview. Suddenly grid storage gets affordable, EVs dodge fragile supply chains, and home batteries stop being luxury items. Add metal-air, iron-air and silicon-anode chemistries on top and you get a future where electrons are plentiful, storage is cheap and “energy scarcity” becomes a phrase future generations hear only in museums.

Stats:

• Global value of battery packs in EVs and storage today is about $120B, projected to reach nearly $500B by 2030 in the IEA’s net-zero scenario.
• The battery energy storage system market is forecast to grow from $37.2B in 2024 to $106.0B by 2030.
• Global grid-scale battery storage capacity needs to expand 35×, reaching about 970 GW by 2030, to stay on a net-zero pathway.
• Sodium-ion batteries are projected to grow from $0.67B in 2025 to $2.01B by 2030, a 24.7% CAGR, as a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion.
• China’s sodium-ion market alone is expected to jump from 10 GWh in 2025 to 292 GWh by 2034, with the country supplying >90% of global sodium-ion production by 2030.

Further reading:

1. iea.org/reports/batteries-and-…
2. marketsandmarkets.com/Market-R…
3. iea.org/energy-system/electric…
4. marketsandmarkets.com/PressRel…
5. reuters.com/business/energy/ch…

Next up is geothermal, which is the closest thing we have to a cheat code for the energy transition. It’s not a fantasy anymore. It’s directional drilling, fiber-optic sensing and heat reservoirs sitting under your feet quietly whispering, “Please free us so we can power your entire civilization.” As long as we don’t crack the crust of the Earth like an overcooked crème brûlée, this becomes 24/7 baseload renewable power. And every hyperscaler wants it yesterday.

Stats:

• 800 GW – That’s roughly the global geothermal capacity that could be deployed by 2050 under cost-effective scaling, enough to meet a large slice of rising electricity demand.
• 6,000 TWh/yr – The same modelling shows geothermal could generate ~6,000 terawatt-hours per year, equivalent to the current combined electricity demand of the U.S. + India.
• 16.9 GW – That’s the installed global geothermal electricity capacity as of end-2024. We haven’t tapped even 2% of the upside yet.
• USD 9.8 B → USD 13.6 B by 2030 — Market size growth forecast (CAGR ~5.3%) for the global geothermal energy market.
• ≥ 700 M USD – Private-sector fundraising into geothermal over the last few years; capital flow accelerating as technologies mature and risk drops.

Further reading:

1. iea.org/reports/the-future-of-…
2. thinkgeoenergy.com/thinkgeoene…
3. marketsandmarkets.com/Market-R…
4. jpmorgan.com/insights/banking/…

Water tech is the sleeper. Nobody thinks about water until they don’t have any. But membranes, desalination upgrades and atmospheric water generation are hitting the same quiet tipping point solar hit in 2009. First they’re niche. Then they’re boring. Then they’re everywhere. And we’re heading into a decade where “local water manufacturing” becomes as normal as local energy generation. When water becomes infrastructure you can deploy, regions rewrite their entire economic futures.

Stats:

• USD 20.6B – estimated global water-desalination market value in 2024.
• USD 44.0 B – projected size of the global desalination market by 2033 (CAGR ~12.8%) as water stress and technology adoption rise.
• USD 2.45B – estimated global market for atmospheric water-generation systems in 2023.
• USD 4.55 B – projected global atmospheric water-generation market by 2030 (CAGR ~9.4%) as scarcity and demand grow.
• USD 35.9 B – approximate 2024 global value of water desalination and purification equipment, with forecasts targeting ~US$ 77.8 B by 2034 (8.3% CAGR) as infrastructure expands.

Further reading:

1. custommarketinsights.com/repor…
2. grandviewresearch.com/industry…
3. gminsights.com/industry-analys…

And finally, robotics. The one everyone thinks is already here, even though we’re barely in chapter two of the story. Robotics isn’t the future. Robotics is gravity now. Warehouses, hospitals, farms, construction sites, retail. Everywhere humans stand around doing repetitive physical tasks, a robot is slowly rolling up with the energy of “I’m not here to replace you, I’m here because nobody else applied.” The labour shortage isn’t going away. Robots aren’t hype. They’re inevitability with motors.

Stats

• ≈ 4.66 million industrial robots are now operating globally (2024) — up ~9% from last year.
• USD 53.2 billion — estimated size of the global robotics market in 2024.
• Forecast to hit ≈ USD 178.7 billion by 2033 (CAGR ~16% from 2025-33).
• Warehouse-robotics subset alone was USD 5.82 billion in 2024, projected to reach ≈ USD 18 billion by 2032.
• At least USD 4.35 billion was invested globally into robotics startups just in July 2025 (93 funding rounds).

1. therobotreport.com/ifr-industr…
2. imarcgroup.com/robotics-market
3. fortunebusinessinsights.com/wa…
4. therobotreport.com/robotics-in…

So when I talk about the Next Big Thing, I’m not talking about a trend.

I’m talking about the rising stack of real-world technologies that quietly crossed the threshold from “interesting” to “inevitable” while everyone else was still hypnotized by language models arguing about how to spell “solopreneur.” This is biology you can brew, energy you can bottle, heat you can tap, water you can manufacture and machines that don’t get tired.

This is the moment where physical technology stops waiting its turn and finally bulldozes past the digital world. The real breakthroughs aren’t happening on your screen. They’re happening under your feet, in your factories, in your grid, in your water supply, and soon in every corner of the built environment.

And for once, the revolution won’t be an app—it’ll be the infrastructure that makes apps look small.

How To Print PETG as Transparently as Possible

PETG filament can be had in a variety of colors, just like any other. You can even get translucent or transparent forms if you want to print something vaguely see-through. But if you’re looking for a bit more visually impressive, you might like to pick up a few tips from [Tej Grewal] on making sure your prints come out as clear as possible.
Standard print settings aren’t great for transparency.
It all comes down to pathing of the 3D printer’s hot end. If it’s zigzagging back and forth, laying down hot plastic in all different orientations from layer to layer, you’re going to get a hazy, ugly, result that probably doesn’t look very see-through at all.

However, you can work around this by choosing slicer settings that make the tool pathing more suitable for producing a clearer part. [Tej] recommends going slow — as little as 20 mm/s during printing. He also states that removing top and bottom shells and setting wall loops to 1 can help to produce a part that’s entirely infill. Then, you’ll want to set infill to 100% and the direction to 0 or 90 degrees. This will ensure your hot end is just making long, straight strokes for layer after layer that will best allow light to pass through. You’ll also want to maximize nozzle flow to avoid any unsightly gaps or bubbles in your print.

[Tej] demonstrates the technique by creating a cover for a display. By using the settings in question, he creates a far more transparent plate, compared to the original part that has an ugly zig-zagging haze effect. You’re not going to get something optically clear this way; the final results are more lightly frosted, but still good.

Transparency will never be something 3D printers are great at. However, we have seen some interesting post-processing techniques that will blow your mind in this regard.

hackaday.com/2025/11/29/how-to…