Examining the First Mechanical CalculatorBlaise Pascal is known for a number of things, but we remember him best for the Pascaline, an early mechanical calculator. [Chris Staecker] got a chance to take a close look at one, which is quite a feat since there were only about 20 made, and today we only know where nine of them wound up.
This Pascaline was lost for many years, and turned up in an antique store, where they thought it was a music box of some kind. The recent owner passed away, and now this machine is going to go up for auction, probably for more than we can afford. While he wasn’t able to handle the antique, he has plenty of knock-offs that were made back when people actually used them, which wasn’t that long ago. One of these is transparent, so you can see the mechanism inside.
The idea is to use the wheels like an old-fashioned phone dial to add counts to an output wheel. A linkage moves the next input wheel every time the current output wheel passes nine. Of course, if you have a multi-digit carry, it might take a little more elbow grease than just flipping the dial one normal position.

The Pascaline could subtract, too, but modern versions use a more efficient method. Pascal was worried about the extra elbow grease required to push the carry, and the Pascaline actually stored energy to drive the carry mechanism. Pretty forward-thinking for someone building the very first mechanical calculator.
This Pascaline was unusual because it was made for surveying and used old French units. If it were made today, for example, it would have inch wheels that would carry a foot when they went past 11.
What a beautiful machine. You’d like to think that if you lived in the 1650s, you’d dream up this machine. But, to be honest, we probably wouldn’t. We can’t say anything about you.
We’ve seen Pascaline machines before, of course. While we love complex mechanical computers, there’s a certain charm to the simple ones, too.

Ads might be coming to Apple Maps next yearThis could be part of a larger strategy to introduce more advertising in iOS.

Urban Kits offers Bedroom Guitar, a FREE sampled nylon-string guitar plugin
Developer Urban Kits has released Bedroom Guitar, a free sampled nylon-string guitar plugin for macOS and Windows. Bedroom Guitar seems like the perfect name for this library, and not only because we’re all about bedroom producers around here. It’s the perfect name because, as any non-guitarist will know, finding a convincing virtual guitar sound is [...]
View post: Urban Kits offers Bedroom Guitar, a FREE sampled nylon-string guitar plugin

Acon Digital plug-ins join Pro Tools Inner Circle With the launch of Pro Tools 2025.10, the Inner Circle rewards now include Debleed:Snare and Verberate 2.

Thermite Pottery Fires Itself
Finely powdered aluminium can make almost anything more pyrotechnically interesting, from fireworks to machine shop cleanups – even ceramics, as [Degree of Freedom] discovered. He was experimenting with mixing aluminium powder with various other substances to see whether they could make a thermite-like combination, and found that he could shape a paste of aluminium powder and clay into a form, dry it, and ignite it. After burning, it left behind a hard ceramic material.[Degree of Freedom] was naturally interested in the possibilities of self-firing clay, so he ran a series of experiments to optimize the composition, and found that a mixture of three parts of aluminium to five parts clay by volume worked best. However, he noticed that bubbles of hydrogen were forming under the surface of the clay, which could cause cracks during the firing. The aluminium was reacting with water to form the bubbles, somewhat like a unwanted form of aerated concrete, and for some reason the kaolinite in clay seemed to accelerate the reaction. Trying to passivate the aluminium by heating it in air or water didn’t prevent the reaction, but [Degree of Freedom] did find that clay extracted from the dirt in his back yard didn’t accelerate it as kaolinite did, and the mixture could dry out without forming bubbles. This mixture wasn’t totally reliable, so to make it a bit more consistent [Degree of Freedom] added some iron oxide to accelerate the burn through an actual thermite reaction – some mixtures burned hot enough to start to melt the clay. After many tests, he found that sixteen parts clay, seven parts aluminium, and five parts iron oxide gave the best results. He fired two cups made of the mixture, a thin rod, and a cube, with mixed results. The clay expanded a bit during firing, which sometimes produced a rough finish, cracking, and fragility, but in some cases it was surprisingly strong. The actual chemistry at work in the clay-aluminium mixtures is a bit obscure, but not all thermite reactions need to involve iron oxide, so there might have been some thermite component even in the earlier mixtures. If you need heat rather than ceramic, we’ve also seen a moldable thermite paste extruded from a 3D printer.

Thanks to [kooshi] for the tip!

OpenAI reportedly developing new generative music toolSuch a tool could be used to add music to existing videos, or to add guitar accompaniment to an existing vocal track, sources said.

Tip Jar: Staying True To Yourself While Navigating Non-Stop Career Twists And TurnsBy DeeAnn

My journey as a singer/songwriter and recording artist is a bit unconventional because changing life circumstances led me to perform in various genres at different times over the years before I found my current creatively fulfilling niche, which incorporates the jazz sensibilities of my family’s roots into a soulful R&B/pop sound. 

I found singing in the choir growing up in the Catholic church boring, but the experience taught me a lot about working with vocal harmonies that would come in handy later in my career. My dad Frank DiMeo, a popular jazz singer in the Buffalo area, was my first musical mentor, while my mom turned me on to Barbra Streisand. Music was an essential foundational part of growing up in my family. I was always in the school choir and took as many music classes as I could. Helping form a 16-piece swing group in high school, in which we sang everything from ‘60s to Broadway music, got me even more hooked and allowed me to sing my first solo song. I learned more about blending harmonies through a quartet I created as an offshoot. I had been writing music from the time I was 15 or 16 and when I started recording music in my 20s, I arranged a lot of my own harmonies. 

Dreaming of becoming a professional singer came naturally to me in my teens and I was hoping to apply to several music colleges, hoping even that I would be accepted at Julliard, but my parents’ separation and then divorce at that time made attending college out of the question. My dad was this 100 percent jazz guy, but when I started looking for opportunities to make a living in music, the greatest opportunities were in Top 40 cover bands. I was good at it and I could adapt to multiple styles in what was considered pop music - but doing it for a long time stripped me away from how I envisioned myself as an artist. 

One of the musicians I worked with suggested I try singing country music, and I absolutely didn’t want to—until I realized just how great female artists like Trisha Yearwood, Shania Twain, and Martina McBride were. I started out only wanting to sing a few country songs per set, then got better at it and I envisioned a potential road for me in the genre. I started singing the National Anthem at county fairs throughout New York state, and the Erie County Fair hired me to open for country legend George Jones. I took it seriously enough to record some music (I didn’t write) in Nashville, and to this day some of the country I recorded plays in other countries throughout the world. Despite the diversity, every step took me one step closer to figuring out my musical identity.  

I’ve always admired women who can balance busy musical careers with family life, but when my husband and I decided to have children, raising them became my focus and I stepped away for a while. When the bug hit me again, as my son and daughter got a little older, I started teaching music at a Catholic school and even became a popular funeral singer. I seriously missed the stage, the lights, communicating with audiences and the passion I put into performing. 

For my soul to survive, I knew I had to make some changes. Here’s where the so-called “branding of DeeAnn” gets even tricker. I felt these deeper life experiences gave me a desire to sing something deeper and more soulful—and that led me to sing the blues! But I quickly realized that I couldn’t sing the blues all night long, so I fell into jazz, which of course made my dad very happy! I incorporate those jazz experiences, including my ability to scat into some of the R&B/pop music I make today.   

One of the biggest problems in not being true to myself was that I didn’t believe I could be a songwriter, even though my musical journey started out that way as a teenager. Meeting my first producer RiShon Odel, who has worked a lot with renowned smooth jazz artists Najee and Brian Culbertson, made a huge difference in getting me back in touch with this side of my artistry. Just as my confidence was at a low ebb, I sent RiShon the melody and lyrics of a song I had just written, and he created an incredible arrangement that developed into “Stay Here with Me,” which is to this day my all-time favorite original song I have released. He put so much soul into it. It was originally released on my 2019 live EP Stay Here and I released it as a single in 2024. I titled my debut album Desperately Seeking DeeAnn, first as a nod to the Madonna movie Desperately Seeking Susan but mostly because it captured the struggle of trying to find myself as an artist—and finally reconnecting with the vision I had for my life and career when I was younger before I joined all those cover bands. RiShon also produced my second album, It’s My Time. 

RiShon helped me believe in myself as a songwriter again and he brought my songs to life with some really dope musicians from his band Fifth Element who gave everything an R&B/gospel feel. The painful loss of my son William to a motorcycle accident has been a driving force for my artistry both spiritually and creatively because I sing much deeper and more soulfully and authentically, with so much emotion emerging from a place of pain. The albums I recorded with RiShon helped me lock in on who I am as an artist and taught me the value of not playing it safe. I bring the same blend of visceral emotion and freewheeling adventure to the three recent singles I recorded with my current producer Ted Perlman that re-imagine three of my favorite songs, Al Green’s “Simply Beautiful,” Sade’s “Kiss of Life,” and Brenda Russell’s “Piano on the Dark.” I feel like those songs, and the originals Ted and I are working on for my upcoming full length album, are authentically me. It’s been a long process, but I finally got here—and so can you! 

TIP No. 1: Always stay true to yourself, be honest and follow your gut because you might have different people trying to pull you in various directions based on what they think they know about you. No matter what you may be doing to make a living in the music industry, if you have solid ideas in your head about who you are as an artist, be consistent and stay real as you develop your authentic style. Trust in who you are because audiences relate to you best when you’re authentic and honest. They can tell when you’re faking it or just going through the motions.

TIP No. 2: Use social media to share what drives and inspires you as an artist to connect in a deeper way with fans. Take them behind the scenes into your process and things that have happened in your life that give you stories to tell in your songs. Your fans may not want to be saddened by your pain all the time, but they do want to know what makes you create your music. It’s also an opportunity to share other meaningful endeavors in your life. For me, that would include sharing the $84,000 I have raised for a scholarship at my son William’s alma mater, Canisius High in Buffalo, to fund national and international mission trips for male students.   

TIP No. 3: Finding the right producers and collaborators to work with is essential in helping you discover who you are. RiShon Odel and Ted Perlman have believed in me and my talent even when I haven’t. They bring their own experiences working with great artists into their work with me and I benefit not only from their musical brilliance but their life wisdom, which has helped take my own artistry to the next level.  

Building off the success of her sultry breakthrough track “Stay Here With Me,” DeeAnn’s 2025 got off to an inspiring start with numerous accolades in the 10th Annual JazzBuffalo Poll honoring musical greats in her beloved hometown. She was awarded Jazz Female Vocalist of the Year, received the most votes for the still very popular It’s My Time and was chosen runner up for the Most Memorable Performance and the John Hunt Jazz Artist of the Year Award. This extends a run of honors that began in her early days as a pop/rock singer, when she won Best Female Vocalist at the Buffalo Music Awards two years in a row. The post Tip Jar: Staying True To Yourself While Navigating Non-Stop Career Twists And Turns first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Berglind Audio Oolong Saturator JrOolong is a saturation plugin built for music production, mixing, and mastering. It's designed to offer exceptional flexibility, outstanding sound quality and a deeply musical character. Oolong Jr is a FREE version featuring the core functions of Oolong. Free from the usual constraints of traditional analog modeling, Oolong draws inspiration from tube preamps and tape machines–but it's tuned by ear, not by textbook. The result: a sound that's not bound by emulation, but built to feel right. With just a few simple controls, Oolong moves easily from subtle enhancement to bold distortion—from the sweet harmonics of a tube amp to the smooth dynamic shaping of vintage tape—and everything in between. Try it out: https://berglindaudio.lemonsqueezy.com Oolong Manual: Manual Full version: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/oolong-saturator-by-berglind-audio Read More

Music Business News Last WeekMusic business news last week included changes in how Ticketmaster handles ticket resale, proof of Bandintown's massive reach, Musician's guides to Instagram, Sora 2 and image sizes, MMF-US LA Summit, and more.
The post Music Business News Last Week appeared first on Hypebot.

DeNoiser plug-in from Harrison Harrison’s latest software release introduces a new zero-latency dialogue and voice clean-up tool that’s been designed for audio professionals, post-production engineers, broadcasters and content creators alike. 

New Music Critique: MinaxiContact: minaxitheband@gmail.com

Web: minaxitheband.com

Seeking: Booking, Film/TV

Style: Shoegaze, Psychedelic Rock, Hindustani Music

Absolutely fascinating. Brooklyn-bazed band Minaxi have taken upon themselves to blend shoegaze and psychedelic rock with Hindustani (Northern Indian classical) music, and the results are staggering. Hypnotic and ambient, the sound is chill in the classic psych-rock style, but it also feels spiritual and frankly gorgeous. “Minaxi’s vision is as bold as its execution. The band seamlessly integrates elements of Hindustani and Sufi music with the guitar-driven angst of psychedelia, the shimmering textures of shoegaze and ambient music, and the emotionally raw ethos of Midwest emo,” they say. The post New Music Critique: Minaxi first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Bitcoin price compression will spark expansion: Will BTC explode toward $120K?Bitcoin sellers put a cap on $112,000, but technical, onchain data and the end of October US macroeconomic calendar suggest that the price compression will trigger a violent expansion.

Tiny UPS Keeps WiFi OnlineFor any mission-critical computer system, it’s a good idea to think about how the system will handle power outages. At the very least it’s a good idea to give the computer enough time to gracefully shut down if the power outage will last for an indefinite time. But for extremely critical infrastructure, like our home Wi-Fi, we might consider a more long-term battery backup that can let us get through the longest of power outages.
Part of why this project from [ ] works so well is that most off-the-shelf routers don’t actually use that much energy. Keeping that and a modem online when the power is out only requires a few lithium batteries. To that end, three lithium ion cells are arranged in series to provide the router with between 9 and 12 volts, complete with a battery management system (BMS) to ensure they aren’t over- or under-charged and that they are balanced. The router plugs directly into a barrel jack, eliminating any switching losses from having to use an inverter during battery operation.
While [ ] is a student who lives in an area with frequent interruptions to the electricity supply, this does a good job of keeping him online. If you’re planning for worse or longer outages, a design like this is easily adapted for more batteries provided the correct BMS is used to keep the cells safely charged and regulated. You can also adapt much larger UPS systems to power more of your home’s electrical system, provided you can find enough batteries.

A comprehensive list of 2025 tech layoffsA complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2024.

Windows-G E-SubkickSimulator300A JSFX sub-bass enhancer plugin for REAPER that emulates the tone of a subkick speaker-microphone through a clean EQ curve. This means it preserves the original sound character while adding sub-bass enhancement through EQ shaping. Simply route your kick drum, bass, 808s, toms, or any source needing sub-bass weight to a parallel track. Insert the E-SubkickSimulator300 on that parallel track and use the output gain to blend in the desired amount of sub-bass weight. You can then use the high-cut filter to shape it further. You may also insert it directly on a track for creative effects or experimentation. Oh, and that animated speaker cone moving with the audio is something I enjoy watching, just for the eyes. Have fun with it. Grab it for free. Email Support: info.windowsg@gmail.com. ================================================== Using This JSFX Plugin in Other DAWs: If you want to use this JSFX plugin in other DAWs, you can do so using the open-source YSFX plugin. YSFX is available in VST3, AU, and CLAP formats for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Download your preferred format of YSFX from here (Click on "Assets" for the downloads to appear): https://github.com/JoepVanlier/ysfx/releases YSFX comes in two versions: * ysfx-s FX (for JSFX effects). * ysfx-s instrument (for JSFX instruments). 1. Open ysfx-s FX in your DAW, 2. Then click "Load", find your "E-SubkickSimulator300_Windows-G" file, and click "Open." Your plugin will now run inside the YSFX host, working perfectly in any DAW that supports VST3, AU, or CLAP plugins. Read More