Beloved SF cat’s death fuels Waymo criticismThe death of a neighborhood bodega cat named Kit Kat has shaken San Francisco’s Mission District and prompted new debates about robotaxi safety.

Revealed Recordings Revealed Spire Dirty Dutch Leads Vol. 1Revealed Spire Dirty Dutch Leads Vol. 1 is a collection of 100 presets built around the authentic Dutch House sound that sparked a global wave of club music. Inside, you'll find the classic elements that defined the early era: sharp pitchbends, portamento slides, bleeps, percussive bloops, bouncy leads, and more. Each preset is equipped with modwheels and all four macros controls, giving you enhanced flexibility in shaping your sound. With Spire Dirty Dutch Leads Vol. 1, you get a suite of source sounds capturing the raw attitude and energy behind the early anthems that fueled the Golden Era. Reveal Yourself. Revealed Spire Dirty Dutch Leads Vol. 1 - Details LEAD [100]. 100 presets Core synthesizer patch mapping and programming All presets assigned intuitive modwheel parameters All presets assigned all four macro controls for easy tweaking and multiple sound variations. Preset format(s): .swzip (Full Bank) Note: Presets Require Full Retail Version of Spire 1.5.16 or later Approx. 14.7MB compressed .zip download. Read More

The Simplest Ultrasound Sensor Module, Minus the ModuleJust about every “getting started with microcontrollers” kit, Arduino or otherwise, includes an ultrasonic distance sensor module. Given the power of microcontrollers these days, it was only a matter of time before someone asked: “Could I do better without the module?” Well, [Martin Pittermann] asked, and his answer, at least with the Pi Pico, is a resounding “Yes”. A micro and a couple of transducers can offer a better view of the world.
The project isn’t really about removing the extra circuitry on the SR-HC0, since there really isn’t that much to start. [Martin] wanted to know just how far he could push ultrasound scanning technology using RADAR signal processing techniques. Instead of bat-like chirps, [Martin] is using something called Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave, which comes from RADAR and is exactly what it sounds like. The transmitter emits a continuous carrier wave with a varying frequency modulation, and the received wave is compared to see when it must have been sent. That gives you the time of flight, and the usual math gives you a distance.

The raw IQ signals translate into a range plot giving distances to everything in view.
Since he’s inspired by RADAR, it’s no surprise perhaps that [Martin]’s project reminds us of SDR, and the write-up gets right into the signal-processing code. Does it work better than a chirping module? Well, aside from using fewer parts, [Martin] can generate a full range plot for all objects in the arc of the sensor’s emissions out to 4 meters using just the Pico. [Martin] points out that it wouldn’t take much amplification to get a greater range. He’s not finished yet, though — the real goal here is to measure wind speed, which means he’s going to have to go full Doppler. We look forward to it.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Pico doing fun stuff at these frequencies, and Doppler RADAR is a thing hackers do, so why not ultrasound?

GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Dance Pop RecordingThe 2025 GRAMMY nominations are here and we're going to help you to untangle it all right up until the big event, continuing with the Best Dance Pop Recording category.

Take a listen to the nominated recordings below--who do you think will win?

See the full list of nominees in every category here.

Bluest FlameSelena Gomez & benny blancobenny blanco, Dylan Brady & Cashmere Cat, producers;benny blanco & Cashmere Cat, mixers

AbracadabraLady GagaCirkut, Lady Gaga & Andrew Watt, producers; Serban Ghenea, mixer

Midnight SunZara LarssonMargo XS & MNEK, producers; Tom Norris, mixer

Just Keep Watching (From F1® The Movie)Tate McRaeTyler Spry & Ryan Tedder, producers; Manny Marroquin, mixer

IllegalPinkPantheressAksel Arvid & PinkPantheress, producers; Nickie Jon Pabon

Zara Larsson photo by Charlotte Rutherford

The post GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Dance Pop Recording first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

SoundGhost release Signa SoundGhost's latest instrument combines a| selection of analogue and digital waveforms with noise sources to create continually evolving soundscapes.

Here’s what happened in crypto todayNeed to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

JPMorgan doesn’t want to pay Frank founder Charlie Javice’s legal billsA lawyer representing JPMorgan said Javice’s legal team billed for expenses including luxury hotel upgrades, 24 hours of work in a single day, and cellulite butter.

Using the Pyroelectric Effect to Identify Broken MLCC CapacitorsVintage computer hardware can fail in a variety of fascinating ways, with [Bits und Bolts] dealing with an interesting failure mode, in the form of degraded MLCC capacitors on Voodoo 2 graphics cards. These little marvels of miniaturized surface-mount technology enable the placement of ceramic capacitors with very little space required, but as they degrade over time or due to physical damage, they can cause big issues in a circuit.
In the case of the two Voodoo 2 GPUs that [Bits und Bolts] was trying to fix, the clue that something was wrong was graphical glitches, which seemed to be related to something dragging down the 5V rail. Using the standard ‘inject voltage and see what gets hot’ method, he discovered a couple of dead MLCCs and replaced them. But something was still dragging the rail down. Unfortunately, whatever it was wasn’t enough to heat up the part in question, and no sane person wants to desolder hundreds or even thousands of MLCCs on a PCB and see whether it makes a difference.
Ultimately, the pyroelectric effect was used to hunt down the culprit, saving countless hours of work. This is a property of certain naturally electrically polarized crystals, in which the material generates a voltage when heated or cooled. Materials like that used in MLCCs, for example.

With a hot air gun set to 200 °C and aimed at a specific MLCC, it was possible to measure changes not only in resistivity but also in voltage between the 5V rail and ground. The voltage spike was relatively minor for the smaller MLCCs, but the larger ones showed a significant voltage swing of around 2.5mV.
The culprit turned out to be a large MLCC, which showed only a weak pyroelectric effect and a resistivity that didn’t drop as quickly as that of similar MLCCs on the same board. After replacement, the faulty MLCC did indeed measure as faulty, and the card’s 5V rail now showed a healthy resistance level to ground.
In addition to knowing what kind of resistivity you should measure on a PCB’s voltage rails relative to ground, this method provides a fairly painless way to quickly find a dodgy MLCC. Just make sure not to try this method on electrolytic or tantalum. Heating those up won’t go well.
We often treat decoupling capacitors as more art than science, but of course, we shouldn’t. MLCCs can even exhibit the piezoelectric effect, too.

GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Dance/Electronic RecordingThe 2025 GRAMMY nominations are here and we're going to help you to untangle it all right up until the big event, continuing with the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category.

Take a listen to the nominated recordings below--who do you think will win?

See the full list of nominees in every category here.

No CapDisclosure & Anderson .PaakDisclosure, producer; Guy Lawrence, mixer

Victory LapFred again.., Skepta, & PlaqueBoyMaxBlake Cascoe, Berwyn Du Bois, Fred again.., Darcy Lewis, Dan Mayo & PlaqueBoyMax, producers; Tom Norris, mixer

SPACE INVADERKAYTRANADAKAYTRANADA, producer; KAYTRANADA, mixer

VOLTAGESkrillexJohn Feldmann & Skrillex, producers; Luca Pretolesi, Skrillex & Virtual Riot, mixers

End Of SummerTame ImpalaKevin Parker, producer; Kevin Parker, mixer

KAYTRANADA photo by Hannah SiderThe post GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Dance/Electronic Recording first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sweetwater offers Arturia Analog Lab Intro for FREE, requires US address
Sweetwater offers the Analog Lab Intro virtual instrument plugin by Arturia for free for a limited time. The only caveat is that you’ll need to enter a US address to get the free download. Analog Lab Intro gives you access to 500 hand‑tuned presets drawn from their V Collection instrument emulations. You can grab it by filling out the [...]
View post: Sweetwater offers Arturia Analog Lab Intro for FREE, requires US address

Bjoern Bojahr 66 free sounds for JUNEThis archive contains 66 sounds for AudioThing's JUNE software synthesizer. With this sound set, I have recreated my favorite sounds from the past, as well as some sounds that are inspired by more modern songs. Read More

Vortex, Webcore & Dust from UJAM UJAM's latest Usynth offerings promise to “embody the energy and experimentation of the online music scene”, delivering everything from distorted nostalgia and glitched textures to hypercharged bass and expressive arpeggios.

Databricks co-founder argues US must go open source to beat China in AIVC Andy Konwinski argues that the U.S. is losing its AI research dominance to China.

GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Pop Vocal AlbumThe 2025 GRAMMY nominations are here and we're going to help you to untangle it all right up until the big event, continuing with the Best Pop Vocal Album category.

Take a listen to the nominated pop albums below--who do you think will win?

See the full list of nominees in every category here.

SWAGJustin Bieber

Man's Best FriendSabrina Carpenter

Something BeautifulMiley Cyrus

MAYHEMLady Gaga

I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)Teddy SwimsThe post GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Pop Vocal Album first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

SOL drops to 5-month low despite Solana spot ETF success: Is $100 next?Solana ETFs recorded inflows for 13 consecutive days, but SOL price lost key technical support levels, sparking fears of a drop to $100.