IT Career
A psychoanalyst-programmer examines six distinct psychological traits that develop in software developers — from hyperconcentration and immersion in mental models to formalized thinking and engineering glamour.
Popular Science
A microscopic journey into the inner workings of LCD and E-Ink displays, examining their structure through optical and electron microscopy — from liquid crystals and color filters to e-ink microcapsules.
DIY
A DIY project transforming an ordinary kitchen table into a multifunctional computer desk with a flip-up lid, gas springs, a monitor mount, LED backlighting, and faux leather upholstery — all for about 3,500 rubles.
Electronics
A comprehensive 13-step guide from electric fields and diffusion through semiconductors, PN junctions, diodes, transistors, logic gates, and processors — the complete foundation of modern electronics.
DIY
A simple DIY printer built from salvaged CD-ROM drive parts that prints using a regular marker. Low resolution, but a fun and educational project using stepper motors, an Arduino, and a Java-based drawing tool.
Algorithms
A deep dive into computer vision algorithms for recognizing and solving Sudoku puzzles in real time using a webcam, covering adaptive thresholding, Hough transform, OCR, and multiple solving strategies.
DIY
A step-by-step guide to converting an old LCD monitor into a "spy monitor" that appears as a blank white screen to bystanders, but displays content normally when viewed through special polarized glasses made from the monitor's own polarizing film.
Information Security
A freelancer hired to configure an email server stumbles upon an active intruder's screen session, discovers replaced SSH binaries, a Linux rootkit, and has to rescue the system from cascading segmentation faults.
DIY
A hands-on guide to building an 8-bit RISC processor in a logic circuit simulator, starting from basic binary logic gates and working up through adders, multiplexers, memory, and the BitBitJump one-instruction architecture.
Android
A sobering infographic reveals that the vast majority of Android smartphones never receive timely OS updates, with most devices abandoned by manufacturers within a year of release.
Hardware
A detailed teardown and spectral analysis of three LED bulbs — a Chinese no-name, Russian Optogan, and SvetaLED — comparing their driver circuits, LED chips under electron microscopy, and spectral characteristics against incandescent and fluorescent alternatives.
Programming
A tribute to Dennis Ritchie, creator of the C programming language and co-author of Unix, who passed away in October 2011, as announced by his friend and colleague Rob Pike.