This discreet VPN connects to your device to establish a secure connection and keep your data safe!

Since most of our workdays take place online, the use of VPNs for secure web surfing has steadily risen in popularity. Some of us may use VPNs to freely access the internet via a secure connection and to ensure that our data is encrypted and inaccessible by cyber intruders. They come in handy when working on hush-hush jobs such as upcoming campaigns or classified projects. Adding his VPN design to the mix, Ian Redcay conceptualized Black, a virtual private network and hardware solution for data protection and unrestricted internet access for the everyday user.

Traditionally, VPNs have operated as online services or expensive hardware systems bought by companies to protect their data, while remaining mostly unavailable to the average consumer. To create a more accessible solution for consumers who’d like to freely interact with the web through an established secure connection, Redcay designed Black. All but for the transparent compartment that encases Black’s internal PCB, the portable VPN device dons a jet black exterior. The subtle and contrasting combination of transparency and opacity expresses Black’s dual purpose of data encryption and open internet access.

While Black’s exterior might be a focal point in and of itself, the hardware’s exterior works with its internal function to merge aesthetics with practicality. Once a user connects to Black through their personal device, whether a laptop or smartphone, then integrated VPN processing encrypts the user’s data while managing network access to protect the user’s anonymity. In addition to Black’s main function of data encryption, features such as silent air vents and LED indicators further drive home Black’s commitment to obscurity. Through minimal branding and understated design elements, Redcay conceptualized a VPN device that is as inconspicuous and guarded in appearance as it is slick and efficient in function.

Designer: Ian Redcay

Black’s exposed PCB allows users to witness the internal processes within VPN hardware.

Black was inspired by classic and contemporary tech design solutions.

Black is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet stealthy enough to protect your data from anywhere.

Air vents are located above and beneath the PCB to allow cold air to passively cool components during extended use.

“The exposed internal circuit board provides visual context to data encryption as it occurs within the device through a winding array of circuits and internal components,” remarks Redcay.

Maintaining its cohesive brand identity, everything from Black’s purpose to its packaging remains sleek in obscurity and aesthetic.

The small nature of Black provides it with a portability feature that lets you bring data protection anywhere you go.

On the overall look of Black, Redcay says, “Black’s branding is minimal at most; a small monogram that is hardly discernible from afar, unifying the identity of the brand and function of the device through a consistent visual language.”

Printed Circuit Board Kits Turn into Magic Voodoo Robots

Normally, printed circuit boards are green and rectangular or square in shape. But these unique circuit boards come in colors like yellow, orange, and blue. Beyond being colorful, they’re designed to be taken apart and assembled into wonderful little robots.

Designed by Geeek Club, these Magic Voodoo Bots are festive little robots that come flat-packed on special printed circuit boards. Simply cut the pieces out of the boards, and put your basic electronics skills to work to assemble them. The finished robots look awesome when lit up, and they vibrate too which makes them skitter around.

Magic Voodoo Bots come sold in a $129 boxed set that includes seven different mini robots, along with all of the electronic components, parts, and tools you need to build them, including a soldering iron, and a rotary tool you’ll need to cut the pieces out with.

These would make a great gift for anyone just getting started in electronics, and when you’re done building them, you’ll have some really nifty light-up art to display on your desk or bookshelf.

[via Reddit]

These circuit boards turn your classic game controllers wireless!

You’ve been using them for years, pretty much your entire childhood, and then something else comes along the way and your favorite game console from the 90s goes into a box in the garage. 8BitDo, the company notorious for reviving legacy gaming tech and taking us on a journey that fuses nostalgia with the future, wants to bring back those classic controllers, but tweak them for the present. Their mod kits are available for most legacy controllers, from the NES and SNES classics to the originals, to even the Sega Mega Drive. The kit involves opening up the old controllers you have lying around and simply switching the printed circuit board on the inside for 8BitDo’s redesigned circuit boards. The minute you do, you now have a new controller that is compatible with mobile platforms, Windows, MacOS, Steam, Raspberry Pi, and even the Nintendo Switch! And what’s more is, the new PCBs in your controllers turn them wireless!

The idea is that you’ve spent hours, if not days, with your hands wrapped around those controllers and your hands, even though they’ve grown over the years, recognize those familiar contours and still know their way around them. 8BitDo’s mod kits don’t just take your hands and brain on a ‘feels trip’, they also turn an obsolete product into something that you can and definitely will reuse for probably another 10 years!

Designer: 8BitDo

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8bitdo_mod_kit_1

8bitdo_mod_kit_2

8bitdo_mod_kit_3

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8bitdo_mod_kit_7

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HackEDA hits Kickstarter, makes Arduino board design a drag-and-drop affair (video)

HackEDA hits Kickstarter

Writing code for an Arduino-friendly board is relatively easy; creating the board is the hard part, unless you live and breathe electrical engineering. If HackEDA has its way, however, the design process could be almost as easy as window shopping. Its new Kickstarter-backed project lets tinkerers choose from a list of parts and get a made-to-order board without knowing a lick about PCB assembly -- algorithms sort out the finer details. While the initial effort includes just 36 combos based around an Atmega328 processor, contributors who want tangible hardware can pay anything from $30 for a bare board through to $10,000 for the first stages of mass production. The truly committed will have to wait until December for the finished goods, but those willing to try HackEDA can use its existing web tool for free.

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Source: Kickstarter, HackEDA

Visualized: London Underground circuit map is also a radio

Visualized: London Underground circuit map is also a radio

London has a rich history of underground radio stations, but what if we flipped that, and turned London's Underground into a radio? Well it'd look like this. The circuit-board radio project is a collaboration between Yuri Suzuki and Masahiko Shindo, and uses Harry Beck's iconic tube map design. Note the choice of BBC's White City for the tuner, and Hyde Park's Speaker's Corner for volume control -- plus a few other famous names changed for geeky in-joke fun. We love the attention to detail, we just hope it's not permanently tuned to Capital FM.

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Visualized: London Underground circuit map is also a radio originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PSFK  |  sourceDesign Boom  | Email this | Comments

Engineer makes light-up business cards with 555 timer, proves PCB skills

Engineer makes light-up business cards with 555 timer, proves PCB skills

Sure, there have been some pretty creative variations on the standard paper business card, but if you're looking to make a career in electronics engineering, card stock isn't necessarily the best option for material. Such was the case for one student, who had the canny idea to make a card that demonstrates his printed circuit board know-how. He used a 555 timer that outputs a clock to the LEDs on the biz card, and placing a nine-volt battery on the terminals sets off the mini light show. See for yourself in the video below.

Continue reading Engineer makes light-up business cards with 555 timer, proves PCB skills

Engineer makes light-up business cards with 555 timer, proves PCB skills originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 11:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Adafruit  |  sourceCody Shaw  | Email this | Comments