TechEBlog -

DJ Baja Blast’s Desktop Laser Harp Measures Hand Speed While Adding Tilt and Distance Controls

By Bill Smith November 4, 2026

Photo credit: DJ Baja Blast
Derrick, who goes by DJ Baja Blast, spent years turning a lingering idea into a finished desktop instrument after seeing a laser music installation at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. Version 2 of his laser harp sits in a frame of cherry and walnut, finished with hardwax oil after careful sanding and some epoxy work to close imperfect miter joints. Fourteen low-power lasers aim downward at light-dependent resistors mounted in the base. Each resistor sits in a voltage divider so the Teensy 4.1 microcontroller can watch the analog signal in real time.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 Emerges More Polished After iPhone Duo ‘Crackgate’ Reports

By Jackson Chung November 4, 2026

Nearly two weeks after the iPhone Duo reached Apple Stores, a pattern of cracked inner screens has shifted some attention toward the Galaxy Z Fold8, currently priced at $1,599.99 (was $1,900). Owners reported the damage appearing after only a handful of openings, often with a tight hinge and a pop just before a bright line formed across the display.

Pre Internet Creates a Tiny Blockbuster Video Packed With Twelve Hundred VHS Tapes

By Bill Smith November 4, 2026

Connor of Pre Internet set out to construct the world’s smallest Blockbuster Video, a scratch-built miniature that captures the late-nineties strip-mall version of the chain with a fully stocked interior lined with 1200 tiny VHS tapes. He began by researching a specific Dallas location that matched the familiar aesthetic of blue awnings and open floor plans, tracking down county records and reaching an architect through LinkedIn who still held the original blueprints.

Hubble’s View of NGC 4449 Shows Why Irregular Dwarfs Lose Most Oxygen in GLOW

By Jackson Chung November 4, 2026

Hubble’s recent highlight of NGC 4449 places a dwarf irregular galaxy roughly 12.5 million light-years away in Canes Venatici under close scrutiny, and the object’s ragged outline does most of the explanatory work. Scattered blue-white clusters of massive stars sit next to pinkish patches of active formation and dark silhouettes of gas and dust that cut across a roughly rectangular core, producing a clumpy, cloud-like appearance rather than any tidy spiral or elliptical form.

OKA’s Mori Mushroom Robot Lamp Offers Quiet Company and Nature Moments Without Demands

By Jackson Chung November 4, 2026

OKA calls it Mori, and its roughly twelve-inch appearance resembles a mushroom-shaped table lamp that wandered in from a forest clearing rather than any robot most people have seen. A rounded, lighting cap rests above a plush wool-blend torso, and when the head lifts, a pair of active eyes appear, as does a small diamond-shaped nose holding a camera.