VoltJots | Electronics and IoT

Issue 67

Author

VoltJots
November 13, 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of the VoltJots newsletter, linking you to the very best electronics and IoT news, products, and projects.

Hope you enjoy! Until next week,

VoltJots

NEWS & ARTICLES

Home Assistant users are picking E-Ink screens for their smart home dashboards because they save energy and stay readable in bright light. These displays keep info visible without power-hungry refreshes or extra wiring.

A fresh design using a lithium-aluminium alloy could make solid-state batteries charge quicker and last longer, thanks to a team led by UC San Diego engineers.

Instead of hunting rare and ageing RAM ICs for the Casio FX9000P, maker Andrew Menadue embedded an RP2040 microcontroller on a small PCB that fits the original chip’s space, restoring the vintage machine’s video memory.

Cambridge Photon Technology’s new £1.5m funding will help commercialise its patented drop-in photon-multiplier, which turns each high-energy photon into two infrared photons, letting silicon solar panels generate up to 15% more electricity while using existing manufacturing processes.

Twisthink built IoT pump sensors using Microchip’s ATECC608B to secure device identity and encrypt data, making it easier to monitor thousands of wells remotely and prevent downtime in clean water access.

PROJECTS & TUTORIALS

You can get your Raspberry Pi to notify you in five different ways, from emails and SMS to chat apps and simple LEDs, all using Python code examples and handy tools.

Control LED brightness through smartphone apps, voice commands, IR remotes, or push buttons using an ESP32 smart dimmer that keeps working even if Wi-Fi drops.

This project combines woodworking, 3D modelling, electronics, and programming to create a synth with handmade oak and walnut keys, plus a body made from fibreglass-reinforced cardboard and steam-bent walnut. Using cardboard as a main material adds unique challenges and a charming homemade look.

Instead of embedding sensitive data directly in your sketches, keep your Wi-Fi credentials and API tokens in a separate file that’s included during compilation, so your private info stays off your shared code.

Make a credit card-sized Stylophone, a pocket-sized version of the classic 1967 analogue synth played with a stylus.

If you're looking for hands-free IoT control, this project shows you how to turn an ESP32 into a voice-controlled assistant using Edge Impulse for offline speech recognition, processing audio on the device itself without needing the cloud.

Learn the basics of software defined radio using Ettus’ new B206mini USRP combined with GNU Radio, building on popular FPGA-based SDR platforms like Analog Devices FMC cards and Ettus USRPs.

Starting from the SAMD21 model, the XIAO family has grown into a set of 13 microcontrollers that all fit the same tiny footprint and pinout. They cover a range of functions including dual-core RP2040, WiFi and Bluetooth, and sensor-equipped versions, while staying breadboard-friendly and compatible with popular programming environments like Arduino and MicroPython.

PRODUCTS

The SECO Pi Vision 10.1 CM5 turns the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 into a tough industrial HMI with a 10.1-inch multi-touch display, IP66-rated aluminium case, up to 8GB ECC RAM, and fanless design, letting you connect sensors and run AI models without complex embedded coding.

Grinn’s new compact SBC uses MediaTek Genio processors with Arm Cortex-A cores, GPU, and a neural processing unit to speed up AI product development for embedded devices.

Infineon expanded its Xensiv family with TLE4971 and TLI4971 sensors that reduce system errors and ease isolation, offering highly accurate, bidirectional AC/DC current sensing in a small package.

Waveshare’s RP2350B-Plus-W offers dual-core ARM Cortex-M33 or Hazard3 RISC-V running at 150 MHz, 16MB flash, and 520KB SRAM. It supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2, has a USB-C port, full GPIO access, onboard sensors, and multiple I2C, SPI, UART, and ADC channels.

The latest wireless IoT development kits mix multiple radio protocols like BLE, Zigbee, and LoRa with AI and sensor integration, all on one platform. These boards are designed for low-power operation and support next-level industrial and consumer IoT systems.

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