
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
This MagSafe study timer tracks how long you focus and rewards longer sessions with longer breaks. It snaps onto your phone using magnets and stops timing if you pick up your phone, helping you stay off distractions while the LED ring shows your progress.

Source: Autodesk Instructables
This project uses an Arduino and 4×4 keypad to control a servo-driven lock, showing status on an I2C LCD and using LEDs plus a buzzer to signal correct or wrong passwords.
Designed for grid-down scenarios, the Apocalypse Companion pulls precise timing and positioning data straight from satellites via a GNSS module, showing it on an OLED display you control with a touch sensor. It runs on a 300mAh rechargeable battery managed by a TP4056 charger and includes a piezo buzzer for simple audio alerts, all in a tough, pocket-sized package.
OTA updates let you flash your ESP32 over Wi-Fi, ditching the USB cable. Whether you prefer uploading from Arduino IDE, using a web page on the ESP32, or letting it fetch updates from a local server, these methods cover all bases and simplify long-term maintenance.
Use an ESP32 to fetch time from an NTP server and show it on a TM1637 4-digit 7-segment display, with automatic time zone and daylight saving adjustments programmed via Arduino IDE.
The ESP32 Bit Pirate firmware gives you a handy set of hardware debugging tools on your ESP32, helping you test chips, buses, and unknown devices without coding new firmware. It runs on common ESP32 kits and the M5 Cardputer, where you can use the built-in screen and keyboard to dive straight into debugging.
This tutorial shows how a Zener diode in reverse bias can maintain a constant output voltage by adjusting current flow, despite variations in supply voltage or load. With just a series resistor and the diode connected in parallel to the load, it offers a low-cost, reliable solution for low-power voltage regulation.
Engineers at Queen Mary University made a sensor that turns pressure into colour patterns, letting robots instantly map touch, strain, and pressure using a simple camera.
This GPS tracker uses the Reyax GNSS module and Heltec V4 board to get satellite location data, display coordinates onboard, and let you view its route on a web page hosted locally through a phone’s Wi-Fi hotspot.
TravelFrame uses an ESP32 and a 7.5-inch e‑Ink display to fill in all the places you've visited, showing your progress and upcoming trips with ETA and weather info from a web app you control.
This project uses an Arduino UNO and DFPlayer Mini to create a pocket-sized MP3 player with a 3D-printed frame, 18650 battery backup, and a display showing play status, track, and volume.
Waveshare’s RP2350-USB-C is a small castellated dev board that brings two USB-C ports to the RP2350A MCU, letting you power and program it easily via one port while using the other for USB 1.1 host or device mode through PIO control. It offers 15 GPIOs and multiple peripherals including SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, PWM, plus an onboard temperature sensor and RGB LED for versatile embedded projects.

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