Tech
Custom-Built Spray Paint Machine Creates Any Color You Want, Right When You Need It
Spray paint artists have long dealt with a frustrating problem. Getting the range of colors a single mural might need means carrying a heavy collection of cans and inevitably running out of one shade mid-project with a pile of barely used others left over. Sandesh Manik spent years as a mechatronics student building a solution he calls Spectrum, a compact machine that draws from four standard spray cans and blends them into hundreds of custom shades on demand.
Spectrum gives artists the freedom to call up any color on the fly and spray it through a single nozzle without stopping to swap cans or pre-mix batches. Manik’s goal from the start was to build something that worked with standard off the shelf spray cans, avoiding the need for custom components or expensive pumping systems. Early testing quickly revealed just how difficult that constraint would make things.
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The core problem turned out to be trickier than expected. Different cans operate at slightly different pressures, and trying to push multiple colors through the same tube simultaneously was a reliable recipe for leaks and backpressure. Manik worked around issue by using a pulsing mechanism that opens valves one at a time, unleashing short bursts of each hue in quick succession. A ratio of one part red to eight parts white, for example, indicates that the white valve remains open for longer than the red valve throughout each cycle. These pulses pass down a small one-millimeter tube, where turbulence thoroughly blends them before they reach the nozzle. Color changes take only a second or two, and the tube diameter is important to its effectiveness, large enough to sustain spray pressure but tiny enough to keep color transitions sharp.
Getting the pulse system to work consistently was the most difficult aspect of the build. Standard solenoid valves clog easily because dried paint collects inside the moving parts, so Manik designed his own rotational pinch valves instead. A small stepper motor turns a lever that squeezes or releases a flexible silicone tube, which is frequently pinched tight to prevent leaks or backflow. The paint never comes into touch with the mechanism, therefore the entire system stays clean and uniform. An Arduino Nano sits at the heart of it all, reading four knobs on the handle, calculating the exact pulse lengths for each hue, and firing the valves at precisely the right time, all while a display on the side indicates the current settings.
Pulling the trigger gets the paint moving, and a force sensor built into the trigger adds an extra layer of control. Squeeze harder and the color mix shifts smoothly toward a different tone, creating natural looking gradients through pressure alone without touching a single dial. The whole build is designed for a home workshop, using silicone tubing to carry the paint, 3D printed fittings to keep connections tight, and simple toggle levers to hold the can nozzles open when needed. Total materials cost came in at under $150.
[Source]
Keen to stop other companies from poaching its engineers, Apple has reportedly approved substantial bonuses for its iPhone hardware engineers.
Apple has allegedly approved new bonuses for its iPhone hardware team.
Talk of an AI brain drain at Apple continues even if it is difficult to determine exactly how individual departures affect the company. Over the years, Apple has lost various engineers to rival firms like OpenAI and Meta, with some even being lured in by a massive $200 million pay package.
Equally noteworthy is the departure of Abidur Chowdhury, the industrial designer behind the iPhone Air. He left Apple to become the design lead of an AI startup, which we later learned was known as Hawk AI.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Tech
Shonen Knife Announces Expanded 2026 Tour Edition of “Our Best Place” With Bonus Tracks and New Dates
In times like these, it’s refreshing to hear new music from a band that still delivers exactly what made them worth following in the first place. That’s the case with Our Best Place, the recent album from Japan’s long running all female power pop punk outfit, Shonen Knife.
First released in 2023, the album earned strong praise from fans and critics alike. Now, ahead of a 2025 to 2026 U.S. tour with Toad the Wet Sprocket and Men at Work, the band is issuing an expanded edition featuring additional content and an alternate cover design.
“Our Best Place which was released in 2023 became a representative album of Shonen Knife,” says Naoko, founding member and lead vocalist. “It includes many of our punk pop songs. The 2025 vinyl version has fabulous embroidered artwork and will [be] a collector’s item for our fans! “Not only that, I hope this vinyl release will be a good opportunity for other people to know our music!”
While I can’t claim to have been following every step of the band’s career — I became a fan when I purchased their brilliant holiday 45 RPM single “Space Christmas” around the time of its release in the early 1990s (and I still have it and play it each year!) — every Shonen Knife album I’ve picked up randomly over the years has been great fun.
For those of you not familiar with Shonen Knife’s sound, this group effectively bridges the gap between The Ramones and The Ronettes via Osaka, Japan.
A quick look at the track list reveals one of the running themes in Shonen Knife’s universe: food. “Spicy Veggie Curry” might be the best vegetarian punk rock song you didn’t know you needed. “Afternoon Tea” is not the Something Else by The Kinks cut, but you get the sense Ray Davies would appreciate the spirit. “The Story of Baumkuchen” dives into the German “tree cake” that found a second home in Japan, delivered with a quirky charm that oddly recalls Guided By Voices. And then there’s “Vamos Taquitos,” where acoustic strumming collides with a wall of fuzzy, overdriven electric guitars, and somehow it all works.
But its not all food puns here. “Just A Smile” is a great power pop cover tune, originally recorded by Scotland’s Pilot (of the hit “Magic” fame).
Our Best Place now includes four additional songs: “Nice Day (‘60s Mix),” “The Story of Baumkuchen (Japanese Version),” “Girls Rock (2023 Japanese Version)” and “Green Tea (2025 Naoko Vocal Version).”
The bonus 60’s mix of “Nice Day” is a hysterical concept which audiophiles of a certain vintage will appreciate as it places all vocals in one channel and the whole band backing track is in the other — ultra extreme early stereo!
Our Best Place comes pressed on crystal clear vinyl that is well centered and happily very quiet. You can order the CD version with the original cover design for $19.99 at Amazon. It is also available at their Bandcamp page for about $15.95.
As far as getting your hands on the vinyl, as far as I can tell it is presently only available at their concerts but some online sources indicate it will be made available online later in the year after the tour. I have inquired with the band’s PR team and if/when we get additional information I’ll be sure to update this section accordingly.
That said, what are you waiting for? Go see Shonen Knife live and grab the album at the merch table while you’re there. Here’s their current tour itinerary. And yes… let’s knife.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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Apple’s Hide My Email service lets users generate anonymous, randomized email addresses to help avoid spam, but it isn’t going to protect you from subpoenas — especially if you threaten the FBI directly.
Apple encryption and services can only protect you from so much
End-to-end encryption ensures that your data remains yours on-device and in transit. This applies to things like iMessage and Apple Health, especially when Advanced Data Protection is turned on.
However, that doesn’t mean Apple won’t comply with a subpoena when it is presented with one that fits the scope of the request. Hide My Email might help protect users from spam, but if you’re emailing threats to the FBI director’s girlfriend, there’s nothing to protect you.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Avatar fans, this one’s been a long time coming, and it finally has a release date. Announced in a new trailer at the Evo Awards on Saturday, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game officially drops on July 2, 2026.
The game is coming to pretty much everything, including PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch (including Switch 2), and PC. It’ll launch with 12 playable characters, alongside multiple modes like Story, Arcade, Training, and full online multiplayer with ranked and casual play. As for what kind of game it is, think classic 2D fighter… but with bending.
Why does Avatar Legends look so promising?
Avatar Legends is a 1v1 fighting game built around elemental combat, letting players control fan-favorite characters from both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It features hand-drawn 2D animation, which honestly looks straight out of the show, and a unique “Flow System” that focuses on movement, positioning, and expressive combat rather than just button mashing. There’s also a support character system, meaning fights aren’t just about your main pick. You can even tweak your playstyle with assist abilities and special moves.
However, the best part about this game is that it’s not just coasting on nostalgia. The devs are clearly targeting both casual players and fighting game enthusiasts, with features like rollback netcode and full cross-play, which are huge for competitive longevity. Add to that an original story mode and a planned roster expansion via DLC, and it feels like this could stick around for a while.
So… is this the Avatar game we’ve been waiting for?
Avatar Legends looks like it actually gets what makes the series click: fluid movement, expressive combat, and that signature bending chaos. Add in hand-drawn visuals, a solid 1v1 fighting system, and mechanics like the Flow System and support assists, and it’s shaping up to be more than just another licensed fighter.
And that’s the big deal here. This isn’t trying to reinvent the genre. Instead, it’s trying to belong in it, while staying true to Avatar’s identity. If everything clicks, this could easily become the go-to fighter for fans… and maybe even pull in players who’ve never watched the show.
Top 5 360 Cameras Compared
Honorable Mentions
-SOURCE-Scott-Gilbertson.jpg)
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Insta360 X4 for $340: I’d recommend skipping this one unless you can get it on sale for under $300. The X4 Air is (usually) cheaper, smaller, and more capable, though the X4 does have a larger screen and the battery life is better (though again, the video quality is not as good as the X4 Air). If you can find a killer deal under $300, the X4 is worth nabbing. Otherwise though, stick with the X4 Air.
Qoocam 3 Ultra for $539: It’s not widely available, and we have not had a chance to try one, but Kandao’s Qoocam 3 Ultra is another 8K 360 camera that looks promising, at least on paper. The f/1.6 aperture is especially interesting, as most of the rest of these are in the f/2 and up range. We’ll update this guide when we’ve had a chance to test a Qoocam.
360 Cameras to Avoid
Insta360 One RS: Insta360’s interchangeable-lens action-camera/360-camera hybrid was a novel idea that just didn’t seem to catch on. Now it’s a bit dated. The video footage isn’t as good as the other cameras in this guide, but you can swap the lens and have an action camera in a moment, which is the major selling point. Ultimately I’d say skip this, get the X4 Air and if you want to use it like a GoPro, just shoot in single lens mode.
GoPro Max: You’ll still run across GoPro’s original Max sometimes, but again, there are better options.
Insta360 One X3: Insta360’s older X3 is not worth buying at this point.
Insta360 One RS 1 360 Edition: Although I still like and use this camera, it appears to have been discontinued, and there’s no replacement in sight. The X5 delivers better video quality in a lighter, less fragile body, but I will miss those 1-inch sensors that managed to pull a lot of detail, even if the footage did top out at 6K. These are still available used, but at outrageous prices. You’re better off with the X5.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are two reasons you’d want a 360-degree camera. The first is to shoot virtual reality content, where the final viewing is done on a 360 screen, e.g., VR headsets and the like. So far this is mostly the province of professionals who are shooting on very expensive 360 rigs not covered in this guide, though there is a growing body of amateur creators as well. If this is what you want to do, go for the highest-resolution camera you can get. Either of our top two picks will work.
For most of us though, the main appeal of a 360 camera is to shoot everything around you and then edit or reframe to the part of the scene we want to focus on, or panning and tracking objects within the 360 footage, but with the result being a typical, rectangular video that then gets exported to the web. The video resolution and image quality will never match what you get from a high-end DSLR, but the DSLR might not be pointed at the right place, at the right time. The 360 camera doesn’t have to be pointed anywhere, it just has to be on.
This is the best use case for the cameras on this page, which primarily produce HD (1080p) or better video—but not 4K—when reframed. I expect to see 12K-capable consumer-level 360 cameras in the next year or two (which is what you need to reframe to 4K), but for now, these are the best cameras you can buy.
Whether you’re shooting virtual tours or your kid’s birthday, the basic premise of a 360 camera is the same. The fisheye lens (usually two very wide-angle lenses combined) captures the entire scene around you, ideally editing out the selfie stick if you’re using one. Once you’ve captured your 360-degree view, you can then edit or reframe that content down to something ready to upload to YouTube, TikTok, and other video-sharing sites.
Why Is High Resolution Important in 360 Cameras?
Camera makers have been pushing ever-higher video resolution for so long it feel like a gimmick in many cases, but not with 360 cameras. Because the camera is capturing a huge field of view, the canvas if you will, is very large. To get a conventional video from that footage you have to crop which zooms in on the image, meaning your 8K 360 shot becomes just under 2.7K when you reframe that footage.
How Does “Reframing” Work?
Reframing is the process of taking the huge, 360-degree view of the world that your camera capture and zooming in on just a part of it to tell your story. This makes the 360 footage fit traditional movie formats (like 16:9), but as noted above it means cropping your footage, so the higher resolution you start with the better your reframed video will look.
If you’re shooting for VR headsets or other immersive tools, then you don’t have to reframe anything.
I’ve been shooting with 360 cameras since Insta360 released the X2 back in 2020. Early 360 cameras were fun, but the video they produced wasn’t high enough resolution to fit with footage from other cameras, limiting their usefulness. Thankfully we’ve come a long way in the last five years. The 360 camera market has grown and the footage these cameras produce is good enough to mix seamless with your action camera and even your high end mirrorless camera footage.
To test 360 cameras I’ve broken the process down into different shooting scenarios, especially scenes with different lighting conditions, to see how each performs. No camera is perfect, so which one is right for you depends on what you’re shooting. I’ve paid special attention to the ease of use of each camera (360 cameras can be confusing for beginners), along with what kind of helpful extras each offers, HDR modes, and support for accessories.
The final element of the picture is the editing workflow and tools available for each camera. Since most people are shooting for social media, the raw 360 footage has to be edited before you post it anywhere. All the cameras above have software for mobile, Windows and macOS.
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The Liquid Glass design that rolled out with iOS 26 isn’t going anywhere, according to a recount of an Apple Developer workshop.
Developers will be required to use Liquid Glass once Xcode 27 debuts.
With the debut of iOS 26 at WWDC 2025, Apple made significant alterations to the look and feel of the iPhone operating system. The fairly straightforward flat design, used from iOS 7 to iOS 18, was replaced with a more rounded, translucent aesthetic dubbed “Liquid Glass.”
Six months after launch, the new design language remains as divisive and controversial as ever, with developers in particular lacking adjustment options for Liquid Glass. Still, that doesn’t mean Liquid Glass will be abandoned anytime soon, and Apple has seemingly even said so outright.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Spring is usually when plans start filling up again, from quick city breaks to longer outdoor trips, and it often highlights how quickly devices run out of power when you are away from a charger.
That is where INIU’s Spring Sale campaign becomes more compelling, with discounts applied across its portable charging range and the INIU Pocket Rocket P50 leading the offer, now reduced to £28.05 from £32.99 as its smallest and fastest everyday power solution.
A power bank built for moving around, not staying plugged in
The INIU Pocket Rocket P50 is designed around portability first, packing a 10,000mAh capacity into a compact form that is 45% more compact than standard models, making it small enough to slip into a pocket or lightweight travel bag.
Weighing around 160 grams, it is 63% lighter than the average power bank, which often feels bulky when you are already packing for a trip or commute, making it particularly useful for short trips, festivals, or long days out where extra weight quickly becomes noticeable alongside other essentials.
Charging performance is another key part of the appeal, with 45W fast charging allowing compatible devices to reach a significant percentage of battery in under half an hour.
In practical terms, the INIU Pocket Rocket P50 can fully charge your phone an average of two times. This gives you more time actually using them without worrying about conserving battery life, whether you are navigating, taking photos, or staying connected while travelling.
Spring savings that go beyond a single product
The INIU Spring Sale campaign runs across both the official store and Amazon, covering a wide range of portable charging products rather than focusing on just one device.
Across the lineup, you can get up to 30% off, with additional tiered discounts applied automatically at checkout, including $5 off orders over $50, $10 off over $80, and $20 off over $100.
That structure makes it easier to pick up multiple essentials at once, whether you are adding extra cables, upgrading to higher-capacity power banks, or simply building a more reliable everyday carry setup.
The campaign also lines up closely with how people actually use these products, leaning into travel, outdoor plans, and day-to-day movement rather than desk-bound charging or fixed setups.
Timing plays a role here too, with the INIU Official Store promotion running from March 20 to April 20, 2026, while the Amazon deals are available for a shorter window from March 25 to March 31, 2026, giving you a clear window to take advantage of the savings.
OpenAI’s decision last week to shut down Sora, its AI video-generation tool, just six months after releasing it to the public raised immediate suspicions. The app had invited users to upload their own faces — so was this some kind of elaborate data grab? According to a new WSJ investigation, the real explanation is considerably more boring: Sora was a money pit that nobody was using, and keeping it alive was costing OpenAI the AI race.
So what happened? After a splashy launch, Sora’s worldwide user count peaked at around a million and then collapsed to fewer than 500,000. Meanwhile, the app was burning through roughly a million dollars a day — not because people loved it, but because video generation is extraordinarily expensive to run. Every user who dropped themselves into a fantastical chase scene was drawing down a finite supply of AI chips.
While a whole team inside OpenAI was focused on making Sora work, Anthropic was quietly winning over the software engineers and enterprises that drive revenue. Claude Code, in particular, was eating OpenAI’s lunch.
So CEO Sam Altman made the call: kill Sora, free up compute, and refocus. If you want to understand just how sudden this was, consider what happened to Disney, per the WSJ: the entertainment giant had committed $1 billion to the partnership, yet found out Sora was being shut down less than an hour before the public. The deal died with it.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan recently insisted that he isn’t worried about Netflix and other streaming services luring away the service’s most popular creators.
Mohan’s comments came during a long interview with The New York Times series The Interview — which, as Mohan noted, streams on YouTube. Indeed, he seemed to play the magnanimous winner for much of the conversation; when asked about Oscar host Conan O’Brien’s poking fun at YouTube, Mohan simply replied that O’Brien is “very funny” and that his “Team Coco channel does really well on YouTube.”
As for popular podcasts like “The Breakfast Club” and “My Favorite Murder” moving to Netflix, Mohan said it’s “flattering” that competitors “see us as the center of culture.” But he said that when he speaks to popular YouTubers, they tell him that “no matter what they look to do, they understand that YouTube is their home.”
“I have not come across YouTubers that have completely yanked their content off YouTube,” Mohan said. He added that when YouTubers negotiate with other platforms, those streamers will always “acquiesce to what our YouTubers ultimately know is the right decision for them in the long term, which is to never leave their home.”
NASA is engaged in the final preparations for the much-anticipated Artemis II mission that will send astronauts toward the moon for the first time in more than five decades.
The space agency is targeting 6:24 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 1, for the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The four crew members — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, together with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen — will travel aboard an Orion spacecraft launched by NASA’s formidable SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.
After a couple of days in low-Earth orbit checking the spacecraft’s systems, the crew will send the Orion on course for a rendezvous with our nearest neighbor. The 10-day voyage won’t touch down on the moon but instead fly around it before returning home.
The mission is of course super special for every single one of those crew members, but for Hansen it comes with added personal impact as the flight will mark his very first time in space.
While Wiseman, Glover, and Koch each flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on their first orbital experience, Hansen will be traveling several hundred thousand miles further from Earth for his debut space ride.
Hansen will also become the first non-American, and first Canadian, to travel to the moon, a historic achievement that will cement his place in history and make him a national hero.
“I just want Canadians to feel that pride,” Hansen told CBC when he was announced as one of the Artemis II crew members in 2023. “I just want Canadians to realize, hey, we are up to big things here in Canada and can accomplish the seemingly impossible if we believe in ourselves.”
Artemis II is also a groundbreaking mission for Glover and Koch, who are about to become the first Black person and the first woman to travel to the moon — major milestones in their own right.
With only days to go before the targeted launch date, the four crew members are now in quarantine, poring over the flight plan and making sure they’re all set for the mission of a lifetime.
Want to know more about the mission? Then watch NASA’s video showing exactly how it expects the flight to unfold.
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