Do you want to make the world a better place in 2020? Technology has a big part to play in shaping the planet, but we still need people like you to come up with world-saving ideas. Whether you are an electronics novice, a university student or a veteran tinkerer, we all have a part to […]
At the start of autumn, it was reported that Samsung was on the cusp of announcing the world’s first mobile phone with a graphene-based alternative to the traditional lithium-ion batteries. Samsung wasn’t the only company exploring this material. Behind the scenes, each of the major mobile phone retailers are hard at work perfecting graphene components to be used in their products. Such is the determination to […]
When red wine is introduced to clothing, it normally spells disaster for the wearer. Whether it is baking soda, gin or dish soap, everybody has a genius life hack to remove red wine from a white shirt. But researchers at the University of Manchester have worked out that they can create flexible, durable and more […]
You may recently have seen news reports covering the issue with recycling in the UK. Most of us are now attuned to the fact that we can recycle bottles, tins and paper but more attention is now being focused on electronics recycling. Here at Hi5 we fully appreciate the fact that the capacity – and […]
Late-nineties bash’em crash’em classic Robot Wars disappeared from our TV screens earlier this year after the series re-launch failed to capture hearts and minds with a new generation of viewers. There’s no telling exactly why the Robot Wars re-launch flopped, but we think it has something to do with the rise of smarter, scarier automatons […]
A series of high-profile hacks has brought more attention to security concerns of connected devices. But how vulnerable is our hardware and how are the risks evolving? Everyday, everybody uses technology that enhances their lives in some small way. And the number of internet-connected devices is getting bigger every day as more individuals and companies […]
An amazing application of a colony animals solution to a search for food could revolutionise the way robots communicate. Israeli researcher Yossi Yovel leads the team at Bat Lab for Neuro Ecology at Tel Aviv University. His research into communication has focussed specifically on the Mexican fish eating bat, native to California. The large range […]
Fuelled by a demand for ever more sophisticated electronics and driven by Moore’s law of technological improvement, the pressure is always on PCB designers to get better. It has also led to massive improvements in the software that designers and engineers use in development. But as the necessary tools have got better, many of the […]
British tech companies and electronics manufacturers face a number of opportunities and threats in the near and long term future. Since the Brexit vote the electronics sector, as well as the economy more generally, has performed better than many economists predicted. Now, after Theresa May has put a little more flesh on the bones of […]
We are close to closing a topsy-turvy year that has mixed up the consumer electronics industry. Seismic political shifts both at home and abroad have had a huge impact on prices for these goods and there is already some evidence of an impact on the electronics supply chain too. Rising prices for consumers Brexit sent […]