Do it yourself

In 2020, parents and guardians are super spoilt for choice in the STEM toys gift department — which is great news in the midst of a pandemic that’s supercharging homeschooling needs. The c

Hometalk, a DIY community site with just under 10 million monthly users and more than 21 million monthly visits, today announced that it has raised a $15 million growth round led by NFX, with particip

Hardware isn't easy — especially if you decline to take advantage of the global manufacturing infrastructure, build everything in a flat in London, and use only local labor and materials. But that's

On this week’s Technotopia I talked to Massimo Banzi and Fabio Violante, the co-creators of Arduino. This pair of Italian artists saw their little single-board computers as a gateway to high-tec

I’m not a fan of educational toys. They’re usually either too educational or too toy-like and, in the end, kids get little education and little fun. The Code Kit from LittleBits has change

“Unofficial” product repair shops may be getting a leg up in Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, and Kansas. These states are working to legalize repair of devices from any manuf

What do you buy for someone who has everything? Either a pink fairy armadillo or an Arduino MKRZero. I’d recommend going with the Arduino. The MKRZero is basically a really, really small microco

Researchers at MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab have stepped up their game from an Ikea-like chair that can put itself together: the team built a working cell phone that’s self-building, Fast Compa

Want to know if you have the “athlete gene” or if you’re actually related to the weirdos who claim you as a family member? Get your collection tubes ready, citizen scientists, Bento

We are big fans of littleBits here at TechCrunch. The company, which raised $44.2 million last year, offers a number of different sets that teach kids (and grown-ups) about programming and electronics

Learn-to-code startup Kano is now shipping a 10.1-inch HD display to go with its keyboard plus Raspberry Pi DIY computer kit for kids.

LittleBits are fantastic, but I’ve never been able to recommend them for kids. Most of the company’s kits are just not intuitive for novices, nor do they contain everything needed to make