Archive - lcamtuf’s thing

A 15-minute intro to involute gears

Involute gears are everywhere: toys, kitchen appliances, cars. But what's so special about their shape?

Nov 17

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

The untimely demise of an image upscaler

ML-based image enhancement models are great. Unfortunately, some of them are great only once.

Aug 28

The secret lives of snowblowers

Yes, they throw snow. But the mechanical design of residential snowblowers is more interesting than it seems.

Aug 17

Electric chainsaws and the gorge of misery

Lithium batteries are making everything better. So why do mid-size electric power tools suck?

Aug 7

Dispatches from the farm upstate

Middle-aged computer expert opts to escape civilization, offers dubious life advice.

Aug 3

July 2024

The serious science of trolling LLMs

The internet's oldest pastime finally has a purpose -- and it's more serious than AI companies would like to admit.

Jul 22

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts