When working on an electronic project itβs likely you will find yourself working with a variety of different instruments, be they logic analysers, oscilloscopes, or whatever. These can take up a lot of space, not to mention cost a bundle of cash. [Max.K] came up with PicoLab as a solution, itβs an all-in-one box containing a four-channel oscilloscope, eight-channel logic analyser, GPIOs, a data logger, and serial, SPI, and i2C interfaces. Thereβs even an adjustable power supply!
Behind it all is an RP2350, in its larger package with more pins, coupled to some custom interface and protection circuitry. Perhaps the cleverest part is its interface, which it serves as a web site on the network card it exposes through the USB port. Any OS that supports a web browser and USB networking can thus use this thing. You can find all the code in a GitHub repository, should you wish to have a go at building one yourself. We like this idea.
Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro arrives Nov. 6. Explore pricing, M5 Pro and M5 Max specs, OLED features, battery life, and whether it's worth upgrading.
Amazonβs five new Alexa devices add cameras, sleep sensing, and smart-home features. Compare prices, Alexa+ requirements, compatibility, and privacy controls.
RedMagic OS 12 brings Android 17 to eligible gaming phones and tablets from December 2026. See the China rollout schedule, new features, and global availability.
Appleβs touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro starts at $2,899. Explore display specs, app compatibility, release dates, and what IT buyers should test before upgrading.
Seattle-based PicoBrew set out to revolutionize home beer brewing with a line of machines it initially sold on Kickstarter. (PicoBrew File Photo)
The patents behind PicoBrew, the Seattle startup that once promised to do for home beer what Keurig did for coffee, are up for sale again β six years after the company collapsed into receivership and after two changes of ownership.
Hilco Global, an Illinois-based diversified financial services company, announced this week that its Intellectual Property Services group has been retained by PicoBrewβs current owner to market the startupβs technology to potential buyers.
The sale includes 17 patents and patent applications, two of them pending, along with engineering and design files and product concepts. Buyers can bid on all or part of the portfolio, and non-binding indications of interest are due Nov. 18. Hilco is pitching the assets to companies in coffee, tea, kombucha, spirits, beverage appliances and housewares.
The seller is Pico Craft Group, which Hilco described as led by a former PicoBrew investor. After PicoBrewβs 2020 collapse, its bridge lender took over the assets. That lender, PB Funding Group, was managed by former Microsoft software developer Greg Whitten, The Seattle Times reported at the time. Pico Craft Group bought the assets from the lender in 2024 for an undisclosed amount, according to Hilco, which did not say who runs the group.
βPicoBrew was a true innovator in the consumer and commercial craft beverage space, and its portfolio has applications well beyond beer,β Eric Hurwitz, a senior director at Hilco, said in a news release.
The portfolio covers technology from PicoBrewβs full product line, according to the release, including the Pico Pro and Pico C home brewing appliances, the PicoStill accessory for spirits, the Pico U Multibrew platform for beer, coffee, tea and kombucha, and Z-Series brewing machines and KegSmarts kegerators for commercial use.
Bill Mitchell, a former Microsoft vice president and longtime homebrewer, founded PicoBrew in 2010 with his brother Jim Mitchell, a food scientist, and Avi Geiger, an engineer who also worked at Microsoft. Their countertop machines automated the brewing process using PicoPaks, ingredient packs based on recipes from craft breweries.
The startup became a Kickstarter regular. Its 2017 campaign for the Pico Model C raised $1.93 million from 4,301 backers, a record at the time in the siteβs food category, and the $549 machine landed at retailers including Best Buy, Williams-Sonoma and Amazon. A 2018 campaign for the Pico U pushed PicoBrew into coffee, tea and kombucha.
But the company struggled to land more funding. In February 2020, after failing to close a new round, PicoBrew entered receivership. It had raised more than $15 million and cut its staff to fewer than 40, down from a peak of more than 80.
PicoBrew ceased operations in 2020, and no one has supported existing devices since, according to Hilco. Any decision about future support would be up to a buyer. The King County Superior Court approved the 2020 sale, which freed PicoBrewβs bridge lender from the companyβs liabilities and from responsibility to past customers, The Seattle Times previously reported.
Some owners kept their machines brewing without the companyβs servers by using a workaround developed by a Facebook group of PicoBrew users, The Spoon reported in 2020. The founders were let go after the receivership, according to the site.
When PicoBrew went up for sale in 2020, Mitchell told GeekWire that hardware takes time and multiple funding rounds backed by firm investor commitment.
He shared advice heβd gotten from Dan Leviton of Maveron: βStartups only fail for one of two reasons β they run out of heart, or they run out of money.β
Compare Apple's OLED iPad Mini and A17 Pro models on display, performance, battery life, and price to see whether the new tablet is worth upgrading to.
Apple unveils a new iPad mini with OLED, A20 Pro and IP67 protection. See the $699 starting price, key specifications, release details and buyer advice.
Samsung's Galaxy Buds On bring clip-on audio, Gemini Live, voice memos and hands-free controls to an open-ear design, starting at 299,000 won in South Korea.
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey is vowing to bring computer manufacturing back to the U.S., and by that he doesn't just mean assembly, but every individual component, some of which are exclusively made in China today.