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https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/building-a-diwheel-to-add-more-tank-controls-to-your-commute/ | Building A Diwheel To Add More Tank Controls To Your Commute | Maya Posch | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"diwheel",
"monowheel"
] | It’s often said that one should not reinvent the wheel, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot change how the use of said wheel should be interpreted. After initially taking the rather zany concept of a monowheel for a literal ride, [Sam Barker] decided to shift gears, did a ‘what if’ and slapped a second monowheel next to the first one
to create his diwheel vehicle
. Using much thicker steel for the wheels and overall much more robust construction than for his monowheel, the welding could commence.
It should be said here that the concept of a
diwheel
, or dicycle, isn’t entirely new, but the
monowheel
– distinct from a unicycle – is much older, with known builds at least as far back as the 19th century. Confusing, self-balancing platforms like Segways are also referred to as ‘dicycles’, while a diwheel seems to refer specifically to what [Sam] built here. That said, diwheels are naturally stable even without gyroscopic action, which is definitely a big advantage.
The inner frame for [Sam]’s diwheel is built out of steel too, making it both very robust and very heavy. High-tech features include suspension for that smooth ride, and SLS 3D-printed nylon rollers between the inner frame and the wheels. After some mucking about with a DIY ‘lathe’ to work around some measurement errors, a lot more welding and some questionable assembly practices, everything came together in the end.
This is just phase one, however, as [Sam] will not be installing pedals like it’s an old-school monowheel. Instead it’ll have electrical drive, which should make it a bit less terrifying than the
Ford Ka-based diwheel
we featured in 2018, but rather close to the electric
diwheel called EDWARD
which we featured back in 2011. We hope to see part two of this build soon, in which [Sam] will hopefully take this beast for its first ride. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189008",
"author": "purplepeopleated",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:29:49",
"content": "“In “The Entity”, Mr. Garrison, tired of inefficient and frustrating airline check-ins, decides to invent his own vehicle. Inspired by watching singer Enrique Iglesias’ sexualized singing on TV a... | 1,760,371,403.085383 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/entering-the-wild-world-of-power-over-ethernet/ | Entering The Wild World Of Power Over Ethernet | Maya Posch | [
"Network Hacks"
] | [
"PoE",
"power over ethernet"
] | As Ethernet became the world-wide standard for wired networking, there was one nagging problem. You already have to plug in the network cable. But then you have to also plug in a power cable. That power cable needs to be long enough. And have the right plug on it for your country. And provide the right current and voltage. That’s how Power over Ethernet (PoE) was born, first in a veritable Wild West of proprietary standards and passive injectors, then in a standardized process. Recently [T. K. Hareendran] wrote
a primer on PoE
, with more of a DIY intro focus, including some favorite PoE PD (powered device) chips to use in your own design.
You can still totally use passive PoE if that’s your jam, and you have full control over the network and any connected devices. This would allow you to, for example, power your SBCs for
a couple of bucks
, although for adding PoE
to your Mac Mini
you may want to look at some more refined options, if only as a safety precaution.
Much depends on the needs of each device, as PoE is meant mostly for low-power devices such as VoIP phones and the like. The more common IEEE 802.af and .at standards (Type 1 and 2) cap out at 30 Watts, with about 25 Watts available to the device after losses, while 802.3bt (Type 3 and 4) takes this up to 90 Watts, or just over 70 Watts after losses. Before making a decision, it would be good to read a detailed guide from someone with experience, like
the one by [Alan]
that we covered a while ago. | 41 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191269",
"author": "Gardoni",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:29:32",
"content": "Is this AI-generated image? DC current won’t go through transformers, just heat them like it’s a big old resistor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,371,402.848852 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/a-casio-toy-synth-is-ready-to-rock/ | A Casio Toy Synth Is Ready To ROCK! | Jenny List | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"casio",
"synth",
"toy synth"
] | There is likely to be more than one of you who has eyed up a child’s toy synthesizer in a second hand store, and considered making something more impressive with it. In many cases these instruments are underwhelming, having a very small subset of functions based into their black-epoxy-blob microcontrollers.
[Make Something] found a Casio toy synth
that has a few more functions than the average model, and with the addition of some extra effects electronics and a beautifully made case, turned it into an altogether more interesting instrument.
Most of the video has an element of workshop porn about it, as he makes a very nice Moog-style console case for it, a task made easier by an impressive array of CNC tools. The electronics are slightly more interesting, being a selection of cheap guitar pedals gutted and combined with a cheap tube preamp board. The result is a machine capable of some far more interesting sounds
We think many Hackaday readers would be able to repeat these functions from scratch without the pedals, and while the case is a thing of beauty it’s likely a decent job could be done with a little less finesse on more commonplace tools. Perhaps it’s worth giving those toy synths a second look, because they really can be had for pennies if you look hard enough. Perhaps it’s an easier option than
a previous toy musical upgrade
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191242",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:33:48",
"content": "Lots of high definition work and then he goes for lo-fi sound, that’s when I stopped the vid. Hot glue and cardboard would suffice if I stay longer, good work otherwise.",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,371,402.767817 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/easy-for-the-masses/ | Easy For The Masses | Elliot Williams | [
"Android Hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] | [
"android",
"lowest common denominator",
"newsletter",
"open source",
"sideloading"
] | Last week, we were talking about how glad we are to be the type who by-and-large understands technology, and how it’s becoming more and more difficult to simply get along otherwise. We thought we had a good handle on the topic.
Then, we were talking about Google’s plans to require an ID for Android developers, and whether or not this will shut down free and open software development on the Android platform. Would this be the end of the ability to run whatever software that you’d like on your phone? Google offered the figleaf that “sideloading” – installing software through methods other than Google’s official store, would still be be allowed. But there’s a catch – you have to use Android Debug Bridge (ADB).
Is that a relief? It surely means that
I
will be able to install anything I want: I use ADB all the time, because it’s one of the fastest and easiest ways to transfer files and update software on the device. But how many non-techies do you know who use ADB? We’d guess that requiring this step shuts out 99.9% of Android users. If you make software hard to install for the masses, even if you make it possible for the geeks, you’re effectively killing it.
I have long wondered why end-to-end encrypted e-mail isn’t the default. After all, getting a GPG signing key, distributing it to your friends, and then reading mail with supporting software shouldn’t be a big deal, right? If GPG signing were available by default in Outlook or GMail, everyone would sign their e-mail. But there is no dead-simple, non-techie friendly way to do so, and so nobody does it.
Requiring ADB to load Android software is going to have the same effect, and it’s poised to severely restrict the amount of good, open software we have on the platform unless we can figure out a way to make installing that software easy enough that even the naive users can do it.
This article is part of the Hackaday.com newsletter, delivered every seven days for each of the last 200+ weeks. It also includes our favorite articles from the last seven days that you can see on
the web version of the newsletter
.
Want this type of article to hit your inbox every Friday morning?
You should sign up
! | 71 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191154",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:33:57",
"content": "The people who use F-droid are the same people who can use ADB. I don’t think it will affect “the masses” in any noticeable way – one of my mates who is “sort of” tech savvy didn’t even know how to unlock d... | 1,760,371,403.932853 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/toasty-subwoofer-limps-back-to-life/ | Toasty Subwoofer Limps Back To Life | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"repair",
"subwoofer"
] | [JohnAudioTech] noticed there was no bass on the TV at his parents’ house. That led to the discovery of a blown fuse and
a corresponding repair
. When he opened it up, he could smell that something had gone on in the amplifier. You can follow the repair in the video below.
His first theory was that some glue became conductive and shorted the power rails. We were skeptical, to be honest. When he fed power to it through a current limiter, he could hear a sizzling noise and even see a little glowing from the hot component.
Disassembly ensued. Removing the suspect components showed some seriously burned components and some charring under a switching transistor. The capacitors looked much worse for wear, and the PCB needed some wires to jumper burned conductors.
At the end, there was thumping, so it seems the surgery was a success. However, testing blew a fuse again, which made us nervous. Still, seems to work if you don’t drive it too hard.
We always enjoy watching a
teardown
, and if there’s a
repair
too, that’s even better. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191119",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:06:09",
"content": "FSM damn it – first it’s “A Fun Action Generator From The Past” and now a “Tasty subwoofer …”. Dunno what’s wrong but the HaD titles aren’t at fault. ;-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,371,402.944783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/the-electret-preamp-you-might-need/ | The Electret Preamp You Might Need | Jenny List | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"electret",
"microphone",
"preamp"
] | Electret capsules can be found in some of the highest quality microphones for studio use, as well as in some of the very cheapest microphone capsules on the market. More care and attention has gone into the high-end capsule and its associated circuitry than the cheap one, but is it still possible to get good quality from something costing under a dollar? [Mubarak Basha] thinks so,
and has designed a preamp circuit to get the best from a cheap electret capsule
.
These capsules may be cheap, but with the addition of a low voltage supply, a resistor, and a capacitor, their internal FET delivers a decent enough input to many a project. To improve on that will need a bit of effort, and in this the preamp delivers by taking care to match impedance, impose a carefully chosen frequency response, and just the right gain to derive a line level output from the electret’s level. It’s hardly a complex circuit, but that’s not always necessary.
As always in these situations, without appropriate test equipment it’s difficult to gauge quality. We’d say this though, if you make one of these and it falls short, you won’t have spent much. Meanwhile if you’re curious about electrets,
here’s our guide
. | 19 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191101",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T10:11:15",
"content": "Lodestone contributes to generating a clear-pitch voice in microphones by enhancing the performance of electret capsules. Electret capsules, which utilize a permanently charged material, are... | 1,760,371,403.138471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/programming-space-game-for-x86-in-assembly-without-an-operating-system/ | Programming Space Game For X86 In Assembly Without An Operating System | John Elliot V | [
"computer hacks",
"Games",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"UEFI",
"x86 assembly"
] | In this video our hacker [Inkbox] shows us
how to create a computer game that runs directly on computer hardware
, without an operating system!
[Inkbox] briefly explains what BIOS is, then covers how UEFI replaces it. He talks about the genesis of UEFI from Intel in the late 90s. After Intel’s implementation of UEFI was made open source it got picked up by the
TianoCore
community who make tools such as the
TianoCore EDK II
.
[Inkbox] explains that the UEFI implementation provides boot services and runtime services. Boot services include things such as loading memory management facilities or running other UEFI applications, and runtime services include things like system clock access and system reset. In addition to these services there are many more UEFI protocols that are available.
[Inkbox] tells us that when an x64 CPU boots it jumps to memory address 0xfffffff0 that contains the initialization instructions which will enter protected mode, verify the firmware, initialize the memory, load the storage and graphics drivers, then run the UEFI Boot Manager. The UEFI Boot Manager will in turn load the appropriate EFI application, such as the firmware settings manager application (the “BIOS settings”), Windows Boot Manager, or GRUB. In this video we make our very own EFI application that the UEFI Boot Manager can be configured to load and run.
The system used for development and testing has a
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
CPU and 32GB DDR5 RAM.
Having explained how everything gets started [Inkbox] goes on to explain how to write and deploy the assembly language program which will load and play the game. [Inkbox] shows how to read and write to the console and mentions that he did his testing on QEMU with an image on an external USB thumbdrive. He goes on to show how to use the system time and date facilities to get the current month. When trying to read nanoseconds from the system clock he ended up needing to refer to the
UEFI Specification
Release 2.10 (2.11 is latest as of this writing).
In the rest of the video [Inkbox] does some arithmetic for timing, uses LocateProtocol to load the graphics output provider, configures an appropriate video mode, writes to the screen using BLT operations, and makes the program run on multiple CPU cores (the CPU used has 24). At last, with some simple graphics programming and mouse input, [Inkbox] manages to get Space Game for x86 to run.
If you’re interested in knowing more about UEFI a good place to start is
What’s The Deal With UEFI? | 40 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191036",
"author": "Julianne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:38:52",
"content": "I understand it can be an interesting challenge, but is there any advantage to bare metal programming over relying on an OS for handling all the annoying and device specific nitty gritty?",
"parent_i... | 1,760,371,403.21803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/your-llm-wont-stop-lying-any-time-soon/ | Your LLM Won’t Stop Lying Any Time Soon | Tyler August | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"ai",
"ChatGPT",
"LLM",
"machine hallucination"
] | Researchers call it “hallucination”; you might more accurately refer to it as confabulation, hornswaggle, hogwash, or just plain BS. Anyone who has used an LLM has encountered it; some people seem to find it behind every prompt, while others dismiss it as an occasional annoyance, but nobody claims it doesn’t happen. A
recent paper by researchers at OpenAI
(PDF) tries to drill down a bit deeper into just why that happens, and if anything can be done.
Spoiler alert: not really. Not unless we completely re-think the way we’re training these models, anyway. The analogy used in the conclusion is to an undergraduate in an exam room. Every right answer is going to get a point, but wrong answers aren’t penalized– so why the heck
not
guess? You might not pass an exam that way going in blind, but if you have studied (i.e., sucked up the entire internet without permission for training data) then you might get a few extra points. For an LLM’s training, like a student’s final grade, every point scored on the exam is a good point.
The problem is that if you reward “I don’t know” in training, you may eventually produce a degenerate model that responds to every prompt with “IDK”. Technically, that’s true– the model is a stochastic mechanism; it doesn’t “know” anything. It’s also completely useless. Unlike some other studies, however, the authors do not conclude that so-called hallucinations are an inevitable result of the stochastic nature of LLMs.
While that may be true, they point out it’s only the case for “base models”– pure LLMs. If you wrap the LLM with a “dumb” program able to parse information into a calculator, for example, suddenly the blasted thing can pretend to count. (That’s how undergrads do it these days, too.) You can also provide the LLM with a cheat-sheet of facts to reference instead of hallucinating; it sounds like what’s being proposed is a hybrid between an LLM and the sort of expert system you used to use Wolfram Alpha to access. (
A combo we’ve covered before
.)
In that case, however, some skeptics might wonder why bother with the LLM at all, if the knowledge in the expert system is “good enough.” (Having seen one AI boom before, we can say with the judgement of history that the knowledge in an expert system isn’t good enough often enough to make many viable products.)
Unfortunately, that “easy” solution runs back into the issue of grading: if you want your model to do well on the scoreboards and beat ChatGPT or DeepSeek at popular benchmarks, there’s a certain amount of “teaching to the test” involved, and a model that occasionally makes stuff up will apparently do better on the benchmarks than one that refuses to guess. The obvious solution, as the authors propose, is changing the benchmarks.
If you’re interested in AI (and who isn’t, these days?), the paper makes an interesting, read. Interesting if, perhaps disheartening if you were hoping the LLMs would graduate from their
eternal internship
any time soon.
Via
ComputerWorld,
by way of
whereisyouredat
. | 46 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191005",
"author": "moo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T03:32:23",
"content": "pfff. even if somehow it’s a lack of negative examples like they claim, there’s an inherent class imbalance. you’re going to give it negative examples of every fact it doesn’t know? nope.i expect we’ll find, ... | 1,760,371,403.306913 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/tips-for-c-programming-from-nic-barker/ | Tips For C Programming From Nic Barker | John Elliot V | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"c programming",
"tips"
] | If you’re going to be a hacker, learning C is a rite of passage. If you don’t have much experience with C, or if your experience is out of date, you very well may benefit from hearing [Nic Barker] explain
tips for C programming
.
In his introduction he notes that C, invented in the 70s by
Dennis Ritchie
, is now more than 50 years old. This old language still appears in lists of the
most popular languages
, although admittedly not at the top!
He notes that the major versions of C, named for the year they were released, are: C89, C99, C11, and C23. His recommendation is C99 because it has some features he doesn’t want to live without, particularly scoped variables and initializing structs with named members using designated initializers. Also C89 is plagued with non-standard integer types, and this is fixed by stdint.h in C99. Other niceties of C99 include compound literals and // for single-line comments.
He recommends the use of clang arguments -std=c99 to enable C99, -Wall to enable all warnings, and -Werror to treat warnings as errors, then he explains the Unity Build where you simply include all of your module files from your main.c file.
It’s stressed that printf debugging is not the way to go in C and that you definitely want to be using a debugger. To elaborate on this point he explains what a segfault is and how they happen.
He goes on to explain memory corruption and how ASAN (short for Address Sanitisation) can help you find when it happens. Then he covers C’s support for arrays and strings, which is, admittedly, not very much! He shows you that it’s pretty easy to make your own array and string types though, potentially supporting slices as well.
Finally he explains how to use arenas for memory allocation and management for static, function, and task related memory. | 44 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189074",
"author": "Volker Birk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:36:19",
"content": "Or you enable C17. Or C23, the actual version. C99 is history.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189240",
"author": "Sword",
"ti... | 1,760,371,403.029631 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/jawncon-returns-this-weekend/ | JawnCon Returns This Weekend | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"News"
] | [
"JawnCon"
] | For those local to the Philadelphia area, a “jawn” can be nearly anything or anyone — and at least for this weekend, it can even be a hacker con building up steam as it enters its third year. Kicking off this Friday at Arcadia University,
JawnCon0x2
promises to be another can’t-miss event for anyone with a curious mind that lives within a reasonable distance of the Liberty Bell.
The slate of talks leans slightly towards the infosec crowd, but there’s really something for everyone on the schedule. Presentations such as
Nothing is Safe: An Introduction to Hardware (In)Security
and
Making the GameTank – A New, Real 8-Bit Game Machine
will certainly appeal to those of us who keep a hot soldering iron within arm’s reach, while
Rolling Recon & Tire Prints: Perimeter Intrusion Detection and Remote Shenanigans via Rogue Tire Stem RF
and
Get More Radio Frequency Curious
will certainly appeal to the radio enthusiasts.
Speaking of which, anyone who wants to make their interest in radio official can sit in on the Saturday study group led by Ed “N2XDD” Wilson, the Director of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Hudson Division. After lunch, you can take your exam to become a licensed ham, and still have time to check out the lockpicking demonstrations from the local TOOOL chapter, the
Retro Show ‘n Tell
area, and rummage through the self-replenishing table of free stuff that’s looking for a new home.
Attendees can also take part in a number of unique challenges and competitions inspired by the shared professional experience of the JawnCon organizers. One of the events will have attendees putting together the fastest Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) broadband connection, as measured by era-appropriate commercial gear. Easy enough with a spool of copper wire, but the trick here is to push the legendary resilience of DSL to the limit by using unusual conductors. Think wet strings and cooked pasta. There’s also a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition that will pit teams against each other as they work their way through customer support tickets at a fictional Internet service provider.
We were on the ground for JawnCon in 2024
, and even had the good fortune to be present for the
inaugural event back in 2023
. While it may not have the name recognition of larger East Coast hacker cons, JawnCon is backed by some of the sharpest and most passionate folks we’ve come across in this community, and we’re eager to see the event grow in 2025 and beyond. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188983",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:39:35",
"content": "Thank you for sharing, something closer to my (Gamma) quadrant.Likely, will run into friends of mine that I haven’t seen in decades. Looking forward.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,371,402.893171 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/qualcomm-introduces-the-arduino-uno-q-linux-capable-sbc/ | Qualcomm Introduces The Arduino Uno Q Linux-Capable SBC | Maya Posch | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"arduino",
"qualcomm"
] | Generally people equate the Arduino hardware platforms with MCU-centric options that are great for things like low-powered embedded computing, but less for running desktop operating systems. This looks about to change with the
Arduino Uno Q
, which keeps the familiar Uno formfactor, but features both a single-core Cortex-M33
STM32U575
MCU and a quad-core Cortex-A53 Qualcomm Dragonwing
QRB2210
SoC.
According to the store page
the board will ship starting October 24, with the price being $44 USD. This gets you a board with the aforementioned SoC and MCU, as well as 2 GB of LPDDR4 and 16 GB of eMMC. There’s also a WiFi and Bluetooth module present, which can be used with whatever OS you decide to install on the Qualcomm SoC.
This new product comes right on the heels of Arduino
being acquired
by Qualcomm. Whether the Uno Q is a worthy purchase mostly depends on what you intend to use the board for, with the SoC’s I/O going via a single USB-C connector which is also used for its power supply. This means that a USB-C expansion hub is basically required if you want to have video output, additional USB connectors, etc. If you wish to run a headless OS install this would of course be much less of a concern. | 87 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188860",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:37:30",
"content": "Yay, just what open source needs, a massive, restrictive manufacturer buying up the biggest open source hobbyist organisation and it’s IP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,371,403.478867 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/2025-hackaday-supercon-more-wonderful-speakers/ | 2025 Hackaday Supercon: More Wonderful Speakers | Elliot Williams | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"2025 Hackaday Superconference",
"announcement",
"speakers"
] | Supercon is just around the corner, and we’re absolutely thrilled to announce the second half of our slate! Supercon
will
sell out so
get your tickets now
before it’s too late. If you’re on the fence, we hope this pushes you over the line. And if it doesn’t, stay tuned — we’ve still got to tell you everything about the badge and the fantastic keynote speaker lineup.
(What? More than one keynote speaker? Unheard of!)
And as if that weren’t enough, there’s delicious food, great live music, hot soldering irons, and an absolutely fantastic crowd of the Hackaday faithful, and hopefully a bunch of new folks too. If you’re a Supercon fan, we’re looking forward to seeing you again, and if it’s your first time, we’ll be sure to make you feel welcome.
Amie Dansby and Karl Koscher
Hands-On Hardware: Chip Implants, Weird Hacks, and Questionable Decisions
What happens when your body is the dev board? Join Amie Dansby, who’s been living with four biochip implants for years, and Karl Koscher as they dive into the wild world of biohacking, rogue experiments, and deeply questionable decisions in the name of science, curiosity, and chaos.
Arsenio Menendez
Long Waves, Short Talk: A Practical IR Spectrum Guide
Whether you’re a seasoned sensor engineer or a newcomer join us in exploring the capabilities of SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR infrared bands. Learn how each wavelength range enables enhanced vision across a variety of environments, as well as how the IR bands are used in surveillance, industrial inspection, target tracking, and more.
Daniel [DJ] Harrigan
Bringing Animatronics to Life
This talk explores the considerations behind designing a custom Waldo/motion capture device that allows him to remotely puppet a complex animatronic with over twenty degrees of freedom. We’ll discuss the electrical, mechanical, and software challenges involved in creating a responsive, robust remote controller.
Daryll Strauss
Covert Regional Communication with Meshtastic
Learn how Meshtastic uses low-cost LORA radios to build ad hoc mesh networks for secure, decentralized communication. We’ll cover fundamentals, hardware, configuration tips, and techniques to protect against threats, whether for casual chats, data sharing, or highly covert group communication.
Allie Katz and SJ Jones
Fireside Chat: Metal 3D Printing … in space?!
Metal 3D Printing … in space?! SJ Jones is an additive manufacturing solutions engineer and nobody knows metal printing for intense applications like they do. In this discussion they’ll be talking with designer and 3D printing expert Allie Katz about computational design, artful engineering, and 3D prints that can survive a rocket trip.
Davis DeWitt
Movie Magic and the Value of Practical Effects
What does it take to create something that’s never been seen before? In film and TV, special effects must not only work, but also feel alive. This talk explores how blending hardware hacking with art creates functional and emotional storytelling, from explosive stunts to robots with personality, these projects blur the lines between disciplines.
Aaron Eiche
The Magic of Electropermanent Magnets!
Electropermanent magnets are like magic, an electromagnet but permanently switchable with a bit of current and a few microseconds. Aaron shares the adventures in using cheap off-the-shelf components to build his own and how to make them work empirically.
Fangzheng Liu
CircuitScout: Probing PCBs the Easy Way
Debugging PCBs can be challenging and time-consuming. This talk dives into the open-source DIY project, CircuitScout. This small desktop machine system automates debugging by selecting pads from your schematic, locating them, and controlling a probe machine for safe, hands-free testing.
Joe Needleman
From Sunlight to Silicon
AI workloads consume significant energy, but what if it didn’t? This hands-on session shows how to design and run a solar-powered computer cluster, focusing on NVIDIA Jetson Orin hardware, efficient power pipelines, and software strategies for high performance under tight energy limits.
John Duffy
The Circuits Behind Your Multimeter
Everyone uses a multimeter, but do you know what’s inside? This talk explores the inner workings, plus insights from building one, the design choices, and the tradeoffs behind common models. Discover the hidden engineering that makes this everyday tool accurate, safe, and reliable.
Josh Martin
DIY Depth: Shooting and Printing 3D Images
3D photography isn’t just for vintage nerds or high-end tech! Learn how stereoscopic film cameras work, the mechanics of lenticular lenses and how to print convincing 3D images at home, plus dive into digitizing, aligning, and processing 3D images from analog sources.
Kay Antoniak
From bytes to bobbins: Driving an embroidery machine
This talk explores how an embroidery machine brings out the best of tinkering: production, customization, and creative hacks. Learn how to run your first job on that dusty makerspace machine, create your own patch using open-source tools, and see what extra capabilities lie beyond the basics.
Keith Penney
Ghostbus: Simpler CSR Handling in Verilog
Designing FPGA applications means wrangling CSRs and connecting busses, a tedious & error-prone task. This talk introduces Ghostbus, an approach that automates address assignment and bus routing entirely in Verilog to keep designs clean, maintainable, and functional.
Kumar Abhishek
Laser ablating PCBs
Once too expensive, PCB fabrication via laser ablation of copper is now accessible via commodity fiber laser engravers. This talk shares experiences in making boards using this chemical-free technique and how it can help in rapid prototyping.
Karl Koscher
rtlsdr.tv: Broadcast TV in your browser
This talk introduces rtlsdr.tv and will cover the basics of digital video streams, programmatically feeding live content to video through Media Source Extensions, and using WebUSB to interact with devices that previously required kernel drivers.
If you’re still here,
get your tickets
! | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188840",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:49:35",
"content": "Change name to Audiocon and you’ll have plenty of great speakers. :-p",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190780",
"author": "Jdams",
... | 1,760,371,403.530205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/can-a-coin-cell-make-27-volts/ | Can A Coin Cell Make 27 Volts? | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"boost converter",
"coin cell",
"joule thief"
] | We have all no doubt at some point released the magic smoke from a piece of electronics, it’s part of what we do. But sometimes it’s a piece of electronics we’re not quite ready to let go, and something has to be fixed. [Chris Greening] had a board just like that, a 27 volt generator from an LCD panel, and
he crafted a new circuit for it
.
The original circuit, which we think he may have drawn incorrectly, uses a small boost converter IC with the expected inductor and diode. His replacement is the tried and tested joule thief, but with a much higher base resistor than its normal application in simply maintaining a battery voltage. It sucks 10 mA from the battery and is regulated with a Zener diode, but there’s still further room for improvement. Adding an extra transistor and using the Zener as a feedback component causes the oscillator to shut off as the voltage increases, something which in this application is fine.
It’s interesting to see a joule thief pushed into a higher voltage application like this, but we sense perhaps it could be made more efficient by seeking out an equivalent to the boost converter chip. Or even
a flyback converter
. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188797",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:36:40",
"content": "Could you make it switch the other way around and make it all yellow? Then you could put a black mask over it and create switchable signs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,371,403.571661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/smart-bulbs-are-turning-into-motion-sensors/ | Smart Bulbs Are Turning Into Motion Sensors | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"home hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"hue",
"philips hue",
"radio",
"RF",
"sensing",
"smart home",
"smarthome",
"wifi",
"wiz",
"zigbee"
] | If you’ve got an existing smart home rig, motion sensors can be a useful addition to your setup. You can use them for all kinds of things, from turning on lights when you enter a room, to shutting off HVAC systems when an area is unoccupied. Typically, you’d add dedicated motion sensors to your smart home to achieve this. But what if your existing smart light bulbs could act as the motion sensors instead?
The Brightest Bulb In The Bulb Box
The most typical traditional motion sensors use passive infrared detection, wherein the sensor picks up on the infrared radiation emitted by a person entering a room. Other types of sensors include break-beam sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and cameras running motion-detection algorithms. All of these technologies can readily be used with a smart home system if so desired. However, they all require the addition of extra hardware. Recently, smart home manufacturers have been exploring methods to enable motion detection
without
requiring the installation of additional dedicated sensors.
Hue Are You?
The technology uses data on radio propagation between multiple smart bulbs to determine whether or not something (or someone) is moving through an area. Credit: Ivani
Philips has achieved this goal with its new
MotionAware
technology, which will be deployed on the company’s new Hue Bridge Pro base station and Hue smart bulbs. The company’s smart home products use Zigbee radios for communication. By monitoring small fluctuations in the Zigbee communications between the smart home devices, it’s possible to determine if a large object, such as a human, is moving through the area. This can be achieved by looking at fluctuations to signal strength, latency, and bit error rates. This allows motion detection using Hue smart bulbs without any specific motion detection hardware required.
Using MotionAware requires end users to buy the latest Philips Hue Bridge Pro base station. As for whether there is some special magic built into this device, or if Phillips merely wants to charge users to upgrade to the new feature? Well, Philips claims
the new bridge is required
because it’s powerful enough to run the AI-powered algorithms that sift the radio data and determine whether motion is occurring. The tech is based on IP
from a company called Ivani
, which developed Sensify—an RF sensing technology that works with WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee signals.
To enable motion detection, multiple Hue bulbs must be connected to the same Hue Bridge Pro, with three to four lights used to create a motion sensing “area” in a given room. When setting up the system, the room must be vacated so the system can calibrate itself. This involves determining how the Zigbee radio signals propagate between devices when nobody—humans or animals—is inside. The system then uses variations from this baseline to determine if something is moving in the room. The system works whether the lights themselves are on or off, because the light isn’t used for sensing—as long as the bulb has power, it can use its radio for sensing motion. Philips notes this only increases standby power consumption by 1%, and a completely negligible amount while the light is actually “on” and outputting light.
Ivani holds patents regarding using radio signals to detect motion in this manner. Credit: US Patent
Qualcomm has a similar patent with far better artwork. Credit: US Patent
There are some limitations to the use of this system. It’s primarily for indoor use, as Philips notes that the system benefits from the way radio waves bounce off surrounding interior walls and objects. Lights should also be separated from 1 to 7 meters apart for optimal use, and effectively create a volume between them in which motion sensing is most effective. Depending on local conditions, it’s also possible that the system may detect motion on adjacent levels or in nearby rooms, so sensitivity adjustment or light repositioning may be necessary. Notably, though, you won’t need new bulbs to use MotionAware. The system will work with all the Hue mains-powered bulbs that have been manufactured since 2014.
The WiZ Kids Were Way Ahead
Philips aren’t the only ones offering in-built motion sensing with their smart home bulbs. WiZ also has a product in this space, which feels coincidental given the company was acquired in 2019 by Philip’s own former lighting division. Unlike Philips Hue, WiZ products rely on WiFi for communication. The company’s SpaceSense technology again relies on perturbations in radio signals between devices, but using WiFi signals instead of Zigbee. What’s more, the company has been at this since 2022
There are some notable differences in Wiz’s technology. SpaceSense is able to work with just two devices at a minimum, and not just lights—you can use any of the company’s newer lights, smart switches, or devices, as long as they’re compatible with SpaceSense, which covers the vast majority of the company’s recent product.
Ultimately, WiZ beat Philips by years with this tech. However, perhaps due to its lower market penetration, it didn’t make the same waves when SmartSense dropped in 2022.
Radio Magic
We’ve seen similar feats before. It’s actually possible to get all kinds of useful information out of modern radio chipsets for physical sensing purposes. We’ve seen systems that
measure a person’s heart rate
using nothing more than perturbations in WiFi transmission over short distances, for example. When you know what you’re looking for, a properly-built algorithm can let you dig usable motion information out of your radio hardware.
Ultimately, it’s neat to see smart home companies expanding their offerings in this way. By leveraging the radio chipsets in existing smart bulbs, engineers have been able to pull out granular enough data to enable this motion-sensing parlour trick. If you’ve ever wanted your loungeroom lights to turn on when you walk in, or a basic security notification when you’re out of the house… now you can do these kinds of things without having to add more hardware. Expect other smart home platforms to replicate this sort of thing in future if it proves practical and popular with end users. | 33 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188739",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:28:55",
"content": "Passive radar for the den? Clever and useful, but does it work in home assistant? So as to not go the way of the Logitech buttons?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,371,403.715112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/pla-gears-fail-to-fail-in-3d-printed-bicycle-drivetrain/ | PLA Gears Fail To Fail In 3D Printed Bicycle Drivetrain | Tyler August | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed gears",
"bicycles",
"bike hacks"
] | Anyone who has ever snapped a chain or a crank knows how much torque a bicycle’s power train has to absorb on a daily basis; it’s really more than one might naively expect. For that reason, [Well Done Tips]’s idea of
3D printing a gear chain from PLA
did not seem like the most promising of hacks to us.
Contrary to expectations, though, it actually worked; at the end of the video (at about 13:25), he’s on camera going 20 km/h, which while not speedy, is faster than we thought the fixed gearing would hold up. The gears themselves, as you can see, are simple spurs, and were modeled in Fusion360 using a handy auto-magical gear tool. The idler gears are held in place by a steel bar he welded to the frame, and are rolling on good old-fashioned skateboard bearings–two each. (Steel ones, not
3D printed bearings
.) The healthy width of the spur gears probably goes a long way to explaining how this contraption is able to survive the test ride.
The drive gear at the wheel is steel-reinforced by part of the donor bike’s cassette, as [Well Done Tips] recognized that the shallow splines on the freewheel hub were not exactly an ideal fit for PLA. He does complain of a squeaking noise during the test ride, and we can’t help but wonder if switching to helical gears might help with that. That or perhaps a bit of lubricant, as he’s currently riding the gears dry. (Given that he, too, expected them to break the moment his foot hit the pedal, we can’t hardly blame him not wanting to bother with grease.)
We’ve
seen studies suggesting
PLA might not be the best choice of plastic for this application; if this wasn’t just a fun hack for a YouTube video, we’d expect nylon would be his best bet. Even then, it’d still be a hack, not a reliable form of transportation. Good thing this isn’t reliable-transportation-a-day! | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190899",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:28:47",
"content": "Neat, and even if it won’t last a long time this would be cool on an art bike.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190900",
"author": "scott_tx",
... | 1,760,371,403.64015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/possibly-the-newest-isa-card/ | Possibly The Newest ISA Card | Al Williams | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"isa bus",
"mass storage",
"sd card"
] | Back when the IBM PC was new, laying out an ISA board was a daunting task. You probably didn’t have a very fast ‘scope, if you had one at all. Board layout was almost certainly done on a drafting table with big pieces of tape. It was hard for small companies, much less hobbyists, to make a new card. You could buy a prototype board and wirewrap or otherwise put together something, but that was also not for the faint of heart. But with modern tools, something like that is a very doable project and [profdc9] has, in fact,
done it
. The card uses an ATMega328P and provides two SD cards for use as mass storage on an old computer.
The design tries to use parts that won’t be hard to get in the future. At least for a while, yet. There’s capacity for expansion, too, as there is an interface for a Wiznet 5500 Ethernet adapter.
Can you imagine if you could transport this card back to the days when the ISA bus was what you had? Just having a computer fast enough to manipulate the bus would have been sorcery in those days.
We don’t know if you need an ISA mass storage card, but if you do, [profdc9] has you covered. Then again, you do have
options
. Or, if you’d rather take a deep dive into the technology,
we can help there
, too. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190849",
"author": "Javier",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:34:46",
"content": "For a prototype get a broken card,Dremel away the components from the slot connections and solder wires from there to your card in mezzanine,that is how I did a custom card for an EPROM programmer in the 9... | 1,760,371,403.766492 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/a-function-generator-from-the-past/ | A Function Generator From The Past | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"function generator",
"magazine",
"XR2206"
] | It’s always a pleasure to find a hardware hacker who you haven’t seen before, and page back through their work. [Bettina Neumryr]’s niche comes in building projects from old electronics magazines, and her latest, a
function generator from the British
Everyday Electronics
magazine in April
1983, is a typical build.
The project uses the XR2206 function generator chip, a favourite of the time. It contains a current controlled oscillator and waveform shaper, and can easily produce square, triangle, and sine waves. It was always a puzzle back in the day why this chip existed as surely the global market for function generators can’t have been that large, however a little bit of background reading for this write-up reveals that its intended application was for producing frequency-shift-keyed sinusoidal tones.
Yellow-stained boards for the win!
The EE project pairs the XR2206 with an op-amp current generator to control the frequency, and another op-amp as an amplifier and signal conditioner. The power supply is typical of the time too, a mains transformer, rectifier, and linear regulators. There are a pair of very period PCBs supplied as print-outs in the magazine for home etching. This she duly does, though with toner transfer which would have been unheard of in 1983. After a few issues with faulty pots and a miswired switch, she has a working function generator which she puts in a very period project box.
It’s interesting to look at this and muse on what’s changed in electronic construction at our level in the last four decades. The PCB is single sided and has that characteristic yellow of ferric chloride etching, it takes up several times the space achievable with the same parts on the professionally-made dual-sided board designed using a modern PCB CAD package we’d use today. A modern take on the same project would probably use a microcontroller and a DAC, and a small switch-mode supply for less money than that transformer would provide the power. But we like the 1983 approach, and we commend [Bettina] for taking it on. The full video is below the break. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190824",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:57:10",
"content": "synthesizers use the same kind of chip as a vco.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191096",
"author": "JA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-1... | 1,760,371,403.814718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/hackaday-podcast-episode-341-qualcomm-owns-arduino-steppers-still-dominate-3d-printing-and-google-controls-your-apps/ | Hackaday Podcast Episode 341: Qualcomm Owns Arduino, Steppers Still Dominate 3D Printing, And Google Controls Your Apps | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | The nights are drawing in for Europeans, and Elliot Williams is joined this week by Jenny List for an evening podcast looking at the past week in all things Hackaday. After reminding listeners of the upcoming Hackaday Supercon and Jawncon events, we take a moment to mark the sad passing of the prolific YouTuber, Robert Murray-Smith.
Before diving into the real hacks, there are a couple of more general news stories with an effect on our community. First, the takeover of Arduino by Qualcomm, and what its effect is likely to be. We try to speculate as to where the Arduino platform might go from here, and even whether it remains the player it once was, in 2025. Then there’s the decision by Google to restrict Android sideloading to only approved-developer APKs unless over ADB. It’s an assault on a user’s rights over their own hardware, as well as something of a blow to the open-source Android ecosystem. What will be our community’s response?
On more familiar territory we have custom LCDs, algorithmic art, and a discussion of non-stepper motors in 3D printing. Even the MakerBot Cupcake makes an appearance. Then there’s a tiny RV, new creative use of an ESP32 peripheral, and the DVD logo screensaver, in hardware. We end the show with a look at why logic circuits use the voltages they do. It’s a smorgasbord of hacks for your listening enjoyment.
Download yourself an MP3
even without a Hackaday Listeners’ License.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 341 Show Notes:
News:
2025 Hackaday Supercon: More Wonderful Speakers
JawnCon Returns This Weekend
Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith
What’s that Sound?
Fill in the form with your best guess
to be entered to win next week.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Qualcomm Introduces The Arduino Uno Q Linux-Capable SBC
Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration
Mesmerizing Patterns From Simple Rules
How To Design Custom LCDs For Your Own Projects
[Joey Castillo] on everything about LCDs
Why Stepper Motors Still Dominate 3D Printing
How Your SID May Not Be As Tuneful As You’d Like
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
A Childhood Dream, Created And Open Sourced
Tips For C Programming From Nic Barker
Finding Simpler Schlieren Imaging Systems
Jenny’s Picks:
Building The DVD Logo Screensaver With LEGO
ESP32 Decodes S/PDIF Like A Boss (Or Any Regular Piece Of Hi-Fi Equipment)
Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Ask Hackaday: Why Is TTL 5 Volts?
The 7400 Quad 2-Input NAND Gate, A Neglected Survivor From A Pre-Microprocessor World
Know Audio: Distortion Part Two | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191041",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:47:52",
"content": "Welcome ADB loader for Android, the solution all the retro emulator people will be using to side load if Google doesn’t back down. It doesn’t exist yet but hopefully we can build it running in Chrome rathe... | 1,760,371,403.974354 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/quic-jump-to-user-space/ | QUIC! Jump To User Space! | Al Williams | [
"Network Hacks"
] | [
"QUIC",
"TCP",
"tcp/ip",
"udp"
] | Everyone knows that Weird Al lampooned computers in a famous parody song (
It’s All About the Pentiums
). But if you want more hardcore (including more hardcore language, so if you are offended by rap music-style explicit lyrics, maybe don’t look this up), you probably want “Kill Dash 9” by
Monzy
. There’s a line in that song about “You thought the seven-layer model referred to a burrito.” In fact, it refers to how networking applications operate, and it is so ingrained that you don’t even hear about it much these days. But as [Codemia] points out,
QUIC aims to disrupt the model, and for good reason
.
Historically, your application (at layer 7) interacts with the network through other layers like the presentation layer and session layer. At layer 4, though, there is the transport layer where two names come into play: TCP and UDP. Generally, UDP is useful where you want to send data and you don’t expect the system to do much. Data might show up at its destination. Or not. Or it might show up multiple times. It might show up in the wrong order. TCP solves all that, but you have little control over how it does that.
When things are congested, there are different strategies TCP can use, but changing them can be difficult. That’s where QUIC comes in. It is like a user-space TCP layer built over a UDP transport. There are a lot of advantages to that, and if you want to know more, or even just want a good overview of network congestion control mitigations, check the post out.
If you want to know more about congestion control,
catch a wave
. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190776",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:16:09",
"content": "Before even looking at this, my immediate impression is that of a BMW taking the shoulder lane when the traffic gets too heavy for their liking.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,371,404.038988 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/this-week-in-security-id-breaches-code-smell-and-poetic-flows/ | This Week In Security: ID Breaches, Code Smell, And Poetic Flows | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"Code Smell",
"CVSS",
"data breach",
"ID verification",
"This Week in Security"
] | Discord
had a data breach back on September 20th
, via an outsourced support contractor. It seems it was a Zendesk instance that was accessed for 58 hours through a compromised contractor user account. There have been numbers thrown around from groups claiming to be behind the breach, like 1.6 Terabytes of data downloaded, 5.5 million user affected, and 2.1 million photos of IDs.
Discord has pushed back on those numbers, stating that it’s about 70,000 IDs that were leaked, with no comments on the other claims. To their credit, Discord has steadfastly refused to pay any ransom. There’s an interesting question here: why were Discord users’ government issued IDs on record with their accounts?
The answer is fairly simple:
legal compliance
. Governments around the world are beginning to require age verification from users. This often takes the form of a scan of valid ID, or even taking a picture of the user while holding the ID. There are many arguments about whether this is a good or bad development for the web, but it looks like ID age verification is going to be around for a while, and it’ll make data breaches more serious.
In similar news,
Salesforce has announced that they won’t be paying any ransoms
to the group behind the compromise of 39 different Salesforce customers. This campaign was performed by calling companies that use the Salesforce platform, and convincing the target to install a malicious app inside their Saleforce instance.
Unity
[RyotaK] from Flatt Security
found an issue in the Unity game engine
, where an intent could influence the command line arguments used to launch the Unity runtime. So what’s an intent?
On Android, an Intent is an object sent between applications indicating an intention. It’s an intra-process messaging scheme. So the problem here is that when sending an intent to a Unity application on Android, a command line option can be included as an extra option. One of those command line options allows loading a local library by name. Since a malicious library load results in arbitrary code execution, this seems like a pretty big problem.
At first it seems that this doesn’t gain an attacker much. Doesn’t a malicious app already need to be running on the device to send a malicious intent? The reality is that it’s often possible to manipulate an innocent app into sending intents, and the browser is no exception. The bigger problem is that a malicious library must first be loaded into a location from which the Unity app can execute. It’s a reasonably narrow window for practical exploitation, but was still
scores an 8.4 severity
. Unity has released fixes for versions all the way back to 2019.1.
Code Smell: Perl?
We have two stories from WatchTwr, packed full of the sardonic wit we have to expect from these write-ups.
The first is about Dell’s UnityVSA
, a Virtual Storage Appliance that recently received a whole slew of security fixes for CVEs. So WatchTowr researchers took a look at the patch set from those fixes, looking for code smell, and found… Perl?
Turns out it wasn’t the presence of Perl that was considered bad code smell, though I’m sure some would argue that point. It was the
$exec_cmd
variable that wasn’t escaped, and Perl backticks were used to execute that string on the system. Was there a way to inject arbitrary bash commands into that string? Naturally, there is. And it’s a reasonably simple HTTP query to run a command. A security advisory and updated release was published by Dell at the end of July, fixing this issue.
Poetic Flow of Vulnerabilities
There’s
an active exploitation campaign being waged against Oracle E-Business Suite instances
, using a zero-day vulnerability. This exploit works over the network, without authentication, and allows Remote Code Execution (RCE). It appears that a threat group known as Graceful Spider, another great name, is behind the exploitation.
The folks at WatchTowr got their hands on a Proof of Concept, and
have reverse engineered it for our edification
. It turns out it’s a chain of little weaknesses that add up to something significant.
It starts with a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), a weakness where a remote service can be manipulated into sending an additional HTTP request on to another URL. This is made more significant by the injection of a Carriage Return/Line Feed (CRLF) attack, that allows injecting additional HTTP headers.
Another quirk of the PoC is that it uses HTTP keep-alive to send all of the malicious traffic down a single HTTP session. And the actual authentication bypass is painfully classic. A
/help
path doesn’t require authentication, and there is no path traversal protection. So the SSRF connection is launched using this
/help/../
pattern, bypassing authentication and landing at a vulnerable
.jsp
endpoint.
That endpoint assembles a URL using the
Host:
header from the incoming connection, and fetches and parses it as an eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) document. And XSL documents are unsafe to load from untrusted sources, because they can lead directly to code execution. It’s a wild ride, and a great example of how multiple small issues can stack up to be quite significant when put together.
Bits and Bytes
Caesar Creek Software
did an audit on a personal medical device
and found issues, but because fixes are still being reviewed by the FDA, we don’t get many details on what exactly this is. Reading between the lines, it sounds like a wearable glucose monitor. It’s based on the nRF52 platform, and the best bit of this research may be using power line fault injection to get Single Wire Debug access to the MCU. They also found what appears to be a remote leak of uninitialized memory, and a Bluetooth Low Energy Man in the Middle attack. Interesting stuff.
And finally, [LaurieWired] has a great intro to the problem of trusting trust with a bit of bonus material on how to build and obfuscate quines while at it. How do you know your compiler binary doesn’t have malware in it? And how do you establish trust again? Enjoy! | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190798",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:36:45",
"content": "Re: Unity bug.So it’s CVSS=0 for Unity on Windows?I mean if you can change cmdline args you already have as many rights as any normally run unity game – no privilege escalation.Or am I missing some crazy w... | 1,760,371,404.160601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/benchvolt-pd-usb-pd-meets-benchtop-precision/ | BenchVolt PD: USB PD Meets Benchtop Precision | Matt Varian | [
"hardware"
] | [
"power delivery",
"power supply",
"usb c power delivery",
"USB Power Delivery"
] | USB power has become ubiquitous — everything from phones to laptops all use it — so why not your lab bench? This is what [EEEngineer4Ever] set out to do with the
BenchVolt PD
USB adjustable bench power supply. This is more than just a simple breakout for standard USB PD voltages, mind you; with adjustable voltages, SCPI support, and much more.
The case is made of laser-cut acrylic, mounted to an aluminum base, not only providing a weighted base but also helping with dissipating heat when pulling the 100 W this is capable of supplying. Inside the clear exterior, not only do you get to peek at all the circuitry but there is also a bright 1.9-inch TFT screen showing the voltage, current, and wattage of the various outputs. There is a knob that can adjust the variable voltage output and navigate through the menu. Control isn’t limited to the knob, mind you; there also is a Python desktop application to make it easy changing the settings and to open up the possibility to integrate its control alongside other automated test equipment.
There are five voltage outputs in this supply: three fixed ones—1.8 V, 2.5 V, and 3.3 V—and two adjustable ones: 0.5-5 V and 2.5-32 V. All five of these outputs are capable of up to 3 A. There are also a variety of waveforms that can be output, blurring the lines between power supply and function generator. While the BenchVolt PD will be open-sourced, [EEEngineer4Ever] will soon be releasing it over on
CrowdSupply
for those interested in one without building one themselves. We are big fans of USB PD gear, so be sure to check out some other
USB PD projects
we’ve featured. | 41 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190690",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:29:29",
"content": "Nice, thank you for sharing! Been looking for the amateur-level stable bench power supply for some while, maybe this will do just nicely.IMHO, finally, someone figures out that signal generator AND re... | 1,760,371,404.235339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/pvc-pipe-structure-design-that-skips-additional-hardware/ | PVC Pipe Structure Design That Skips Additional Hardware | Donald Papp | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"CINTRE",
"PVC",
"salvaged",
"structural"
] | [Baptiste Marx] shares his take on designing emergency structures using PVC pipe in a way that requires an absolute minimum of added parts.
CINTRE
(French, English coverage article
here
) is his collection of joint designs, with examples of how they can be worked into a variety of structures.
Basic joints have many different applications.
PVC pipe is inexpensive, widely available, and can often be salvaged in useful quantities even in disaster areas because of its wide use in plumbing and as conduits in construction. It can be cut with simple tools, and once softened with heat, it can be re-formed easily.
What is really clever about [Baptiste]’s designs is that there is little need for external fasteners or hardware. Cable ties are all that’s required to provide the structural element of many things. Two sawhorse-like assemblies, combined with a flat surface, make up a table, for example.
Soda bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are also common salvage and can be
used as surprisingly sturdy heat-shrink
and even
turned into twine or rope
; perhaps that could be an option if one doesn’t even have access to cable ties. | 28 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191744",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:15:22",
"content": "I suppose you have to choose your zip ties carefully, since some get brittle and break after a while.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191857",
... | 1,760,371,404.1147 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/tubeless-x-ray-runs-on-patience/ | Tubeless X-Ray Runs On Patience | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"americium-241",
"x-ray"
] | Every time we check in on [Project326], he’s doing something different with X-rays. This week, he has a
passive X-ray imager
. On paper, it looks great. No special tube is required and no high voltage needed. Actually, no voltage is needed at all. Of course, there’s no free lunch. What it does take is a long time to produce an image.
While working on the “easy peasy X-ray machine,” dental X-ray film worked well for imaging with a weak X-ray source. He found that the film would also detect exposure to americium 241. So technically, not an X-ray in the strictest sense, but a radioactive image that uses gamma rays to expose the film. But to normal people, a picture of the inside of something is an X-ray even when it isn’t.
What was odd was that he tried three different sources with different materials, and only the Americium made an impression on the film. However, of the three samples, the Americium was the weakest. However, some measurements show that the spectrum of the gamma ray emission for each material is quite different. Clearly, the film was sensitive to a narrow range of gamma rays.
Compared to the previous makeshift X-ray tube, which was weak, the radioactive material emitted just a fraction of that tube’s output. He estimates that the americium, which you can rescue from smoke detectors or repair parts for them, emits less than 1% compared to the tube. He uses twelve of them, however, so the total output should be around 10%.
The image of an IC is impressive. But it also took two days of exposure. Not sure if this would be practical, but if you need imaging after the apocalypse, salvaged smoke detectors and dental film might be what you need.
The upper part of the machine, made from machined copper, looks impressive. It does, however, require some maintenance. We might have been tempted to put some sort of sealant over the copper. The story of how it came to exist isn’t your usual sponsorship story, either.
You might have better luck with the previous
X-ray machine
. Or bite the bullet, get a real X-ray tube, generate about 70 kV, and
make a real one
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191690",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:25:55",
"content": "Project 326 (and their excellently snarky machine narrative) are on the verge of re-inventing field fluoroscopy/image intensifier imaging provided they give up the use of film and use a cheap image in... | 1,760,371,404.279441 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/removing-infill-to-make-3d-printed-parts-much-stronger/ | Removing Infill To Make 3D Printed Parts Much Stronger | Maya Posch | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"FDM",
"finite element analysis"
] | When it comes to FDM 3D prints and making them stronger, most of the focus is on the outer walls and factors like their layer adhesion. However, paying some attention to the often-ignored insides of a model can make a lot of difference in its mechanical properties. Inspired by a string of [Tom Stanton] videos,
[3DJake] had a poke at
making TPU more resilient against breaking when stretched and PLA resistant to snapping when experiencing a lateral force.
Simply twisting the TPU part massively increased the load at which it snapped. Similarly, by removing the infill from the PLA part before replacing it with a hollow cylinder, the test part also became significantly more resilient. A very noticeable result of hollowing out the PLA part: the way that it breaks. A part with infill will basically shatter. But the hollowed-out version remained more intact, rather than ripping apart at the seams. The reason? The hollow cylinder shape is printed to add more walls inside the part. Plus cylinders are naturally more able to distribute loads.
All of this touches on load distribution and designing a component to cope with expected loads in the best way possible. It’s also the reason why
finite element analysis
is such a big part of the CAD world, and something which we may see more of in the world of consumer 3D printing as well in the future.
If you want stronger prints, be sure to check out
brick layers
. Or, consider adding
a little something extra
. | 20 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191560",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T11:21:46",
"content": "It’s well known (but worth repeating) that infill contributes little to the overall strength of a part. Wall thickness is overwhelmingly the major factor.Infill is predominantly just internal support for t... | 1,760,371,404.333047 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/the-subtle-art-of-letterform-design/ | The Subtle Art Of Letterform Design | Donald Papp | [
"Art"
] | [
"design",
"font",
"typeface",
"typography"
] | Typeface
(such as
Times New Roman
) refers to the design that gives a set of letters, numbers, and symbols their signature “look”.
Font
, on the other hand, is a specific implementation of a typeface, for example,
Times New Roman Italic 12 pt
.
‘Q’ is a counterpoint to the idea that typography is just one fussy detail after another.
Right about this point, some of you are nodding along and perhaps thinking “oh, that’s interesting,” while the rest of you are already hovering over your browser’s Back button. If you’re one of the former, you may be interested in checking out
the (sort of) interactive tour of typography design elements
by the Ohno Type School, a small group that loves design.
On one hand, letters are simple and readily recognizable symbols. But at the same time, their simplicity puts a lot of weight on seemingly minor elements. Small changes can have a big visual impact. The tour lays bare answers to questions such as: What is the optimal parting of the cheeks of a capital ‘B’? At what height should the crossbar on an ‘A’ sit, and why does it look so weird if done incorrectly? And yet, the tail of a ‘Q’ can be just about anything? How and why does an ‘H’ define the spacing of the entire typeface? All these (and more) are laid bare.
Font design in the hardware world is often constrained by display or memory limitations, but artistry in typography is still something that we’ve seen expressed in many different and wonderful ways over the years. For example, we covered
a typeface whose symbols are not letters, but scope traces
. And one enterprising fellow generated
a new font (Avería) based on the average of every other font
installed on his computer. The result was surprisingly attractive. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191471",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:31:33",
"content": "I’m glad you covered this and I’m going to explore further. I didn’t realize there was a difference between typeface and font.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"commen... | 1,760,371,404.554545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/save-your-usb-c-plugs-from-oblivion/ | Save Your USB-C Plugs From Oblivion | Jenny List | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"strain relief",
"USB C"
] | USB-C as the “One Cable To Rule Them All” has certainly been a success. While USB-A is still around for now, most of us have breathed a hefty sigh of relief with the passing of micro-USB and the several display and power standards it replaces. It’s not without its minor issues though. One of them is that it’s as susceptible as any other cable to a bit of strain. For that, we think [NordcaForm]’s
3D-printed USB-C cable strain relief
is definitely a cut above the rest.
Waxing lyrical about a simple 3D printed model might seem overkill for Hackaday, and it’s true, it’s not something we do often, but as Hackaday writers travel around with plenty of USB-C connected peripherals, we like the design of this one. It’s flexible enough to be useful without resorting to exotic filaments, and since it’s available in a few different forms with curved or straight edges, we think it can find a place in many a cable setup. Certainly more of an everyday carry than
a previously featured 3D print
. If you want to learn more about USB C, we have a
whole series
of posts for you to binge read. | 54 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191398",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:23:21",
"content": "If it was a way to make right angle short ends, but it’s a way to put a longer lever into the poor socket which is much harder to replace. The right way to strain relief of a cord is a radiused funnel n... | 1,760,371,404.505286 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/bose-soundtouch-smart-wifi-speakers-are-about-to-go-dumb/ | Bose SoundTouch Smart WiFi Speakers Are About To Go Dumb | Maya Posch | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"bose",
"planned obsolescence",
"SoundTouch"
] | Bose SoundTouch speakers were introduced in 2013, offering the ability to connect to online streaming services and play back audio on multiple speakers simultaneously using the accompanying mobile app. Now these features are about to be removed, including the mobile app, as Bose is
set to discontinue support
on February 18, 2026. From that point onwards, you can only use them via Bluetooth or physical connectors that may be present, like an audio jack or HDMI port. This includes fancy home theater system hardware like the above SoundTouch 520.
That is the official line, at least. We have seen the SoundTouch on Hackaday previously, when it was discovered
how to gain root shell access
to the Linux OS that powers the original SoundTouch system with Telnet access on port 17,000 to pass the listening service the
remote_services on
command before connecting with Telnet as usual, with
root
and no password. A quick glance at the comments to that post suggests that this is still a valid approach for at least certain SoundTouch devices.
The fallout from this announcement appears to be twofold: most of all that ‘smart’ features like WiFi-based streaming can be dropped at any time. But it also makes us realize that hardware hackers like us will never run out of new and suddenly obsolete hardware that need our rescue. | 28 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191364",
"author": "Chr El",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T02:31:40",
"content": "Another one bites the dust.Really a shame how much the MBAs have ruined Bose.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191384",
"author": "limroh",
... | 1,760,371,404.62044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/a-deep-dive-into-the-coolness-that-was-crt-projectors/ | A Deep Dive Into The Coolness That Was CRT Projectors | Donald Papp | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"calibration",
"crt",
"projector",
"vintage"
] | CRT monitors: there’s nothing quite like ’em. But did you know that video projectors used to use CRTs? A trio of monochrome CRTs, in fact: one for each color; red, green, and blue. By their powers combined,
these monsters were capable of fantastic resolution and image quality
. Despite being nowhere near as bright as modern projectors, after being properly set up, [Technology Connections] says it’s still one of the best projected images he has seen outside of a movie theatre.
After a twenty-minute startup to reach thermal equilibrium, one can settle down with a chunky service manual for a ponderous calibration process involving an enormous remote control. The reward is a fantastic (albeit brightness-limited) picture.
Still, these projectors had drawbacks. They were limited in brightness, of course. But they were also complex, labor-intensive beasts to set up and calibrate. On the other hand, at least they were heavy.
[Technology Connections] gives us a good look at the Sony VPH-D50HT Mark II CRT Projector in its tri-lobed, liquid-cooled glory. This model is a relic by today’s standards, but natively supports 1080i via component video input and even preserves image quality and resolution by reshaping the image in each CRT to perform things like keystone correction, thus compensating for projection angle right at the source. Being an analog device, there is no hint of screen door effect or any other digital artifact. The picture is just
there
, limited only by the specks of phosphor on the face of each tube.
Converging and calibrating three separate projectors really was a nontrivial undertaking. There are some similarities to the big screen rear-projection TVs of the 90s and early 2000s (which were then displaced by plasma and flat-panel LCD displays). Unlike enclosed rear-projection TVs, the screen for projectors was not fixed, which meant all that calibration needed to be done on-site. A walkthrough of what that process was like — done with the help of many test patterns and a remote control that is as monstrous as it is confusing — starts at 15:35 in the video below.
Like rear-projection TVs, these projectors were displaced by newer technologies that were lighter, brighter, and easier to use. Still, just like other CRT displays, there was
nothing quite like them
. And if you find esoteric projector technologies intriguing, we have a feeling you will love
the Eidophor
. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191346",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:12:31",
"content": "Yes. I had one in my Home theatre room back in the day. my mom also had one in her place. They were a little bit of a pain to setup but once all was done and in the nice dark room it was grand for it’s time... | 1,760,371,404.68061 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/a-childhood-dream-created-and-open-sourced/ | A Childhood Dream, Created And Open Sourced | Tyler August | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"force sensor",
"midi",
"softpot",
"violin"
] | Some kids dream about getting a pony, others dream about a small form factor violin-style MIDI controller. [Brady Y. Lin] was one of the latter, and now, with the skills he’s learning at Northwestern,
he can make that dream a reality
— and share it with all of us as an open source hardware project.
The dream instrument’s name is Stradex1, and it’s a lovely bit of kit. The “fretless” neck is a SoftPot linear potentiometer being sampled by an ADS1115 ADC — that’s a 16-bit unit, so while one might pedantically argue that there are discreet frets, there’s 2^15 of them, which is functionally the same as none at all. Certainly it’s enough resolution for continuous-sounding pitch control, as well as vibrato, as you can see at 3:20 in the demo video below. The four buttons that correspond to the four strings of a violin aren’t just push-buttons, but also contain force sensors (again, sampled by the 16-bit ADC) to allow for fine volume control of each tone.
A few other potentiometers flesh out the build, allowing control over different MIDI parameters, such as what key [Brady] is playing on. The body is a combination of 3D printed plastic and laser-cut acrylic, but [Brady] suggests you could also print the front and back panels if you don’t happen to have a laser cutter handy.
This project sounds great, and it satisfies the maker’s inner child, so what’s not to love. We’ve had lots of
MIDI controllers
on Hackaday over the years — everything from
stringless guitars
to wheel-less
Hurdy-Gurdies
to say nothing of
laser harps galore
— but somehow, we’ve never had a MIDI violin. The
violin hacks
we have featured tend to be either
3D printed
or
comically small
.
If you like this project but don’t feel like fabbing and populating the PCB, [Brady] is going to be giving one away to his 1000th YouTube subscriber. As of this writing, he’s only got 800, so that could be you! | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188648",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:34:08",
"content": "Nice.A couple years ago I was looking at making something similar but couldn’t find any soft-pots that were long enough, I think the longest I found was 15cm when I wanted closer to 30cm as a violinist.",... | 1,760,371,404.726409 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/a-lorenz-teletype-shows-us-its-secrets/ | A Lorenz Teletype Shows Us Its Secrets | Jenny List | [
"Network Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"lorenz",
"teletype",
"terminal"
] | When we use the command line on Linux, we often refer to it as a
terminal
. It’s a word with a past invoking images of serial terminals, rows of green-screened machines hooked up to a central computer somewhere. Those in turn were electronic versions of mechanical teletypes, and it’s one of these machines we’re bringing you today. [DipDoT]
has a Lorenz teletype from the 1950s
, and he’s taking us through servicing and cleaning it, eventually showing us its inner workings.
The machine in question had been in storage for many years, but remained in good condition. To be this long out of use though meant it needed a thorough clean, so he sets about oiling the many hundreds of maintenance points listed in a Lorenz manual. It’s a pleasant surprise for us to see keyboard and printer unit come away from the chassis for servicing so easily, and by stepping it through its operation step by step we can see how it works in detail. It even incorporates an identifier key — think of it as a mechanical ROM that stores a sequence of letters — which leads him to believe it may have come from a New York news office. The video is below the break, and makes for an interesting watch.
He’s going to use it with a relay computer, but if you don’t have one of those
there are more modern ways to do it
. | 23 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188589",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:18:03",
"content": "@05:40 “The oil I’m using is just standard sewing machine oil”.You mean that stuff that dries up after 2 years and forms a sticky and gummy residue that does not lubricate?I once bought a 2nd hand sewing... | 1,760,371,404.788977 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/a-new-cartridge-for-an-old-computer/ | A New Cartridge For An Old Computer | Bryan Cockfield | [
"News"
] | [
"3d printing",
"assembly",
"c64",
"cartridge",
"commodore",
"demo",
"ieee spectrum",
"memory",
"programming",
"rom",
"tl866"
] | Although largely recognizable to anyone who had a video game console in the 80s or 90s, cartridges have long since disappeared from the computing world. These squares of plastic with a few ROM modules were a major route to get software for a time, not only for consoles but for PCs as well. Perhaps most famously, the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64 had cartridge slots for both gaming and other software packages. As part of the Chip Hall of Fame created by IEEE Spectrum,
[James] found himself building a Commodore cartridge more than three decades after last working in front of one of these computers
.
[James] points out that even by the standards of the early 80s the Commodore cartridges were pretty low on specs. They’re limited to 16 kB, which means programming in assembly and doing things like interacting with video hardware directly. Luckily there’s a treasure trove of documentation about the C64 nowadays as well as a number of modern programming tools for them, in contrast to the 80s when tools and documentation were scarce or nonexistent. Hardware these days is cheap as well; the cartridge PCB and other hardware cost only a few dollars, and the case for it can easily be 3D printed.
Burning the software to the $3 ROM chip was straightforward as well with a TL866 programmer, although [James] left a piece of memory management code in the first pass which caused the C64 to lock up. Removing this code and flashing the chip again got the demo up and running though, and it’ll be on display at their travelling “Chips that Changed the World” exhibit. If you find yourself in the opposite situation, though,
we’ve also seen projects that cleverly pull the data off of ancient C64 ROM chips for preservation
. | 14 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188592",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:23:32",
"content": "Cartridges disappeared?What about USB sticks and uSD cards?They have not disappeared, but just gotten a bit smaller.If the U.S.A was so good, then why did they invent an USB?",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,371,405.026713 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/google-confirms-non-adb-apk-installs-will-require-developer-registration/ | Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration | Maya Posch | [
"Android Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"android",
"drm"
] | After the news cycle recently exploded with the announcement that Google would require every single Android app to be from a registered and verified developer, while killing third-party app stores and sideloading in the process, Google has now tried to put out some of the fires with
a new Q&A blog post
and a
video discussion
(also embedded below).
When
we first covered
the news, all that was known for certain was the schedule, with the first trials beginning in October of 2025 before a larger rollout the next year. One of the main questions pertained to installing apps from sources that are not the Google Play Store. The answer here is that the only way to install an app without requiring one to go through the developer verification process is by installing the app with the Android Debug Bridge, or
adb
for short.
The upcoming major release of Android 16 will feature a new process called the
Android Developer Verifier
, which will maintain a local cache of popular verified apps. The remaining ones will require a call back to the Google mothership where the full database will be maintained. In order to be a verified Android developer you must have a Google Play account, pay the $25 fee and send Google a scan of your government-provided ID. This doesn’t mean that you cannot also distribute your app also via F-Droid, it does however mean that you need to be a registered Play Store developer, negating many of the benefits of those third-party app stores.
Although Google states that they will also introduce a ‘free developer account type’, this will only allow your app to be installed on a limited number of devices, without providing an exact number so far. Effectively this would leave having users install unsigned APKs via the
adb
tool as the sole way to circumvent the new system once it is fully rolled out by 2027. On an unrelated note, Google’s blog post also is soliciting feedback from the public on these changes. | 161 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188478",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:29:12",
"content": "Freedom-embracing goverments will hate this. Those with clout may force Google to make exceptions within their bordes. Freedom-hating goverments will love this, it’s one more step of a long march towards ... | 1,760,371,404.979521 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/finding-simpler-schlieren-imaging-systems/ | Finding Simpler Schlieren Imaging Systems | Aaron Beckendorf | [
"Science"
] | [
"optics",
"Schlieren",
"Schlieren photography",
"shadowgraph"
] | Perhaps the most surprising thing about shadowgraphs is how simple they are: you simply take a point source of light, pass the light through a the volume of air to be imaged, and record the pattern projected on a screen; as light passes through the transition between areas with different refractive indices, it gets bent in a different direction, creating shadows on the viewing screen. [Degree of Freedom] started with these simple shadowgraphs, moved on to the more advanced schlieren photography, and eventually came up with a
technique sensitive enough
to register the body heat from his hand.
The most basic component in a shadowgraph is a point light source, such as the sun, which in experiments was enough to project the image of an escaping stream of butane onto a sheet of white paper. Better point sources make the imaging work over a wider range of distances from the source and projection screen, and a magnifying lens makes the image brighter and sharper, but smaller. To move from shadowgraphy to schlieren imaging, [Degree of Freedom] positioned a razor blade in the focal plane of the magnifying lens, so that it cut off light refracted by air disturbances, making their shadows darker. Interestingly, if the light source is small and point-like enough, adding the razor blade makes almost no difference in contrast.
With this basic setup under his belt, [Degree of Freedom] moved on to more unique schlieren setups. One of these replaced the magnifying lens with a standard camera lens in which the aperture diaphragm replaced the razor blade, and another replaced the light source and razor with a high-contrast black-and-white pattern on a screen. The most sensitive technique was what he called double-pinhole schlieren photography, which used a pinhole for the light source and another pinhole in place of the razor blade. This could image the heated air rising from his hand, even at room temperature.
The high-contrast background imaging system is reminiscent of
this technique
, which uses a camera and a known background to compute schlieren images. If you’re interested in a more detailed look, we’ve
covered schlieren photography
in depth before.
Thanks to [kooshi] for the tip! | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188593",
"author": "Klaus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:25:57",
"content": "Thanks for the insight into this interesting technology. Your penultimate setup is closer to a telecentric backlight than to a schlieren optic, in my opinion. Or to koehler illumination as used in microscop... | 1,760,371,405.069545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/2g-gone-bring-it-back-yourself/ | 2G Gone? Bring It Back Yourself! | Tyler August | [
"Phone Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"2g",
"2G network",
"GSM base station",
"sdr",
"vintage phone"
] | Some parts of the world still have ample 2G coverage; for those of in North America, 2G is long gone and 3G has either faded into dusk or beginning its sunset. The legendary [dosdude1] shows us it need not be so, however:
Building a Custom 2G GSM Cellular Base Station
is not out of reach, if you are willing to pay for it. His latest videos show us how.
Before you start worrying about the FCC or its equivalents, the power here is low enough not to penetrate [dosdude]’s walls, but technically this does rely in flying under the radar. The key component is a Nuand BladeRF x40 full-duplex Software Defined Radio, which is a lovely bit of open-source hardware, but not exactly cheap. Aside from that, all you need is a half-decent PC (it at least needs USB-3.0 to communicate with the SDR, the “YateBTS” software (which [dosdude1] promises to provide a setup guide for in a subsequent video) and a sim card reader. Plus some old phones, of course, which is rather the whole point of this exercise.
The 2G sunset, especially when followed by 3G, wiped out whole generations of handhelds — devices with
unique industrial design
and forgotten
internet protocols
that are worth remembering and keeping alive. By the end of the video, he has his own little network, with the phones able to call and text one another on the numbers he set up, and even (slowly) access the internet through the miniPC’s network connection.
Unlike
most of the hacks
we’ve featured from [dosdude1], you won’t even
need a soldering iron
, never
mind a reflow oven for BGA. | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188416",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:15:37",
"content": "I wonder if low power transmissions fall under part 15…Either way this is a rather interesting look into cellular technologies. even if it is 2g. Nice work man!",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,371,405.134165 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/logitech-pop-buttons-are-about-to-go-pop/ | Logitech POP Buttons Are About To Go Pop | Maya Posch | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"logitech",
"smart home"
] | For those who missed out on the past few years of ‘smart home’ gadgets, the Logitech POP buttons were introduced in 2018 as a way to control smart home devices using these buttons and a central hub. After a few years of Logitech gradually turning off features on this $100+ system, it seems that Logitech will turn off the lights in two weeks from now. Remaining POP Button users
are getting emails
from Logitech in which they
are informed
of the shutdown on October 15 of 2025, along with a 15% off coupon code for the Logitech store.
Along with this coupon code only being usable for US-based customers, this move appears to disable the hub and with it any interactions with smart home systems like Apple HomeKit, Sonos,
IFTTT
and Philips Hue. If Logitech’s claim in the email that the buttons and connected hub will ‘lose all functionality’, then it’d shatter the hopes for those who had hoped to keep using these buttons in a local fashion.
Suffice it to say that this is a sudden and rather customer-hostile move by Logitech. Whether the hub can be made to work in a local fashion remains to be seen. At first glance there don’t seem to be any options for this, and it’s rather frustrating that Logitech doesn’t seem to be interested in the goodwill that it would generate to enable this option. | 71 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188336",
"author": "Steven Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:10:16",
"content": "The second S in IoT stands for Support.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188347",
"author": "El Gru",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06... | 1,760,371,405.280296 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/inside-a-germanium-transistor/ | Inside A Germanium Transistor | Jenny List | [
"Parts"
] | [
"germanium",
"OC71",
"transistor"
] | The first transistors were point contact devices, not far from the cats-whiskers of early radio receivers. They were fragile and expensive, and their performance was not very high. The transistor which brought the devices to a mass audience through the 1950s and 1960s was the one which followed, the alloy diffusion type. [Play With Junk] has a failed OC71 PNP alloy diffusion transistor, first introduced in 1957,
and has cracked it open for a closer look
.
Inside the glass tube is a small wafer of germanium crystal, surrounded by silicone grease. It forms the N-type base of the device, with the collector and emitter being small indium beads fused into the germanium. The junctions were formed by the resulting region of germanium/indium alloy. The outside of the tube is pained black because the device is light-sensitive, indeed a version of this transistor without the paint was sold as the OCP71 phototransistor.
These devices were leaky and noisy, with a low maximum frequency and low gain. But they were reliable and eventually affordable, so
some of us even cut our electronic teeth on them
. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190659",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:09:09",
"content": "Oh my electronic teeth really cut on OC71:)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190660",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:12... | 1,760,371,405.175879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/one-rom-gets-a-usb-stack/ | One ROM Gets A USB Stack | John Elliot V | [
"hardware",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"One ROM",
"usb"
] | Our hacker [Piers Finlayson] is at it again, and this time he has
added USB support to One ROM
.
With this new connectivity you can attach your One ROM to your computer with a USB cable and then in a matter of seconds upload new firmware from your Chrome (or Chromium) web browser. This new connectivity will supplement but not replace the existing serial wire connectivity because the serial wire connectivity enables certain advanced use cases not supported by the USB stack, such as reprogramming a ROM in-place as it’s being served. The new USB interface will probably suit most users who just want to use One ROM to manage the ROMs for their old kit and who don’t need the extra functionality.
Addressing the question as to why he didn’t have USB connectivity from the start [Piers] claimed it was because he didn’t like soldering the USB sockets! But given this is a service he can get from his board house that is no longer his problem! [Piers] said he picked Micro USB over USB-C because the former demands less circuit board real estate than the latter. Squeezing everything on to the board remains a challenge!
[Piers] isolates the two power subsystems with
Schottky diodes
. This keeps the One ROM and USB power sources separate, meaning they can safely be used at the same time. The USB support also demanded the inclusion of an external 12 MHz oscillator but only needed three extra pins on the micro: VBUS, D+, and D-.
The fun thing about this video is the number of false starts and red herrings [Piers] chases down as he does his diagnoses. This is how the sausage is made! And speaking of making sausage, [Piers] has recorded an additional two hour video showing how he laid out the new USB version in KiCad:
One ROM Fire USB – Laying out RP2350 + USB in 1/2 x 1 inch
.
If you haven’t been keeping track with where we’re at with One ROM we first heard of it
back in July
with an
update in September
, and since then
[Piers] appeared on FLOSS Weekly
, so be sure to check that out! It has been fun to watch this project develop and we look forward to seeing where [Piers] takes it in future, wishing him every success. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190624",
"author": "Nath",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:37:55",
"content": "Damn, this one ROM is an awesome project! Too bad they didn’t consider a 28 and a 32-pin option, it would have been a killer for systems like the Philips VideoWriter :https://hackaday.io/project/25664-anatom... | 1,760,371,405.505131 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/the-fascinating-waveguide-technology-inside-metas-ray-ban-display-glasses/ | The Fascinating Waveguide Technology Inside Meta’s Ray-Ban Display Glasses | Maya Posch | [
"Teardown",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"smart glasses",
"teardown"
] | The geometric waveguide glass of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. (Credit iFixit)
Recently the avid teardown folk over at iFixit got their paws on Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses, for a
literal in-depth look at these smart glasses
. Along the way they came across the fascinating geometric waveguide technology that makes the floating display feature work so well. There’s also an
accompanying video
of the entire teardown, for those who enjoy watching a metal box cutter get jammed into plastic.
Overall, these smart glasses can be considered to be somewhat repairable, as you can pry the arms open with a bit of heat. Inside you’ll find the 960 mWh battery and a handful of PCBs, but finding spare parts for anything beyond perhaps the battery will be a challenge. The front part of the glasses contain the antennae and the special lens on the right side that works with the liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) projector to reflect the image back to your eye.
While LCoS has been used for many years already, including Google Glass, it’s the glass that provides the biggest technological advancement. Instead of the typical diffractive waveguide it uses a geometric reflective waveguide made by
Schott
, with the technology developed by
Lumus
for use in augmented reality (AR) applications. This is supposed to offer better optical efficiency, as well as less light leakage into or out of the waveguide.
Although definitely impressive technology, the overall repairability score of these smart glasses is pretty low, and you have to contest with both looking incredibly dorky and some people considering you to be
a bit of a glasshole
. | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190488",
"author": "Alex Topic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:18:07",
"content": "I hope for LInux support with Gnome and KDE Plasma Desktops incorporate AR support in the near future and treat it like another monitor. I am glad AR is maturing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,371,405.468715 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/motors-make-the-best-knobs-with-simplefoc/ | Motors Make The Best Knobs With SimpleFOC | Tyler August | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bldc motor",
"digital volume control",
"esc",
"FOC",
"motor controller",
"SimpleFOC"
] | The worst thing about a volume knob is that, having connected it to a computer, it might be wrong: if you’ve manually altered the volume settings somewhere else, the knob’s reading won’t be correct. [I Got Distracted] has a
quick tutorial on YouTube
showing how to use a BLDC, a hall effect sensor, Pi Pico and the SimpleFOC library to make a knob with active haptic feedback and positioning.
We covered the SimpleFOC library
a few years ago, but in case you missed it, it’s, well, a simple library for FOC on all of our favorite microcontrollers, from Arduino to ESP to Pico. FOC stands for field-oriented control, which is a particular way of providing smooth, precise control to BLDCs. (That’s a BrushLess DC motor, if the slightly-odd acronym is new to you.) [I Got Distracted] explains exactly how that works, and shows us just how simple the SimpleFOC project is to use in this video. Why, they even produce their own motor controllers, for a fully-integrated experience. (You aren’t restricted to that hardware, but it certainly does make things easy.)
The haptic feedback and self-dialing knob make for an easy introductory project, but seeing how quick it hacks together, you can doubtless think of other possibilities. The SimpleFOC controller used in this video is limited to relatively small motors, but if you want to drive hundreds of kilowatts through open source hardware,
we’ve covered that, too.
Arguably, using a motor as a knob isn’t within the design spec, and so could almost qualify for our ongoing
Component Abuse Challenge
, had [I Got Distracted] thought to enter. | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190456",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:58:46",
"content": "my old stereo had a similar construction so when you changed the volume with the remote the physical knob would turn appropriately.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,371,405.403183 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/2025-component-abuse-challenge-the-sweet-sound-of-a-choking-transformer/ | 2025 Component Abuse Challenge: The Sweet Sound Of A Choking Transformer | Tyler August | [
"contests"
] | [
"audio",
"choke",
"variable choke"
] | The Component Abuse Challenge is dragging all sorts of old, half-forgotten hacks out of the woodwork, but this has got to be the most vintage: [KenS] started using
a transformer as a variable choke
on his speakers 55 years ago.
The hack is pretty bone-dead simple. A choke is an inductor in an audio (or any other) circuit designed to, well, choke off higher-than-desired frequencies. We
featured a deep dive
a few years back if you’re interested. An inductor is a coil of wire, usually (but not necessarily) wound around a core of iron or ferrite. A transformer? Well, that’s also a coil of wire around a core… plus an extra coil of wire. So when [KenS], back in his salad days, had a tweeter that a was a little too tweety, and no proper choke, he grabbed a transformer instead.
This is where inspiration hit: sure, if you leave the second winding open, the transformer acts like a standard choke. What happens if you short that second winding? Well, you dampen the response of the first winding, and it stops choking, to the point that it acts more like a straight wire. What happens if you don’t short the second winding, but don’t leave it wide open? [KenS] stuck a potentiometer on there, and found it made a handy-dandy variable choke with which to perfectly tune the tone response of his speakers. Changing the resistance changes the rate at which high frequencies are choked off, allowing [KenS] to get the perfect frequency response with which to rock out to Simon & Garfunkel, The Carpenters and The Guess Who. (According to the Billboard Top 100 for 1970, those are who you’d be listening to if you had conventional tastes.)
While we can’t say the transformer is really being tortured in this unusual mode, it’s certainly not how it was designed, so would qualify for the “Junk Box Substitutions” category of the Component Abuse Challenge. If you’ve made similar substitutions you’d like to share, don’t wait another 55 years to write them up– the contest closes November 11th.
Transformer image: Hannes Grobe,
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190407",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:13:16",
"content": "Now, for bonus points, put DC through that winding to vary the inductance, and go really old school, like turn of thepreviouscentury.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,371,405.558031 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/2025-component-abuse-challenge-load-cell-anemometer/ | 2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Load Cell Anemometer | Tyler August | [
"contests"
] | [
"2025 Component Abuse Challenge",
"anemometer",
"ESP32",
"load cell"
] | When you think anemometer, you probably don’t think “load cell” — but (statistically speaking) you probably don’t live in Hurricane Country, which is hard on wind-speed-measuring-whirligigs. When [BLANCHARD Jordan] got tired of replacing professionally-made meteorological eggbeaters, he decided he needed something without moving parts. Whatever he came up with would probably qualify for the Component Abuse Challenge, but the
choice of load cells of all things to measure wind speed
? Yeah, that’s not what the manufacturer intended them for.
In retrospect, it’s actually a fairly obvious solution: take a plate of known area, and you’re going to get a specific force at a given air speed. The math isn’t hard, it’s just not how we normally see this particular measurement done. Of course, a single plate would have to be pivoted to face the wind for an accurate reading, which means moving parts– something specifically excluded from the design brief. [Jordan] instead uses a pair of load cells, mounted 90 degrees to one another, for his anemometer. One measures the force in a north-south axis, and the other east-west, allowing him to easily calculate both wind speed and direction. In theory, that is. Unfortunately, he vibe coded the math with ChatGPT, and it looks like it doesn’t track direction all that well. The vibe code runs on an ESP32 is responsible for polling data, tossing outliers, and zeroing out the load cells on the regular.
The red lines are from the load-cell equipped weather station; the blue is from a commercial model by Davis. Everything but direction tracks pretty well.
If you’re feeling forgiving towards abominable intelligence, the problem might not be code, but could potentially be related to the geometry of the wind-catchers. To catch the wind coming from any angle, instead of a flat plate, a series of angled circular vanes are used, as you can see from the image.
Given that arrangement is notably not symmetrical, that might be what throws off the direction reading. Still, the wind speed measurements are in very good agreement with known-good readings. The usual rotating bird perch doesn’t measure direction either, so this solid-state replacement should be just as good.
If you like the idea of hacking components to do something the designer never intended, the
2025 Component Abuse Challenge
runs until November 11th — just don’t wait until the 11th hour, because entries close at 10 AM Pacific. | 22 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190283",
"author": "Bernoulli's Cannoli",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:08:27",
"content": "Instead of intersecting plates, why not just a sphere? Sure, it would be more aerodynamic than the plates, but symmetry would be preserved in all directions, and simple calibration would compe... | 1,760,371,405.671975 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/holy-parachute-out-of-kirigami/ | Holy Parachute Out Of Kirigami | Ian Bos | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"aerodynamics",
"kirigami",
"origami"
] | If you have a fear of heights and find yourself falling out of an airplane, you probably don’t want to look up to find your parachute full of holes. However, if the designer took inspiration from
kirigami in the same way researchers have
, you may be in better shape than you would think. This is because properly designed kirigami can function as a simple and effective parachute.
Kirigami, for those unfamiliar, is a cousin of origami where, instead of folding, you cut slits into paper. In this case, the paper effectively folds itself after being dropped, which allows the structure to create drag in ways similar to traditional parachute designs. Importantly, however, the stereotypical designs of parachutes have some more severe drawbacks than they appear. Some major issues include more obvious things, such as having to fold and unpack before and after dropping. What may be less obvious are the large eddies that traditional parachutes create or their ease at being disturbed by the surrounding wind.
The kirigami chutes fix these issues while being easier to manufacture and apply. While these are not likely to be quite as effective for human skydiving, more durable applications may benefit. Quoted applications, including drone delivery or disaster relief, worry more about accuracy and scalability rather than the fragile bones of its passenger.
Clever and simple designs are always fun to try to apply to your own projects, so if you want to have your own hand, make sure to check out the
paper itself here
. For those more interested in clever drone design to take inspiration from, look no further than this
maple seed-inspired drone
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190243",
"author": "GameboyRMH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:04:57",
"content": "Reminds me of the Ribbon Chute from MDK, I wonder if this could be made similarly rapid-stowable? Maybe even making the disc inflatable so that when it’s deflated, it’s super soft and could be haphazar... | 1,760,371,405.609057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/floss-weekly-episode-850-one-rom-to-rule-them-all/ | FLOSS Weekly Episode 850: One ROM To Rule Them All | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"FLOSS Weekly",
"One ROM",
"retrocomputing"
] | This week
Jonathan
and Aaron chat with Piers Finlayson about One ROM! Why does the retro-computing world need a solution for replacement ROMs? How difficult was it to squeeze a MCU and layout into the original ROM footprint? And what’s next for the project? Listen to find out!
https://piers.rocks/
https://onerom.org/
https://github.com/piersfinlayson/one-rom
https://github.com/piersfinlayson/airfrog
Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on
our YouTube Channel
? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us!
Take a look at the schedule here
.
Direct Download
in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along,
here’s the transcript for this week’s episode
.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:
Spotify
RSS
Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under
Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,371,405.709985 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/ask-hackaday-why-is-ttl-5-volts/ | Ask Hackaday: Why Is TTL 5 Volts? | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"5v",
"history",
"standards"
] | The familiar five volts standard from back in the TTL days always struck me as odd. Back when I was just a poor kid trying to cobble together my first circuits from
the Forrest Mims
Engineer’s Notebook
, TTL was always a problem. That narrow 4.75 V to 5.25 V spec for Vcc was hard to hit, thanks to being too poor to buy or build a dedicated 5 V power supply. Yes, I could have wired up four 1.5 V dry cells and used a series diode to drop it down into range, but that was awkward and went through batteries pretty fast once you got past more than a few chips.
As a hobbyist, the five volt TTL standard always seemed a little capricious, but I strongly suspected there had to be a solid reason behind it. To get some insights into the engineering rationale, I did what anyone living in the future would do: I asked ChatGPT. My question was simple: “How did five volts become the standard voltage for TTL logic chips?” And while overall the answers were plausible, like every other time I use the chatbot, they left me wanting more.
Circular Logic
TTL, 5 volts and going strong since 1976 (at least). Source:
Audrius Meskauskas
, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The least satisfying of ChatGPT’s answers all had a tinge of circular reasoning to them: “IBM and other big computer makers adopted 5 V logic in their designs,” and thanks to their market power, everyone else fell in line with the five volt standard. ChatGPT also blamed “The Cascade Effect” of Texas Instruments’ standardization of five volts for their TTL chips in 1964, which “set the tone for decades” and forced designers to expect chips and power supplies to provide five volt rails. ChatGPT also cited “Compatibility with Existing Power Supplies” as a driver, and that regulated five volt supplies were common in computers and military electronics in the 1960s. It also cited the development of the 7805 linear regulator in the late 1960s as a driver.
All of this seems like nonsense, the equivalent of saying, “Five volts became the standard because the standard was five volts.” What I was after was an engineering reason for five volts, and luckily, an intriguing clue was buried in ChatGPT’s responses along with the drivel: the characteristics of BJT transistors, and the tradeoffs between power dissipation and speed.
The TTL family has been around for a surprisingly long time. Invented in 1961, TTL integrated circuits have been used commercially since 1963, with the popular 7400-series of logic chips being introduced in 1964. All this development occurred long before MOS technology, with its wider supply range, came into broad commercial use, so TTL — as well as all the precursor logic families, like diode-transistor logic (DTL) and resistor-transistor logic (RTL) — used BJTs in all their circuits. Logic circuits need to distinguish between a logical 1 and a logical 0, and using BJTs with a typical base-emitter voltage drop of 0.7 V or so meant that the supply voltage couldn’t be too low, with a five volt supply giving enough space between the high and low levels without being too susceptible to noise.
The 1961 patent for TTL never mentions 5 volts; it only specifies a “B+”, which seems like a term held over from the vacuum tube days. Source:
U.S. Patent 3283170A
.
But, being able to tell your 1s and 0s apart really only sets a minimum for TTL’s supply rail. Why couldn’t it have been higher? It could have, and a higher Vcc, like the 10 V to 15 V used in emitter-coupled logic (ECL), might have improved the margins between logic levels and improved noise immunity. But higher voltage means more power, and power means heat, and heat is generally frowned upon in designs. So five volts must have seemed like a good compromise — enough wiggle room between logic levels, good noise immunity, but not too much power wasted.
I thought perhaps
the original patent for TTL
would shed some light on the rationale for five volts, but like most inventors, James Buie left things as broad and non-specific as possible in the patent. He refers only to “B+” and “B-” in the schematics and narrative, although he does calculate that the minimum for B+ would be 2.2 V. Later on, he states that “the absolute value of the supply voltage need be greater than the turn-on voltage of the coupling transistor and that of the output transistor,” and in the specific claims section, he refers to “a source of EMF” without specifying a magnitude. As far as I can see, nowhere in the patent does the five volt spec crop up.
Your Turn
The Fender “Champ” guitar amp had a rectifier tube with a 5-volt filament. Perhaps TTL’s Vcc comes from that? Source:
SchematicHeaven.net
.
If I were to hazard a guess, the five volt spec might be a bit of a leftover from the tube era. A very common value for the heater circuit in vacuum tubes was 6.3 V, itself a somewhat odd figure that probably stems from the days when automobiles used 6 V electrical systems, which were really 6.3 V thanks to using three series-connected lead-acid cells with a nominal cell voltage of 2.1 V each.
Perhaps the early TTL pioneers looked at the supply rail as a bit like the heater circuit, but nudged it down to 5 V when 6.3 V proved a little too hot. There were also some popular tubes with heaters rated at five volts, such as the rectifier tubes found in guitar amplifiers like the classic Fender “Champ” and others. The cathodes on these tubes were often directly connected to a dedicated 5 V winding on the power transformer; granted, that was 5 V AC, but perhaps it served as a design cue once TTL came around.
This is, of course, all conjecture. I have no idea what was on the minds of TTL’s designers; I’m just throwing out a couple of ideas to stir discussion. But what about you? Where do you think the five volt TTL standard came from? Was it arrived at through a stringent engineering process designed to optimize performance? Or was it a leftover from an earlier era that just happened to be a good compromise? Was James Buie an electric guitarist with a thing for Fender? Or was it something else entirely? We’d love to hear your opinions, especially if you’ve got any inside information. Sound off in the comments section below. | 82 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189535",
"author": "Austin Lesea",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:45:46",
"content": "Having grown up (literally) watching RTL, DTL, AND TTL followed by all the rest; 5 volts was a compromise. High enough to get the speed (10-50 MHz or better), power dissipation (no heatsinks needed)... | 1,760,371,405.832322 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/a-minicomputer-tape-drive-receives-some-love/ | A Minicomputer Tape Drive Receives Some Love | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"DEC",
"PDP-11/44",
"tape drive",
"TU-50"
] | Taking on a refrigerator-sized minicomputer is not for the faint-hearted, but [Usagi Electric] has done it with a DEC PDP-11/44. He’s not doing it in half measures either, for his machine is tricked out with an impressive array of upgrades. Among them however is no storage, and with two co-processors there’s a meager 3U of rack space left. The plan is to fit a period 8″ hard drive in the space alongside a TU50 tape dive, and
it’s this final component that’s the subject of his latest video
.
DEC never did anything by halves, and a DECTape II cartridge is more than a simple container for tape reels. Instead it has a capstan of its own that engages with one in the drive, and an internal drive belt that moves the reels. All the rubber parts in both tapes and drive are thoroughly perished, and it’s impressive that he manages to find inexpensive modern polymer alternatives. The original drive is probably intended for a VAX system, thus it has the interesting feature of a second drive mechanism out of sight to hold a tape containing microcode.
Having reconditioned the drive, it goes in behind a custom front panel, and though there’s no useful data to test it with on the tapes he has, it appears all working. You can see it all in the video below the break, and if you’re interested further
we’ve covered this machine in the past
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189478",
"author": "Joel Finkle",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:41:22",
"content": "The PDP-11/44 I programmed in the early 80s – part time job while in undergrad – had a TS-11, better known as the Tape Stretch 11. It was a traditional fridge-sized reel to reel on which we did backup... | 1,760,371,405.87261 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/reshaping-eyeballs-with-electricity-no-lasers-or-cutting-required/ | Reshaping Eyeballs With Electricity, No Lasers Or Cutting Required | Lewin Day | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Medical Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"eye surgery",
"eyeball",
"eyes",
"lasik",
"research"
] | Glasses are perhaps the most non-invasive method of vision correction, followed by contact lenses. Each have their drawbacks though, and some seek more permanent solutions in the form of laser eye surgeries like LASIK, aiming to reshape their corneas for better visual clarity. However, these methods often involve cutting into the eye itself, and it hardly gets any more invasive than that.
A new surgical method could have benefits in this regard, allowing correction in a single procedure that requires no lasers and no surgical cutting of the eye itself. The idea is to
use electricity to help reshape the eye back towards greater optical performance.
The Eyes Have It
Thus far, the research has worked with individual eyeballs. Great amounts of work remain before this is a viable treatment for eyes in living subjects. Credit:
research paper
Existing corrective eye surgeries most often aim to fix problems like long-sightedness, short-sightedness, and astigmatism. These issues are generally caused by the shape of the cornea, which works with the lens in the eye to focus light on to the light-sensitive cells in the retina. If the cornea is misshapen, it can be difficult for the eye to focus at close or long ranges, or it can cause visual artifacts in the field of view, depending on the precise nature of the geometry. Technologies like LASIK reshape the cornea for better performance using powerful lasers, but also involve cutting into the cornea. The procedure is thus highly invasive and has a certain recovery time, safety precautions that must be taken afterwards, and some potential side effects. A method for reshaping the eye without cutting into it would thus be ideal to avoid these problems.
Enter the technology of Electromechanical Reshaping (EMR). As per
a new paper
, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, came across the idea by accident, having been looking into the moldable nature of living tissues. As it turns out, collagen-based tissues like the cornea hold their structure thanks to the attractions between oppositely-charged subcomponents. These structures can be altered with the right techniques. For example, since these tissues are laden with water, applying electricity can change the pH through electrolyzation, altering the attraction between components of the tissue and making them pliable and reformable. Once the electric potential is taken away, the tissues can be restored to their original pH balance, and the structure will hold firm in its new form.
The untreated lens is visible in section A, and the new shape of the modified lens can be seen in section B. Graphs C and D show the change in radius and refractive power of the lens. Credit:
research paper
Researchers first tested this technique out on other tissues before looking to the eye. The team were able to use EMR to reshape ears from rabbits, while also being able to make physical changes to scar tissue in pigs. These efforts proved the basic mechanism worked, and that it could have applicability to the cornea itself.
To actually effectively reshape the cornea using this technique, a sort of mold was required. To that end, researchers created a “contact lens” type device out of platinum, which was formed in the desired final shape of the cornea. A rabbit eyeball was used in testing, doused in a saline solution to mimic the eye’s natural environment. The platinum device was pushed on to the eye, and used as an electrode to apply a small electrical potential across the eyeball. This was controlled carefully to precisely change the pH to the region where the eye became remoldable. After a minute, the cornea of the rabbit eyeball had conformed to the shape of the platinum lens. With the electrical potential removed, the pH of the eyeball was returned to normal and the cornea retained the new shape. The technique was trialled on twelve eyeballs, with ten of those treated for a shortsightedness condition, also known as myopia. In the case of the myopic eyeballs, all ten were successfully corrected the cornea, creating improved focusing power that would correspond to better vision in a living patient’s eye.
While the technique is promising, great development will be required before this is a viable method for vision correction in human patients. Researchers will need to figure out how to properly apply the techniques to eyeballs that are still in living patients, with much work to be done with animal studies prior to any attempts to translate the technique to humans. However, it could be that a decade or two in the future, glasses and LASIK will be increasingly less popular compared to a quick zap from the electrochemical eye remoulder. Time will tell. | 33 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189368",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:32:09",
"content": "Wow! Now THAT’S a hack! :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189400",
"author": "Tomtom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:16:08",
"content": ... | 1,760,371,405.966506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/homebrew-dam-control-system-includes-all-the-bells-and-whistles/ | Homebrew Dam Control System Includes All The Bells And Whistles | John Elliot V | [
"green hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"Dam Control System",
"hydropower",
"Nucleo-H753",
"STM32H753ZI"
] | Over on brushless.zone, we’ve come across an interesting write-up that
details the construction of a dam control system
. This is actually the second part, in the first, we learn that some friends
purchased an old dysfunctional 80 kW dam
with the intention of restoring it. One friend was in charge of the business paperwork, one friend the mechanical side of things, and the other was responsible for the electronics — you can probably guess which ones we’re interested in.
The site controller is built around a
Nucleo-H753
featuring the
STM32H753ZI
microcontroller, which was selected due to it being the largest single-core version of the dev board available. This site controller board features a dozen output light switches, sixteen front-panel button inputs, dual 24 V PSU inputs, multiple non-isolated analog inputs, atmospheric pressure and temperature sensors, multiple analog multiplexers, a pair of SSD1309 OLED screens, and an ESP32 for internet connectivity. There’s also fiber optic TX and RX for talking to the valve controller, a trio of isolated hall-effect current sensors for measuring the generator phase current, through current transformers, four contactor outputs (a contactor is a high-current relay), a line voltage ADC, and the cherry on top — an electronic buzzer.
The valve controller has: 48 V input from either the PSU or battery, motor phase output, motor field drive output, 8 kV rated isolation relay, limit switch input, the other side of the optical fiber TX and RX for talking to the site controller board, and connectors for various purposes.
If you’re interested in seeing this dam control system being tested, checkout the video embedded below. | 25 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189304",
"author": "Glossary",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:28:36",
"content": "What doe DAM stand for?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189574",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:22:12",
... | 1,760,371,406.04559 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/building-the-dvd-logo-screensaver-with-lego/ | Building The DVD Logo Screensaver With LEGO | Maya Posch | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"dvd",
"lego"
] | The completed Lego DVD screensaver. (Credit: Grant Davis, YouTube)
There’s something extremely calming and pleasing about watching a screensaver that merely bounces some kind of image around, with the DVD logo screensaver of a DVD player being a good example. The logical conclusion is thus that it would be great to
replicate this screensaver in Lego
, because it’d be fun and easy. That’s where [Grant Davis]’s life got flipped upside-down, as this turned out to be anything but an easy task in his chosen medium.
Things got off on a rocky start with figuring out how to make the logo bounce against the side of the ‘screen’, instead of having it merely approach before backing off. The right approach here seemed to be Lego treads as used on e.g. excavators, which give the motion that nice pause before ‘bouncing’ back in the other direction.
With that seemingly solved, most of the effort went into assembling a functional yet sturdy frame, all driven by a single Lego Technic electromotor. Along the way there were many cases of rapid self-disassembly, ultimately leading to a complete redesign using worm gears, thus requiring running the gears both ways with help from a gearbox.
Since the screensaver is supposed to run unattended, many end-stop and toggle mechanisms were tried and discarded before settling on the design that would be used for the full-sized build. Naturally, scaling up always goes smoothly, so everything got redesigned and beefed up once again, with more motors added and multiple gearbox design changes attempted after some unfortunate shredded gears.
Ultimately [Grant] got what he set out to do: the DVD logo bouncing around on a Lego ‘TV’ in a very realistic fashion, set to the noise of Lego Technic gears and motors whirring away in the background.
Thanks to [Carl Foxmarten] for the tip. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189197",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:08:18",
"content": "Reminds me a little bit of the Amiga demo with the bouncing ball.Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyNr3yaUQA8And I’m not an Amiga fan, even.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,371,406.093687 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/mesmerizing-patterns-from-simple-rules/ | Mesmerizing Patterns From Simple Rules | Ian Bos | [
"Science"
] | [
"Agent",
"background",
"bio-inspired"
] | Nature is known for its intense beauty from its patterns and bright colors; however, this requires going outside. Who has time for that insanity!?!? [Bleuje] provides the perfect solution with his mesmerizing display of
particle behavior.
Agents follow defined paths created by other agents.
These patterns of color and structure, based on
36 points
, are formed from simple particles, also called agents. Each agent leaves behind a trail that adds to the pattern formation. Additionally, these trails act almost as pheromone trails, attracting other particles. This dispersion and attraction to trails create the feedback loops similar to those found in ant herd behavior or slime mold.
Complex patterns created by the algorithm can resemble many different biological formations including slime mold.
Of course, none of this behavior would be very fun to mess with if you couldn’t change the parameters on the fly. This is one main feature of [Bleuje]’s implementation of the 36 points’ ideas. Being able to change settings quickly and interact with the environment itself allows for touching natural feeling patterns without exiting your house!
If you want to try out the simulation yourself, make sure to check out [Bleuje]’s
GitHub repository
of the project! While getting out of the house can be difficult, sometimes it’s good for you to see real natural patterns. For a great example of this hard work leading to great discoveries, look to this bio-inspired way of
protecting boat hauls
!
Thanks Adrian for the tip! | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189161",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:59:57",
"content": "Great article, the only thing I might have added,youtube.com/watch?v=4hLtjlaVzsk",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189629",
"author": "TG",
... | 1,760,371,406.143561 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/know-audio-distortion-part-two/ | Know Audio: Distortion Part Two | Jenny List | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"audio analyser",
"distortion",
"know audio",
"THD"
] | It’s been a while since the last installment in our
Know Audio
series, in which
we investigated distortion as it applies to Hi-Fi audio
. Now it’s time to return with part two of our look at distortion, and attempt some real-world distortion measurements on the bench.
Last time, we examined distortion from a theoretical perspective, as the introduction of unwanted harmonics as a result of non-linearities in the signal path. Sometimes that’s a desired result, as with a guitar pedal, but in a Hi-Fi system where the intention is to reproduce as faithfully as possible a piece of music from a recording, the aim is to make any signal path components as linear as possible. When we measure the distortion, usually expressed as THD, for Total Harmonic Distortion, of a piece of equipment we are measuring the ratio of those unwanted harmonics in the output to the frequencies we want, and the resulting figure is commonly expressed in dB, or as a percentage.
The Cheapest Of Audio Kits, Analysed
The Hackaday audio test bench in all its glory.
Having explained what we are trying to do, it’s on to the device in question and the instruments required. On the bench in front of me I have my tube headphone amplifier project, a
Chinese 6J1 preamp kit
modified with transformers on its output for impedance matching.
I’ve investigated the unmodified version of this kit here in the past
, and measured a THD of 0.03% when it’s not driven into distortion, quite an acceptable figure.
To measure the distortion I’m using my audio signal generator, a Levell TG200DMP that I was lucky enough to obtain through a friend. It’s not the youngest of devices, but it’s generally reckoned to be a pretty low distortion oscillator. It’s set to 1 KHz and a 1 V peak-to-peak line level audio output, which feeds the headphone amplifier input. The output from the amplifier is feeding a set of headphones, and my trusty HP334A distortion analyser is monitoring the result.
How Does A Distortion Analyser Work Then?
The business end of my trusty HP.
A distortion analyser is two instruments in one, a sensitive audio level meter, and an extremely high quality notch filter. In an instrument as old as this one everything is analogue, while in a modern audio analyser everything including the signal source is computer controlled.
The idea is that the analyser is first calibrated against the incoming audio using the voltmeter, and then the filter is switched into the circuit. The filter is then adjusted to reject the fundamental frequency, in this case 1 kHz, leaving behind only the harmonic distortion. The audio level meter can then be used to read the distortion. If you’re interested in how these work in greater detail I made one a few years ago in GNU Radio for
an April Fool post about gold cables
.
Using the HP offers an experience that’s all too rare in 2025, that of tuning an analogue circuit. It settles down over time, so when you first tune it for minimum 1kHz level it will retune to a lower level after a while. So mine has been running but idle for the last few hours, in order to reach maximum stability. I’m measuring 0.2% THD for the headphone amplifier, which is entirely expected given that the transformers it uses are not of high quality at all.
An Instrument Too Expensive For A Hackaday Expense Claim
An Audio Precision APx525 audio analyzer. Bradp723 (
CC-BY-SA 3.0
)
It’s important to state that I’ve measured the THD at only one frequency, namely 1 kHz. This is the frequency at which most THD figures are measured, so it’s an easy comparison, but a high-end audio lab will demand measurements across a range of frequencies. That’s entirely possible with the Levell and the HP, but it becomes a tedious manual process of repetitive calibration and measurement.
As you might expect, a modern audio analyser has all these steps computerised, having in place of the oscillator and meter a super-high-quality DAC and ADC, and instead of the 334A’s filter tuning dial, a computer controlled switched filter array. Unsurprisingly these instruments can be eye-wateringly expensive.
So there in a nutshell is a basic set-up to measure audio distortion. It’s extremely out of date, but in its simplicity I hope you find an understanding of the topic. Keep an eye out for a 334A and snap it up if you see one for not a lot. I did, and it’s by far the most beautifully-made piece of test equipment I own. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188340",
"author": "Joe D",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:13:25",
"content": "For work, I procured a QuantAsylum QA403 audio analyzer. 0.001% THD at 1kHz for $600 does everything I need instead of that $25k AP.Note: I have no financial ties to QA.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,371,406.205881 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/weaving-circuits-from-electronic-threads/ | Weaving Circuits From Electronic Threads | Aaron Beckendorf | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"e-textile",
"e-textiles",
"fiber",
"flexible circuit board",
"flexible circuits",
"knitting",
"stm32",
"stm32duino",
"thread",
"wearable",
"weaving"
] | Though threading is a old concept in computer science, and fabric computing has been a term for about thirty years, the terminology has so far been more metaphorical than strictly descriptive. [Cedric Honnet]’s
FiberCircuits project
, on the other hand, takes a much more literal to weaving technology “into the fabric of everyday life,” to borrow the phrase from [Mark Weiser]’s
vision of computing
which inspired this project. [Cedric] realized that some microcontrollers are small enough to fit into fibers no thicker than a strand of yarn, and used them to design these open-source threads of electronics (
open-access paper
).
The physical design of the FiberCircuits was inspired by LED filaments: a flexible PCB wrapped in a protective silicone coating, optionally with a protective layer of braiding surrounding it. There are two kinds of fiber: the main fiber and display fibers. The main fiber (1.5 mm wide) holds an STM32 microcontroller, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, and a GPIO pin to interface with external sensors or other fibers. The display fibers are thinner at only one millimeter, and hold an array of addressable LEDs. In testing, the fibers could withstand six Newtons of force and be bent ten thousand times without damage; fibers protected by braiding even survived 40 cycles in a washing machine without any damage. [Cedrik] notes that finding a PCB manufacturer that will make the thin traces required for this circuit board is a bit difficult, but if you’d like to give it a try, the design files are
on GitHub
.
[Cedrik] also showed off a few interesting applications of the thread, including a cyclist’s beanie with automatic integrated turn signals, a woven fitness tracker, and a glove that senses the wearer’s hand position; we’re sure the community can find many more uses. The fibers could be embroidered onto clothing, or embedded into woven or knitted fabrics. On the programming side, [Cedrik] ported support for this specific STM32 core to the Arduino ecosystem, and it’s now maintained upstream by the
STM32duino project
, which should make integration (metaphorically) seamless.
One area for future improvement is in power, which is currently supplied by small lithium batteries; it would be interesting to see an integration of this with
power over skin
. This might be a bit more robust, but it isn’t first
knitted piece of electronics
we’ve seen. Of course, rather than making wearables more unobtrusive, you can go in the
opposite direction
. | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188364",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:01:27",
"content": "I don’t know man, maybe its my inexperience with flex PCBs but it feels wrong to have the substrate bend and curl. Maybe it would be fine if encapsulated…?Still feels off though",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,371,407.385583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/how-mercedes-benz-hacked-your-hearing/ | Airbags, And How Mercedes-Benz Hacked Your Hearing | Lewin Day | [
"car hacks",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"airbag",
"airbags",
"car crash",
"collision",
"pink noise",
"sound",
"stapedius reflex"
] | Airbags are an incredibly important piece of automotive safety gear. They’re also terrifying—given that they’re effectively small pyrotechnic devices that are aimed directly at your face and chest. Myths have pervaded that they “kill more people than they save,” in part due a hilarious episode of
The Simpsons
. Despite this, they’re credited with saving tens of thousands of lives over the years by cushioning fleshy human bodies from heavy impacts and harsh decelerations.
While an airbag is generally there to help you, it can also hurt you in regular operation. The immense sound pressure generated when an airbag fires is not exactly friendly to your ears. However, engineers at Mercedes-Benz have found a neat workaround to protect your hearing from the explosive report of these safety devices. It’s a nifty hack that takes advantage of an existing feature of the human body. Let’s explore how air bags work, why they’re so darn loud, and how that can be mitigated in the event of a crash.
A Lot Of Hot Air
The first patent for an airbag safety device was filed over 100 years ago, intended for use in aircraft. Credit: US Patent Office
Once an obscure feature only found in luxury vehicles, airbags became common safety equipment in many cars and trucks by the mid-1990s. Indeed, a particular turning point was when they became mandatory in vehicles sold in the US market from late 1998 onwards, which made them near-universal equipment in many other markets worldwide. Despite their relatively recent mainstream acceptance, the concept of the airbag actually dates back a lot farther.
The basic invention of the airbag is typically credited to two English dentists—Harold Round and Arthur Parrott—who submitted a patent for the concept all the way back in 1919. The patent regarded the concept of creating an air cushion to protect occupants in aircraft during serious impacts. Specific attention was given to the fact that the air cushion should “yield readily without developing the power to rebound,” which could cause further injury. This was achieved by giving the device air outlet passages that would vent as a person impacted the device, which would allow the cushion to absorb the hit gently while reducing the chance of injury.
The concept only later became applicable to automobiles when Walter Linderer filed for a German patent in 1951, and John W. Hetrick filed for a US patent in 1952. Both engineers devised airbags that were based on the release of compressed air, triggered either by human intervention or automated mechanical means. These concepts proved ultimately infeasible, as compressed air could not be feasibly be released to inflate an airbag quickly enough to be protective in an automobile crash.
It would only be later in the 1960s that workable versions using explosive or pyrotechnic inflation came to the fore. The concept was simple—use a chemical reaction to generate a great deal of gas near-instantaneously, inflating the airbag fractions of a second before vehicle occupants come into contact with the device. The airbags are fitted with vents that only allow the gas to escape slowly. This means that as a person hits the airbag, they are gently decelerated as their impact pushes the gas out of the restrictive vents. This helps reduce injuries that would typically be incurred if the occupants instead hit interior parts of the car without any protection at all.
In a crash, it’s much nicer to faceplant into an air-filled pillow than a hard, unforgiving dashboard. Credit:
DaimlerChrysler AG
, CC BY SA 3.0
The Big Bang
The use of pyrotechnic gas generators to inflate airbags was the leap forward that made airbags practical and effective for use in automobiles. However, as you might imagine, releasing a massive burst of gas in under 50 milliseconds does create a rather large pressure wave—which we experience as an incredibly loud sound. If you ever seen airbags detonated outside of a vehicle, you’ve probably noticed they sound rather akin to fireworks or a gun going off. Indeed, the sound of an airbag can exceed 160 decibels (dB)—more than enough to cause instant damage to the ear. Noise generated in a vehicle impact is often incredibly loud, too, or course. Ultimately, this isn’t great for the occupants of the vehicle, particularly their hearing. Ultimately, an airbag deployment is a carefully considered trade-off—the general consensus is that impact protection in a serious crash is preferable, even if your ears are worse for wear afterwards.
However, there is a
technique that can mitigate this problem. In particular, Mercedes-Benz developed a system to protect the hearing of vehicle occupants in the event that the airbags are fired. The trick is in using the body’s own reactions to sound to reduce damage to the ear from excessive sound pressure levels.
In humans, the stapedius muscle can be triggered reflexively to protect the ear from excess sound levels, though the mechanism is slow enough that it can’t respond well to sudden loud impulses. However, pre-emptively triggering it before a loud event can be very useful. Credit: Mercedes Benz
The stapedius reflex (also known as the acoustic reflex) is one of the body’s involuntary, instantaneous movements in response to an external stimulus—in this case, certain sound levels. When a given sound stimulus occurs to either ear, muscles inside both ears contract, most specifically the stapedius muscle in humans. When the muscle contracts, it has a stiffening effect on the ossicular chain—the three tiny bones that connect the ear drum to the cochlea in the inner ear. Under this condition, less vibrational energy is transferred, reducing damage to the cochlea from excessive sound levels.
The threshold at which the reflex is triggered is usually 10 to 20 dB lower than the point at which the individual feels discomfort; typical levels are from around 70 to 100 dB. When triggered by particularly loud sounds of 20 dB above the trigger threshold, the muscle contraction is enough to reduce the sound level at the cochlea by a full 15 dB. Notably, the reflex is also triggered by vocalization—reducing transmission through to the inner ear when one begins to speak.
Mercedes-Benz engineers realized that the stapedius reflex could be pre-emptively triggered ahead of firing the airbags, in order to provide a protective effect for the ears. To this end, the company developed the PRE-SAFE Sound system. When the vehicle’s airbag control unit detects a collision, it triggers the vehicle’s sound system to play a short-duration pink noise signal at a level of 80 dB. This is intended to be loud enough to trigger the stapedius reflex without in itself doing damage to the ears. Typically, it takes higher sound levels closer to 100 dB to reliably trigger the reflex in a wide range of people, but Mercedes-Benz engineers realized that the wide-spread frequency content of pink noise enable the reflex to be switched on at a much lower, and safer, sound level. With the reflex turned on, when the airbags do fire a fraction of a second later, less energy from the intense pressure spike will be transferred to the inner ear, protecting the delicate structures that provide the sense of hearing.
Mercedes-Benz first released the technology in production models almost a decade ago.
The stapedius reflex does have some limitations. It can be triggered with a latency of just 10 milliseconds, however, it can take up to 100 milliseconds for the muscle in the ear to reach full tension, conferring the full protective effect. This limits the ability of the reflex to protect against short, intense noises. However, given the Mercedes-Benz system triggers the sound
before
airbag inflation where possible, this helps the muscles engage prior to the peak sound level being reached. The protective effect of the stapedius reflex also only lasts for a few seconds, with the muscle contraction unable to be maintained beyond this point. However, in a vehicle impact scenario, the airbags typically all fire very quickly, usually well within a second, negating this issue.
Mercedes-Benz was working on the technology from at least the early 2010s, having run human trials to trigger the stapedius reflex with pink noise in 2011. It deployed the technology on its production vehicles almost a decade ago, first offering PRE-SAFE Sound on E-Class models for the 2017 model year. Despite the simple nature of the technology, few to no other automakers have publicly reported implementing the technique.
Car crashes are, thankfully, rather rare. Few of us are actually in an automobile accident in any given year, even less in ones serious enough to cause an airbag deployment. However, if you are unlucky enough to be in a severe collision, and you’re riding in a modern Mercedes-Benz, your ears will likely thank you for the added protection, just as your body will be grateful for the cushioning of the airbags themselves. | 40 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188253",
"author": "NQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:08:41",
"content": "Ultimately I understand what they’ve done. Ultimately.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188388",
"author": "BuriedCode",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,371,407.821456 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/guitarpie-uses-guitar-as-interface-no-raspberries-needed/ | GuitarPie Uses Guitar As Interface, No Raspberries Needed | Tyler August | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"electric guitar",
"Human Interface",
"pie menu",
"UI"
] | We’ve covered plenty of interesting human input devices over the years, but how about an instrument? No, not as a MIDI controller, but to interact with what’s going on-on screen. That’s the job o
f GuitarPie, a guitar-driven pie menu produced by a group at the University of Stuttgart
.
The idea is pretty simple: the computer is listening for one specific note, which cues the pie menu on screen. Options on the pie menu can be selected by playing notes on adjacent strings and frets. (Check it out in action in the video embedded below). This is obviously best for guitar players, and has been built into a tablature program they’re calling TabCTRL. For those not in the loop, tablature, also known as tabs, is an instrument-specific notation system for stringed instruments that’s quite
popular with guitar players
. So TabCTRL is a music-learning program, that shows how to play a given song.
With this pairing, you can rock out to the tablature, the guitarist need never take their hands off the frets. You might be wondering “how isn’t the menu triggered during regular play”? Well, the boffins at Stuttgart thought of that– in TabCTRL, the menu is locked out while play mode is active. (It keeps track of tempo for you, too, highlighting the current musical phrase.) A moment’s silence (say, after you made a mistake and want to restart the song) stops play mode and you can then activate the menu. It’s well a well-thought-out UI. It’s also open source, with all
the code going up on GitHub
by the end of October.
The neat thing is that this is pure software; it will work with any unmodified guitar and computer. You only need a microphone in front of the amp to pick up the notes. One could, of course, use voice control–
we’ve seen no shortage of hacks with that
–but that’s decidedly less fun. Purists can comfort themselves that at least this time the computer interface is a real guitar, and
not a guitar-shaped MIDI controller
. | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188209",
"author": "Arno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:42:51",
"content": "Wonderful, please expand this to other instruments that support tablature (diatonic accordeon would be a good start)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "818... | 1,760,371,407.533933 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/esp32-decodes-s-pdif-like-a-boss-or-any-regular-piece-of-hi-fi-equipment/ | ESP32 Decodes S/PDIF Like A Boss (Or Any Regular Piece Of Hi-Fi Equipment) | Lewin Day | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"digital audio",
"s/pdif"
] | S/PDIF has been around for a long time; it’s still a really great way to send streams of digital audio from device A to device B. [Nathan Ladwig] has got the ESP32 decoding SPDIF quite effectively,
using an onboard peripheral outside its traditional remit.
On the ESP32, the Remote Control Transceiver (RMT) peripheral was intended for use with infrared transceivers—think TV remotes and the like. However, this peripheral is actually quite flexible, and can be used for sending and receiving a range of different signals. [Nathan] was able to get it to work with S/PDIF quite effectively. Notably, it has no defined bitrate, which allows it to work with signals of different sample rates quite easily. Instead, it uses biphase mark code to send data. With one or two transitions for each transmitted bit, it’s possible to capture the timing and determine the correct clock from the signal itself.
[Nathan] achieved this feat as part of his work to create an ESP32-based RTP streaming device. The project allows an ESP32 to work as a USB audio device or take an S/PDIF signal as input, and then transmitting that audio stream over RTP to a receiver which delivers the audio at the other end via USB audio or as an SPDIF output. It’s a nifty project that has applications for anyone that regularly finds themselves needing to get digital audio from once place to another. It can also run a simple visualizer, too,
with some attached LEDs.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen S/PDIF decoded on a microcontroller;
it’s quite achievable if you know what you’re doing.
Meanwhile, if you’re cooking up your own digital audio hacks, we’d love to hear about it.
Digitally, of course
, because we don’t accept analog phone calls here at Hackaday. Video after the break. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188231",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:33:56",
"content": "The github mentions you need S/PDIF transceiver hardware to do S/PDIF without specifics, but his other repo gives a little bit more info:https://github.com/netham45/esp32-spdifNice project.",
"parent_id... | 1,760,371,407.86141 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/apples-continuing-failing-repair-score-with-the-airpods-pro-3/ | Apple’s Continuing Failing Repair Score With The AirPods Pro 3 | Maya Posch | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"Apple repair",
"ifixit",
"teardown"
] | It takes quite a bit of effort to get a 0 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit, but in-ears like Apple’s AirPods are well on course for a clean streak there, with the AirPod Pro 3 making an abysmal showing in
their vitriolic teardown video
alongside their
summary article
. The conclusion is that while they are really well-engineered devices with a good feature set, the moment the battery wears out it is effectively e-waste. The inability to open them without causing at least some level of cosmetic damage is bad, and that’s before trying to glue the device back together. Never mind effecting any repairs beyond this.
Worse is that this glued-together nightmare continues with the charging case. Although you’d expect to be able to disassemble this case for a battery swap, it too is glued shut to the point where a non-destructive entry is basically impossible. As iFixit rightfully points out, there are plenty of examples of how to do it better, like the Fairbuds in-ears. We have seen other in-ears in the past that can have some maintenance performed without having to resort to violence, which makes Apple’s decisions here seem to be on purpose.
Although in the comments to the video there seem to be plenty of happy AirPod users for whom the expected 2-3 year lifespan is no objection, it’s clear that the AirPods are still getting zero love from the iFixit folk. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188119",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T05:47:07",
"content": "I consider earbuds to be a consumable item and therefore the pricerange i choose from reflects that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188142",
... | 1,760,371,407.589868 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/splashflag-raising-the-flag-on-a-pool-party/ | Splashflag: Raising The Flag On A Pool Party | Matt Varian | [
"hardware"
] | [
"ESP32-S3",
"internet of things",
"IoT",
"mqtt"
] | Some things are more fun when there are more folks involved, and enjoying time in the pool is one of those activities. Knowing this, [Bert Wagner] started thinking of ways to best coordinate pool activities with his kids and their neighborhood friends. Out of this came the
Splashflag
, an IoT device built from the ground up that provides fun pool parties and a great learning experience along the way.
The USB-powered Splashflag is housed in a 3D-printed case, with a simple 2×16 LCD mounted on the front to display the notification. There’s also a small servo mounted to the rear that raises a 3D-printed flag when the notification comes in—drawing your attention to it a bit more than just text alone would. Hidden on the back is also a reset button: a long press factory-resets the device to connect to a different Wi-Fi network, and a quick press clears the notification to return the device to its resting state.
Inside is an ESP32-S3 that drives the servo and display and connects to the Wi-Fi. The ESP32 is set up with a captive portal, easing the device’s connection to a wireless network. The ESP32, once connected, joins an MQTT broker hosted by [Bert Wagner], allowing easy sending of notifications via the web app he made to quickly and easily send out invitations.
Thanks, [Bert Wagner], for sharing the process of building this fun, unique IoT device—be sure to read all the details on his website or check out the code and design files available over on his
GitHub
. Check out some of our other
IoT projects
if this project has you interested in making your own. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188111",
"author": "Patrik",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T05:19:26",
"content": "And, what does it do?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188125",
"author": "Cliff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T06:09:11",
"cont... | 1,760,371,407.988764 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/meshtastic-a-tale-of-two-cities/ | Meshtastic: A Tale Of Two Cities | Tom Nardi | [
"Featured",
"Network Hacks",
"Radio Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"mesh networking",
"Meshtastic"
] | If I’m honest with myself, I don’t really
need
access to an off-grid, fault-tolerant, mesh network like
Meshtastic
. The weather here in New Jersey isn’t quite so dynamic that there’s any great chance the local infrastructure will be knocked offline, and while I do value my privacy as much as any other self-respecting hacker, there’s nothing in my chats that’s sensitive enough that it needs to be done off the Internet.
But damn it, do I
want
it. The idea that everyday citizens of all walks of life are organizing and building out their own communications network with DIY hardware and open source software is incredibly exciting to me. It’s like the best parts of a cyberpunk novel, without all the cybernetic implants, pollution, and over-reaching megacorps. Well, we’ve got those last two, but you know what I mean.
Meshtastic maps are never exhaustive, but this gives an idea of node density in Philly versus surrounding area.
Even though I found the Meshtastic concept appealing, my seemingly infinite backlog of projects kept me from getting involved until relatively recently.
It wasn’t until I got my hands on the Hacker Pager
that my passing interest turned into a full blown obsession. But it’s perhaps not for the reason you might think. Traveling around to different East Coast events with the device in my bag, it would happily chirp away when within range of Philadelphia or New York, but then fall silent again once I got home. While I’d get the occasional notification of a nearby node, my area had nothing like the robust and active mesh networks found in those cities.
Well, they say you should be the change you want to see in the world, so I decided to do something about it. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to build up an entire network by myself, but I figured that if I started standing up some nodes, others might notice and follow suit. It was around this time that Seeed Studio introduced the SenseCAP Solar node, which looked like a good way to get started. So I bought two of them with the idea of putting one on my house and the other on my parent’s place down the shore.
The results weren’t quite what I expected, but it’s certainly been an interesting experience so far, and today I’m even more eager to build up the mesh than I was in the beginning.
Starting on Easy Mode
I didn’t make a conscious decision to start my experiment at my parent’s house. Indeed, located some 60 miles (96 km) from where I live, any progress in building out a mesh network over there wouldn’t benefit me back home. But it was the beginning of summer, they have a pool, and my daughters love to swim. As such, we spent nearly every weekend there which gave me plenty of time to tinker.
For those unfamiliar with New Jersey’s Southern Shore area, the coastline itself is dotted with vacation spots such as Wildwood, Atlantic City, and Long Beach Island. This is where the tourists go to enjoy the beaches, boardwalks, cotton candy, and expensive rental homes. But move slightly inland, and you’ll find a marshland permeated with a vast network of bays, creeks, and tributaries. For each body of water large enough to get a boat through, you’ll find a small town or even an unincorporated community that in the early 1900s would have been bustling with oyster houses and hunting shacks, but today might only be notable for having their own Wawa.
To infinity, and beyond.
My parents are in one of those towns that doesn’t have a Wawa. Its very quiet, the skies are dark, and there’s not much more than marsh and water all around. So when I ran the SenseCAP Solar up their 20 foot (6 m) flagpole, which in a former life was actually the mast from a sailing catamaran, the results were extremely impressive.
I hadn’t had the radio up for more than a few hours before my phone pinged with a message. We chatted back and forth a bit, and I found that my new mesh friend was an amateur radio operator living on Long Beach Island, and that he too had just recently started experimenting with Meshtastic. He was also, incidentally, a fan of Hackaday. (Hi, Leon!) He mentioned that his setup was no more advanced than an ESP32 dev board sitting in his window, and yet we were reliably communicating at a range of approximately 6 miles (9 km).
Encouraged, I decided to leave the radio online all night. In the morning, I was shocked to find it had picked up more than a dozen new nodes. Incredibly, it was even able to sniff out a few nodes that I recognized from Philadelphia, 50 miles (80 km) to the west. I started to wonder if it was possible that I might actually be able to reach my own home, potentially establishing a link clear across the state.
Later that day, somebody on an airplane fired off a few messages on the way out of Philadelphia International Airport. Seeing the messages was exciting enough, but through the magic of mesh networking, it allowed my node to temporarily see networks at an even greater distance. I picked up one node that was more than 100 miles (160 km) away in Aberdeen, Maryland.
I was exhilarated by these results, and eager to get back home and install the second SenseCAP Solar node. If these were the kind of results I was getting in the middle of nowhere, surely I’d make even more contacts in a dense urban area.
Reality Comes Crashing Home
You see, at this point I had convinced myself that the reason I wasn’t getting any results back at home was the relatively meager antenna built into the Hacker Pager. Now that I had a proper node with an antenna bigger than my pinkie finger, I was sure I’d get better results. Especially since I’d be placing the radio even higher this time — with a military surplus fiberglass mast clamped into the old TV antenna mount on my three story house, the node would be around 40 feet (12 m) above the ground.
The mast gets my node above the neighbor’s roofs, but just barely.
But when I opened the Meshtastic app the day after getting my home node installed, I was greeted with….nothing. Not a single node was detected in a 24 hour period. This seemed very odd given my experience down the shore, but I brushed it off. After all, Meshtastic nodes only occasionally announce their presence when they aren’t actively transmitting.
Undaunted, I made plans with a nearby friend to install a node at his place. His home is just 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from mine, and given the casual 6 mile (9 km) contact I had made at my parent’s place, it seemed like this would be an easy first leg of our fledgling network.
Yet when we stood up a temporary node in his front yard, messages between it and my house were only occasionally making it through. Worse, the signal strength displayed in the application was abysmal. It was clear that, even at such a short range, an intermediary node would be necessary to get our homes reliably connected.
At this point, I was feeling pretty dejected. The incredible results I got when using Meshtastic in the sticks had clearly given me a false sense of what the technology was capable of in an urban environment. To make matters even worse, some further investigation found that my house was about the worst possible place to try and mount a node.
For one thing, until I bothered to look it up, I never realized my house was located in a small valley.
According to online line-of-sight tools
, I’m essentially at the bottom of a bowl. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I noted that the Meshtastic application was showing an inordinate number of bad packets. After consulting with those more experienced with the project, I now know this to be an indicator of a noisy RF environment. Which may also explain the exceptionally poor reception I get when trying to fly my FPV drone around the neighborhood, but that’s a story for another day.
A More Pragmatic Approach
While I was disappointed that I couldn’t replicate my seaside Meshtastic successes at home, I’m not discouraged. I’ve learned a great deal about the technology, especially its limitations. Besides, the solution is simple enough — we need more nodes, and so the campaign to get nearby friends and family interested in the project has begun. We’ve already found another person in a geographically strategic position who’s willing to host a node on their roof, and as I write this a third Seeed SenseCAP Solar sits ready for installation.
At the same time, the performance of Meshtastic in a more rural setting has inspired me to push further in that region. I’m in the process of designing a custom node specifically tailored for the harsh marine environment, and have identified several potential locations where I can deploy them in the Spring. With just a handful of well-placed nodes, I believe it should be possible to cover literally hundreds of square miles.
I’m now fighting a battle on two fronts, but thankfully, I’m not alone. In the months since I’ve started this project, I’ve noticed a steady uptick in the number of detected nodes. Even here at home, I’ve finally started to pick up some chatter from nearby nodes. There’s no denying it, the mesh is growing everyday.
My advice to anyone looking to get into Meshtastic is simple. Whether you’re in the boonies, or stuck in the middle of a metropolis, pick up some compatible hardware, mount it as high as you can manage, and wait. It might not happen overnight, but eventually your device is going to ping with that first message — and that’s when the real obsession starts. | 75 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190176",
"author": "FiveEyesNoPrize",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:17:00",
"content": "I don’t need access to…Until you do. Remember, if you don’t hold the keys… eventually someone else (a bad actor, a despot, a state-sanctioned spy agency) can lock you out.Contrary to popular belie... | 1,760,371,407.703338 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/google-japan-turn-out-another-keyboard-and-its-a-dial/ | Google Japan Turn Out Another Keyboard, And It’s A Dial | Jenny List | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"dial",
"keyboard"
] | There’s a joke that does the rounds, about a teenager being given a dial phone and being unable to make head nor tail of it. Whether or not it’s true, we’re guessing that the same teen might be just a stumped by
this year’s keyboard oddity from Google Japan
. It replaces keys with a series of dials that work in the same way as the telephone dial of old. Could you dial your way through typing?
All the files to make the board, as well as a build guide, are in the GitHub repository linked above, but they’ve also released a promotional video that we’ve put below the break. The dials use 3D printed parts, and a rotary encoder to detect the key in question. We remember from back in the day how there were speed dialing techniques with dial phones, something we’ve probably by now lost the muscle memory for.
We like this board for its quirkiness, and while it might become a little tedious to type a Hackaday piece on it, there might be some entertainment for old-timers in watching the youngsters figuring it out. If you’re hungry for more,
we’ve covered them before
.
Thanks [ikeji] for the tip. | 20 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190043",
"author": "whoopie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:27:28",
"content": "Is this video real or satire? I love it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190156",
"author": "Chris Gammell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-... | 1,760,371,408.041735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/billy-bass-gets-new-job-as-a-voice-assistant/ | Billy Bass Gets New Job As A Voice Assistant | Bryan Cockfield | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"automation",
"billy bass",
"ESP32",
"fish",
"home-assistant",
"voice assistant"
] | For those who were alive and conscious before the modern Internet, there were in fact things that went “viral” and became cultural phenomenon for one reason or another. Although they didn’t spread as quickly or become forgotten as fast, things like Beanie Babies or greeting a friend with an exaggerated “Whassup?” could all be considered viral hits of the pre-Internet era.
Another offline hit from the late 90s was the Billy Bass, an absurdist bit of physical comedy in the form of a talking, taxidermied fish. At the time it could only come to life and say a few canned lines,
but with the help of modern hardware it can take on a whole new life
.
This project comes to us from [Cian] who gutted the fish’s hardware to turn it into a smart voice assistant with some modern components, starting with an ESP32 S3. This chip has enough power to detect custom “wake words” to turn on the fish assistant as well as pass the conversation logic to and from a more powerful computer, handle the audio input and output, and control the fish’s head and tail motors. These motors, as well as the speaker, are the only original components remaining. The new hardware, including an amplifier for the speaker, are mounted on a custom 3D printed backplate.
After some testing and troubleshooting, the augmented Billy was ready to listen for commands and converse with the user in much the same way as an Alexa or other home assistant would. [Cian] built this to work with Home Assistant though, so it’s much more open and easier to recreate for anyone who still has one of these pieces of 90s kitch in a box somewhere.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, these talking fish have been the basis of plenty of hacks over the years since their original release like
this one from a few years ago that improves its singing ability
or
this one from 2005 that brings Linux to one
. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8190081",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:20:06",
"content": "I am pretty confident one BIily Bass can replace three department managers. Same general idea, random regurgitation poorly of digested words overheard uttered by inferiors.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,371,407.747904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/why-stepper-motors-still-dominate-3d-printing/ | Why Stepper Motors Still Dominate 3D Printing | Maya Posch | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"servo motor",
"stepper motor"
] | It’s little secret that stepper motors are everywhere in FDM 3D printers, but there’s no real reason why you cannot take another type of DC motor like a brushless DC (BLDC) motor and use that instead. Interestingly, some printer manufacturers are now using BLDCs for places where the reduction in weight matters, such as in the tool head or extruder, but if a BLDC can be ‘stepped’ much like any stepper motor, then why prefer one over the other? This is the
topic of a recent video
by [Thomas Sanladerer], with the answer being mostly about cost, and ‘good enough’ solutions.
The referenced driving method of field-oriented control (FOC), which also goes by the name of
vector control
, is a VFD control method in which the controller can fairly precisely keep position much like a stepper motor, but without the relatively complex construction of a stepper motor. Another advantage is that FOC tends to use less power than alternatives.
Using a
FOC controller
with a BLDC is demonstrated in the video, which also covers the closed-loop nature of such a configuration, whereas a stepper motor is generally driven in an open-loop fashion. Ultimately the answer at this point is that while stepper motors are ‘good enough’ for tasks where their relatively large size and weight aren’t real issues, as BLDCs with FOC or similar becomes more economical, we may see things change there. | 42 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189893",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:21:00",
"content": "I’m surprised we haven’t seen brushed DC motors with position feedback like in consumer inkjet printers. Even with a dozen nylon gears, I would still expect it to be far cheaper than heavy steppers with drive... | 1,760,371,407.942116 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/where-is-mathematics-going-large-language-models-and-lean-proof-assistant/ | Where Is Mathematics Going? Large Language Models And Lean Proof Assistant | John Elliot V | [
"Machine Learning",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"interactive theorem provers",
"large language models",
"mathematical research"
] | If you’re a hacker you may well have a passing interest in math, and if you have an interest in math you might like to hear about the direction of mathematical research. In a talk on this topic [Kevin Buzzard], professor of pure mathematics at Imperial College London, asks the question:
Where is Mathematics Going?
It starts by explaining that in 2017 he had a mid-life crisis, of sorts, becoming disillusioned with the way mathematics research was being done, and he started looking to computer science for solutions.
He credits Euclid, as many do, with writing down some axioms and starting mathematics, over 2,000 years ago. From axioms came deductions, and deductions became mathematical facts, and math proceeded in this fashion. This continues to be the way mathematical research is done in mathematical departments around the world. The consequence of this is that mathematics is now incomprehensibly large. Similarly the mathematical proofs themselves are exceedingly large, he gives an example of one proof that is 10,000 pages long and still hasn’t been completely written down after having been announced more than 20 years ago.
The conclusion from this is that mathematics has become so complex that traditional methods of documenting it struggle to cope. He says that a tertiary education in mathematics aims to “get students to the 1940s”, whereas a tertiary education in computer science will expose students to the state of the art.
He investigates the effect “computer as calculator” has had on mathematics since the middle of the 20th century, stating that it is less than you might have thought. More recently though we have large language models (LLMs) giving us “computer as generator of mathematics” and interactive theorem provers (ITPs) as “computer as checker of mathematics”, both being new ways to use computers for mathematics research. He notes that each of these technologies have flaws and that neither has, so far, told us anything profound which we didn’t already know. As he puts it mathematics has not seen a “
Deep Blue moment
“.
The point is then made that the problem with LLMs is that they hallucinate statements which introduces errors and the problem with ITPs is that all the code needs to be hand-written by humans. He floats the “no brainer idea” of combining LLM tech with ITP tech, the LLMs can propose mathematics and the ITP can verify it.
He concludes with the idea that LLM + ITP is the best future for mathematics, enabling mathematics to go from “mostly right” to “definitely right”.
If you have a passing interest in math you might also like to read
Getting The Most Out Of ISM Transceivers Using Math
and
Design Scanimations In A Snap With The Right Math
. | 31 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189919",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:55:57",
"content": "Yeah… he lost me with 2+2=5",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189924",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T0... | 1,760,371,408.108719 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/the-entire-process-of-building-an-open-source-analog-asic/ | The Entire Process Of Building An Open Source Analog ASIC | John Elliot V | [
"hardware"
] | [
"adc",
"Analog ASIC",
"custom hardware",
"magic",
"open source",
"xschem"
] | Our hacker [Pat Deegan] of Psychogenic Technologies shows us
the entire process of designing an analog ASIC
. An ASIC is of course an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, which is basically just custom hardware. That’s right, “just” custom hardware.
Services such as those from
Tiny Tapeout
make it possible to get your hardware designs built. And tools such as those found in
Tiny Tapeout Analog Design VM with Skywater 130 PDK
make it possible to get your hardware designs… designed.
In the video [Pat] takes you through using
xschem
(for schematic capture) and
magic
(for physical layout) to design a custom ADC. We learn that when it comes to hardware you have the choice of many different types of FETs, and not much else. Capacitors are expensive and to be avoided. Inductors are verboten. Getting specific values for things (such as resistors) is pretty much impossible so you generally just have to hope that things come out in relative proportions.
[Pat] credits
Webinar – Analog schematic capture & simulation with Stefan Schippers
for teaching him how to use the aforementioned tools. Both xschem and magic are customizable using the Tcl scripting language which [Pat] used to set things up to his own taste.
We have heard from [Pat Deegan] in recent history, he’s the guy who published the
considered KiCad shortcut keys
and he has a
KiCad mastery course which is available for free
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189843",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:17:38",
"content": "I’ll leave this here:https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F40wmtsswwrsf1.pnghttps://old.reddit.com/r/RISCV/comments/1nwhz28/waferspace_7k_usd_for_1k_custom_chips/",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,371,408.153186 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/honoring-the-legacy-of-robert-murray-smith/ | Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith | Tom Nardi | [
"News"
] | [
"mental health",
"Robert Murray-Smith",
"suicide",
"suicide prevention"
] | We at Hackaday are deeply saddened to learn of the
passing of Robert Murray-Smith
. The prolific experimenter had spent over a decade on YouTube, creating more than 2,500 videos where he gleefully demonstrated his seemingly endless collection of homemade contraptions. At least eighteen of which ended up on the pages of Hackaday since we first crossed paths with him back in 2013.
Like many of you, we were also shocked to find that Robert made the decision to end his own life. As cliché as it might sound, he simply didn’t seem like the type. His demeanor was always boisterous in his videos, exhibiting an almost child-like joy as he showed off his latest creation with a laugh and smile.
But as explained by his brother Dave in the brief announcement video posted yesterday, his outward appearance was a well-rehearsed mask that covered a deepening depression. Regular viewers of Robert’s videos knew he lost his wife, as he
shared a memorial video for her in April of 2024
. What he was less open about with his viewers was his own health, which it turns out had been rapidly declining for the last few months.
We now know that simply getting up and walking around had become painful for Robert, a fact obscured by the fact that most of his videos saw him seated at his workbench or in the back garden. That he was able to continue making so many videos at all speaks not only to his passion for technology and engineering, but the great love he had for the community that he’d built.
From the video we also learned that Robert found it very difficult to discuss his declining mental and physical health with friends and family. For men of his generation, the “strong and silent type” was often the ideal. Given all that he was going through, nobody could fault him for experiencing a sense of hopelessness, and yet his brother explains that Robert would never admit to the difficulties he was facing. Whenever pushed to talk about his feelings, he’d respond with that phrase which we’ve all heard (and maybe used once or twice) —
“I’m fine.”
Because of this, Robert’s family has partnered with the suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) to try and raise awareness about men’s mental health. They ask that anyone who wishes to honor Robert
make a donation to CALM
, in the hopes that they can help others who may find themselves in a similar situation.
It’s no great secret that many in the hacker and maker communities face their own daily struggles. Whether it’s from being neurodivergent, or the inability to fit in with mainstream society. Several of the staff here at Hackaday are from marginalized groups, and even among those who aren’t, let’s just say we have it on good authority that most of them didn’t get to sit with the “cool kids” back in high school. We also know that, just like Robert, many in the community find it difficult to communicate with others about how this impacts their mental health.
The lasting legacy of Robert Murray-Smith will of course be his incredible body of work, which will continue to inspire millions of viewers. But we can also honor him by making sure that we’re looking out for the well-being of friends, family, and even ourselves.
There are resources available
, and there’s no shame in asking for help when you need it. | 51 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "8189692",
"author": "yo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:11:33",
"content": "RIP, this morning was a real shock",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189701",
"author": "Miroslav",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:31:35",
"conten... | 1,760,371,408.241735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/give-your-microscope-polarized-5-shades-to-fight-glare/ | Give Your Microscope Polarized $5 Shades To Fight Glare | Maya Posch | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"glare",
"microscope",
"polarizing film"
] | Who doesn’t know the problem of glare when trying to ogle a PCB underneath a microscope of some description? Even with a ring light, you find yourself struggling to make out fine detail such as laser-etched markings in ICs, since the scattered light turns everything into a hazy mess. That’s where a simple sheet of linear polarizer film can do wonders, as demonstrated by [northwestrepair]
in a recent video
.
Simply get one of these ubiquitous films from your favorite purveyor of goods, or from a junked LCD screen or similar, and grab a pair of scissors or cutting implements. The basic idea is to put this linear polarizer film on both the light source as well as on your microscope’s lens(es), so that manipulating the orientation of either to align the polarization will make the glare vanish.
This is somewhat similar to the use of polarizing sunshades, only here you also produce specifically the polarized light that will be let through, giving you excellent control over what you see. As demonstrated in the video, simply rotating the ring light with the polarizer attached gives wildly different results, ranging from glare-central to a darkened-but-clear picture view of an IC’s markings.
How to adapt this method to your particular microscope is left as your daily arts and crafts exercise. You may also want to tweak your lighting setup to alter the angle and intensity, as there’s rarely a single silver bullet for the ideal setup.
Just the thing for that shiny new
microscope under the Christmas tree
. Don’t have a ring light?
Build one
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8192309",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:33:54",
"content": "I am confused. I thought this was a sudo hoax thing a few years ago that EEVblog demonstrated.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvFf9RSJUhkIs there a difference here that I am missing? NWR loves to make joke s... | 1,760,371,408.748374 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/deforming-a-mirror-for-adaptive-optics/ | Deforming A Mirror For Adaptive Optics | Aaron Beckendorf | [
"Science"
] | [
"adaptive optics",
"curved mirror",
"deformation",
"huygens optics",
"linear actuator",
"optics"
] | As frustrating as having an atmosphere can be for physicists, it’s just as bad for astronomers, who have to deal with clouds, atmospheric absorption of certain wavelengths, and other irritations. One of the less obvious effects is the distortion caused by air at different temperatures turbulently mixing. To correct for this, some larger observatories use a laser to create an artificial star in the upper atmosphere, observe how this appears distorted, then use shape-changing mirrors to correct the aberration. The physical heart of such a system is a deformable mirror, the component which [Huygens Optics] made
in his latest video
.
The deformable mirror is made out of a rigid backplate with an array of linear actuators between it and the thin sheet of quartz glass, which forms the mirror’s face. Glass might seem too rigid to flex under the tenth of a Newton that the actuators could apply, but everything is flexible when you can measure precisely enough. Under an interferometer, the glass visibly flexed when squeezed by hand, and the actuators created enough deformation for optical purposes. The actuators are made out of copper wire coils beneath magnets glued to the glass face, so that by varying the polarity and strength of current through the coils, they can push and pull the mirror with adjustable force. Flexible silicone pillars run through the centers of the coils and hold each magnet to the backplate.
A square wave driven across one of the actuators made the mirror act like a speaker and produce an audible tone, so they were clearly capable of deforming the mirror, but a Fizeau interferometer gave more quantitative measurements. The first iteration clearly worked, and could alter the concavity, tilt, and coma of an incoming light wavefront, but adjacent actuators would cancel each other out if they acted in opposite directions. To give him more control, [Huygens Optics] replaced the glass frontplate with a thinner sheet of glass-ceramic, such as
he’s used before
, which let actuators oppose their neighbors and shape the mirror in more complex ways. For example, the center of the mirror could have a convex shape, while the rest was concave.
This isn’t [Huygens Optics]’s first time
building a deformable mirror
, but this is a significant step forward in precision. If you don’t need such high precision, you can also use
controlled thermal expansion
to shape a mirror. If, on the other hand, you take it to the higher-performance extreme, you can take very
high-resolution pictures of the sun
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "8192207",
"author": "John Garrett",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:24:51",
"content": "Similar approach is used in toilet factories to ensure water swirls in the right direction when flushed (according to Coriolis Effect).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
... | 1,760,371,408.276828 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/slm-co-extruding-hotend-makes-poopless-prints/ | SLM Co-extruding Hotend Makes Poopless Prints | Tyler August | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"coextrusion",
"mixing hotend",
"Multicolor 3D printing",
"multimaterial"
] | Everyone loves colourful 3D prints, but nobody loves prime towers, “printer poop” and all the plastic waste associated with most multi-material setups. Over the years, there’s been no shortage of people trying to come up with a better way, and now it’s time for [Roetz] to toss his hat into the ring, with his patent-proof, open-source
Roetz-End
. You can see it work in the video below.
The Roetz-End is, as you might guess, a hot-end that [Roetz] designed to facilitate directional material printing. He utilizes SLM 3D printing of aluminum to create a four-in-one hotend, where four filaments are input and one filament is output. It’s co-extrusion, but in the hot-end and not the nozzle, as is more often seen. The stream coming out of the hot end is unmixed and has four distinct coloured sections. It’s like
making bi-colour filament
, but with two more colours, each aligned with one possible direction of travel of the nozzle.
What you get is ‘directional material deposition’: which colour ends up on the outer perimeter depends on how the nozzle is moving, just like with bi-color filaments– though far more reliably. That’s great for making cubes with distinctly-coloured sides, but there’s more to it than that. Printing at an angle can get neighboring filaments to mix; he demonstrates how well this mixing works by producing a gradient at (4:30). The colour gradients and combinations on more complicated prints are delightful.
Is it an MMU replacement? Not as-built. Perhaps with another axis– either turning the hot-end or the bed to control the direction of flow completely, so the colours could mix however you’d like, we could call it such. That’s discussed in the “patent” section of the video, but has not yet been implemented. This technique also isn’t going to replace MMU or multitool setups for people who want to print dissimilar materials for easily-removable supports, but co-extruding materials like PLA and TPU in this device creates the possibility for some interesting composites,
as we’ve discussed before.
As for being “patent-proof” — [Roetz] believes that through publishing his work on YouTube and
GitHub into the public domain
, he has put this out as “prior art” which should block any entity from successfully filing a patent. It worked for Robert A. Heinlein with the waterbed, but that was a long time ago. Time will tell if this is a way to
revive open hardware in 3D printing.
It’s certainly a neat idea, and we thank [CityZen] for the tip. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8192126",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:32:24",
"content": "Heinlein opensourced the waterbed?? How am I just now hearing of this",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192128",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,371,408.458826 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/making-a-2-transistor-am-radio-with-a-philips-electronic-engineer-ee8-kit-from-1966/ | Making A 2-Transistor AM Radio With A Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit From 1966 | John Elliot V | [
"hardware",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"am radio",
"Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit",
"transistor"
] | Back in 1966, a suitable toy for a geeky kid was a radio kit. You could find simple crystal radio sets or some more advanced ones. But some lucky kids got the Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit on Christmas morning. [Anthony Francis-Jones] shows us how to build a
2-transistor AM radio
from a Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit.
According to [The Radar Room]
, the kit wasn’t just an AM radio. It had multiple circuits to make (one at a time, of course), ranging from a code oscillator to a “wetness detector.”
The kit came with a breadboard and some overlays for the various circuits, along with the required components. It relied on springs, friction, and gravity to hold most of the components to the breadboard. A little wire is used, but mostly the components are connected to each other with their leads and spring terminals.
[Anthony] makes the 2-transistor radio, which continues from an earlier 1-transistor radio. The first components wired in are for the front panel: the potentiometer, variable capacitor, and power switch. Next, the spring terminals are clipped into place. The capacitors and resistors are installed. Then the diode is installed. The transistors are installed. The rest of the passive components and the various wires are installed. There is a technique for attaching the wires to the components using small springs to hold the wires in place. Finally, the “
ferroceptor
” is installed, and some batteries.
The whole apparatus is taken outside where a long wire antenna and an earth connection are connected to the circuit, but, alas, there wasn’t much of an AM signal to be received. [Anthony] tries again at nighttime and gets slightly better results, but only marginally.
You were a lucky kid to get one of these back in 1966. Maybe in 1967, you could be a
radio engineer
. If you are impressed with the EE8’s breadboard, you’d probably enjoy making
one of these
. | 13 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "8192072",
"author": "MH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T05:34:26",
"content": "I had this exact kit and it’s arguably what set me on the path to be a lifelong EE!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192298",
"author": "mpellat... | 1,760,371,408.506848 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/the-singing-dentures-of-manchester-and-other-places/ | The Singing Dentures Of Manchester And Other Places | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"radio",
"radio receiver",
"teeth"
] | Any radio amateur will tell you about the spectre of TVI, of their transmissions being inadvertently demodulated by the smallest of non-linearity in the neighbouring antenna systems, and spewing forth from the speakers of all and sundry. It’s very much a thing that the most unlikely of circuits can function as radio receivers, but… teeth? [Ringway Manchester]
investigates tales of musical dental work
.
Going through a series of news reports over the decades, including one of Lucille Ball uncovering a hidden Japanese spy transmitter, it’s something all experts who have looked at the issue have concluded there is little evidence for. It was also investigated by Mythbusters. But it’s an alluring tale, so is it entirely fabricated? What we can say is that teeth are sensitive to sound, not in themselves, but because the jaw provides a good path bringing vibrations to the region of the ear. And it’s certainly possible that the active chemical environment surrounding a metal filling in a patient’s mouth could give rise to electrical non-linearities. But could a human body in an ordinary RF environment act as a good enough antenna to provide enough energy for something to happen? We have our doubts.
It’s a perennial story (
even in fiction
), though, and we’re guessing that proof will come over the coming decades. If the tales of dental music and DJs continue after AM (or Long Wave in Europe) transmissions
have been turned off
, then it’s likely they’re more in the mind than in the mouth. If not, then we might have missed a radio phenomenon. The video is below the break.
Dental orthopantomogram: Temehetmebmk,
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191920",
"author": "Titus431",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:21:24",
"content": "Gilligan, what have you done this time?!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192187",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13... | 1,760,371,408.559974 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/hackaday-links-october-12-2025/ | Hackaday Links: October 12, 2025 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"3I/Atlas",
"biocomputer",
"hackaday links",
"jpl",
"Juno",
"mars",
"nasa",
"NATO",
"neuron",
"organoid",
"Perseverance",
"phonetic alphabet",
"pong"
] | We’ve probably all seen some old newsreel or documentary from The Before Times where the narrator, using his best Mid-Atlantic accent, described those newfangled computers as “thinking machines,” or better yet, “electronic brains.” It was an apt description, at least considering that the intended audience had no other frame of reference at a time when the most complex machine they were familiar with was a telephone. But what if the whole “brain” thing could be taken more literally? We’ll have to figure that out soon if
these computers powered by miniature human brains
end up getting any traction.
The so-called “organoid bioprocessors” come from a Swiss outfit called FinalSpark, and if you’re picturing little pulsating human brains in petri dishes connected to wires, you’ll have to guess again. The organoids, which are grown from human skin cells that have been reprogrammed into stem cells and then cultured into human neurons, only have about 10,000 cells per blob. That makes them a fraction of a millimeter in diameter, an important limit since they have no blood supply and must absorb nutrients from their culture medium, and even though they have none of the neuronal complexity of a brain, they’re still capable of some interesting stuff. FinalSpark has
a live feed
to one of its organoid computing cells on the website; the output looks a little like an EEG, which makes sense if you think about it. We’re not sure where this technology is going, aside from
playing
Pong
, but if you put aside the creep-factor, this is pretty neat stuff.
We thought once 3I/Atlas, our latest interstellar visitor, ducked behind the Sun on its quick trip through the solar system, that things would quiet down a bit, at least in terms of stories about how it’s an alien space probe or something. Don’t get us wrong, we’d dearly love to have it be a probe sent by another civilization to explore our neck of the galactic woods, and at this point we’d even be fine with it being the vanguard of a Vogon Constructor Fleet. But now the best view of the thing is from Mars, leading to stories about
the strange cylindrical thing in the Martian sky
. The photo was apparently captured on October 4 by one of the navigation cameras on the
Perseverance
rover, which alone is a pretty neat trick since those cameras are optimized for looking at the ground. But the image is clearly not of a cylinder floating menacingly over the Martian surface; rather,
as Avi Loeb explains
, it’s likely a spot of light that’s been smeared into a streak by a long integration time. And it might not even be 3I/Atlas; since the comet would have been near Phobos at the time, it could be a smeared-out picture of the Martian moon.
Part of the reason for all this confusion about a simple photograph is the continuing U.S. government shutdown, which has furloughed a lot of the NASA and JPL employees. And not only has the shutdown made it hard to get the straight poop on 3I/Atlas, it’s also responsible for
the confusion over the state of the Juno mission
. The probe, which has been studying the Jovian system since 2016, was supposed to continue through September 30, 2025; unfortunately, the shutdown started at one minute past midnight the very next day. With no news out of NASA, it’s unclear whether Juno is still in operation, or whether it’s planned intentional deorbit into Jupiter, to prevent contaminating any of the planet’s potentially life-bearing moons, already occurred. That makes it a bit of a Schrödinger’s space probe until NASA can tell us what’s going on.
And finally, are we really recommending that you watch a 25-minute video from a channel that specializes in linguistics? Yep, we sure are, because we found
Rob Words’ deep dive into the NATO phonetic alphabet
really interesting. For those of you not used to listening to the ham bands or public service radio, phonetic alphabets help disambiguate spoken letters from each other. Over a noisy channel, “cee” and “dee” are easily confused, but “Charlie” and “Delta” are easier to distinguish. But as Rob points out, getting to the finished NATO alphabet — spoiler alert, it’s neither NATO nor phonetic — was anything but a smooth road, with plenty of whiskey-tango-foxtrot moments along the way. Enjoy! | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,371,408.595279 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/diy-35mm-film-scanning/ | DIY 35mm Film Scanning | Al Williams | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"News"
] | [] | If you are sitting on a horde of negatives, waiting for the digital photography fad to die off, it may be time to think about digitizing your old film. [Kinpro1024] can help with the
PiDigitzier
, an open-source film scanning solution. The build centers around a Pi Zero 2, a Pi HQ camera, and a diffusing LED lighting fixture. Of course, there’s also some miscellaneous hardware and a camera lens; the example used a Pentax 50 mm f1.8 lens.
Half of the project is mechanical. An MDF tower provides a stable 250 mm workspace and decks that can slide up and down using threaded rods and curtain rods. Apparently, leveling the platforms is important not only for the optics but also to allow the MDF to move along the rods without binding.
On the software side, some Python software orchestrates the capture and builds a high-resolution scan by combining three different images from different positions. As you might expect, though, the image stitching doesn’t occur on the Pi.
[Kinpro1024] has only scanned black and white film so far because the LEDs have a poor color rendering index. If you wanted to scan color film, you may have to experiment with better lighting or software correction. The camera’s rolling shutter also causes some issues if the LEDs don’t hold their intensity through the entire scan. You could, of course, replace this with a global shutter camera.
Stray light can also be a problem. Ideally, you’d use bellows like a big camera, but if that’s not available, you can wing it with some homemade light baffles.
If you decide you want to try color, you will
be interested in this project
. You might also think of raiding the kids’
Lego box
. | 19 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8191813",
"author": "Evan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:26:51",
"content": "I’ve never understood the concern with high CRI for scanning film. Color film is essentially an RGB technology. Ideally you’d use an RGB backlight with wavelengths chosen that give you the strongest contrast... | 1,760,371,408.651596 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-to-design-custom-lcds-for-your-own-projects/ | How To Design Custom LCDs For Your Own Projects | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"display",
"lcd",
"segment lcd"
] | These days, you can buy full graphical LCD or OLED displays for just a few dollars. However, if you’re so inclined, you can actually get your own segmented LCDs made to suit your own projects.
[Icoso Labs] explains how it’s done,
with plenty of handy tips along the way.
There are three primary things you need to do to design a segmented LCD. First, you need to design it visually, laying out all the individual elements you want on the display. Then you need to determine how you want to split them up into segments. Some elements you’ll just want to be a single monolithic on-or-off shape, while other areas you might want to create things like seven-segment numerals for displaying numbers and so on. With that done, you also need to specify various engineering details—such as whether you want a transmissive, reflective, or transflective display, and thicknesses, colors, and other important things. Armed with all that, you can take your design to a manufacturer and get them to make a bunch for you. Often, there’s a moderately high tooling cost to start a run, but you can then turn out more examples of your design for just a few bucks apiece.
It’s a neat guide to designing something few of us have ever considered sourcing for ourselves. We’ve featured other insights
into the world of segmented LCDs before
, too. Video after the break. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187781",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:52:37",
"content": "Handy if one wants to go for that high-end audio equipment look.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187784",
"author": "Vik Olliver",
"timesta... | 1,760,371,408.326851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/open-source-controller-for-old-and-expensive-industrial-robots/ | Open Source Controller For Old And Expensive Industrial Robots | Maya Posch | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"AMD Zynq-7000 SoC",
"robot"
] | The Zynq-7000 usage at the core of the robot controller. (Credit: Excessive Overkill, YouTube)
Industrial robots like robotic arms are basically everywhere, albeit usually out of the public’s eye in factories. This also means that they get replaced and scrapped all the time, making for many opportunities to snap up an industrial robot that once cost as much as a pretty fancy car for essentially peanuts. Over the years the bloke behind the [Excessive Overkill] YouTube channel did this a lot, which also
revealed the main issue
with these ‘cheap’ robots: the electronics and associated software, with the manufacturer rarely going out of their way to appease to hobbyists trying to fix up one of these units, never mind for free.
That said, if you’re persistent enough, you can reverse-engineer these beasts to the point where you can develop your own controller hardware and software solution. This is exactly what was done, resulting in an open source controller, found on the
ExcessiveMotion GitHub page
, that should allow you to control many of these industrial robots. At the core is a Zynq-7000 hybrid FPGA-ARM SoC chip, running real-time Linux (with preemptive scheduling patch) on the SoC side and custom HDL on the FPGA side to handle the hard real-time tasks.
The controller during testing. (Credit: Excessive Overkill, YouTube)
The controller is made to be modular, with a backplane that can accept various interface cards in addition to the current RS-485 and RS-422 interfaces that are commonly used in industrial settings, such as here for controlling the individual servo drives of the robots. To make assembly and testing interesting, the first controller and integration with a robot was made ready for display at the Open Sauce 2025 event, requiring things to be rushed along, including reverse-engineering the servo protocol for a small-ish industrial robot suitable for public display and use, as well as developing the kinematics for the robotic arm.
With the controller now demonstrated, clearly this is the perfect time to rush out and get one of these fun industrial robots for a few hundred bucks. Currently the controller is still being finalized, with the author asking for feedback on what it should be able to support. If you have a particularly unusual industrial robot lounging around without the requisite controller, this might be your chance to revive it.
Thanks to [Hans] for the tip. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187721",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:39:34",
"content": "What you say is bullshit there’s no cheap used robots in Tajikistan where I live. Keep us-centric stuff to minimum bro.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,371,408.709553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/3d-printing-a-cheap-vr-headset/ | 3D Printing A Cheap VR Headset | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"head tracking",
"headset",
"virtual reality",
"vr",
"vr headset"
] | The modern era of virtual reality really kicked off in earnest just over a decade ago, when the Oculus Rift promised 3D worlds beyond your wildest dreams. Since then, nobody’s been able to come up with a killer app to convince even a mild fraction of consumers to engage with the technology. Still, if you’re keen to tinker, you might like
to make your own headset like [CNCDan] has done.
The build is based almost entirely on 3D-printed components and parts sourced from AliExpress. It offers 2880x1440p resolution, thanks to a pair of square 1440×1440 LCD displays, one for each eye, paired with a couple of 34 mm lenses. The headset has adjustable interpupiliary distance so you can dial the view in to properly suit your eyes. The 3D-printed housing is designed to be compatible with headrest pads from the HTC Vive Pro for comfort’s sake. Head tracking is also available, with the inclusion of an IMU and an Arduino onboard. [CNCDan] apparently put the build together for under $150, which is not bad compared to the price of a commercial off-the-shelf unit. Files are
on Github
for the curious.
[CNCDan] reports good results with the DIY headset, using it primarily with his racing simulator setup. He has had some issues, however, with his LCD screens, which don’t properly run at a 90 Hz refresh rate at full resolution, which is frustrating. It’s an issue he’s still looking into.
We’ve seen some other neat VR builds over the years, too
. Video after the break. | 22 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187580",
"author": "Sven Hapsbjorg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:17:56",
"content": ">good results>LCDs don’t work properlyPick one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187591",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T... | 1,760,371,408.808308 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/serial-and-updi-handled-together-with-one-convenient-circuit/ | Serial And UPDI Handled Together With One Convenient Circuit | Lewin Day | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"serial",
"uart",
"UPDI"
] | Sometimes it’s nice when you can do everything you need to do with just one single port. In this vein, [Nicola Strappazzon] whipped up a circuit
to combine serial and UPDI programming in a very convenient way.
As an example, [Nicola] demonstrates the concept using an AVR128DA28 microcontroller. It’s paired with a 4052 multiplexer IC and a CH340 USB-to-serial chip. Everything is wired up such that the 4052 acts as a switch for the signal coming from the CH340. When the RTS flow-control signal is set high, it switches the 4052 to hook up the CH340’s RX and TX pins to the UDPI interface on the AVR microcontroller. Conversely, when the RTS signal is set low, the CH340 is instead hooked up to the serial UART on the microcontroller. From there, it’s a simple matter of configuring avrdude to properly set the RTS pin when attempting to program the attached device.
If you’re working with UPDI devices and you want to be able to talk to them and program them with a minimum of fuss, this project might be useful for you.
We’ve looked at dedicated UPDI programmers before, too.
If you’re cooking up your own nifty microcontroller hacks, don’t hesitate to let us know
on the tipsline. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187507",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:36:35",
"content": "Nice trick, and worthy of publishing.About 20 odd years ago I did something similar with the AVR’s. I made a dip adapter that had both an atmega and an 4052, and I switched MISO / MOSI / SCK between the p... | 1,760,371,408.850142 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-do-the-normal-people-survive/ | How Do The Normal People Survive? | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] | [
"debugging tools",
"newsletter",
"oscilloscope",
"Rant"
] | It was one of those weeks last week at Hackaday’s home office. My mother-in-law handed me her favorite power bank and said “it’s not charging”. She had every expectation that I’ll open it up, desolder the weary pouch inside, scrounge a LiPo out of some corner of the basement, and have it back up and running before the weekend. And of course that’s what happened, although maybe it looks a little worse for wear because it was hard to open the sealed case without excessive force. Sorry about that!
Then on the weekend, I finally got fed up with the decomposing foam on the face seal on my FPV goggles. It was leaking light all over the place. Of course I could have bought a new seal, but then I’d have to wait a week or so for delivery. So I pulled the velcro backing off, tossed it in the bed scanner, pulled the image up in Inkscape, converted it to Gcode, and cut out a couple seals out of EVA foam on the laser. Not only are they essentially indestructible, but I was able to customize them a little bit, and the fit is now better than ever.
And then, one of our neighbors bought a new garage door fob, flipped the DIP switches into the right configuration, and couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t open the garage door. Knock knock knock. Using
the tried-and-true RF probe
that everyone with a scope probe has sitting around, namely hooking the ground pin to the tip and putting the radio device in the loop, it was clear that the sense of the DIP switches was inverted from what it said in the instructions. That was a fun little puzzle.
It was the garage door opener that triggered me to think about how normal people would handle any of these situations. “How do the normies even get by?” were the exact words that went through my head. And let’s face it: we’re not entirely normal. Normal people don’t have a soldering setup just sitting around ready to get hot 24/7, or a scope to diagnose a garage door RF transmitter at the drop of a hat. But these things seem to happen to me all the time. How do the normal people survive? Maybe they all know someone with a scope?
I take it as my service to the world to be “that guy” for most of our friends and family, and I pretty much do it without complaint. “With great power” and all that. My wife is just about as gracious when she’s stuck debugging a parent’s Windows setup, so I’m not saying I’m the only saint in the world, either. Surely you have similar stories.
But last week it made me reflect on how good we’ve got it, and that does make me want to pay it forward a little bit. If you’re one of the people who can, try to help out those who can’t.
This article is part of the Hackaday.com newsletter, delivered every seven days for each of the last 200+ weeks. It also includes our favorite articles from the last seven days that you can see on
the web version of the newsletter
.
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You should sign up
! | 115 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187429",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:04:40",
"content": "My condolences to those supporting family and friends through the Windows 10 EOL.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187449",
"author": "bruno",
... | 1,760,371,409.065955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/a-high-resolution-dac-from-scratch/ | A High Resolution ADC From Scratch | Bryan Cockfield | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"16-bit",
"adc",
"analog digital converter",
"clock",
"counter",
"delta sigma",
"integration",
"integrator",
"op-amp",
"resolution"
] | It’s a well-known conundrum that while most computers these days are digital in nature, almost nothing in nature is. Most things we encounter in the real world, whether it’s temperature, time, sound, pressure, or any other measurable phenomenon comes to us in analog form. To convert these signals to something understandable by a digital converter we need an analog-to-digital converter or ADC,
and [Igor] has built a unique one from scratch called a delta sigma converter
.
What separates delta sigma converters apart is their high sampling rate combined with a clever way of averaging the measurements to get a very precise final value. In [Igor]’s version this average is provided by an op-amp that integrates the input signal and a feedback signal, allowing for an extremely precise digital value to be outputted at the end of the conversion process. [Igor] has built this one from scratch as well, and is using it to interface a magnetic rotary encoder to control digital audio playback.
Although he has this set up with specific hardware, he has enough detail in his video (including timing diagrams and explanations of all of the theory behind these circuits) for anyone else to build one of these for other means, and it should be easily adaptable for plenty of uses. There are plenty of different ADC topologies too,
and we saw many different ones a few years ago
during our op-amp challenge. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187397",
"author": "D VB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T11:58:38",
"content": "Title mentions DAC…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187489",
"author": "dudefromthenorth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:44:26",
... | 1,760,371,408.898678 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-your-sid-may-not-be-as-tuneful-as-youd-like/ | How Your SID May Not Be As Tuneful As You’d Like | Jenny List | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"midisid",
"MOS 6581",
"sid"
] | The MOS Technologies 6581, or SID, is perhaps the integrated circuit whose sound is most sought-after in the chiptune world. Its three voices and mix of waveforms define so much of our collective memories of 1980s computing culture, so it’s no surprise that modern musicians seek out SID synthesisers of their own. One of these is the MIDISID, produced by [MIDI IN], and in a recent video
she investigates an unexpected tuning problem
.
It started when she received customer reports of SIDs that were out of tune, and in the video she delves deeply into the subject. The original SID gained its timing from a clock signal provided by the Commodore 64, with thus different timing between NTSC and PAL versions of the machine. This meant European SID music needed different software values to American compositions, and along the way she reveals a localisation error in that the British Commodore 64 manual had the wrong table of values.
Modern SIDs are emulated unless you happen to have an original, and her problem came when switching from one emulated SID to another. The first one used that clock pin while the second has its own clock, resulting in some music being off-tune. It’s a straightforward firmware fix for her, but an interesting dive into how these chips worked for the rest of us.
Image: Taras Young,
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187350",
"author": "Senile Data Systems",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T09:09:05",
"content": "One of the SIDs in my 13 C64s also has a slight defect where one of the voices occasionally plays sour notes – out of tune by up to a note and a half. I need to use the SID test program on it ... | 1,760,371,409.224315 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/building-a-ham-radio-data-transceiver-on-the-cheap/ | Building A Ham Radio Data Transceiver On The Cheap | Lewin Day | [
"News"
] | [
"ham radio",
"radio",
"raspberry pi",
"RF"
] | Once upon a time, ham radio was all about CW and voice transmissions and little else. These days, the hobby is altogether richer, with a wide range of fancy digital data modes to play with. [KM6LYW Radio] has been tinkering in this space, and whipped up a compact ham radio data rig that you can build
for well under $100
.
Radio-wise, the build starts with the Baofeng UV-5R handheld radio. It’s a compact VHF/UHF transceiver with 5W output and can be had for under $25 USD if you know where to look. It’s paired with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, which is the brains of the operation. The Pi is hooked up to the
All-In-One-Cable
which is basically a soundcard-like interface that plugs into USB and hooks up to the mic and speaker outputs of the Baofeng handheld. The final pieces of the puzzle are a USB PD battery pack and a small OLED screen to display status information.
What does that kit get you? The capability to transmit on all sorts of digital modes with the aid of the DigiPi software package. You can send emails, jump on APRS, or even chat on the web. You can configure all of this through a web interface running on the Raspberry Pi.
We’ve looked at
some interesting digital ham projects before,
too. Video after the break.
[Thanks to programmer1200 for the tip!] | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187306",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T05:38:36",
"content": "Once upon a time, ham radio was all about CW and voice transmissions and little else.And RTTY (“ritty”) at 45,45 Baud, I would say. :)Most morse code decoders or morse code keyboards of the 1970s had a RTT... | 1,760,371,409.284889 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/when-usb-charger-marketing-claims-are-technically-true/ | When USB Charger Marketing Claims Are Technically True | Maya Posch | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"scams",
"teardown",
"usb charger"
] | The 600W is not the output rating, despite all appearances. (Credit: Denki Otaku, YouTube)
We have seen many scam USB chargers appear over the years, with a number of them being enthusiastically ripped apart and analyzed by fairly tame electrical engineers. Often these are obvious scams with clear fire risks, massively overstated claims and/or electrocution hazards. This is where the “600W” multi-port USB charger from AliExpress that [Denki Otaku] looked at
is so fascinating
, as despite only outputting 170 Watt before cutting out, it’s technically not lying in its marketing and generally well-engineered.
The trick being that the “600W” is effectively just the model name, even if you could mistake it for the summed up output power as listed on the ports. The claimed GaN components are also there, with all three claimed parts counted and present in the main power conversion stages, along with the expected efficiency gains.
While testing USB-PD voltages and current on the USB-C ports, the supported USB-PD EPR wattage and voltages significantly reduce when you start using ports, indicating that they’re clearly being shared, but this is all listed on the product page.
The main PCB of the unit generates the 28 VDC that’s also the maximum voltage that the USB-C ports can output, with lower voltages generated as needed. On the PCB with the USB ports we find the step-down converters for this, as well as the USB-PD and other USB charging control chips. With only a limited number of these to go around, the controller will change the current per port dynamically as the load increases, as you would expect.
Considering that this particular charger can be bought for around $30, is up-front about the limitations and uses GaN, while a genuine 300 Watt charger from a brand like Anker goes for $140+, it leads one to question the expectations of the buyer more than anything. While not an outright scam like those outrageous $20 ‘2 TB’ SSDs, it does seem to prey on people who have little technical understanding of what crazy amounts of cash you’d have to spend for a genuine 600 Watt GaN multi-port USB charger, never mind how big such a unit would be. | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187283",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T03:36:29",
"content": "PhD in Mathematics is just my DJ name 😂",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187410",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:45... | 1,760,371,409.363253 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/cold-sensor-hot-results-upgrading-a-dslr-for-astrophotography/ | Cold Sensor, Hot Results: Upgrading A DSLR For Astrophotography | Matt Varian | [
"hardware"
] | [
"astrophotography",
"dslr",
"peltier cooler"
] | When taking pictures of the night sky, any noise picked up by the sensor can obscure the desired result. One major cause of noise in CMOS sensors is heat—even small amounts can degrade the final image. To combat this, [Francisco C] of Deep SkyLab retrofitted an old Canon T1i DSLR with an
external cooler to reduce thermal noise
, which introduces random pixel variations that can hide faint stars.
While dedicated astrophotography cameras exist—and [Francisco C] even owns one—he wanted to see if he could improve an old DSLR by actively cooling its image sensor. He began with minor surgery, removing the rear panel and screen to expose the back of the sensor. Using a sub-$20 Peltier cooler (also called a TEC, or Thermoelectric Cooler), he placed its cold side against the sensor, creating a path to draw heat away.
Reassembling the camera required some compromises, such as leaving off the LCD screen due to space constraints. To prevent light leaks, [Francisco C] covered the exposed PCBs and viewfinder with tape. He then tested the setup, taking photos with the TEC disabled and enabled. Without cooling, the sensor started at 67°F but quickly rose to 88°F in sequential shots. With the TEC enabled, the sensor remained steady at 67°F across all shots, yielding a 2.8x improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Thanks to [Francisco C] for sharing this project! Check out his project page for more details, and explore our other
astrophotography hacks
for inspiration. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187229",
"author": "Ray",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:26:28",
"content": "A cool project",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187253",
"author": "AlongTheWay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T00:45:30",
"content"... | 1,760,371,409.415714 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/build-a-3d-printed-tide-clock-so-you-know-when-the-sea-is-coming-to-get-you/ | Build A 3D Printed Tide Clock So You Know When The Sea Is Coming To Get You | Lewin Day | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"a moon called moon",
"clock",
"moon",
"The Moon",
"tidal",
"tide",
"tide clock"
] | The tides! Such a unique thing, because on Earth, we don’t just have oceans full of liquid water—we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon to pull them around. You might like to keep track of the tides; if so,
this tide clock from [rabbitcreek] could come in handy.
The motions of the tides are moderately complex; it was in the late 19th century that Sir William Thomson figured out a reasonable method to predict the tides mathematically and with a mechanical contrivance of his own design. These days, though, you don’t need pulleys and ropes to build a tide clock; you can just use electronics for display and the NOAA API to get the information you need.
[rabbitcreek’s] build is based around the Xiao ESP32 S3, which is charged with using its Wi-Fi connection to query NOAA up-to-date tide height data. It then uses this information to drive the position of a servo, installed inside a 3D-printed housing. The servo rotates a little red Moon indicator around a central Earth, with our home planet surrounded by a stretched blue marker indicating the swelling of the tides as influenced by the Moon’s gravity.
If you’re a surfer or beach driver that’s always wanting to know the tidal state at a glance, this clock is for you. We’ve featured
other tide clocks before
, but never any projects that can actually influence the tides themselves. If you’ve figured out how to mess with gravity on a planetary scale, consider applying for a Nobel Prize—but do
notify the tipsline
before you do. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187197",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T22:15:23",
"content": "“we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon…” lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187267",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-... | 1,760,371,409.179817 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/pulling-a-high-vacuum-with-boiling-mercury/ | Pulling A High Vacuum With Boiling Mercury | Aaron Beckendorf | [
"Science"
] | [
"high vacuum pump",
"mercury",
"vacuum pump"
] | If you need to create a high vacuum, there are basically two options: turbomolecular pumps and diffusion pumps. Turbomolecular pumps require rotors spinning at many thousands of rotations per minute and must be carefully balanced to avoid a violent self-disassembly, but diffusion pumps aren’t without danger either, particularly if, like [Advanced Tinkering], you
use mercury as your working fluid
. Between the high vacuum, boiling mercury, and the previous two being contained in fragile glassware, this is a project that takes steady nerves to attempt – and could considerably unsteady those nerves if something were to go wrong.
A diffusion pump works by boiling a some working fluid – usually silicone oil – and creating a directed stream of vapor. The vapor molecules collide with air molecules and impart momentum to them, drawing them along with the vapor stream into a condenser. The condenser liquefies the working fluid, while a backing vacuum pump just past the condenser removes the entrained air molecules. The working fluid then flows back into the heating chamber to begin the cycle again. The earliest diffusion pumps did use mercury as a working fluid, a practice which has almost completely died out, but which did have one significant advantage: if, for some reason, air did flood back into the vacuum chamber, there was no risk of setting hot oil vapor on fire.
[Advanced Tinkering]’s diffusion pump is made of glass, which gives a good view of the internal process; It’s in equal parts fascinating and disquieting to see droplets of metal condensing on the glass parts. A Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen holds two cold traps to condense any mercury vapors leaving the pump: one on the line between the diffusion pump and the backing pump, and one between the diffusion pump and a vacuum gauge to make sure that mercury’s vapor pressure isn’t throwing off measurements. Another vacuum gauge is connected to the backing pump’s inlet, which lets the diffusion pump’s performance be measured. After a few hours of running, the pressure at the diffusion pump’s inlet was two orders of magnitude lower than at its outlet, and more vacuum-tight connections could probably have brought it even lower.
This isn’t [Advanced Tinkering]’s first time working with dangerous
liquid metals
, nor his first time building equipment
for high vacuum
. If you’re still looking for a safer vacuum, check out this
budget diffusion pump
. | 21 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187134",
"author": "Frank Wilhoit",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:37:11",
"content": "Liquid mercury has a notoriously high vapor pressure — that is the source of most of the element’s real-world toxicity — and it would seem that a pump in which mercury was the working fluid could, b... | 1,760,371,409.708789 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/hackaday-podcast-episode-340-the-best-programming-language-space-surgery-and-hacking-two-3d-printers-into-one/ | Hackaday Podcast Episode 340: The Best Programming Language, Space Surgery, And Hacking Two 3D Printers Into One | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together to share their favorite hacks of the week with you. If you listen in, you’ll hear exciting news about the upcoming SuperCon and the rare occurrence of Al winning the What’s That Sound game.
For hacks, the guys talk about the IEEE’s take on the “best” programming languages of 2025 and how they think AI is going to fundamentally transform the job of a programmer. On a lighter note, there’s an industrial robot who retired to bartending, a minimal drum machine, a high-powered laser, and a Fortran flight simulator reborn with Unity 3D.
In the “can’t miss” category, you’ll learn how not to switch Linux distributions and what to expect when you need surgery while on your next mission to outer space.
There’s lots more. Want to follow along? Check out the links below. As always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Or
download in DRM-free MP3 playable even over 56K modems
.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 340 Show Notes:
News:
2025 Hackaday Speakers, Round One! And Spoilers
What’s that Sound?
Al made short work of the sound again this week, racking up an uncharacteristic streak of two. Congrats to [Absolutely the Best Podcast: A Work in Progress] for getting the printing press right too!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Ask Hackaday: What’s The Top Programming Language Of 2025
Robot Bartender Is The Life Of The Party
The Making Of A Minimalist Analog Drum Machine
Logic Noise: Sweet, Sweet Oscillator Sounds
Improved 3D Printer Cannibalizes Two Older Printers
Driving A Laser At 200 Volts For Nanoseconds
http://www.lasersam.org/sam/lasersam.htm
Porting A Fortran Flight Simulator To Unity3D
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
3D Print Smoothing, With Lasers
Segger’s Awkward USB-C Issue With The J-Link Compact Debugger
YouTube… Over Dial Up
Kinethreads: A Low Cost Haptic Exo-Suit
Al’s Picks:
An FPGA-Based Mechanical Keyboard
Creating Python GUIs With GIMP
NTRON Plays Games, Music
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Ask Hackaday: How Do You Distro Hop?
Distrobox
A Cut Above: Surgery In Space, Now And In The Future | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,371,409.53809 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/a-treasure-trove-of-random-vintage-tech-resources/ | A Treasure Trove Of Random Vintage Tech Resources | Lewin Day | [
"classic hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"archive",
"diskettes",
"disks"
] | Finding, collecting, and restoring vintage tech is the rewarding pastime of many a Hackaday reader. Working with old-school gear can be tough, though, when documentation or supporting resources are hard to find. If you’re in need of an old manual or a little scrap of software,
you might find the Vintage Technology Digital Archive (VTDA) a useful destination.
The VTDA is a simple website. There is no search function, or fancy graphical way to browse the resources on offer. Instead, it’s merely a collection of files in a well-ordered directory tree. Click through /pics/DiskSleeves/VTDA/ and you’ll find a collection of high-resolution scans of various old diskettes and their packaging. /docs/computing/Centronics/ will give you all kinds of useful documentation, from press releases to datasheets for printers long forgotten. You can even find
Heathkit schematics
and
old Windows bootdisk images
if you dive into the depths.
While it doesn’t have everything, by any means, the VTDA has lots of interesting little bits and pieces that you might not find anywhere else. It’s a great counterpart to
other archival efforts out on the web
, particularly if you’re a member of the retrocomputing massive.
Thanks to [Itay] for the tip! | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187112",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:40:23",
"content": "haha wild – i randomly wound up looking at a Sams service manual for the ibm 5150, and i just stumbled onto information i was actively seeking 24 years ago when someone asked me to try to recover data on h... | 1,760,371,409.75554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/this-week-in-security-cvss-0-chwoot-and-not-in-the-threat-model/ | This Week In Security: CVSS 0, Chwoot, And Not In The Threat Model | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"chroot",
"CVSS",
"SEV",
"sudo",
"This Week in Security"
] | This week a reader sent me
a story about a CVE in Notepad++
, and something isn’t quite right. The story is a DLL hijack, a technique where a legitimate program’s Dynamic Link Library (DLL) is replaced with a malicious DLL. This can be used for very stealthy persistence as well as escalation of privilege. This one was assigned
CVE-2025-56383
, and given a CVSS score of 8.4.
The problem? Notepad++ doesn’t run as a privileged user, and the install defaults to the right permissions for the folder where the “vulnerable” DLL is installed. Or as pointed out
in a GitHub issue on the Proof of Concept (PoC) code, why not just hijack the notepad++ executable
?
This is key when evaluating a vulnerability write-up. What exactly is the write-up claiming? And what security boundary is actually being broken? The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) list can be useful here. This vulnerability is classified as CWE-427, an uncontrolled search path element — which isn’t actually what the vulnerability claims, and that’s another clue that something is amiss here. In reality this “vulnerability” applies to every application that uses a DLL: a CVSS 0.
Smish Boxes
There’s a trend to replace land lines with cellular modems. While wearing my phone tech hat, I’ve even installed a few cellular routers in hotel telecom closets. It turns out there’s a potential problem with that particular arrangement. Hotels and other commercial installations often assign a public IP address to each piece of equipment, and as a result it’s not uncommon for that equipment to be directly exposed to the Internet. And what happens when cellular routers are exposed to the Internet, sometimes with vulnerabilities or even default credentials? Naturally,
scammers use them to send spammy SMS messages
.
The scale of the problem is surprising. After researchers at Sekoia discovered the problem, they discovered 18,000 of these devices accessible on the Internet. It seems like this campaign may be responsible for the majority of the SMS spam being sent in modern smishing campaigns. It also appears that there may be an unknown 0-day being exploited in the campaign.
VMWare
VMware just fixed CVE-2025-41244, a local privilege escalation vulnerability that
has been in use in the wild since at least October of last year
. This vulnerability is in the service discovery feature of VMware Aria. The idea is that the installed VMware Tools can discover running services and probe for version numbers.
On a Linux guest, this probe works by listing the currently running processes, and if the a process matches one of the regular expressions, that process is run with the
-v
flag. As root. Yes, this vulnerability that was being actively exploited in the wild by a Chinese threat actor for over a year, was as simple as an over-matching regex and carelessly running binaries as root. The trick favored by the attackers was to place a malicious binary at
/tmp/httpd
, run it as a regular user, and just wait for the VMware tooling to come along and run it as root.
Sudo Chwoot
The maintainers behind
sudo
fixed
a pair of vulnerabilities
back in June that allowed a
local attacker to escalate privileges
. The most interesting of the two abuses is in the handling of the chroot option, resulting in an attack [Rich Mirch] refers to as “chwoot”.
The actual weakness is that
sudo
would use the
chroot()
system call while setting up the chroot environment, prior to dropping privileges. In this state,
sudo
performs Name Service Switch calls as root, which results in looking for
/etc/nsswitch.conf
inside the chroot directory. This config file can trigger a shared library load, and since it’s happening in the context of a chroot, that library is also first loaded from the chroot directory if it exists there, resulting in a handy escalation to root.
This behavior is enabled for all users by default, resulting in a serious vulnerability on many Linux machines. It was fixed and disclosed back in June, but
has now been added to the CISA list
of known exploited vulnerabilities.
Not in the Threat Model
Intel and AMD both have trusted computing solutions for encrypted VMs, that among other things, encrypt the bits in memory so even a compromised kernel can’t extract data from the running VM. The approaches from both companies are similar, using symmetric encryption with the memory location as part of the encryption Initialization Vector (IV). This means that while the same key is in use, a plaintext value in a given memory location will always be represented by the same encrypted value. Two pieces of research came out this week suggesting that
this codebook-like behavior has security ramifications
.
Before we dive into the rest of the details, it’s worth pointing out that asymmetric encryption is likely not a viable option for VM memory encryption, due to the processing latency overhead. The exploit here is to physically connect to the memory sticks inside a target computer, and record the encrypted bits. In some cases, an attacker can later run a malicious VM on the same hardware, and use the physical hack to replay the captured bits, allowing easy decryption. Another option is to replay the VM attestation report, falsely claiming that the virtual machine is still fully protected.
What’s initially surprising is that both Intel and AMD have maintained that their SGX and SEV-SNP systems are not intended to protect against physical access. But seeing what is possible with physical modification to system memory, it’s no longer a surprising line to draw. The other interesting note is that so far these attacks are limited to DDR4, as DDR5 memory has a higher data rate, making the entire operation even more difficult.
Bit and Bytes
Red Hat has confirmed that
one of its GitLab instances was compromised by Crimson Collective
, leading to the exfiltration of over 500 GB of data. This seems to include customer data related to consulting contracts.
RCE Security dug into a product called TRUfusion Enterprise, a data transfer solution that is marketed as undergoing regular audits. It came as a surprise that they found
four vulnerabilities that could be called low-hanging fruit
. The takeaway: not all audits are created equal, and there’s no guarantee that this style of code review will catch every bug.
Our last two links are both about memory management. The first is from Cybervelia, looking at
how to find uninitialized memory access
with just a program binary and no source code. Binary Ninja is the tool that really shines here, but it’s certainly not an easy task.
The other is the latest from Google’s Project Zero, taking a look at
some non-obvious ways to defeat Address Layout Randomization
using careful analysis of hash tables. Very in-depth work, and on-brand for Project Zero. Enjoy! | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187140",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:48:08",
"content": "Dunno if this is just a coincidence but Unity “apparently” has a CVE with a CVSS Score of 8.4But from the actual description this seems grossly overestimated – AFAICT it’s a non issue because if an attacke... | 1,760,371,409.81058 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/giant-airplane-goes-long-on-specialization/ | Giant Airplane Goes Long On Specialization | Tyler August | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"aircraft",
"single-purpose",
"wind power"
] | While not everyone agrees on the installation of wind turbines in their proverbial back yards, one thing not up for debate is that there is a drive to build them bigger, and bigger. Big turbines means big blades, and big blades need to be transported… somehow. If air freight is going to stay relevant to the industry,
we’re gonna need a bigger airplane
.
A startup called Radia has a plan for that plane, and it is a doosie. The “WindRunner” would clock in at a massive 108 meters (354 feet) long, but with a wingspan of just 80 m (262 ft). That’s very, very long, but it might not be the largest airplane,
depending how you measure it.
Comparing to the 88 m wingspan for the
late, lamented An-225 Mriya,
you can expect a lower payload capacity, but heavy payloads aren’t the point here. Wind turbine blades really aren’t that heavy. They’re big, or they can be — the WindRunner is designed to fit a single 105 m blade within its long fuselage, or a pair of 90 m blades.
You can tell it has one job; there’s just 3 m difference in length between the blade and the plane. Image: Radia.
That’s very little clearance, which is why the cockpit sits up top in a bulge that makes the thing look a bit like an enormous Carvair, for anyone who remembers that old prop-job — except for the H-tail, that is. That’s for a different reason than the An-225’s use of the same feature, which was to keep the tails out of the wash of
a back-mounted “Buran” space shuttle
. With the WindRunner, the H-tail is simply so the tail will not be too tall to fit existing airport infrastructure. The Lockheed Constellation used a triple-tail for the same reason, way back when.
The Carvair, another cargo hauler with exactly one job. It was actually based on a DC-4, and not a Convair, but for a car carrier the name fits.
Image: Eduard Marmet, CC3.0
The aircraft will of course be short-runway and rough-field capable, capable of taking off and landing on dry packed dirt or gravel in just 1,800 m, or 6000 ft — a little more than 10x its own enormous length. The payload it hauls into those rough fields will break no records at only 72.6 tonnes; Mriya could do 250 tonnes, but again, heavy lift isn’t the goal here.
This plane has a very specific mission, to the point that we argue it might just qualify as a hack. It will be interesting to see if Radia can sign enough customers to get one (or more) built. | 63 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186997",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T11:24:46",
"content": "The concept is interesting. I think their stated timeline (flying by 2030) is so laughably unrealistic as to make me seriously wonder if the whole thing is a scam. Or perhaps their CEO is just taking classe... | 1,760,371,409.646036 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/air-quality-monitor-plays-game-of-life/ | Air Quality Monitor PlaysGame Of Life | Lewin Day | [
"Games",
"home hacks"
] | [
"air quality",
"Raspberry Pi Pico W",
"sgp40"
] | The problem with air quality is that you can’t really tell how good or bad it is just by looking…unless it’s
really
bad, that is. It’s usually more helpful to have some kind of sensor that can tell you what the deal is.
To that end, [Arnov Sharma] built a neat air quality monitor with a fun twist.
A Raspberry Pi Pico W acts as the heart of the build, armed with an SGP40 gas sensor. This sensor is intended for monitoring total volatile organic compounds in the air, which can be a useful measure of air quality in at least one dimension. It reports a simple air quality score from 0 to 500, based on a 1-1000 ppm ethanol equivalent reading. Based on the sensor’s output, the Pi Pico drives an LED matrix display — setting it green for good quality air, yellow for moderate, and red for poor air quality (i.e. high VOC content). The fun part is that rather than just show a simple color, the display plays Conway’s
Game of Life
to create an animated visual. We’d love it even more if poor air quality lead to the premature death of individual cells, making it even more interactive.
We’ve featured other air quality monitors before; often,
it’s desirable to monitor CO2 levels to determine whether more ventilation is needed. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186956",
"author": "Andrzej",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T09:04:00",
"content": "Come on, what’s with the flashing? I can only assume that this looks at least passable in real life, so please bump the camera exposure time or increase the strobe frequency…This level of attention to det... | 1,760,371,409.859447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/yes-gemini-a-wii-server-is-possible/ | Yes, Gemini, A Wii Server Is Possible | Tyler August | [
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"ArchPower",
"file server",
"minecraft server",
"Wii-Linux"
] | When [Reit Tech] needed something to do with an old Nintendo Wii, he turned to Google. When the AI overview told him it could not be used as a server, he had his mission:
prove that clanker wrong.
It already runs Doom, so what else is there to do?
Of course should not that hard: Linux has been available on the Wii for years now. In fact there are several; he settles on “Arch, btw”, after trying Debian, Ubuntu, and even NetBSD. “Of course it runs NetBSD”– but NetBSD didn’t work with his USB network adapter, which is sadly as predictable as the hardware running NetBSD.
OK, it’s not vanilla Arch; it’s the Wii-Linux Continuation Project, based on ArchPOWER fork that compiles Arch for PPC. As the young YouTuber was surprised to discover, despite not being a PC or particularly powerful, the Wii has a PowerPC CPU. (He might be younger than the console, so we’ll give him a pass.) Wii-Linux couldn’t run the USB adapter either (appropriate apologies were offered to NetBSD), but it turns out the internal Ethernet adapter was available all along.
As a file server, python-based
Copyparty worked flawlessly
, but the rust-based Minecraft server he picked was not particularly usable. A little optimization would fix that, since you can
serve Minecraft from an ESP32
and the Wii absolutely has more horsepower than that. Doubtless he
could
have loaded a web-server, and proved Google’s AI summary wrong, but the iPad-induced ADHD we all suffer from these days kicks in, so he settled for posting a screenshot of someone else’s blog, hosted on a Wii from NetBSD. So the LLM was wrong from the get-go, but the tour of “what home-brew loaded OSes still work in 2025” was certainly educational.
We could hunt that Wii-based blog down for you, but we’d be reluctant to link to it anyway: while the AI summary is
wrong
, and you can use the Wii as a server, that doesn’t mean it makes a
good
one. We’d don’t feel the need to inadvertently DDOS some poor unsuspecting shmuck’s Nintendo, so we’ll let you try and find it yourself.
Just be warned that all of this Wii hacking may not rest
on the best of foundations. | 20 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186892",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T05:10:38",
"content": "I expect the AI summary was not only wrong, butconfidentlywrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187094",
"author": "KDawg",
"times... | 1,760,371,409.928927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/implementing-a-kalman-filter-in-postgresql-to-smooth-gps-data/ | Implementing A Kalman Filter In PostgreSQL To Smooth GPS Data | Maya Posch | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"database",
"PL/pgSQL",
"postgres",
"sql"
] | Usually databases are treated primarily as fairly dumb data storage systems, but they can be capable of much more. Case in point the PostgreSQL database and its – Ada-based – PL/pgSQL programming language, which allows you to perform significantly more complex operations than would be realistically possible with raw SQL. Case in point the
implementation of a Kalman Filter
by the folk over at Traconiq, which thus removes the necessity for an external filtering pipeline.
Using a Kalman Filter is highly desirable when you’re doing something like vehicle tracking using both dead-reckoning and GPS coordinates, as it filters out noise that can be the result of e.g. GPS reception issues. As noted in the article, transferring state from one row to the next requires a bit of lateral thinking, but is doable with some creative SQL usage. As
PL/pgSQL
is very similar to Oracle’s PL/SQL, this same code should work there too without too much porting required.
The code for the different implementations and associated benchmarks can be
found on GitHub
, though the benchmark results make it abundantly clear that the most efficient approach is to run an offline aggregate processing routine. This coincides with the other batch processing tasks that are typically performed by a database server to e.g. optimize storage, so this isn’t entirely unsurprising. | 7 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186943",
"author": "aki009",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T08:15:40",
"content": "It would seem to me that one wants to offload SQL servers as much as possible. Not only for performance, but because it’s usually the most expensive compute-time short of GPU farms. Hence one’s wallet woul... | 1,760,371,409.98268 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/kei-truck-becomes-tiny-rv/ | Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV | Navarre Bartz | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"camping",
"glamping",
"kei truck",
"recreational vehicle",
"rv"
] | Tent camping lets you explore places on foot you could never reach another way, but sometimes you want to camp with a bit more luxury. [Levi Kelly] decided to see
how small you could make an RV
. [via
Autopian
]
While we won’t argue one way or another on his claim to world’s smallest, as that likely depends on your definition of an RV, starting with a kei truck certainly puts you in a more compact format than something built on a bus chassis. With four wheel drive and a small footprint, this could be better for overlanding than the
Rivian bed camper
we featured recently.
The 21 sq. ft. (1.95 m
2
) camper portion itself is framed in 2 x 2s (38 x 38 mm) to save weight and uses foam board insulation. A working faucet uses a pump to draw drinking water from a 5 gallon (19L) refillable jug and empties into a 7 gallon (26L) grey water tank. A solar panel on the roof charges the battery that drives the pump, ventilation fan, and can also be used to run other devices like a hot plate for cooking.
A teeny tiny wood stove can be used for heat, although [Kelly] is using a different fuel source to reduce unpredictability from a wood fire in such a small space. A faucet-mounted sprayer can be routed to the outside of the camper to create a makeshift shower and is run from the sink water system. There’s even a small cabinet above the foot area of the bed to house a portable toilet and a bubble window to observe your surroundings while you do your business.
We’ve seen some even smaller campers, like this
vintage-inspired bike camper
, or this
more streamlined version
. If you want the
most efficient RV ever
then check out this solar-powered one. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186855",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T01:49:49",
"content": "Were the camper proper a fiberglass affair with rear overhang, it would be reminiscent of Susan Calman’s Helen Mirren.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,371,410.336212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/building-a-desk-display-for-time-and-weather-data/ | Building A Desk Display For Time And Weather Data | Lewin Day | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"ESP32",
"ESP8266",
"weather"
] | Just about every laptop, desktop, and smartphone in your life can tell you the date, time, and current weather predictions. However, sometimes it’s nice to have simple data displayed on a bespoke device.
That’s what inspired [Mario] to create ESPTimeCast.
As you might have guessed by the name, the project is designed around the ESP32 and ESP8266 microcontrollers; either one is up to the task of running the show here. Both come with Wi-Fi connectivity out of the box, which makes it easy for them to hook up to the Internet to query NTP servers for the time and weather data from OpenWeatherMap. The data is then displayed on an LED matrix display, made up of four 8×8 LED modules and driven with the aid of the MAX7219 IC. Configuration is handled over a simple web interface hosted on the device itself. All the parts are wrapped up in a 3D-printed housing that would be very fitting in any home that appreciates the magic of late 60s/early 70s decor.
Hackers love
building clocks
,
weather stations
, and other
useful information displays
. We’ve seen a great many examples over the years. If you’re cooking up your own neat project in this area, don’t hesitate to
let us know! | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186813",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T23:28:56",
"content": "Awesome project overall, simple hardware and very nicely produced firmware. I didn’t know those matrix displays were so cheap! Looks like they are in the AU$6-7 range, which is amazing considering what they ... | 1,760,371,410.25631 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/hackaday-links-october-5-2025/ | Hackaday Links: October 5, 2025 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"240Z",
"ai",
"alexa",
"ble",
"botnet",
"Datsun",
"exploit",
"Flock",
"gunshot",
"hackaday links",
"human distress",
"humanoid",
"license plate reader",
"restoration",
"robotaxi",
"scream",
"self-driving",
"unitree",
"vulnerability",
"Waymo",
"wifi"
] | What the Flock? It’s probably just some quirk of The Almighty Algorithm, but ever since we featured
a story on Flock’s crime-fighting drones
last week, we’ve been flooded with other stories about the company, some of which aren’t very flattering. The first thing that we were pushed was
this handy interactive map
of the company’s network of automatic license plate readers. We had no idea how extensive the network was, and while our location is relatively free from these devices, at least ones operated on behalf of state, county, or local law enforcement, we did learn to our dismay that our local Lowe’s saw fit to install three of these cameras on the entrances to their parking lot. Not wishing to have our coming and goings documented, we’ll be taking our home improvement dollars elsewhere for now.
But it’s a new feature being rolled out by Flock that really got our attention:
the addition of “human distress” detection
to their
Raven acoustic gunshot detection system
. From what we understand, gunshot detection systems use the sudden acoustic impulse generated by the supersonic passage of a bullet, the shock wave from the rapidly expanding powder charge of a fired round, or both to detect a gunshot, and then use the time-of-arrival difference between multiple sensors to estimate the shot’s point of origin. Those impulses carry a fair amount of information, but little of it is personally identifiable, at least directly. On the other hand, human voices carry a lot of personal information, and detecting the sounds of distress, such as screaming, would require very different monitoring techniques. We’d imagine it would be akin to what digital assistants use to monitor for wake words, which would mean turning the world — or at least pockets of it — into a gigantic Alex. We don’t much like the idea of having our every public utterance recorded and analyzed, even with the inevitable assurances from the company that the “non-distress” parts of the audio stream will never be listened to. Yeah, right.
Botnets are bad enough when it’s just routers or smart TVs that are exploited to mine crypto or spam comments on social media. But what if a botnet were made of, you know, actual robots? That might be something to watch out for with
the announcement of a vulnerability in certain Unitree robots
, including several of their humanoid robots. The vulnerability, still unpatched at the time of the
Spectrum
story, lies in the Bluetooth system used to set up the robots’ WiFi configuration. It sounds like an attacker can easily craft a BLE packet to become an authenticated user, after which the WiFi SSID and password fields can be used to inject arbitrary code. The fun doesn’t end there, though, since a compromised robot could then go on to infect any other nearby Unitree bots via BLE. And since Unitree seems to be staking out a market position as the leader in
affordable humanoid robots
, who’s to say what could happen? If you want a zombie robot apocalypse, this seems like a great way to get it.
Also from the “Bad Optics for Robots” files comes
this story about a Waymo car that went just a little off course
. Or rather, on course — a golf course, to be precise. Viral video shows a Waymo self-driving Jaguar creeping slowly across a golf course fairway as bemused golfers look on. But you can relax, because the robotaxi company says that this isn’t a case of their AI driving system going awry, but rather a human-driven robotaxi preparing for an event at the golf course. The company seems to think this absolves them, and perhaps it does officially and legally. But a very distinctive car that’s well-known for getting into self-driving mischief, appearing in a place one doesn’t typically associate with vehicles larger than golf carts, seems like a bad look for the company.
And finally,
back in December of 2023
, we dropped a link to My Mechanics’ restoration of a 1973 Datsun 240Z. He’s been making slow but steady progress on the car since then, with
the most recent video
covering his painstaking restoration of the rear axle and suspension. Where most car rebuild projects use as many replacement parts as possible, My Mechanics prefers to restore the original parts wherever possible. So, where a normal person might look at the chipped cooling fins on the original Z-car’s brake drums and order new ones, My Mechanics instead pulls out the TIG welder and lays up some beads to patch the broken fins. He used a similar technique to restore the severely chowdered compression fittings on the brake lines, something we’ve never seen down before. Over the top? You bet it is, but it still makes for great watching. Enjoy! | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188068",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:25:43",
"content": "I remember reading an article about the Raven system – it heard a gunshot and successfully located the shot to a car stopped at a railway crossing, the car was caught on camera, and the license plate led t... | 1,760,371,410.185848 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/divining-air-quality-with-a-cheap-computer-vision-device/ | Divining Air Quality With A Cheap Computer Vision Device | Lewin Day | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"air quality",
"ESP32",
"video"
] | There are all kinds of air quality sensors on the market that rely on all kinds of electro-physical effects to detect gases or contaminants and report them back as a value. [lucascreator] has instead been investigating a method of determining air quality that is closer to divination than measurement—
using computer vision and a trained AI model.
The system relies on an Unihiker K10—a microcontroller module based around the ESP32-S3 at heart. The chip is running a lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on 12,000 images of the sky. These images were sourced from a public dataset; they were taken in India and Nepal, and tagged with the relevant Air Quality Index at the time of capture. [lucascreator] used this data to train their model to look at an image taken with a camera attached to the ESP32 and estimate the air quality index based on what it has seen in that existing dataset.
It might sound like a spurious concept, but it does have some value. [lucascreator] cites studies where
video data was used for low-cost air quality estimation
—not as a replacement for proper measurement, but as an additional data point that could be sourced from existing surveillance infrastructure. Performance of such models has, in some cases,
been remarkably accurate.
[lucascreator] is pragmatic about the limitations of their implementation of this concept, noting that their very compact model didn’t always perform the best in terms of determining actual air quality. The concept may have some value, but implementing it on an ESP32 isn’t so easy if you’re looking for supreme accuracy. We’ve featured some other great air quality projects before, though, if you’re looking for
other ways to capture this information.
Video after the break. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "8188066",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:22:17",
"content": "The irony, I was just telling someone a visual assessment of atmospheric opacity and coloration is not how AQI is measured. There can be clearish looking skies and poor air quality. I have breathing issues a... | 1,760,371,410.44165 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/optimizing-a-quicktake-image-decoder-for-the-apple-iis-6502/ | Optimizing A QuickTake Image Decoder For The Apple II’s 6502 | Maya Posch | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"6502",
"6502 microprocessor",
"apple II",
"Apple QuickTake"
] | The idea of using the Apple II home computer for digital photography purposes may seem somewhat daft considering that this is not a purpose that they were ever designed for, yet this is the goal that [Colin Leroy-Mira] had, requiring
some image decoder optimizations
. That said, it’s less crazy than one might assume at first glance, considering that the Apple II was manufactured until 1993, while the
Apple QuickTake
digital cameras that [Colin] wanted to use for his nefarious purposes saw their first release in 1994.
These QuickTake cameras feature an astounding image resolution of up to 640×480, using 24-bit color. Using the official QuickTake software for Apple Macintosh System 7 through 9 the photographs in proprietary QTK format could be fetched for display and processing. Doing the same on an Apple II would obviously require a bit more work, not to mention adapting of the image to the limitations of the 8-bit Apple II compared to the Motorola 68K and PowerPC-based Macs that the QuickTake was designed to be used with.
Targeting the typical ~1 MHz 6502 CPU in an Apple II, the
dcraw
QTK decoder formed the basis for an initial decoder. Many memory and buffer optimizations later, an early conversion to monochrome and various other tweaks later – including a conversion to 6502 ASM for speed reasons –
the decoder
as it stands today manages to decode and render a QTK image in about a minute, compared to well over an hour previously.
Considering how anemic the Apple II is compared to even a budget Macintosh Classic II system, it’s amazing that displaying bitmap images works at all, though [Colin] reckons that more optimizations are possible. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187992",
"author": "baltar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T17:12:38",
"content": "Is this part of QT library? It should run on modern PCs too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188150",
"author": "Rastersoft",
"time... | 1,760,371,410.390666 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/wearable-neon-necklaces-run-on-battery-power/ | Wearable Neon Necklaces Run On Battery Power | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"glass",
"neon",
"neon tube"
] | We typically think of neon signs as big commercial advertisements, hanging inside windows and lofted on tall signposts outside highway-adjacent businesses. [James Akers] has gone the other route with a fashionable build,
creating little wearable neon necklaces that glow beautifully in just the same way.
Aiming for small scale, [James] began with 6 mm blue phosphor glass tube, which was formed to reference
Pink Pony Club,
one of Chappell Roan’s more popular songs. The glass was then filled with pure neon up to a relatively low pressure of just 8 torr. This was an intentional choice to create a more conductive lamp that would be easier to run off a battery supply. The use of pure neon also made the tubes easy to repair in the event they had a leak and needed a refill. A Midget Script gas tube power supply is used to drive the tiny tubes from DC power. In testing, the tubes draw just 0.78 amps at 11.8 volts. It’s not a
light
current draw, but for neon, it’s pretty good—and you could easily carry a battery pack to run it for an hour or three without issue.
If you’re not a glass blower, fear not—you can always make stuff that has a similar visual effect
with some LEDs and creativity
. Meanwhile, if you’ve got your own neon creations on the go—perhaps for Halloween?—don’t hesitate to
light up the tipsline! | 22 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187962",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:07:20",
"content": "That looks sick. I was expecting LED filament but actual neon… dangMakes me wonder tho… how are those high voltages managed? tbh i’m not sure i’d want a few kV around my neck :)Stil... | 1,760,371,410.126001 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/3d-printing-a-new-kind-of-skateboard-that-is-ultimately-unsafe/ | 3D Printing A New Kind Of Skateboard That Is Ultimately Unsafe | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"one wheel",
"skateboard"
] | Skateboards were organically developed in the 1940s and 1950s; 30 years would then pass before the ollie was developed, unlocking new realms for skaters dedicated to the artform. The advent of powerful batteries and motors would later make the electric skateboard a practical and (un?)fashionable method of transport in more recent years. Now, [Ivan Miranda] is pushing the cutting edge of skateboarding even further,
with an entirely weird build of his own design.
The build was inspired by one-wheels, which [Ivan] considers fun but ultimately too dangerous. Most specifically, he fears crashing when the one-wheel is tilted beyond a critical angle at which the motor can restore it to a level heading. His concept was to thus create a two-wheeled board that is nonetheless controlled with the leaning interface of a one-wheel.
The frame is assembled from a combination of 3D-printed brackets and aluminium extrusion. The rider stands on a platform which rides on rollers on top of the frame, tilting it to control the drive direction of the board. Detecting the angle is handled by an Arduino Due with an MPU6050 IMU onboard. The microcontroller is then responsible for commanding the speed controller to move the board. Drive is from a brushless DC motor, hooked up to one of the wheels via a toothed belt. Power is courtesy of three power tool batteries.
Early testing showed the design to be a bit of a death trap. However, with refinement to the control system code and an improved battery setup, it became slightly more graceful to ride. [Ivan] notes that more tuning and refinement is needed to make the thing safer than a one-wheel, which was the original goal.
We’ve seen some other great builds from [Ivan] before, too.
Video after the break. | 12 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187905",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T12:18:24",
"content": "Fun fact I learned from this video is plastic used to make hinges in toilet seats is very resistant to acetic acid. This could come in handy when building RC planes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,371,410.043959 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/simple-counter-mechanism-in-an-asthma-inhaler/ | Simple Counter Mechanism In An Asthma Inhaler | Maya Posch | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Teardown"
] | [
"copd",
"mechanical counter"
] | The counter wheel and white worm gear inside the counter. (Credit: Anthony Francis-Jones, YouTube)
Recently [Anthony Francis-Jones] decided to
take a closer look at the inhaler
that his son got prescribed for some mild breathing issues, specifically to teardown the mechanical counter on it. Commonly used with COPD conditions as well as asthma, these inhalers are designed to provide the person using it with an exact dose of medication that helps to relax the muscles of the airways. Considering the somewhat crucial nature of this in the case of extreme forms of COPD, the mechanical counter that existed on older versions of these inhalers is very helpful to know how many doses you have left.
Disassembling the inhaler is very easy, with the counter section easily extracted and further disassembled. The mechanism is both ingenious and simple, featuring the counter wheel that’s driven by a worm gear, itself engaged by a ratcheting mechanism that’s progressed every time the cylinder with the medication is pushed down against a metal spring.
After the counter wheel hits the 0 mark, a plastic tab prevents it from spinning any further, so that you know for certain that the medication has run out. In the video [Anthony] speculates that the newer, counter-less inhalers that they got with the latest prescription can perhaps be harvested for their medication cylinder to refill the old inhaler, followed by resetting the mechanical counter. Of course, this should absolutely not be taken as medical advice. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187850",
"author": "Menno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:45:59",
"content": "“COPD conditions like asthma”Asthma is not considered a COPD condition.Asthma and COPD are different entities in terms of etiology, pathofysiology, prognosis and treatment. Pulmonary conditions like asthma ... | 1,760,371,410.501472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/2025-component-abuse-challenge-digital-logic-with-analog-components/ | 2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Digital Logic With Analog Components | Bryan Cockfield | [
"contests"
] | [
"2025 Component Abuse Challenge",
"analog",
"digital logic",
"gate",
"latch",
"logic",
"multiplexer",
"switch"
] | [Tim] noticed recently that a large number of projects recreating discrete logic tend to do so with technology around 70 years old like resistor-transistor logic (RTL) or diode-transistor logic (DTL). To build something with these logic families nowadays requires an intense treasure hunt of antique components bordering on impossible and/or expensive. Rather than going down this rabbit hole
he decided to invent a somewhat new logic system using analog components
in this entry in our Component Abuse Challenge.
The component in question here is an analog multiplexer, which is normally used to select one of two (or several) signal lines and pass them through to an output. Unlike digital multiplexers which only pass 1s and 0s, analog multiplexers can pass analog signals since the transistors aren’t driven to saturation. He has come up with an entire system of logic gates using these components, with trickier devices like latches eventually implemented with help from a capacitor.
The first attempt at using this logic system had a small mistake in it which caused these latches to behave as oscillators instead, due to a polarity mistake. But a second attempt with simplified design and reduced component count ended up working, proving out [Tim]’s concept. Not only that but his second prototype is functioning at an impressive 15 MHz, with a possibility of an even higher clock speed in future designs. Not bad! | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "8187838",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:05:58",
"content": "Reminds me ofhttps://hackaday.io/page/21269-740414-not-all-inverters-are-the-samewhere digital ICs are used as analog amplifiers in a crystal oscillator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,371,410.551437 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/building-a-functional-alien-motion-tracker/ | Building A FunctionalAliensMotion Tracker | Lewin Day | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"aliens",
"radar"
] | Aliens
is the second film from the legendary science-fiction series about, well… aliens. Naturally, it featured some compelling future-tech — such as the M314 Motion Tracker. [RobSmithDev] wanted to recreate the device himself, using modern technology
to replicate the functionality as closely as possible.
While a lot of cosmetic replicas exist in the world, [Rob] wanted to make the thing work for real. To that end, he grabbed the DreamHAT+ Radar HAT for the Raspberry Pi. It’s a short-range radar module, and thus is useless for equipping your own air force or building surface-to-air weaponry. However, it
can
detect motion in a range of a few meters or so, using its 60 GHz transmitter and three receivers all baked into the one chip.
[Rob] does a great job of explaining how the radar works, and how he integrated it into a viable handheld motion tracker that works very similarly to the one in the movie. It may not exactly keep you safe from alien predators, but it’s always fun to see a
functional
prop rather than one that just looks good.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen somebody
try to replicate this particular prop,
but the modern electronics used in this build definitely bring it to the next level. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186765",
"author": "Yet Another Robert Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T20:53:01",
"content": "As one Rob Smith to another, well done!I for one would like a water pistol based on the UA571-C auto sentry from Aliens to keep cats out of my yard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,371,410.681594 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/how-hydraulic-ram-pumps-push-water-uphill-with-no-external-power-input/ | How Hydraulic Ram Pumps Push Water Uphill With No External Power Input | Lewin Day | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Misc Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"hydraulic ram pump",
"pump",
"water hammer"
] | Imagine you have a natural stream running through a low-lying area on your farm. It’s a great source of fresh water, only you really need it to irrigate some crops sitting at a higher elevation. The area is quite remote from fixed utilities, complicating the problem.
Your first thought might be to grab a commercial off-the-shelf pump of some sort, along with a fancy solar power system to provide the necessary power to run it. But what if there were a type of pump that could do the job with no external power input at all? Enter the hydraulic ram pump.
The hydraulic ram pump stands as one of the most elegant examples of appropriate technology, converting the kinetic energy of flowing water into enough pressure to lift a portion of that water to heights that seem to defy gravity. This ingenious device requires no external power source and very little maintenance, making it a perfect solution for pumping applications in remote areas where it’s otherwise inconvenient to supply a pump with electricity or fuel.
A small hydraulic ram pump installed in Argentina. Note the water flowing out the waste valve, and the small hose which serves as the delivery line. It’s installed directly beneath a pressure vessel which works to smooth out the flow. Credit:
Jorge Daniel Czajkowski
, CC BY-SA 2.5
At its heart, the hydraulic ram pump exploits a phenomenon known as water hammer, the same effect that causes your pipes to bang when you quickly shut off a faucet. When flowing water is suddenly stopped, its momentum creates a pressure wave. When it comes to your pipes, you hear this rattling, hammering sound that is mostly just annoying. However, that pressure spike can actually instead be harnessed to do useful work—like pushing water uphill. It just requires some smart valving to do so.
The pump consists of just a few key components: a drive pipe that channels water from a source, a waste valve that normally allows water to flow freely, a delivery valve leading to the pump’s output, and an air chamber that acts as a pressure accumulator. These parts work together to create a self-sustaining pumping action.
The operation of the pump begins with water flowing down the drive pipe from a source that sits higher than the pump, such as the flow from a river or stream. Initially, the waste valve is open and water flows freely through it. As the flow velocity increases, the waste valve begins to rise due to the drag of the water flowing through it. Eventually, the valve rises to the point where it is completely shut, suddenly stopping the flow of water. This sudden halt causes water hammer, where the kinetic energy of the flowing water is converted into a powerful pressure spike that forces the delivery valve open, pushing water up through the pump outlet. Eventually, the pressure drop following the water hammer event causes the waste valve to reopen and the delivery valve to close, allowing the cycle to begin anew.
In the initial stage, water from the inlet flows out via the open waste valve. The delivery valve is held shut from the weight of water in the column above it. Credit: author
Eventually, drag from the water flow causes the waste valve to shut. When it does, this creates a pressure spike which opens the delivery valve and forces water up and out of to the delivery outlet. Hydraulic ram pumps can deliver water to great heights in this way, though flow is reduced with greater output head. Pressure vessels are sometimes installed in the pump to reduce the impact of pressure spikes and smooth the output flow. Eventually, the pressure spike subsides, the delivery valve closes, and the waste valve reopens due to gravity, and the cycle begins again. Credit: author
Some pumps add a pressure chamber to the system, where the pressure spike leads to a vessel, compressing the air trapped inside. The compressed air acts like a spring, maintaining outflow pressure even after the initial water hammer effect subsides. This can improve flow and reduce strain on components of the pump by evening out the sharp pressure spikes when the waste valve closes.
This being Hackaday, we should mention that this is a lot like a step-up DC-DC converter, with an inductor playing the role of the water-filled pipe, providing intertia, and a diode and a smoothing capacitor playing the parts of the check value and air vessel. In electrical step-ups, the waste valve is usually a MOSFET to ground, and its driven electronically, rather than being slammed shut by the water hammer.
A hydraulic ram pump effectively takes a rapid flow of water at low pressure and delivers a low-speed flow at high pressure, allowing water to be readily delivered to a tank or output at higher elevation than the source. The ratio between the vertical fall of the drive water and the height to which water is lifted determines the amount of water reaching the output. For example, if the water source is 1 meter above the ram pump itself, and the delivery pipe is 10 meters above the pump, just 10% of the water will be delivered to the output with the other 90% passing out through the waste valve. Ultimately, though, this is generally considered an acceptable trade-off for a pump running from a natural water course with no external power input, with the waste valve outflow simply returning to the river or stream the pump is installed in. A hydraulic ram pump can be left running for a great deal of time to deliver more water and irrigate an area or fill a tank, even if the instantaneous flow rate is low. After all, you’re not paying for any power to run it!
Hydraulic ram pumps are popular where it’s desirable to pump water to some greater height without the need for an external power source.
Today’s hydraulic ram pumps find applications ranging from rural water supply systems to irrigation projects in developing countries. The hydraulic ram pump can prove useful in most any situation where it’s desirable to pump water to high elevation with no external power input. Ultimately, the hydraulic ram pump represents sustainable technology at its finest. It’s a clean, undisruptive way to harness natural energy to do useful work. What’s more rewarding than that?
Featured image: “
Hydraulic Ram
” by [Gutza] and [Sonett72]. | 33 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "8186701",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T17:31:29",
"content": "we have a water ram lik this here in the Sonsbeekpark in Armhem. it feeds a fountain, albeit the smoothing is omitted, so the fountain pulses. the feed height difference is not that much. about 2 meters.... | 1,760,371,410.760404 |
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