DLC Joystick for Your Keyboard
The 3D-printed KeyboaStick joystick by FunOrNothing instantly makes a boring keyboard fun, and a fun keyboard awesome. The post DLC Joystick for Your Keyboard a…
Clotty The Custom Period Tracker Can, Of Course, Run DOOM
[kati]’s Clotty might run DOOM and game-ify the menstrual tracking process with a playful Tamagotchi-like aspect, but don’t let that distract you. I…
A Stereo Vision Board For Hardware Hackers
It’s plenty easy to do lots of vision tasks with a single camera, but using two cameras gives you lots of magical abilities, like depth perception! If you…
5 GHz Drone Video, With An ESP32
With the ESP32 series of microcontrollers having had hidden software-defined radio (SDR) facility revealed, we’re now moving on from the announcement into…
Using Ultrasound and Microbubbles to Make Tiny Devices
Although we generally do not look at bubbles in fluids as more than a curiosity – if not an outright annoyance – in certain contexts they can be ver…
Lazarus and the Free Pascal Compiler Gain Dynamic Package Support
If you have developed in Pascal or Delphi in the past decades, you’re probably familiar with the Lazarus IDE that provides an interface to the Free Pascal…
Car Dealers Probably Don’t Want You to Know This Magnet Trick When Buying Used
A magnet can help spot body filler and possible past repairs on a used car. Here’s how the test works, plus where it can mislead. The post Car Dealers Probably …
The Weed Killer Cheat Sheet You Need Before Going to the Hardware Store
Weed killer package colors can hint at what a product does, but brands don't follow one universal code. Here's how to shop smarter. The post The Weed Killer Che…
Sunlu AMS Lite Filament Heater Review
Sunlu's AMS Lite Heater is simple to assemble, easy to use, and keeps your filament dry while you print. But it only works with Bambu’s AMS Lite. The post Sunlu…
Going Whole-Hog on a First Satellite Ground Station
When most radio enthusiasts start trying to pick up signals from satellites, they might put together a quick-and-dirty Yagi antenna and try to catch a repeater …
NASA’s Lunar Grounding Challenge is a Real Buzz
One could make a joke about how an astronaut walking on the lunar surface is rather akin to a cat walking on the carpet in the living room, but out …read …
Spreading Life to Bleached Coral
Coral bleaching is a major problem for ocean ecosystems as the ocean gets warmer. Researchers at Stanford have found a new method for regenerating bleached cora…
Super Mario Galaxy Now Runs on the GBA
Joining the ranks of fresh backported Nintendo games is Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA), courtesy of [Tobias Friedly], AKA [Tobi]. In…
Visualize Regular Expressions with Marbles
If you are one of those people who visualize things physically better than in the abstract, then Regex Marble Run by [bottomless] might be for you. You enter a …
Birduino Plays Bird Calls on Demand with NFC-enabled Cards
All [Hannah Robertson]’s Birduino needs is for one to tap an NFC-enabled card to the reader, and the device plays one of the vocalizations associated with…
Making Photovoltaic Solar Cells with a Microwave
Although solar panels may seem like a kind of magic, they’re really quite simple devices, in their silicon form featuring nothing but the p-type silicon w…
We Tested Ryobi’s $129 Pressure Washer — Here’s What It Can (and Can’t) Do
Can this portable power washer possibly compare to the real thing? We put it to the test. The post We Tested Ryobi’s $129 Pressure Washer — Here’s What It Can (…
I Thought I Wanted a Single-Family Home. Turns Out, I Missed the Rental Income
We thought we wanted a single-family home, but adding an ADU made it the perfect place for us. The post I Thought I Wanted a Single-Family Home. Turns Out, I Mi…
These Cheat Codes to Identify Paint Went Viral — But Do They Work for All Paint?
Some paint cans use colored bands to show sheen and interior or exterior use. Here’s how the viral hardware-store trick works. The post These Cheat Codes to Ide…
What the Octane Numbers on the Gas Pump Really Tell You
Everything you need to know about the numbers on the gas pump. The post What the Octane Numbers on the Gas Pump Really Tell You appeared first on Family Handyma…
Improving a Brain-Computer Interface
Young engineer Aarav Sharma is still at work developing better brain-computer interfaces. The post Improving a Brain-Computer Interface appeared first on Make:…
Meshtastic Sniffer for DragonOS
Meshtastic has gained a lot of popularity over the last few years thanks to its low barrier of entry. No licenses are needed and the hardware is dirt cheap, at …
An Open Micro-Maniplulator Improved
If you need a micro-manipulator, you probably already have a good idea of what it does. For example, you might be moving a probe over an IC die or wafer. ……
One-stop Tool Shows Apple Intelligence The Door
Don’t want AI features on your Mac? Tough luck, unless one wants to imperfectly do it by hunting down settings in about a dozen different places. Even the…
Charlotte’s New Runway Gets A Digital Twin
The first viable powered aircraft predated the first proper runway by two decades. While it’s entirely possible to launch some planes from austere dirt or…
An LCR Meter with Compromises
YouTube, like the Internet, has its plusses and minuses. On the plus side, you can find information on just about anything. On the minus side, you don’t a…
Driving On the Moon at a Blistering 11.6 MPH
As NASA continues humanity’s slow march back to the Moon, different pieces of the puzzle of establishing a more permanent base there are falling into plac…
Thunderbolt Strikes Windows98
If there’s one thing everyone hated about Windows 98, was the lack of USB4.0 support. We remember vividly the cries of anguish at the launch party when we…
Bonfire Dos and Don’ts Every Backyard Fire Builder Should Know This Fall
How to not to expose yourself to toxic fumes, burn down the neighborhood and injure the kiddos, plus other tips for enjoying a stress-free bonfire. The post Bon…
The New Phobos Martian Moon Rover that Weighs in at Only 15 Grams
Although for many decades the planet Mars has been prodded, poked, driven upon, flown over and especially orbited by various spacecraft, landers and rovers sent…
Building a Microscope with a 3D View
As electronic components grow ever smaller, a microscope has become an increasingly indispensable tool for any fine work; when inspecting electronics, though, e…
A Plasma Donut
We know [The Action Lab] always has something hands-on. This time, the video shows a toroidal plasma demo and how it relates to nuclear fusion. Plasma has a hig…
Evolving RC circuits
We are surrounded by evolving algorithms and AI models, and it feels like we have to evolve to them as well. Of course, the world itself is always evolving, and…
I Tried the Anker Solix Smart Tri-Fuel Generator and I’ll Never Lose Power Again
The Anker Solix 5500 is a smart generator that can run on three types of fuel to keep your home running during an outage. We tested it in Florida during hurrica…
Why ACME Became Such a Popular Name for Businesses
ACME became a popular U.S. business name for its meaning and alphabetical advantage. Here’s how phone books and cartoons kept it alive. The post Why ACME Became…
My Water Heater Rusted Out & Flooded My Basement — Then Things Kept Going Wrong
Water heaters can fail without warning, creating a soggy mess. In this installment of Domestic Disasters, we dive into one DIY-ers sudden leak. The post My Wate…
Turning a Wi-Fi Adapter into an SDR
Since the discovery of an undocumented I/Q sampling feature in ESP32 chips about two weeks ago, there’s been a flood of similar features being found in other wi…
Making a New Mechanism for a Reciprocating Pencil Sharpener
An engineer’s greatest tool is the writing utensil. Be it pen or pencil, we use them for everything from making diagrams to marking out cuts. But as with …
Busting the Myth that Plastics are Chemically Inert in Water
One of the often made claims about plastics is that they are chemically inert under most conditions, such as when exposed to water. This long-held belief has al…
2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Dollhouse Arcade Cabinet Runs Remote DOS Games
Classic DOS games never ran from within stand-up arcade cabinets in dollhouses, but [Juha Lilja] imagines a world in which they did. His Micro DOS arcade cabine…
10 Things Around Your Home You Should Insulate Before Winter Arrives
You've made it to fall, and that means winter's coming. Time to buckle up and get ready for the cold. The post 10 Things Around Your Home You Should Insulate Be…
Building a Flying Drone With a Single Propeller
Technically all that you need in order to make a drone fly is a single motor and single propeller, but realistically it becomes basically impossible to fly it a…
2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Oldputer Gives Old Eyes Relief with E-ink Display
Modern computers are towers of glass and metal with very few large deviations from one to another. Monitor A will go against B, except you can’t tell them apart…
Discovering SDRs Everywhere
To quote commenter [douyarou], “It’s like our little version of a Precambrian explosion”. A bunch of hackers have discovered, independently and building on each…
SolidCraft is Parametric, Automation-friendly CAD for Desktop and Browser
If you’re looking to try a new, open source 3D modeling CAD suite, especially one with automation-friendly interfaces, take a look at SolidCraft. It’…
Maker Faire Brno: A Growing “Village” Of Makers
Brno is hitting its stride—and makers are leading the charge. Prague’s smaller cousin likes to joke that it’s just a village, but with a big population and some…
Very Important Partners Behind Maker Faire Bay Area
Fun sponsor activities to check out at Maker Faire Bay Area. The post Very Important Partners Behind Maker Faire Bay Area appeared first on Make: DIY Projects a…
Making One Fender From Another
There’s a tendency among cherished brands to licence their name and logo onto all sorts of novelty items in order to make a quick buck. Joining this trend…
TAKTO, Open Source Hand-Tracking Built Like LEGO
Hand tracking in VR/AR can add a substantial amount of immersion and added interactivity. Unfortunately, most camera based tracking suffers when fingers get cov…
The Trials And Tribulations Of Your First Badge
On the face of it, making an event badge should be an easy process. After all, most of us can hand-assemble a microcontroller, some buttons, a battery, and a sc…
Simplifying Slide Rule Calculations with Trig
[Bob the Science Guy] remembers how to use a slide rule. Even after all these years, it is pretty easy to remember how to multiply and divide. If you can’…
Joy And Mayhem at Maker Faire Bay Area
Friday at Maker Faire Bay Area was full of joy, mayhem, and delightful inventions that entertained visitors. The post Joy And Mayhem at Maker Faire Bay Area app…
The 10€ Gamepad
We aren’t sure what [Lazy_Duck] is doing with video games, but it must require a lot of controllers. Dismayed at the cost and complexity of commercial gam…
Fairbuds 2 Teardown Shows Little Glue, Easy Battery Swap
In a world where wireless earbuds are increasingly seen as devices that you toss into the e-waste bin as soon as they stop working, it’s heartening to see…
Hackaday Podcast Episode 391: Tuned in to ESP32 SDR, New Old Pagers, and Bugs on Mars
Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this episode off with a discussion about Philadelphia’s budding hacker conference and the imminent re…
Braino! Takes the Cheap Yellow Display to School
These days, it’s common to give even very young children a mobile device loaded up with educational software that aims to improve everything from basic mo…
This Week in Security: Critical DNS Keys Rotated, Hacking Freezers Isn’t Cool, OpenAI Spies On Itself, and Advanced Hardware Wallet Hacks
Critical Internet keys changed this week. Did you notice? The keys behind DNSSEC, the system for cryptographically validating DNS responses, rolled over on Oct…
Disposing of PLA and Why Composting is Not an Option
The ‘biofriendly’ nature of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) filament often gets touted as one of its main advantages over alternatives like PETG, but even a…
Why Do Construction Barricades Come in Different Colors?
Learn what red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple barricade colors mean, and why nearby signs and roadwork markings matter. The post Why Do Construction B…
Why You Should Pay Attention to Diamond-Shaped Signs on Trucks
Diamond-shaped designs on trucks are often hazmat placard holders. Learn why trucks have them, how they work, and what the signs show. The post Why You Should P…
Building Community Through Making In Louisville
“We want visitors to see the range of creativity in our community and leave with anidea they are interested in exploring, whether that involves art, technology …
Running DOOM (Sort Of) on a Sonoff Smart Switch
It’s often said in this community that DOOM can be made to run on anything, and as time goes on, that’s becoming more and more accurate. We’re…
Another Wireless Chip has a Hidden SDR Revealed
The news of the past couple of weeks has seen the ESP32 turned into an software-defined radio (SDR) thanks to a hidden baseband mode, an exciting development by…
Using Optical Waveguide Arrays to Make Sheets Sense Shapes
Determining the shape of an object which can change dynamically is a bit of a challenge, one that especially vexes those who are really into Virtual Reality. Se…
45 Years Later, The Sinclair ULA Design Documents Surface
In the 8-bit home computer boom of the early 1980s, Sir Clive Sinclair’s machines were always among the cheapest on the market, often packing a surprising…
Surprise Visitors With a Trick & Treat Scare Box
This Halloween, build a spring snake scare box and your trick-or-treaters with a spring-loaded surprise! The post Surprise Visitors With a Trick & Treat Sca…
Linux Kernel Drops AI Tag Requirement, Uses Meta AI For Code Reviews
Since we last covered the way that the Linux Kernel project has been dealing with the influx of code created using LLM-based coding assistants, all the way back…
C64 Hardware Simulator Isn’t (Just) For Playing Around
If you want to play old Commodore games, there are C-64 emulators available for just about any platform– but most of them are so high level, they’re…
Hand-Machined Stake Sharpener Just in Time for Dracula Season
Vampires aren’t as common as they once were, but in most places they aren’t fully protected and it’s still possible to get a tag for legal hun…
So You Want To Make Your SDR Work On Other Frequencies
Perhaps the most exciting news of the past few weeks in the world of hardware hacking has been the unlocking of hidden SDR functionality in the Wi-Fi radios fou…
A Thermal Camera That Uses WebUSB
When creating a peripheral for a mobile phone, an obvious path is to create a companion app with which to talk to it. But as we all know today’s app ̷…
Your Home Flooded? Here’s Exactly What to Do Next To Minimize Damage
Parts of the U.S. are facing an increased risk of flooding. Here’s your no-panic playbook for if it ever happens to you. The post Your Home Flooded? Here’s Exac…
Pamela Anderson’s Best Garden & Landscaping Tips, Straight From Her Backyard
The actress and activist shows how a thoughtfully designed landscape can create a memorable first impression. The post Pamela Anderson’s Best Garden & Land…
Building An M7 Pan Tilt Head Controller
The Soonpho M7 Pan Tilt Head is a useful photography tool for remotely aiming a decently-sized camera. Only, [Kyle Housley] wanted a little more control than wa…
Pager Converted to Meshtastic Node
Text messaging has been around on cellular networks en masse for around three decades now. It’s so common that it’s difficult to remember a time wit…
AI Controls iPhone Via ESP32
Do you want to get an AI agent to do something to an iPhone? You could try and jailbreak the device and do some heavy software hacking, or… you could R…
Single Button, Handheld Gaming Console
Those of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s might be familiar with the Atari 2600 console and its now relatively unrecognizable (by modern standards) controller …
If You See a Traffic Light With a Yellow Border, Here’s What It Means
Yellow borders around traffic lights help drivers notice signals sooner. Learn why some intersections have reflective frames and others don't. The post If You S…
Star Wars Mouse Droid is a Rebel Rave Machine
When does a droid need a party button? When it's an Imperial Mouse Droid that got a makeover from Sabine Wren. The post Star Wars Mouse Droid is a Rebel Rave Ma…
Using an ESP32-C3’s RF Hardware for DVB-S2 Video Transmission
Generally the DVB-S and -S2 standards require a satellite somewhere in Earth orbit to provide a signal to receive, but you can also transmit your own DVB-S2 str…
Tiny e-Paper Display Delivers 30 FPS of Game Boy Fun
Slow refresh, ghosting and low-contrast — wait, are we talking about passive matrix LCDs, or e-paper displays? That might be why e-paper Game Boy emulator…
2026 Hackaday Supercon: Workshops are Open!
Supercon is Hackaday’s annual gathering, and you absolutely need to be there. Today, we’re pleased to announce our lineup of workshops, and it’…
DIY Force Sensing Joysticks are a Cheap Way To Go
Traditional joysticks typically use potentiometers or hall effect sensors to determine the displacement of the stick itself when moved by the operator. Force-se…
What’s a Nonius?
If you already know what a nonius is, you can probably skip this post. But, if like us, you would have to look it up, we’ll tell you what we …read m…
Previous Homeowners May Still Have Access to Your Smart Home — Here’s How To Check
Previous homeowners may still control connected devices after moving out. Learn how to check ownership, reset access, and protect a new home. The post Previous …
The 2027 Colors of the Year Are Here — Here’s What Your Favorite Paint Brands Picked
See the 2027 Colors of the Year from Behr, Sherwin-Williams, Valspar, and more, with easy ideas for using each shade at home. The post The 2027 Colors of the Ye…
Open Source Hardware Certifications for September 2026
The Open Source Hardware Association added certifications for an educational physics device, a 3D printer air mover, a USB protection device, and more. The post…
Maker Faire Rome 2026: 400+ Stories Of Innovation, Creativity and Discovery
Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition: 23–25 October 2026Gazometro Ostiense, RomeTickets are available exclusively online at makerfairerome.eu. Humanoid …
Get Hands On: Maker Faire Bay Area Is For Making
Maker Faire is at its best when you’re not just looking—you’re making. This weekend on Mare Island, you can solder a wearable EMF explorer, turn an old T-s…
Testing Oneself for AI Slop
The feed of a Hackaday writer brings many surprises, some rubbish, and the occasional diamond which of course we bring to you. Sometimes a page catches the eye …
Rendering 3D Prints From G-Code
Your CAD software generally has some rudimentary tools for rending images of your parts, from simply-textured models to more photo-realistic options. However, t…
Does It Run… Duke Nukem 3D?
When id Software released DOOM back in 1993 it helped define the genre, but it was hardly the only hit first-person shooter of that decade. There was also 3D Re…
2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: USBSID-Pico has Two SIDs, Many Inputs
We’ll give you three guesses what the most important bits of silicon in [LouD]’s USBSID-Pico are, and two don’t count. Yes, there’s a Ra…
JawnCon 0x3 Kicks off in Philadelphia this Friday
Philadelphia’s homegrown hacker con returns this weekend, and this time it’s starting a day early to pack in even more talks, demos, and activities.…
ESP-SDR Can Now Transmit
Well, that was fast! Last week, we reported on two apparently simultaneous hacks using the 2.4 GHz radio inside many ESP32 variants that enabled raw access to t…
Using a Waffle to Check the Health of your Wii U’s NAND Flash
Game consoles tend to have a weak spot or two that will take certain units out sooner than they would due to normal parts aging. In the case of the …read …
Counting the PET Bottles Needed to Make 1 Kg of Printer Filament
In countries where PET bottles do not get slapped with an additional fee that induces you to return it for recycling and said fee back, the resulting piles of d…
The FPGA Chronicles: Ready to Probe
In the last few installments, we looked at using the Tang Nano 20K with both the GOWIN tools and some open-source tools. The open-source tools certainly had the…
A Modern Browser for the PlayStation Portable
The Sony PlayStation Portable, better known as the PSP, is now over two decades old. In its day it was an impressive handheld gaming machine, not least because …
Open Firmware Fixes Dead Onkyo AV Receivers
If you’ve been reading Hackaday for any length of time, you’ll know we love seeing hackers replacing the stock firmware on their devices with open s…