In this week’s episode, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start things off by getting excited about the recently announced 2026 Retrocomputing Challenge. From there the conversation will cover efforts to improve desktop 3D printing with lasers, an expensive grill with an ESP32 controller and an open source firmware, open source tools underground, and some impressive techniques to squeeze a bit more utility out of the common QR code.
You’ll also hear about turning PVC pipes into flat stock, old school Radio Shack electronic kits, and VR soldering demos. Stick around to the end of the episode learn about the latest developments in over-the-counter hearing aids and the 1-bit CPU that’s enjoying an unexpected fandom nearly 50 years after its release.
Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download in DRM-free MP3.
Episode 383 Show Notes:
Mailbag:
- Alexander wrote in praise of buying ultrasonic knife guts. Donald Papp wrote up his experience with a hacked dental tool a few years back. Now you can get it over the counter.
- Joey wrote in asking if we can add video/visuals to the Podcast. We complain about how difficult that would be. :)
- Mailbag still needs intro/outro music. Anyone want to whip something up? Send it to
mailbag@hackaday.com.
News:
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Laser Layers For (Almost) Isotropicly Strong Prints
- Reverse Engineered Grill Controller Gets Open Firmware
- Hackaday Europe 2026: Open Source Hardware Goes Underground, Literally
- Building Custom Backyard Solar Lights
- Compress Links For Optimal QR Codes
- Radio Shack Toy Returns To Life
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Tom’s Picks:
when you say “I’ll post that in the show notes” , where are these notes? I see the index on the web site which is labeled show notes,, , but not the extra bits like ( “I will put a link to X in the show notes”…. “here is the artwork for the t-shirt”… etc :) )
Usually anything in the show notes is indented under the main topic, but I don’t know which one you are looking for, so either it is there or they forgot to post it (which is easy to do).
So normally it will look like:
* Main Link to Post
– Show note link to previous article
– Show note link to external website
Etc.
Sir, you are literally looking at them.
long ago I worked for a company that made thermal printers. we had a project were data was printed as bar codes so you can rescan it back in. didn’t catch on. effectively scrolls of data.
kid today would stop totally at I have to do it myself. I know have 2!
I repair commercial kitchen equipment. I’ve had occasion to open the UI panel of Italian combi ovens ranging from about $12-48,000, depending on size and features. What did I see in there? A bright shiny ESP32.