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Hackaday Links: August 17, 2025

We’ve studiously avoided any mention of our latest interstellar visitor, 3I/Atlas, on these pages, mainly because of all the hoopla in the popular press about how Avi Loeb thinks it’s aliens, because of course he does. And we’re not saying it’s aliens either, mainly because we’d never be lucky enough to be alive during an actual alien invasion — life just hasn’t historically been that kind to us. So chances are overwhelming that 3I/Atlas is just a comet, but man, it’s doing its level best to look like it’s not, which means it’s time to brave the slings and arrows and wade into this subject.

The number of oddities surrounding 3I/Atlas just keeps growing, from its weird Sun-directed particle stream to its extreme speed, not to mention a trajectory through the solar system that puts it just a fraction of an astronomical unit from two of the three planets within the “Goldilocks Zone” of our star — ignore the fact that at an estimated seven billion years old, 3I/Atlas likely would have started its interstellar journey well before our solar system had even started forming. Still, it’s the trajectory that intrigues us, especially the fact that it’s coming in at a very shallow along to the ecliptic, and seems like it will cross that imaginary plane almost exactly when it makes its closest approach to the Sun on October 29, which just coincidentally happens to be at the very moment Earth is exactly on the opposite side of our star. We’ll be as far as possible from the action on that date, with the comet conveniently lost in the glare of the Sun. Yes, there’s talk of re-tasking some of our spacecraft around Mars or in the Jovian system to take a peek when 3I/Atlas passes through their neighborhoods, but those are complicated affairs that show no sign of bearing fruit in the short time left before the comet heads back out into the Deep Dark. Too bad; we’d really love an up-close and personal look at this thing.

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Hacking IBeacons For Automating Routines

Every self-respecting hacker has an automation hack somewhere in his/her bag of tricks. There are a lot of modern-day technologies that facilitate the functionality like GPS, scripting apps, and even IFTTT. In an interesting hack, [Nick Lee] has combined iBeacons and a reverse engineered Starbucks API to create an automated morning routine.

By creating a mobile app that scans for iBeacons, [Nick Lee] was able to reduce the effort made every morning while heading to his office. When the app encounters a relevant beacon, a NodeJS app sitting in the cloud is triggered. This consequently leads to desired actions like ordering an Uber ride and placing an order for an iced latte.

[Nick Lee] shares the code for the Starbucks application on GitHub for anyone who wants to order their favorite cup of joe automatically. This project can be easily expanded to work with GPS or even RFID tags and if you feel like adding IoT to a coffee machine, you could automate all of your beverage requirements in one go.

Teardown Of The Barista

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iFixit has done a tear down on the symbolic do-it-yourself Espresso machine, the Starbucks Barista. Believe it or not, there is not a single circuit board in the works. There doesn’t seem to be much to the Barista; A few switches, some solenoids, a heater, and one way spring valve among other things. The assembly of the device is very simple. It is noted that in a pinch it may be torn down with a pair of pliers and washer; in place of a flat head screw driver. We have pondered the possibilities of this machine numerous times, while enjoying a cup of cappuccino. Though most conversations end at the bottom of the cup, many survive such as this Silvia PID looped expresso machine. The very name “Mecha turbo crazy coffee roaster” seems to encapsulate the effects of caffeine quite adequately.