How a Single University Project Started Everything
If we care to cast an eye over the history of ubiquitous personal computing as we know it today, we might immediately point at the original IBM PC. After all, …read more
Topic - Edition
Hardware
2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Explore Space with a Credit Card Reader
The humble credit card reader — most of us have used hundreds, perhaps even thousands of them over the years. But even for folks like us, it’s not the sort …read more
The roadmap to becoming a computer vision engineer in 2026
Vinod Chugani has published a four-stage study plan for computer vision engineers at KDnuggets. Each stage builds on the one before it, and each ends with a portfolio exercise. Stage one is the math: matrix…
An illustrated online book on Hewlett-Packard equipment
A free 550 page e-book collects classic Hewlett-Packard test gear from the 1950s to the 1990s, with photos, schematics notes and restoration tips. Most of the instruments covered are ones the writer owns and tested.…
Python’s experimental just-in-time (JIT) compiler to be removed
Writing at LWN.net, jzb reports that CPython’s experimental just-in-time compiler is being removed. The JIT landed in CPython in 2024 for the 3.13 release. In June, the Python steering council paused work on the JIT in…
You can now run Nintendo Switch games natively on iPhones and Macs
Zo Ahmed, writing for TechSpot, covered nxnative, an open-source project that converts Switch games a user already owns into native iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. There is no emulator. The game’s original Arm code runs…
nrf54-arduino-core: nRF54 Arduino core for XIAO nRF54L15 and other nRF54 boards
Lolren has published nrf54-arduino-core on GitHub, an Arduino core for Nordic’s nRF54L family that talks to the hardware at the register level. There is no Zephyr runtime underneath and no separate nRF Connect SDK…
BirriaSDR turns a USB WiFi dongle into an experimental SDR receiver
Luigi Cruz has published BirriaSDR on GitHub, a project that turns a USB WiFi dongle into an experimental SDR receiver with 14-bit I/Q at 40 million complex samples per second. The tested hardware is a COMFAST…
JP’s Product Pick of the Week — 3pm Eastern TODAY 10/27/26 @adafruit #adafruit #newproductpick
Come on by for JP’s Product Pick of The Week ! A new product pick will be revealed. The show airs at 3pm ET / 12pm PT Check out the livestream right here inside this product page you won’t want to miss it because there…
An exhibition of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) by Utagawa #ArtTuesday
Jason Kottke wrote on kottke.org about visiting an exhibition of ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige at the Tokyo National Museum. Ukiyo-e prints were made by carving a design into blocks of wood, inking them,…
pico_hdmi: HSTX-native HDMI output library for RP2350 with hardware TMDS encoding and audio support
Weeb Labs has published pico_hdmi on GitHub, a video and audio output library for the RP2350 and Raspberry Pi Pico 2. It uses the chip’s HSTX peripheral and its hardware TMDS encoding, so there is no bit-banging and no…
RAM: the forgotten history
lcamtuf has posted a history of working memory on blog.coredump.cx, arguing that RAM gets far less attention than Babbage and that memory constraints held back personal computing until the end of the 20th century. The…
Where Did Your Mouse Come From?
Many readers will be familiar with Douglas Englebart’s 1968 so-called “Mother of All Demos”, in which he described many of the devices and technologies we would be using two or …read more
A quick history of porcelain
Jason Kottke, writing at kottke.org, points to a short history of porcelain from Charles Mann. The subject came up because the glass-ceramic surface of Mann’s expensive induction stovetop is essentially the same…
6 stellar images of the early universe
The Popular Science Team has posted a gallery from Lumina, a new simulation of the early universe built by a team at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. The work is described in a study published in…
The Tiny Computers app lets you play with old computers
Jason Kottke, writing on kottke.org, points to Tiny Computers, an iPhone app that puts working miniature versions of vintage machines on your screen. Ten machines are included: Macintosh, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Amiga…
Raspberry Pi 5 on Fedora
nullr0ute writes on nullr0ute.com that the Raspberry Pi 5 has worked out of the box on Fedora since the Fedora 44 release. It is described as a Minimum Viable Product: the key pieces work, with caveats. It provides an…
Amico8 – PICO-8 fantasy console emulator for Amiga
Juen^Appendix+Nah-Kolor posted a demonstration on YouTube of Amico8, a PICO-8 fantasy console emulator that runs on the Amiga. PICO-8 games are small cartridges built around a 128×128 display and a fixed 16 color…
The past, present, and future share a show floor at Pinball Expo 2026
Nick Indge reported from Pinball Expo 2026 in Schaumburg, Illinois for Ars Technica, after touring Stern Pinball’s factory in Elk Grove. Stern designer George Gomez told the tour group that Stern controls about 90…
How Bad Is That Bridge: A Government Database
Bridges! We kind of expect them to just be there and do their job, ad infinitum. They are built into the landscape, and we often take them and the routes …read more
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