Samwise Makers' News
Thursday, October 1, 2026
Apple’s New AirPods Earn a 2/10 iFixit Repairability Score With a Socketed Battery
Apple's latest AirPods have earned an iFixit repairability score of 2 out of 10, a step up from the failing grades earlier generations received. Hackaday's Maya Posch reports that the earbuds now use a socketed coin cell battery, and a bit of gentle heat lets the glued-together earbud separate cleanly. The charging case is less accommodating: its battery still requires destructive disassembly to reach. iFixit also found that the battery sockets have different polarities in the left and right earbuds, a discovery made after attempting a swap. The article notes that EU rules on user-serviceable batteries were watered down with exemptions.
$30 Compute Module 5 Carrier Board Follows Intel SDM-L Spec for Signage and Kiosks
A new $30 carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 follows Intel's SDM-L form factor, a 98-pin PCIe edge connector standard, and targets digital signage, kiosks and point-of-sale systems. CNX Software reports the module, developed with Sharp Display Solutions Europe, has a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2, a USB 3.0 Type-A port and a USB 2.0 Type-C port for CM5 programming. It also provides a MIPI DSI/CSI-2 connector and an M.2 M-key PCIe socket. The module measures 193 x 115 x 25 mm and is available through approved distributors until at least January 2036.
Sources: CNX Software
Waveshare ESP32-C5 Dev Kit Adds 3.5-Inch Touch LCD, Optional Camera and Battery
Waveshare's ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-3.5 development kit pairs the ESP32-C5HR8 with a 3.5-inch 480×320 IPS touchscreen. CNX Software lists a single-core RISC-V processor at 240 MHz plus a 40 MHz low-power core, 384 KB of SRAM, 8MB of PSRAM and 32MB of flash. Connectivity covers dual-band WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, Zigbee 3.0 and Thread 1.3. The board includes an SHTC3 temperature and humidity sensor, a QMI8658 six-axis IMU, a microphone and a microSD slot, with an optional BF3901 camera and 500 mAh battery. Prices across retailers run from $31.99 to $47.99, depending on the store and options.
Sources: CNX Software
LakeShark Firmware Turns LilyGO T-Display P4 Into a Handheld SDR Scanner
Developer Samuel Reynolds has released LakeShark, open-source firmware that turns the LilyGO T-Display P4 into a handheld software-defined radio scanner. The ESP32-P4 board has a 4.1-inch 568×1232 AMOLED display and 16MB of flash, and connects to an RTL-SDR Blog V3 or V4 dongle over USB-A. CNX Software reports support for P25 Phase I conventional and trunked voice, analog FM and AM, POCSAG pager decoding and 1090 MHz ADS-B tracking with an offline map. Released under the GPL-3.0 license, version 2.5.0 arrived September 27 and installs through the TerminalBay web flasher or by compiling with ESP-IDF 5.4.3.
Sources: CNX Software
SDR– Brings Modular-Synth Patch Cables to Software-Defined Radio
Julian Haag has released SDR–, a software-defined radio program with an interface modeled on a modular synth. Hackaday's Zoe Skyforest reports that users drop in blocks such as a radio, a demodulator or a speaker and link them with patch cables to route signals, an approach inspired by the block diagrams commonly used to explain radio. The program comes with decoders for ADS-B, POCSAG, SSTV, DAB and RDS, along with passive radar and direction-finding tools. Haag built it to stay intuitive and simple. The project's website is sdrmm.com, and the source code is available on GitHub.
Open-Source Science Tricorder Cyberdeck Packs Spectrometer, Thermal and Magnetic Cameras
PeterAJansen, who has worked on the project for more than a decade, has published an open-source science tricorder cyberdeck. The build uses a Clockwork Pi uConsole with Compute Module 5 in a slabtop form factor with a QWERTY keyboard and IPS display. Its instruments include a scintillation crystal for spectroscopic analysis of beta and gamma-ray sources, a visible light spectrometer, a thermal camera, a magnetic field camera and a magnetometer. Environmental sensors cover temperature, pressure, humidity, particulates, VOCs and CO2 concentration. Complete documentation, including assembly and operation videos, is available on GitHub at tricorderproject/cyberdeck, according to Hackaday.
University of Toronto Students Build Pogo-Stick Quadcopter Robot With Compliant Foot
Engineering students at the University of Toronto have built a monopedal hopping robot that combines a pogo stick with a quadcopter. Hackaday's Tyler August reports that four propellers supply thrust and energy for movement, while a spring-loaded single leg handles the hopping. Early prototypes ended the leg in a simple spike and failed in testing. The current design uses a compliant foot with a pivoting, traction-bearing pad tensioned by elastic bands. The robot has operated on surfaces including soft sand and hard ice, and the article describes it as the first one-legged hopping robot to brave a Canadian winter.
DIY Retro Game Console Loads Games From CDs on an Intel N150
Builder Emmet has made a retro game console that stores its games on optical discs. Hackaday's Tyler August reports that it runs on an Intel N150 single board computer with Batocera, a Linux distribution for x86 retrogaming, in a 3D printed case, with ESP32-S3 units providing Bluetooth LE wireless gamepads. Each CD, following the Orange Book standard, holds ROM files plus shell scripts that put the games in the correct emulator's library. Custom labels and art in jewel cases help it feel like an actual game console rather than a PC hooked to a TV. Despite the N150's modest processing power, the system emulates decades of retro games.
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
OpenMote — $167,102 raised, Crowd Supply
Patternflow — 205% funded, Crowd Supply
Firehat — 262% funded, Crowd Supply
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
NawfalMotii79/PLFM_RADAR — 26,497★
espressif/esp-idf — 19,131★
zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr — 16,661★
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Malta — Oct 2–4, Kalkara, Malta
OSHWA Open Hardware Month Livestream — Oct 10, Online (24 hours from 8 AM EST)
Maker Faire Rome — Oct 23–25, Rome, Italy
Every newsletter preserved and searchable
Curated by JD · samwise.agency