Hardware Tech News

Amazon has agreed to acquire satellite firm Globalstar for $11.57 billion, bringing its satellite assets and spectrum into Amazon’s competition with SpaceX’s Starlink. The deal would preserve Globalstar’s satellite services for Apple devices, which became a major part of its business after Apple’s iPhone Emergency SOS feature and roughly $1.5 billion in Apple investment. Globalstar’s survival followed a 2002 bankruptcy and a rebuilt constellation that helped restore capacity.

A Massachusetts factory is using a factory-scale robot to build circuit boards on demand, claiming turnaround times twice as fast as a typical Shenzhen quick-turn shop. The setup highlights a U.S.-based alternative for rapid PCB prototyping and production.

Readers are skeptical that Nvidia and Micron’s outsized contribution to U.S. earnings reflects broad economic strength, seeing it more as a bubble or temporary fluctuation masking a weak, K-shaped economy. The discussion highlights concentration in AI-driven profits and Baumol-style cost pressures, where lucrative tech sectors raise costs for other services while many businesses and workers struggle.

Ole Bielfeldt of Germany won the top prize in the Nikon Small World contest for a microscopic video showing an inkjet printer depositing ink onto paper. The winning image captures the precise motion of ink droplets as they land on the page.

Rob Manuel, creator of Fesshole and co-founder of B3ta, has created “81 Jokes for the ZX81,” an absurd self-set project featuring 81 jokes he wrote and illustrated himself for the vintage computer. The collection leans into the retro constraints of the ZX81 platform.

A Hacker News post announcing a personal strike this November sparked debate about whether tech workers can organize collective action and resist AI-driven productivity pressures. Commenters were largely skeptical that an individual strike would matter, while some managers argued engineers who oppose AI tools risk being managed out as output and metrics improve. The thread also reflected broader frustration over locked-down devices, cloud dependence, and the declining affordability of independent computing hardware.

A new v1.0 MacOS Extensions Pack has been released for the 1996 Apple Network Server, adding Mac OS extension support to the rare Unix-based server. The project reflects ongoing retrocomputing interest in Apple’s short-lived Network Server line.

Puget Bench has shared an update on the current state of ARM support for its benchmarking tool. The news outlines where ARM compatibility stands for users running the benchmark on ARM-based systems.

A tech blogger recently documented their quest to discover the oldest Windows graphical user interface application that still functions on Windows 11. After testing various legacy programs, the author successfully identified a surprisingly old piece of software that remains fully compatible with Microsoft's modern operating system.

Apple has unveiled the new iMac powered by the superfast M6 chip, positioning the all-in-one desktop as a highly capable platform for artificial intelligence. The updated model features a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display and introduces the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.

A newly optimized FAST feature detector brings accelerated computer vision to the low-cost ESP32-S3 microcontroller by leveraging 128-bit SIMD instructions. This optimization achieves roughly double the performance of the standard reference implementation, making advanced image processing highly viable on two-dollar hardware.

Apple has unveiled the all-new iPad mini, which now features a thinner design, an upgraded OLED display, and official water and dust resistance. The compact tablet also delivers a significant leap in processing power thanks to the new A20 Pro chip.

Diamond Foundry is partnering with Stanford University to research and develop an all-diamond transistor utilizing advanced surface transfer doping techniques. The collaboration focuses on leveraging specialized diamond substrates to drive innovation in next-generation device R&D.

Apple has officially announced the new 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring the latest M6 chip. This updated laptop delivers significant improvements in overall processing performance, on-device AI capabilities, and connectivity speeds.

After investing over two decades into 4F² DRAM technology, Micron is abandoning the architecture in favor of its traditional memory designs. This unexpected strategic pivot contrasts sharply with industry competitors who are currently doubling down on the 4F² approach.

In a routine display of legacy hardware functionality, a standard printer was observed successfully transferring digital documents onto physical paper. The device operated exactly as designed, producing a hard copy of the requested digital file. This unremarkable operation underscores the continued, albeit unexciting, reliability of traditional printing technology in everyday office environments.

Sigma has announced the FP2, a faster version of its ultra-compact, modular full-frame hybrid camera. Billed as the ultimate hybrid camera, the new model is set to arrive next month.

Recent device tree files have revealed the existence of two upcoming Raspberry Pi models, the Zero 3W and a compact Pi 4 Model A. The newly spotted Zero 3W is expected to feature the BCM2711 chip found in the standard Pi 4, while the Model A appears to be a streamlined variant.

Online gamers are enhancing their multiplayer experience by attending local area network parties that blend the physical and digital worlds. Participants bring their own computers to these events, allowing them to interact face-to-face while fully embodying their virtual personas.

The APC is advocating for the implementation of new industry standards to accelerate the manufacturing of photonic technologies. By standardizing production processes, the group aims to streamline operations and drive the broader commercialization of light-based technologies.

A critical code-execution flaw in EDK2 UEFI firmware can let attackers run code early in the boot process, before the operating system loads. The vulnerability threatens most servers worldwide and raises concerns because such low-level compromise can be difficult to detect and remediate.

Lavik's new storage architecture combines NVMe SSD capacity with throughput that exceeds traditional Redis deployments on DRAM, allowing organizations to drastically reduce hardware costs. The article explores the architecture, benchmarks, and economic benefits of consolidating massive infrastructure, such as migrating a 300-node Redis cluster down to just three Lavik nodes.

The piece notes that product reviewers rarely discuss reliability, while owners raise it about twice as often. Readers attribute the gap to reviewers’ short-term use and focus on new features, versus owners’ long-term experience. The discussion warns against normalizing this disconnect rather than treating it as a review blind spot.

Amazon has released new touchscreen tablets specifically marketed for toddlers, prompting critics to label the devices a digital pacifier. This launch comes despite a growing body of pediatric research linking early screen time to developmental problems, emotional dysregulation, and poor eyesight.

A developer has successfully ported F-Zero X to the Nintendo 3DS, taking advantage of the handheld's highly accessible custom firmware scene compared to the more restricted Switch. The homebrew project will soon receive a major update adding online multiplayer, 64DD support, and QR code sharing for custom courses.

A detailed teardown of the iPhone Duo explores the intricate internal mechanics of the foldable device, tracking glowing dust through its complex hinge gears. The examination also puts the screen's innovative crease-hiding nano-texture under a microscope to reveal how it minimizes visible fold lines.

A new open-source project named Keybytes has been showcased on Hacker News, featuring a fully modular keyboard design. Developers and hardware enthusiasts can explore the codebase and contribute to its ongoing development via the project's GitHub repository.

A retrospective look at behind-the-scenes photos of the historic NeXT Computer office has sparked deep nostalgia among tech veterans who celebrate the platform's monumental legacy, including its role in creating the World Wide Web and developing Doom. The ensuing discussion highlights a broader melancholy for the distinctive NeXTSTEP interface and the innovative, in-person collaborative culture of early tech pioneers compared to the modern remote workforce.

Roku has migrated its developer repositories from GitHub to GitLab. This transition shifts the primary hosting environment for the streaming company's channel-building community. Developers will now need to use the new GitLab platform to access and contribute to Roku's open-source projects.

A new open-source tool called gpu-unlock allows users to bypass Nvidia's artificial performance limits on 3000 series consumer graphics cards by unlocking their FP16 and BF16 instruction issue rates. This modification boosts the compute performance of these consumer GPUs to match their more expensive professional counterparts, providing a significant advantage for AI and machine learning workloads.