Blaise Pascal is known for a number of things, but we remember him best for the Pascaline, an early mechanical calculator. [Chris Staecker] got a chance to take a close …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/examining-the-first-mechanical-calculator/)

Hackaday Links: October 26, 2025
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/hackaday-links-october-26-2025/

There was a bit of a kerfuffle this week with the news that an airliner had been hit by space junk. The plane, a United Airlines 737, was operating at …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/hackaday-links-october-26-2025/)

VFETs are (Almost) Solid State Tubes
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/vfets-are-almost-solid-state-tubes/

We always enjoy videos from [w2aew]. His recent entry looks at vertical or VFETs, which are, as he puts it, a JFET that thinks it is a triode. He clearly …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/vfets-are-almost-solid-state-tubes/)

Record-Breaking Robots at Guinness World Records
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/record-breaking-robots-at-guinness-world-records/

If you ever wanted to win a bar bet about a world record, you probably know about the Guinness book for World Records. Did you know, though, that there are …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/record-breaking-robots-at-guinness-world-records/)

Magazine Transistor Tester Lives Again
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/magazine-transistor-tester-lives-again/

One of the lost pleasures of our modern world is the experience of going shopping at a grocery store, a mall, or a drugstore, and finding this month’s electronics magazine …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/magazine-transistor-tester-lives-again/)

Satellite Snooping Reveals Sensitive Unencrypted Data
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/satellite-snooping-reveals-sensitive-unencrypted-data/

In an era where running a website without HTTPS is shunned, and everyone wants you to encrypt your DNS queries, you’d expect that the telecommunications back-ends are secured tightly as …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/satellite-snooping-reveals-sensitive-unencrypted-data/)

The Channel Crossing Bridge That Never Was
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/the-channel-crossing-bridge-that-never-was/

When the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994, the undersea rail link saw Britain grew closer to the European mainland than ever before. However, had things gone a little differently, history …read more (https://hackaday.com/2025/10/27/the-channel-crossing-bridge-that-never-was/)