When Qualcomm announced its acquisition of Arduino in October 2025, the tinkerer and maker community watched nervously. Large corporate acquisitions rarely end well for open platforms after all, and enshittification is something that often follows.

And now, what's followed is unsettling. Adafruit Industries, makers of popular development boards and a respected voice in the open hardware space, have sounded the alarm.

According to Adafruit, the new policies introduce sweeping user-license provisions, broaden data collection (particularly around AI usage), and embed long-term account data retention, all while integrating user information into Qualcomm’s broader data ecosystem.

Section 7.1 grants Arduino a perpetual, irrevocable license over anything you upload. Your code, projects, forum posts, and comments all fall under this. This remains in effect even after you delete your account. Arduino retains rights to your content indefinitely.

Most language learning apps live on phones, competing with notifications, social media, and every other distraction fighting for your attention. Opening Duolingo between classes usually turns into five minutes of vocabulary followed by twenty minutes of scrolling through feeds you’ve already checked twice. Designers are starting to build tiny, single-purpose devices that turn fragmented time into focused practice instead of another excuse to stare at your phone screen until your eyes hurt.

The E-ink Vocabulary Card E2 is one of those tools, a chewing-gum-sized e-ink vocabulary device aimed at students but usable by anyone learning a new language. It pairs with a phone via Bluetooth to pull in study materials and memory modes from an app, then lets you review words on a 2.7-inch e-ink screen without opening your phone. It’s small enough to live in a pocket yet designed to feel like a dedicated learning tool.

A few years ago Solder Party started selling tiny USB keyboards made by combining an actual BlackBerry keyboard (ripped from an old device) with a custom PCB and USB-C connector. But since BlackBerry is out of business, eventually it’s going to get harder to find devices to cannibalize for their keyboards.

So Solder Party has now introduced two brand new products. The KeebDeck Keyboard is a tiny thumb keyboard with 69 silicone keys arranged in an orthogonal layout, while the KeebDeck Basic is the first fully functional input device built around that keyboard. They’re available for purchase for around $4 and $8, respectively – although shipping to the US currently drives the price way up. But you can also find everything you need to make your own at Solder Party’s GitHub page.

Microsoft has unveiled its next-generation, in-house-developed ARM processor, the Cobalt 200, for Azure VMs, claiming up to 50% higher performance than its predecessor.

Just about every “getting started with microcontrollers” kit, Arduino or otherwise, includes an ultrasonic distance sensor module. Given the power of microcontrollers these days, it was only a matter of time before someone asked: “Could I do better without the module?” Well, [Martin Pittermann] asked, and his answer, at least with the Pi Pico, is a resounding “Yes”. A micro and a couple of transducers can offer a better view of the world.

The project isn’t really about removing the extra circuitry on the SR-HC0, since there really isn’t that much to start. [Martin] wanted to know just how far he could push ultrasound scanning technology using RADAR signal processing techniques. Instead of bat-like chirps, [Martin] is using something called Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave, which comes from RADAR and is exactly what it sounds like. The transmitter emits a continuous carrier wave with a varying frequency modulation, and the received wave is compared to see when it must have been sent. That gives you the time of flight, and the usual math gives you a distance.

This pioneering microprocessor was a classified military secret from 1970 to 1989, as a vital part of an advanced fighter aircraft’s control systems.

It's not a matter of if; rather when.

No relief in sight for RAM buyers.

A new DARPA- and Texas-backed facility will focus on 3D heterogeneous integration, stacking, and combining multiple materials and chip types to advance U.S. capabilities in defense, AI, and HPC.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.tomshardware.com/darpa-invests-1-4-billion-to-build-texas-foundry-for-next-gen-3d-chip-integration

New quantum hardware and software upgrades put IBM on track for a 2026 quantum advantage claim

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/ibm-unveils-new-120-qubit-processor-and-software-stack

Microsoft has detailed a new Azure AI datacenter site in Atlanta, which will connect to its Wisconsin site and existing supercomputers.

If you want to build an actual HAL 9000, all you need is an LED, some carpentry skills, and any laptop accessing a talking AI. If you want to build your own R2D2, you’ll have a tougher job assembling a range of materials, motors, and electronics. But what if you wanted to make your own working version of TARS, that bizarre, blocky robot from Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar that looks like a stainless steel ATM with metal posts for legs sprouting from its shoulders?

SteamOS-powered headset sports semi-modular design, wireless “low-latency” PC streaming.

SteamOS-powered cube for your TV targets early 2026 launch, no pricing details.

New components make it more useful and powerful but no less odd.

Supply will remain deficient for a few years.

But chipmakers already know this empirically.

Jalisco plans to develop the first state-owned chip design park in Latin America to expand Mexico’s semiconductor production capacity.