I did a quick search, so I’m basically an expert now. imaginary hair flip

So, some flashlights have multiple brightness modes. I guess that’s controlled via a tiny, low power microprocessor.
And if it’s a computer, it can be hacked!

So the firmware does things, depending on the capabilities of the hardware in the flashlight, but you can set it to override defaults for brightness, change how many levels of brightness you have, add (or remove) a blinky SOS mode, sleep timers in case it’s accidentally left on, and even add a way to check the battery percentage via a button press pattern, that the flashlight responds to with a series of blinks.
No lie, kind of fascinating stuff. I like to hack other stuff, like smart appliances (replacing firmware so it doesn’t share my data, but I still get to use it as a smart device). I don’t think I would be into talking to my flashlight via Morse code, but I can see the appeal as both a hobby, and for folks who need flashlights as safety equipment.

That broken thing nobody remembered, until it was reforged.

I can name a few other such things, but at this point in my existence I'm just afraid to do so. Murphy's laws and such.

What's with some really scary companies (Anduril, Palantir) cribbing their names from LOTR?

There is also a company called palantir which is pretty much a cyberpunk corporate distopia surveillance company.