It’s a hot one at both microphones, as Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos wilt in the heat with ice lollies and freezer packs. But still, we persevered long enough to make a podcast.

In Hackaday news, Supercon is on! It’s going down in Pasadena, California, but the talks will be somewhere slightly larger, with a courtyard instead of an alley. Get your talk proposals in now! In other Hackaday news, we still have our Frikkin’ Lasers Contest going on until Thursday, July 23rd.

Interestingly enough, we got a comment on an older article from none other than [Michael J. Van de Graaff], whose grandfather invented the Van de Graff generator and was “quite upset” when plans for a DIY version appeared in Scientific American. And finally, Google Earth’s desktop client is being discontinued, but you can still travel the globe on your phone, or in your PC’s browser.

Not only do we have another triple mailbag this week, we have another failed attempt at guessing the Sound by Kristina. However, [Alexander] knew that it was CD-ROM drive a-spinnin’. Speaking of What’s That Sound, be sure to let us know your ideas for the new prize.

That sounds like a lot of preamble, but we quickly get to a full slate of hacks, a couple of which are pretty retro in retrospect. Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Download in lovely MP3.

• 2026 Hackaday Supercon: Call For Proposals
• Google Earth Desktop Client To Be Retired In 2027
• Frikkin Lasers Challenge
• The Book That Could Have Killed Me

• Two-fer! [Jonathan Comer] has many ideas for generating random numbers when it comes to rolling for the What’s That Sound winner, and [Paul Clyne] wants to know how to get a jolly wrencher sticker.

• Making A Locked Down Wearable Work Without A Subscription
  • GitHub – OpenStrap/protocol: Pure Dart WHOOP 4.0 protocol decoder. Bytes off the band in, named records out. Zero deps, no backend, runs on-device. · GitHub
• Get A Handle On This Compact Pi Portable
  • It’s Not A Computer If It Doesn’t Have A Cartridge Slot
• AIM-ing For A More Open Platform Than Discord
  • AOL/AIM Sounds – YouTube
• Reject Modernity, Return To 80s, Learn C.
  • Program in C – YouTube
  • Write in C – YouTube
  • Alice_(software) – Wikipedia
• Building A Better CNC Hot Wire Foam Cutter
• Clay Extruder Enables Printable Pottery
  • Printed Film Camera Gets 10 Seconds Out Of A 35mm Roll

• Elliot’s Picks:
  • Full Body VR Tracking Is Just Some Recycled Hardware Away
  • Star Trek Was Right About Prompt Injection, Sorta
  • 2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: Laser Bandsaw
  • DOOM Runs (slowly) In A IBM PC-Compatible CSS Sheet
  • Printing Fungal Art With Laser Control
• Kristina’s Picks:
  • Reviving Mystery Nintendo 64 Game Cartridge Found In The Woods
  • Radio-Gaga Is A Toddler Friendly Remote In A Radio
  • 3D Printed Scooter Fits In Your Luggage, Some Assembly Required

• • Hackaday Europe 2026 – Build A Cable Modem For Your Arduino
  • The Death Of Physical Media And The Real Challenges To Software Archiving