If your first-generation Chromecast was acting a little wonky this week, don’t worry. Contrary to fears online, the 2014 device hasn’t been excommunicated by Google. In a statement to Ars Technica, a rep for the search giant explained that the issue, which was keeping the devices from being able to stream video from services like Netflix, was temporary and should now be resolved. That said, the OG Chromecast hasn’t officially been supported since 2023, so it’s not clear how much longer they will remain operational. Google be Google, after all.
After resisting for years, this week, Mozilla finally relented and brought Web Serial to Firefox. While there’s been some debate about the wisdom of letting the Internet directly talk to hardware gadgets, anyone who’s flashed Meshtastic or configured their Betaflight-powered drone from the browser can attest to how convenient it is. In the announcement, Mozilla acknowledges that “most folks won’t use this API”, but points out that the “community of builders and tinkerers” (that’s us!) is sure to be excited about the news. They’ve even teamed up with Adafruit to ensure their web-based microcontroller workflows are compatible in Firefox 151 and beyond. If you give it a shot, let us know how it goes.
Speaking of hardware support, the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) recently picked up a couple of big-name sponsors. As reported by It’s FOSS, this week, Lenovo, Dell, and HP have signed on as Premier-level sponsors to the tune of $100,000 per year. For those unfamiliar, LVFS offers a central repository where hardware vendors can upload firmware updates. On the client side, fwupd can be used to pull these updates down automatically without having to hunt around on each vendor’s website. The experienced players don’t need a service like LVFS, but it’s certainly one of those quality-of-life improvements that make the desktop experience a bit more accessible.
While on the subject of getting hardware working, we hear that more PlayStation 5 consoles can now run Linux. Last month, a software solution for booting the operating system on PS5 consoles running the relatively ancient 3.x and 4.x firmware was released, but now developer Andy Nguyen has gotten it working on firmware 5.x and at least some versions of 6.x. That’s still considerably behind Sony’s latest release, but it does open things up for more consoles to get in on the action.
In space news, the successful first flight of Starship V3 has understandably dominated the headlines for the last few days, but SpaceX wasn’t the only commercial launch provider with good news this week. On Friday, Blue Origin announced they had completed the investigation into the failure of its New Glenn rocket back on April 19th and that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved its return to flight.
According to a statement from the FAA, Blue Origin “identified the direct cause of the mishap as a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line and led to a thrust anomaly during the second stage engine burn.” This resulted in the payload, a next-generation communications satellite featuring a massive 2,400 sq ft deployable antenna array developed by AST SpaceMobile, being placed in an unsustainable orbit.
If you’ve always dreamed of piloting your own walking battle tank, you might finally be in luck. China’s Unitree Robotics has unveiled a mech standing 2.7 meters tall, complete with a promotional video showing it smashing cinder blocks. Because what else would you do with a robot you just paid more than half a million dollars for? Unfortunately, there isn’t much information about the bot’s speed or endurance, and a company spokesperson says the design still needs some refinement before it is ready for production. But still, we’re getting there. Might as well start saving up now.
Finally, we were thrilled to hear that the iconic soundtrack for DOOM has been inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. There’s perhaps no piece of software more emblematic of the hardware hacking world than the 1993 shooter, and while we don’t think that had anything to do with the decision to formally recognize the game’s heavy metal-inspired digital riffs, it will be all that much sweeter the next time we see some oddball gadget running through E1M1.
See something interesting that you think would be a good fit for our weekly Links column? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear about it.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login