Barcodes, “Lasers”, and Fourier Transforms
<img width="800" height="450" src="![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Usagi-Electric-Raygun-banner.jpg?w=800")
alt="[Usagi Electric] brandishing his raygun"/>The Bomem DA3 is a type of Fourier transform spectrometer used for measuring various spectral data and [Usagi Electric] has one. On his quest to understand it he runs down https://hackaday.com/2025/11/24/barcodes-lasers-and-fourier-transforms/
https://hackaday.com/2025/11/24/barcodes-lasers-and-fourier-transforms/
alt="[Usagi Electric] brandishing his raygun"/>The Bomem DA3 is a type of Fourier transform spectrometer used for measuring various spectral data and [Usagi Electric] has one. On his quest to understand it he runs down https://hackaday.com/2025/11/24/barcodes-lasers-and-fourier-transforms/
https://hackaday.com/2025/11/24/barcodes-lasers-and-fourier-transforms/![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/nose.png?w=800")
alt=""/>We aren’t sure why, but [Lev Chizhov] and some other researchers have found a way to make you smell things by hitting your head with ultrasound. Apparently, your sense of 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/battery-balance-main.png?w=800")
alt=""/>In our modern world full of planned obsolescence helping to fuel cycles of consumerism, the thing that really lets companies dial this up to the max is locked-down electronics and 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pocket-86-featured.jpg?w=800")
alt=""/>An interesting trend over the last year or two has been the emergence of modern retrocomputer PCs, recreations of classic PC hardware from back in the day taking advantage of ![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/had-links-banner.jpg?w=800")
alt="Hackaday Links Column Banner"/>Remember the Key Bridge collapse? With as eventful a year as 2025 has been, we wouldn’t blame anyone for forgetting that in March of 2024, container ship MV Dali plowed 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/bbcedu.png?w=800")
alt=""/>The BBC wanted to show everyone how a computer might be used in schools. A program aired in 1979 asks, “Will Computers Revolutionise Education?” There’s vintage hardware and an appearance 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/gyroscope_rotation_sensor.png?w=800"/>We’ve)
probably all had a few conversations with people who hold eccentric scientific ideas, and most of the time they yield nothing more than frustration and perhaps a headache. In 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-21-at-15-07-09-2-Worlds-First-Hydrofoil-Made-From-Circuit-Boards-YouTube-e1763755702557.png?w=800")
alt="Styrofoam watercraft, PCB hydrofoil"/>You know those old cliche that the younger generations have begun to cynically despise: “follow your dreams!” “You can be anything you put your mind to!” — well, perhaps they 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/deep_fission_dfbr-1_pwr_suggested_installation.jpg?w=800")
alt=""/>Today’s pressurized water reactors (PWRs) are marvels of nuclear fission technology that enable gigawatt-scale power stations in a very compact space. Though they are extremely safe, with only the TMI-2 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ebike-rental-main.png?w=800")
alt=""/>One of the hardest things about owning a classic car is finding replacement parts. Especially if the car is particularly old or rare, or if the parent company is now 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/polykit-synth-featured-e1763762039285.jpg?w=800")
alt="The synth in question in its acrylic case."/>There’s just something about an analog synthesizer. You’d think that for electronic music, digital sampling would have totally taken over by now, but that’s really not true. The world of 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/fmradio.png?w=800")
alt=""/>We think of radios as audio devices, but for people who are visually impaired, it can be difficult to tell which channel you are listening to at any given time. 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/tens_pcb2d.png?w=800")
alt=""/>Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is one of those things that sounds like it must be woo when you first hear of it. “A trickle of current that can deal 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/acoustic_radiometer.png?w=800")
alt="A circular metal vessel is shown, with a symmetrical rotor of four vanes standing inside. At the bottom of the vessel are four loudspeakers."/>A Crookes radiometer, despite what many explanations claim, does not work because of radiation pressure. When light strikes the vanes inside the near-vacuum chamber, it heats the vanes, which then 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ravynOS_desktop.png?w=800")
alt=""/>That MacOS (formerly OS X) has BSD roots is a well-known fact, with its predecessor NeXTSTEP and its XNU kernel derived from 4.3BSD. Subsequent releases of OS X/MacOS then proceeded ![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Investigating-a-Nixie-Clock-Failure-8-55-screenshot.png?w=800")
alt=""/>One of our newer writers, [Tyler August], recently wrote a love letter to plasma TV technology. Sitting between the ubiquitous LCD and the vanishing CRT, the plasma TV had its 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/alma-synth-white.jpeg?w=800")
alt="A small, colorful synth built for a 3-year-old. It has five pots, four sliders, and a tiny screen."/>We absolutely adore inspired labor-of-love tales such as this one. [Alastair] wanted to build a synth for his daughter’s third birthday in spite of having no prior hardware knowledge. It 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/oscillator-featured.jpg?w=800")
alt=""/>There’s more to making an oscillator than meets the eye, and [lcamtuf] is here with a good primer on the subject. It starts with the old joke that if you 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/zork.jpg?w=500")
alt=""/>The history of the game Zork is a long and winding one, starting with MUDs and kin on university mainframes – where students entertained themselves in between their studies – 
![image](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/rule.png?w=800")
alt=""/>You have that slide rule in the back of the closet. Maybe it was from your college days. Maybe it was your Dad’s. Honestly. Do you know how to use 