The third week of May 2026 has delivered an eclectic mix of tech news, from the end of an era for older e-readers to a surreal AI-generated encyclopedia. If you missed this week’s batch of Hackaday links, here are seven highlights worth your attention.
1. Hackaday Europe 2026: 48 Hours of Badge Hacks and Community
Hackaday Europe landed in Lecco, Italy, this past weekend, and it was nothing short of a hardware heaven. For two solid days, attendees immersed themselves in talks, workshops, and the legendary badge hacking culture that defines the event. If you weren’t there in person, you might feel a pang of FOMO — but the community is already sharing write-ups, photos, and video snippets that capture the energy.
The badge itself became a focal point, with hackers spending late nights modifying firmware, adding sensors, and creating custom animations. This kind of collaborative creativity is what makes Hackaday Europe special. One attendee described it as “a 48-hour adrenaline rush for the technically curious.” Organizers promised more detailed coverage once they catch their breath, so keep an eye on the Hackaday blog for deeper dives.
For those who couldn’t attend, consider this a nudge: mark your calendar for next year. The community thrives on face-to-face interaction, and events like these are irreplaceable for learning, networking, and sharing weird, wonderful projects.
2. Hackaday Links: Amazon Ends Support for Older Kindles
Starting May 20, 2026, any Kindle model introduced before 2012 will lose the ability to purchase books directly from Amazon. This affects a significant number of devices still in use — the Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Touch, and early Kindle Fire models are all on the chopping block. The immediate concern for owners: “What happens to my library?”
The good news is that these older Kindles will still work offline. You can read anything already stored, and you can sideload content using other methods. But the walled garden is closing. If you rely on Amazon’s store for new purchases, this change forces a decision: upgrade to a modern Kindle or decouple from Amazon entirely. Many longtime users are choosing the latter, citing frustration with proprietary ecosystems and a desire for true ownership of their digital books.
A practical step is to download your existing Amazon purchases to your computer now, before support ends. Use the “Download & Transfer via USB” option in your Amazon account. This gives you a backup that you can manage with third-party tools.
3. Decoupling Your Kindle with Calibre and KOReader
For those ready to break free, the open-source ecosystem offers powerful alternatives. Calibre is a desktop application that lets you manage your ebook library, convert between formats, and transfer files to your Kindle via USB. It works with virtually any device, regardless of Amazon’s blessing. Meanwhile, KOReader is a replacement firmware that runs on jailbroken Kindles, providing a customizable reading experience with support for EPUB, PDF, and many other formats.
The process isn’t too intimidating. First, install Calibre on your computer and load your ebooks into it. Connect your Kindle via USB, and Calibre will recognize it as a device. You can then drag and drop books onto the Kindle’s storage. For KOReader, you’ll need to jailbreak your Kindle — a straightforward process for older models, with detailed guides available on the MobileRead forums. Once done, KOReader replaces the native Kindle software, giving you full control over fonts, margins, and backlighting.
This approach also lets you borrow ebooks from public libraries using apps like Libby, then transfer them to your Kindle via Calibre. The result: an e-reader that serves you, not a corporation’s bottom line. The end of Amazon support might actually be a net positive if it drives more users toward these open projects.
4. Microsoft Teams ‘Together’ Mode Removal: No Tears Shed
On June 30, 2026, Microsoft will remove the “Together” mode from Teams. If you’ve never used it, you’re not alone. This feature, introduced during the peak of the pandemic, simulated a virtual meeting room where participants appeared seated at a shared table. The effect was meant to reduce the “talking head” fatigue of grid view, but many found it distracting or even creepy.
Microsoft’s decision to kill the feature after several years suggests it never achieved the adoption rate the company hoped for. In a 2026 world where hybrid work has settled into stable patterns, few will miss it. The company has not announced a direct replacement, but Teams continues to evolve with improved backgrounds, noise suppression, and collaborative document editing. If you relied on Together mode for specific use cases like town halls or classes, consider using the “Large Gallery” or “Speaker” views instead.
This removal also signals a shift in remote work tools: features born from crisis mode are being trimmed as the market matures. It’s a reminder that not every pandemic-era innovation deserves a permanent home.
You may also enjoy reading: 18-Year-Old NGINX Rewrite Module Flaw Enables RCE.
5. Tesla’s Solar Roof Tiles: A Quiet Failure at 3,000 Installations
Electrek reports that Tesla has effectively abandoned its solar roof tile project, with estimated installations as low as 3,000 since the product’s 2016 launch. That’s a tiny fraction of the millions of traditional solar panel installations over the same period. The root cause is cost: a full Tesla solar roof can run into six figures, while conventional panels have become steadily cheaper and more efficient.
Homeowners who considered the solar roof often faced sticker shock and long wait times. A typical asphalt shingle roof with solar panels costs around $20,000 to $30,000, whereas Tesla’s solution could exceed $100,000 for an average-sized home. The aesthetic appeal of integrated solar tiles wasn’t enough to justify the premium.
This cautionary tale highlights a recurring pattern in green tech: hype without practical affordability. For now, traditional panels remain the far better investment. If you’re still interested in solar, look up local installers who use standard panels — they’re easier to repair, expand, and replace. Tesla’s failure doesn’t mean solar is a bad idea; it means form without function rarely wins in the real world.
6. Linux 7.1-rc4 Is Out with Framework Laptop Fixes and AI Code Rules
For those who track kernel development, today’s release of Linux 7.1-rc4 brings several notable changes. The headline fix addresses the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, resolving a hardware compatibility issue that had plagued users since the 7.1 branch opened. This is a big deal for the laptop’s community, which relies on upstream kernel support for proper power management and peripheral function.
Beyond hardware, this release candidate includes security patches and something new: explicit guidance about AI-generated code. The kernel development team has updated its coding standards to require that contributors certify any code produced with the assistance of large language models. This mirrors broader industry debates about transparency and accountability in AI-assisted development.
If you’re a kernel hacker or a Framework Laptop user, now is a good time to test this release candidate. Even for casual Linux users, these updates matter because they eventually trickle down to stable releases that power distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch. The Framework fix alone makes this rc a milestone for open-source hardware support.
7. Halupedia: An Infinite Hall of AI-Generated Misinformation
Finally, if you need a time-waster that doubles as a thought experiment, check out Halupedia. The site presents itself as an infinite, hallucinated encyclopedia. Click any link, and a large language model instantly generates a fake encyclopedia entry, written in the deadpan style of a 19th-century scholarly press. Examples include “The Ministry of Slightly Wrong Maps” and “The Ministry of Terribly Wrong Maps” — both equally plausible at first glance.
What makes Halupedia fascinating is how it exposes the nature of LLM hallucination. The entries are confident, detailed, and utterly fictional. It’s a playful demonstration of how easily AI can create convincing nonsense. For educators and researchers, it’s a cautionary tool: students who rely on AI for research might end up citing an entry that never existed until they clicked a link.
But as a curiosity, Halupedia is oddly addictive. Each new click brings a fresh rabbit hole of fabricated history and pseudoscience. It also raises questions about digital curation and the erosion of trust in online texts. Is this the future of web content, where every page is generated on the fly? Probably not, but it’s a fun (and slightly unnerving) preview of what’s possible when you let an LLM run wild.
