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February 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers – nRF52833-based, ultra-slim, full-body VR trackers offer up to 48h battery life (Crowdfunding)

Designed by SlimeVR in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers are open-hardware, IMU-based, ultra-slim, full-body VR trackers designed for virtual reality gaming, motion capture, VTubing, and more. The trackers provide full-body positional tracking without base stations, cameras, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. Each tracker uses an IMU to measure absolute rotation and transmits data over a custom 2.4 GHz ESB protocol via a dedicated dongle supporting up to 10 trackers, eliminating occlusion issues and router setup. Based on Nordic Semi’s nRF52833 wireless MCU, the split “butterfly” design places the PCB and 90 mAh battery side-by-side to achieve a thickness of under 7 mm and a weight below 10 grams, while a flexible interconnect improves comfort when worn under clothing. The system offers a 100–200 Hz refresh rate, <15 ms latency, over 48 hours of battery life with USB-C charging and OTA firmware updates. SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic nRF52833 CPU […]

February 11, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ESP32 Marauder 5G – Apex 5 module for Flipper Zero combines ESP32-C5, two Sub-GHz radios, nRF24, and GPS

Designed by HoneyHoneyTrading, the ESP32 Marauder 5G – Apex 5 Module is an ESP32-C5-based hacking and penetration testing tool for the Flipper Zero, with dual-band WiFi 6 (2.4GHz and 5GHz), two Sub-GHz radios (868MHz and 433MHz), an NRF24 radio, and a built-in GPS. This new Flipper Zero module can be considered an upgrade from the ESP32 Marauder – Double Barrel 5G, as it does not rely on a dual-chip configuration for 5 GHz operation, leveraging the ESP32-C5 dual-band capabilities instead. A microSD card slot handles storage, and the device can also save data directly to the Flipper Zero’s microSD card. It also features five antennas, including WiFi, Sub-GHz, nRF24, and GPS, along with dedicated LED indicators for the Sub-GHz radios and nRF24 activity. There is also a hardware button to toggle 433 MHz and 868 MHz Sub-GHz operation, a USB-C port, and a side button for power management and firmware […]

February 8, 2026February 9, 2026 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

8devices Maca 2 – A ultra-long-range data radio with 80km range for drones and robotics

8devices Maca 2 high-power plug-and-play ultra-long-range wireless data radio targets drones, UAS, robotics, interceptor systems, industrial IoT, and defense-grade communications, where long range, resilience, and scalability are critical. The device features high transmit power of up to 39 dBm (with 36 dBm per RF chain) and a receiver sensitivity of –98 dBm, and is designed for air-to-ground and point-to-point connectivity over distances of up to 80 km. To maintain stable links over extreme distances, the radio supports ultra-narrow channel widths ranging from 1.5 MHz to 19.5 MHz, significantly improving signal-to-noise ratio and resistance to interference and jamming. Additionally, it includes dual Ethernet, USB 2.0, UART, GPIO, and 14–33 V power input. It also supports industrial temperature operation and NDAA/TAA-compliant manufacturing. For unmanned systems, the radio allows users to manage bandwidth asymmetry. It’s a feature where a user can allocate 90% of the channel to downstream video data while reserving 10% […]

February 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Texas Instruments to acquire Silicon Labs

Texas Instruments will acquire Silicon Labs for $231.00 per share, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $7.5 billion. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2027, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and other conditions. Silicon Labs wireless chips are fairly popular in Smart Home applications with Zigbee, Thread, and Matter connectivity, as well as low-power Bluetooth LE wearables and industrial Sub-GHz or 2.4 GHz IoT applications. I can still remember when Silicon Labs purchased Energy Micro in 2013, taking over the EFM32 Gecko MCU family, and about 13 years later, the company is changing hands again. Texas Instruments explains the rationale behind the solution as follows: The acquisition will create a global leader in embedded wireless connectivity solutions by combining Silicon Labs’ strong portfolio and expertise in mixed signal solutions with Texas Instruments’ leading analog and embedded processing portfolio and internally owned technology and […]

January 30, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Naya Connect modular mechanical keyboard offers trackball, touchpad, rotary encoder, and spacial controller options (Crowdfunding)

Naya Connect All In One Keyboard Ecosystem

Dutch hardware startup Naya Create has launched the Naya Connect, a modular mechanical keyboard featuring magnetic connectors for additional keypads, and a dock to add a trackball, a multitouch touchpad, a rotary encoder, or a spatial controller. It is designed for 3D artists, video editors, audio professionals, and CAD engineers, as well as finance and business users. The core system, or the brain of the product, is the Naya Type, an 85-key mechanical keyboard in a 75% form factor with a 14.9 mm CNC aluminum unibody. It uses Kailh Choc V2 low-profile mechanical switches mounted on hot-swappable sockets and paired with dished polycarbonate shine-through keycaps with full RGB support. The keyboard supports QWERTY, QWERTZ, Colemak, Dvorak, and fully custom layouts via software remapping, while offering a 1,000 Hz polling rate in wired mode. A configurable spacebar allows users to switch between a standard single bar or a three-key split layout […]

January 28, 2026January 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Semtech launches AirLink RX400 and EX400 5G RedCap routers for IoT applications

Semtech has just launched the AirLink RX400 and EX400 5G RedCap routers for industrial and commercial IoT applications. They offer a lower power consumption and lower costs compared to traditional 5G deployment. The routers are powered by an unnamed Arm Cortex-A55 processor, feature up to two Gigabit Ethernet ports, 5G RedCap cellular connectivity (3GPP Release 17 and 5G Standalone) with LTE Cat 4 fallback, dual-band GNSS, optional WiFi 6 connectivity, and optional RS-232 interfaces, among other features. AirLink RX400/RX400 specifications: SoC – Unnamed dual-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor System Memory – 600 MB RAM available to containers Storage – 500 MB flash available to containers Networking AirLink EX400 – 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports AirLink RX400 – Gigabit Ethernet port 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) cellular connectivity up to 226 Mbps downlink, 120 Mbps uplink, dual SIM (Nano-4FF); 4G LTE fallback Optional dual-band Wi-Fi 6 1×1 MIMO up to 600 Mbps Serial (AirLink RX400 […]

January 21, 2026January 20, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

M5MonsterC5 hacking tool adds ESP32-C5 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi 6 support to M5Stack Cardputer ADV and Tab5

Developed by Laboratorium in Poland, the M5MonsterC5 is an ESP32-C5-based “Marauder” hacking tool designed to work with M5Stack Cardputer ADV or M5Stack Tab5. It gets connected to the Cardputer ADV or Tab5 via a Grove connector and runs JanOS and Project Zero for wireless security research, experimentation, and rapid prototyping with minimal setup. Built around the ESP32-C5, the device supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (2.4/5-GHz) and 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee) to the M5Stack devices. Key features include multi-channel deauthentication with 5 GHz support, Evil Twin and phishing captive portals, WPA3 SAE overflow attacks, wardriving with GPS logging and WiGLE-compatible exports, passive sniffing, Karma attacks, whitelist management, and persistent “blackout” modes. The platform uses a two-stage web-based flashing process (JanOS on the Monster board and a Cardputer app flasher), offers microSD card and optional GPS support, and is intended strictly for authorized Wi-Fi auditing, offensive security research, and educational use under the Project Zero […]

January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HalowLink 2 Wi-Fi HaLow access point and extender offers up to 1 km range, supports up to 1,000 IoT end devices

GL.iNet HaLowLink 2 WiFi HaLow access point extender

Designed in collaboration with Morse Micro, GL.iNet’s HalowLink 2 is a Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) access point and extender that offers up to 1 km range and supports up to 1,000 IoT end devices. It’s an update to the earlier HaLowLink 1 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway with the exact same functionality, except it replaces a Morse Micro MM6108-based module with an MM8108-based module that offers a higher max link rate (43.3 Mbps vs 32.5 Mbps), broader region support, higher device capacity, and potentially better /performance range with up to 26 dBm Tx power (vs 23dBm in the first generation model). HalowLink 2 specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7621 dual-core, quad-thread MIPS1004K processor @ up to 880MHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – 32MB NAND Flash Connectivity Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) AzureWave AW-HM677 module with Morse Micro MM8108 HaLow chipset supporting Wi-Fi HaLow, IEEE 802.11ah, Sub-GHz, 43.3 Mbps, ultra-low power, WPA3 Sub-GHz frequency range […]