Inspired by Michael Fuller

Well,obviously it can be done without a calculator! $$ Motivation:When we see $30^4$ ,we think that if we can manipulate the second part a bit to get $30^4-\text{something}$ ,then that "something" would be our answer,then since there is multiplication sign we get the idea of $(a-b)(a+b)=a^2-b^2$ ,and then $(a^2-b^2)(a^2+b^2)=a^4-b^4$ ,precisely what we need here $a=30$ ,the first part is: $26=(30-4)$ ,now we require $30+4$ ,so we write the given expression as $30^4-(30-4)(30+4)\times 4\times 229$ ,yup!it fits perfectly,so now we have $(30^2-4^2$ ,we need $30^2+4^2=916=4\times 229$ ,so $30^4-(30^2-4^2)(30^2+4^2)\\ =30^4-(30^4-4^4)\\ =4^4=256$ ,and done!