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Hackaday

Hackaday Editors take a look at all of the interesting uses of technology that pop up on the internet each week. Topics cover a wide range like bending consumer electronics to your will, designing circuit boards, building robots, writing software, 3D printing interesting objects, and using machine tools. Get your fix of geeky goodness from new episodes every Friday morning.

Hackaday Podcast

The nights are drawing in for Europeans, and Elliot Williams is joined this week by Jenny List for an evening podcast looking at the past week in all things Hackaday. After reminding listeners of the upcoming Hackaday Supercon and Jawncon events, we take a moment to mark the sad passing of the prolific YouTuber, Robert Murray-Smith.
 
Before diving into the real hacks, there are a couple of more general news stories with an effect on our community. First, the takeover of Arduino by Qualcomm, and what its effect is likely to be. We try to speculate as to where the Arduino platform might go from here, and even whether it remains the player it once was, in 2025. Then there's the decision by Google to restrict Android sideloading to only approved-developer APKs unless over ADB. It's an assault on a user's rights over their own hardware, as well as something of a blow to the open-source Android ecosystem. What will be our community's response?
 
On more familiar territory we have custom LCDs, algorithmic art, and a discussion of non-stepper motors in 3D printing. Even the MakerBot Cupcake makes an appearance. Then there's a tiny RV, new creative use of an ESP32 peripheral, and the DVD logo screensaver, in hardware. We end the show with a look at why logic circuits use the voltages they do. It's a smorgasbord of hacks for your listening enjoyment.

Ep 341: Qualcomm Owns Arduino, Steppers Still Dominate 3D Printing, and Google Controls Your Apps

Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together to share their favorite hacks of the week with you. If you listen in, you'll hear exciting news about the upcoming SuperCon and the rare occurrence of Al winning the What's That Sound game.
 
For hacks, the guys talk about the IEEE's take on the "best" programming languages of 2025 and how they think AI is going to fundamentally transform the job of a programmer. On a lighter note, there's an industrial robot who retired to bartending, a minimal drum machine, a high-powered laser, and a Fortran flight simulator reborn with Unity 3D.
 
In the "can't miss" category, you'll learn how not to switch Linux distributions and what to expect when you need surgery while on your next mission to outer space.
 
There's lots more. Want to follow along? Check out the links below. As always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 340: The Best Programming Language, Space Surgery, and Hacking Two 3D Printers into One

Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this week's episode off with an update on the rapidly approaching 2025 Supercon in Pasadena, California. From there they'll talk about the surprisingly high-tech world of vapes, a flying DeLorean several years in the making, non-contact pulse monitoring, and the potential of backyard radio telescopes to do real astronomy. You'll hear about a dodecahedron speaker, a page turning peripheral, and 3D printed tools for unfolding boxes. They'll wrap things up by taking a look at the latest generation of wearable smart glasses, and wonder if putting a bank of batteries in your home is really with the hassle.
 
Check out the links over at Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 339: The Vape Episode, a Flying DeLorean, and DIY Science

This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so.
 
In Hackaday news, we've got a new contest running! Read all about the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge, sponsored by DigiKey, and check out the contest page for all the details. In sad news, American Science & Surplus are shuttering online sales, leaving just the brick and mortar stores in Wisconsin and Illinois.
 
On What's That Sound, it's a results show, which means Kristina gets to take a stab at it. She missed the mark, but that's okay, because [Montana Mike] knew that it was the theme music for the show Beakman's World, which was described by one contestant as "Bill Nye on crack".
 
After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a really cool way to smooth your 3D prints in situ. JWe take a much closer look at that talking robot's typewriter-inspired mouth from about a month ago. Then we discuss several awesome technological feats such as running code on a PAX credit card payment machine, using the alphabet as joinery, and the invention of UTF-8 in general. Finally, we discuss the detection of spicy shrimp, and marvel at the history of email.
 
Check out the links over on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 338: Smoothing 3D Prints, Reading CNC Joints, and Detecting Spicy Shrimp

Fresh hacks here! Get your fresh hot hacks right here! Elliot and Dan teamed up this week to go through every story published on our pages to find the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and serve them up hot and fresh for you. The news this week was all from space, with the ISS getting its latest (and last?) push from Dragon, plus <> oh yeah, life on Mars. Well, maybe, but it's looking more and more like we are not alone, or at least not a few million years ago.
 
But even if we are, plenty is still going on down here to keep you interested. Like homebrewing? Good, because we looked at DIY inductors, wire nuts, and even a dope -- but nope -- ultralight helicopter. Into retro? We've got you covered with a loving look at IRC, a 60s bedside computer guaranteed to end your marriage, and a look at the best 8-bit language you never heard of.
 
We looked at a rescued fume hood, sensors galore on your phone, a rug that should have -- and did, kind of -- use a 555, and raytracing for the rest of your natural life. As for "Can't Miss Articles," Elliot could barely contain himself with the bounty of projects written up by our Hackaday writers, not to mention Arya's deep dive into putting GPS modules to work in your builds.

Ep 337: Homebrew Inductors, Teletypes in the Bedroom, and Action!

Thunderstorms were raging across southern Germany as Elliot Williams was joined by Jenny List for this week's podcast. The deluge outside didn't stop the hacks coming though, and we've got a healthy smorgasbord for you to snack from. There's the cutest ever data cassette recorder taking a tiny Olympus dictation machine and re-engineering it with a beautiful case for the Commodore 64, a vastly overcomplex machine for perfectly cracking an egg, the best lightning talk timer Hackaday has ever seen, and a demoscene challenge that eschews a CPU. Then in Quick Hacks we've got a QWERTY slider phone, and a self-rowing canoe that comes straight out of Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence.
 
For a long time we've had a Field guide series covering tech in infrastructure and other public plain sight, and this week's one dealt with pivot irrigation. A new subject for Jenny who grew up on a farm in a wet country. Then both editors are for once in agreement, over using self-tapping screws to assemble 3D-printed structures. Sit back and enjoy the show!

Ep 336: DIY Datasette, Egg Cracking Machine, and Screwing 3D Prints

What happens when you listen in on Elliot Williams and Al Williams? You get a round up of the best of last week's Hackaday posts, of course. The topics this week range from beer brewing to lightning protection, with a little bit of everything in between.
 
This week, many problems find solutions. Power drill battery dead? Your car doesn't have a tire pressure monitor? Does your butter tear up your toast? You can find the answer to these problems, and more, on the Hackaday podcast.
 
For the can't miss section, the guys are annoyed that Google wants to lock down their phones, and also talk about measuring liquid levels in outer space.
 
Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 335: Beer, Toast, and Pi

In this episode of the Hackaday Podcast, editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start out with a warning about potentially radioactive shrimp entering the American food supply via Walmart, and things only get weirder from there.
 
The extra spicy shrimp discussion makes a perfect segue into an overview of a pair of atomic One Hertz Challenge entries, after which they'll go over the latest generation of 3D printer filament, using an old Android smartphone as a low-power Linux server, some tips for creating better schematics, and Lorde's specification-bending transparent CD.
 
Finally, you'll hear about how the nature of digital ownership influences the hardware we use, and on the other side of the coin, how open source firmware like QMK lets you build input devices on your terms.
 
 Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 334: Radioactive Shrimp Clocks, Funky Filaments, Owning the Hardware

This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week.
 
In Hackaday news, get your Supercon 2025 tickets while they're hot! Also, the One Hertz Challenge ticks on, but time is running out. You have until Tuesday, August 19th to show us what you've got, so head over to Hackaday.IO and get started now. Finally, its the end of eternal September as AOL discontinues dial-up service after all these years.
 
On What's That Sound, Kristina got sort of close, but this is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades. Can you get it? If so, you could win a limited edition Hackaday Podcast t-shirt!
 
After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a talking robot that uses typewriter tech to move its mouth. We take a look at hacking printed circuit boards to create casing and instrument panels for a PDP-1 replica. Then we explore a fluid simulation business card, witness a caliper shootout, and marvel at one file in six formats. Finally, it's a telephone twofer as we discuss the non-hack-ability of the average smart phone, and learn about what was arguably the first podcast.
 
Check out the links over on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Ep 333: Nightmare Whiffletrees, 18650 Safety, and a Telephone Twofer

Elliot and Dan got together this week for a review of the week's hacking literature, and there was plenty to discuss. We addressed several burning questions, such as why digital microscopes are so terrible, why computer systems seem to have so much trouble with names, and if a thermal receipt printer can cure ADHD.
 
We looked at a really slick 5-axis printer that COVID created, a temperature-controlled fermentation setup, and a pseudo-Mellotron powered by a very odd tape recorder. We also learned little about designing 3D printed parts with tight tolerances, stepping a PC power supply up to ludicrous level, and explored a trio of unique entries for the One Hertz Challenge. 
 
And for the Can't Miss section, we looked at what happens to planes when they get hit by lightning (and how they avoid it), and say goodbye to the man who launched a lot of careers by making model kits.
 
It was also exciting to learn that the first day of Supercon is Halloween, which means a Friday night sci-fi cosplay party. It's gonna be lit.

Ep 332: 5 Axes are Better than 3, Hacking Your Behavior, and the Man Who Made Models

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams are deep in the hacks this week. What if making your own display matrix meant a microcontroller board for every pixel? That's the gist of this incredible neon display. There's a lot of dark art poured into the slivers of microSD cards and this week saw multiple hacks digging into the hidden test pads of these devices. You've heard of Folding@Home, but what about Minecraft@Home, the effort to find world seeds from screenshots. And when USB chargers have exposed and rewritable firmware, what could possibly go wrong? Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=423655

Ep077: Secret Life of SD Cards, Mining Minecraft's Secret Seed, BadPower is Bad, and a Sea of Neon

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