Hackaday Lazy Afternoons

Lazy Afternoons

i should change the logo since these have become official now. anyways, looks like you guys are dying for some buttons! they are not for sale though.

they are for free! this is how you can score a few before defcon (maybe):
send a SASE (self addressed, stamped envelope) to the following address. this means send me a paid and addressed envelope so i dont have to pay any money or do any work. i throw buttons in the envelope, you guys get some! include a note if you want.

send your SASEs to:
Vince Veneziani
attn: HACKADAY
3514 Spring Garden St. APT A24
Philadelphia, PA 19104
USA

If you wanna pick some up in person, I’ll be throwing a mini-hackaday meeting tonight in Philadelphia probably. In center city. if you’re interested, e-mail me directly. you can score yours easier than a blind chick with no hands (ouch).

as for today’s lazy afternoon, it’s gonna be different. we’d like to try out a thing we’re ripping off from every other WIN site called “Ask Hackaday”

here’s how it works:
leave your questions in the comments, we’ll answer them in podcast form every week. so go for it. ask us anything from questions about hacking, to opinions on things, to our favorite food.

enjoy. now start licking stamps. if you luck out, you may get the stickers too if they come in time!

62 thoughts on “Hackaday Lazy Afternoons

  1. Remember the crosswalk hack? well I might bid on signal controlers from a citywide auction in the next few days. I dont want all 26, so if anyone is interested i could resell them, I need to get enough interest to be able to buy them otherwise someone else will scrap them, This is our chance to find out how to manipulate these without being on the street. email me at phycon5@gmail.com

  2. Here’s a nice question:
    I’m thinking of buying a cheap-ass PDA from e-bay. Of all the PDA hacks out there, which PDA do you think is the most “hack-compliant”? In other words, which PDA do you think has one of the most useful hacks out there and why?

    -LMM

  3. sorry vince, i sent you a tip telling you you should post an address, but i hadn’t refreshed the page for a while (been playing tiberian sun) and didn’t see the update with the address

  4. Here’s a question.

    WTF IS UP WITH THE POPUPS/OVERS NOW! Christ, those things are annoying. Your greed is not satisfied by google ads? I would have clicked had you asked :(

  5. skittles as far as I know we don’t do pop ups (I turned off firefox to check) so check your computer. Vince and I aren’t in charge of ads just content.

    zoe, we’ve linked to a fake alarm before http://www.angelfire.com/ar3/ledmod/ and I don’t think they’re that cool, so you’d have to scratch build an alarm to get my attention. I don’t mind you posting in the comments though. I think we would have worked you into the links if I had realized you were submitting a project you did yourself.

  6. ^ right on. I would like to point out that mine builds on that idea by not requiring any interaction (no pluggin in, it just turns on when car is stopped automatically).

    Excellent site by the way, I meant to say in first comment.

  7. q: about the oil computers: are computers immersed in oil actually works as long as normal?
    about the optimus keyboard: will it ever exist?
    about your hacks: how do you find them?

  8. hey just thought i would tell ya all i love yoru site it has a very good selection of educational matireal lol and im not sure if your starting your hackaday q&a right away but heres my question if i wanted to make a laptop almost compleatly untraceable aside from the realy duh like fingerprint removing and scraching of serial numbers where would i start in theory of course ?

  9. actually, i should have been more clear. apologies. it seems its a popover, imbedded in the page. possibly some fancy javascript. anyway, the ad is some big muscle bound dude with the quote “is this your salesman?” I can’t seem to reproduce it atm, possibly because it is set to show only once a day or so. I do recall it having occured the past two days. If it shows up again tomorrow I’ll screenshot it for you. Anyone else confirm?

  10. umm, how much do I need from the UK? I’m happy to pay for all that airmail crap just really have no clue on how many stamps to buy but I can always find that out unless the postal service is being normal o_O.

  11. well i didnt make the shirt yet, like i said i would. i have only gone as far as recreating the logo on corel. ill try to get it done this weekend, hopefully the hackaday crew will like it, and not get mad that i make my own merch. cause its not like i am making money off of it. its purely fan-based.

  12. whats the best way to make a cd lamp out of old cds? i was thinking cold cathodes, but the wires could pose a problem, and it may not be bright enough. drilling through all the cds to make room for a flourescent tube would take forever, but is that the best answer? what is the answer to the great question of life, the universe, and everything? (42, of course)

  13. nice i just stuck my sase in the mailbox ^_^

    and as for the question: For a while now i’ve been interested in turning the whole “infrared webcam” into a portable piece that you can wear on your head, almost like an actual nightvision scope. My idea was to connect the webcam to the eyepiece of an old videorecorder, since its deffinitely small enough and would suit my needs. With that i suppose i would add a near-infrared lightsource with which to see, but my problem resides with getting the webcam to function with and old videorec eyepiece, like i said.

    If this can be done then it should most deffinitely appear as a hack on this sight oneday =P i mean, who doesnt want their own makeshift nightcam right?

  14. The Verizon ad does pop up once a day, even in Firefox. I was planning on going to Defcon to see you guys, but I couldn’t raise $80 in a month on vacation (I’m 14). So I’m going to send an SASE to you guys for some pins! I love the hacks, keep on going with them, and maybe I’ll think of some hacks to send you. Later!

  15. Here’s my question:

    Back in the day, Radio Shack had a ton of cool electronic components. Now, I’m seeing that part of the store shrink, and the component selection is so thin, I’m beginning to wonder what, if anything, useful can be built from the components stocked in todays average Radio Shack store.
    What is the coolest hack built of only/mostly Radio Shack stocked components you guys have seen?

  16. I know that these are for the podcast, but I just have to address mike, #8. The name of the site is hackaday, and in case you haven’t noticed, It provides a feature hack every day with it’s own comments section, picture and everything. Then you get a ton more! links with more hacks, free buttons to spread the love, what more could you want?

    As for my question, are there any cheap general purpose i/o adapters for mac out there (besides activewire and i/o warrior)? Or, better yet, is there a way to make a pic do all that with usb, or would the code be just too complex?

  17. Q: What “hacker” communities do you guys belong to?
    Q: When is the best time to go to the IRC chat, and actually be able to chat with someone?
    Q: What’s your favorite book, hacking or otherwise?
    Q: What’s your take on the war in Iraq? The war in Afghanistan?

  18. the radio shack here in goshen, indiana, sucks !
    the last time i was there i needed somthing simple , i think it was a 7 segment driver.
    they had the 7led and ask “can i help u”
    then told me that they wanted to get rid of all that kind of sh#t and they didn’t know anything
    about “that stuff” i would have to find it my self !
    i think they just want to sell cell phones now.
    and they don’t sell any books with stuff u can
    build any more at any store. just rc cars ,cell
    phones and phone jack crap !

  19. you know, I hate to interupt, but what the fuck is the point of having a website that’s accessable to people outside of Philiadelphia when all you ever talk about is your damned meetings? guess what, I don’t live in Philly and probably won’t be able to go there simply because of a convention (which is probably pretty obvious considering I’m on a website looking for ways to hack the shit I already have, rather than buy new shit).

    Here’s a suggestion. If the name of the website is hackaday, maybe it would be a good idea to have at least one hack per day (advertising your damn buttons is NOT a hack! perhapse if you showed me some practical use for them)

    I am especially disappointed with Lazy afternoons, there used to be some cool shit there.

  20. Q: What “hacker” communities do you guys belong to?
    Q: When is the best time to go to the IRC chat, and actually be able to chat with someone?
    Q: What’s your favorite book, hacking or otherwise?
    Q: What’s your take on the war in Iraq? The war in Afghanistan?

  21. I work for a mailing center.
    anything under 1 oz. is .37 cents
    2 oz. is .60 = 2 stamps
    3 oz. is .83 cents = 3 stamps

    Now the post off ice is also charging more these days for “bulky” envelopes, so to be on the safe side I would use 2 stamps on the sase.

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