HaD Community,
We’ve heard the feedback, death threats and *sigh*s regarding the more accessible “top X” posts we’ve published recently. we’re going to pause on these while we internally discuss the mission and goals of Hackaday.
For background, I came up with the name Hackaday while brainstorming a site for hacks with [Phillip Torrone], who was then working on a hack every two or three weeks for a new blog called Engadget which [Peter Rojas] and I had founded. When we sold Weblogs Inc, the parent company of Engadget, Hackaday and 100 other blogs to AOL I pulled Hackaday out of the deal at the last-minute.
Why? Well, let’s just say that this dark overlord realized the dark overlords at the bigger Death Star (known as Time Warner) would not take kindly to having their set-top boxes and DVD players hacked. The head of legal department at said Death Star almost exploded when she read Hackaday.
Hackaday then existed in a shell company before I bought it from my former partners at weblogs inc. I did this, as opposed to selling it or shutting it down, because I know Hackaday is a unique place for a unique group of folks to share what they are working on.
My thinking has been “as long as I don’t lose too much money on this I’m fine with HaD just chugging along.” I’m happy to say that while I’ve lost a little money it’s not a lot (well, not happy, but not devastated. :-)
All that being said, I’d like to see Hackaday grow and expand its mission beyond “one hardware hack a day.” That’s why I asked the Hackaday crew to set up answers.hackaday.com and try out a Q&A forum for folks… which you guys seem to have embraced and used. It’s seems to be getting some traffic and is providing some utility.
What I’d like to see is for “classic hackaday” to expand into a place where a wider audience can learn and be inspired to hack *anything*.
So, if a casual internet users wants to rip their DVR apart and try upgrading the hard drive we should be the place they can learn how to do that. If they have a problem, they can ask a question here too.
If someone wants to jailbreak their iPhone or rip their iPad apart and embed it in the dashboard of their car they should be able to do that here.
… or if they want to learn some life hacks related to their Gmail account, we have a long article with the top 25 lifehacks for that.
So, my proposal to the community is to:
- a) Keep doing exactly what we’ve done an RSS feed called “classic”
- b) Expand the mission statement to something along the lines of “hack everything” (or maybe “hack anything” sounds more ambitious/fun?). Perhaps best said is: “hack everything, and inspire and help others to do that same.”
Thoughts? Feedback?
-Jason Calacanis
Hardware hacks inspire me, keep me going
you post the ‘best of’, the hacks that other people do that are awesome.
maybe have a different set of posts interlaced about ‘quick hacks that we’ve found’. particuarly awesome would be easy, maybe half pointless, hacks that take less than 5 minutes, through to harder hacks that take an hour. like; putting an led in your usb slot, or if you point a remote at a digital camera and press the button, you can see the transmitter LED’s light up, or put a cd laser in the end of a flashlight. similar style as your normal posts.
saving preferences as cookies, you might be able to show only ‘classic hacks’ posts, or both. this would also allow you guys to do software hacks. keep classic hack as one per day. and dont be scared of quirkiness like no capital letters, were nerds.
keep your main target audience as the more elite hardware hackers, and then cater for newbies as secondary. that way you can keep a reasonably solid reputation as a hack site.
you could also sell hack packs of the harder ones. maybe a few hacks per pack. and books mixed with small hacks, light theory/trivia and strange ‘did you know’ type stuff.
maybe also put easter eggs on the site.
@justinsm
I disagree, the editorial we makes it sound professional and makes the posts coherent.
Jason, thanks for saving HaD from death star. As a regular visitor here, I want to say thanks. This site has a wide coverage on everything, especially love seeing uC projects. I have learn so much from the posting at HaD and sometimes even give me new ideas.
So, no matter what the decision is, please keep the site running.
and a BIG THANKS to all of you who make this site possible!
Motto-wise “hack everything” is more forceful than “hack anything”. “Hack everything” has an imperative, whereas “hack anything” is just a possibility.
Man do whatever it takes to keep it going. I love this place and the more the merrier.
“@crazy_conspiracy_man
Lulz, glad someone did it”
just for the record, Anon, I have the privilege of holding that statement, … on the 69th post
TYVM, now gimmie my copyrightz!
I am confused about Hackaday’s growing pains recently (and EXTREMELY confused about everybody’s outrage over your growing pains – it’s a free website, either read it or don’t. WTF guys?)
My requirements for HaD are very modest: all I care about is HaD functioning as an aggregator for other people’s interesting projects. That’s it. I have no expectation that you guys will provide valuable original content beyond “Fred built a death ray out of an Arduino, a glow stick and a saxophone. This seems cool because blah blah blah. It reminds me of this guy who built a flame thrower out of a Commodore 64 and a Bic lighter.” Just provide a little context on why you’re linking the project and links to other projects I might have missed and I’m happy. Make it easy for me to find old projects you’ve linked or to browse around the projects you’ve linked. In that respect, I’ve been really happy with your bread and butter content over the last few years.
I DON’T expect the HaD writers to be “real” journalists or to be competent engineers in their own right – I just expect them to be able to recognize cool projects on a regular basis and to write about them with enthusiasm and a modicum of insight. Making “real” original content on a regular basis is really hard, and I don’t really understand why you put that pressure on your staff and brand. Just wait for other people to make good content and link to the best stuff.
Also, I think your readers who constantly complain about articles not being hacks are whiners. I’m basically interested in any projects or tutorials that involve some measure of innovation or cleverness. You usually do a pretty good job finding projects and articles that interest me so as long as you continue to apply the same judgement in the future I’ll be happy.
I’d also register my vote for canning the “editorial we” voice. In fact, I’d almost think it’s more valuable (and entertaining) to hear where HaD authors disagree about stuff (in the comments or whatever) on occasion instead of reading that you guys have editorial consensus on everything. I’d lovely to see you guys engage in lively debate on occasion when the situation is appropriate.
The White on Black text hurts my eyes…
I love what you have done so far!
Keep it under 4 or 5 posts a day and I’ll be here everyday of the year.
As a previous hack contributor I would like to add, if HaD doesn’t think a suggestion is worth being on HaD then tell them to refine their submission, or just say no thank you. Don’t feel bad about delaying or not posting a hack if it’s not up to snuff.
And to all the whiners, go hack something, and then submit it! The more submission the better the site will be.
Well, I’ve been reading HaD basically daily for a few years now. It’s true that it has been loosing some quality while gaining some quantity. What did bring me here was its hardcore hardware nature. For the rest, as someone already put it, I can get from Make, Instructables, etc. 1 or 2 hacks a day at most is just fine, we all have busy lives these days.
If you want to expand, incite people to hack, why not take apart real stuff showing how it works? Not the generic stuff from howstuffworks, but showing how concrete products work (doesn’t have to be iPads and the like, probably many of us never saw how a servo is like inside). To hack you need to know what you’re hacking, and the more things you know the better hacker you become.
i read hackaday every day, and I’d love to see it grow. i think you should add more how-to and software/firmware hacking posts.
I fall into the same category as James (near the top). The only this that annoys me is when the articles contain very obvious technical mistakes. Then I might temporarily turn into a “whining elitist”. This is supposed to be a technical blog after all.
I have been reading HaD for many years now, first thing in the morning. I dont read everything, just what I like. As with any other site, dont see a problem with that. Hope the site go on.
Thanks!
Guys, as long as you keep posting ‘hacks’, i’ll keep reading,
I’m happy to see HaD expand its mission statement, (and I look forward to new stuff), as long as I can continue to enjoy the same quality and variety of content I’ve come to know and love. Just don’t become another Instructables! Don’t get me wrong, I love Instructables, but the undiluted hard-core tech focus of HaD is where it’s really at for me, and for a LOT of other people!
“Hack Everything” sounds like a political statement. “Hack Anything” sounds more like the fun challenge which Hack a Day presents every day.
Something about these comments urks me. a lot of them seem fake and semi generated. If not that, highly filtered.
Wow, nice letter. I’ve been reading for a few year, but have not seen a reason to post (somebody else always beats me to it)… until now.
Thank you for voicing your thoughts and sharing this great feed. As far as a name for the Next-Gen “site”- howzabout
Hack The Planet?
go for totally one request I would make is a better indexing search option searching past post for a hack I know a saw can be very painful.
I just want you to know that I appreciate you and all you have done for the diy community.
just keep it up, your doin great
NOT A HACK! (Somebody probably said that already… The shame…)
Seriously though, HaD is doing fine with more of the less traditional ‘hacks’ but as jenningsthecat said ^ ^ ^ Don’t become like instructables!
+1 for “Hack Anything”. “Hack Everything” seems to perpetuate the negative stereotypical view on ‘hackers’ to me.
I’ve been a reader and contributor to had for a number of years. To be honest and say i did love the one hack a day format. but the new posts dont bother me greatly. I can see that the site needs to make an income or at least break even but it seems odd to me that the way this has been approached over the years is to add more and more writers. Surly this is making the the over heads higher?
The one other thing that has bothered me right from the start, and I am sure I am not alone in this. I’ve had 10 or 12 of my projects on the site over the last 4 or 5 years and have never once had an email to say thanks. For a while I just stopped tipping the site, but I really do like it. I am just asking for a little more feed back to the guys who are actually building the projects featured here.
hey I have been reading this site since it all started up and I think it should stay just as it is.
With all of the complaints that Hackaday is posting “not-a-hack” fluff, I don’t see the readers doing any hardcore hacking, to be posted. It’s as if “real” hacking isn’t happening anymore.
Well, yeah. The moneymakers of the world are putting out their arduinos and android phones, and even hackaday readers are buying into it, and leaving behind the very kind of hacking that they demand from the blog. I say, no complaining unless you have had one of your hacks posted here.
Guys, we need to step up our hacks- we’re not making enough money for Jason.
i wouldn’t mind if you if you spurt out 100 hacks a day.
If this has not been mentioned, I think the owners of Hackaday and anyone reading should understand the anticircumvention clause of the DMCA. That is the one area where hacking can get you in trouble. You may not agree with it, you may resent it, but if you hacking endeavors begin to approach circumvention of encryption systems designed to protect copyrighted content, you are going to face DOJ prosecutors.
Anyone hacking systems which may or may not contain encryption schemes for protecting copyrighted content, I suggest you spend $200.00 for a legal consultation with a good IP attorney and find out about the details of the anticircumvention clause of the DMCA and where the boundaries are in regard to reverse engineering. That $200.00 will save you tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs and damages later.
After reading this intro post, I am further inspired to dedicate my career in Computer Science and my personal interest in hacking anything and everything to its mightiest potential! lol. Thank You Owner for reaffirming my faith in this website and furthermore in this field of exploration.
“hackitall”
as someone who has both submitted and commented i can say that i do not come here to get top 10 things. the ones i have seen here like that are nothing more IMHO than fluff without any substance. I know everything can not be 100% pure jucy hacks, but the top x things are really a waste of my time.
saying that i will add this, if you would do like engadget did and have a feed or allow us to have a feed that removes the top x lists similar to what they do to remove apple content i would have no problem with it. If i can get the fun stuff here i want all the more power to you.
I have been here since the beginning, and sincerely wish this site does not go the way of MAKE.
I come here for the inventive, the quirky, and the non-mainstream content.
There is simply no other place where you can find posts about robots leaping up stairs, or the time fountain thing.
If you are running out of content, don’t be afraid to dust off some older posts that some people may not have seen; I surely won’t be calling DUPE!
I love this site. I got hooked into this site because it was something on my Google homepage, then it got to be something I had to have. You have got something. If I ruled the world, there would be two changes I would make here. One, register the visitors before they can post. The one major detractor from this site is the trolling. The second would be a way to filter out people I don’t want to see in the comments section. The comments section is great, you can learn more from them than the article sometimes, but useless people with useless comments really are annoying.
I enjoy this site enough to make it part of my daily reading. I think you are doing great. Death threats, that I do not see any need for here. You are doing something right, and the better you become the more others will not like it. It is impossible to please everyone with these kinds of things. If they hate it enough, maybe they will go out and make their own sites.
Although why complain about ads unless you run IE. I know for a fact that both Chrome and Firefox contain ad blockers that you can add (ff’s does a bit better job, in my opinion). I don’t know about any in IE that can do the same.
“it’s a free website, either read it or don’t. WTF guys?)”
Wth is wrong with you? The guy asked for honest feedback, not a pat on the back. I guess you’re one of those people who are used to getting a trophy just for showing up.
Having been a reader for quite some time, I really enjoy most of the articles. If I am not interested I usually just skim it and move on. I welcomed the addition of the software writers and have learned a few things already. I built my own battery tab welder as a direct result of an article on HaD. I have also started to learn a little with my arduino. The arduino submissions really inspired me. I had been interested in pic’s but didn’t know where to start. Arduino was a lot easer for me to get started. I guess what I’m saying is that I find most of what I read here of some use, whether or not I am into it.
I even learn from the comments that aren’t elitist whiners. Some of the links that are posted are helpful and informative.
I’m just a reader I can’t tell you what to do, nor would I think I could.
Have and will enjoy the site as long as it is here.
@Jason — I don’t get it. Did you just propose that the site keep doing what it’s already doing? … and also apparently add an RSS feed? So confused.
I just finished reading through the 60-odd comments on the Top 5 Android Twitter Clients article and frankly, I am appalled at the inability to accept something new and the brash nature of some readers.
I started reading Hackaday probably three years ago or so. I remember when it was literally just a hack a day. HaD is one of the few sites that has always stayed in my bookmarks bar throughout several computers, along with TUAW, Engadget, and Lifehacker. One of the reasons why these four are some of my favorites is because the vast majority of articles are written very professionally.
Hackaday is the first blog I check when doing my daily blog read because I almost always find an article that inspires me and gets the gears in my head turning. It’s my cyber equivalent of crossword and coffee in the morning. As Jason has said, Hackaday should inspire people. I, for one, have been heavily inspired multiple times. I’ve torn apart far too many devices now and I horde all of my broken cell phones, computers, video game consoles, toys, etc. – both a direct result of reading articles on here.
Sure a Top 5 list isn’t a hack. But Hackaday is entitled to post whatever they want. My blog is supposed to be about my encounters with Apple products, but I post lots of other things on there too that have nothing to do with Apple. If I’ve invested such a large portion of my time in Hackaday, I’m not going to be turned away because of one non-hack article or even a few dozen, so long as the majority of the articles retain a hacking theme.
To all the Hackaday crew – Thank you for making this a great and very simple site, full of useful info. And to the new writers… may I say that I am rather envious of you? I’ve always wanted to write for a site like Hackaday or Engadget. Keep up the good work!
If this means less arduino with blinking leds, Im in.
though i have not read most of the comments, it has always come to mind that what I see on HaD the most is re-posted links and copies of project, and not direct submissions and guide published first through HaD. I am a huge fan of HaD but there is, many times, a lack of detail because the author published somewhere else in whatever format they had available and a lot of detail and continuity is left out of the post. I suggest offering a HaD equivalent of what instructables offers to its authors who publish through them in addition to the current format of posts and links. An easy to use submission platform that gives the author a way to quickly submit a hack, provide pictures, links,video, and make easy to follow step by step project guides with out having to go somewhere else first to publish. Have other site go to hackaday for the builds and projects instead of the other way around and give sites like instructables some really good competition. I would also like to say that this site(hackaday) and its contributors has inspired my many projects and hacks at home more than anything else. Thank you all for your inspiration. please dont ever stop working towards the next great hack.
much love
Angevelon
OK. After reading thru every post here im agree with every part, which everyone is saying. I understand both sides of the coin.
As for ‘droid apps, its good to see thing like this, but is it really a “hack” or other ? Theres some nifty voltage divider apps which i use regularly and things like that, but thats another story.
HaD is just that.. HACKS. If its creating a new piece of kit for some project you are working on, or re-working a consumer product for something it was never intended to do, thats the stuff which HaD should focus on. Sure other things require attention, but not full focus.
A fully fledged REGULATED forum with a few sections (NEWS, MICRO’s (*duino, teensy, beagle, etc), SENSORS & INPUTS, REWORKING (modding existing products lightly), CREATION (making from scratch, with breadboards, etc).
Either way, ill support whatever direction HaD goes in. It is YOUR site after all and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. Until someone else starts paying the bills, do as you please.
Jason,
Whatever you do, do it quickly. This my best advice, I’ll still visit the site 3-4 times a day either way…
The catalyst for this was that dodgey Android article. Top 10 lists etc really arent a problem. For example if there was a Top 10 Ways To Hack Your Home Printer To Print Electronic Components or Top 5 Ways To Install A Slushy Machine Into Your PC Case it would certainly be embraced here. If it was a concisive review of hacker related software or hardware it is just another form of tutorial, and would be embraced like the other great quality tutorials here.
It just happens that that particular article was full of crap. It reflected a total lack of understanding of the topic and many parts of it were just plain wrong. A waste of time. An insult to the intelligence of passionate loyal regular readers. An insult to the efforts of writers working so hard to keep the quality high by now saying that any old junk will do.
Go ahead with your new expanding directions. Help hackers of all levels of knowledge and experience break warrantees in ways they wouldnt be able to or wouldnt have thought to do before accessing the site. Just be sure to also keep the quality.
I would like to see more paid-for reviews/advertisement so you can make more mone… err wait no.
I would like to see more articles explaining how my phone works in a language that any child can understand….. wait no not that.
I would like to see posts that exist on every other generic tech blog on the internet so that I can ignore them.. damn no thats not it either.
All those things you said in your post, ACTUALLY do those. Yeah thats it. Or how about we have a community article that we can all pitch in on! The top 5 things we do not want to see posted on HaD ever again. I’m sure you will get some great community participation.
Also, does anyone know of a website/blog where there are articles on how to hack stuff? Like articles that explain how to get better functionality out of gadgets, or how to build your own stuff. Reply on this site.
Neuro Cyber prosthetics website has new updates check them out make a article on it.
64 channel active electode 20k samples per second 24 bits per sample this is designed using open source tools as a open source project.
go to the code valt airea and download the latest version and unzip it into kicad.
http://sites.google.com/site/openloopproject/
Hack a day is great but I can see why you would want to broaden its appeal. Why not follow the engadget route and create “ghost sites” the way engadget has with hd.engadget and mobile.engadget
But perhaps life.hackaday for lifehacks and intro.hackaday or some other such for simple how-to hacks like dropping a new HD in a DVR.
First, i didn’t read anyones post. Okay maybe the 2 at the end before mine.
hackaday, as is, is a great site. In fact, i love when you post non-hack stuff or even the blinky led arduino hacks. Gives everyone something to gripe about. Lets you know how many people really care.
That said, I would love to see hackaday grow into something that can help everyone in the hacking community. I wish i had the perfect answer to help you decide how to move forward.
I hate to say it but, forums (i like vbulliten $285) are really the best way to help people on the web. So far, im not sure how helpfull the answers site has been. I guess i need to get used to it first. Popular topics is kinda strange. I’m used to catagories to search by and i like the clean look of vbulliten ( i dont work for them ).
So forums.hackaday.com would be nice. I guess answers is based off of or part of mahalo.com since my name and password work there :)
Anyways, i think your screwed. website name hackaday should be about hacks. Maybe you should be like woot and do a howto.hackaday.com tutorials.hackaday.com profitisawsome.hackaday.com break it up a little more so people needing a howto on hacks can goto the howto.hackaday.com site. Of course then you need more writers for the site. But this is the internet, plenty of writers out there.
And a side comment on the site. The green is way to bright or bulgy on the main links at top right.
p.s. i justed wasted an hour typeing and browsing answers.hacakday.com at the same time….gnite
I like the idea. Some people need to wade a bit before they jump into bigger projects.
Why not contact some of the engineering colleges and offer to have a series of projects submitted by their students (HackU)?
there is always a room for improvement. never let this site down!
I thought I would just provide my 50 cents worth.
I’ve been reading HaD for about 1½ years now, and the articles I have read have inspired me to look more closely at microcontrollers, moving beyond my many novice hacks – like adding an on/off switch on my doorbell and making simple mods to my homebuilt computers.
I would welcome more tutorials. I have myself been pondering on starting a KB about where to find some of the parts you need. We all know that scanners and printers supply motors and the like (I have lots of motors lying around from old hardware, but I can’t help thinking that there must be some parts I have thrown away because I didn’t know their use.
Maybe It’d be nice to have some guides on scrounging parts – like “before you throw out your old washing machine – check if it has ____, which might come in handy if you are _____”
anyhow – I don’t see myself not reading hackaday on a regular basis – I’ll just scroll past the posts that don’t entice me.
Keep the spirit alive.
“If it’s available- it’s hackable”