You can join Elliot and Al as they get together to talk about their favorite hacks of the week. There’s news about current contests, fake alien messages, flexible breadboards, hoverboards, low-tech home automation, and even radioactive batteries that could be a device’s best friend.
We have a winner in the What’s that Sound competition last week, which was, apparently, a tough one. You’ll also hear about IC fabrication, FPGAs, and core memory. Lots to talk about, including core memory, hoverboards, and vacuum tubes.
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!
Episode 220 Show Notes:
News:
What’s that Sound?
- Congratulations to this week’s winner, [Zach]! The sound was a trip hammer.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Simulated ET to Phone Home From Mars This Afternoon
- Building Circuits Flexibly
- Hoverboard Rides on Eddy Currents
- The Wizard of Semiconductors
- ESPClicker – An Elegant Solution for Integrating Dumb Devices into Home Assistant
- Bringing the PIO to the FPGA
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Al’s Picks:
Can’t-Miss Articles:
- Airtags, Tiles, Smarttags and the Dilemmas of Personal Tracking Devices
- Note: In the podcast, Elliot said that Airtags transmit the same number all the time. This is wrong. While they use a constant public key for encryption, they also implement a rolling algorithm based on a pre-shared key so that a new key is generated every 15 minutes.
- The Art and Science of Making Beautiful Transparent Ice
Beer based drinks with ice is no travesty though. Some nice crisp Pilsener topped with lime soda, fresh mint, and crushed ice… mm-mm.
I’m open-minded. Beer as an ingredient instead of an end product…
Heck, who am I kidding, here in Munich we go through a ton of Radler in the summer, which is basically a Shandy — lemon soda and beer.
But no ice. :)
I was thinking at this video https://youtu.be/tmSrULDVRPc where a grenn stuff is beated with wood hammers. Green like wasabi, and also made in Japan. Heck, was not wasabi but a sweet called mochi. Can I get a picture of the podcast T-shirt?
Who else is intrigued at the possibility of SSHing into your bank – amusing slip of the tongue by Al Williams :)
Then if you’re out of cash, you’ll tunnel into the bank (via ssh), fill your pockets up to your heart desire and close the tunnel. With the leftover change send a thank you card to the bank.
In the event Al is unaware of it: the “Send more Chuck Berry” comment in the original article on the simulated alien message is a reference to a very early SNL “Weekend Update” item about the Voyager golden record, which included “Johnny B. Goode”. Apparently this was controversial back then.
Oh I got it. That’s why I liked it ;-) Big Steve Martin fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCidO_xJRw