This week, Dan joined Elliot for a review of the best and brightest hacks of the week in Episode 0xFF, which both of us found unreasonably exciting; it’s a little like the base-2 equivalent of watching the odometer flip over to 99,999. If you know, you know. We had quite a bumper crop of coolness this week, which strangely included two artifacts from ancient Rome: a nanotech goblet of colloidal gold and silver, and a perplexing dodecahedron that ends up having a very prosaic explanation — probably. We talked about a weird antenna that also defies easy description, saw a mouse turned into the world’s worst camera, and learned how 3D-printed signs are a whole lot easier than neon, and not half bad looking either. As always, we found time to talk about space, like the legacy of Ingenuity and whatever became of inflatable space habitats. Back on Earth, there’s DIY flux, shorts that walk you up the mountain, and more about USB-C than you could ever want to know.
And don’t forget that to celebrate Episode 256 next week, we’ll be doing a special AMA segment where we’ll get all the regular podcast crew together to answer your questions about life, the universe, and everything. If you’ve got a burning question for Elliot, Tom, Kristina, Al, or Dan, put it down in the comment section and we’ll do our best to extinguish it.
Grab a copy for yourself if you want to listen offline.
Episode 255 Show Notes:
News:
- Next week, in honor of Podcast Episode 0 (or “256” if you’ve got the bits to spare), we’ll be having an Ask-Us-Anything, with as many of the Podcast regulars as we can fit onto one microphone. If you have questions for us, put ’em in the comments below!
What’s that Sound?
- Congrats to [Ed from Virginia] who won a Podcast T-shirt by identifying the start-up music from Donkey Kong.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Ingenuity May Be Grounded, But Its Legacy Will Be Grand
- A Vintage Monitor Lives Again With A New Heart
- Getting Started With USB-C And Common Pitfalls With Charging And Data Transfer
- A Look At 3D Printed Professional LED Signage
- Human-Interfacing Devices: The Descriptor Heist
- USB HID Usage Tables (PDF)
- Nanotechnology In Ancient Rome? There Is Evidence
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Dan’s Picks:
Can’t-Miss Articles:
That sounds like an exciting event! Here are some tailored questions for each of the hosts based on their individual expertise and contributions:
Elliot Williams:
Given your background in embedded systems, can you share a memorable project where overcoming a particular challenge led to unexpected insights or innovations?
As a regular contributor to “Hackaday Links,” what emerging technology or project has recently caught your attention and why?
Tom Nardi:
Your focus on software and hacking culture is evident in your articles. Can you highlight a project where the software aspect played a crucial role in achieving the overall success, and how did it influence the hardware design?
In your experience, how has the landscape of open-source software in the hacking and maker community evolved over the years?
Dan Maloney:
Being the “chief cook and bottle washer” at Hackaday, can you share some behind-the-scenes moments or challenges that the audience might find interesting or amusing?
As someone who often delves into historical tech, is there a particular piece of technology or a hacker story from the past that you find especially fascinating or relevant today?
Kristina Panos:
Your articles often cover a diverse range of topics. What has been the most unexpected or unconventional project that you’ve come across, and what made it stand out to you?
As a hardware enthusiast, what advice would you give to those who are just starting with hands-on electronics projects?
Al Williams:
With your extensive background in software development, can you discuss a project where the software architecture played a pivotal role in achieving the project goals?
As someone who covers a wide range of topics, is there a particular area or technology you are excited to explore more in the future, and why?
Not a question, rather a suggestion: It would be nice to hear Mike again. For my non-American and non-native English ears his clear voice was always a joy to listen to. Perhaps he could drop in for a visit honoring this episode.
Yeah, i was also thinking of Mike for a re-visit. Not that the new setup is doing any bad job, but just for the souvenir it would be nice.
My question is this; ya’ll don’t do podcast ads, so how do you pay for this? I love your podcast so much that it has become my primary way to consume your content, meaning I don’t see the (thankfully minimal) ads served on your website. It seems you’ve parasitised your primary business just to make my life better. And you even give us T shirts! I am too cynical to belive that such generousity exists. What’s your angle?!
I’d like to steal a segment from the Ham Radio Workshop podcast, and ask “What’s on your bench?”
What are our favourite HaD writers building for themselves? What are your preferred fields of hacking? What kind of project spaces do you each have?
I have some thoughts/discussion points for the upcoming podcast.
This one is for Elliot. In the past you mentioned burning the podcast episodes to CD. Any chance of a boxed set with some cool art work to celebrate this momentous occasion? Barring that, maybe releasing images, artwork, and case stls for listeners to DIY. Maybe mix some badge-life and design a case with PCB art and some solder points to make a box (something like https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14638 but open on one side).
A number of the hosts have custom keyboards or share a interest in the mechanical keyboard hobby. For each of you, what is your daily driver, key layout (qwerty, dvorak, colemak, etc.), and any cool/useful/neat macros you may have programmed? Also what would you like to see in a keyboard that you would use? Is it the loudest clicky keys or the shortest travel or enough rgb to require USB-C power delivery?
For each of you, what are your pet peeves? This can be technology related, work related, or just normal everyday things? Too much chatgpt this or AI-as-a-service (AAAS) or check-out lines at the store, etc?
Now that Hackaday is the host of two podcasts, will we be getting any cross over episodes between the two, i.e. where the hosts each go to the other podcast and join the discussion?
I have always enjoyed the small blooper reel at the end of the episodes. Is there any chance to hear more of the outtakes/bloopers? An extended outtake if you will.
And to borrow from Embedded.fm: Do you finish one project or start a dozen? What is your favorite fictional robot?
What is your text editor of choice, programming language of choice, browser of choice, and desktop environment of choice?
I really love your podcast and the whole site! One frequent wish I have for the podcast though would be to have the proper show notes including the links to the articles, like the notes from above…
That would be very sweet to have. (´ ∀ ` *)
All the links are always here — on the podcast page. Is that what you mean?
It _would_ be cool to get transcripts done as well, but I’m not sure where we’d host them. The format is bad for Hackaday, but we could just serve them up as straight text files?
Not always the best quality, but since we also are on YouTube you can:
1. Go to the video (example): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA_Mc66Iy40
2. Expand the video description by clicking on the description summary
3. Scroll down and press the “Show Transcript” button.
4. Look to the far right and you’ll see a time-stamped transcript of the closed captions which, for us, are auto-generated so your mileage may vary.
If you want to download, you need an extension or there are some websites. You can also copy/paste but it is ugly.
Example: https://tactiq.io/tools/run/youtube_transcript?yt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCA_Mc66Iy40
Plenty of others if you search.
What I am referring to is the show notes that are delivered in the feed and that are available in my podcatcher. The feed only includes this article’s teaser but the real show notes are not included. I have to click to this page, scroll down and only then get to the article I want.
Dan, I once had a USB-C phone that over time, charged slower and did not make me a believer in USB-C, it’s probably more fair to say that I was thinking the phone was not so great. On some later date, I removed the case to clean it and the phone. I noticed some “fuzzes” in the USB-C port and I proceeded to carefully pull them out… eventually I got a small pick tool and managed to pull out a dryer lint trap full of stuff…. I plugged a cable in and it seated fully, charging was more effective and the phone was more quickly charged and effective for several more years.
You asked for questions, and I’ve got an interesting one for y’all.
I hope to start building a product that will rely on a modest microcontroller, a real time clock chip, an R/C servo, some low torque geared steppers, and a speaker. One of the goals of this build is to make it heirloom quality. I want it to still be working when it’s handed down to a grandchild.
Since flash memory is like a tire with a slow leak, I suspect I will have to write the code so that it will re-write itself on a periodic basis. I suspect 3 years at a time should keep it working. Selection of the other components could make or break this goal.
What have I missed? Does HACKADAY have any tips on selection of durable steppers, servos, etc.?