Most of what we do here at Hackaday is look out for cool projects and then write them up so that you all know about them. Nothing is better than being really stoked about a clever hack and then being able to share it with tens of thousands of like-minded folks. Sure, it’s our job, but we really do it because we love to share. And it’s clear that you all do too! After all, we write up the hacks that you document for us.
We recently featured a hack where the guy who did the work in question said that he didn’t think it was “worthy of Hackaday”. (Of course, it was!) And I don’t like that sentiment at all, honestly, because a hack that you enjoyed doing is a hack worth sharing, even if just for sharing the joy of doing it, and that came across fully.
Of course we gladly feature the ultra-bravado hacks where the nearly impossible is made real. But there’s equal value in the simple hacks that inspire others to pursue one odd path or another. Or even pieces where there’s no hack involved, but simply the sharing of something cool.
This week, [Arya Voronova] wrote a piece about her experience using MicroPython on embedded devices, and it apparently resonated with a lot of our readers. It’s not a deep-dive into MicroPython, or a mind-bending abuse of the language. Instead, it’s a simple “this is what I love about doing things this way”, and that’s a great perspective that often gets lost when we get deep in the technical weeds.
I had the same realization a few months back at Hackaday Europe. In the lightning talks, most everyone gave talks about cool projects that they are working on, and they’re absolutely worth watching for that. [Jaap Meijers] gave a wonderful talk about making animated QR codes, but it wasn’t about how he invented animated QR codes, because he was just using someone else’s project. Instead, it was about how neat he thought someone else’s work was, and how he really wanted to share it with us. (And now you know too.)
Epic hacks are fantastic, no question. But the simple expression of the love of hacking, whether in words or in the doing, is equally important. Show us your work, but don’t forget to show us your joy along the way.
UNSUAL?
Aha, new vocabulary learned!
Was expecting it meant unusual, turns out its just the same.
I didn’t even notice, and would have totally missed this new-to-me word as well! Thanks for the eagle-eyed reading, and thanks again hackaday for more stuff to put in my brain
Sorry to disappoint, it was a simple typo!
Who did the Sound of Music drawing? AI, or human?
Joe Kim. Human.
Dude! You hacked Julie Andrews!
It appears it’s not unusual to be confused by the word unsual.
The Sound of Hacking
This is the greatest thumbnail yet.
Funny, first thing I thought was “Mars Attacks”
I’ve been reading hackaday for 20 years now. Never did a hack I thought was good enough. I shoplifted a drone kit from RadioShack when it was closing down, got free wifi on an airplane by setting up openvpn on my vps on the same as the gogo in-flight wifi captive portal port, stuck arduinos in toys from good will.
I had a grand time and Im a hacker first. But I still aspire to have something truly special to share some day.
Don’t be so self-critical!
Sounds cool! Don’t let your hacks become unsung!
I’d like to learn more about that in-flight Wi-Fi hack. Have you written it up anywhere?
engineering > hacking
Why do we gotta pit two wonderful queens against each other
And,sir, where do you draw the line between the two?
While not really a code- nor hardware-hacker per se, there IS some feelgood t9 be had when one leanrs he doesn not always have to give up favored software when Apple decides to re-vamp (read, “break an outstanding all-in-one suite into seperate lil apps for each sub-task and utterly segregate once well-integrated functions”) their software.
I found a lil trick that probably everyone knows well, but mebbe could use some repeating for unseasoned users of the Apple/ OS X era software…
When iMovie HD stopped working after a few subsequent releases (and a machine upgrade), I de ided to poke into its app package to see if I could find system file whose text I might tweak to “allow” my machine to run the code.
I knew this was a sort of thing some folk did, but at that time I was really only familiar with the use of ResEdit, and even that was mostly kidstuff (icon, image and sound resource recover from old unusable code)… I knew just enough about the Terminal to keep well away from it without “expert assistance” dictating input from over my shoulder.
That said, I poked around in the iMovie HD package and found the MAC OS folder.
Inside, I found a file named imovie, with no extension (even tho I have ALWAYS kept them turned on) and the icon used for terminal “scripts” (as I call them, not knowing what else?).
I figured the worst that could happen would be a negative response from the Terminal.
To my utter amazement, iMovie HD launched cleanly, tho it threw load errors for ALL of the 3rd party filters (which was annoying, but not critical).
Long story short, I am now happily using the last full version of iTunes via the same “Launch Strategy” on my OS X “Catalina” rig, since Apple scattered its functions to generic apps with imaginitive names like “Music”.
While this doesn’t work in all cases (I suspect, due to hardware configs that simply aren’t built to handle older code-calls anymore), it has been a real boon for keeping otherwise-working and familiar software in yer arsenal a few years longer than the “masters” up on high might’ve liked.
When you’re rocking 28Tb of external storage, Player-Intergration of the various (and mostly arbitrary) audio sub-formats (music, podcast, audiobook, etc) is a MUST!
(…we sincerely thank hackaday for being here, as we return you now to your regularly scheduled programs)
PLS excuse the multitude of typos…
It’s not unsual to find typos in comments and articles on Hackaday!
B^)
“It’s not unusual to…”
Now that tune is stuck in y head.
To me, I want to learn to do something so there is a sweet spot. Hacks that are too difficult.. maybe interesting to see that someone did it but tiring in the details if I don’t think I’m ever going to get that far. Hacks that are too trivial… well not much point.
But….
We all have our own current level of skills, ability, knowledge and tool availability.
And even that changes over time (hopefully for the better).
So there really is room for Everything! It’s all good! Keep it coming and thanks!