After a bit too much eggnog, Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together to see what Hackaday had been up to over the holiday. Turns out, quite a bit. There was a lot to cover, but the big surprise was the “What’s that Sound” competition. Do you know who had the correct answer from the last show? No one! So they guys did the right thing and drew from all the entrants for a coveted Hackaday Podcast T-shirt.
Back to the hacks, you’ll hear about USB-C and the EU, what to do when the Kickstarter product you had your heart set on doesn’t deliver, and a very strange way to hack some power grids wirelessly.
If you are interested in physics cameras, modifying off-the-shelf gear, or a fresh approach to color 3D printing, they’ll talk about that, too. Finally, you can find out what Tom Nardi thought of Hackaday in the year past, and if your next ocean voyage will have to stop for a charge.
Download the MP3 full of optimism for 2025 resolutions.
Episode 302 Show Notes:
News:
What’s that Sound?
- Congrats to [Henré Botha] for winning the dice roll. We’ll have to do whale sounds someday!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Beam Me Up: Simple Free-Space Optical Communication
- Doomscroll Precisely, And Wirelessly
- 38C3: Taking Down The Power Grid Over Radio
- Ball Nut Modification Charts A Middle Course Between Building And Buying
- Taking “Movies” Of Light In Flight
- Full Color 3D Printing With PolyDye And Existing Inkjet Cartridges
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks
- Al’s Picks:
Can’t-Miss Articles:
For the discussion in the last segment, definitely check out “The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger” by Marc Levinson if you want to read an interesting history about how the intermodal shipping container became the standard for transportation.
You can power your X220 with USB-C, I have an X240 and I am powering it over an USB-C PD charger and a USB-C to Lenovo square connector adapter. The adapter has circutry inside (I’m guessing a resistor of a specific value?) that tells the PD charger to provide exactly 20V, the voltage of the standard Lenovo charger. Works fine for me. You can but those adapters on Aliexpress, or eBay.
The “what’s that sound” made me think of this:
https://www.windytan.com/2021/03/speech-to-birdsong-conversion.html
Works best with windytan’s nice sing song accent. tried on other voices not so good. Irish and welsh accents sound good but American and some British accents not so good.