What did Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams read in Hackaday last week? Probably everything, but you can tune in and hear about their favorites on this week’s podcast. They heard from lots of listeners this week, and also saw DIY projects running from a 3D-printed Stirling engine, to clogs, to LEDs.
There are some over-the-top hacks like a refit for a decades-old watch to do tap-to-pay and a — for lack of a better word — a record player that optically reads MOD files. Want to emulate an iPod? Talk to Eliza? Print a hand-operated rail car? Hackaday is the place to read about it all.
The can’t miss articles included a talk from Hackaday Europe about making magical PCBs and a not-so-brief history of space stations starting in the 1800s.
Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download in MP3 suitable for hand-decoding.
Episode 384 Show Notes:
Mailbag:
- [Joshua Wiebe] had questions about using MOSFETs to drive motors. The guys had their thoughts, but feel free to send in yours.
- [Jake Wachlin] wanted to talk about using AI in projects.
- [Caleb Butler] spammed us, but all in fun.
- [Alexander] wrote in to response to last week’s podcast talking about his experiece with an ultrasonic knife.
Got something to say? Send an e-mail or an audio clip to mailbag@hackaday.com.
News:
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Thermoacoustic Stirling Engine Is Now Fully 3D Printable
- Straight Talk On 3D Printing Footwear At Home
- The Shutter Makes This 3D Printed Camera Special
- Making LEDs In The Home Fab
- Encoding MOD Files Optically On Paper, Because Amiga’s Legacy Will Outlast M-Disks
- The Casio F-91W As A Contactless Payment Device.
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Al’s Picks:
This was a good episode. I liked you guys getting philosophical over AI, and more than half the topics were relevant to me.
You may or may not know me from the comments sections on HaD, and of my preference of not saying a good thing if that means praise without adding to the subject at hand. With AI, of the LLM kind, I’m learning that you have to be explicit about your preferences and expectations both in the negative and in the positive to have any useful results. I hope this is not insulting to the authors, or result in the impression that I demand them to follow my preferences.
Assume the role of the authors of this podcast. How would you respond to the idea that your response was or is being manipulated by the type of responses you receive. How would you feel about being compared to an LLM?
Your discussion about “unusual” uses for open source software (or really any system) reminds me of Hyrum’s Law: “with a sufficient number of users of an API, all observable behaviors of a system will eventually be depended upon by someone, regardless of what is promised in the explicit contract or documentation. “