Just a quick heads-up. I’ll be checking out the FIRST robotics competition in Kansas City this friday. It’s a robotics comp between teams of high school students – and the prizes include quite a few scholarships. I know we’ve got some readers who are in the competition. If you see a guy with a Hack-A-Day sweatshirt/T-shirt on, say hi and I might hook you up with some stickers. My day job will be providing real-time video streaming of the event, so feel free to check that out.
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SitesCollide Podcast
A couple weeks ago Tyrel from SitesCollide interviewed me about Hack-A-Day. Have a listen to the 27 minute podcast if you’ve ever wondered how Hack-A-Day was founded or what the heck we do here. Topics include: MiniPOV3, BrainMachine, Arduino, bowling ball catapult, DMX control, and FPGA crypto cracking.
Got Spam? Let Us Know
I’ve been getting a few sporadic reports of SPAM that’s supposedly from hackaday.com on it. It’s a bit surprising, considering that the only email we send out automatically consists of comment confirmation requests to prevent comment SPAM.
So do me a favor… if you’ve gotten any, send it along with the email headers so I can track down the source and destroy er make it stop.
ToorCon 9 This Week
We’re sitting in Chris and bunnie’s awesome silicon hacking workshop at ToorCon 9 right now. It’s going really great and we’ll be posting updates from the conference through the weekend. Let us know if the comments if your going to be here too.
Side Project: CNCBadges
Want something different for your latest PC? I’m starting to offer custom CNC cut case badges made on my mill. I’m starting off with 1″ x 1″ badges made from .125″ thick 6061 aluminum alloy. The test cuts above should give you a decent idea of what I’m talking about. (The edges are a bit rough because I need to order some proper engraving bits.) I’ve just about gotten the kinks out, so I’m going to start accepting orders now. Engraved badges are $6 and shipping’s just $1 in the US. Everything is very, very beta – let me know if you have any questions.
Eliot said that I could pimp my little venture if I give away some Hack-A-Day badges. So drop a comment – I’ll pick five or so at random (unless you’re a tool) to receive a free badge with the Hack-A-Day logo. I *might* consider offering Hack-A-Day badges to raise money for the EFF, but it’s still up in the air.
Nobel Prize Hard Drive Hacking Roundup
Ironically, high end gear is moving toward solid state hard drives, but I think it’s time for a hard drive hacking roundup in honor of the Nobel prize for physics being awarded for the technology behind todays magnetic hard drives.
We recently saw this awesome hard drive clock – which uses the actual drive hardware to show the time. Then there’s the now classic hard drive window – the trick is to create a clean room/box so you can swap out the cover. Let’s not forget the hard drive oscilloscope – made from a laser mounted on the oscillating drive arm. Sometimes drives die, so a bit of resurrection may be in order. Locked out? Maybe you should built a lock-picking gun from a junk drive. Some people just like to hide the things.
Defcon 15: Undercover Reporter Flees
I’m guessing this was pretty widely reported, but an NBC undercover reporter fled after being outed in the opening session. NBC Dateline associate producer Michelle Madigan refused press credentials on four separate occasions, choosing instead to pose as a normal attendee in order to covertly film other attendees. Defcon has a long running tradition of playing”spot the fed”, where attendees out people they think are federal agents. The feds play along and it’s all good fun. This was entirely different though: the game “spot the undercover reporter” was announced and she fled immediately, only to be filmed “To catch a predator” style.
I may just be a blogger, but I’m wearing my press pass proudly.
