Hackaday Podcast Episode 294: SAO Badge Reveal, Precision On A Shoestring, And The Saga Of Redbox

With the 2024 Hackaday Supercon looming large on the horizon, Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this episode off by talking about this year’s badge and its focus on modular add-ons. From there they’ll go over the results of a particularly challenging installment of What’s that Sound?, discuss a promising DIY lathe that utilizes 3D printed parts filled with concrete, and ponder what the implosion of Redbox means for all of their disc-dispensing machines that are still out in the wild.

You’ll also hear about custom macropads, lifting SMD pins, and how one hacker is making music with vintage electronics  learning kits. Finally, they’ll reassure listeners that the shifting geopolitical landscape probably won’t mean the end of Hackaday.io anytime soon, and how some strategically placed pin headers can completely change how you approach designing your own PCBs.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 293: The Power Of POKE, Folding Butterflies, And The CRT Effect

This week on the Podcast, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos joined forces to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week.

First up in the news: we’ve extended the 2024 Supercon Add-On contest by a week! That’s right, whether you were held up by Chinese fall holidays or not, here’s your chance to get in on this action.

A square image with the Supercon 8 Add-On Contest art featuring six SAOs hanging from lanyards.We love to see the add-ons people make for the badge every year, so this time around we’re really embracing the standard. The best SAOs will get a production run and they’ll be in the swag bag at Hackaday Europe 2025.

What’s That Sound pretty much totally stumped Kristina once again, although she kind of earned a half shirt. Can you get it? Can you figure it out? Can you guess what’s making that sound? If you can, and your number comes up, you get a special Hackaday Podcast t-shirt.

Then it’s on to the hacks, beginning with what actually causes warping in 3D prints, and a really cool display we’d never heard of. Then we’ll discuss the power of POKE when it comes to live coding music on the Commodore64, and the allure of CRTs when it comes to vintage gaming. Finally, we talk Hackaday comments and take a look at a couple of keyboards.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 292: Stainless Steel Benchies, Lego Turing Machines, And A Digital Camera Made Of Pure DIY

Here we are in October, improbably enough, and while the leaves start to fall as the goblins begin to gather, Elliot and Dan took a break from the madness to talk about all the wonderful hacks that graced our pages this week. If there was a theme this week, it was long-term projects, like the multiple years one hacker spent going down dead ends in the quest for DIY metal 3D printing. Not to be outdone, another hacker spent seven years building a mirrorless digital camera that looks like a commercial product. And getting a solderless PCB to do the blinkenlight thing took a long time too.

Looking to eliminate stringing in your 3D prints? Then you’ll want to avoid the “pause and attach” approach, which intentionally creates strings in your prints. Wondering if you can 3D print bearings? You can, but you probably shouldn’t unless you have a particular use in mind. And what happens when you have an infinitely large supply of Lego? Why, you build a Turing machine on steroids, of course.

Finally, we take a look at this week’s “Can’t-Miss” articles with a look into plastic recycling and why we can’t have nice things yet, and we take a trip out into orbit and examine the ins and outs of Lagrange points.

And a little mea culpa from the editing desk: Sorry the podcast is coming out late this week. Audacity ate my files. If you’re ever in a similar circumstance, you can probably halfway save your bacon with audacity-project-tools. Ask me how I know.

 

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 291: Walking In Space, Lead In The Earth, And Atoms Under The DIY Microscope

What have you missed on Hackaday this week? Elliot Williams and Al Williams compare notes on their favorites from the week, and you are invited. The guys may have said too much about the Supercon badge this year — listen in for a few hints about what it will be about.

For hacks, you’ll hear about scanning tunneling microscopes, power management for small Linux systems, and lots of inertial measurement units. The guys talked about a few impossible hacks for consumer electronics, from hacking a laptop, to custom cell phones.

Of course, there are plenty more long-form articles of the week, including a brief history of what can go wrong on a spacewalk and how to get the lead out (of the ground). Don’t forget to take a stab at the What’s That Sound competition and maybe score a sweet Hackaday Podcast T-shirt.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 290: IPhone’s Electric Glue, Winamp’s Source Code, And Sonya’s Beautiful Instructions

This week, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start things off by acknowledging an incredible milestone: 20 years of Hackaday! Well, probably. When a website gets to be this old, it’s a little hard to nail down when exactly things kicked off, but it seems like September of 2004 is about right. They’ll also go over the latest updates for the fast-approaching Hackaday Supercon, and announce the winner of another tough What’s That Sound challenge.

From there, the conversation makes its way from the fascinating electrically-activated adhesive holding the latest iPhone together to pulsed-power lasers and a high flying autonomous glider designed and built by a teenager. You’ll also hear about 3D printing on acrylic, home biohacking, and the Tiny Tool Kit Manifesto. Stick around to the end to hear the duo discuss the fine art of good documentation, and an incredible bodge job from Arya Voronova.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 289: Tiny Games, Two Modern Modems, And The Next Big Thing

This week on the Podcast, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos joined forces to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week.

First up in the news: we’ve announced the 2024 Tiny Games Contest winners! We asked you to show us your best tiny game, whether that means tiny hardware, tiny code, or a tiny BOM, and you did so in spades. Congratulations to all the winners and Honorable Mentions, and thanks to DigiKey, Supplyframe, and all who entered!

We also announced the first round of Supercon speakers, so if you haven’t gotten your ticket yet, now’s the second best time.

A square image with the Supercon 8 Add-On Contest art featuring six SAOs hanging from lanyards.But wait, there’s more! We’re already a few weeks into the next contest, where we want you to show us your best Simple Supercon Add-On. We love to see the add-ons people make for the badge every year, so this time around we’re really embracing the standard. The best SAOs will get a production run and they’ll be in the swag bag at Hackaday Europe 2025.

Then it’s on to What’s That Sound, which completely stumped Kristina once again. Can you get it? Can you figure it out? Can you guess what’s making that sound? If you can, and your number comes up, you get a special Hackaday Podcast t-shirt.

Now it’s on to the hacks, beginning with non-planar ironing for smooth prints, and a really neat business card that also plays tiny games. Then we’ll discuss USB modems, cool casts for broken wrists, and archiving data on paper. Finally, we ask two big questions — where do you connect the shield, and what’s the Next Big Thing gonna be? Inquiring minds want to know.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 288: Cyanotypes, Antique 21-Segment Displays, And The Voynich Manuscript In A New Light

It’s Friday the 13th, and despite having to dodge black cats and poorly located ladders, Elliot and Dan were able to get together and run down the best hacks of the first week of September. Our luck was pretty good, too, seeing how we stumbled upon a coffee table that walks your drink over to you on Strandbeest legs, a potato that takes passable photographs, and a cool LED display three times better than a boring old seven-segment.

If you’ve never heard of the Voynich manuscript, you’re in luck too, because we got a chance to look inside this medieval comic book literally, with multispectral analysis. Is your cruise ship too short? No worries, just lop it in two and add a section. Speaking of cutting things up, that’s what you need to do to see how your plus-size DIY rocket engine performed after test firing.

And finally, it was a sweep for Jenny this week with our “Can’t Miss” articles, where she both pines for a simpler, smaller web experience and wonders what the future holds for biomass fuels.

 

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