Despite the summer doldrums, it was another big week in the hacking world, and Elliot sat down with Dan for a rundown. Come along for the ride as Dan betrays his total ignorance of soccer/football, much to Elliot’s amusement. But it’s all about keeping the human factor in sports, so we suppose it was worth it. Less controversially, we ogled over a display of PCB repair heroics, analyzed a reverse engineering effort that got really lucky, and took a look at an adorable one-transistor ham transceiver. We also talked about ants doing surgery, picking locks with nitric acid, a damn cute dam, and how to build one of the world’s largest machines from scratch in under a century. Plus, we answered the burning question: can a CRT be used as an audio amplifier? Yes, kind of, but please don’t let the audiophiles know or we’ll never hear the end of it.

Worried about attracting the Black Helicopters? Download the DRM-free MP3 and listen offline, just in case.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 280: TV Tubes As Amplifiers, Smart Tech In Sportsballs, And Adrian Gives Us The Fingie” →

Get your weekly fix of great hacks with your guides, Elliot Williams and Al Williams. This week, the guys talk about hacking airline WiFi, vanishing cloud services, and hobbies adjacent to hacking, such as general aviation. Things go into the weird and wonderful when the topic turns to cavity filters, driving LEDs with a candle, and thermite.

Quick hacks? Everything from vintage automated telescopes to home fusion reactors and ham radio mobile from a bicycle. Then there’s the can’t miss articles about the Solar Dynamics Observatory and an explainer about flash memory technology.

Check out the links below and leave your favorite hack of the week in the comments below!

As always, this week’s episode is freeze-dried as an MP3 for your convenience.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 279: Solar Flares, Flash Cells, And Free Airline WiFi” →

In this episode, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi kick things off with a reminder about the impending deadline for Supercon talk and workshop proposals. From there discussion moves on to the absolutely incredible tale of two brothers who solved a pair of missing person cases with their homebrew underwater vehicle, false data sneaking into OctoPrint’s usage statics, and an organic input device that could give the classic mouse a run for its money.

You’ll also hear about cheap radar modules, open source Xbox mod chips, and lawnmowers from the grocery store. The episode wraps up with a look at the enduring mystique of perpetual motion devices, and the story of a legendary ship that might soon end up being turned into paper clips.

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!

As always, this week’s episode is available as a DRM-free MP3.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 278: DIY Subs, The ErgoRing, And Finding NEMA 17” →

This week on the Podcast, it’s Kristina’s turn to ramble on alongside Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams. First up in the news: Paul Allen’s Living Computers Museum + Labs is being liquidated at auction after just 12 years of being open to the public. In Hackaday news, the 2024 Business Card Challenge ends next Tuesday, July 2nd, so this is your weekend to shine! Also, you’ve got about two weeks to get your talk proposals in for this year’s Supercon. (Can you believe it’s only four months away?)

Then it’s on to What’s That Sound, at which Kristina made a couple of close-but-no-cigar guesses. 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 a $3 smartwatch that can run Python, and a completely DIY analog tape recording solution. We’ll talk about making your wireless keyboard truly low power, all the steps you can take to produce perfect PCBs at home, and AI in a font. Finally, we talk about the dangers of a curious childhood, and talk about a dotcom hardware solution that could have gone far, given the right business model.

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!

Download and savor at your leisure.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 277: Edible Robots, A Personal Eclipse, And DIY PCBs To Die For” →

What do capstans, direct conversion receivers, and fracking have in common? They were all topics Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams found fascinating this week. If you wonder what makes an electrical ground a ground, or what a theodolite is, you should check it out.

This week, the hacks came fast and furious. Capstans, instead of gears, work well for 3D-printed mechanisms, a PI Pico can directly receive radio signals, and the guys saw a number of teardowns and reverse engineering triumphs. You’ll also find solid-state heat pumps, flying wings, spectroscopy, and more.

The can’t miss articles this week? Learn about theodolites, a surveying feat from ancient Greece, and how fracking works.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what we’ve mispronounced — or any other thoughts on the episode — in the comments!

Download an archival copy for your personal collection.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 274: Capstan Robots, Avionics Of Uncertain Purpose, And What The Frack?” →