Ep 319: Experimental Archaeology, Demoscene Oscilloscope Music, and Electronic Memories

This week on the Podcast, it's Kristina's turn to bloviate alongside Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams. First up in the news: our fresh new contest has drawn three entries already! That's right, the 2024 Tiny Games Challenge is underway. You have until September 10th to show us your best tiny game, whether that means tiny hardware, tiny code, or a tiny BOM. Then it's on to What's That Sound, which sounded familiar to Kristina, but she couldn't place it. 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 hack to print metal and a way to weld wood, along with a photo-resistor-based, single-pixel camera. We'll talk desiccants carbon fiber, and Baron Harkonnen. Finally, we discuss the troubles of keeping hygroscopic materials from degrading, and have a klatch about Keebin' with Kristina. Check out the links over on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

26 Juli 202438min

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.

19 Juli 202455min

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 over on Hackaday and leave your favorite hack of the week in the comments!

12 Juli 202451min

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

5 Juli 20241h 14min

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 and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

28 Juni 202446min

The week gone by was rich with fun hacks, and Elliot and Dan teamed up this time around to run them down for everyone. The focus this week seemed to trend to old hardware, from the recently revived Voyager 1 to a 1940s car radio, a homebrew instrument from 1979, a paper tape reader, and a 128k Mac emulator built from an RP2040. Newer hacks include a 3D-printed bottle labeler, a very hackable smart ring, and lessons learned about programming robots. We also took a look at turning old cell phones into Linux machines, making sure climbing ropes don't let you down, and snooping on orbital junk with a cool new satellite. We wrapped things up with a discussion of just how weird our solar system is, and Dan getting really jealous about Tom Nardi's recent trip to see the battleship New Jersey from an up close and personal perspective. Head on over to Hackaday to check out the links and leave your thoughts!

21 Juni 20241h 9min

Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi for a review of the best stories to grace the front page of Hackaday this week. Things kick off with the news about Raspberry Pi going public, and what that might mean for everyone's favorite single-board computer. From there they'll cover the technology behind communicating through mud, DIY pressure vessels, pushing the 1983 TRS-80 Model 100 to its limits, and the reality of 3D printing how that the hype has subsided. You'll also hear about modifying Nissan's electric vehicles, bringing new life to one of the GameCube's oddest peripherals, and an unusually intelligent kayak. The episode wraps up with some interesting (or depressing) numbers that put into perspective just how much copper is hiding in our increasingly unused telephone network, and a look at how hardware hackers can bend the display technology that's used in almost all modern consumer electronics to our advantage. Check out the links on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

14 Juni 20241h 9min

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. Al struck on on the What's That Sound, but [Ferric Bueler] didn't so he scores a highly-coveted Hackaday Podcast T-Shirt. Want one? Tune in next week for your chance. 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. Head on over to Hackaday for the full links!

7 Juni 202451min