Hackaday Podcast Episode 353: Fantastic Peripherals, Fake Or Not Fake Picos, And Everything On The Steam Deck

Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they swap their favorite hacks and stories from the week. In this episode, they’ll start off by marveling over the evolution of the “smart knob” and other open hardware input devices, then discuss a futuristic propulsion technology you can demo in your own kitchen sink, and a cheap handheld game system that get’s a new lease on life thanks to the latest version of the ESP32 microcontroller.

From there they’ll cover spinning CRTs, creating custom GUIs on Android, and yet another thing you can build of out that old Ender 3 collecting dust in the basement. The episode wraps up with a discussion about putting Valve’s Steam Deck to work and a look at the history-making medical evacuation of the International Space Station.

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 episode is available in DRM-free MP3.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 352: Visualizing Sound, And Windows 11 Is A Dog

This week, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over coffee to bring you the latest news, mystery sound results show, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so.

On What’s That Sound, Kristina had no idea what was going on, but [Flippin’ Heck] knew it was a flip dot display, and won a Hackaday Podcast t-shirt! Congratulations!

After that, it’s on to the hacks and such, with not one but two ways of seeing sound.  We also take a look at benchmarking various Windows releases against each other on 12-year-old hardware.

We also talk about painting on floppies and glitching out jpegs in a binary text editor. Finally, we discuss the history and safety of autopilot, and take a look at the humble time clock.

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 in DRM-free MP3 and savor at your leisure.

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Hackaday Podcast Ep 351: Hackaday Goes To Chaos Communication Congress

Elliot was of at Europe’s largest hacker convention: Chaos Communication Congress. He had an awesome time, saw more projects than you might think humanely possible, and got the flu. But he pulled through and put this audio tourbook for you.

So if you’ve never been to CCC, give it a listen!

In the far future, all the cool kids will be downloading MP3s of their favorite podcasts.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 350: Damnation For Spreadsheets, Praise For Haiku, And Admiration For The Hacks In Between

This week’s Hackaday Podcast sees Elliot Williams joined by Jenny List for an all-European take on the week, and have we got some hacks for you!

In the news this week is NASA’s Maven Mars Orbiter, which may sadly have been lost. A sad day for study of the red planet, but at the same time a chance to look back at what has been a long and successful mission.

In the hacks of the week, we have a lo-fi camera, a very refined Commodore 64 laptop, and a MIDI slapophone to entertain you, as well as taking a detailed look at neutrino detectors. Then CYMK printing with laser cut stencils draws our attention, as well as the arrival of stable GPIB support for Linux. Finally both staffers let loose; Elliot with an epic rant about spreadsheets, and Jenny enthusiastically describing the Haiku operating system.

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!

It’s dangerous to go alone. Here, take this MP3.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 349: Clocks, AI, And A New 3D Printer Guy

Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams met up to cover the best of Hackaday this week, and they want you to listen in. There were a hodgepodge of hacks this week, ranging from home automation with RF, volumetric displays in glass, and some crazy clocks, too.

Ever see a typewriter that uses an ink pen? Elliot and Al hadn’t either. Want time on a supercomputer? It isn’t free, but it is pretty cheap these days. Finally, the guys discussed how to focus on a project like Dan Maloney, who finally got a 3D printer, and talked about Maya Posch’s take on LLM intelligence.

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 the human-generated podcast in mostly mono, but sometimes stereo, MP3.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 348: 50 Grams Of PLA Hold A Ton, Phreaknic Badge Is Off The Shelf, And Hackers Need Repair Manuals

Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they go over their picks for the best stories and hacks from the previous week. Things start off with a warning about the long-term viability of SSD backups, after which the discussion moves onto the limits of 3D printed PLA, the return of the Pebble smart watch, some unconventional aircraft, and an online KiCad schematic repository that has plenty of potential. You’ll also hear about a remarkable conference badge made from e-waste electronic shelf labels, filling 3D prints with foam, and a tiny TV powered by the ESP32. The episode wraps up with our wish for hacker-friendly repair manuals, and an interesting tale of underwater engineering from D-Day.

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 episode is available in DRM-free MP3.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 347: Breaking Kindles, Baby’s First Synth, And Barcodes!

This week, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over coffee to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so.

On What’s That Sound, Kristina got sort of close, but of course failed spectacularly. Will you fare better and perhaps win a Hackaday Podcast t-shirt? Mayhap you will.

After that, it’s on to the hacks and such, beginning with an interesting tack to take with a flat-Earther that involves two gyroscopes.  And we take a look at the design requirements when it comes to building synths for three-year-olds.

Then we discuss several awesome hacks such as a vehicle retrofit to add physical heated seat controls, an assistive radio that speaks the frequencies, and an acoustic radiometer build. Finally, we look at the joys of hacking an old Kindle, and get a handle on disappearing door handles.

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 in DRM-free MP3 and savor at your leisure.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 347: Breaking Kindles, Baby’s First Synth, And Barcodes!”