Hackaday Podcast
Hackaday Editors take a look at all of the interesting uses of technology that pop up on the internet each week. Topics cover a wide range like bending consumer electronics to your will, designing circuit boards, building robots, writing software, 3D printing interesting objects, and using machine tools. Get your fix of geeky goodness from new episodes every Friday morning.
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Ep 346: Melting Metal in the Microwave, Unlocking Car Brakes and Washing Machines, and a Series of Tubes
11/21/2025
Ep 346: Melting Metal in the Microwave, Unlocking Car Brakes and Washing Machines, and a Series of Tubes
Wait, what? Is it time for the podcast again? Seems like only yesterday that Dan joined Elliot for the weekly rundown of the choicest hacks for the last 1/52 of a year. but here we are. We had quite a bit of news to talk about, including the winners of the Component Abuse Challenge -- warning, some components were actually abused for this challenge. They're also a trillion pages deep over at the Internet Archive, a milestone that seems worth celebrating. As for projects, both of us kicked things off with "Right to repair"-adjacent topics, first with a washing machine that gave up its secrets with IR and then with a car that refused to let its owner fix the brakes. We heated things up with a microwave foundry capable of melting cast iron -- watch your toes! -- and looked at a tiny ESP32 dev board with ludicrously small components. We saw surveyors go to war, watched a Lego sorting machine go through its paces, and learned about radar by spinning up a sonar set from first principles. Finally, we wrapped things up with another Al Williams signature "Can't Miss Articles" section, with his deep dive into the fun hackers can have with the now-deprecated US penny, and his nostalgic look at pneumatic tube systems.
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Ep 345: A Stunning Lightsaber, Two Extreme Cameras, and Wrangling Roombas
11/14/2025
Ep 345: A Stunning Lightsaber, Two Extreme Cameras, and Wrangling Roombas
It's a wet November evening across Western Europe, the steel-grey clouds have obscured a rare low-latitude aurora this week, and Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List for this week's podcast. And we've got a fine selection for your listening pleasure! The 2025 Component Abuse Challenge has come to an end, so this week you'll be hearing about a few of the entries. We've received an impressive number, and as always we're bowled over by the ingenuity of Hackaday readers in pushing parts beyond their limits. In the news is the potential discovery of a lost UNIX version in a dusty store room at the University of Utah, Version 4 of the OS, which appeared in 1973. Check out your own stores, for hidden nuggets of gold. In the hacks, we have two cameras at the opposite end of the resolution spectrum, but sharing some impressive reverse engineering. Mouse cameras and scanner cameras were both a thing a couple of decades ago, and it's great to see people still pushing the boundaries. Then we look at the challenge of encoding Chinese text as Morse code, an online-upgraded multimeter, the art of making lenses for an LED lighting effect, and what must be the best recreation of a Star Wars light sabre we have ever seen. In quick hacks we have a bevvy of Component Abuse Challenge projects, a Minecraft server on a smart light bulb, and a long term test of smartphone battery charging techniques. We round off with a couple of our long-form pieces, first the uncertainties about iRobot's future and what it might mean for their ecosystem -- think: cheap hackable robotics platform! -- and then a look at FreeBSD as an alternative upgrade path for Windows users. It's a path not without challenges, but the venerable OS still has plenty to give. As always, check out the links to all the articles over on Hackaday.
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Board with Lasers, Op-Amp Torture, and Farewell Supercon 9
11/07/2025
Board with Lasers, Op-Amp Torture, and Farewell Supercon 9
Hackaday Editors Tom Nardi and Al Williams spent the weekend at Supercon and had to catch up on all the great hacks. Listen in as they talk about their favorites. Plus, stick around to the end to hear about some of the highlights from their time in Pasadena. If you're still thinking about entering the Component Abuse Contest, you're just about out of time. Need some inspiration? Tom and Al talk about a few choice entries, and discuss how pushing parts out of their comfort zone can come in handy. Do you make your own PCBs? With vias? If you have a good enough laser, you could. Or maybe you'd rather have a $10 Linux server? Just manage your expectations. The guys both admit they aren't mechanical geniuses and, unlike [4St4r], aren't very good at guessing sounds either. They round up with some 3D printing projects and a collection of quick hacks.
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Episode 343: Double Component Abuse, a Tinkercad Twofer, and a Pair of Rants
10/24/2025
Episode 343: Double Component Abuse, a Tinkercad Twofer, and a Pair of Rants
This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up across the universe to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so. In Hackaday news, OMG Supercon is almost here! In other news, we've still got a contest running. , sponsored by DigiKey, and for all the details. On What's That Sound, Kristina 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 a really cool entry into the Component Abuse Challenge wherein a simple transmission line is used to multiply a voltage. We watch as a POV globe takes to the skies, once it has enough motors. Then we discuss several awesome hacks such as an incredible desk that simulates beehive activity, a really great handheld PC build, and a Tinkercad twofer. Finally, we discuss the future of removable batteries, and the history of movable type. if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 342: Poopless Prints, Radio in Your Fillings, and One Hyperspectral Pixel at a Time
10/17/2025
Ep 342: Poopless Prints, Radio in Your Fillings, and One Hyperspectral Pixel at a Time
It was Elliot and Dan on the podcast today, taking a look at the best the week had to offer in terms of your hacks. We started with surprising news about the rapidly approaching Supercon keynote; no spoilers, but Star Trek fans such as we who don't have tickets will be greatly disappointed. Elliot waxed on about taking the poop out of your prints, Dan got into a camera that adds a dimension to its images, and we both delighted in the inner workings of an air-powered squishy robot. Questions? We've got plenty. Is it possible to take an X-ray without an X-ray tube? Or X-rays, for that matter? Did Lucille Ball crack a spy ring with her fillings? Is Algol set to take over the world? What's inside a germanium transistor? How does a flipping fish say Happy Birthday? And how far down the Meshtastic rabbit hole did our own Tom Nardi fall? Tune in to find out the answers.
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Ep 341: Qualcomm Owns Arduino, Steppers Still Dominate 3D Printing, and Google Controls Your Apps
10/10/2025
Ep 341: Qualcomm Owns Arduino, Steppers Still Dominate 3D Printing, and Google Controls Your Apps
The nights are drawing in for Europeans, and Elliot Williams is joined this week by Jenny List for an evening podcast looking at the past week in all things Hackaday. After reminding listeners of the upcoming Hackaday Supercon and Jawncon events, we take a moment to mark the sad passing of the prolific YouTuber, Robert Murray-Smith. Before diving into the real hacks, there are a couple of more general news stories with an effect on our community. First, the takeover of Arduino by Qualcomm, and what its effect is likely to be. We try to speculate as to where the Arduino platform might go from here, and even whether it remains the player it once was, in 2025. Then there's the decision by Google to restrict Android sideloading to only approved-developer APKs unless over ADB. It's an assault on a user's rights over their own hardware, as well as something of a blow to the open-source Android ecosystem. What will be our community's response? On more familiar territory we have custom LCDs, algorithmic art, and a discussion of non-stepper motors in 3D printing. Even the MakerBot Cupcake makes an appearance. Then there's a tiny RV, new creative use of an ESP32 peripheral, and the DVD logo screensaver, in hardware. We end the show with a look at why logic circuits use the voltages they do. It's a smorgasbord of hacks for your listening enjoyment.
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Ep 340: The Best Programming Language, Space Surgery, and Hacking Two 3D Printers into One
10/03/2025
Ep 340: The Best Programming Language, Space Surgery, and Hacking Two 3D Printers into One
Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together to share their favorite hacks of the week with you. If you listen in, you'll hear exciting news about the upcoming SuperCon and the rare occurrence of Al winning the What's That Sound game. For hacks, the guys talk about the IEEE's take on the "best" programming languages of 2025 and how they think AI is going to fundamentally transform the job of a programmer. On a lighter note, there's an industrial robot who retired to bartending, a minimal drum machine, a high-powered laser, and a Fortran flight simulator reborn with Unity 3D. In the "can't miss" category, you'll learn how not to switch Linux distributions and what to expect when you need surgery while on your next mission to outer space. There's lots more. Want to follow along? Check out the links below. As always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 339: The Vape Episode, a Flying DeLorean, and DIY Science
09/26/2025
Ep 339: The Vape Episode, a Flying DeLorean, and DIY Science
Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this week's episode off with an update on the rapidly approaching 2025 Supercon in Pasadena, California. From there they'll talk about the surprisingly high-tech world of vapes, a flying DeLorean several years in the making, non-contact pulse monitoring, and the potential of backyard radio telescopes to do real astronomy. You'll hear about a dodecahedron speaker, a page turning peripheral, and 3D printed tools for unfolding boxes. They'll wrap things up by taking a look at the latest generation of wearable smart glasses, and wonder if putting a bank of batteries in your home is really with the hassle. Check out the links over at Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 338: Smoothing 3D Prints, Reading CNC Joints, and Detecting Spicy Shrimp
09/19/2025
Ep 338: Smoothing 3D Prints, Reading CNC Joints, and Detecting Spicy Shrimp
This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so. In Hackaday news, we've got a new contest running! <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/09/16/2025-hackaday-component-abuse-challenge-let-the-games-begin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read all about the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge</a>, sponsored by DigiKey, and <a href="https://hackaday.io/contest/204037-component-abuse-challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out the contest page</a> for all the details. In sad news, <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/09/17/american-science-and-surplus-ends-online-sales/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Science & Surplus are shuttering online sales</a>, leaving just the brick and mortar stores in Wisconsin and Illinois. On What's That Sound, it's a results show, which means Kristina gets to take a stab at it. She missed the mark, but that's okay, because [Montana Mike] knew that it was the theme music for the show <em>Beakman's World</em>, which was described by one contestant as "Bill Nye on crack". After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a really cool way to smooth your 3D prints in situ. JWe take a much closer look at that talking robot's typewriter-inspired mouth from about a month ago. Then we discuss several awesome technological feats such as running code on a PAX credit card payment machine, using the alphabet as joinery, and the invention of UTF-8 in general. Finally, we discuss the detection of spicy shrimp, and marvel at the history of email. 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!
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Ep 337: Homebrew Inductors, Teletypes in the Bedroom, and Action!
09/12/2025
Ep 337: Homebrew Inductors, Teletypes in the Bedroom, and Action!
Fresh hacks here! Get your fresh hot hacks right here! Elliot and Dan teamed up this week to go through every story published on our pages to find the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and serve them up hot and fresh for you. The news this week was all from space, with the ISS getting its latest (and last?) push from Dragon, plus <<checks notes>> oh yeah, life on Mars. Well, maybe, but it's looking more and more like we are not alone, or at least not a few million years ago. But even if we are, plenty is still going on down here to keep you interested. Like homebrewing? Good, because we looked at DIY inductors, wire nuts, and even a dope -- but nope -- ultralight helicopter. Into retro? We've got you covered with a loving look at IRC, a 60s bedside computer guaranteed to end your marriage, and a look at the best 8-bit language you never heard of. We looked at a rescued fume hood, sensors galore on your phone, a rug that should have -- and did, kind of -- use a 555, and raytracing for the rest of your natural life. As for "Can't Miss Articles," Elliot could barely contain himself with the bounty of projects written up by our Hackaday writers, not to mention Arya's deep dive into putting GPS modules to work in your builds.
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Ep 336: DIY Datasette, Egg Cracking Machine, and Screwing 3D Prints
09/05/2025
Ep 336: DIY Datasette, Egg Cracking Machine, and Screwing 3D Prints
Thunderstorms were raging across southern Germany as Elliot Williams was joined by Jenny List for this week's podcast. The deluge outside didn't stop the hacks coming though, and we've got a healthy smorgasbord for you to snack from. There's the cutest ever data cassette recorder taking a tiny Olympus dictation machine and re-engineering it with a beautiful case for the Commodore 64, a vastly overcomplex machine for perfectly cracking an egg, the best lightning talk timer Hackaday has ever seen, and a demoscene challenge that eschews a CPU. Then in Quick Hacks we've got a QWERTY slider phone, and a self-rowing canoe that comes straight out of Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence. For a long time we've had a Field guide series covering tech in infrastructure and other public plain sight, and this week's one dealt with pivot irrigation. A new subject for Jenny who grew up on a farm in a wet country. Then both editors are for once in agreement, over using self-tapping screws to assemble 3D-printed structures. Sit back and enjoy the show!
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Ep 335: Beer, Toast, and Pi
08/29/2025
Ep 335: Beer, Toast, and Pi
What happens when you listen in on Elliot Williams and Al Williams? You get a round up of the best of last week's Hackaday posts, of course. The topics this week range from beer brewing to lightning protection, with a little bit of everything in between. This week, many problems find solutions. Power drill battery dead? Your car doesn't have a tire pressure monitor? Does your butter tear up your toast? You can find the answer to these problems, and more, on the Hackaday podcast. For the can't miss section, the guys are annoyed that Google wants to lock down their phones, and also talk about measuring liquid levels in outer space. Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about !
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Ep 334: Radioactive Shrimp Clocks, Funky Filaments, Owning the Hardware
08/22/2025
Ep 334: Radioactive Shrimp Clocks, Funky Filaments, Owning the Hardware
In this episode of the Hackaday Podcast, editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start out with a warning about potentially radioactive shrimp entering the American food supply via Walmart, and things only get weirder from there. The extra spicy shrimp discussion makes a perfect segue into an overview of a pair of atomic One Hertz Challenge entries, after which they'll go over the latest generation of 3D printer filament, using an old Android smartphone as a low-power Linux server, some tips for creating better schematics, and Lorde's specification-bending transparent CD. Finally, you'll hear about how the nature of digital ownership influences the hardware we use, and on the other side of the coin, how open source firmware like QMK lets you build input devices on your terms. , and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 333: Nightmare Whiffletrees, 18650 Safety, and a Telephone Twofer
08/15/2025
Ep 333: Nightmare Whiffletrees, 18650 Safety, and a Telephone Twofer
This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week. In Hackaday news, while they're hot! Also, ticks on, but time is running out. You have until Tuesday, August 19th to show us what you've got, so head over to Hackaday.IO and get started now. Finally, its the end of eternal September as after all these years. On What's That Sound, Kristina got sort of close, but this is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades. Can you get it? If so, you could win a limited edition Hackaday Podcast t-shirt! After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a talking robot that uses typewriter tech to move its mouth. We take a look at hacking printed circuit boards to create casing and instrument panels for a PDP-1 replica. Then we explore a fluid simulation business card, witness a caliper shootout, and marvel at one file in six formats. Finally, it's a telephone twofer as we discuss the non-hack-ability of the average smart phone, and learn about what was arguably the first podcast. Check out if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 332: 5 Axes are Better than 3, Hacking Your Behavior, and the Man Who Made Models
08/08/2025
Ep 332: 5 Axes are Better than 3, Hacking Your Behavior, and the Man Who Made Models
Elliot and Dan got together this week for a review of the week's hacking literature, and there was plenty to discuss. We addressed several burning questions, such as why digital microscopes are so terrible, why computer systems seem to have so much trouble with names, and if a thermal receipt printer can cure ADHD. We looked at a really slick 5-axis printer that COVID created, a temperature-controlled fermentation setup, and a pseudo-Mellotron powered by a very odd tape recorder. We also learned little about designing 3D printed parts with tight tolerances, stepping a PC power supply up to ludicrous level, and explored a trio of unique entries for the One Hertz Challenge. And for the Can't Miss section, we looked at what happens to planes when they get hit by lightning (and how they avoid it), and say goodbye to the man who launched a lot of careers by making model kits. It was also exciting to learn that the first day of Supercon is Halloween, which means a Friday night sci-fi cosplay party. It's gonna be lit.
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Ep 331: Clever Machine Tools, Storing Data in Birds, and the Ultimate Cyberdeck
08/01/2025
Ep 331: Clever Machine Tools, Storing Data in Birds, and the Ultimate Cyberdeck
Another week, another Hackaday podcast, and for this one Elliot is joined by Jenny List, fresh from the BornHack hacker camp in Denmark. There's a definite metal working flavour to this week's picks, with new and exciting CNC techniques and a selective electroplater that can transfer bitmaps to metal. But worry not, there's plenty more to tease the ear, with one of the nicest cyberdecks we've ever seen, and a bird that can store images in its song. Standout quick hacks are a synth that makes sounds from Ethernet packets, and the revelation that the original PlayStation is now old enough to need replacement motherboards. Finally we take a closer look at the huge effort that goes in to monitoring America's high voltage power infrastructure, and some concerning privacy news from the UK. Have a listen!
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Ep 330: Hover Turtles, Dull Designs, and K'nex Computers
07/25/2025
Ep 330: Hover Turtles, Dull Designs, and K'nex Computers
What did you miss on Hackaday last week? Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Al Williams are ready to catch you up on this week's podcast. First, though, the guys go off on vibe coding and talk about a daring space repair around Jupiter. Then it is off to the hacks, including paste extruding egg shells, bespoke multimeters, and an 8-bit mechanical computer made from a construction toy set. For can't miss articles, you'll hear about boring industrial design in modern cell phones and a deep dive into how fresh fruit makes it to your table in the middle of the winter. if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 329: AI Surgery, a Prison Camp Lathe, and a One Hertz Four-Fer
07/18/2025
Ep 329: AI Surgery, a Prison Camp Lathe, and a One Hertz Four-Fer
Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they talk about their favorite hacks and stories from the previous week. They'll start things off with a small Supercon update, and go right into fusion reactors, AI surgeons, planned obsolescence, and robotic cats and dogs. They'll also go over several entries from the ongoing 2025 One Hertz Challenge, an ambitious flight simulator restoration project, old school lightning detectors, and how Blu-ray won the battle against HD DVD but lost the war against streaming. Stick around to the end to hear an incredible story about a clandestine machine shop in a WWII prisoner of war camp, and the valiant fight to restore communications with the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 328: Benchies, Beanies, and Back to the Future
07/11/2025
Ep 328: Benchies, Beanies, and Back to the Future
This week, 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. In Hackaday news, ticks on. You have until Tuesday, August 19th to show us what you've got, so head over to Hackaday.IO and get started now! In other news, we've just wrapped the call for Supercon proposals, so you can probably expect to see tickets for sale fairly soon. On What's That Sound, Kristina actually got this one with some prodding. Congratulations to [$HACKER] who knew exactly what it was and wins a limited edition Hackaday Podcast t-shirt! After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a ridiculously fast Benchy. We take a look at a bunch of awesome 3D prints a PEZ blaster and a cowbell that rings true. Then we explore chisanbop, which is not actually K-Pop for toddlers, as well as a couple of clocks. Finally, we talk a bit about dithering before taking a look at the top tech of 1985 as shown in Back to the Future (1985). 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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Ep 327: A Ploopy Knob, Rube-Goldberg Book Scanner, Hard Drives And Power Grids Oscillating Out Of Control
07/03/2025
Ep 327: A Ploopy Knob, Rube-Goldberg Book Scanner, Hard Drives And Power Grids Oscillating Out Of Control
It's Independence Day here in the USA, but if you're not a fan of fireworks and hot dogs, Elliot and Dan's rundown of the best hacks of the week is certainly something to celebrate. Rest easy, because nothing exploded, not even the pneumatic standing desk that [Matthias] tore into, nor the electroplated 3D prints that [H3NDRIK] took a blowtorch to. We both really loved the Ploopiest knob you've ever seen, which would be even Ploopier in anodized aluminum, as well as an automatic book scanner that takes its job very seriously. We looked into the mysteries of the Smith chart, another couple of fantastic student projects out of Cornell, the pros and cons of service loops, and what happened when the lights went out in Spain last Spring. And what does Janet Jackson have against laptops anyway?
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Ep 326: A DIY Pockel Cell, Funny Materials to 3D Print With, and Pwning a Nissan Leaf
06/27/2025
Ep 326: A DIY Pockel Cell, Funny Materials to 3D Print With, and Pwning a Nissan Leaf
Time for another European flavoured Hackaday Podcast this week, as Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List, two writers sweltering in the humidity of a Central European summer. Both of our fans and air conditioners made enough noise to be picked up on the microphone when they were turned on, so we're suffering for your entertainment. The big Hackaday news stories of the week are twofold, firstly , and then the announcement of a fresh competition: . Get your once-a-second projects ready! This week gave us a nice pile of interesting hacks, including some next-level work growing and machining the crystal for a home-made Pockels cell light valve, an pcoming technique for glass 3D prints, and enough vulnerabilities to make any Nissan Leaf owner nervous. We note that mechanical 7-segment displays are an arena showing excellent hacks, and we're here for it. Meanwhile among the quick hacks a filament made of PLA with a PETG core caught Elliot's eye, while Jenny was impressed with a beautifully-made paper tape punch. Finally in the can't miss section, The latest in Dan Maloney's Mining and Refining series looks at drilling and blasting. Such an explosive piece should come last, but wait! There's more! Al Williams gives us a potted history of satellite phones, and explains why you don't carry an Iridium in your pocket.
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Ep 325: The Laugh Track Machine, DIY USB-C Power Cables, and Plastic Punches
06/20/2025
Ep 325: The Laugh Track Machine, DIY USB-C Power Cables, and Plastic Punches
This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Al Williams caught up after a week-long hiatus. There was a lot to talk about, including clocks, DIY USB cables, and more. In Hackaday news, <a href="https://hackaday.io/contest/202866-2025-pet-hacks-challenge">the 2025 Pet Hacks Contest</a> is a wrap. Winners will be announced soon, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, how'd you like a free ticket to attend Supercon? Well, free if you <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/05/22/hackaday-supercon-2025-call-for-participation-we-want-you/">submit a talk</a> and get accepted. November is right around the corner, so get those talks ready. Hackaday is a big fan of the <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/06/12/end-of-an-era-noaas-polar-sats-wind-down-operations/">NOAA Polar sats</a>, and it looks like they are on their last figurative legs. The agency has left them up for now, but won't be keeping them in shape, and if they misbehave, they may be neutralized for safety. Since Elliot was off, Al supplied the sound, and in a bout of karma, Elliot had to do the guessing this week. How'd he do? Not bad, but there's room to do better. If you do better, there could be a coveted Hackaday Podcast T-shirt in your future. Moving on the hacks, the guys were interested in magnets, clocks, cables, 3D printed machine tools, and even old moonbase proposals. For the can't miss articles, Al took the bifecta, since Elliot picked a piece on the machine that generated laugh tracks in the latter part of the 20th century and Al shamelessly picked his own article about the role of British ham radio operators during WWII. Miss anything? . As always, drop a comment and tell us what you think about the week in Hackaday.
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Ep 324: Ribbon Microphone From A Gumstick, Texture From a Virtual Log, and a Robot Arm From PVC
06/07/2025
Ep 324: Ribbon Microphone From A Gumstick, Texture From a Virtual Log, and a Robot Arm From PVC
This week, 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. In Hackaday news, rolls on, but only for a short time longer. You have until Tuesday, June 10th to show us what you've got, so head over to Hackaday.IO and get started now! In other news, check out what adaptive optics can do when it comes to capturing pictures of the Sun. In other, other news, there won't be a Podcast next week as Elliot is on vacation. On What's That Sound, Kristina failed once again, but four of you guessed correctly. Congratulations to [ToyoKogyo12aTurbo] who fared better and wins a limited edition Hackaday Podcast t-shirt! After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a largely-printed 6-DOF robot arm. We take a look at a bunch of awesome 3D prints like guitars and skateboards, take a look at some pet hacks, and discuss brick layers in orcaslicer. Finally, we talk a lot about keyboards, especially the quickly-evaporating Blackberry keyboards and why they're disappearing. 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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Ep 323: Impossible CRT Surgery, Fuel Cells, Stream Gages, and a Love Letter to Microcontrollers
05/30/2025
Ep 323: Impossible CRT Surgery, Fuel Cells, Stream Gages, and a Love Letter to Microcontrollers
Our choice of hacks included a fond look at embedded systems and the classic fashion sense of Cornell's Bruce Land, risky open CRT surgery, a very strange but very cool way to make music, and the ultimate backyard astronomer's observatory. We talked about Stamp collecting for SMD prototyping, crushing aluminum with a boatload of current, a PC that heats your seat, and bringing HDMI to the Commodore 64. We also took a look at flight tracking IRL, a Flipper-based POV, the ultimate internet toaster, and printing SVGs for fun and profit. Finally, we wrapped things up with a look at the tech behind real-time river flow tracking and a peek inside the surprisingly energetic world of fuel cells. !
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Ep 323: Impossible CRT Surgery, Fuel Cells, Stream Gages, and a Love Letter to Microcontrollers
05/30/2025
Ep 323: Impossible CRT Surgery, Fuel Cells, Stream Gages, and a Love Letter to Microcontrollers
Our choice of hacks included a fond look at embedded systems and the classic fashion sense of Cornell's Bruce Land, risky open CRT surgery, a very strange but very cool way to make music, and the ultimate backyard astronomer's observatory. We talked about Stamp collecting for SMD prototyping, crushing aluminum with a boatload of current, a PC that heats your seat, and bringing HDMI to the Commodore 64. We also took a look at flight tracking IRL, a Flipper-based POV, the ultimate internet toaster, and printing SVGs for fun and profit. Finally, we wrapped things up with a look at the tech behind real-time river flow tracking and a peek inside the surprisingly energetic world of fuel cells. !
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Ep 322: Fake Hackaday Writers, New Retro Computers, and a Web Rant
05/23/2025
Ep 322: Fake Hackaday Writers, New Retro Computers, and a Web Rant
We're back in Europe for this week's Hackaday podcast, as Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List. In the news this week is the passing of Ed Smylie, the engineer who devised the famous improvised carbon dioxide filter that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts with duct tape. Closer to home is the announcement of the call for participation for this year's Hackaday Supercon; we know you will have some ideas and projects you'd like to share. Interesting hacks this week include a new Mac Plus motherboard and Doom (just) running on an Atari ST, while a LoRa secure messenger and an astounding open-source Ethernet switch captivated us on the hardware front. We also take a dive into the Mouse programming language, a minimalist stack-based environment from the 1970s. Among the quick hacks are a semiconductor dopant you can safely make at home, and a beautiful Mac Mini based cyberdeck. Finally, we wrap up with our colleague [Maya Posch] making the case for a graceful degradation of web standards, something which is now sadly missing from so much of the online world, and then with the discovery that ChatGPT can make a passable show of emulating a Hackaday scribe. Don't worry folks, we're still reassuringly meat-based.
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Ep 321: Learn You Some 3DP, Let the Wookie Win, or Design a Thinkpad Motherboard Anew
05/16/2025
Ep 321: Learn You Some 3DP, Let the Wookie Win, or Design a Thinkpad Motherboard Anew
Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they take a whirlwind tour of the best and brightest hacks of the last week. This episode starts off with an update about that Soviet Venus lander that's been buzzing the planet, then moves on to best practices for designing 3D printed parts, giving Chrome OS devices a new lease on life, and a unique display technology that brings a Star Wars prop to life. You'll also hear about designing new motherboards for beloved old computers, why you might want to put your calipers on a flatbed scanner, and a NASA science satellite that's putting in double duty as a wartime reporter. Finally, they'll cover the interesting physics of meteor burst communications, and the latest developments in the ongoing libogc license carfuffle. if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
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Ep 320: A Lot of Cool 3D Printing, DIY Penicillin, and an Optical Twofer
05/09/2025
Ep 320: A Lot of Cool 3D Printing, DIY Penicillin, and an Optical Twofer
This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up across the universe to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week. In Hackaday news, rolls on. You have until June 10th to show us what you've got, so head over to Hackaday.IO and get started today! On What's That Sound, Kristina actually got it this time, although she couldn't quite muster the correct name for it, however at Hackaday we'll be calling it the "glassophone" from now on. Congratulations to [disaster_recovered] who fared better and wins a limited edition Hackaday Podcast t-shirt! After that, it's on to the hacks and such, beginning with a complete and completely-documented wireless USB autopsy. We take a look at a lovely 3D-printed downspout, some DIY penicillin, and a jellybean iMac that's hiding a modern PC. Finally, we explore a really cool 3D printing technology, and ask what happened to typing 'www.'. Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, !
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Ep 319: Experimental Archaeology, Demoscene Oscilloscope Music, and Electronic Memories
05/02/2025
Ep 319: Experimental Archaeology, Demoscene Oscilloscope Music, and Electronic Memories
It's the podcast so nice we recorded it twice! Despite some technical difficulties (note to self: press the record button significantly before recording the outro), Elliot and Dan were able to soldier through our rundown of the week's top hacks. We kicked things off with a roundup of virtual keyboards for the alternate reality crowd, which begged the question of why you'd even need such a thing. We also looked at a couple of cool demoscene-adjacent projects, such as the ultimate in oscilloscope music and a hybrid knob/jack for eurorack synth modules. We also dialed the Wayback Machine into antiquity to take a look at Clickspring's take on the origins of precision machining; spoiler alert -- you can make gas-tight concentric brass tubing using a bow-driven lathe. There's a squishy pneumatic robot gripper, an MQTT-enabled random number generator, a feline-friendly digital stethoscope, and a typewriter that'll make you Dymo label maker jealous. We'll also mourn the demise of electronics magazines and ponder how your favorite website fills that gap, and learn why it's really hard to keep open-source software lean and clean. Short answer: because it's made by people.
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Ep 318: DIY Record Lathe, 360 Degree LIDAR, and 3D Printing Innovation Lives!
04/25/2025
Ep 318: DIY Record Lathe, 360 Degree LIDAR, and 3D Printing Innovation Lives!
This week Elliot Williams was joined by fellow Europe-based Hackaday staffer Jenny List, to record the Hackaday Podcast as the dusk settled on a damp spring evening. On the agenda first was robotic sport, as a set of bipedal robots competed in a Chinese half-marathon. Our new Robot overlords may have to wait a while before they are fast enough chase us meatbags away, but it demonstrated for us how such competitions can be used to advance the state of the art. The week's stand-out hacks included work on non-planar slicing to improve strength of 3D prints. It's safe to say that the Cartesian 3D printer has matured as a device, but this work proves there's plenty more in the world of 3D printing to be developed. Then there was a beautiful record cutting lathe project, far more than a toy and capable of producing good quality stereo recordings. Meanwhile it's always good to see the price of parts come down, and this time it's the turn of LIDAR sensors. There's a Raspberry Pi project capable of astounding resolution, for a price that wouldn't have been imaginable only recently. Finally we retrned to 3D printing, with an entirely printable machine, including the motors and the hot end. It's a triumph of printed engineering, and though it's fair to say that you won't be using it to print anything for yourself, we expect some of the very clever techniques in use to feature in many other projects. The week's cant-miss articles came from Maya Posch with a reality check for lovers of physical media, and Dan Maloney with a history of x-ray detection. You'll find all the links over at Hackaday!
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