Hackaday Podcast

Discover the surprising strength of a 50-gram 3D-printed hook that lifts a metric ton! Dive into the return of the Pebble smartwatch as it becomes fully open source. Uncover the fascinating Magnus effect with unconventional aircraft designs, including KFC bucket wings. Explore the innovative Freaknic badge made from e-waste and the potential of a new KiCad schematic repository. Plus, hear about the benefits of filling 3D prints with foam and learn about the WWII 'Pluto' pipelines that offer lessons in underwater engineering.

This week, the hosts dive into some fascinating hacks, including a toddler-friendly synth designed for little hands. They also explore a project that uses gyroscopes to measure Earth’s rotation. A heated seat retrofit for vehicles using advanced tech captures attention, while an assistive radio speaks frequencies to aid visually impaired users. Plus, learn about the quirky world of hacking Kindles and the intriguing discussion around disappearing car door handles. A perfect blend of creativity and engineering!

Discover the wild world of DIY hacks, from melting cast iron in the microwave to reverse engineering washing machines with infrared! Hear about the challenges of modern car braking systems and a tiny ESP32 dev board that defies expectations. Delve into history with WWII mapping secrets and marvel at an automated LEGO sorting machine. Plus, explore quirky applications of pennies and the fascinating history of pneumatic tube systems. It's a tech enthusiast's playground, full of surprises!

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.

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.

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! And we just revealed the badge! In other news, we've still got a contest running. Read all about the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge, sponsored by DigiKey, and check out the contest page 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. 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!

Discover the fascinating world of multicolor 3D printing without the mess, thanks to a revolutionary hotend. Explore how a unique bellows hyperspectral camera captures images one pixel at a time. Delve into quirky anecdotes about dental work picking up radio signals, including a spy story featuring Lucille Ball. Learn how an air-powered robot could revolutionize soft robotics. Plus, find out if scrap radioisotopes can create X-ray-like images and uncover the secrets inside an old germanium transistor!

Qualcomm's acquisition of Arduino raises questions about the future of the platform. Google introduces developer restrictions on Android sideloading, impacting user rights and open-source projects. The hosts explore the dominance of stepper motors in 3D printing and delve into innovative hacks like a mechanical LEGO DVD logo. They also discuss custom LCD projects, algorithmic art, and tiny RV conversions, showcasing creativity in technology. Plus, insights on voltage standards in logic circuits provide a fascinating historical context.

Elliot and Al delve into what the IEEE considers the best programming languages of 2025, discussing Python's dominance and the impact of AI on programming jobs. They explore a quirky robot bartending hack, and a minimalist analog drum machine design. Excitingly, they investigate cannibalizing two 3D printers to create a more advanced one, and the fascinating challenge of performing surgery in space. Plus, a peek into a Fortran flight simulator being ported to Unity adds to the tech thrills. Don't miss their take on various innovative projects!

Explore the high-tech world of vapes that can run Doom and host web servers. Discover the ambitious project of a flying DeLorean and hear about a DIY method to detect heartbeats using Wi-Fi. Dive into backyard astronomy with low-cost radio telescopes and a smart camera eyepiece. Learn about innovative hacks like a 3D-printed speaker and a quick box assembly tool. Finally, discuss the implications of wearable smart glasses and the importance of safety regulations for home battery installations.