

Hackaday Podcast
Hackaday
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 29, 2020 • 53min
Ep069: Calculator Controversy, Socketing SOIC, Metal on the Moon, and Basking in Bench Tools
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams march to the beat of the hardware hacking drum as they recount the greatest hacks to hit the 'net this week. First up: Casio stepped in it with a spurious DMCA takedown notice. There's a finite matrix of resistors that form a glorious clock now on display at CERN. Will a patio paver solve your 3D printer noise problems? And if you ever build with copper clad, you can't miss this speedrun of priceless prototyping protips. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=415029

May 22, 2020 • 59min
Ep068: Picky Feeders, Slaggy Tables, Wheelie Droids, and Janky Batteries
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys ride the rails of hackerdom, exploring the sweetest hacks of the past week. There's a dead simple component feeder for a pick and place (or any bench that hand-stuffs SMD), batteries for any accomplished mixologist, and a droid build that's every bit as cool as its Star Wars origins. Plus we gab about obsolescence in the auto industry, fawn over a frugal microcontroller, and ogle some old iron. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=413924

May 15, 2020 • 1h
Ep067: Winking Out of IoT, Seas of LEDs, Stuffing PCBs, and Vectrex is Awesome
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams explore the coolest hacks of the past 168 hours. The big news this week: will Wink customers pony up $5 a month to turn their lights on and off? There's a new open source design for a pick and place machine. You may not have a Vectrex gaming console, but there's a scratch-built board that can turn you oscilloscope into one. And you just can't miss this LED sign technology that programs every pixel using projection mapping. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=412985

May 8, 2020 • 52min
Ep066: The Audio Overdub Episode; Tape Loop Scratcher, Typewriter Simulator, and Relay Adder
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys stomp through a forest full of highly evolved hardware hacks. This week seems particularly plump with audio-related projects, like the thwack-tackular soldenoid typewriter simulator. But it's the tape-loop scratcher that steals our hearts; an instrument that's kind of two-turntables-and-a-microphone meets melloman. We hear the clicks of 10-bit numbers falling into place in a delightful adder, and follow it up with the beeps and sweeps of a smartphone-based metal detector. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=411904

Apr 30, 2020 • 1h 4min
Ep065: Game Boy Hacks Galore, Cable Robo Elbow, Pi Cam Solargraphy, the Deepest Sub is Crushing It
Ep065: Game Boy Hacks Galore, Cable Robo Elbow, Pi Cam Solargraphy, and the Deepest Sub is Crushing It Check out the show's writeup so that you don't have to take notes on your own: https://hackaday.com/?p=410890

Apr 24, 2020 • 1h 5min
Ep064: The COBOL Cabal, the Demoscene Bytes, and the BTLE Cure
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys pan for gold in a week packed with technological treasure. The big news is Apple/Google are working on contact tracing using BTLE. From adoption, to privacy, to efficacy, there's a lot to unpack here and many of the details have yet to take shape. Of course the episode also overflows with great hacks like broken-inductor bike chain sensors, parabolic basketball backboards, bizarre hose clamp tools, iron-on eTextile trials, and hot AM radio towers. We finish up discussing the greatest typing device that wasn't, and the coming and going of the COBOL crisis. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=409497

Apr 17, 2020 • 56min
Ep063: Magnetic Gears, AI Green Screen, Plasma <3 Sharpie, and a Rubbery Drivetrain
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams sift for hacking gold from the past week. In this episode, we remember John Horton Conway's Game of Life and its effect on novice programmers. We geek out adding screens to your car with an OBD-II hack, automating a Sharpie clicker as part of a plasma cutter, and 3D printing an incredible RC car that drives every wheel from a single motor. Plus we look at machine-learning for custom backgrounds in your video chats (Linux makes it easy!), take a gander at the coming generation of ePaper displays, and we get cultured about yeast. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=408510

Apr 10, 2020 • 54min
Ep062: Tripping Batteries, Ventilator Design, Stinky Prints, and Simon Says Servos
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys check out the week's awesome hacks. From the mundane of RC controlled TP to a deep dive into JTAG for Hackers, there's something for everyone. We discuss a great guide on the smelly business of resin printing, and look at the misuse of lithium battery protection circuits. There's a trainable servo, star-tracking space probes, and a deep dive into why bootstrapped ventilator designs are hard Show Notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=407547

Apr 3, 2020 • 55min
Ep061: Runaway Soldering Irons, Open Source Ventilators, 3D Printed Solder Stencils, & Radar Motion
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams sort through the hardware hacking gems of the week. There was a kerfuffle about whether a ventilator data dump from Medtronics was open source or not, and cool hacks from machine-learning soldering iron controllers to 3D-printing your own solder paste stencils. A motion light teardown shows it's not being done with passive-infrared, we ask what's the deal with Tim Berners-Lee's decentralized internet, and we geek out about keyboards that aren't QWERTY. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=406399

Mar 27, 2020 • 1h 6min
Ep060: Counting Bees, DogBox Transmissions, and the Lowdown on Vents, BiPAP, and PCR
Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys recount the past week in hardware hacking. There's a new king of supercomputing and it's everyone! Have you ever tried to count bees? Precision is just a cleverly threaded bolt away. And we dig into some of the technical details of the coronavirus response with a close look at PCR testing for the virus, and why ventilators are so difficult to build. Show Notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=405212