Hackaday Podcast

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

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

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams undertake a journey through the week of fantastic hacks. Add a new level of complexity to model rockets by launching them from a silo via pneumatic ram before the combustibles even get involved. The eyes of that sculpture are actually following you -- and with laser focus! The Game Boy is a pillar of pop culture for a reason, there's a superb talk that outlines all of the interesting choices that made the electronics so special. We round out the show with a rousing discussion of a space tow truck and a scholarly look at the sporadic wake patter of Alexa et al. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=404008

Hackaday editor Elliot Williams and contributor Jonathan Bennett discuss the past week of Hackaday. Freeman Dyson, who wanted to send us to space on the back of nuclear explosions, passed away. Only slightly less dangerous, we looked at self-balancing vehicles, 3D printed press brakes, and making rubies in the home lab. All the usual suspects make cameo appearances: robots, FPGAs, and open-source software. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=402113

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams are onto an LCD and motors kick this week. Two different LCD screen teardowns caught our eye as one lets you stare into the void while using your iMac and the other tries to convince us to be not afraid of de-laminating the LCD stackup. On the motors front, it's all about using magnets and coils in slightly different ways; there's a bike generator that uses a planar alternator design, a dynamometer for testing motor power that itself is built from a motor, and a flex-PCB persistence of vision display that's a motor/display hybrid. We round out the episode with talk of the newly revealed espionage saga that was Crypto AG, and riveting discussion of calculators, both real and virtual. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=402111

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys gab on great hacks of the past week. Did you hear that there's a new rev of the Pi 4 out there? We just heard... but apparently it's release into the wild was months ago. Fans of the ESP8266 are going to love this tool that flashes and configures the board, especially for Sonoff devices. Bitluni's Supercon talk was published this week and it's a great roadmap of all the things you should try to do with an ESP32. Plus we take on the Sonos IoT speaker debacle and the wacky suspension system James Bruton's been building into his humanoid robot. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=401004

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss the many great hacks of the past week. Just in case you missed the fact that we're living in the cyberpunk future, you can now pop off your prosthetic hand and jack directly into a synthesizer. The robot headed for Mars has a flying drone in its belly. Now they're putting foaming agent in filament to make it light and flexible. And did you ever wonder why those pinouts were so jumbled? Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=400085

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys reflect on great hacks of the past few days. Strain relief is something every electronics geek encounters and there's a spiffy way to make your hot-glue look like a factory connector. There's something in the air and it seems to be recreating early computers. Did you know astronauts are baking cookies they're forbidden to eat? And did you hear about the 3D printer that's being fed oil from the deep fryer? Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=399039

Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams navigate the crowded streets of the hackersphere for the most interesting hardware projects seen in the past week. Forget flip-dot displays, you need to build yourself a sequin display that uses a robot finger and sequin-covered fabric to send a message. You can do a lot (and learn a lot) with a 1-bit computer called the WDR-1. It's never been easier to turn a USB port into an embedded systems dev kit by using these FTDI and Bluepill tricks. And there's a Soyuz hardware teardown you don't want to miss. Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=398056

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys recap a great week in hardware hacking. There's perfection in the air as clever 3D-printing turns a button and LED matrix into an aesthetically awesome home automation display. Take a crash course in RF modulation types to use on your next project. Did you know the DB-9 connector is actually a DE-9? Building your own underwater ROV tether isn't as simple as it sounds. And Elliot found a treasure trove of zero-ohm jumpers in chip packages -- what the heck are these things for? Show notes: https://hackaday.com/?p=397112