Hackaday Podcast

• 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

  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

  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

  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!  

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• 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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