Summary
Hackaday Supercon is just around the corner, with 20 speakers announced and a diverse range of talks planned. The event takes place in Pasadena, and for those unable to attend in person, the talks will be streamed online. The hosts encourage listeners to participate in informal gatherings and watching parties at their hackerspaces.
In a recent mailbag segment, a listener named Stefan shares his experience with 3D printing and off-grid solar installations, seeking advice on charging lead-acid batteries in cold temperatures. The hosts discuss the challenges of battery performance in low temperatures and recommend consulting Battery University for more detailed information.
The episode also highlights innovative projects, including a follow-up on an e-paper Game Boy hack that achieves fast refresh rates without excessive power draw or screen wear. The discussion touches on advancements in e-ink technology and the creative methods used to drive these displays. Other notable hacks include a Raspberry Pi-based TV broadcast control station and a repurposed smartphone motherboard used as an RC plane controller, showcasing the growing trend of reusing old technology for new applications.
Lastly, the hosts delve into the world of Tamagotchi hacking, exploring the latest hacks that allow users to manipulate their digital pets through UART connections, as well as the history of Tamagotchi modifications. The episode concludes with a discussion on the potential of infrared technology, particularly in remote controls and data transmission, emphasizing its overlooked capabilities in modern applications.
Show Notes
This week's podcast comes from Europe, as Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List, who wishes to apologies for the poor sound quality from her headset microphone. The news this week is our Supercon conference which is upcoming, we've released more speaker details. We start the hacks with a follow-up to an exciting development. We've seen e-paper screens driven at high frame rates, but do the techniques used shorten the life of these displays? Then we have Tamagotchi hacking, re-using an old mobile phone as a flight controller, the oldest Windows app to run on Windows 11, and probably the prettiest mini TV studio rack you will ever see. Pushing Bluetooth out to 12 kilometres is the cherry on the cake. In quick hacks there's a swash plate-less helicopter, Commodore 64 keycaps, and the history of the mouse, before our can't-miss look at infra-red transmission, and a forgotten Google VR headset. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments, or drop us a line on the mailbag.
More from Hackaday Podcast
Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams met to review the week in Hackaday. Turns out, it was a week for tiny things, cybersecurity, nostalgia, and projects that would have been nearly impossible for the average hacker not that long ago. But first, you can hear a little about the upcoming Supercon badge and the trials of importing and exporting parts for the badges. How many props does your drone have? [Joshua] has one. Want to fabricate semiconductors at home? Do you have a microwave? What about using NFC in your next project? There's all that and more in this episode. The quick hacks include a request from NASA for ideas (and, yes, there is prize money) and slide rule tricks, among other things. For the can't miss articles, the cybersecurity weekly got some appreciation and Al took a trip down memory lane at the Altair 8800 he always wanted. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments, or drop us a line on the mailbag.
Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this episode off with a discussion about Philadelphia's budding hacker conference and the imminent retirement of the EZ80. After considering the parallels between the wide world of aviation headsets and our personal projects, talk moves on to the exciting developments in the world of software-defined radio on the ESP32, a Meshtastic pager from a bygone era, and how all the wild flying machines entered into DARPA's Lift Challenge ended up losing to a simple helicopter. You'll also hear about turning plastic bottles into printer filament, pushing e-ink screens to their limits, and browsing the web on the PSP in 2026. To wrap things up they'll marvel at all the modern abstraction sitting between software and the memory it's running on, and revisit some RF concepts that might be particularly useful now that everyone is playing with a new SDR device. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
This week, Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met a few minutes later than usual, and somehow defeated a buzz together with the power of will before settling into the news, rifling through the Mailbag, and otherwise creating the attached podcast. So, the news. Amazon, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to not only remove Alexa's aux port on future models, but also disable the input on extant ones. Is this really bad news? Maybe just because it seems like taking a choice away for the sake of exerting power over the people. Anyway. In Hackaday news, the Retrocomputing Contest is currently on fire, and runs through 10AM PDT on Tuesday, October 27th. That means you have about 2.5 weeks left. Supercon Ten ticket sales are similarly aflame, and per Elliot, it's about time to release the next round of speakers. So, watch for that. After digging deep in the Mailbag and eventually just dumping the thing out on the table, we found our brand new Hackaday Podcast Mailbag Audio Bumper! This jingle comes courtesy of [Dakota Winslow], who also advises that there are Easter eggs to be found. Then, it was on to the hacks, including Elliot's record-tying number of Quick Hacks, and plenty of in-linkage. 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!
Another all-European podcast for you this week, as Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List for an evening looking at the past week in Hackaday. And this week there is a particularly good selection to look at. A while back we showed you a project that put synthetic aperture radar on a drone, generating extremely detailed imaging of the terrain beneath it. This week we had an update, in which an ingenious positioning accuracy fix gave it an astonishing increase in resolution. On top of that project we have 3D lightfield image display with the unexpected help of a Nipkow mechanical TV scanning drum. Geting your own microprocessor manufactured, DOOM in a database server, and a comprehensive array of unusual sensors in a tricorder project complete the picture. Finally we have a couple of space stories and Jenny describing the preserved industrial delights of the Ruhr valley in Germany. You'll want to go there, but first you'll want to listen to the podcast.
This week, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams had a lot to talk about. From advice for a young hacker to using a laser to break into a microcontroller, there was plenty to cover from the week in Hackaday. From the "Point/Counter Point" department, there were dueling posts about how big a deal it is for Raspberry Pi to lock out RAM chip swapping. Ever want to do interactive debugging in MicroPython? For intellectual exercise, there's the physics of raindrops becoming a radar antenna. If you are a history buff, there was even news about World War I codebreaking. For the can't-miss articles, the big news was the issues with LoRa mesh communities possibly clashing with the FCC rules and how to make your computer take dictation. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!