Hackaday Podcast

Hosted by Hackaday

Technology Education

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Episodes

384

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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About the show

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.

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60 recent

June 12, 2026Episode 37353 min

Ep 373: GPS, Danger In Space, and Robby the Robot

Last week, Elliot got his foot stepped on by a 1.5 metric ton draft horse, and boy is he glad to be back to the relative safety of podcasting! Joining him today is Jenny List, no stranger to farm life, who has been trodden by a cow. It's going to be one of those podcasts, folks. Another thing the two hosts have in common is a love for the mystery of the numbers station. But did you know that GPS satellites, for the last 20 years, have broadcast literally millions of secret messages to everyone on the earth with a receiver? After that bombshell, we have an ATtiny85 emulating an 8080, a primer on how to embed magnets in 3D prints, definitive proof that more than one cassette mechanism is still being manufactured, and a look at what makes home automation enthusiasts tick. 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!

June 5, 2026Episode 37259 min

EP 372: Pop Tubers, Shifty Semiconductors, and Shelving Shelf Labels

This week, we're shaking things up a little, with Tom Nardi still in the host seat, and someone besides Al Williams in the other, namely Kristina Panos. In Hackaday news, we have a new Frikkin' Lasers Challenge going on now, although we acknowledge that no one can actually enter their project into it at the moment. We hope to have that fixed in short order. Procrastinators, disregard. You'll have to wait another week for the triumphant return of What's That Sound, but we do have an audio mailbag for you this week. Thanks, Dillon! We look at loading SEGA games from a vinyl record, discuss a really cool project that puts live plane data on your ceiling, and debate the name 'Pop Tuber'. We also discuss DIY routers, and stress over the future of electronic shelf labels.

May 29, 2026Episode 3711 hr 19 min

EP 371: Space Computers, Spy Phones, and So Long CHU

Elliot Williams is out where the deer and the antelope play for the next week, so it's up to Tom Nardi and Al Williams to wrangle this episode of the Hackaday Podcast. They'll start off by reading some listener messages before talking about the slow extinction of time broadcasts, Linux on cheap smartphones, microcontroller VPNs, and the computers of Spacelab. You'll also hear about using a video game's "Photo Mode" to capture 3D imagery, strange red lights in deep space, and ASCII fish that you don't need to feed. The episode wraps up with a discussion of WWII spy tech and the revelation that modern smartphones and powerful magnets don't always mix. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

May 22, 2026Episode 3701 hr 16 min

Ep 370: Softer Cyberdecks, a Simulated Clutch, and an Overstuffed Mailbox

With Elliot back from Hackaday Europe, he and Al Williams had a lot to talk about with two weeks of Hackaday posts to catch up on. Not to mention the mailbag was overflowing. This week, the guys look at girlie cyberdecks, a 3D printed circuit board, and talk electric motorcycles. Is 3D printing safe? Want an accurate moon on your desk? How about modern punch cards? All of that and much more were on the menu this week. For the can't miss articles, Zoe Skyforest weighs in on file sharing on the LAN while Al Williams talks about the surprising state-of-the-art in vacuum tube tech right before the end.

May 8, 2026Episode 3691 hr 8 min

Ep 369: IR, E-Ink, and Avgas

In this episode, Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start things off by discussing the latest reason that cheap PCB fabrication isn't quite as cheap as it once was. The conversation will then move on to hacking electronic shelf labels, stylish e-ink status displays, cutting metal at home with high current and a bit of water, a solarpunk message board hiding in a IKEA-style lantern, and pushing NFC out of its comfort zone. From there you'll hear about a matching transistors, taking pictures of the International Space Station, and Linux on the PS5. They'll wrap up this week's episode by going over the surprisingly simple concept behind flow batteries, and learn who's still using leaded gasoline and why. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!]

May 1, 2026Episode 36842 min

Ep 368: A Pencil that Draws Against You, 3D Printing Stuff, and Tablet, Shmablet!

This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the international tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound results show, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so. Regarding Hackaday Europe, we announced the last round of speakers and opened up the workshop ticket sales. In other news, the Green-Powered Challenge has wrapped, and judging will begin quite soon. On What's That Sound, we can score another one for Kristina, which brings her record to approximately four wins and sixty-eight losses. She knew without a doubt that this was a guillotine paper cutter, probably because she recorded the sound herself. Hey, don't take this away from her. After that, it's on to the hacks, beginning with a really cool laser-powered mist-and-mirrors multi-view display, a robotic drawing assistant of questionable utility, and a new slicer that enables horizontal overhangs without supports. We also look at a trackball 3D controller, a 3D-printed pinball machine, and a good way to kill humidity sensors with humidity. Finally, we're both shocked to learn that we've been on GPS mk. II for some time now. But then once we get over that, we talk tablets and their usefulness, or lack thereof. 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!

April 24, 2026Episode 36758 min

Ep 367: Radioactive Weather, Continuous Pickles, and Moon Junk

When Elliot Williams and Al Williams compare their notes on the week in Hackaday, you know you'll get at least one or two bad puns. How bad? Tune in and find out. This week, Tom Nardi visits several in-person events, and Elliot and Al talk about smart buttons, Itanium, ejecting things from a rocket, and the infinite pickle. Will Elliot build the coin flipper? Will Al use plasma at his next cookout? Hard to say. For the can't miss articles, this week, Al swept the category with a post on splices and another on what human junk is still sitting on the moon. What do you think? Leave us a comment or record something and send it to our mailbag.

April 17, 2026Episode 36653 min

Ep 366: DOOM on a Toaster, Music in LED Strips, and Old Drives in New Clothes

It's the evening before publication, and a pair of Hackaday writers convene to record the week's podcast. This week Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List, and it's a bumper episode! Of course, a bit of Hackaday news makes the cut, as it's time to make an entry in the Green Powered Challenge. Then we make the first of a couple of sojourns into AI, as we talk about the Linux kernel stance on AI code. In short: if you submit AI code you're responsible for its bugs. Meanwhile out of this world, we look forward to a time when astronauts breathe oxygen from moon dust. There are hacks aplenty for your enjoyment, starting with far more than you ever thought it was possible to know about sound-reactive LED strips. Then we have among others a Mac on an ESP32 forming the UI for a weather monitor, Doom on a toaster, and a fascinating look at screw threads for plastic. In the longer reads we have our colleague [Tom Nardi] finding Chinese people's personal data on hard drives he bought in an electronics store, and an attempt to look at what an LLM can do that might be useful. Grab your headphones, and join us!

April 10, 2026Episode 3651 hr 22 min

Ep 365: Early 3DP Engineering, a New CAD Interface, and Flying Around the Moon

Humans flew around the Moon this week, but Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi were stuck on Earth -- luckily, there was no shortage of stories and hacks to keep them occupied. From the news that Linux might be putting the i486 out to pasture, to the fascinating potential of the threadless ball screw and connecting Bluetooth calipers up to FreeCAD. You'll hear about the latest in Internet via high-altitude balloon, the zen of organizing your parts bins, all the problems with Markdown files, and a deep-dive into making a convincing LED fire effect. The episode wraps up with some polarizing opinions on long term data storage, and a freewheeling discussion about the importance of literal moonshots. Check out the links on Hackaday if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

April 3, 2026Episode 36448 min

Ep 364: Clocks, Cameras, and Free Will

This week, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over assorted beverages to bring you the latest news, mystery sound results show, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so. In the news, there's quite a bit to talk about. Regarding Hackaday Europe, you can rest assured that the talks will be announced soon. The Green-Powered Challenge is still underway, and we need your entry to truly make it a contest. You have until April 24th to enter, so show us what you can do with power you scrounge up from the environment! As usual, we published a handful of April Fool's posts, which you may or may not find amusing. And finally -- no fooling -- our own Tom Nardi wrote up the Artemis moon launch, and is going to update the post every day until the mission ends. On What's That Sound, we can score one for Kristina, which brings her record to approximately three wins and sixty-eight losses. She knew without a doubt that the dialogue was from the Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Oh, what? There was a remake in 2008? Kristina should get bonus points, then. After that, it's on to the hacks, beginning with the basics of making clean enclosures that are decidedly not 3D-printed, a couple of sweet lo-fi cameras, and a nice way to tame the tape when it comes to SMT parts. We also discuss a clock that marks time in a mathematical way, watch an electro-permanent magnet in action, and improving soda by turning it into mead. Finally, we discuss the solar balconies taking Europe by storm, and Copilot's terrifying terms of service. Check out the links over on Hackaday to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!