Author Archives: Mike Szczys

HJWYDK: the Journal our Community Has Been Awaiting

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We’re excited to announce the Hackaday Journal of What You Don’t Know. This will be a peer-reviewed journal of white papers that goes well beyond “look what I did” and will provide full design, data, and everything else needed to reproduce the most interesting things the engineering world has to offer. It’s a complete description of your knowledge offered up for the benefit of all.

Topics will include original and creative research, engineering, and entertainment in the areas of interest to the Hackaday community. These papers should embody original insight, experience, or discovery in any sufficiently challenging domain knowledge. This …read more

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Hackaday Store Discounts to Satiate the Shopping Urge

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Score everything in the Hackaday store for 50% off right now.

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a time when people migrate back home to spend time with families, fill themselves with Turkey and cranberry sauce, and are inevitably dragged out to the big box stores in search for that one great deal to satisfy their consumer urge.

Whether you observe the holiday or not, you can grab some geeky stuff from the Hackaday Store without the early rise or the need to be in a specific place. You’ll find a collection of some of our favorite hardware, sweet …read more

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An Interview with Alex Williams, Grand Prize Winner

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Alex Williams pulled off an incredible engineering project. He developed an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) which uses a buoyancy engine rather than propellers as its propulsion mechanism and made the entire project Open Source and Open Hardware.

The design aims to make extended duration missions a possibility by using very little power to move the vessel. What’s as remarkable as the project itself is that Alex made a goal for himself to document the project to the level that it is fully reproducible. His success in both of these areas is what makes the Open Source Underwater Glider the perfect …read more

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The Hacker Village of Supercon

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I’m utterly exhausted and still in a state of awe. The Hackaday Superconference has grown in so many ways, but one thing remains the same: the spirit of the Hacker Village — an intangible feeling that grows up around all who attend — is bliss to take part in.

There’s really no substitute for having been there in person. I’ll go into detail below and try to share the experience as best I can. But the gist of the atmosphere is this: everyone at Supercon is the type of person you’d want to be stuck in a rowboat with, or …read more

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Official Statement Regarding Counterfeit Benchoff Bucks

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It was reported, and Hackaday has now confirmed, that counterfeit Benchoff Bucks were being circulated at this weekend’s Hackaday Superconference.

The fake bills were distinguishable by their poor printing quality and vastly smaller size than official ‘Bucks. Their appearance should help to relieve the skyrocketing value of the Benchoff Buck, whose dominance as the preferred paper currency at hardware conferences has caused deflationary forces to take hold as ‘Bucks holders hoard them.

Hackaday’s resident economists hope that the appearance of the counterfeits will begin to devalue the currency. Diminishing the strength of Benchoff Bucks has long been the goal for …read more

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Mike Harrison’s Reverse Engineering Workshop

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Hardware teardowns are awesome when guided by experts. One of our favorites over the years has been [Mike Harrison], who has conquered teardowns of some incredibly rare and exquisitely engineered gear, sharing the adventure on his YouTube channel: mikeselectricstuff. Now he’s putting on a workshop to walk through some of the techniques he uses when looking at equipment for the first time.

[Mike] will be in Pasadena a few days early for the Hackaday Superconference and floated the idea of hosting a workshop. We ordered up some interesting gear which he hasn’t had a chance to look at yet. A …read more

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Catching 30 kilowatts with Thor’s Hammer

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Can you really catch lightning with Mjolnir, the mythical hammer of Thor? If you’re [James Hobson] you can get pretty darn close. He’s a long time writer at Hackaday who’s been building an epic following on his YouTube channel by making the digital effects of blockbuster movies into practical effects. Today he released a video showing how he channeled a jolt of lightning with hammer held high.

The lightning source for this hack is a huge Tesla coil held overhead by a telescoping lift. Humans and high voltage mix poorly, which is why you can’t actually tell this is [James]. …read more

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Supercon Badge Hacking Quick-Start

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The hardware badge Mike Harrison designed for this year’s Hackaday Superconference is begging to be hacked. Today, I wanted to help get you up and running quickly.

The Hacker Village atmosphere of Supercon is starting up a day early this year. On Friday, November 10th badge pick-up starts at noon and badge hacking continues throughout the afternoon, followed by a party at Supplyframe HQ that evening. Plan to get to town on Friday and join in the fun. Of course, you need to grab a Supercon ticket if you haven’t already.

Check out the 2017 Superconference Badge project page for …read more

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One More Day for Hackaday Prize Glory

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This is your last day to enter the 2017 Hackaday Prize. The theme is to Build Something that Matters, so don’t sit on the sidelines.

You have great power to make a change in the world. Put your mind to a problem you believe is worth solving and inspire us with your build. Whether it’s a turnkey solution or a seed idea that inspires those around you, let’s work on making the world a little bit better place. Get your entry for Anything Goes in by Monday morning.

As Entries Close, Finalists Polish Their Projects

There have been five challenge …read more

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Hackaday’s Open Hardware Summit Experience

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Last week was the Open Hardware Summit in Denver Colorado. This yearly gathering brings together the people and businesses that hold Open Hardware as an ideal to encourage, grow, and live by. There was a night-before party, the summit itself which is a day full of talks, and this year a tour of a couple very familiar open hardware companies in the area.

I thought this year’s conference was quite delightful and am happy to share with you some of the highlights.

Talks I Enjoyed: Textiles and Password Case Law

I really had fun with the keynote that kicked off …read more

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