Hackaday Podcast · 29 Aug 2025 · 56m · Episode 335
Hosts Elliot Williams and Al Williams review Hackaday community projects, including Fieldman’s automated homebrewing system that hacks an IKEA induction cooktop, and Vin the Wrench’s Zeus Filter for lightning protection using gas discharge tubes. They also discuss Badar’s reverse engineering of Ryobi 18V lithium-ion battery packs to bypass firmware lockups, and Nathan Matthias’s efforts to keep Juice Box EV chargers operational after the shutdown of the JuiceNet cloud service. The episode concludes with commentary on Google’s new restrictions on Android sideloading and a deep dive into measuring liquid levels in microgravity environments for space applications.
makers and hobbyists
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The host reviews several maker projects including Pegor’s Pi-powered Jägermeister pouring machine, Naveen’s Thingy53 snoring detector, and Zach Freedman’s Mirage Mark3 modular keyboard. He also covers crowdfunding campaigns like the Edge Pro 1 and Juicy Crumb’s iMac drop-in, before analyzing Amazon’s new Fire TV Cube and Halo Sleep Tracker from a hardware repurposing perspective.
Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the recent Antares rocket explosion, the Hackaday Prize space trip controversy, and the passing of Tom Maglioli from Car Talk. They also cover U-beam's wireless charging technology, Dr. Greg Shaver's ultrasound chip startup, and DIY projects including a Tony Stark Halloween costume and reflow oven modifications.
Hosts Christopher and Elecia White discuss their recent experiences judging the Hackaday Prize, highlighting finalists like the Ramen Spectrometer and Chip Whisperer, and review the rapid success of Darma Kickstarter campaign. They also cover the logistics challenges faced by Light Up and the upcoming Peep camera project, while critiquing the technical accuracy of the TV show Scorpion versus the novel The Martian.
Gregory Gluszek, who created the OpenSteamController project, and Jeff Keyzer, the former lead electrical engineer at Valve, discuss the reverse engineering and original design of the Steam Controller. They detail how Gluszek used pinkySim and GDB to reverse engineer the firmware without schematics, while Keyzer explains the hardware challenges of alkaline battery management and the design philosophy of making the device unbrickable and open to modification. The conversation covers the technical trade-offs of using AA batteries versus lithium, the role of test points in manufacturing versus development, and the ethical implications of open-sourcing hardware designs.
Hosts Alvaro Brieto and Jen discuss their recent attendance at Open Sauce and the Crowd Supply teardown conference, highlighting the community aspect of hardware reverse engineering. They review several books on security and hacking history, including 'ARM Assembly and Reverse Engineering' and 'Murdoch's Pirates', while also sharing news about past guests like David from Cyber City Circuits teaching the First Lady to solder. The episode concludes with technical discussions on CAN bus vulnerabilities in Toyota vehicles, hotel IoT security, and Alvaro's new DJI Mic recording setup for upcoming coverage at CCCamp.
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