Hackaday Podcast Ep 335: Beer, Toast, and Pi
Aug 29, 2025
Join the hosts as they dive into the intriguing world of brewing, with a focus on automating the mashing process for homemade beer. They tackle lightning protection with an innovative system developed for rural Arkansas. Discover solutions for reviving dead Ryobi batteries and unravel the nuances of consumer technology, including evolving business models. Plus, they discuss the challenges of coding with the RP2040 microcontroller and the complexities of measuring liquids in outer space. It's a delightful mix of tech and creativity!
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Mechanical Elegance In A 1980s Fax
- Thomas tore down a Muirhead K570B fax machine: a heavy-duty, 1983-era wire-photo transmitter with banana-plug phone jacks and mechanical drum scanning.
- The device is mechanically beautiful and highlights how image transmission once relied on precise electromechanical synchronization.
Cloud-Dependent Hardware Can Be Liberated
- JuiceBox chargers relied on JuiceNet cloud services and became bricked when Enel X shut the network down.
- Hackers built man-in-the-middle fixes and OpenEVSE replacement brains to keep chargers working independent of the vendor cloud.
Plan For Cloud Sunset When Buying IoT
- Expect companies to abandon cloud services when costs or priorities change and plan for local operation or open alternatives.
- Prefer devices with local fallback or choose vendors that commit to open-source server escrow to avoid sudden bricking.