HardwareHacks 2000

HH2K Podcast Episode 14

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:46:20 EDT

We actually recorded Podcast 14 last week on the fourteenth. It was edited and uploaded by Tuesday of that week, yet I managed to not post it until now. Sorry, folks.

If any of our readers are interested in the Large Hadron Collider controversy, and would like to learn some more about its potential apocalyptic side-effects, this is the podcast for you: I went into detail on the concepts of strange matter, black holes, particle smashing, and why the LHC most likely will not end the world.

Demo run: Hax PSA

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:13:41 EDT

Today marks the first anniversary of the HardwareHacks 2000 Podcast, formerly the Nostalgia Gaming Podcast. Mark is currently in Croatia and therefore couldn't meet with me to do a first-anniversary podcast release, so we brewed something special a few weeks ago before we left. Using two instances of Halo 2, we cut together a short trailer for an upcoming machinima dubbed "H4X" (Hax), that we hope to begin releasing within the coming year.

We controlled our actors using Mark's Xbox 360, while Chris (aka "Sonicsonic12345", who has yet to make an appearance on our podcast) recorded using my Xbox 1 and a third actor. After working around corrupted DV data on my laptop, Mark cut this short episode together using Adobe Premiere. While they may not be anywhere near as easy to record as a standard podcast, we nonetheless hope to give this project a try, adding characters and new voiceovers as we go.

Due to its early nature, I haven't yet set up a dedicated page for Hax. You can download our trailer in 720x480 WMV9 format, which will most likely be our default release format in the future.

In other news, the front page news of HH2K can now be syndicated via RSS 2.0.

HH2K Podcast Episode 13 and Distribution Changes

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:28:30 EDT

The HardwareHacks 2000 Podcast Episode 13 is out now. You can get it from the usual place. Sorry for my (Don's) audio quality in this podcast; mere hours ago I got a high-quality audio headset and will make sure to use it for the next podcast.

In other news, last year's podcasts have been archived to take up less space on our web server. The usual 64kbps MP3 files have been converted to 20kbps WMA9 Voice files, which offers comparable vocal fidelity even with the lower bitrate. I know this may be an inconvenience to some people, so if anyone wants the original MP3 files, they can e-mail me. I'm keeping them stashed locally should anyone need them.

Stay tuned for the promised "podcast plus this" debuting (hopefully) on the HH2K Podcast's anniversary on July 23rd.

New Reviews section, HH2K Podcast Episode 12

Sun, 04 May 2008 15:17:22 EDT

I'm going to try experimenting with a Reviews section in the coming few months, posting articles as I obtain new hardware and software. A few hours ago, I purchased an Insignia NS-DXA1 DTV tuner at Best Buy and wrote a bit about the box, complete with screenshots of the box's interface, once I had it up and running.

Episode Twelve of the HardwareHacks 2000 Podcast is up for download following a series of hard-drive-related recording incidents. Get it it while it hasn't corrupted!

HH2K Podcast Episode 11

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:34:37 EST

Episode 11 of the HH2K Podcast, formerly the Nostalgia Gaming Podcast, is available for download. We recorded earlier this week but encountered processing delays.

I've created a new mod page covering my recent LaserJet 1100a Scanner Server, which intends to get the scanner on an old LaserJet 1100a running on a machine without a parallel port or available drivers. While the software is specific to the LaserJet 1100a (and most likely some other HP scanners), its design should be easily portable to any other scanner software that stores information in plain-text files or in the Windows Registry.