So arguing about where the show should be headed probably isn't the best first post but whatever. I've been watching since season one and lurking the forums off and on during that time. I'm afraid I agree with what a lot of people have said about missing the good old days. Like others I used to wait for each episode and watch from beginning to end as soon as the download finished. Now I don't even download the episodes, just skip through the flash player.
So what do I think would help the show?
- Hardware hacks like everyone else has said. Darren; that rover sounds like exactly the sort of thing the show has been missing.
- More in-depth and creative segments. Things like the CVS camera hack, iPod/console hacks and the Switchblade.
- Less of the "light" content that's been showing up this season. I'm talking about things like updating blogs and random/short program reviews/previews that have nothing to do with security, hacking, moding or coding. While there isn't anything particularly wrong with these types of segments they aren't what I watch Hak5 for. They feel more like something you'd see on tekzilla or popsiren.
- Lastly is better chemistry on camera. This is probably the hardest thing to explain and will vary based on everyone's tastes and perception. But it feels like the show has gone backwards in this area. I mean sure, in the very early episodes there were stutters and pauses at times but they always felt natural and were usually entertaining in a comedic sort of way. Now it sometimes seems like the cast is reading from a teleprompter that randomly freezes. Of course some of this is understandable with the change in cast and filming schedule.
To the first two suggestions, I respectfully say hell no! Making this show more basic and introductory is the last thing that should be done. The fact that it was more technical and higher level than things like systm, tekzilla or thebroken was what made it my favourite podcast in the first place. I also don't think moving towards more general computing topics vs security/hacking/coding is a good idea. It's just not what (I think) Hak5 should be.
As for Q&A, I think that could be good in the sense that community involvement is a big part of Hak5. But again, I really don't think things like "how do I setup a blog", "how do I install new hardware in my pc" or basic everyday trouble shooting fits the show. I started watching Hak5 because it wasn't the same old basic crap I can do drunk with one hand tied to my ankles.
VMs could make for a great segment or even series. Just make it a little more in-depth and interesting than "this is parallels/VMWare/Virtualbox, this is how you install it, isn't it cool to run one OS inside another!". Spice it up with things like how they can be used for sandboxing and testing potentially(or intentionally) harmful things. Or how about security concerns/shortcomings of VMs and possible hacks? To be truthful I don't know enough about this topic to do a segment on it myself so I feel a little out of place suggesting it. But it's sparked my interest and a few minutes of googling has turned up a bit of interesting info, not least of all this paper.
And again I'll throw in that Jasager is probably the best thing to come out of this season by far.