Darren Kitchen

Not an eee but I'm on an Acer Aspire One with IIRC the same CPU as yours, the Intel Atom N270, and its playing Hak5 in HD MPEG-4 with just under 50% CPU usage.

Actually Squarespace is the exception to the rule when it comes to advertising. The ad sales team sends a spec sheet with the bullet points (typically 3-5) for an advertisement and we put our own spin on it. With the squarespace campaign the spec sheet simply says "Tell 'em honestly what you think of the service, good or bad." And I'm a fan of the service. So when given the creative freedom in an ad I decided to turn it into something informative about the product and started taking the mini-tutorial angle to show off some of the neat stuff squarespace can do. While it did drag on it wasn't 5 minutes. In the future I'll keep it tighter. I'm a fan of the 30 second spot. One can do that with a GoDaddy or Netflix read but when you're given that kind of freedom in an ad, well, I ramble. While I see the camps I still appreciate the constructive criticism. This thread has been the most valuable I've read all year. I simply wish more posters would focus on the constructive bit. Regardless, as you've seen already changes have been made based on feedback. I'm particularly interested in hearing your feedback on 419 and 423 (420-422 were from CES and don't count in this context).

This is on my radar and I'm thinking up what talks I could submit.

Yeah I was there getting B-roll of the mind control game. I had asked for them to bring a unit over to the NBC stage so we could demo it on our live show but it turns out Tekzilla beat us to it. Anyway Jim Louderback's demo on Tekzilla 70 was pretty good.

What kind of mic are you using with it?

All fans matter. The new ones, and the ones who got involved back in the zombie hooker era. Of course the show has changed it does from episode to episode, season to season. And it's based on the feedback of you guys that we make changes in our direction all the time. In short, we can't please everyone all the time but don't think for a minute that the "oldschool crew" is ignored. I'll do segments and think to myself, damn Ilya would love this one. True on so many levels. Keep in mind this is still just a hobby, not a paying job. I'm in it for the experience and so far it's been good enough :) Though I don't have as much forum/irc/bbs time as I used to, I am listening. H@L0_F00 is referring to Shannon's Ophcrack USB segment. I'll say before the episode even airs I know she is going to catch shit for it for a number of reasons. First off you've got that fact that it's a girl doing "hacker things" which will spark the shovanistic guys to react. Second it's a short setup/how-to segment without too much theory aside from a simple illustration of a rainbow table. And third, it's a her perspective on the tool which can be boiled down to "you can use this tool to ____" rather than "this tool works because ____". While it could have been more in depth that wasn't the objective. It's Shannon sharing an experience she had over the holidays with you and the tool she used to get out of a jam. If you didn't know of Ophcrack before you'll find the segment informative. If you do, you can enjoy seeing Snubs perspective. If you want more, or have follow up questions, then email her or feedback@hak5.org requesting more on that topic. Also a note on that segment and the episode format in general: it's reaction to your feedback. We're trying new things to see what sticks so as always tell us what you think because we're trying to make ya happy! It's a shame our chief modder quit on us eh? That's alright, we've got plenty of hardware hacks coming your way. I'll soon be taking apart a remote-control tank and using a USB relay board, some solder, and some custom software we'll put together a web-cam enabled rover you can drive around the hakhouse. Then Matt and I will be starting a longer modding series that will bring an oldschool gaming platform into modern times with some wood working and custom software. I know, right? Excellent suggestions. I wish more of you followed suit. What things wouldn't YOU mind seeing?

And if you go back and rewatch that you'll notice I am quick to take the defense of the linux audience, personally noting the leetness of the slackware and gentoo supporters. It's live to tape, Matt is blunt and likes to stir things up, and there is drinking involved. Take it with a grain of salt. We'll be featuring Linux and other alternative operating systems when featuring open source applications or embedded devices. But none of us claim to be *nix experts. We know enough to get things running, troubleshoot, and tinker but I'm sure the compiled from source crowd in the audience wouldn't be amused if we tried to tackle Linux segments beyond our grasp.

I wish I had the time to frequent the IRC more. At least when I do I generally have a good experience.

@Kung Fu Jesus, Thank you for posting your feedback here. And to others I encourage the same. While I'd prefer to only ever see positive feedback I actually value this more. Regarding your feedback I whole heartedly understand what you're saying. And while I cannot comment on any particular item you have brought up I can say with confidence that we have ideas, segments and other changes coming that I believe will satisfy your technolust. I must correct two misconceptions on your part however. We do not have a CEO breathing down our necks. Any pressure we face making the show is unto ourselves. When we strive for great content we deliver great content. When we half assed research and present the same night as shooting we deliver crap. GIGO. And second we haven't dropped hardware hacks from our lineup to differentiate ourselves from SYSTM. We have merely put them on the back burner due to budget constraints. Things like the USB Missile Launcher and the Pineapple are examples of the technomashups that have always fueled the show. Like the RSS Alarm/Newspapers and mini-arcade before, I haven't forgotten our roots. We have more great hardware hacks planned but since they are expensive and time consuming please don't expect more than one a month. Anyway, I'm sure when we bring the pre-produced segment element back to the show you'll notice a higher quality of material. I'm shooting for a mixture of the scripted elements of S1 with the unrehearsed fun of S4.

I get what you're saying and if there is a specific thing about the show that you think is done wrong please speak up because we welcome constructive criticism. I want to make the best show possible for you guys. Since we started this season we've experimented subtly with the format. The first dozen episodes were pretty tightly put together as we strove to keep it very professional. Since 412 we've adopted a much looser format that encourages banter and thus our personalities shine through. As a result the episodes have gotten a little longer, but I don't think that's what the OP was on about. Post CES we'll be adopting a more segment produced format. That is to say rather than shooting everything live to tape some segments will be shot out of order and given editing to keep them tight (quick and info rich). Anyway feel free to speak your mind on the forums. Like I said we're trying to foster feedback all the time, whether is be via feedback@hak5.org, here, or elsewhere. If you have an idea of what would make the show better please tell us. :)

Winner has been selected and will be announced on 419 (January 7)

I've talked to Chris P a few times on his show or twit or something. Seems like our kinda geek, just never really ventured too deep into his universe. kinda busy working on this one :P

We'll be playing straight Quake 3, not Team Arena or other mods. I think 1.32c is the latest but I'm not positive, i'll have to check.

One of these days I need to properly fix that sketches page and get it on the new wordpress system. I need a webdev hand. Anyway, I like what you're doing Iyeman. The wiki might be better suited for this as you can get others to help collaborate on the project. I believe you can use <youtube> embed commands on the wiki.

Thanks Livio, got your email.

I could have sworn I've seen a cigarette adapter fm transmitter dealy that took USB for its media and just had the most basic play/pause next/back buttons. It was cheap too!

@hak5darren (it's in the first lower third of most episodes)

I would love to see what you guys come up with t-shirt wise. Throw me some concepts and I'll commission you!

I'm getting so many great submissions and I wanted to get more viability on this contest from episode 415 so I've extended the deadline to December 15th.

You know if you were to take out three of the graphics cards you'd have a decent gaming rig for about $500 Someone call Patrick Norton ;)

I tried to pull up the profile page for #1 and something odd happened

I second the motion

I think I must have applied the IPS wrong. I'm swimmy mario for some reason :(

Yeah I'd love to have weekly code competitions. Hell, I'd do 'em in place of the current trivia questions. I put out a call for help on this project a few weeks ago but never heard anything back. I don't have time to develop unique code competitions but I'm willing to work with anyone willing to volunteer.