What IRC users didn't want to say here

[Darren Kitchen]

then again why do i even bother, as i said , this guy it the typical new statistic, we long time fans dont matter anymore, comon darren admit it ... cos thats what it feels like.

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.

Yes, the show has changed, that was always a given, its evolved massively over the last few years. If it hadn't it would have gone stale, never gone anywhere and eventually it would have been given up on.

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 :)

Excellent points of view, both with valid arguments.....that won't be worth jack shit if no one's paying attention.

Let's hope someone is. <_<

Though I don't have as much forum/irc/bbs time as I used to, I am listening.

I was watching the HakHouse yesterday and they were filming Snubs' segment. I'd rather not give away the topic so I wont go to in depth about how it should have been researched more, but there was alot of things that weren't exactly true with what she was saying and with _maybe_ five minutes of research, she could have made her show alot better and more indepth.

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!

one of my favorite parts of the "old" hak.5 was the hardware hacks.. those are the ones i can get and understand.. but now its all programs and stuff, i still watch it because i find the whole show great, but one thing that they should bring back is the hardware side of things

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?

Things I wouldn’t mind seeing;-

1. Product reviews

2. How to (not to sound lame but, stuff like building a pc, start off basic and built it up as you go along “How to run an office pc for free!” e.g. Linux and Open office)

3. Question and Answers (Technical help, could be my pc won’t boot! How do i host a website? Though those questions border on point 2)

4. VM's explained in a little more (it's probally something I could/should go and Google, but sometimes we all want stuff served up on a plate for us)

Excellent suggestions. I wish more of you followed suit. What things wouldn't YOU mind seeing?

[rtfmorgtfo]

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.

I've been following since the first season; however I've started to find the content a little dry and somewhat boring. This is purely personal, I find wireless hacking and most things related to it tiresome, so the whole Jasager stuff was lost on me, I found the use of a pineapple quite comical, and Darren’s comments on travelling through airport security hilarious, but for me that was about it.

Everyone wants to take something different from the show; I enjoy watching the projects you guys do. I especially like the content Matt is bringing to the show e.g. the enterprise admin kind of stuff, its stuff I can relate to and its stuff I find useful. I also like the “tip-bits” that are often randomly thrown in “calibrate” was a useful website, didn’t really want to calibrate my monitors, but I went and gave it a go anyway =]

Things I wouldn’t mind seeing;-

1. Product reviews

2. How to (not to sound lame but, stuff like building a pc, start off basic and built it up as you go along “How to run an office pc for free!” e.g. Linux and Open office)

3. Question and Answers (Technical help, could be my pc won’t boot! How do i host a website? Though those questions border on point 2)

4. VM's explained in a little more (it's probally something I could/should go and Google, but sometimes we all want stuff served up on a plate for us)

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.

[Eviltechie]

I'd like to see some hardware hacks. Especially low budget ones with things everybody has. Like usb drives, keyboards mice, etc. Or how about a guide on how to add a neat temp gauge to the front of a computer?

I'd also like to see hacking. This show is called hak5, right? Well hack somebody or something! You showed a segment with one of you at a coffee shop with the pineapple. Good, but you forgot to do the hacking part. Spend at least 7 minutes straight at the coffee shop. While there, I want to see a detailed explanation on what to do, and I want to see the expressions of those noobs (I think you called them that) as their internet stops working, goes to kittenwars, or the images turn upside down. I really hope that at CES, we can see some of this.

Also, Shannon dosen't add anything to the show. While you were talking about your hacking tool in the kitchen, she was eating something out of a big tin. When she was talking about the usb ophcrack, that was also kind of pointless. It should have been something like a download of the week, not it's own segment.

HD, HD, HD. When will I get this? All my other webshows that I watch are HD. Is it so hard to set up?

I'll probabally think of other stuff later, but this is my few cents for now. (pun not intended)

[nullArray]

I'd like to see some hardware hacks. Especially low budget ones with things everybody has. Like usb drives, keyboards mice, etc. Or how about a guide on how to add a neat temp gauge to the front of a computer?

I'd also like to see hacking. This show is called hak5, right? Well hack somebody or something! You showed a segment with one of you at a coffee shop with the pineapple. Good, but you forgot to do the hacking part. Spend at least 7 minutes straight at the coffee shop. While there, I want to see a detailed explanation on what to do, and I want to see the expressions of those noobs (I think you called them that) as their internet stops working, goes to kittenwars, or the images turn upside down. I really hope that at CES, we can see some of this.

Also, Shannon dosen't add anything to the show. While you were talking about your hacking tool in the kitchen, she was eating something out of a big tin. When she was talking about the usb ophcrack, that was also kind of pointless. It should have been something like a download of the week, not it's own segment.

HD, HD, HD. When will I get this? All my other webshows that I watch are HD. Is it so hard to set up?

I'll probabally think of other stuff later, but this is my few cents for now. (pun not intended)

Most hacking is illegal, so they can't just walk into a coffee shop and steal their cookies and passwords. Putting it on a popular IPTV show is like turning yourself into the police.

Snubs adds plenty to the show. That was Darren's segment, not hers. If you kept watching, she had her own segment where she talked about rainbow tables and it was quite good, despite what others are saying about the semantics behind it. She was just being cute while Darren was talking, it made the segment hilarious.

HD is coming. I'm pretty sure they have all the stuff required. It might be a rev3 issue with setting up the RSS feeds. I dunno. Last night on HakHouse, Darren said the most today's episode was HD (it wasn't, not sure what happened there), and that their HD technology is better than Tekzilla's. Relax, it is coming.

[Eviltechie]

At the very least, can we knock of those 5 min square space ads? The last thing that I want to watch after waiting for this to download is big advertisements.

[nullArray]

At the very least, can we knock of those 5 min square space ads? The last thing that I want to watch after waiting for this to download is big advertisements.

Do you want Hak5 at all? Advertisements are a necessary component to keeping Hak5 alive.

[h3%5kr3w]

You can do all you want, but I think this all boils down to the fact that you cant do what EVERYONE wants you to do. I like the show the way it is, others dont, but then others do.

On the simplistic side of things with the show though, you have to understand something critical.

They JUST started broadcasting on REV3, and as such not to many real 1337 people watch shows on rev3, so to pull in the greater audience they do have to restart, as it were to let all the newbies (such as I) catch up with what they are doing.

Think of this season as a 'primer' season.

I have never made a webcast (though I was going to do monthly segments 4 progbox.co.uk as a distro reviewer... till I found I did not have the resources I needed, even though it was going to be a 5 min. segment....)

And yeah I'm a fanboy, a big fanboy of hak.5, and a relatively new one, but I get what they are doing, and compaired to other shows that evolve, this one has seemed to evolve pretty darn well compaired to the first season (havent watched the other seasons, just season1, and this season)

and sometimes it's just the fact of the matter that there are just not that many known hacks out there, hell there has been ALOT of hack content on hak5, you want them to just start over or something?

Finally, I know how it feels to look back at a show and go crap.. I have been with them from the get-go and now it sucks ass, and there is NOTHING I can do about it (diggnation), but this is not the case with this show, I think it just has to go through some growing pains, thats all.

BTW, almost everyone who has seen my posts knows multi-times over that diggnation was the show I loved and watched from the beginning, but probably sick and tired of me explaining that, so I'll tell you why and I'll finally quit it.. I bought the shirt, sounds silly, but I bought a $20 shirt and right after is when it went to shit, so now I dont even wear it cause probably the people who watch it now is a bunch of mac-1337's that dont know their asses from a port # (NOT refering to the mac-1337 peoples on this forum btw)

[nullArray]

I think there are plenty of 1337 people that watch Rev3 content.

Tekzilla and System are tech shows.

It's also the spiritual successor to the TechTV network in my mind.

[Eviltechie]

Do you want Hak5 at all? Advertisements are a necessary component to keeping Hak5 alive.

Sure, but there is a difference between 30 second ad and 5 minute endorcement

[nullArray]

They're most likely contracted to say a certain amount about the product, show a certain number of supporting material and/or take up predetermined amount of time depending on how much the advertiser wants to pay.

Be reasonable. Hak5 is brought to you for free. You should be glad the sponsorships are available to keep the show running. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Besides, if they bother you that much, just skip past them...,

[H@L0_F00]

They're most likely contracted to say a certain amount about the product, show a certain number of supporting material and/or take up predetermined amount of time depending on how much the advertiser wants to pay.

Be reasonable. Hak5 is brought to you for free. You should be glad the sponsorships are available to keep the show running. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Besides, if they bother you that much, just skip past them...,

Fast Forward FTW!! haha but seriously... some of you guys needa get whatever's stuck up your ass out, because Hak.5 is a fuckin KICKASS show with an all around KICKASS community!! Why rip on a FREE show, brought DIRECTLY to YOU WEEKLY!? WTF is wrong with you people!? If you don't like it... don't watch, k? Go make your own show instead of coming up with lame ass put downs to the show that deserves so much more than it's getting! Where would you be without Hak.5!? Not as knowledgeable as you are/think you are. Eviltechie, do you really want the adds to go away... Go donate, k? I seriously can't believe some of the shit you guys have said (or will say about this post), it's fuckin ridiculous...

Hak.5... Trust YOUR Technolust! And keep supplying great content!!

[nullArray]

Fast Forward FTW!! haha but seriously... some of you guys needa get whatever's stuck up your ass out, because Hak.5 is a fuckin KICKASS show with an all around KICKASS community!! Why rip on a FREE show, brought DIRECTLY to YOU WEEKLY!? WTF is wrong with you people!? If you don't like it... don't watch, k? Go make your own show instead of coming up with lame ass put downs to the show that deserves so much more than it's getting! Where would you be without Hak.5!? Not as knowledgeable as you are/think you are. Eviltechie, do you really want the adds to go away... Go donate, k? I seriously can't believe some of the shit you guys have said (or will say about this post), it's fuckin ridiculous...

Hak.5... Trust YOUR Technolust! And keep supplying great content!!

I honestly had a dream that I donated $50,000 and all I got was a "Thanks for your donation" email.

Although I guess I don't know what I was expecting.

[Kung Fu Jesus]

What would maybe be cool would be to see the NESPC mod again, maybe with some HDMI goodness. You guys remember that mod surfacing on the internet years back? Typically people would use a VIA C3 processor and Nano ITX board. You could put an atom based CPU in this one with the external power supplies (with most of the transformer on the outside with a few filter caps on the inside) and make for a fast low power drain computer. Pop the LinuxBios (now known as coreboot) on there (there are quite a few small form factor boards out there that are supported by it) for a fast cold boot.

Yeah this idea is derivative and nostalgic, but admit it, it would be cool to see again. I'll come up with something more original eventually :-p.

[jzman]

I love hak5 and i love the show. Ive been a viewer since 2006 and ive watched every episode. And yes lately i have noticed in season 4 the episodes have lost some sense of formality, its much more talk then segment, and isn't so "planned out" (i don't know the exact word) if i should say. To me informality is much more exciting. But like in the last episode (419), i saw alot more formality, like in season 3, and it still has personality and a nice viewer connection. I thought episode 419 was one of the best episodes of season 4. Even episode 420 had alot of formality, personality, and information (even though it was at CES), and i also really liked it. If you look at season 3 and then look at early season 4 you will notice a big differences, as in season 3 actually seems more pro and formal, less "bloopers" if i should say, but season 4 does have much more personality and seems like it has a better viewer connection. But still, i like all the episodes, and i think its really cool that these guys take time from their lives to make these episodes. Well that was my 2 cents of what i think about season 4.

[Baalho]

I found out about Hak5 after it joined Rev3. I really enjoy watching the show, keep up the good work.

I am still catching up on the old episodes.

It must take a lot of effort and energy to put the show together while having a full time job.

[Snubs]

I honestly had a dream that I donated $50,000 and all I got was a "Thanks for your donation" email.

Although I guess I don't know what I was expecting.

Heehee,

Donation gifts get better as they get higher. We ALWAYS send stickers no matter what, but if you go out of your way to send in like 50 bucks, then you get something else as well...

[Rain]

I finally read all these all i wanna say is[i] WOW[/i]

what if i send in $500

Can i get a custom hak5 unicorn?

or like a 4 foot evil server vinyl wall sticker?

OR A 8 foot hak5 Laser unicorn VS evil server Vinyl wall sticker ?

** day dreams the carnage**

[iyeman]

I finally read all these all i wanna say is[i] WOW[/i]

what if i send in $500

Can i get a custom hak5 unicorn?

or like a 4 foot evil server vinyl wall sticker?

OR A 8 foot hak5 Laser unicorn VS evil server Vinyl wall sticker ?

** day dreams the carnage**

Dunno about 500 but I donated a hundred during one of the script give aways and got one kissed by snubs (made Matt pay up on his joke lol)

Heres everything I got, minus the picture i had to print that myself but was given the link by darren

[nullArray]

Dunno about 500 but I donated a hundred during one of the script give aways and got one kissed by snubs (made Matt pay up on his joke lol)

Heres everything I got, minus the picture i had to print that myself but was given the link by darren

Ooo everyone signed your cast photo.

I must have been unlucky, or perhaps the other signatures are worth more <_<

Either way, I really appreciated my donation package anyway!

[5c4r3cr0w]

all i have to say is if you think you can do a better job do your own god damned show and stop bitching.

[Kung Fu Jesus]

The last few episodes have seemed much better.

[shonen]

The hardware hacks are pretty funky and you guys have done some outstanding work, I think it’s a little rich to request more especially seeing as the show has moved to a weekly scheduling. Obviously the gear required for some projects can get a little pricey, not to mention I am sure the research and assembly is time consuming. In my honesty opinion one hardware hack a month is reasonable. From a poor student viewer prospective, who can afford to do more than one hardware hack a month anyways? Well that would require quitting alcohol/smoking which isn’t going happen any time soon.

As for the open source reviews on the show I don’t find them as annoying as others are making out. I rarely enquire into that sort of thing and some things do escape ones attention. It’s nice to be kept in the know.

The HD format I personally don’t see as a massive issue, as far as I am concerned as long as I can read what is being entered in on screen I am happy camper. Besides the smaller the file size the quicker I can watch my downloaded episode.

I will agree that since the move to Revision 3 the show is slightly more n00bier than usual, hell I remember when I first started watching during season 3 and was all like WTF? But I don’t exactly see the slight n00b factor as a bad thing. I like the fact you guys give a quick explanation on the concept prior to diving into the nitty gritty, sometimes a quick refresher is exactly what one needs

After reading all of the posts on this topic and a lot of the concerns of the old School hak5 viewers about more complex Linux /Unix stuff. It seems sensible for the more seasoned Linux/Unix user to volunteer some time and show case there 1337ness as a special quest or lend a helping hand.

The other common gripe on this thread was the lack of technical explanation on topics in the new season. This seems a little unfair seeing as you guys do X amount of segments per an episode so obviously you are under time constraints with how deep you can dive into the rabbit hole. Technically explanations and further reading is best left on the forum or in the form of show notes as per usual.

At the end of the day it’s hard to please everyone but I for one am grateful that they even bothered to construct the show when they could have easily sat around the home playing games and drinking booze. You guys/gals have done a fantastic job and a lot of the stuff aired on the show I have implemented (FreeNAS, Smoothwall, USB Switchbalde etc).

I will simply finish by saying, thank you very much, I greatly appreciate it.

P.S: I have introduced a few of my fellow class mates to hak5 which we all watch huddled around a monitor during our lunch break. For a advertised Advanced Network Security diploma class it seriously is lacking the "Security" aspect, so yeah we have been relying on hak5 among other sites for info.

[str33ts0ld13r]

the way i see all this is that no one will ever completely agree and the show needs something for everyone, which it obviously has other wise there wouldn't be this many people that care about it. anyone that watches a tv show for more then a year can tell you that change is necessary. ive been watching hak5 sense the end of season 1 and yes it did have more information in it which was great (granted i would have to watch an episode 2 or 3 times to catch everything). but honestly i like the way that the show has evolved and i love what it has become. i think it is great that the show has added the element of entertainment i love the drinking and the whole attitude of the show. honestly i dont care if the show gets longer thats not something that bothers me, because i know that in order to fit everything in sometimes it adds length to the show and i dont want to see the show sacrifice any aspect of its self to fit into a time constraint. and lastly when i feel that the show is not teaching me or putting out enough information or what ever i plan on asking to see what i can do to add my knowledge to the show in the same way the show has added to mine.

[SoliliquySavira]

When I first started watching Hak5, I only understood about half of what was being talked about but found it really interesting.

Now a few years later I understand most of what's going on and find it boring/irrelavant to me and generally skip through most of the episode until I find a segment or two that interests me.

Maybe the show is catering to a newbier audiance/ I'm not as newbish anymore. But I don't think Hak5 can cover all levels at once, and that's alright, I just watch the bits that I find interesting.

Part of what makes Hak5 are the projects, such as the pineapple and RSS alarm.

Yes, I still enjoy watching Hak5, but I may be looking for a additional show or two to suplement it at my desired level (or just read more)

I really enjoyed the side story(Allie and Evil Server) and was disappointed when it was canceled :(

Another thing that I enjoyed the episodes involving hacking with Harison, which were always good learning about what's out there and can be done.

Amen. If I didn't understand it, I googled. Or left it alone, which was my choice.

I've found the show to be less interesting and almost worthless of late. There seems to be such a devotion to getting a better video quality (yes I watched the HD, I was using VLC and I didn't see a difference).

I enjoy the evil server things a ton, so does my brother. In fact, its the only way I can get him to watch it.

Go old-school. No school like the old school.

[h3%5kr3w]

WTF is this the I dont like hak5 anymore so look at poor old me thread?! Shit man, it's not like it's a whole different thing than it used to be, I mean I like constructive criticism but this is lame. You think it's too noobish for you, THEN QUIT FUCKING WATCHING THE SHOW AND QUIT POSTING ON THE FORUMS AND GO DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE WITH YOUR TIME!

This show is for all of us BUT it is NOT YOUR SHOW. It's a group thing here, and if you were an only child then go find a show that pertains just to you and leave us alone.