We hope everyone is as excited about the imminent release as we are! We’ll be hanging out in #hak5 on irc.techphile.ca as always for a killer release party. Oh, and supposedly there’s something else happening on the 5th involving pig skin… whatever 
–Darren
What better birthday gift could my dear co-host Wess ask for than an appearance in DC’s Adventures of Superman? Yes the above picture is not photoshopped, issue #648 features a cell with a trio of podcast loving metropolis thugs sporting none other than CommandN, TWiT, and Hak.5 attire. For those counting this is the second to the last issue of Adventures of Superman before the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis storyline. Issue #650 the comic will be renamed to just “Superman”. It is quite amazing to be featured in the 67 year running comic book of the super hero legend. Hats off to our DC admirer.
Tonight we wrapped up shooting of episode 7 and post production is well underway. As always we’re excited about the release next week, as well as some spiffy announcements to come .
Great news everyone, after searching nearly everywhere on the Internet we have finally found a suitable host for our video files. The best part is you can now subscribe to Hak.5 on iTunes!
This also means that the RSS feeds have changed. If you are subscribed to the H.264 torrent/direct or the Xvid torrent/direct please update your podcatching application by using the new feed links on the top left of the page.
Hopefully this will be the last time the feeds change since we’re using feedburner now. If you had trouble subscribing to the feeds before (we had some complaints about podcatching apps trying to download the .php file) try again now and let us know your experience.
And finally I would like to say hello to all the new viewers who have found us from Call for Help. It was a blast being on CFH and I hope you all enjoy Hak.5.
–Darren
Episode 6 is well on its way to release. We are planning on releasing no later than (6PM EST / 11PM GMT). Possibly sooner, latest news will be in the IRC channel. We have done minimum configuration of our new dedicated server and hopefully today’s first test of its capabilities will go well. If your direct download experience is sub par please let us know by comment or email. We will probably use the current bit-torrent tracker but that will soon change, along with nice new RSS feeds for iTunes subscriptions.
While you’re waiting for episode 6 you may want to check out some CES footage from our friends at Labrats and WASD.tv.
Remember, as always the pre and post launch party will be in #hak5 on irc.techphile.ca. Supposedly there is a team-speak party brewing which we may make an appearance on as well. Should be a riot.
–Darren
Today’s shoot went better than any of us could have anticipated. We shot a hacking segment with Harrison and Wess both in studio and down town and we’re very pleased with the final cut. With only two more segments to shoot tomorrow we’re all very excited about releasing this episode. Production quality is leaps and bounds above the last and our new set is near completion.
Harrison and Wess break it down on set.
You can tell by the big grin it was a good hack
We are also happy to say that our dedicated server is now up and running. It shouldn’t be long before we move direct downloads and bit torrents to that box. Again, thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way. It’s been nearly 7 months since production first started and we couldn’t have dreamed of better fans.
–Darren
Production Notes:
Episode 6 is on a roll. We took some time off to attend the TechTV Holiday Meetup, do the festive holiday stuff, and give the set and graphics a face lift, but with these last few days we’re cranking out segments left and right. I’m sure the image below will leave you wondering for a few days.
Try saying Cadmium Sulfide five times fast
We’re really excited about this next release; we’ve put a lot of work into each segment as well as the set and graphics.
Easter Egg Hunt Update:
As promised I’m giving everyone who is playing the Easter egg hunt from episode 5 a heads up on the next round. The final round of the hunt will be at 5:00 AM GMT on January 1st, 2006. Yes that’s just as the ball finishes its descent at time square in NYC. Don’t worry, there is only one final question to the hunt and I doubt the extra special holiday eggnog will affect your chances of winning. Incase you have no idea what I’m talking about head over to the episode 5 Easter egg hunt page and watch the video. Winner will be announced on episode 6.
Server Update:
As you are probably all aware for the last few months we have been using our account with filefarmer as our primary direct download spot. While we’ve been happy with filefarmer’s service nothing can make ten thousand downloads fit through a ten megabit pipe in one day. Thankfully we’ve just purchased a dedicated server on a 100mbit connection which should handle the heavy load we receive for the first week and a half of the month. This also means that shortly we will be up on iTunes with a brand new RSS feed. Thank you to everyone who has generously donated and helped us make this important next step.
I wish everyone a safe and happy new year and we’ll see you, hopefully with much faster downloads, on the 5th of January in 2006.
–Darren
What an amazing week it has been. All of Hak.5, sans Harrison due to exams, flew up to Toronto for the December TechTVHolidayMeetup. We had the most amazing time, and got such great footage too. I’m sure you will all enjoy episode 6 due January 5th of course. For flickr pics of the event check out Sean Carruthers, Brian McKechnie, and Andrew Paranczuk. Also keep an eye on Joel Morgan’s site for a video of the event. I’d point you to one of the Hak5 flickr accounts but we were too busy enjoying the event to really take pics. I’ve got a few grainy shots from my camera phone at textamerica for what it’s worth. Here are just a few Hak.5 Toronto highlights:
Darren, Mike (CFH, CommandN), Wess, Ali, Jon rock the meetup
Mubix, Adam (WASD), Frank (techPhile), Jon (Hak.5), Darren (Hak.5), Chad (WASD), Wess (Hak.5) all getting our micro on for Kyle from Pure Pwnage.
Leo Laporte, Darren, Jon, Wess, Ali, and Mubix on the set of Call For Help 2.0 after our segment (CFH Episode 315 for those interested)
The meetup was amazing, so many great people and chatting with the fans we met there rocked. Call for Help was both entertaining and educational; watching how the pros do it was inspiring. Much love and big shoutouts to everyone who welcomed us and took care of us in Canada. Shoutouts go to Frank, Leo, Amber, Mike, Brian, Jeff, Alex, Steve, Bill, Jenna, Chad, Adam, Sean, Andy, Matt, Ringer, Katya, Mohit, Doug, Kyle, Mubix, Branson, and everyone else who made us welcome in Toronto Land.
Now that we’re back from vacation its double time to get this episode filmed and out the door by the 5th!
–Darren
Episode 5 is being uploaded now. We should be releasing it very soon. I’ll just give you a heads up on the crazy weekend we just had. Frank Linhares of the techPhile podcast came down Thursday to guest star in Episode 5 as well as broadcast the live techphile podcast with us. If you missed the live event you can download it over at techphile.ca. A video version will be available soon.
Frank left on the 4th, leaving me just 24 hours to quickly edit the last segments, render, upload, the whole 9-yards. Everything would have gone as planned but unexpectedly my computer started shutting down while rendering. After trying just about everything for a few hours, including building a complete new rendering box, I realized that my computer was running at almost 190′ F. Poor little Athlon. I checked the heat sink and found the biggest dust bunny I’ve ever seen. There was a huge dust bunny infestation that was clogging up the heat sink fan. Yikes!
So now I’m in the process of writing up all of the little files that go along with releasing an episode and we should see it shortly. Head over to #hak5 on irc.techphile.ca to join the party, and again I apologize for the later than normal release.
–Darren
This Saturday, December 3rd, Frank Linhares of techPhile will be down at Hak.5 studios for a LIVE podcast.
Date: Sat. Dec. 3rd, 2005
Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern
Stream: http://sc3.spacialnet.com:13706/listen.pls
Phone Number: (508) 644-TECH
IM and Skype Calls: netsurge
IRC: #techphile on irc.techphile.ca
Email: questions@techphile.ca
Get your questions ready and we’ll see you Saturday!
The past few weeks have been filled with exciting developments and episode 5 production so lets break it down.
I’m very happy to say that the last segment for episode 5 was just shot and edited. The only thing left at this point is the “glue”, which we’re saving for this weekend. We’ll shoot the last bits on Friday the 2nd, finish up the timeline and start up those encoding boxes.
Then Saturday the 3rd we’re hosting the techPhile podcast with Frank Linhares LIVE on the set of Hak.5. Head over to techphile.ca for details.
Of course we release episode 5 on December 5th, so join us in #hak5 on irc.techphile.ca for all the release party shenanigans.
Then we head up to Toronto for the meetup on the 15th. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks let me clarify. Our indefatigable buddy Frank Linhares has organized the TechTV Holiday Meetup. The guest list includes Call for Help, commandN, Security Now, The Lab Rats, techPhile, WASD.tv, Major Geeks, and the PixelCorp’s Alex Lindsay. Registration and more details can be found over at TechTVHolidayMeetup.com.
And now for the screenshots hot off the post production box:
If you look really hard you can see my reflection in the arcade
Harrison is up to no good again…
I’m not sure how either of us kept a straight face through this segment
As you can see the set is really starting to take shape. And for once we’re not squeezed into frame now that we have a nice wide angle lens. And finally, after 5 episodes of complaining we have wireless mics… For half of the segments at least. 
–Darren
Hi hacklings. Tonight I was interviewed about Hak.5 on the Computer America radio show with Carey Holzman. It was a lot of fun and as I promised I now have the audio available for download in both MP3 and OGG for you open source fans. I’ve taken the liberty to cut out all of the commercials so the file is about 33 minutes long. I’ll keep these edited files available unless I hear otherwise from CA. I’d love to hear your feedback on the interview so hit up the forums or leave a comment here.
CA_Hak5_1.mp3 (15 MB)
CA_Hak5_1.ogg (14 MB)
Tomorrow starts filming for episode 5 so we’re really excited to get infront of, and behind the camera. I’ll have updates on production throughout the month.
–Darren
Friday night Darren, co-host & producer of Hak.5 will be on the Computer America radio show with Craig Crossman and Carey Holzman for a 1 hour live interview at 10pm EST / 7pm PST. Computer America is “America’s longest-running nationally syndicated radio talk show about computers” (Try saying that 10 times fast). You can tune into the radio broadcast if it’s carried in your area, check here for availability, or listen to the Internet stream. An MP3 copy will be available on this site the next day. I believe it’s a live call in show as well, so if you’d like to bug me about anything Hak.5 related now’s your chance.
–Darren
