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Hak.5 is a 'home-grown' IPTV series about computers and technology. Shows typically last 35 minutes to an hour and combine information, do-it-yourself projects and special guests, served up with wry humor and notable spoofs on technology. Cast members have also appeared on other more well known and mainstream shows such as Call For Help, Torrent (TV series), and Computer America[1]. The Hak.5 logo appeared alongside CommandN and This Week In Tech in an issue of the “Adventures of Superman” (Issue #648)[2]. Hak.5 has also been featured by Wired Magazine (Issue #14.05, May 2006) as must-see IPTV ubergeeks[3].
[edit] Origins
The show was created in 2005 by the co-hosts Darren Kitchen and Wess Tobler in a small homemade studio in Williamsburg, Virginia. Other production members include Paul "the camera guy" Tobias and Alanna (Alli) Buehring, who airs segments including monthly trivia, questions, and polls. The show is known for its high production quality and independence from a studio or channel sponsor.
[edit] Contributors
Contributors to the show have included Amber MacArthur, Leo Laporte, Frank Linhares, Mike Lazazzera, Kevin Mitnick, and Jenn Cutter among others.[4] The show's theme and music score is composed by Ashley Witt[5] with additional music and graphics by Pronobozo[6]. The show is primarily produced by a core of local friends who are the reoccurring guests.
[edit] Format and Distribution
Hak.5 broadcasts on the fifth of each month in XviD, iPod, Windows Media Video formats. The show is distributed via RSS, iTunes, YouTube, and Veoh.
[edit] Cast and Crew
- Darren Kitchen — gained his interest in photography and film at the age of nine when he began shooting stop-motion movies with Lego and a VHS camcorder. From there, his interest in film production grew, and he devoted more of his time to working behind the camera. He started programming computers at the age of ten in QBasic, and branched out to his now favorite language, PHP.
- Wess Tobler — generally hosts segments with hardware hacks and modifications. Wess may be better known for being the creator of Evil Server or for his repeated faux physical assaults on Darren. Since a lot of Wess' projects involve LEDs this has become his running joke: Wess is often called Led-man or gets suggested to add leds to practically anything, from a toaster to various body parts and more.
- Alanna Buehring — met cohosts Darren and Wess while in high school. She has since held a number of roles in theater production and other related tasks. Since the inception of Hak5, she has brought many of these skills (L) to the monthly production. During each episode, Alli handles the monthly trivia and poll and is often a key player in the humorous sketches throughout the show.
- Paul Tobias — is an associate producer and technical researcher back stage and in the labs at Hak.5. Paul often hosts Linux and Macintosh related segments and can be seen running the broadcast console during live shows.
[edit] Schedule by season
[edit] Season one
| Episode |
Date |
Feature/Hack/Mod |
Show Notes |
| 1x01 |
August 5, 2005 |
Hack: Controlling your household lights with an Internet enabled cell phone |
Hak.5 #101 |
| 1x02 |
October 5, 2005 |
Mod: Installing a custom 12-volt accessory outlet into a PC case |
Hak.5 #102 |
| 1x03 |
October 5, 2005 |
Mod: Modding the IBM Model M Keyboard |
Hak.5 #103 |
| 1x04 |
November 5, 2005 |
Mod: Building a mini arcade cabinet for under $100 |
Hak.5 #104 |
| 1x05 |
December 5, 2005 |
Feature: Birth of Evil Server |
Hak.5 #105 |
| 1x06 |
January 5, 2006 |
Mod: Laser Audio Transmitter |
Hak.5 #106 |
| 1x07 |
February 5, 2006 |
Hack: CVS Digital Camera Hack |
Hak.5 #107 |
| 1x08 |
March 5, 2006 |
Feature: IPTV subscription apps |
Hak.5 #108 |
| 1x09 |
April 5, 2006 |
Hack: VLC media player Remote |
Hak.5 #109 |
| 1x10 |
May 5, 2006 |
Hack: Converting Gmail to SMS |
Hak.5 #110 |
[edit] Season one specials
[edit] Season two
| Episode |
Date |
Feature/Hack/Mod |
Show Notes |
| 2x01 |
August 5, 2006 |
Mod: Automatic LED Lamp |
Hak.5 #201 |
| 2x02 |
September 5, 2006 |
Feature: Network Attached Storage Server with FreeNAS |
Hak.5 #202 |
| 2x03 |
October 5, 2006 |
Feature: USB Hacksaw |
Hak.5 #203 |
| 2x04 |
November 5, 2006 |
Hack: Q - The Mac Open Source Emulator |
Hak.5 #204 |
| 2x05 |
December 5, 2006 |
Feature: Trip to Toronto |
Hak.5 #205 |
| Live Beta 001 |
December 17, 2006 |
The first live episode, featuring live calls from viewers |
Hak.5 Live 001 |
| 2x06 |
January 5, 2007 |
Hack: Homebrew broadcast console |
Hak.5 #206 |
| 2x07 |
February 5, 2007 |
Feature: Hak.5 Live aka "Live Beta 002" |
Hak.5 #207 |
| 2x08 |
March 7, 2007 |
Hack: Paul checks out DD-WRT and Darren secures your system with Smoothwall |
Hak.5 #208 |
| 2x09 |
April 7, 2007 |
Feature: Shmoocon special |
Hak.5 #209 |
| 2x10 |
May 5, 2007 |
Feature: Season 2 Finale; Hack: Apple TV Hack |
Hak.5 #210 |
[edit] Season two specials
[edit] Season three
| Episode |
Date |
Feature/Hack/Mod |
Show Notes |
| 3x01 |
August 5, 2007 |
Mod: Underwater Camera Enclosure |
[2] |
| 3x02 |
September 5, 2007 |
Mod: Power Over Ethernet on Linksys WRT54G |
[3] |
| 3x03 |
October 5, 2007 |
Feature: 1984 Arcade in Springfield, MO |
[4] |
| 3x04 |
November 17, 2007 |
Mod: Guitar Hero Guitar Modding |
[5] |
| 3x05 |
December 3, 2007 |
Hack: Nokia N770 Internet Tablet Hacking |
[6] |
| 3x06 |
December 31, 2007 |
Hack: eeePC BackTrack 3, and Aircrack-ng |
[7] |
| 3x07 |
January 31, 2008 |
Feature: OpenWRT on FON router |
[8] |
| 3x08 |
March 7, 2008 |
Feature: Shmoocon Special |
[9] |
| 3x09 |
April 5, 2008 |
Feature: Yahoo Pipes |
[10] |
| 3x10 |
May 5, 2008 |
Feature: Season 3 Finale; Hack: To Be Announced |
Hak.5 #310 |
[edit] Notable guests
[edit] Featured contributors
- Harrison Holland - Presenter on the Sploitcast podcast.
- Jonathan Goldsboro - Also a Presenter on the Sploitcast podcast and winner of Hak.5's AFK-award.
- Originally the name was a working title, meaning “Not a full hack, more like a half-assed hack." -- Darren. During their pilot production Wess referred to the show as Hak.5 and unwilling to reshoot the take, they let the working title name stand. When spoken the show name is often abbreviated to "Hak5". "There's no point in Hak5," the cast frequently remark.[7]
- A frequent joke on Hak.5 is that Darren gets injured in every episode, which is seeming more and more accurate. In episode 2x02 (aired September 5th, 2006), while trying to punch (in jest) co-host Wess Tobler, Darren hit the edge of a piece of sheet metal, slicing through one of his fingers, including severe tendon damage. On September 12, 2006, he underwent surgery to repair his finger (and later "hacked" it by installing LEDs in the bandaging). In other episodes, Darren has also managed to be hit in the tooth with a laptop, dislocate his knee (due to a previous injury) and has been hit by Wess on more than one occasion. It has recently revealed that Darren has also cut his wrists on an Apple MacBook.
[edit] References and footnotes
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[edit] External links
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