Hak.5 is a ‘home-grown’ IPTV series about computers and technology. Shows typically last 45 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. The Hak.5 logo appeared alongside CommandN and This Week In Tech in an issue of the “Adventures of Superman” (Issue #648). Hak.5 has also been featured by Wired Magazine (Issue #14.05, May 2006) as must-see IPTV ubergeeks.
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.
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. During the two month off season for Hak.5, there are plans on shooting an RC1 of Hak.5 Live.
Contributors to the show have included Amber MacArthur, Leo Laporte, Frank Linhares, Mike Lazazzera, Kevin Mitnick, and Jenn Cutter among others. The show’s theme and music score is composed by Ashley Witt with additional music and graphics by Pronobozo. The show is primarily produced by a core of local friends who are the reoccurring guests.
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.
