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https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/build-a-simple-switch/ | Build A Simple Switch | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"button",
"cd",
"copper",
"switch",
"velcro"
] | Forget hacking an easy button, grab a couple of those outdated CD-Rs and
build your own switch
for that next project. This was developed with handicapped accessibility in mind; assembled easily with common products and it’s fairly robust. In fact, our junk box has everything you need except the adhesive backed copper foil. Combine two old CD’s, covered in copper on facing sides, separated by two strips of Velcro to separate the conductors. When pressure is applied, one CD flexes to make contact with the other and complete the circuit. So easy, yet we never thought of it. We’ll add it to our list of
homebrew input devices
.
[Thanks Michael] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "191747",
"author": "NickS",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T21:07:30",
"content": "This idea has been around forever. The Army’s Improvised Munitions Handbook has something similar as a trigger for IEDs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,363.098237 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/cheaper-biometric-gun-safe/ | Cheap(er) Biometric Gun Safe | Jakob Griffith | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"biometric",
"fingerprint",
"gun",
"lock",
"pistol",
"reader",
"safe",
"scanner"
] | [Greg] sent in his
biometric pistol safe lock
. He keeps his guide light on details so not every Joe can crack the system (
there is a thread
to sift through if you really wanted to), but the idea runs fairly simple anyway. [Greg] took an old garage door opening fingerprint scanner and wired it into a half broken keypad based pistol safe. While he did have some issues finding a signal that only fired when the correct fingerprint is scanned, a little magic with a CMOS HEX inverter fixed that problem quick.
This does bring one question to our minds, are fingerprint scanners as easy to crack as
fingerprint readers
? | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "191726",
"author": "Volfram",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T20:20:37",
"content": "if your old friend [Sprite] is anybody to go by…http://spritesmods.com/?art=secustickThis could be really, really insecure if not done right.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},... | 1,760,377,363.296799 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/munchausen-makes-nes-a-cartridge-programmer/ | Munchausen Makes NES A Cartridge Programmer | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"bootloader",
"cartridge",
"flash",
"munchausen",
"nes",
"usb"
] | What a beautiful image of NES cartridges showing their private parts. These are the raw materials for the Munchausen Flash Cartridge project. A combination of a modified game cartridge and special USB cable makes it possible to
program NES cartridges while inside an unmodified console
. The cartridge has an added flash chip that is running a bootloader. By connecting a USB-to-NES cable to the second controller port a game image (or custom code image) can be flashed to one of the three game slots on the writable cartridge. The bootloader provides a menu at power-up to select between the three stored images, or can go straight to the previously selected image by holding down A when the console is turned on. There’s even a recovery routine in case of problems. Check out the demo after the break.
One thing we find interesting from the forum thread is a mention that it is technically possible to run code on the NES directly from the PC. That would sure make it easy to
perform live chiptunes on NES
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1rB2BZTg3o]
[Tha | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "191691",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T19:11:14",
"content": "Awesome, just plain awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "191695",
"author": "JMLB",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T19:12:23",
"content":... | 1,760,377,362.930123 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/a-ride-into-space-but-nothing-fancy/ | A Ride Into Space, But Nothing Fancy | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"balloon",
"camera",
"gps",
"hand warmer",
"hd",
"iphone",
"parachute",
"space"
] | [Luke Geissbuhler]
wanted to send something into space
, a fun project his kids could get in on too. Instead of
sending up a suite of electronic components
they went with consumer electronics. The key element, an HD camera to record the event, is protected by a styrofoam shell and soft foam padding. To help ensure that the device was recovered an iPhone also made the trip, running a GPS tracking program that continuously updated the package’s location. To combat the ill-effects of severe cold some chemical hand warming packs also joined the flight.
As you can see after the break, it was a success. The camera documented an incredible ride, with a balloon rupture at 19 miles above the earth (that must be a calculated height as there’s no altimeter in the package). The pod came down gently thanks to a parachute and was recovered just 30 miles from where it launched.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15091562]
[Thanks Ferdinand via
Flabber
] | 67 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "191597",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T16:07:04",
"content": "“Nothing fancy” is the best ride into space.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "191600",
"author": "craig christ",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T16:07... | 1,760,377,363.177677 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/build-a-beach-winch-for-wakeboarding/ | Build A Beach Winch For Wakeboarding | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"wakeboard",
"waterskii",
"watersports",
"winch"
] | Here’s a build log for
a nice beach winch
for your next trip out to go beachwinching. Beachwinching is when you use a fast winch on shore to pull you in, allowing you to wakeboard, wakeskate, or water skii without the need of waves or a boat or jet ski to pull you along. While there’s nothing amazingly groundbreaking here, we do love a nicely documented build log. We think a remote way to initialize the pull would be nice too.
You can catch an example video of beachwinching after the break
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nciyAvHJZ7c] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "191566",
"author": "Hurz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T15:10:04",
"content": "If you can get your car close to the water, you can also use a wheel rim.related Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo_s83UStkA",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comme... | 1,760,377,363.23068 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/bronze-casting-with-makerbot/ | Bronze Casting With MakerBot | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bronze",
"cast",
"coin",
"hackspace",
"makerbot",
"plastic"
] | That
, dear readers, is the smell of a new Hackspace opening up
in Davenport Iowa
. It is also the lovely scent of burning plastic. Because how do you celebrate a new Hackerspace? By
casting bronze coins of course
!
Begin by having a MakerBot extrude plastic coins, then compact the plastic coin in sand to produce a mold. Heat up your bronze in a trashcan furnace and pour it into the mold. The plastic melts away and you’re left with a bronze coin.
There are probably some safety measures and precautions that should be followed as well… | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "191545",
"author": "HeBD",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T14:37:09",
"content": "medallion would be better than coin and to complete the cycle infill part of the medallion using the makerbot. dont forget to embed a rfid chip in the infill plastic for key-less access to the new hackerspace... | 1,760,377,362.74341 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/photo-booth-in-briefcase-form/ | Photo Booth In Briefcase Form | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"briefcase",
"canon",
"case",
"lenovo",
"pelican",
"photo booth",
"photoboof"
] | Taking portability one step further [Marty Enerson] built
a photo booth in a roll-away case
. The Pelican mobile case houses an Elo Touchscreen, a Canon PIXMA iP3000 photo printer, and a Canon Powershot SD100 digital camera. Most of this, including a Lenovo laptop to run it, was purchased second-hand from eBay, with a copy of
Photoboof
(different from the
wedding photo booth
from last week) to tie up the software side of the project. He plans to add a folding stand later on to make it into a kiosk. For some reason that sparks the image of a voting booth in our minds. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "190989",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T22:12:36",
"content": "i wanna see a stereoscopic 3D photo booth XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "190994",
"author": "lee",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T22:22:43",
"... | 1,760,377,362.793016 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/from-sign-language-to-spoken-language/ | From Sign Language To Spoken Language | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"flex sensor",
"mega",
"sign language",
"speakjet",
"voicebox"
] | As part of a senior design project for a biomedical engineering class [Kendall Lowrey] worked in a team to develop
a device that translates American Sign Language into spoken English
. Wanting to eclipse
glove-based devices that came before them
, the team set out to move away from strictly spelling words, to combining sign with common gesture. The project is based around an Arduino Mega and is limited to the alphabet and about ten words because of the initial programming space restraints. When the five flex sensors and three accelerometer values register an at-rest state for two seconds the device takes a reading and looks up the most likely word or letter in a table. It then outputs that to
a voicebox shield
to translate the words or letters into phonetic sounds. | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "190886",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T20:14:03",
"content": "Now that’s how you use an Arduino.Can it be ARM time now? Triple bonus score given the application.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "190889",
"auth... | 1,760,377,363.038114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/more-openwrt-image-building-for-the-dockstar/ | More OpenWRT Image Building For The Dockstar | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"dockstar",
"freeagent",
"openwrt",
"samba",
"seagate",
"subversion"
] | [Der_picknicker] wrote in to let us know about a guide to
building OpenWRT images for the dockstar
(
translated
). What they end up with is a nice little network attached storage device that runs SAMBA and subversion under the umbrella of OpenWRT. We looked at
flashing and building OpenWRT
images for this device back in July. The development branch of OpenWRT hasn’t quite reached a stable release yet, but much has been done in the last few months.
The machine translation is a little rough, but the compilation process is easy enough to follow. If you don’t care to slog through compiling (which apparently takes 1-2 hours) they’ve also made their images available for download. It should be possible to flash via SSH but you might want to
add a serial port to the device
just to be safe. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "190843",
"author": "Mr_Bishop",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T19:28:57",
"content": "You darn Germans and your awesome skills with hacking/modding. But quick question why is this better then the default firmware? Other then its the legendary OpenWRT (my shatty Linksys routers wont let me... | 1,760,377,362.978465 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/125-off-the-evalbot-is-a-steal/ | $125 Off The Evalbot Is A Steal | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"arm",
"cortex-m3",
"coupon",
"discount",
"evalbot",
"stellaris",
"texas instruments",
"ti"
] | When you see $125 off something you probably assume it cost several times that to start with. Nope, this drastic discount leaves just $25 plus shipping. Use coupon-code: 2JLP-R4XRT3
when ordering the little rover
. There’s a quick video snippet of it embedded after the break.
What you’ll get is a Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller on a board with a bunch of goodies.
MicroSD slot
USB host and device connectors
I2C audio with speakers
Ethernet connector
96×6 OLED display
Motors
Optosensors
Bump detectors
As always,
we want to hear about the hacks
you come up with once you have this little guy in hand.
[update, the code is now expired]
[final update — Someone from TI explains what is going on.]
—- from the comments.
As some posts already note, the coupon code is only available to ESC Boston attendees. That said, we’re psyched about all of your interest and understand there seems to have been some confusion, so TI plans to fulfill all of the finalized orders to date. We’re working on some logistics in getting the code up and running again for ESC Boston attendees, but proof of ESC registration will be required. Stay tuned.
We hear you about the e-store and are working as quickly as possible to avoid issues in the future. Thanks for your patience.
Bottom line – we’re glad to see the excitement around EVALBOT and look forward to checking out your projects! We encourage you to share them on our e2e Forums at
http://e2e.ti.com/
-Jean Anne Booth, Texas Instruments
——-
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQPyZPQcyKI]
[Thanks GDM] | 518 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "190735",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T17:43:30",
"content": "Cool little device, I’d buy it if I had an extra $25 laying around.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "190737",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,362.879122 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/wood-burning-house-heater/ | Wood Burning House Heater | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"burning",
"danger",
"heater",
"rocket stove",
"wood"
] | Dabbling in alternative heating technology, [Rob Steves]
built a wood stove
to dispose of his scrap wood while negating his home’s fire insurance at the same time. As the leftover bits from his wood projects started to stack up he wondered how he would dispose of them. Burning the bits for heat means he’s using every last bit of the lumber. The internal tank from an electric water heater was repurposed as a combustion chamber, with exhaust gases escaping through some high-temperature flexible tubing. The glass panes were removed from one of the fireplace doors to give the off-gases a place to go. The result is
a rocket stove
that burns very hot and does a great job of warming his house.
It’s not the safest way to heat a home, and there may be coding issues with your municipality. But this might go well in a remote location, like
that cabin where you have to generate your own electricity
.
[Thanks HybridBlue] | 59 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "190708",
"author": "Bergo",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T16:39:18",
"content": "hahaany everyone was complaining the laser hacks were unsafe…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "190709",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-10... | 1,760,377,363.496123 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/electronic-dice-overkill-and-simplified/ | Electronic Dice, Overkill And Simplified | Caleb Kraft | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"dice",
"random",
"simple"
] | [littlebird] posted a tutorial on
making electronic dice
. He’s using an ATmega328 for the numbers work, and a mercury switch to activate it all. A nice blue enclosure to match the blue LEDs he’s using for the number display wraps it up nicely. Of course, someone had to mention that this was an amazing amount of over kill and it could just be done with a 555 timer like they used to do “back in the day”. [littlebird] responded with
another tutorial
to prove that he hadn’t forgotten how to work with the basics. He goes on to point out, now that we see both in action, that he can expand his microcontroller based one quickly with a few lines of code, where every new feature added to the 555 timer version would require additional components.
You can catch videos of both after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYCv0avM-uQ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3qwNPPrAQ0] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "190641",
"author": "The DON",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T14:49:59",
"content": "A little bit more programming needed.At the moment, the ‘dice’ can flip from one ‘side’ to the opposite ‘side’ instantly. EG: the numbers can be seen to flash through from 3 to 4 (opposite sides of a die) ... | 1,760,377,364.523085 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/04/ir-receiver-as-usb-keyboard/ | IR Receiver As USB Keyboard | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"18F2550",
"ir",
"pic",
"protocol",
"receiver",
"sirc",
"sony",
"usb",
"xbmc"
] | [Arthur] built
an IR receiver to use with XBMC
. Because it’s software specific he identifies the device on USB as a keyboard, and passes the IR commands as keystrokes used by the popular media platform.
Normally,
homebrew IR receivers
would use
LIRC
, the Linux Infrared Remote Control software. But this method doesn’t require you to have that running. In fact, it doesn’t need any setup on the PC end of things. Any remote that uses the
Sony SIRC protocol
will work off the bat.
[Arthur] chose a PIC 18f2550 for the project. It is a popular microcontroller because it has built-in USB handling. We’re a bit skeptical of the hardware design though. We didn’t see specifically which IR receiver he’s using, but many require some type of filtering so check the suggested layout in the datasheet for your module. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "190581",
"author": "Ben Ryves",
"timestamp": "2010-10-04T13:14:42",
"content": "Nice work! I built something similar for PowerDVD using an ATtiny84 and V-USB:http://benryves.com/products/powerdvdremote",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,377,364.277929 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/03/hackaday-links-october-3-2010/ | Hackaday Links: October 3, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"bit-52",
"case",
"lego",
"rocket",
"tower"
] | Sugar rocket
We’re told that
this rocket
is sugar powered. It’s quite a bit bigger than the
homemade sugar motors
we saw last week and it makes for quite a show. [Thanks Estqwerty]
Wooden PC construction
The finished look of this wooden PC case seems very familiar to us but we’re not sure we’ve seen
pictures of the build process
(updated link, sorry [Jeff]) before. There’s something extremely satisfying about how well its creator works with a file. [Thanks Anders]
Working on top
We never realized that this job existed, but if you repair communication towers it’s a heck of a climb to work. The video of
a two-man crew climbing a 1600 foot tower
is one of the most interesting we’ve seen this year. [via
Blogging Protagonist
]
Lego typing machine
[Dougal’s]
typing machine
types his name… over and over again. An interesting little piece of mechanical engineering, we’d have to think for a while to decide the best use for this little guy. [Thanks Chris]
Typing on a different type of keyboard
Here’s another typing machine but this time it’s not a keyboard and not purely mechanical. Pictured is one of the performers in
an old equipment ensemble
performing with whining stepper motors, speech synthesis, an other antiquated noise-makers. [Thanks Mike] | 32 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "190089",
"author": "Navic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T19:12:28",
"content": "Awesome rocket flight! The scale is amazing, great recovery! Sure was a large batch of propellant to make, lol.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "190091... | 1,760,377,364.228684 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/03/millennium-falcon-doll-house/ | Millennium Falcon Doll House | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"millenium falcon",
"minifig",
"peg doll",
"pixie",
"star wars"
] | Sometimes all it takes is one idea. The shape of a cutting board found at a thrift store prompted [Paul] to build
a Millenium Falcon doll house
. In addition to the strangely shaped cutting board, a ring from a CD spindle and some wood slats divide the internals while PVC fittings complete the cockpit assembly. To really bring things alive for the kids [Lin] made
a bunch of minifigs from hobby pegs
. These exhibit her artistic skills as we think they’re better than most of the stuff you could buy in a store.
Kids really bring out the best in hacking. Looks like these children have been enjoying the spoils of hacker parents for a while, with
a cardboard rocketship
(beats any refrigerator box hands down),
Pixie-Dust bottles
using some small LED bits, and a
doll bed that repurposes a wine rack
.
[Thanks Joby] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "189974",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T17:19:28",
"content": "X3 sometimes you wish you were a kid again",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189985",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T17:32:59",
... | 1,760,377,364.025422 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/03/zinc-sulfide-glow-power-at-home/ | Zinc Sulfide Glow Power At Home | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"glow",
"pennies",
"powder",
"torch",
"zinc sulfide"
] | Further solidifying her mad-scientist persona, [Jeri Ellsworth] is
making glow powder with household chemicals
. When we saw the title of the video we though it would be fun to try it ourselves, but the first few minutes scared that out of us.
To gather the raw materials she puts some pennies in a bench motor and files them into powder. From there it’s trial and error with different cleaners and tools to create just the right dangerous reaction to get the chemical properties she’s looking for.
Check out her experiments after the break. And if you find you’re wanting more, go back and take a look at
her EL wire fabrication process
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veOiHb-KuSE] | 40 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "189963",
"author": "hmm",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T16:47:30",
"content": "Destroying currency is illegal.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189967",
"author": "Zengar",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T16:59:26",
"content": "@... | 1,760,377,364.356041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/03/chiptune-instrument-from-nes/ | Chiptune Instrument From NES | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"2a03",
"arduino",
"chiptune",
"mega",
"midi",
"nes"
] | [Jarek Lupinski] wanted an instrument that would let him play chiptunes live, without a need for pre-programming a cartridge for playback during a concert. His preferred hardware is an original Nintendo Entertainment System because of its familiar nostalgic sound. After picking up a lot of 5 broken NES units
he set out to build a midi-compliant device
.
The five NES units he bought had nothing wrong with them other than the 70-pin cartridge connector. He fixed them all, then de-populated the board on one and tried to build out a circuit on a breadboard. After much trial and error, forum searching, and conversations with others who were familiar with the hardware he got the circuit working. He’s posted a schematic and had a board fabricated which takes the transplanted chips and transforms them into an instrument. Check out the test notes being played by an Arduino Mega after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yui7YrLShsg] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "189918",
"author": "IX",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T15:29:29",
"content": "Gah! I was working on pretty much the same thing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189948",
"author": "embedded",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T16:21:35"... | 1,760,377,364.406176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/03/spinning-pov-clock-done-oh-so-right/ | Spinning POV Clock Done Oh-so-right | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"atmega324",
"clock",
"double sided",
"hall effect",
"induction",
"ir",
"led",
"pcb",
"POV"
] | [Kizo] built
an extraordinary persistence of vision clock
. The design uses a PC cooling fan to spin the propeller-like PCB. As it goes around, a hall effect sensor synchronizes the illumination of the LEDs to draw the display. Power for the rotating electronics is transferred wirelessly via a transformer on the base and coil on the spinning board. The final version uses an ATmega324 microcontroller running at 20 MHz and has an IR receiver for changing the settings. The 3000 lines of code bring a lot of bells and whistles, including a menu system with a huge amount of settings from tweaking the clock display, to font selection for scrolling messages. Take a look at the demo after the break. The double-sided board looks like it’s pretty difficult to etch at home, but as you can see from
the forum post
(
translated
), [Kizo] did a great job on this build from start to finish.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1saYuGyw7A] | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "189867",
"author": "Eirikur Hrafnsson",
"timestamp": "2010-10-03T13:11:35",
"content": "Wow that is amazingly well done! Make a kit :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189875",
"author": "Marcus Quintilian",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,377,364.090313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/02/decoding-mp3-in-python/ | Decoding MP3 In Python | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"codec",
"decoder",
"h.264",
"mp3",
"python"
] | We all listen to them, but do you know how the compression for an MP3 file actually works? [Portalfire] wanted to find out, while honing his Python skills at the same time. He’s been working on
an MP3 decoder in the Python language
. So far he’s had some success, with
the first working decoder
clocking in at just 34 times slower than real-time. But since then
a bit of optimization improved that
to 10 times slower.
Sure, it’s not a usable module yet but his goal of learning the algorithms has been reached. A combination of reading about the standard and looking at code from other projects made that possible. In the future he plans to try the same thing with the H.264 codec. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "189455",
"author": "Ken",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T21:09:21",
"content": "It’s an interesting project. Most “real” decoders are heavily optimized which decreases code readability. This is a lot of educational value to this project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,364.157186 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/02/diy-night-vision-monocle/ | DIY Night Vision Monocle | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camcorder",
"infrared",
"ir",
"led",
"monocle",
"night vision"
] | This interesting mashup shows it’s easy to
make your own night vision goggles
. It makes use of just a few parts; the viewfinder from an old camcorder, a low-light security camera module, and a collection of infrared LEDs.
The low-light camera is capable of detecting infrared light, which is invisible to our eyes. If you shine the right IR LEDs on an object, they will cast enough light for the camera to clearly view the objects around you. The camcorder viewfinder is nothing more than a compact way to display what the camera sees. This would be easy to accomplish with
a wearable display
. It is also beneficial to have a large IR light source so you may consider modifying
that giant LED flashlight
you’ve been meaning to build so that it operates in the infrared wavelengths.
This project comes from the same source as the
Laser Microphone
we looked in on last month. Just like that one, there’s plenty of extra information about this build. There’s suggestions for choosing and focusing a light source. This includes using lasers as the source, and binoculars for long-range viewing. | 29 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "189404",
"author": "Cubby",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T19:20:05",
"content": "Cool idea. Happen to have an old camera viewfinder laying around, along with a bunch o’ spare IREDS and a couple of security camera modules. Now I can do something with ’em.Never would have thought about do... | 1,760,377,364.470576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/02/rc-ppm-hacked/ | R/C PPM Hacked | Jakob Griffith | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"control",
"flying",
"model aircraft",
"ppm",
"rc",
"remote",
"usb"
] | [Thomas Pfeifer] has taken the PPM signal produced by model aircraft wireless controllers, and with an ATMega8,
converted the signal to act as a USB joystick
. Which means you can now use a standard R/C remote control to fly model aircrafts on your computer. Of course now with PPM decoded you could also use the signal to control any electronic device. Like your
mower
,
iPod
, and we’ve even seen
remote controlled pellet guns
. Catch a video of [Thomas] flying a simulated
quadrotor helicopter
after the jump.
[Thanks Max]
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRP6-gmG-i4&feature=player_embedded%5D | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "189307",
"author": "anontroll",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T17:17:42",
"content": "has been done many times before. what’s novell?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189310",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T17:25:45... | 1,760,377,364.587882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/02/android-apps-using-processing/ | Android Apps Using Processing | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"emulator",
"processing",
"sdk"
] | Processsing has come to Android. [Jer] posted a guide to setting up the software and
coding your first Processing app for Android
. The module which supports Google’s mobile operating system is not yet part of the stable Processing release but it works and is
available to download and use
. It provides support for Android version 2.1 and newer, playing nicely with the SDK to emulate your sketches during development. The Hello World app seen above uses just a few lines of code to draw a white box on an orange background. After you’ve installed and tested the tools you’ll be developing in no time.
This makes a great addition to
your Android development tool bag
.
[Thanks Tech B] | 11 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "189277",
"author": "hmm",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T15:36:26",
"content": "I’d rather have a Processing 101 than a C Sharp Development 101.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189290",
"author": "Neil",
"timestamp": "2010-10-... | 1,760,377,364.69803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/02/usb-ports-hidden-inside-gaming-mouse/ | USB Ports Hidden Inside Gaming Mouse | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"cartridge",
"g5",
"hub",
"logitech",
"mouse",
"usb",
"weight"
] | [Gigawatts]
built a pair of USB ports into his mouse
and there’s enough room to plug-in small USB drives and dongles. After seeing
Thursday’s storage mouse hack
he decided to tip us off about the post.
He started with a Logitech G5 gaming mouse. The wireless version of this mouse has a battery pack, but on the corded version
this space is used for a weight cartridge
. Since he didn’t really care about that feature he ditched the weights, added a USB hub inside, and positioned the dual ports as seen in the photo. The void is deep enough for the mouse to function normally while hosting medium to small-sized devices. This is a fantastic solution that’s at least as impressive as Apple adding USB ports to a keyboard. We’d love to see it as a factory option.
Update:
Video after the break
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/22446672@N00/5051945013/] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "189252",
"author": "therian",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02T13:07:11",
"content": "so in order to read usb stick he need to stop mouse usage?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "189255",
"author": "Marc",
"timestamp": "2010-10-02... | 1,760,377,364.760565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/open-source-pick-and-place/ | Open Source Pick-and-place | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"pcb",
"pick and place",
"tweezers",
"vacuum"
] | This is a
vacuum tweezers head for an open source pick-and-place
. Those are the machines that professional printed circuit board manufacturers use to populate a circuit board with components before heading to the reflow oven. [Drmn4ea] built it with at-home rapid manufacturing in mind. The black orb on the left is a webcam for optical placement. The needle in the middle is an interchangeable vacuum-tool head. The motor on the right allows for different attachments to be swapped in automatically to suit a variety of parts.
This interfaces with a 3-axis CNC machine and should be easily compatible with a RepRap, Makerbot, or similar device. We wonder how he plans to handle reels of components, but this is a well-executed first step in the journey to a complete solution.
Want to see a professional pick-and-place at work? Check out one of SparkFun’s machines busy build a board after the break.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/3449765030/] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "188981",
"author": "mess_maker",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T21:36:31",
"content": "I love those machines, it is like watching a fish tank… very soothing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188983",
"author": "Jack",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,364.903347 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/disco-drumming-with-piezo-sensitive-lighting/ | Disco Drumming With Piezo Sensitive Lighting | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"attiny2313",
"drum",
"dutch carnival",
"led",
"piezo",
"rgb"
] | [Wilfred’s] brother outfitted a snare drum with LEDs for Dutch Carnival. They faded through different colors randomly and were a nice addition to the normal looking instrument, but [Wilfred] suggested that
the LEDs change color with each drum stroke
. He set out to design a controller circuit to provide the functionality and ended with a small package based around an ATtiny2313 microcontroller. A piezo buzzer is used to detect the vibrations inside the drum, each hit triggering a different color combination. The LEDs fade to off after each impact as if dying along with the sound, and when not struck for 30 seconds the system defaults to a red heartbeat pattern. See for yourself after the break.
We’d love to see this feature added to each drum in one of those
robotic drumsets
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv88M1jl1K8] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "188876",
"author": "Mr. Sandman",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T17:53:54",
"content": "trippy…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188878",
"author": "Derek",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T18:06:19",
"content": "Thats Awesome, Wou... | 1,760,377,365.347443 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/next-generation-arduino-manufacturing-problems/ | Next Generation Arduino Manufacturing Problems? | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"manufacturing",
"mega",
"pcb",
"quality",
"routing",
"uno"
] | [The Moogle] just got his new Arduino Uno; wow, that was fast. What should have been a happy unboxing
turned sour when he took a close look at the board
. It seems that it exhibits several examples of sloppy fabrication. The the lower-left image shows unclean board routing, a discolored edge, and a sharp tooth sticking out from the corner. The shield header shown in the upper left is not flush with the board, resulting in a weaker physical union and a crooked connection. There are vias that look like they’re not be centered in the solder mask, and areas where raw copper is exposed.
It saddens us to see this because the original Arduino boards were so well manufactured. Keep in mind that this may be an isolated case, and as of yet the company hasn’t been given the chance to swap out the board for one that has passed a more rigorous quality control inspection. But if you’ve already ordered one of your own, take a close look and make sure you’re satisfied with it upon arrival.
Not sure what we mean by next generation Arduino? Take a look at
the new hardware that was recently unveiled
.
Update:
Here’s
a direct response from the Arduino blog
.
Update #2:
[Massimo Banzi], one of the founders of Arduino,
took the time to comment
on this post. It details the organization’s willingness to remedy situations like [The Moogle] encountered and also links to the recent Arduino blog post. | 119 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "188796",
"author": "redbeard",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T15:55:53",
"content": "How about the fact that they’re so hell bent for leather to use everything AVR that it shows up as a ttyACM device in linux (the source of a lot of the problems with the launchpad). You’d think somebody ... | 1,760,377,365.243086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/youre-stealing-it-wrong-a-speech-by-jason-scott/ | You’re Stealing It Wrong: A Speech By Jason Scott | Caleb Kraft | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"defcon",
"piracy",
"warez"
] | [Jason Scott], data historian extraordinaire gave
this fantastic speech at Defcon 18 about the history of inter-pirate piracy
. At an hour long, it is an enthralling journey through computer history, especially pertaining to piracy. Take a seat, no matter how much you know about security and piracy, you are likely to learn a few things. We find the lesser discussed issues like pirates stealing other pirates work interesting, as well as the part where pirates have to crack really boring software to have a release when there’s nothing better out there. Also worth noting, according to [Jason], the demoscene evolved from the little opening sequences from cracks. There are just too many interesting aspects to note here, even some porn related stories during the BBS days.
This is a great lesson from someone who is both knowledgeable and entertaining. [Jason] teaches this stuff without ever sounding stuffy, boring, or overly technical. Catch the video after the break.
[vimeo =http://vimeo.com/15400820] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "188789",
"author": "draeath",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T15:31:34",
"content": "No transcript? I’d rather read than watch a presentation on vimeo.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188790",
"author": "MRC",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,365.408271 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/gameboy-advance-rapid-fire-hack/ | GameBoy Advance Rapid Fire Hack | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"gameboy",
"gba",
"hack",
"rapid fire"
] | Ever find yourself in the middle of a Game Boy game and your hand cramps up? Save that sore wrist for something else because now you can
hack the Game Boy Advance to add Rapid Fire for the B button
. [William] has developed a way to do this by creating a simple circuit that generates a square wave on the B button when it is pressed. To do this hack all that was needed was a short shopping list of:
A Couple NAND Gate ICs
2n2222 NPN Transistor
0.1uF ceramic capacitor
A Switch
1M ohm resistor
Some Thin Wire
After that you’re off to the races as [William] documents how he goes about transforming the Game Boy Advance and includes a ton of great pictures and a schematic. This operation ends with [William] placing the switch for Rapid Fire excellence next to the Right Bumper where it is inconspicuous and yet easy enough to access.
Via [
HackedGadgets
] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "188755",
"author": "unaB",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T13:59:33",
"content": "YIKES! That is the gobbiest ugly solder mess Ive seen in a while. Maybe this is better suited for “kludge-a-day”?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188757... | 1,760,377,365.156069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/mac-tablet-keeps-the-look-of-the-donor-macbook/ | Mac Tablet Keeps The Look Of The Donor-Macbook | Mike Szczys | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"core2duo",
"macbook",
"tablet",
"touchscreen"
] | [Enigma-penguin] built
a tablet computer out of a Core2Duo Macbook
circa 2007. The battery exploded, damaging the case and a few components inside. But there was hope for a new life as a tablet computer. He removed the screen and tested to make sure the computer would still function without it by using the video out port.
Putting the whole thing back together as a tablet proved to have some headaches. He worked through problems caused by the addition of a touchscreen between the LCD and the bezel and made the connections work with the screen flipped. The finished product looks so good because the bezel has not been turned around
like on other tablet builds
. Instead, a viewing window was cut in what would have been the case behind the screen.
There’s a little more to be done yet. The black USB cable seen above is the connector for the touchscreen which he plans to internalize. The magnetic sleep sensor has been relocated to the headphone jack. Inserting a plug (no cord necessary) puts it to sleep for transport. There’s also an on screen keyboard and the ability to change the screen orientation from landscape to portrait. After the break we’ve embedded one of [Enigma-penguin’s] demonstrations.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZGskdaJww0]
[Thanks Stephen via
Neowin
and
their Forums
] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "188738",
"author": "Grovenstien",
"timestamp": "2010-10-01T13:16:18",
"content": "once again proving that OSx works reasonably well when using ones finger as an input device. Im still trying to figure out how to make OSx recognise two or more cursors, thus allowing multitouch to ru... | 1,760,377,365.292351 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/launchpad-takes-ultra-low-power-to-the-extreme/ | Launchpad Takes Ultra Low Power To The Extreme | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"chip",
"count",
"display",
"launchpad",
"lcd",
"low power",
"msp430",
"raw"
] | We’ve all known the MSP430s under the Launchpad are designed to be low power, but who wants to bet
how long the chip can last
on only 20F worth of capacitors? A couple of hours? A day at max? [Kenneth Finnegan] setup a MSP430 with supercaps to find out. To make sure the chip is actually running, [Kenneth] programmed it to count from 0 to 9 over a period of 10 seconds, and then reset. To get it ultra low power, the chip is in sleep mode most of the time, and a raw low current LCD is used to display the output. While [Kenneth] simply checks the chip every few hours to see if it’s still counting, a setup much like the
Flash Destroyer
, tracking a clock and then storing the current value would get a more exact time of death. Either way, it’s been over 3 weeks…and still counting. Video after the rift.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbjpQmjwMyU&feature=player_embedded%5D | 62 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "188397",
"author": "johannesburgel",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T22:04:29",
"content": "I think we will see more of these circuits soon – runs for weeks, and can be “reloaded” in seconds.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188399",
... | 1,760,377,365.498927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/c-sharp-development-101-part-1-hello-world/ | C Sharp Development 101 – Part 1: Hello World | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"News",
"Software Development"
] | [
"c sharp",
"c++",
"programming",
"tutorial"
] | In this tutorial we are going to get up close with the Visual Studio 2010 environment. We will learn how to make a console application as well as a form to display our hello world applications. This will give us an opportunity to view 2 types of solutions of the many available in Visual Studio. We will start making the console application first then progress to the forms application.
First we must understand the development environment we are going to use. On the far left side is the toolbox panel. This panel gives us access to a lot of controls that can be used by the Windows Forms. Next is the Solution Explorer that will allow us to navigate the projects and files we are going to create in this Solution. The Properties panel is directly under my Solution Explorer and will allow us to change properties of controls and of the form we will create later on. If any of these are not being displayed they can be retrieved from the View menu at the top under Other Windows. For more information on the Visual Studio IDE visit
MSDN
and search for the specific questions you are having.
Then we need to start the Visual Studio environment and create a new project. To do this we will go to File then navigate to New Project and click it. A dialog box will appear and ask you which project you would like to include in your solution that will be automatically created for your project. We need to use the Console Application. Next we need to replace the box at the bottom where it says
ConsoleApplication1
with
HelloWorldConsole
and then after the project and solution is created press
CTRL-S
to change the name of the solution file to
HelloWorld
in the box under the project name box and press
OK
. This will create a project inside a Solution file. The solution file acts like the glue that binds all projects included in the solution file together. Later on we will discover how this is beneficial for creating projects and making class files that reference DLL’s that we will code.
Once the project is created we are going to edit the program.cs file. After you have open the program.cs we are going to add the text necessary to have the program output “Hello World” to the console. To do this we will need to add the line
Console.Out.WriteLine(“Hello World!”);
inside the static void main curly brackets. After this is complete we can now build and attempt to build our solution. To build the solution we need to press
CTRL + SHIFT + B
and the build process will being. After the build is a success we can now run the Console Application by pressing
CTRL + F5.
This will display a command prompt with “Hello World!”.
Here is the source code for
program.cs:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace HelloWorldConsole
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.Out.WriteLine("Hello World!");
}
}
}
We can now move on to the windows forms application of Hello World. To do this, we need to go to the solution and
Right Click
, then go to
Add
then click
New Project
. For the project we will name it
HelloWorldForms
. After the project is created we are going to delete the
Form1.cs
and we are going to create a new form by Right Clicking the HelloWorldForms Project, Navigating to
Add
then to
New Item
, and when the dialog box appears we are going to pick
Windows Form
.
The name we are going to use is
main.cs
and press
Add
. We now edit the
program.cs
to change the
Form1
that can be found in the file to
main
. After the Windows Form is created we can start adding in Controls from the Toolbox.
We are going to drag a label and a button onto the form portrayed in the middle of the program. We are going to edit the properties here to make the text inside the label blank and the name of the label
lbHelloWorld
instead of
label1
. After this is done we are going to want to edit the button we dropped onto the form earlier. We will change the name of the button to
btnHelloWorld
and the Text of the button to
Click Me!
. After this is done we are going to want to use an event handler to tie the button and the label together, so when the button is clicked “Hello World!” will appear in the label.
To make an event handler for the button we are going to go to the Properties panel and click the button on the top that looks like a lightning bolt. This will take us to all o the event handlers that this button can handle. We want the Click event handler, this will create the code required to handle a click event in the
main.cs
. Now that the wrapper is there we can code the output to the label when the button is clicked. Inside the curly brackets of “
private void btnHelloWorld_Click
” in
main.cs
input the following line of code to link the two Controls:
lbHelloWorld.Text = “Hello World!”;
This will make the
main.cs
look like this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace HelloWorldForms
{
public partial class main : Form
{
public main()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void btnHelloWorld_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
lbHelloWorld.Text = "Hello World!";
}
}
}
The
program.cs
should look like this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace HelloWorldForms
{
static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new main());
}
}
}
After all of this is completed we need to run the program by pressing
CTRL + F5
again. The screen that should appear should be something like this:
The screen after the button has been pressed should look like this:
Now that we have completed the next tutorial you should be able to move through the Visual Studio IDE to make multiple projects under one solution, delete files within a project and create new forms and classes, and modify source code within event handlers. The next tutorial will go more in depth with the Visual Studio Toolbox and make a form with controls on it with minimal backbone code, as well as review some of the common files created and what is automatically included for you. For more information on Toolbox Controls you can check out
Microsoft MSDN
article on Toolbox Controls. If you are having any trouble with this project feel free to comment and I will help to try and resolve the issue. Until next tutorial, Happy Hacking! | 50 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "188371",
"author": "PhilKll",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T21:21:41",
"content": "Thanks for the tutorial, I was worried, having previous done a few things in C# it would take a few of these before it got to anything new for me, but the explanation of Solutions and Projects, was very he... | 1,760,377,365.733707 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/build-a-cutting-laser-from-an-old-pc/ | Build A Cutting Laser From An Old PC | Mike Szczys | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"burn",
"cut",
"diode",
"lens",
"LM317",
"pc"
] | [Drake Anthony] makes
building a cutting laser from a PC
look easy, and it seems like it actually is. Almost everything you need can be found in a dead desktop unit. The diode is pulled from a DVD writer (16x or faster), with the power supply unit, and heat sinks from the processor and GPU being used as well. You’ll also need a focusing lens (just a few dollars), some thermal glue, an LM317, a resistor, and a pair of protective goggles matching the laser diode’s wavelength.
He fits the diode into the lens, then glues the assembly into a hole drilled through the processor heat sink. A driver is built using the LM317 variable regulator, resistor, power supply, and the GPU heat sink to keep things cool. Check out the video after the break to see the laser cutting tape, burning plastic, and lighting matches.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihZiGUKUS8] | 75 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "188338",
"author": "Terc",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T20:23:01",
"content": "Burning hand at 3:29",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1058582",
"author": "Logan",
"timestamp": "2013-09-15T02:31:13",
"content"... | 1,760,377,365.589136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/printing-from-a-famicom-clone-computer/ | Printing From A Famicom Clone Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"db25",
"famicom",
"keyboard",
"nes",
"printer"
] | This is an 8-bit computer and Famicom clone that [133MHz] bought for $2. It plays Nintendo games and using an 80-in-1 cartridge it has a rudimentary operating system and set of applications. Seeing a standard DB25 port on the back [133MHz] wondered if he could
make the system talk to a printer
. His first step was to investigate the electronics inside to find that the connector has a couple of chips that map to the data bus of the CPU and use the same control lines as the cartridge. That means it can be setup to do just about anything in software. After a bit of coding he’s got it printing to a dot-matrix. See for yourself after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl1R4f5sKMA]
[Thanks Tomasito] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "188295",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T19:24:58",
"content": "Am I missing something here? It appears that the setup was designed from the start to print.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188298",
"author": "... | 1,760,377,365.639927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/the-new-apple-tv/ | The New Apple TV | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"a4",
"apple tv",
"arm",
"Cortex-A8",
"exploit",
"SHAtter",
"xbmc"
] | You’ve probably already heard about the Apple TV 2. It retails for $99 and packs a punch with HD video, optical audio, and WiFi in that tiny package. But as always, we like it for its hackability. Even though it’s just starting to ship, the hacks are already rolling in. The firmware is available from Apple’s servers and
has already been unlocked
with the yet-to-be-release SHAtter exploit. [Das_coach] even sent us a link to a video of
the new Frontrow ported for the iPod touch
(embedded after the break).
But the holy grail has to be XBMC. We’ve seen it
on the first generation Apple TV
and it was good. The second generation switches to
the A4 processor
which is an ARM Cortex-A8. Not quite as easy to port for as the Intel chip on the first generation was. But there is hope, one of the 2010 Google Summer of Code projects worked to port
XBMC to another ARM device
, it’s just a matter of inspiring some developers to take on the quest to make it happen. We can’t wait for the day that we can just velcro one of these to the back of our TV and be done with it, that first generation Xbox isn’t going to last forever.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTJ5yG2LyX8]
[
Photo credit
] | 38 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "188227",
"author": "3nigmat1c",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T17:22:48",
"content": "XBMC on the AppleTV would be pure win.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188240",
"author": "fdawg4l",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T17:50:38",
... | 1,760,377,365.808055 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/usb-mouse-with-storage-added/ | USB Mouse With Storage Added | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"hidden",
"hub",
"mouse",
"thumb drive",
"usb"
] | [Thice] wanted to try his hand at
incorporating a USB driving into other devices
. He chose to add storage to his USB mouse but didn’t want to alter the factory look provided by a color-changing LED inside. To make things fit he ended up cutting a good portion of a USB hub’s circuit board off and placing it beneath the mouse circuitry. You can see the board from the thumb drive wedged into one end of the case in the image above.
He sees this as a way of hiding data in plain sight. This is true, and it’s along the same lines we’ve seen before with
a WiFi dongle in a mouse
, or the
thumbdrive in a controller
hacks. To be truly hidden we’d like to see someone incorporate a microcontroller that monitors the mouse buttons for a certain code, and then toggles the voltage to the USB storage. This would simulate plugging and unplugging the drive, hiding it virtually as well as physically. | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "188184",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T16:05:26",
"content": "“I fear you are underestimating the sneakiness, sir.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188193",
"author": "NateDogg",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T16:... | 1,760,377,365.875405 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/wooden-quadcopter-body/ | Wooden Quadcopter Body | Caleb Kraft | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"flying",
"quadcopter",
"rc",
"wood"
] | [Greasetattoo] shares the process of
building his wooden quadcopter body
that won 2nd place in the Minnesota state fair. His plans were purchased as a kit back in 1999, but he never got around to actually building them. The original plans called for a foam board body, but he felt that a wooden piece of art would be much nicer. This build isn’t focusing on the electronics, they’re just a kit from Mikrokopter. Instead, it is a log of the entire process of making the beautiful wooden body. He really put some nice detail in there from the layered and nicely finished dome to the little oak sleeves for his motors. Great job [Greasetattoo]. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "188158",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T15:22:30",
"content": "Maybe he could use the BaronPilot could complete it?http://www.elenafrancesco.org/arduino/baronpilot/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188187",
"autho... | 1,760,377,366.187121 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/30/dazzling-coat-sure-to-be-in-demand-with-pimps-everywhere/ | Dazzling Coat Sure To Be In Demand With Pimps Everywhere | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"burning man",
"coat",
"dreamcoat",
"faux",
"fur",
"rgb",
"tlc5940"
] | This is the newest addition to [Arren Parker’s] Burning Man wardrobe. The full-length lighted faux-fur coats is completely his creation. He started with a pattern that he acquired from Ebay, adding side pockets and changing the hood to a collar. From there he added the 256 RGB LEDs that make it shimmer so appealingly.
For this to work, he designed and ordered 300 tiny PCBs on which a connector socket and the LED are soldered. These are driven by a set of six TLC5940 pulse-width modulation chips, and ultimately by an Arduino. The effect is spectacular (see for yourself after the break), and we’re sure it’ll be a hit at burning man.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15385739] | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "188126",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2010-09-30T13:23:17",
"content": "It’s like a Christmas tree for hookers to sit around and get their presents!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "188129",
"author": "Jake",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,366.062286 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/magnets-capable-of-brain-hacks/ | Magnets Capable Of Brain Hacks | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"magnet"
] | It has been recently discovered that all of the snap decisions that your brain makes on which hand to use to do simple tasks, such as picking up an object from a table, can now be automatically decided for you. This is done using magnetic stimulation that is applied using
transcranial magnetic stimulation
or TMS. This TMS will affect the brains ability to process motor movements and reduces the chances that the right hand will be chosen over the left. This major discovery was found by
PNAS
(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) who hopes to use this later on for rehabilitating stroke victims, making them using the limbs that may suffer from the event. Here is to hoping that an in home product will be released in the future so children can become ambidextrous in everything they do. It seems like that is a way off but it does seem more natural than most hacks to
your body
.
Via [
iO9
] | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "187864",
"author": "Wolfton",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T21:30:02",
"content": "Magnetic Mind Control?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187878",
"author": "EFH",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T21:54:34",
"content": "It wasn’t... | 1,760,377,366.145646 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/dreamcast-vmu-meet-ipod/ | Dreamcast VMU, Meet IPod | Mike Szczys | [
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"6th generation",
"dreamcast",
"memory",
"sega",
"vmu"
] | We’d bet you never had a Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit, but if you can find one now
it can be turned into an iPod
(
translated
). The
VMU
was originally a memory card for the not-so-popular gaming console that put an LCD screen right in your controller. When you weren’t at home you could take it with you and play mini-games. This version lacks its original guts, which have been replaced with a 6th generation iPod nano. The screen is just a bit small for the opening so a frame of white tape was applied as a bezel. The sleep button has been extended through the cover for the VMU connector. It seems there’s a gaping hole in the back of the case, but after seeing the ultrasonic knife used to cut away the plastic we don’t care. We’ve embedded video of that tool after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcA2qQvGoF8]
[via
Reddit
] | 55 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "187817",
"author": "UltraMagnus",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T20:11:21",
"content": "Let me be the first to ask, where can you buy one of those vibroscalpels?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187818",
"author": "spiritplumber",
... | 1,760,377,366.270166 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/tiny-cray-1-courtesy-of-an-fpga/ | Tiny Cray-1 Courtesy Of An FPGA | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"cray-1",
"fpga",
"Spartan-3E",
"supercomputer",
"xilinx"
] | [Chris Fenton] spent a year and a half
constructing a 1/10th scale Cray-1 reproduction
. The
famous supercomputer
was meticulously modelled in a field programmable gate array for a “nearly cycle-accurate” reproduction. [Chris’] hardware of choice for the project is a Xilinx Spartan-3E 1600 development board, using 75-80% of the available resources. The finished product runs at 33 MHz and is missing a few functions but it sounds like they don’t affect code execution. We like that he didn’t stop with the processor implementation, but also took the time to produce a case for the development board that looks just like the original.
Unlike the
Atari 2600 FPGA project
, we’re not quite sure what we’d use this for. But that doesn’t diminish the excellence of his work. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "187801",
"author": "F.",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T19:19:29",
"content": "Awww, aren’t you the cutest little supercomputer, aren’t you? Yes you are!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187802",
"author": "Jonathan Badger",
"t... | 1,760,377,366.332348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/thinner-client-using-stm32-and-ntsc-monitor/ | Thinner Client Using STM32 And NTSC Monitor | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"framebuffer",
"ntsc",
"stm32",
"thin client"
] | [David Cranor], along with [Max Lobovsky’s] help,
managed to build a thin client
that uses an NTSC television as a monitor for only $6. This is his first foray into the world of ARM architecture and he has vowed to never use an AVR again. The powerful little chip uses timers to manage sync and DMA to transfer the full 480×240 frame buffer to the screen. Overclocked at 80 MHz there’s a lot of potential in this little board and he plans to take on the challenge of a full-color display for his next trick. | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "187778",
"author": "Taylor Alexander",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T18:32:04",
"content": "Yeah, I’ve been buzzing a bit about this in the comments myself lately, but I feel like it doesn’t hurt to say it a bit more.I’ve been looking at ARM too lately (Atmel SAM7 and SAM3… if the SAM3 e... | 1,760,377,366.401253 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/lazarus-64-not-actually-64-bit-but-still-blows-our-minds/ | Lazarus-64, Not Actually 64 Bit But Still Blows Our Minds | Jakob Griffith | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"74H",
"AVR",
"console",
"game",
"ic",
"logic",
"video"
] | Lazarus-64, breadboard game system; certainly
sounds like something from the 1980s
. We were surprised to find out not only the name, but also all the ICs used are only those available from the retro age of 30 years back (Save for the AVR controlling everything, of course). Even more amazing is how it has 256 flicker free color support, while not using NTSC chips. Which Goes to show that even if there are common solutions out there for cheap, building or compiling your own is not necessarily a bad thing or a waste of time.
There is a whole lot more to Lazarus, including double buffering and VMS, but sadly it appears progress has stopped on the Lazarus-64 breadboard game system, with the last update being last year. But we can still bask in the amazing glow that currently is. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "187764",
"author": "c0olcast",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T17:36:28",
"content": "Some one pls, mirror this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187768",
"author": "nah!",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T17:54:51",
"content": "way... | 1,760,377,366.453382 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/creepy-robot-really-wants-money/ | Creepy Robot Really Wants Money… | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"beg",
"money"
] | As technology advances forward so does the numerous ways to beg for money. [Chris Eckert] has developed a robot to do the deed for him. With an odd eye mounted on the top of the robot to invoke pity presumably and a tin can out front to collect change from people it may encounter this is quite the hobo robot. On his
build log
, you’ll find tons of great pictures of the entire process from start to finish. With robots sent to beg people for money, it is only a matter of time until the first squeegee robot is cleaning your car at a red light. Make sure to check out the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujJu0uyY-8o]
Via [
BotJunkie
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "187740",
"author": "deathventure",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T16:10:54",
"content": "Please donate to the Skynet fund. If you donate, you will receive the great gift of serving your robot overlords instead of instant destruction.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,377,366.56904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/16-bit-alu-in-minecraft/ | 16 Bit ALU In Minecraft | Caleb Kraft | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"minecraft",
"video game"
] | We love games here but we don’t often get a reason to write about them. This, however, is worth mentioning. The indie hit Minecraft is eating the entire internet right now. The game itself is hit and miss amongst our staff, but this project is unanimously accepted as awesome.
[Theinternetftw} has created a simulation of the ALU section of a 16bit processor
. He can set it in motion and run around watching as the states change. This is part of an even bigger project to create the entire processor as shown in the book “
The Elements of Computer Systems
“.
For those that are wondering how long it took him to place all of those pieces, he actually imported most of it from another program. You can get more details on how they pulled this off in this
forum thread
. Be sure to catch the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkkyKZVzug] | 34 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "187718",
"author": "sM10sM20",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T15:31:21",
"content": "Words cannot describe my respect for this man and his project… how may I serve you my master?No seriously, all jokes aside this is amazing. I love you.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,377,366.523652 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/29/woot-lights-and-mice-transplants/ | Woot Lights And Mice Transplants | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"lights",
"logitech",
"LPT",
"microsoft",
"mouse",
"parrallel",
"port",
"quake 2",
"transplant",
"usb",
"woot"
] | [Nathan Long] sent in two fairly simple mods he’s been working on. The first is the control of
Woot-off Lights via LPT port
. A computer checks
Woot
for the Woot-off logo, and if the logo is spotted, on go the lights. It’s really just a twist on the
LED/Arduino email message system
, but the creativity is nice.
His other modification is the stuffing of a
Microsoft Intellimouse inside of a Logitech Wingman
. With the goal of giving the old PS/2 mouse USB capabilities and removing the terrible ball. For those that are asking themselves “why bother? Terrible ergonomics, no scroll wheel, etc.” [Nathan] claims it’s for Quake 2 nostalgia, to each their own we suppose. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "187710",
"author": "brad",
"timestamp": "2010-09-29T14:32:26",
"content": "i’ve been considering a mouse transplant for a little while. i have renewed confidence of success now!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187715",
"auth... | 1,760,377,366.609886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/launchpad-not-limited-to-value-line-chips/ | Launchpad Not Limited To Value Line Chips | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"isp",
"launchpad",
"msp430f2272",
"texas instruments",
"ti",
"tssop"
] | Wanting to use my TI Launchpad as more than just a development board I thought I’d do a few experiments using it as an in-system programmer. After a few tripping points I was able to get it working and then some. It seems that the device is not limited to just the value line of microcontrollers it was intended to support. In the image above I’m using it to program an
MSP430F2272
which is a pretty powerful little chip with 32 KB of program space. Click through the break for more information on the setup.
I started by etching a breakout board for the 38TSSOP package so that I had something usable.
Drag soldering
to the rescue, this turned out to be easier than I had expected.
Once I had access to the pins it was just a matter of checking out the connections used on the Launchpad board and hooking up the f2272. It turns out you only need three; TEST, RST, and GND. You can power the circuit externally or make a fourth connection to the voltage. I was sad to see that the jumper header doesn’t have GND on it so in addition to using an IDC cable, you can see in the image at the top that there’s an orange jumper wire going to the ground-pin breakout from the chip socket.
But I didn’t quite have it working yet. I had problems reliably connecting to and talking to the chip. After studying
the schematic
(ZIP) I realized I was being plagued by a floating reset pin. I grabbed a 4.7k resistor as a pull-up to volatge and communications are now perfect. For my test code I’m building a small version of pong using a Nokia 3595 LCD screen.
I’m using 100% open source tools for this which means I’m not limited to a 2k code output. You can setup these tools for yourself by following
our TI Launchpad on Linux tutorial
. | 43 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "187396",
"author": "will",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T20:07:17",
"content": "really? i might get one or ten now…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187398",
"author": "NatureTM",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T20:14:02",
"conte... | 1,760,377,366.742254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/building-a-crystal-oven/ | Building A Crystal Oven | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"crystal",
"frequency",
"mosfet",
"oscillator",
"oven",
"radio",
"scott harden",
"thermister"
] | Radio communications depend on stable oscillator frequencies and with that in mind, [Scott Harden] built
a module to regulate temperature of a crystal oscillator
. The process is outlined in the video after the break but it goes something like this: A small square of double-sided copper-clad board is used as a base. The body of the crystal oscillator is mounted on one side of this base. On the other side there is a mosfet and a thermister. The resistance of the thermister turns the mosfet on and off in an attempt to maintain a steady temperature.
This is the first iteration of [Scott’s] crystal oven. It’s being designed for use outdoors, as his indoor setup uses a styrofoam box to insulate the oscillator from ambient temperatures. He’s already working on a second version, and mentioned the incorporation of
a Wheatstone bridge
but we’ll have to wait to get more details.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVluqDqQZX0] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "187402",
"author": "bilbao bob",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T20:18:27",
"content": "I’ve had excellent luck using big old power FET heatsinks coupled to Peltier junctions and using foam enclosures over voltage or clock sources. It’s wild to see how controlling temp can increase precisi... | 1,760,377,366.88823 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/graffiti-analysis/ | Graffiti Analysis | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"gesture",
"gml",
"graffiti analysis",
"graffiti markup language"
] | Here’s a fascinating project that started with a great idea and piled on a remarkable amount of innovation.
Graffiti Analysis
is a project that captures gestures used to create graffiti art and codifies them through a data-type called Graffiti Markup Language (
GML
). After the break you can watch a video showing the data capture method used in version 2.0 of the project. A marker taped to a light source is used to draw a graffiti tag on a piece of paper. The paper rests on a plexiglass drawing surface with a webcam tracking the underside in order to capture each motion.
The newest iteration, version 3.0, has some unbelievable features. The addition of audio input means that the markup can be projected and animated based on sound, with the example of graffiti interacting with a fireworks show. The 3D tools are quite amazing too, allowing not only for stereoscopic video playback, but for printing out graffiti markup using a 3D printer. The collection of new features is so vast, and produces such amazing results it’s hard to put into words. So we’ve also embedded the demo of the freshly released version after the break.
Graffiti Analysis 3.0
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/13327615]
Graffiti Analysis 2.0
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7283422]
[Thanks BoBeR182] | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "187336",
"author": "Michaël",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T18:32:43",
"content": "If these guys were just a bunch of attic hobbyists making this stuff up to amuse themselves then i’d have said ‘awesome!’ but this bloated ‘fenominal’ ‘enhanced’ ‘so many applications’ nonsense really put ... | 1,760,377,366.838365 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/photo-booth-for-a-wedding/ | Photo Booth For A Wedding | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"photo booth",
"PVC",
"serial",
"wedding"
] | [Joe Bain]
built a portable photo booth
for his wedding. We’ve looked in on photo booths before, both as a robust feature
in your apartment
and as
a mobile option
. But making it part of a wedding reception is the best reason we’ve found to build one. [Joe’s] electronics consist of a laptop, camera, screen, and a big pushbutton that interfaces via a serial cable and adapter. He found some software that was written for photo booths which takes care of almost everything including polling the “go” button.
The booth itself is a frame build from PVC pipe (another chance to use
those fancy fittings
) with fabric dividers hanging from it. This is fun for the wedding-goers and it produces a bit of nostalgia for your scrapbook. | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "187325",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T17:59:28",
"content": "I built one for my wedding and have been renting it out to defray costs. Total cost was several times what a rental would have been, but I’ve been having fun with it. It’s certainly not a money-maker, thou... | 1,760,377,367.043227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/single-string-servo-electric-guitar/ | Single String Servo Electric Guitar | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"guitar",
"instrument",
"midi",
"music"
] | Ah, we love musical hacks that actually play music. [Mike Baxter] is back again with a new servo electric guitar. This one, called the
physical string synthesizer
, and has only one string. He’s using two Arduinos to control the unit. One to change the midi file to a note within the string’s limits and the second to actually control the servo. It seems like that could be simplified a little bit, but we’re pretty sure his end goal was to build an instrument quickly, not learn to be a circuit ninja. Last time we saw Mike Baxter, he had built
a servo electric guitar that used a keypad for control
. You can see a video of the single string one after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrcGkLtNsY0]
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "187270",
"author": "s",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T15:16:13",
"content": "I love it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "187297",
"author": "zing",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T16:23:40",
"content": "What’s more important is h... | 1,760,377,367.089713 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/solder-paste-how-to-tutorial/ | Solder Paste How-to Tutorial | James Munns | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"paste",
"solder",
"tutorial"
] | The
application of Solder Paste
is an essential part of short run manufacturing and prototyping. After getting back bare boards from a PCB shop, its time to get down to business and populate those boards. This new tutorial set assumes you have access to things such as stencils for your boards, but does mention a couple of resources on commercially available ways to purchase stencils. Of course, if you have a laser cutter, we can
help you out
. After getting your solder paste chops down, make sure you check out our guide to
toaster oven reflowing
.
[Thanks to P. Torrone] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "187257",
"author": "Brad Hein",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T14:30:11",
"content": "I notice the paste is very carefully placed onto the pads in the picture without any paste in between. My understanding is that the paste can actually be slopped all over the pins and when it is heated, ... | 1,760,377,368.708442 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/28/homemade-solid-propellant-rocket-motors/ | Homemade Solid Propellant Rocket Motors | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"motor",
"potassium nitrate",
"propellant",
"rocket",
"solid",
"sugar"
] | [KoD] and [Navic] are
building solid propellant motors
using sugar and potassium nitrate. They cook up the two ingredients along with water and a bonding agent. They find that corn syrup is particularly good for bonding and that cooking the strange brew is more of an artform than science. Either way, the video after the break is proof of the dangers involved in this hobby. Testing the engine thrust with a bathroom scale ends badly for the scale.
There is something satisfying about the ingenuity that goes into the materials. For a casing they’re using PVC pipe, and forming a cone to focus the thrust by using a what amounts to plumber’s epoxy putty. The capping agent for the finished motor is ground up kitty litter.
This is an interesting read, but for now
we’re going to stick to water rockets
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_mze6kZb94] | 42 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "187240",
"author": "ClutchDude",
"timestamp": "2010-09-28T13:41:18",
"content": "A good book that discussed this was “The Art of Living Dangerously”. I think he used Dextrose instead of sugar though.Good book though. Walks you through the basics and gives references for you to read ... | 1,760,377,369.25178 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/work-for-hack-a-day/ | Work For Hack A Day | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [] | HackADay.com, a well-known and respected blog dedicated to all things hardware and hacking related, is looking for knowledgeable and passionate writers to join their team of specialized and dedicated freelance writers. This is a paid, freelance position that requires professionalism, consistency, and reliability in both writing style and deliverables. We’re eager to track down and bring in some of the most passionate folks out there in the software/hardware/tech & hacking world. We pay our writers a solid per-post rate and we’re ready to take HackADay to the next level with more content across a wider array of interests and expertise. If you’re a good writer that loves the kind of stuff we talk about, then we want
you
to be behind the growth and dominance of this household name in hacks.
All hardware/hack/tech junkies encouraged to apply, but folks with experience in the following fields will get bonus points:
–circuitry design
–robot building
–mobile device programming
–full desktop application programming
–computer security
–gritty hardware fabrication
–modifying existing systems
If you’re ready to join HackADays’ team of top-notch freelance writers, apply through our
ONLINE JOB BOARD
. Formal resumes are welcome, but cover letters with links to blogs, writing samples or any portfolio work is really what we’d like to see. Here’s an idea of what to include:
A short bio about yourself
3 example daily posts written in the style of Hack a Day
3 software or hardware how-tos you’d like to see on the web. For examples of work we’ve done in the past, look at some of our project summaries, How-tos, and software tutorials.
A couple sentences on how you would improve the site either through features or content
Any additional reasons why you would make a good fit for Hack a Day
Thanks for your interest! | 48 | 45 | [
{
"comment_id": "186708",
"author": "Donov4n",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T21:31:21",
"content": "So, how much do you guys pay for that?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186710",
"author": "Shae Erisson",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T21:32:16",
... | 1,760,377,369.094057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/gpu-processing-and-password-cracking/ | GPU Processing And Password Cracking | James Munns | [
"Security Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"amd",
"ATI",
"crack",
"CUDA",
"gpu",
"hack",
"NVIDIA",
"password",
"sdk",
"stream"
] | Recently, research students at Georgia Tech
released a report
outlining the dangers that GPUs pose to the current state of password security. There are
a number of ways
to crack a password, all with their different pros and cons, but when it comes down to it, the limiting factor in all of these methods is processing complexity. The more operations that need to be run, the longer it takes, and the less useful each tool is for cracking passwords. In the past, most recommendations for password security revolved around making sure your password wasn’t something predictable, such as “password” or your birthday. With today’s (and tomorrows) GPUs, this may no longer be enough.
Although the article never mentions them by name, the newest tools in password cracking are based around two tools,
nVidia’s CUDA
and
AMD’s Stream
SDKs. These tools allow programs to be written in C that can be broken up and utilize the parallel nature of the hardware that is usually optimized for graphics. GPUs are much better at large-scale mathematical operations than CPUs because of this parallel layout. Chances are, if you have a
somewhat recent
graphics card, it is probably compatible with either CUDA or Stream, and if you already know C, you have all the tools necessary to get started.
The lesson to learn here, the longer or more complex a password is, generally the safer it is. Because of this, a number of tools, both
software
and
hardware,
may become more and more popular, or necessary, to accommodate this need. | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "186690",
"author": "anonymous",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T20:22:45",
"content": "ruh-roh",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186693",
"author": "haltux",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T20:28:48",
"content": "“GPUs are much bett... | 1,760,377,369.17989 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/wireless-electrocardiography-with-iphone/ | Wireless Electrocardiography… With IPhone | Mike Szczys | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"ecg",
"electrocardiogram",
"iphone",
"msp430",
"wbsn",
"wireless"
] | This module is
a sensor package for monitoring the electrical activity of the heart
. It is the product of an effort to create a Wireless Body Sensor Network node that is
dependable while consuming very little electricity
, which means a longer battery life. To accomplish this, the microcontroller in charge of the node compresses the data (not usually done with wireless ECG hardware) so that the radio transmissions are as short and infrequent as possible.
[Igor] sent us this tip and had
a short question and answer session with one of the developers
. It seems they are working with the MSP430 chips right now because of their low power consumption. Unfortunately those chips still draw a high load when transmitting so future revisions will utilize an alternative.
Oh, and why the iPhone? The device that displays the data makes little difference. In this case they’re transmitting via Bluetooth for a real-time display (seen in the video after the break). This could be used for a wide variety of devices, or monitored remotely via the Internet.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iURXzBsckOc] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "186681",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T20:07:51",
"content": "video has no sound, reading the page I almost puked in my mouth (lots or MBA moronsspeak like shifting paradigms, im guessing they try to sell it to some corporation). iphone to be trendy …Sure it needs a lot... | 1,760,377,368.849819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/arduino-uno-and-mega-2560/ | Arduino UNO And Mega 2560 | Devlin Thyne | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"ATMega8U2"
] | The Arduino Team
presented some new products at Maker Faire this weekend. It’s a significant update. The
Arduino UNO
and
Arduino Mega 2560
update the Duemilanove and Mega respectively. They now use an ATMega8U2 instead of an FTDI USB to serial converter chip. Allowing an Arduino to become nearly any kind of USB device. A fourth mounting hole has been added to the UNO for more stable mounting. The booloader is now the
Optiboot
bootloader. The boards can run firmata out of the box. We are not sure about existing Arduino boards, but the last six bytes of EEPROM have a unique serial number. At this point, the Mega 2560 has some kind of issue with gcc on certain platforms and unable to use the full memory available until there is an update to the IDE.
The team also gave a preview of some works in progress. Arduino Ethernet POE can be power over ethernet and loaded with TFTP. Available October 18, TinkerKit will be released. Geared toward designers, the kit has PCB modules that include a joystick, soft pots, transistor, relay, power MOSFET, push button, LEDs and motor driver. That same day will be the launch of the multi-lingual Arduino Store.
These developments will be a nice addition to the toolset out there that you can use and we look forward to new projects using these tools.
Update:
[PT] sent us a link to
an ever-growing FAQ about this hardware
. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "186635",
"author": "Alton",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T17:04:46",
"content": "‘The booloader is now the Optiboot bootloader’ Now is that just because Halloween is coming, or did I miss a change in terminology somewhere along the way?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,369.316236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/beginner-concepts-all-about-avr-interrupts/ | Beginner Concepts: All About AVR Interrupts | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"AVR",
"beginner concepts",
"external",
"interrupts"
] | Microcontroller interrupts are one of the big tools in our embedded programming arsenal. They make the chip listen for particular events, and once detected they stop what they’re doing and run a separate set of code called and Interrupt Service Routine. We’ve come across two fairly new tutorials on the subject that you should check out if you’re not yet a master on the topic. One is
a ProtoShack tutorial on ATmega168 external interrupts
, and the other is
a Newbie’s Guide to AVR Interrupts
by [Dean Camera] (we’ve been a fan of his tutorials for some time). Both cover a range of topics from what interrupts are, to avoiding the common problems of volatile data types and the compiler optimization caveats.
What can you do with interrupts? External interrupts can be used to wake up a project like
this LED menorah
from sleep mode. Interrupts can be used to monitor a timer for a certain value or an overflow for use in generating a
pulse-width modulation
signal. The TI Launchpad uses an interval timer interrupt for button debouncing in projects like
this code which was ported from an AVR chip
. The source for both is available if you wanted to compare how the two differ.
Interrupts are powerful. Learn them, love them, use them. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "186617",
"author": "bryan",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T15:59:24",
"content": "love all the ‘n00b concept’ posts.. seriously.. it makes the HAD grow. thanks!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186623",
"author": "r_d",
"timest... | 1,760,377,368.896903 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/scanning-tunneling-microscope-under-gpl3/ | Scanning Tunneling Microscope Under GPL3 | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"gpl",
"needle",
"probe",
"scanning tunneling microscope",
"stm"
] | ChemHacker has posted
schematics and code for a scanning tunneling microscope
. [Sacha De’Angeli] finalized the proof-of-concept design for version 0.1 and released all of the information under the
Gnu general public license version 3
. You’ll need to build a sensor from a combination of a needle, a piezo, and a ring of magnets. There’s an analog circuit that gathers data from the probe, which is then formatted by and Arduino and sent to your computer.
We haven’t really dabbled in this type of equipment, though
we did cover an STM earlier in the year
. Take a look at the video after the break and then help jump-start are imagination by sharing your plans for this equipment in the comments.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZmCc2sAHiE] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "186590",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T14:27:09",
"content": "did I miss the end result images?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186592",
"author": "craig christ",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T14:44:46",
"c... | 1,760,377,368.768975 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/making-your-own-lithium-ion-batteries/ | Making Your Own Lithium-ion Batteries | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"cell",
"controller",
"lithium ion"
] | You can make your own lithium-ion batteries if you have a source for individual cells and a control board to match your desired voltage levels. [Bill Porter]
put together a quick tutorial
where he makes a 14.4V 2.2 AH battery for about $10. He picked up a set of cable-modem backup batteries (used to make sure your bundled phone service doesn’t quit working when the power goes out) and tore out the cells. After reconfiguring the connections and swapping out the controller board the original 8V battery is now 14V. This doesn’t take into account any problems with battery life and charge leveling, but that’s a whole different tutorial waiting to happen.
If this type of battery hack is child’s play to you, take a look at
a more involved lithium iron phosphate build
. | 23 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "186584",
"author": "Just saying...",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T13:41:23",
"content": "Don’t leave that in a parking lot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186585",
"author": "John Boxall",
"timestamp": "2010-09-27T13:50:37"... | 1,760,377,368.951711 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/26/drm-causes-vulnerabilities/ | DRM Causes Vulnerabilities | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"digital rights management",
"dll",
"drm",
"exploit",
"microsoft"
] | We often hear people touting the evilness of DRM, but usually they are talking about the idea of ownership. In this case, DRM is actually causing harm. It turns out that Microsoft’s msnetobj.dll, which is supposed to enforce DRM on your computer, stopping you from doing certain things like saving files you don’t “own”
is open to 3 attacks
. Vulnerable to
buffer overflow
, integer overflow, and denial of service, this sucker is riddled with issues.
The vulnerabilities in this file aren’t groundbreaking. Buffer overflow is a common method to get to many systems. The problem here, according to some commenters at BoingBoing, is the fact that this DLL is called every time you open a media file.
[via
BoingBoing
] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "186295",
"author": "Alexander Rossie",
"timestamp": "2010-09-26T20:18:42",
"content": "Why is this on HaD?Also RIP milw0rm.com =]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186335",
"author": "AS",
"timestamp": "2010-09-26T21:08:43... | 1,760,377,369.01255 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/26/ps3-sixaxis-controller-now-houses-exploit/ | PS3 Sixaxis Controller Now Houses Exploit | Mike Szczys | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"18F2550",
"pic",
"psgroove",
"sixaxis"
] | [Hasuky] posted
a guide for turning a PlayStation 3 Sixaxis controller into a PSGroove exploit device
(
translated
). Unfortunately you’ve got to crack open the controller and add some parts to get it working. The hack requires a PIC 18F2550 (a chip we’ve already seen
used as a standalone
PSGroove
device
), a crystal, and various resistors and capacitors to connect to the controller’s PCB. From there you connect the USB cable between the controller and the game console and boot using the exploit.
[Thanks Craig via
DCEmu
] | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "186244",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-09-26T18:22:36",
"content": "hahaha never expected your own devices to exploit your own system now did you Sony? XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186251",
"author": "steaky",
... | 1,760,377,369.385039 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/26/from-cinema-to-stills-camera-lens-gets-new-life/ | From Cinema To Stills, Camera Lens Gets New Life | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"102",
"3.5mm",
"5d",
"camera",
"canon",
"cinema",
"F5.0",
"photography",
"picture"
] | [Timur Civan], with
a beautiful merge of past and present
, has taken a 102 year old camera lens (a 35mm F5.0 from hand cranked cinema cameras) and attached it to his Canon EOS 5D. While this is not the first time we’ve seen someone custom make a camera lens or attach a lens to a different camera, such as when we brought you
plumbing tilt shift
or
iPhone camera SLR
or
Pringles can macro photography
, the merge of old tech with new warms our
empty chest cavities
hearts. Catch some additional shots of 1908/2010 New York City after the jump. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "186240",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-09-26T18:10:22",
"content": "i like the combination of “canon artifacts” caused by canon cameras and the artifacts of the old lensit gives a nice touch of old photography without the pain of film",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,377,369.541729 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/26/portable-password-vault/ | Portable Password Vault | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"at89s5131",
"Atmel",
"password",
"vault"
] | This little
box remembers all of your user names and passwords
. Inside you’ll find an Atmel AT89S5131 microcontroller which has built-in USB capability. When the box is plugged into a USB port it identifies as a keyboard. Manipulating the buttons on the top and side will select and print out various stored usernames and passwords. Passwords are generated on-chip from a random seed and the device itself requires a passcode after power up as a security feature.
[SigFLUP’s] included a pretty nifty configuration algorithm. It doesn’t rely on a terminal connection, since the device is a keyboard you can communicate with it in an editor window (which should make it platform independent). There’s no code available, but trying to write your own to the spec outlined in the demo after the break will make for a fun weekend project.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD3F3iBIl7c]
(We almost made it to the end of the post WITHOUT saying “
Setec Astronomy
“) | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "186160",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2010-09-26T14:31:13",
"content": "its very similar to the rfid hid device I was considering. :D minus the rfid part. hehe.No code again. bummer",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "186162",... | 1,760,377,370.289297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/25/a-simple-fm-transmitter/ | A Simple FM Transmitter | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"condenser",
"fm",
"mic",
"microphone",
"transmitter"
] | Here is
a low component count FM transmitter
. It sacrifices some features, like the ability to adjust the frequency, for simplicity’s sake. The build method is fairly common with amateur radio but we don’t see it around here too much. Each component gets a 5mm-by-5mm copper clad pad which is super glued to the ground plate as an insulator. There’s even
a pictorial example of this method
if you need some help with visualization.
One of the schematics included in the article shows how to incorporate a condenser microphone into the unit. We guess that makes it pretty easy to add an FM ‘bug’ to your
arsenal of covert listening devices
. Just make sure to check your local laws before building and using this. We’re not sure what the FCC would think of it here in America so we’re hoping some well-informed readers will educate us with a comment.
[Thanks Bart] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "185901",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T22:22:49",
"content": "Well, this kind of device is pretty much flat out illegal to operate anywhere in Europe. You aren’t too likely to get caught due to the low power. However all it takes is only one person who files a complaint ... | 1,760,377,370.058487 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/25/laser-mic-makes-eavesdropping-remarkably-simple/ | Laser Mic Makes Eavesdropping Remarkably Simple | Mike Szczys | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"diode",
"infrared",
"laser",
"listening",
"lm386",
"mic",
"microphone",
"spy"
] | Here’s a surprisly simple way to
build yourself a laser-based listening device
. It consists of two modules, a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is a set of lasers, one is visible red for aiming, and the other is infrared for measuring the vibration of a surface. Point the transmitter at the window of the room you want to listen in on and the laser can be reflected back to the receiver. The receiver module has a phototransistor to pick up the infrared laser light, and an LM386 audio amplifier to generate the audio signal sent to a pair of headphone. The need to be well-aligned which is easy enough using a pair of tripods. Check out the demo after the break.
Looking for something to do with the leftover laser diodes from this project? Try making yourself
a laser microscope
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7O-xiZcOAo] | 56 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "185814",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T19:07:16",
"content": "Wicked, well implemented but Id be keen on seeing it on an actual window with conversation to see performance",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "185816",
... | 1,760,377,370.216276 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/25/rfid-readers-writers-and-spoofers/ | RFID Readers, Writers, And Spoofers | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ata5567",
"reader",
"rfid",
"spoofer",
"t5557",
"tag",
"writer"
] | [Carl] has done a lot of work developing
a collection of RFID hardware
. The two cards you see above are spoofers that can be programmed in the field using the keypad on the left, or the rather intimidating banks of DIP switches on the right. We also enjoyed his look at the Atmel T5557 and ATA5567 on-card chips used for the tags themselves. He shared the schematics for his designs but unfortunately he’s not distributing the firmware. None-the-less, if you’re interested in learning more about RFID this is a wonderful resource as it covers readers, writers, spoofer, and tags. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "185834",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T19:32:59",
"content": "What an interesting design and hack. I now want to have a go, primarily to work out which RFID tags actually use this chip. Congrats!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,369.863618 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/25/tokyo-hackerspace-akihabara-station-video-tour/ | Tokyo Hackerspace – Akihabara Station Video Tour | James Munns | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"hackerspace",
"japan",
"parts",
"tokyo"
] | This is the kind of footage that
makes our mouths water
here at Hackaday. [Akiba] of
Freaklabs
has been kind enough to take us all on a video tour of Akihabara Station, a treasure trove for electronics hackers located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo. The highlight includes surplus stores, specialty electronics shops, and enough silicon to bring an engineer to tears. Rather than waste time reading about it, follow the link and check out the videos in stunning 720p.
Hackers in other parts of the world, what kind of stores and marketplaces do you have like this? Send us your
pictures and videos
of local marketplaces that cater to your hacking needs so we can show them off. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "185756",
"author": "skydiver",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T17:27:03",
"content": "AWESOME!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "185766",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T17:46:56",
"content": "We have similar thi... | 1,760,377,369.989388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/25/ps3-jailbreak-now-in-apple-flavor/ | PS3 Jailbreak – Now In Apple Flavor! | James Munns | [
"ipod hacks",
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"ipod",
"jailbreak",
"playstation",
"ps3",
"psgroove",
"Rockbox"
] | The newest member of the PS3 jailbreaking tool crowd is the
iPod family
. More specifically, iPods running the open source media firmware
Rockbox
. Even better news, theoretically it should be possible to use this same method on any MP3 player running the Rockbox software. Right now the exploit package only works on select generations of the iPod Nano and iPod Classic line, but if the trend set by the PSX-scene forums continues, it would be worth checking back in the near future if your device is not already supported. Thanks to [shuffle2] for providing the hack, and [DanAdamKOF] for the heads up.
If Apple isn’t your device of choice, you can also check out
some
of your
other
jailbreaking
options
. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "185631",
"author": "BenJ",
"timestamp": "2010-09-25T14:21:28",
"content": "Alright, so first it was an expensive dongle. Then it was a cheap USBTiny. Then the Ti 84 that quite a few people have, now a popular electronic device that lots of people have.What next? PS3 jailbreak with a... | 1,760,377,369.812164 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/24/unmanned-ocean-crossing/ | Unmanned Ocean Crossing | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"gps",
"gumstix",
"iridium",
"pic",
"sail",
"sailboat",
"spot",
"tiller pilot"
] | This is the Pinta,
an autonomous sailboat built to attempt an ocean crossing
from Ireland to Martinique (in the Caribbean). A group of researchers at Aberystwyth University built her as part of
the Microtransat Challenge
.
To keep tabs on the vessel her creators included an Iridium short burst data modem with a backup system made from a SPOT satellite tracker using a PIC microcontroller to trigger a transmission every six hours. The sailing systems are a conglomeration of a Gumstix board, GPS, a windshield wiper motor to control the sail, and
a tiller pilot
for steering. A set of solar panels helps to top off the lead-acid batteries that power the system.
Unfortunately the old gal has encountered problems. You can see from the
tracking data
that, although it sailed 500 km in the last twelve days, she is still just off the coast of Ireland. The primary tracking system has failed, which could signal a system-wide computer failure. We hope the team will eventually recover the vessel as we’re interested in finding out what caused this unfortunate turn of events. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "185257",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T19:08:17",
"content": "Wow that takes me backhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIbPvxf3hrkI hope they do better than I did at the time!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "18... | 1,760,377,369.917421 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/24/gutting-an-air-freshener-for-the-parts/ | Gutting An Air Freshener For The Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"air freshener",
"air wick",
"freshmatic",
"i-motion",
"led",
"parts",
"pir",
"pnp",
"transistor"
] | [Doug Paradis] took
a good look inside the Air Wick Freshmatic Compact i-Motion
and then stole all the parts for other projects. We’ve looked at
adding a manual spray button
or
making air fresheners Internet enabled
before. Those models didn’t have parts that were all that interesting, but this one has a passive infrared motion sensor. You’ll also gain three switches, a PNP transistor, and an LED.
Price seems to be all over the map for this model, but [Doug] says you can find it for $8 or less. After showing how to make a tool to bypass the triangular security screws, he explains how to access the PIR sensor. But if you want to be all you can be with the hardware, he details the modifications needed to patch into the analog and digital circuitry on the rest of the board too. | 40 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "185240",
"author": "girrrrrrr2",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T18:34:09",
"content": "The other day I cut the bottom out of one, now it can spray any type of air freshener, you just have to duct tape it in…If there is enough interest I can do a write up…but its pretty simple lol…",
"... | 1,760,377,370.129585 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/24/the-hdcp-master-key/ | The HDCP Master Key | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"drm",
"hdcp",
"master key",
"pastebin",
"reddit"
] | Pastebin has
the HDCP master key
that we talked about
in a post last week
. This is the encryption protocol used for HDMI content protection on media such as Blu-Ray and High Definition cable television.
The master key array is a 40×40 set of 56-bit hex used to generate the key sets. You get one brief paragraph at the top of the document explaining what to do with this information. If you ask us we’re more interested in how this set was determined. So for some background information read the
key selection vector
(KSV) Wikipedia page. That points us to
an interesting discussion
proposing that if 40 unique device-specific KSVs can be captured, they could be used to reverse-engineer the master key. And finally, a bit of insight from a Reddit user (make your own decision on the dependability of this information) commenting on
the value of having the master key
.
In his comment, [iHelix150] covers the revocation system that HDCP uses to ban devices that are being used to circumvent copy protection. He says that having the master key makes it possible to push your own revocation lists onto devices. Each time a list is written to your device (TV, Blu-ray, etc.) the version number field for the list is updated. If you push an update with nothing on the revocation list, and set the version number to a binary value of all 1’s it will prevent any more rewrites of the list. This means that any previously banned hardware will be allowed back into the chain or trust.
So far this probably means nothing for you. But it’s fun to watch the cat-and-mouse involved in the DRM struggle, isn’t it? | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "185171",
"author": "Mr Hacker",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T16:46:16",
"content": "forget hdmi , back to using rgb cables like i do hahahaha , drm , you are down , i have a hdmi to rgb convertor , i i connect it to my computer and use debut video recorder to capture movies",
"paren... | 1,760,377,370.353328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/24/thieves-armed-with-a-vacuum-cleaner-still-on-the-run/ | Thieves, Armed With A Vacuum Cleaner, Still On The Run | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"robber",
"security",
"thief",
"vacuum"
] | Thieves in Paris have been
stealing money with the clever use of a vacuum
. Not just bits of change here and there, they’ve stolen over 500,000 euros. They noticed that Monoprix supermarkets use a pneumatic tube system to transport rolls of cash to and from the safe. Realizing this was the weakest point in the security, they simply drilled a big hole in the tube, hooked up a vacuum and sucked the cash out. Forget lock picking or safe cracking, this had to be ridiculously easy.
The thieves are still out there, sucking their way to riches. At this point, they’ve hit 15 locations. Their luck has to run out some time right?
[via
Slashdot
] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "185143",
"author": "FoxxCommand",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T15:39:21",
"content": "Brilliant",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "185144",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T15:42:51",
"content": "who said crime ... | 1,760,377,370.418716 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/22/build-a-tetrahedral-ambisonic-microphone/ | Build A Tetrahedral Ambisonic Microphone | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"ambisonic",
"microphone",
"preamp",
"recording",
"tetrahedral"
] | [Dan Hemingson’s] been refining a design for
building a tetrahedral ambisonic recording system
. This is a set of four microphones used to record audio that can later be mixed down for a three-dimensional listening experience. His goal is an easy and inexpensive build while maintaining the highest fidelity standards possible. Lucky for us he’s made a set of
extremely detailed build instructions
you can use to make your own. In addition to the mounting bracket seen above he has also developed a pre-amp module that connects to the four mics; it’s part of the build instructions with schematic and board layout files available as well.
[Thanks Isaac] | 27 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "184293",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T20:28:23",
"content": "good luck getting yourself in a theater with a iosono sound system… guess you could use",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "184294",
"author": "xeracy"... | 1,760,377,370.481651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/22/input-device-using-led-and-four-photoresistors/ | Input Device Using LED And Four Photoresistors | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"CdS",
"led",
"mouse",
"photoresistor",
"Teensy",
"usb"
] | [Julien] built
an input device that uses reflected light detected by some photoresistors
. Placing your hand above the device will reflect light from the LED back down onto the cadmium-sulfide sensors. The resistance of those sensors is read by four ADC pins on a Teensy microcontroller and translated to mouse movements. In the video after the break you can see that this works rather well in controlling the cursor. The
source code is available on pastebin
but we’re also going to host
the code for posterity
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BfCcuIaVY0]
[Thanks Patrick] | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "184242",
"author": "RodgerTheGreat",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T18:35:40",
"content": "I presume you’re hosting the code for ‘posterity’.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "184248",
"author": "kevin",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22... | 1,760,377,370.870446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/22/darbuka-band/ | Darbuka Band | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"darbuka",
"drum",
"robot",
"servo"
] | This robotic band
has just the right amount of drums. [Liat] and her colleagues fit a group of
Darbuka
drums
with a pair of servo-driven mallets. We’re quite surprised that the servo motors achieve such a successful strike and rebound without dampening the vibrations of the drum head. This is more
often accomplished with solenoids
because of their quick response and relative strength.
You can listen to a performance of this work-in-progress in the video after the break or make plans to see it live. The installment was built for
the Bat-Yam international biennale of landscape urbanism
. It will be attached to, and powered by alternative energy producers like solar cells and wind turbines.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqecHPnvb6c] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "184203",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T17:24:16",
"content": "A strange choice of instrument for actuators/transducers like these? The darbukas are not meant to be hit with sticks, their sound in the video cries it out loud.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,370.788436 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/22/matrix-clock-is-a-breadboarding-win/ | Matrix Clock Is A Breadboarding Win | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"led",
"matrix",
"rtc"
] | Normally when we feature
a clock made with a 32×8 LED matrix
we’d load up an image of the display for the banner photo. But this time around we were so impressed by [JB’s] breadboard work we had to use this image. We see an ATmega168, three buttons, three LEDs, a piezo buzzer, 32.768 kHz crystal, smoothing capacitor, and a few resistors; everything he needed to keep time and display it on the matrix module. If this is just going to sit on your bookshelf for a while it’s a great alternative to point-to-point soldering on a protoboard. Nice work fitting it all on there [JB]. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "184173",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T16:30:53",
"content": "Damn. That’s packed in there pretty good.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "184174",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T16:31:05",
"... | 1,760,377,370.669898 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/22/audio-ads-in-newspapers/ | Audio Ads In Newspapers? | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"newspaper"
] | Oh no, lets hope this little gimmick doesn’t catch on. Volkswagen has put out an advertisement in an Indian newspaper that
plays an audio file when you unfold the paper
. This appears to work much like those greeting cards that play a song when you open them. There’s a sensor that detects the newspaper opening, probably just a piece of plastic or paper that slides out from between two contacts. This allows power to the circuit and the audio file is played. Can you imagine how obnoxious this could be? Especially if your newspaper was riddled with these and
those E-paper screens
. Then again, that speaker looks like massive overkill for this kind of thing and might be a decent piece electronics to keep in the reuse bin. You can see a video of the newspaper after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOw-SWlL2ZE] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "184118",
"author": "MigSantiago",
"timestamp": "2010-09-22T13:58:58",
"content": "They should add a Mute button… and make a smaller device :sIf you guys ever get one of those audio devices, take it apart and show us how they work ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,377,370.740771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/small-and-simple-fm-radio/ | Small And Simple FM Radio | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"ar1010",
"attiny45",
"fm",
"i2c",
"radio"
] | [gpsKlaus]
built this little FM radio
(
translated
) based on the AR1010 IC. That chip is controlled via I2C by an ATtiny45 microcontroller. His tuning implementation relies on presetting 16 stations in the firmware and selecting them with the white potentiometer.
The
FM chip came on a breakout board from SparkFun
. Not bad at around $15 as it includes the crystal, some caps and a few resistors, and you don’t have to try and solder to the fine pitched pads on that minuscule package. We’re a little unsure of the features included in the part as the datasheet is lacking in detail and
the reference datasheet
that SparkFun includes in the description is obviously for a much more full-featured chip. Still, this would be a fun thing to play around with if you’ve grown tired of blinking LEDs.
If you don’t want to let an integrated circuit do all the heavy lifting
try this post
for a guide on building your own radio tuner. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "183881",
"author": "Nonya-Biz",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T20:29:54",
"content": "i planed on using one of these, and a tda1515bq to make a radio for my car clubs dragster. it would be lighter than a regular stereo. never got around to programing a micro controller, or finding a good ... | 1,760,377,370.926379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/discussing-pulse-width-modulation/ | Discussing Pulse-Width Modulation | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"flicker",
"parasitic",
"power loss",
"pulse-width modulation",
"pwm"
] | [Michael Kleinigger] posted
a lengthy discussion on Pulse-Width Modulation
that goes beyond the traditional beginner tutorial. He starts a bit of background info on PWM and a tip about using a camera to judge frequency and duty cycle of LEDs. From there it’s down the rabbit hole with some testing of power-loss versus frequency.
When you change from frequencies of 50 Hz to 1 MHz how does the parasitic power loss from switching affect the overall efficiency of the circuit? It turns out there’s a rather large amount of loss at the highest level, around 1.5 mW. The greatest balance of low power loss and elimination of flicker seems to be right in the 300-500 Hz range. | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "183843",
"author": "Frank",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T19:09:27",
"content": "Hi there, I think the link above is missing.frank",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183844",
"author": "CampGareth",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T19:1... | 1,760,377,371.060751 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/24/full-featured-avr-time-lapse/ | Full-featured AVR Time-lapse | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"AVR",
"hd44780",
"rotary encoder",
"time-lapse"
] | This
time-lapse photo trigger
was built [Lukasz Goralczyk]. It is controlled by an ATmega168 and we were surprised to read that it uses about 12k of code. Curious about what takes up that much space, we were impressed to see all the features demonstrated in the video after the break. The small device, running on two AA batteries, has a well-designed user interface displayed on a 3V character LCD that is navigated with a clickable rotary encoder.
It isn’t
the smallest intervalometer we’ve ever seen
, but it deserves respect for the features packed into a diminutive form-factor.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYXByBqI0XU]
[Thanks Michal] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "185151",
"author": "AS",
"timestamp": "2010-09-24T15:49:14",
"content": "Very nice. My biggest question with things like this is where to get the required plug to attach to the camera? For example many canon SLRs use a small 3 pin connector as shown here:http://tinyurl.com/26dld7x",... | 1,760,377,370.974943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/youll-shoot-your-eye-out-another-coilgun/ | You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out, Another Coilgun | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"1.25kj",
"coil",
"CoilGun",
"energy",
"gun",
"shot",
"single stage"
] | All we needed to read was 4x 3900uF capacitor bank to know we had yet another decently sized
homemade coilgun
on our hands. And for the math buffs, that equates out to 1.25kJ of potential energy (efficiency kills it down to 37j of kinetic, but large numbers are more fun) which is more than enough to break skin; of course we recommend you just shoot old electronics rather than friends. On the more technical side, sure its only a single stage for now and we’ve seen some slightly more impressive
triple stage guns
, but it may just be more beautiful than our
previously featured coil pistol
. You guys be the judge. Catch a complete video after the jump of the internals and build process, skip ahead to 2:40 for the destruction.
[via
TheDailyWh.at
]
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LjnhhtHojM&feature=player_embedded#!%5D | 41 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "184773",
"author": "Brennan",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T22:14:34",
"content": "3900 uF? That’s like, 3.9 mF!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "746490",
"author": "shayne",
"timestamp": "2012-08-21T18:20:10",
... | 1,760,377,371.246526 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/wifi-ap-gets-antenna-augmentation/ | WiFi AP Gets Antenna Augmentation | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"Asus",
"DD-WRT",
"wifi",
"wl-330ge"
] | Feeling bad that his access point was being made fun of by models with beefier external antennas, [Customer Service] decided to do something about it. After cracking open the
Asus wl-330ge he found it would be quite easy to add a connector
. This access point has two internal antennas that are quite small and use a spring connection to the signal and ground pads on the PCB. Those pads are fairly large and separated, making it easy to solder the connections. Scavenging an antenna connector from an older device, [Customer Service] soldered it in place and drilled a mounting hole in the plastic case. After flashing DD-WRT firmware he’s now got everything he wants from the little guy. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "184764",
"author": "Decius",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T21:46:23",
"content": "Sounds like something I may want to do ;o",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "184765",
"author": "goldscott",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T21:48:49",
... | 1,760,377,371.17132 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/analog-stylophone/ | Analog Stylophone | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"analog",
"pcb",
"stylophone"
] | [Doug Jackson] just finished building
an analog Stylophone
. We’ve seen this instrument a few times before, most recently
with an Arduino-based controller
, but this one makes use of 555-timer, resistors, and potentiometers to generate the waveform for each note. If you’ve got the copper-clad and the means to etch the board everything else should be pretty easy to come by. We did note that since this is a single-sided board you’ll be soldering on the same side as the components, which can get a bit hairy but manageable. We just wish that [Doug] has posted a demonstration video so we could hear what this sounds like. But it can’t be too much different from
that electronic vuvuzela
that used a 555 timer as well. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "184716",
"author": "D_",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T20:30:04",
"content": "Unlike the vuvuzela that just exist to make an annoying noise. you could play a tune with this stylophone How well this would sound is the question, where not talking Yamaha keyboard here.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,371.105242 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/codec2-gnu-low-bitrate-speech-codec/ | Codec2: GNU Low-bitrate Speech Codec | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"codec2",
"compression",
"ham",
"melp",
"radio",
"speech",
"voice"
] | Low bandwidth speech compression is a desirable concept for amateur radio enthusiasts. Unfortunately there isn’t a great open-source option out there, but that’s changing with the
low-bitrate speech compression package called Codec2
. It manages to transmit and decode at 2550 bits per second with results comparable to proprietary solutions like
MELP
and very
near the initial goal of 2400 bit/s
. [David Rowe], who spearheads the project, has been simulating communications using a Linux box and has posted audio snippets at the first link above for comparison. They’re looking for feedback and testing so if you interested give them a helping hand.
[Thanks Robomo] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "184705",
"author": "hellst0rm",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T19:28:45",
"content": "Thats great! I can finally do VOIP over my 2400 baud modem ….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "184706",
"author": "Doc Oct",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,377,371.294677 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/2-bit-paper-processor-teaches-how-they-work/ | 2-bit Paper Processor Teaches How They Work | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"2-bit",
"assembly",
"computer",
"paper",
"processor"
] | Take a few minutes out of your day, grab your scissors, and learn how a simple processor works. [Saito Yutaka] put together
an exercise to teach processor operations with paper
. After downloading the PDF you can cut out the Address and Data pointer as well as two-bit data tokens for each. The processor has three instruction sets; Increment register by one, Jump if not over flow, and Halt wait for reset.
Once you’ve got your cutouts you can follow along as the program is executed. The INC operation is run, with the JNO used to loop the program. Once the register has reached an overflow the overflow counter halts the program.
One word of warning, we think there’s a typo in one of the captions. Once the program starts running and gets to address 01(2) the caption still reads 00(2) for both address and data. As long as you compare the values in the picture along the way you should have no problem getting through execution. which has now been fixed. | 17 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "184647",
"author": "Leigh",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T17:09:00",
"content": "This reminds of the the Bell Labs CARDIAC, a similar concept but base 10. I had one when I was 9 or 10. Later I found a stash of them and bought a few but I believe they may all be gone now; at least, the ... | 1,760,377,371.349212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/23/a-fantastic-collection-of-slapped-together-bots/ | A Fantastic Collection Of Slapped Together Bots | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"reuse",
"simple",
"trash"
] | [David Williamson] has put together
some pretty amazing little robots from bits of stuff
he laying around the house. What initially caught our attention was this
drawing robot over at HackedGadgets
. We were impressed by the construction, as it looks like almost all of it was scrap. Upon clicking through the link we found a small collection that kept as amused for quite a while. Each one has some aspect that is surprising in its use of mundane materials. Need an omniwheel? Why not use plastic beads. Want a rail from which a robot can hang and drive? why not use drinking straws. Many of them may not have much for a brain, but the construction of the mechanisms is usually pretty interesting alone. You can see clips of some of his creations in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxtSpP9g1M4] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "184604",
"author": "walt",
"timestamp": "2010-09-23T14:24:17",
"content": "not sure how slapped together they are. the materials used are pretty random, but they seem well thought out.oh yeah… 1st!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,371.390621 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/20/audio-cabinet-refit-with-modern-equipment/ | Audio Cabinet Refit With Modern Equipment | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"amp",
"ATmega168",
"fleetwood",
"ir",
"turntable"
] | Hard at work on making this 1960’s Fleetwood audio console usable again, [Travis]
packed a lot of power
into the retro case. Both the radio and turn table had stopped working but the cabinet looks great and the speakers still work. In the lower center cavity you’ll now find a full computer motherboard and replacement amplifier. A new turntable has been added with an interesting vibration-dampening shelf to support it. [Travis] built the shelf with a void in between two layers of wood which he filled with sand to help with isolation. The remote control for the amp also needed some work as the receiver is pointed to the back of the unit. To fix that a second IR receiver found a home behind the fabric for one of the speaker grates. That receiver is monitored by an ATmega168 microcontroller and signals are repeated back to an IR LED mounted near the amplifier. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "183392",
"author": "Nomad",
"timestamp": "2010-09-20T19:36:06",
"content": "Why not move the original IR-receiver to the front instead of using a mega168 for such easy task?Considering you need one pin for the receiver (those things have 3 AFAIK…i’d go for Vcc, Gnd and Data) and ano... | 1,760,377,371.445672 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/20/beefing-up-a-cheap-drill-motor/ | Beefing Up A Cheap Drill Motor | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"drill",
"harbor freight",
"welding"
] | [Rob] just finished
reinforcing a cheap drill motor
. He picked up the tool at Harbor Freight and ditched the case. The plastic retaining ring was replaced with a thick metal washer which he machine The washer uses three bolts to attach to the mounting plate that he welded together. We’re not exactly sure what he’s got in mind as he only mentioned that this will be used with a robot. We wouldn’t mind having one of these as a bench motor but there must be hundreds of uses now that it can be attached to just about anything. It seems Harbor Freight has become popular as hacking’s raw material source. The last example we saw of this was
a welding table made from a utility cart
. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "183346",
"author": "tempestion",
"timestamp": "2010-09-20T17:12:12",
"content": "Come See the new hackerspace this was made at. Newly opened Makeit Labs at 111 tanner st Lowell MA. there will be open houses on thurs from 7pm on. Come down see some projects or work on some of your ow... | 1,760,377,371.773642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/20/world-maker-faire-new-york/ | World Maker Faire New York 2010 | Devlin Thyne | [
"News"
] | [
"maker faire",
"Maker Faire NYC"
] | A quick heads-up to those of you that will be at the
New York Maker Faire
and the
Open Hardware Summit
.One of our writers, [Devlin Thyne], will be there checking out projects and handing out Hack a Day stickers. Be sure to stop him to say hello and maybe show off your projects. We look forward to seeing you and your projects. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "183307",
"author": "Hackius",
"timestamp": "2010-09-20T14:34:09",
"content": "That picture makes me feel tiny",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183312",
"author": "redbeard",
"timestamp": "2010-09-20T15:02:24",
"conten... | 1,760,377,372.566886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/19/hackaday-links-september-19-2010/ | Hackaday Links: September 19, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"6502",
"dockstar",
"iron man",
"kickstand",
"smoking"
] | 6502 Gate Simulator
Ever wondered what’s going on inside that chip as the program executes? Now you can take a look at the die itself with this
visual gate simulator for the 6502
processor. [Thanks Puli and Svofski]
Copper corrosion
[Moogle]
cracked open his DockStar
to find corroded copper. It seems that Seagate left a portion of the ground plane unprotected and it reacted badly with the shielding metal. If you have
one of these devices
you might want to crack it open and tin the exposed copper so that it will hold up over time.
Segway kickstand
Don’t want your Segway to flop over when you park it? Follow [Paul’s] lead in building
a kickstand for the self-balancer
. You can just make it out in the image above. It’s a dumbell that folds down from the handlebar tube when you’re not on board.
Tesla makes everything better
Do you like the song Iron Man? We think it’s
better when our friend Nikola takes part
.
No Smoking
Smoking is really quite bad for you. Plus you can’t chain smoke nearly as efficiently as this
mechanical smoking machine
can so don’t even try. [Thanks Ferdinand] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "183088",
"author": "uzerzero",
"timestamp": "2010-09-19T20:11:56",
"content": "#4: Damn. Are they wearing chain mail? Just imagine how the 100 Years War could’ve turned out if the French had Tesla generators…#5: Guess that’s an efficient and safe way of collecting butts for DIY ammo... | 1,760,377,371.720106 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/19/autonomous-rover-roams-the-halls/ | Autonomous Rover Roams The Halls | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"dspic33",
"maxbotix",
"rc",
"rover",
"servo",
"sonar",
"traxxas"
] | [ESylin] built
an autonomous rover that roams the vacant halls
of his school. On the hood of the vehicle he’s mounted two
Maxbotix
sonar sensors that do a great job of keeping the vehicle centered in the hallway. It will follow a wall around a corner (favoring its left side because of the left-facing sensor) and it will stop to correct itself if it gets off course. That’s because when you’re not driving a dsPIC33 is, with
a Traxxas XL-5 speed controller
and a hobby servo for steering. But this little guy hasn’t lost all his pep. Manual control and be switched on from from an R/C controller so you can burn up the floor tiles. Take a look at the demo after the break, with the manual control demo shown at about 4:10.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaCLel009nw] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "183066",
"author": "nimitzbrood",
"timestamp": "2010-09-19T19:07:40",
"content": "Is anybody else thinking of the tiny robot from the Death Star?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183091",
"author": "jaqen",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,371.822673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/19/wiimote-accessibility-modifications/ | WiiMote Accessibility Modifications | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"disabled",
"handicap",
"xbee"
] | [Catea] has put some considerable effort into making a wiimote more accessible to people with physical disabilities. He started by
extending the buttons out to much larger versions mounted on a lap tray
. This makes playing games much easier for those that are lacking the fine motor skills to hit the buttons on the wiimote. This alone is a pretty substantial improvement, but [Catea] wanted to do more.
Taking the whole idea further, [Catea] published a second instructible where he outlines the process of
adding two Arduinos and Xbee modulse to make the external buttons wireless
. | 10 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "183093",
"author": "jaqen",
"timestamp": "2010-09-19T20:33:44",
"content": "lol @terribledamage does that apply to people with social disabilities as well?Irony may be present in this post",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183132"... | 1,760,377,372.610896 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/19/hackerspaces-sprouting-up-around-the-midwest/ | Hackerspaces Sprouting Up Around The Midwest | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"hackerspace",
"non-profit",
"qc co-lab",
"school factory",
"sector67"
] | [Chris Cooper] wrote in letting us know that this weekend is the grand opening of
QC Co-Lab, a hackerspace in Davenport, Iowa
. They kicked the weekend off in grand fashion on Friday by sand casting bronze medallions with a blast furnace. The 4000 square foot facility has plenty of room for new members so if you’re in the area check it out. It’s not too late to
join in on the tail end of the festivities
.
Sector67 is also making plans for its grand opening. The
Madison, Wisconsin based
hackerspace
will officially open on October 15th. There was a strong turnout for the first viewing of the facilities on September 7th (
see for yourself
), with plenty of building, arranging, and accumulating to be done before the official start. [Chris Meyer] has been working hard to get the organization off the ground, acquiring several grants, and working with the
School Factory
(something of a quick-start incubator for hackerspace-type non-profits). Want to see more? Thanks to [Andrew Seidl] you can peruse
a set of quality photos
from the event. | 19 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "183035",
"author": "sariel",
"timestamp": "2010-09-19T15:58:25",
"content": "I love it when hackerspaces open. it warms me like a 6000° furnace.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183046",
"author": "nimitzbrood",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,372.186433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/another-approach-to-power-meter-data-harvesting/ | Another Approach To Power Meter Data Harvesting | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"current cost",
"embedded",
"google powermeter",
"perl",
"webserver"
] | [Dodgy] wrote in to talk about
his power meter data harvesting programs
. This uses the same hardware by CurrentCost as
the hack we looked at over the weekend
but [Dodgy’s] implementation is different. It’s separated into two parts, the first is a webserver written in C that harvests the data and makes it available at an address on the network, the second is written in Perl to format and upload data to Google PowerMeter.
The C program serves data on a configurable port, defaulting to 3090. All of the data can be accessed in one line of code by loading
http://127.0.0.1:3090
, or individually with subdirectories like /watts, /time, or /tempr. From there you can do what you want with the data. The second part of [Dodgy’s] suite is
a Perl script that polls the C server and sends the data
to your Google account.
One thing that interests us is his comment that you should be able to compile the server side C code for an embedded device. It would be a nice energy savings to be able to upload data regularly without a PC running constantly. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "183752",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T17:08:51",
"content": "“One thing that interests us is his comment that you should be able to compile the server side C code for an embedded device.”Hackers start your Dockstars.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,377,372.130527 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/hackerspace-competition-looks-promising/ | Hackerspace Competition: Looks Promising | Jakob Griffith | [
"News"
] | [
"competition",
"hackerspace",
"mitch",
"take on the machine"
] | This is what happens
when [Mitch Altman] comes together with hackerspaces nationwide to have a contest. In short, 5 hackerspaces will “take on the machine” and come up with 5 original ideas for existing devices. There are a few more rules, but you can catch them in the video in the link above. There is hinting at a slot machine that mixes drinks, a bike that makes ice cream, and more. What do you guys think is in store?
This is also a great opportunity to mention the
hackerspaces wiki
, find a community (or start one!)
near you today
and maybe [Mitch] will call on your hackerspace next competition. For now, we’ll keep you up to date with each hackerspace’s project and progress.
[Thanks Deven]
The spaces in question, for those that would like a link to check them out:
NYC Resistor
Artisan’s Asylum
Pumping Station: One
The Transistor
Crash Space | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "183748",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T16:47:14",
"content": "Too distracted by the hair to read the article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183751",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T17:02:39"... | 1,760,377,372.056593 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/machined-steadicam-steadier-than-the-rest/ | Machined Steadicam, Steadier Than The Rest | Jakob Griffith | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"aluminum",
"cnc",
"gimbal",
"machine",
"mill",
"steadicam"
] | No, the picture above is not a store made steadicam. Rather,
a CNC machined one
by [Matt]. Interestingly, unlike most steadicams
we’ve seen before
the gimbal is
not
the main focus of the design
though an aluminum machined gimbal would make us drool
. The central idea is allowing for X and Y axis adjustment to get oddly weighted bulky camera’s exact center of gravity. [Matt’s] steadicam is also designed to handle more weight than commercial versions, and (if you already have a CNC) to be much cheaper. There’s no video, but from the skill of craftsmanship we can safely assume it’s as good and level as some of the best. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "183724",
"author": "shogunx0",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T15:30:48",
"content": "Nice. Now, I wonder what nice piece of tech one can do without a cnc machine. Nowadays – almost nothing ;<",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183725",
... | 1,760,377,371.960159 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/something-wicked-this-way-comes/ | Something Wicked This Way Comes | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"halloween"
] | Halloween is rapidly approaching. This is just a reminder to you all to send in your Halloween hacks now so that we can all see them and
steal your ideas
get inspiration for our own projects. We’ve seen fantastic stuff in the past from motorized pumpkins to costumes that are simply awe-inspiring. Take a few moments to dig through the
Halloween hacks
we’ve run in the past.
Of course we understand that some of you will be pushing up to the big day to complete your projects. Just remember to take good pictures and document it all well. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "183715",
"author": "Clueless_Being",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T14:37:23",
"content": "im making a spartan armor made out of paper",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183722",
"author": "MoJo",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T15:16:2... | 1,760,377,372.000597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/21/new-term-for-art-sculptural-robotics/ | New Term For Art: Sculptural Robotics | Jakob Griffith | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"art",
"robot",
"sculpture",
"solar"
] | [Dan Roe] has been working on
Sculptural Robotics
for quite some time, and most recently presented his newest creation: Solar Flowers 2010. Typically, Sculptural Robotics (coined by [Dan] himself) are stand alone,
static art presentations
made from electronic components and wire. [Dan] of course has
taken it quite a bit further
; giving all his sculptures life using solar panels, motors, engine circuits, and more. Making them zero emission, and beautiful at the same time. You can catch four videos after the jump of his moving sculptures. Not that we’re picking favorites, but the dragonfly is pretty amazing if we do say so ourselves.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glX-WxSvOkc&feature=player_embedded%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kbZzOYgCWg&feature=player_embedded%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkaJmZXTIT4&feature=player_embedded%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPFcSkwrmQ&feature=player_embedded%5D | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "183701",
"author": "therian",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T13:25:37",
"content": "What he tried to take credit for inventing BEAM robotics ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "183703",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-09-... | 1,760,377,372.257275 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/20/homebrew-firmware-upgrade-for-vci-100-turntable-controller/ | Homebrew Firmware Upgrade For VCI-100 Turntable Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"firmware",
"flash",
"midi",
"reverse engineer",
"rs232",
"vci-100"
] | We love hacks that take quality products and make them better. This
enhanced firmware for the VCI-100
is a great example of that. In a similar fashion as
the Behringer hack
, [DaveX]
reverse engineer the firmware
for the device and figured out a few ways to make it better. It improves the scratch controller and slider accuracy to use 9-bit accuracy from the ADC readings, which in the stock version were being shifted down to 7-bits. There’s also a few LED tricks they call Disco Mode. They’re selling a “chip” that you need to flash the firmware but from what we can see it’s simply an RS232 converter so you might be able to figure out how to work without that part. We’ve embedded a demo of firmware version 1.4 after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjDQmEkWBw4]
[Thanks Steve] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "183487",
"author": "ehrichweiss",
"timestamp": "2010-09-21T00:51:53",
"content": "roy, you must have nothing to call a life to feel the need to say that. I’ve scored first post countless times but never once had an urge to just say “first”..I guess because doing so makes you look st... | 1,760,377,372.435612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/09/20/motorcycle-rear-view-with-in-helmet-display/ | Motorcycle Rear-view With In-helmet Display | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"display",
"helmet",
"motorcycle",
"myvu",
"rear-view"
] | Want to see what’s behind you when riding your sport bike without taking your eyes off the road? They make rear view cameras for that but [Nescioqd] wanted
a rear display right in his helmet (PDF)
. He started by mounting a rear-pointing camera on the back of the bike, powered from the 12V feed for the taillight. On the display side of things he picked up a Myvu Crystal wearable display. This is like a pair of glasses that have small LCD screens were the lenses should be. [Nescioqd] removed one lens and mounted it inside the helmet.
Since the display resides inside the helmet there is some concern about being able to see at night with a bright screen below your eyeball. [Nescioqd] actually ran into the opposite problem at first, bright sunlight makes it difficult to see the image on the LCD screen. He fixed this by picking up a dark tinted helmet visor (the easiest solution) but we’d love to see a photoresistor used to regulate the backlight level.
It would be interesting to see both screens used, with rear-view on one side and
an instrument display
on the other. | 44 | 44 | [
{
"comment_id": "183410",
"author": "Circuitmage",
"timestamp": "2010-09-20T20:42:09",
"content": "Thoughts:#1. Cool.#2. A monitor on the front ferring/wind shield might be better. Larger screen, non intrusive.#3. My 92 Kawi 600 ninja had rampant Vreg problems…Kawi sux!#4. Metal bracket to the face.... | 1,760,377,372.513768 |
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