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https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/how-to-root-a-nook/ | How To Root A Nook | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"Barnes & Noble",
"Nook",
"root",
"sdk"
] | Here’s the latest in rooted consumer devices, nookdevs.com has
rooted the Barnes & Noble Nook
eBook reader. The process is extremely easy, as the operating system is stored on a 2GB SD card inside the device. In fact, once you have the case open the hard part is over. From there, the card should be backed up for safe keeping. Now mount the card, enable the
Android Debug Bridge
and reassemble. The
Android SDK
can then be used to log into a shell on the Nook wirelessly.
We’re not sure there’s much that can be done past this point yet. It’s up to you to get
Doom running
! | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "112163",
"author": "Peter",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T19:39:34",
"content": "Finally, a company that actually decided to make their hardware relatively easy to modify.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112164",
"author": "Peter... | 1,760,377,531.047427 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/static-bleeder/ | Static Bleeder | Caleb Kraft | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"desert",
"iraq",
"RF",
"STATIC"
] | When you are in the middle of the desert, pretty much every solution to a mechanical or electrical problem
is a hack
. [Sgt.M] who was deployed in Iraq sought out the help of radio guru [H.P. Friedrichs] about a static problem he was having. When dust storms would blow in strange things would happen in camp. Humming and crackling could be heard and [Sgt. M] actually had an electrical arc from a lamp to his hand at a distance of about 2 feet.
[Friedrichs] helped him find the problem. Their antennae were acting as static electricity collectors in the dust. All that dust friction in the dry air constantly built up a charge. The solution was simple, discharge the electricity at the antenna when it isn’t in use. Several solutions are outlined on the page, so check them out. | 31 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "112140",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T17:18:51",
"content": "to his had",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112141",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T17:22:34",
"content": "Hmm did they mean he... | 1,760,377,531.236458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/cellphone-hack-off/ | Cellphone Hack-off | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"cellphone",
"midi",
"mobile",
"music",
"symphony"
] | Today we received two very interesting hacks utilizing old cellphones within a matter of minutes of each other – Of course, this means war!
In the left corner we have the
Mobile Mobile
, a 50 cell phone collection dangling high above our heads by [James]. Loyal readers will remember his last match, a
physical realization of the Spinning Wheel of Death
. But today, Mobile Mobile tries to keep his title with the use of Twitter and live video.
In the right corner we have competition and newcomer [Timo] and his
Cellphone Symphony
. With a combined amount of 150 cell phones including sim cards, he is going to be one tough cookie. It’s all down to this folks.
Both utilize MIDI to try and lift spirits this holiday season by playing music and sounds. Servers and custom software are of course both necessities… but who will be the winner? Check out after the break!
Round 1: Reaction Time
After pinging the cellphones, [James] and his team were able to knock response time down to 2ms. While [Timo] chose to use pre-existing cell phone networks, thus resulting in a 6 second delay. Mobile Mobile double jabs and gets a point.
Round 2: Press and Performance
The Cellphone Symphony might be wounded, but it’s definitely not out. Boasting a record for visiting the Estonia Concert Hall, where hundreds have enjoyed this unique performance. Mobile Mobile however has been hunkered down to only one small office. A left cross followed by an upper cut from the Symphony and it looks like it might be over.
Round 3: Final Stand
It’s down to this folks, I don’t know how much more suspense I can take. This truly has been a gruelling eye for eye match, but there can only be one grand champion of champions. Wait! Whats this? Both contenders are down after a double right hook. I can’t believe it, it’s a knock out, no winner! | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "112135",
"author": "Jacob",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T16:27:11",
"content": "Mobile Mobile wasn’t just pinging their phones, they were using a local WiFi network, from what I can tell.Seeing as Cellphone Symphony takes some major stretching to make musical, I’d say Mobile Mobile wins... | 1,760,377,531.095332 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/fanboys-want-to-take-att-down/ | Fanboys Want To Take AT&T Down | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"att",
"bandwidth",
"network",
"operation chokehold",
"outage"
] | A post about
Operation Chokehold
popped up on (fake) Steve Jobs’ blog this morning. It seems some folks are just plain tired of AT&T giving excuses about their network. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when AT&T floated the idea of
instituting bandwidth limitations for data accounts
. Now, someone hatched the idea of organizing enough users to bring the whole network down by maxing their bandwidth at the same time.
We’re not quite sure what to think about this. Our friend Google told us that there’s plenty of press already out there regarding Operation Chokehold so it’s not beyond comprehension that this could have an effect on the network. On the other hand, AT&T already knows about it and we’d wager they’re working on a plan to mitigate any outages that might occur.
As for the effectiveness of the message? We’d have more sympathy for AT&T if they didn’t have exclusivity contracts for their smart phones (most notably the iPhone). And if you’re selling an “Unlimited Plan” it should be just that. What do you think?
[Thanks Bobbers]
[
Headlock photo
] | 81 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "112042",
"author": "Benny M",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T03:09:39",
"content": "FIRST :)Also, is this an IRL raid? For serious? :DI don’t see why it couldn’t max out the network. A huge amount of traffic could do that to any network.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,531.444473 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/2600-game-jukebox/ | 2600 Game Jukebox | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"2600",
"atari",
"eeprom",
"emulator",
"pic",
"rom"
] | [Yuppicide] sent us a link to a
photo album of an Atari 2600 modified to play ROMs
stored inside. We did some digging around and have an idea of what’s going on. It seems that the creator, [Victor] has taken his
Atari 2600 cartridge emulator
one step further.
Previously, he had replaced the chip in an Atari cartridge with an EEPROM that he could reprogram via a ribbon cable. This new iteration places that EEPROM inside the case of the gaming console along with a PIC development board. The PIC board interfaces an SD card with somewhere around 1200 ROMs on it. Three switches added to the front of the Atari allow the user to cycle through available games and flash the desired title to the EEPROM. As you can see, a 2×16 LCD display now resides in the cartridge opening.
This seems a little more eloquent (and less legal) than the
Super Genintari
. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "112021",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T22:33:53",
"content": "This reminds me of an NES mod I saw years ago. I can’t recall the exact function, but I remember that it had an LCD screen in the cartridge slot. I think there may have been two versions, where one was an... | 1,760,377,531.353844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/techknotts-portable-dreamcast/ | [techknott]’s Portable Dreamcast | Caleb Kraft | [
"handhelds hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"dreamcast",
"portable"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZvlEOZaCg]
[Sydney] sent in this
fantastic portable Dreamcast, built by [techknott]
, in response to the one
we posted yesterday
. While we agree, this one is much more polished, we want to point out why the post yesterday is more Hack A Day material. Sure, it looks more “hackish”, but that’s not what we are referring to. What we want to draw your attention to, is the lack of information. Yesterday, there was a build log. Today, there is not. Sure the other one could have had much much more information and we’re not commenting on which one is “better”. We’re just reminding you to
please please please document your projects
. Oh, and also, this thing is awesome. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "112008",
"author": "The DON",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T21:42:21",
"content": "Nice, I especially like the magnetic disc cover, but the gaps around it mst generate one hell of a draft.I hope the console (and game) manufacturers realise no-one wants to see loads of credits and cutscen... | 1,760,377,531.536688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/ifixit-licenses-manuals-under-creative-commons/ | IFixit Licenses Manuals Under Creative Commons | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"creative commons",
"ifixit",
"manuals",
"repair"
] | Yesterday, iFixit.com
announced
that they are releasing all of their manuals under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
license
. The site has long been an abundant source of
tear-down photos
for hardware and has been gaining momentum as the go-to source for Apple hardware repair information. With the move to Creative Commons, the gates are open to distribute and improve upon the site’s content. There are even plans in the works to host user-submitted improvements (something akin to a wiki?) to the guides but there are not yet any details. The news also includes mention of forthcoming support for translated guides around the end of 2010.
The Hackaday crowd would rather fix things than throw them away. As iFixit moves past Apple products to a wider range of repair manuals and starts working collaboratively with users, we hope to see an explosion of detailed tips, tricks, and guides to keep our stuff working better, longer. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "112000",
"author": "Kabelmaulwurf",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T20:48:39",
"content": "Nice Stuff on their site.Better then buying stuff or looking at mostly crappy project photos.Would like to see more People making stuff CC as an Xmas Present.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,377,531.487432 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/giving-an-old-arm-new-life/ | Giving An Old Arm New Life | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"74hc4514",
"arm",
"controller",
"demultiplex",
"playstation",
"sony",
"stepper motor",
"tip120"
] | [Jarek] found a non-functional robotic arm sitting around and
wanted to get it working
again. By adding a few custom boards to an Arduino he managed to do just that.
The arm is driven by six stepper motors, each having four control wires. To handle all of these [Jarek] used TIP120 transistors to protect the controller. This still leaves the problem of 24 control wires to connect. By using a couple of 74HC4514 demultiplex chips he cut that number down to just 8 Arduino control pins. He completed the project by interfacing an original Playstation controller as the input device.
Source code for the project is
available for download
but we didn’t see a schematic for his setup. This shouldn’t be a problem as the low parts count should mean the datasheets for the transistors and demultiplexers are all you really need. | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "112319",
"author": "IneptSideKick2",
"timestamp": "2009-12-18T22:07:11",
"content": "digital technology…Real engineers use vaccum tubes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112328",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2009-12-1... | 1,760,377,531.158758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/bluetooth-bracelet-hacked/ | Bluetooth Bracelet Hacked | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"bluez",
"bracelet",
"python",
"stack"
] | [Jeffery] hacked the Bluetooth standard in order to
use this bracelet as a custom display
. He took up
our challenge to hack the device
when we first saw it back in February.
In order to display his own messaged he looked into how the
HFP
is implemented in the
Bluetooth stack
. The details are shared in his
readme file
but it goes something like this: The Bluez package needs to be compiled with a dummy backend that is not phone-specific and that will then allow external manipulation of the data being sent. This provides something of an API that a Python script can manipulate. His proof-of-concept allows for the script to be called with the message you want displayed as the command line argument. This should be simple enough to incorporate for just about any purpose that suits your fancy. Unfortunately, messing with the Bluetooth package in this way makes it impossible to use other devices with your phone, but that’s a hack for another day. | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "112292",
"author": "nanomonkey",
"timestamp": "2009-12-18T20:02:57",
"content": "I’d love to see a smart phone navigation program that used two of these (one for each arm) which vibrated the direction and possibly told you the street name as you came to your turn.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,531.60625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/need-to-source-nixie-tubes/ | Need To Source Nixie Tubes? | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"nixie",
"parts",
"repository",
"source",
"tube",
"vfd"
] | Nixie tubes make for fun projects but the fun can’t start until you get your hands on the hardware. Well, [Dieter’s] got you covered with his
one-stop repository on Nixie tubes and where to get them
. We know that
Woz’s watch
isn’t currently available because of
a lack of tiny tubes
an obsolete accelerometer. Ladyada’s
Ice Tube Clock
depends on a rare 8-digit VFD tube. But you can get around parts obsolescence by adapting these designs for an available replacement. So when you take on the
Dekatron Timer
or a
Bottled Nixie Clock
you’ll know where to turn for the goods.
Update:
Our mistake about Woz’s watch. It wasn’t a tube shortage that put it out of production.
[Thanks Aaron] | 17 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "112271",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2009-12-18T17:08:58",
"content": "Word on neonixie-l is that the nixie watch is going back into production.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112283",
"author": "maker",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,531.295722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/autonomous-bassline-generator/ | Autonomous Bassline Generator | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"attiny84",
"bass",
"generator",
"pwm",
"synthesizer"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqpxd0O6Mw]
We’ve been watching this project ever since [Dann] emailed us about
the first prototype
back in September. This bassline generator has a lot of functions we like, such as an adjustable melody seed, light-sensitive controls, and device interactivity. Line up a row of them and they’ll sync up the beat, building layers of sound on top of each other (see the first video after the break).
The system is built around an ATtiny84, putting its pulse width modulation channels to work for sound generation. [Dann] has some kits available but
he’s also posted everything
– the schematics, PCB layout, and code – if you want to throw one together on a breadboard.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfq9PWmk7HM]
Two units grooving in time with each other.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wERWuvYvvf4]
The second
Handmade Music
Austin, 11/15/2009 | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "112265",
"author": "bencoder",
"timestamp": "2009-12-18T15:39:58",
"content": "This is so awesome! This has to be one of my favourite music projects. Great job [Dann]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112266",
"author": "Benny... | 1,760,377,531.830348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/better-temperature-readings-using-an-aspirated-thermometer/ | Better Temperature Readings Using An Aspirated Thermometer | Jakob Griffith | [
"home hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"aspirated",
"DS18B20",
"heat",
"t2ss",
"tempurature",
"thermometer"
] | Unlike
regular thermometers that can get incorrect readings because of the sun’s heat, shading, and airflow, aspirated thermometers isolate the temperature sensor from precipitation and the sun, while providing constant air circulation. Take ten 1-wire
T2SS
boards and combine them with
DS18B20
s and you’ve got yourself the start of an aspirated thermometer. A foot of PVC pipe, fans, and the above mentioned parts and you’ll have accurate temperature readings in no time.
[Dave] made his to control a natural gas boiler, pumps, and 11 gas-fired unit heaters for a combined output of 5.3 million BTUs per hour – keeping his greenhouse nice and toasty.
Update: Thanks Firetech for pointing out our silly typo. | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "112205",
"author": "firetech",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T23:35:23",
"content": "Take ten 1-write T2SS boards…Don’t you mean… Take ten 1-wire T2SS boards?The DS18B20’s are easy to work with, and are great for temperature readings.I’m working on a home built mini-weather station… this ... | 1,760,377,531.661724 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/accessing-bga-pins/ | Accessing BGA Pins | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ball grid array",
"bga",
"usb host",
"via"
] | [Philip] developed a
method of tracking down the pins of a Ball Grid Array
. He wanted to do so in order to
add USB host functionality
to his HP Jordan 720. The method doesn’t directly connect to the BGA but instead finds a via or other access point to serve as a solder point. He first looks up the pin in the BGA datasheet. Once located, he uses the bristle of a toothbrush (teal) to act as a backstop and feeds in some enameled wire (brown) to the appropriate ball. A multimeter is used to check connectivity between the wire and the vias around the chip.
Patience young grasshopper, this should work but it might take a while. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "112186",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T22:07:23",
"content": "thats an awesome idea. I’ve always been interested in the Jordana PC’s and one thing that holds them back is lack of USB functionality which even my old libretto 110CT has (abeit in a base unit)",
"parent... | 1,760,377,532.150277 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/17/lego-book-scanner/ | LEGO Book Scanner | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"book",
"lego",
"scanner"
] | Here’s a good one from a few years back. [Muranushi] built a
scanner to automatically scan an entire book
. LEGO is used as the primary building material. A book is placed on a LEGO balance (inset photo) with a counterweight that eases the work of raising and lower the book. The book is lowered, a LEGO carriage moves across the book to turn the page, the book is raised to the glass of an upside-down scanner and scanned into a laptop.
It seems
LEGO and imaging devices
are a great match. Most of the parts used here are from LEGO Technical set
8485
, a set that comes with motors and a motor controller seen above, on the floor behind the computer. We’ve embedded some video after the break of a book in the midst of the scanning process.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRPZm3pyC4o]
[Thanks Vesanies] | 10 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "112175",
"author": "The Cheap Vegetable Gardnener",
"timestamp": "2009-12-17T20:50:43",
"content": "Nice, though most of my techincal books are so updated nothing worth scanning",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "112176",
"auth... | 1,760,377,532.364816 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/light-up-your-limbs/ | Light Up Your Limbs | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"attiny2313",
"christmas",
"christmas tree",
"led",
"prototype",
"shield",
"smd"
] | Here’s a
Christmas tree project
we can get behind. The “tree” itself is made of twisted pairs of insulated copper wire. At the end of each pair a surface mount LED has been soldered between the two conductors. All of the wire limbs converge into a 4×4 matrix. One tree uses a prototyping shield and an Arduino, the other tree is just using an ATtiny2313 microprocessor. Take a look at the twinkling tree in the video after the break.
This artful creation uses one color of LEDs. We’d love to see future improvements that incorporate multiple colors, enhance the fading effects, and perhaps add some interactivity such as pulsing to an inspiring rendition of Chestnuts Roasting on and Open Fire (which, consequently, is called “
The Christmas Song
“).
[flickr video=4186740171] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "111987",
"author": "saimhe",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T19:48:22",
"content": "Yep, needs more colors and a microphone so it becomes some kind of graphic equalizer (red for bass, blue for treble, etc).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,377,532.314369 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/scan-room-explore-virtually/ | Scan Room, Explore Virtually | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Laser Hacks",
"Portable Video Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"hmd",
"laser",
"scan",
"vr"
] | [Patrick] directed us to his
project for alternate realism
. The final goal is to be able to walk around in a space wearing a head mounted display, exploring a virtual representation of that space. This virtual representation could be altered, stylized, augmented and modified in countless ways. It is an exploration in perception, similar to enjoying different styles of painting, we could enjoy different styles of viewing a real space. Currently, it isn’t quite real time. He has to scan a room with a somewhat bulky device, then plug into his display to explore it. Being able to scan quickly and reliably enough shouldn’t be far off. [Patrick] notes that others have done
almost real time scans
at home already. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "111972",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T17:54:22",
"content": "wow DmC, that’s the lamest thing Ive ever seen on hereInteresting project tho, sounds like it could be fun to mess with if it ever gets past the prototype stages",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,532.194935 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/16/automotive-current-monitor/ | Automotive Current Monitor | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"alternator",
"atmega8",
"automotive",
"AVR",
"car",
"current",
"truck"
] | If you’ve ever had a car with an electrical system problem you know how hard it can be to pin-point the source of your woes. Here’s a hackery solution that uses a diy
PCB to monitor the current being drawn
off of the alternator.The sensing is provided by an Allegro ACS758 integrated circuit. This chip measures current up to 150A and outputs an analog signal that can be measured by a microcontroller. In this case an AVR ATmega8 measures the signal and spits the info back to a PC via the serial port. This data can be graphed to help locate when too much current is being drawn for the battery to remain charged.
Check out that CNC milled PCB, what a beauty!
[Thanks Joshua via
Elektronika
] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "111950",
"author": "Pouncer",
"timestamp": "2009-12-16T15:47:27",
"content": "I was just thinking about something like this a couple days ago. Would have been great to work out if it was the brushes or the regulator that was going. Awesome find guys.*where’s the thumbs up emote…h... | 1,760,377,532.774041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/intodream-the-portable-dreamcast/ | IntoDream, The ‘portable’ Dreamcast | Jakob Griffith | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"dreamcast",
"intodream",
"portable game system",
"vmu"
] | What looks like an absolute mess of wires,5 fans,3 batteries, and other miscellaneous equipment squeezed into a Tupperware box on the left? At first we didn’t believe it, but it is actually [John’s] fully functioning slick-looking
portable Dreamcast
on the right. The system runs Quake 3 for a little over 2 hours, not too bad considering it is also powering a VMU, rumble pad, 5 inch LCD screen, and did we mention 5 fans! All in all, it’s still smaller than the
original Xbox controller
, and we like that one of the greatest consoles is getting some well deserved respect. Check out the work log and a video of it functioning after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da7hQ7NcXuc&feature=player_embedded%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNIIqnzvfEQ&feature=player_embedded%5D | 30 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "111876",
"author": "b",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T23:56:42",
"content": "awesome! muah ha ha… first comment!comments aside… this is a really cool projectI wonder If it can run doom.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111878",
"a... | 1,760,377,532.260539 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/interactive-beer-pong-table/ | Interactive Beer Pong Table | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"beer",
"game",
"pong"
] | Do you find that beer pong is too dull on its own to keep your attention? Do you require flashing lights to accentuate your imbibing? Here’s the perfect solution.
Make an interactive beer pong table
. It didn’t take much to sell us on the idea. We think everything needs a few more lights.
The idea is that as the game progresses, you get different feedback from the lights visible in the picture above. [rohitk] is using an Arduino and some pressure sensors to tell when each cup is removed. Based on this the LEDs change color. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "111865",
"author": "killerabbit",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T22:42:10",
"content": "Ha!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111869",
"author": "SomeDude",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T22:54:36",
"content": "I know some people ... | 1,760,377,532.423125 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/social-media-hud/ | Social Media HUD | James Munns | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"hud",
"Social Media"
] | [youtube =
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnPfnEWFie0%5D
After [Gregg Benjamin] read our story about a simple physical email notifier, he decided to test his skills and add some touches of his own. Rather than limiting his notifier to just email, he has added support for displaying Pandora Radio songs, Facebook notifications, and email all to a LCD. He even has included code for an optional motion detector, as well as support for text message notification. We always love it when our stories inspire our readers to bring their own
various solutions
to similar problems, so we hope some of you take the code he has supplied (written in python for desktop side, and Arduino sketches for the microcontroller side) and add support for your own interests. Might we suggest
RSS feed support
, or other social media such as
reddit
or
Google Reader
? Let us know if you add something cool, and we might do a follow-up!
[Gregg] doesn’t have a blog of his own, so we have posted the demo video to YouTube, and he has provided all of his related code and images to
Megaupload
(warning, file is ~115 MB). Sorry to anyone looking for a blog link. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "111839",
"author": "farthead",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T18:01:25",
"content": "so he made a low power chumby?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111841",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T18:30:31",
"content"... | 1,760,377,532.533445 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/brickavr-the-proto-brick/ | BrickAVR: The Proto-brick | James Munns | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"atmega8",
"brickAVR",
"lego"
] | Sometimes, prototyping systems need to be
robust
,
full-featured
, and
powerful
. Other times, nostalgia and simplicity are
much more appealing
. Rather than buying a pre-made prototyping board, one of our readers grabbed some parts lying around, including an Atmega8, a SMD 16Mhz oscillator, and a 6 pin ISP header, and performed some circuit origami
free-form soldering
(thanks [Gilberti]!). After it was assembled, he realized that it fit in a hollowed out 2×6 Lego brick rather easily. After adding female headers to the pins, as well as a label and some hot glue to seal it up, he was left with a fully functional, and most likely very durable centerpiece to a project. We would love to see this worked into a
Lego Mindstorm robot
, just for the sake of fitting in. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "111832",
"author": "napalm",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T17:21:37",
"content": "Nicely done and very cool. LEGO FTW!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111838",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T17:52:58",
"cont... | 1,760,377,532.481571 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/13/rgb-keylock-shield/ | RGB Keylock Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"bezel",
"key",
"kit",
"led",
"lock",
"rgb",
"shield"
] | Hackaday alum [Will O’Brien] cleaned up his messy breadboard with an
RGB keylock Arduino shield
. You may remember this
two-part
project
from last year. It uses buttons backlit by an RGB LED to operate a door lock.
[Will] is still mulling over what type of kit options he will offer. We’re happy to see if the most important part, a laser-cut key bezel, will be available. This makes for a professional looking finish that made the original project difficult to replicate. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "111607",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T00:29:57",
"content": "You’ve outdone yourself today… three arduino posts in a day.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111608",
"author": "Osgeld",
"timestamp": "2009-12-... | 1,760,377,532.58793 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/13/capturing-bullet-speed/ | Capturing Bullet Speed | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"bullet",
"camera",
"ir",
"sensor",
"speed"
] | Sometimes it’s amazing how slow our sense of time is. We find [Maurice’s]
bullet capture system
a great example of this. A pair of IR sensors spaced two inches apart can capture and calculate the speed of a projectile. Couple this with a user-input distance from the sensor to the target and a microcontroller can extrapolate the exact moment to trigger a camera to catch a bullet in mid-air.
As with his
other
projects
, all the details on how to build and use this system are available for your perusal. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "111583",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2009-12-13T22:04:21",
"content": "I love these! I have been wanting to make one for a few months now and I guess this is telling me that now is the time… quite unfortunate that he chose an arduino though.I think I’ll survive without one.",
... | 1,760,377,532.837348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/13/arduino-development-on-opensolaris/ | Arduino Development On OpenSolaris | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"opensolaris",
"solaris",
"toolchain"
] | Part of the draw of Arduino development is that it is open-source and cross-platform. It is hard to believe that it took this long but
OpenSolaris can be added to the list
of operating systems that love to work with Arduino. Although not officially supported, the device drivers for were added in build 113 of the OS and a patched version of the toolchain is
available for download
.
[Thanks Alexander] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "111580",
"author": "DK",
"timestamp": "2009-12-13T21:50:13",
"content": "It’s official:Goodbye Arduino-A-Day.It’s been a nice few years. I miss Hack-A-Day (May it rest in peace), but when it’s gone – it’s gone, and no amount of hoping will bring it back.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,533.144722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/12/bidi-screen-on-and-off-screen-multitouch/ | BiDi Screen, On (and Off) Screen Multitouch | Jakob Griffith | [
"Multitouch Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"camera",
"gesture",
"led",
"mit",
"multitouch",
"natal"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXuxK6IeQfo&feature=player_embedded%5D
MIT is debuting their latest
advancement in technology
, a multitouch screen that also functions as a gestural interface. The multitouch aspect is nothing new, the team explains how traditional interfaces using
LEDs
or
camera systems
do work, but fail to recognize gestures off-screen.
Gestures are a relatively recent highlight with the introduction of projects like
Natal
or
perspective tracking
, but fail to work at closer distances to the screen. MIT has done what seems the impossible by combining and modifying the two to produce the first ever multitouch close proximity gestural display.
And to think, just a couple of months ago the same school was playing with
pop-up books
.
[via
Engadget
] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "111515",
"author": "RoboGuy",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T20:10:47",
"content": "That looks pretty cool!I wouldn’t be able to use it until they eliminated the lag, but cool nonetheless.Gotta love the models they used.It looks like they’re planning to take this to Siggraph (look at the ... | 1,760,377,533.498565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/12/embedded-games-rogue/ | Embedded Games: Rogue | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"16f876",
"dungeon",
"ks0108",
"lcd",
"pic",
"rogue"
] | Here’s a
handheld version of Rogue
.
Rogue
is one of the first graphical computer games and takes the player through a dungeon-exploring adventure. [Manuel] built this around a PIC 16F876 microcontroller and a KS0108 graphic LCD screen.
Hot on the heels of the
pixellated Mario
game, these embedded handhelds make for fun projects and great gifts. There are few parts used and [Manuel] etched his own PCB. Take a look at
the schematic
, this is a great platform to start with but the sky’s the limit on writing your own games. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "111495",
"author": "zigzagjoe",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T18:33:01",
"content": "*heels",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "111531",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T23:09:00",
"content": "@... | 1,760,377,533.083065 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/12/fpga-driver-for-psp-screen/ | FPGA Driver For PSP Screen | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"fpga",
"lcd",
"playstation portable",
"psp"
] | Friends are constantly giving us their old electronics. We love it because our junk box is a never-ending pile of possibilities. We’re really starting to amass a collection of LCD screens that are not easily interfaced and this project gives us some hope for the future. [Philip] has been posting about using an
FPGA as a driver for a replacement PSP LCD screen
.
Many
projects source cell phone LCD screens
that have their own driver chip that can be addressed over SPI for use with a simple microcontroller. More complicated screens need a more involved control scheme and this is where the Field Programmable Gate Array takes over. [Philip] lays out the steps he’s using to implement his controller, from setting up the correct voltage levels, to planning for coordinate addressing, and even some of his follies with reverse current. We think this would be a great way to introduce yourself to FPGA projects. | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "111488",
"author": "Rampage",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T16:33:03",
"content": "Lets hope this will progress",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111493",
"author": "googfan",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T18:01:52",
"content": ... | 1,760,377,533.032707 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/the-harlequin-project/ | The Harlequin Project | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"laptops hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"courier",
"dell",
"mini 9",
"tablet"
] | This impressive little mod is quite fantastic really. [pakkei] has constructed
the Harlequin
, a home-made version of the
Microsoft courier
. This was a stock Dell mini9. Now, coupled with a display link touch screen monitor that happens to be identical in size and resolution to the original, it has become a new device. He has loaded Windows7 and is currently working on a case that can hold all the bits a little more organized than what you see above. We can’t wait to see this finished.
[via
engadget
] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "111419",
"author": "babble",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T23:51:23",
"content": "I like the look of this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111420",
"author": "polymath",
"timestamp": "2009-12-12T00:29:10",
"content": "aye... | 1,760,377,532.968085 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/15/make-magazine-open-source-hardware-2009/ | Make Magazine – Open Source Hardware 2009 | James Munns | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"make",
"makezine",
"open source"
] | Former HaD’er [Phillip Torrone] has written an extensive collection of
Open Source Hardware
projects for
Make Magazine
. This impressive list covers over 125 projects and kits, broken into 19 categories including
3d Printing
,
Music
,
Robotics
, and
Wireless systems
. A number of these projects have been either extensively detailed or mentioned on HaD, so there is bound to be something for everyone here.
[Phillip] is not only detailing these projects for people new to the Open Source Hardware movement, but is also calling for new and unheard of projects to be listed in places like this, as well as central locations such as the
OSH Wikipedia page
. We are sure that a number of HaD readers will be answer this challenge.
Thanks again to [Phillip] for sharing this with us. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "111822",
"author": "Jeff Wallin",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T15:59:23",
"content": "Im interested in the video camera in the picture, alas im much to lazy to read the whole article right now.Anyone wanna lend a hint about it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,533.344735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/odroid-all-the-open-none-of-the-contract/ | Odroid: All The Open, None Of The Contract | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"debugger",
"gaming",
"handheld",
"odroid"
] | The Odroid derives its name from the combination of Open and Android. The
hardware is aimed at the portable gaming market
and runs Android. The specs are amazing, the device is open and begging you to develop for the platform.
The Samsung S5PC100 System-On-A-Chip provides the device with an ARM Cortex-A8 processor running at 833MHz. The usual suspects are all here, a capacitive touchscreen, accelerometer, SDHC slot, and WiFi. What you usually don’t expect to see is a serial debugger and 720p HD output. But the best part, we get all of this without a 2 year contract or the hardware being locked down as we’re used to with and Android based cell phone.
[Thanks Stillbourne via
LinuxDevices
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "111736",
"author": "temo",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T01:07:21",
"content": "This or Pandora?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111737",
"author": "Doug",
"timestamp": "2009-12-15T01:16:56",
"content": "I would say the p... | 1,760,377,533.301895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/monitor-keg-volume-co2-and-temp/ | Monitor Keg Volume, CO2, And Temp | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"keg",
"kegerator",
"temperature",
"volume",
"xbee"
] | [Jean-Michel] tipped us off about his
beer keg monitoring setup
. It can tell you how much beer is left in each keg, how much carbon dioxide remains in the canister, and it can monitor and regulate temperature.
An Arduino mega is the brain of the system. A shield was built to interface force sensors, measuring the weight of the keg to estimate how much beer remains. Analog temperature sensors allow for temperature monitoring and control of the compressor for regulation. Information can be displayed on a graphic LCD or a computer via XBee wireless communications.
This is along the lines of the
SparkFun kegerator
but we like the added functionality. Does this need to Twitter? Probably not but if you want that, it’s only a bit of a software hack away. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "111720",
"author": "tehgringe",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T22:11:21",
"content": "I lurv the Arduino…this rocks the cock off the kegerator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111721",
"author": "Risu",
"timestamp": "2009-12-1... | 1,760,377,533.400711 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/fabric-display/ | Fabric Display | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"fabric",
"hackerspace",
"led",
"lite-brite"
] | [Eli] is sharing the
building details
on her
fabric based display
. For lack of a better name she’s calling this a fabric
Lite-Brite
. This is because LEDs can be added anywhere to spell out a message or create a simple drawing.
The device consists of a positive bus of conductive thread sewn onto a regular piece of fabric. A second piece of fabric separates this from a ground plane made of conductive fabric. The LED leads are then bent into a spiral and can easily be wrapped around the appropriate part of the conductor.
We’re happy to see this creative design coming from a hacker that frequents a hackerspace;
Pumping Station One
in Chicago. This would be a wonderful application for banners or flags at hackerspace events. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "111708",
"author": "polymath",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T20:21:07",
"content": "I bet you could reconfigure an older printer to place the LEDs automatically. Something like an old dot matrix out of date cad plotter. Not quite printable LEDs but still pretty sweet.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,377,533.446458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/solar-water-heater/ | Solar Water Heater | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"electric shower head",
"PVC",
"solar",
"water heater"
] | [Jake] built himself a
solar water heater
. The system has an 82 gallon insulated water tank and uses a solar collection grid made of PVC pipe. As the water heats, it rises to the top of the collector and runs into the tank while pulling colder water from the bottom of the tank back into the collector.
A sunny day yields temperatures around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. On a cloudy day the water can still be heated to about 90 Fahrenheit. This is about 19 degrees cooler that one might desire but the difference is made up by an electric shower head that heats as the water comes out. [Jake’s] system, seen in the video after the break, allows him to forgo the use of electricity on sunny days, and reduce its use by around half on cloudy days.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOY49bH7Ocg] | 49 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "111688",
"author": "bancroft",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T18:27:10",
"content": "it’s great that he shared this video. i would be curious how much it cost him for the whole system.also, for north america (canada), i would be interested in ideas for closed systems with heat exchangers,... | 1,760,377,533.593146 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/make-your-own-3d-monitor/ | Make Your Own 3d Monitor | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"perspective"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NektsV1EOic]
Don’t let this cruddy video fool you. [Sprite_tm] has done an amazing job here. He has put together a fairly simple way of
creating your own 3d monitor at home
. The basic principle is easy to get. You have to supply different angles of an object, on the screen, at the same time. [Sprite_tm] has done this by using transparency sheets, printed with a pattern to only show specific pixels. As you move your head, you see a different set of pixels, and therefore a different image. It’s simple, but it works. The system isn’t really new. Traditional 3d with polarized glasses uses a very similar setup. This system however seems like it is lacking in stereoscopic view however. When you move your head, you’re looking at a different angle, but still a 2d image of it. It would be really cool if he could somehow present each eye a different view, without polarizing filters and glasses.
We’ve seen others do that
with
multiple screens
, but that gets so clunky and can give most people a headache pretty quick. We also think we are about to see a flood of
face tracking perspective modification
, especially with project Natal and similar technology emerging. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "111674",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T17:16:41",
"content": "Actually, this _is_ stereoscopic: because your eyes are at a different angle of the screen, they see different images, fooling your brains into seeing 3d. It works really well as long as you stand a few ... | 1,760,377,533.85781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/new-pet-project-413/ | New Pet, Project 413 | Jakob Griffith | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ball",
"ebox",
"hamster",
"project 413",
"robot",
"wifi",
"wii remote"
] | [Jacob] sent in his teams final project,
Project 413
. While sounding like something straight out of an action movie, don’t worry, it’s not the next terminator. Rather a combination of an
eBox
(in place of an EEE pc), omni wheels, motors, batteries, and the finishing touch – a
hamster
ferret ball. If this is
sounding familiar
to a certain web comic, then right you are, as XKCD was their
main inspiration
. Sadly, the web cam and ‘having a soul’ functions didn’t make it into their version, but being controlled via Wii remote is always a plus. Check out a video after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e15tT7Pnl9s%5D | 23 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "111669",
"author": "No One",
"timestamp": "2009-12-14T16:34:08",
"content": "Despite being billed as “alt text”, xkcd actually uses a tooltip, not alt text since alt text shows when an image cannot be displayed or when a screen reader is parsing the image, not when an extended mouse... | 1,760,377,533.704955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/bulbdial-clock-kit-released/ | Bulbdial Clock Kit Released | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"chronodot",
"clock",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"led",
"rtc"
] | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has just released
a Bulbdial clock kit
. This has come a long way since their
first prototype
, featuring three PCBs to carry the 72 charlieplexed LEDs. For accuracy they’ve included an optional header for a
ChronoDot precision RTC
.
With a great looking face and laser-cut acrylic case available, this may soon adorn our mantle. Time to write that letter to Santa…
Update:
[Windell] of EvilMadScientist.com posted some video of the clock in action. We’ve embedded it after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwEa5ZNsZs] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "111204",
"author": "Josh",
"timestamp": "2009-12-10T19:28:41",
"content": "I have really liked this project since the beginning. I think the price is kinda high, but all things considered, its reasonable. Very nice looking.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,533.644468 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/ac-shield-will-take-your-breath-heart-beat-away/ | AC Shield Will Take Your Breath (heart Beat) Away. | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"ac",
"arduino",
"shield"
] | [Ryanjmclaughlin] came up with the idea of a Arduino shield that uses TRIACs to switch four channels of AC power.
The forum thread
he started delves into several interesting discussions covering what it would take to convert this for use with 240v power and of course, a debate about safety.
A reader named [Victor] sent this tip to us and mentioned that this shield might significantly reduce the number of Arduino related projects we see. That’s because mixing high voltage alternating current with delicate 5v logic circuitry can be a bad idea. We’re not saying the creator of this didn’t know what he’s doing, but if you don’t you could fry up your Arduino, or your body. | 69 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "111180",
"author": "cgmark",
"timestamp": "2009-12-10T17:46:57",
"content": "I would never use triacs to switch power with a micro unless there was a specific reason that a triac was required. I would use a relay which provides as good as isolation as using an optoisolator and you d... | 1,760,377,533.797066 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/benderbrau-now-a-reality/ | Bendërbrau Now A Reality | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"6502 processor",
"bender",
"brewer",
"coffee",
"futurama",
"remote"
] | It appears to be 5 o’clock somewhere as everyone seems to have only one thing on their mind. [Simon] set out to make his own
Bender Brewer
from the television show
Futurama
. But he made sure to include some key functions from episodes in the series. First and most notable Bender’s stomach contains a beer brewing kit, we think a
coffee
roaster would have been better, but to each their own.What we hackers love best is the ‘
brains
‘ of Bender, a 6502 processor controlled via remote to play a selection of 15 random sayings, including the infamous “Bite my shiny metal”, well, you know.
Finally, yes, we do realize this project was started and finished about 2 years ago. We like to think we allowed it time to ferment.
[Thanks Leo] | 23 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "111160",
"author": "Taylor",
"timestamp": "2009-12-10T15:39:46",
"content": "Amazing!! I love that show!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111161",
"author": "Jeff Wallin",
"timestamp": "2009-12-10T15:41:40",
"content... | 1,760,377,533.927902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/09/verizon-users-shout-i-am-root/ | Verizon Users Shout “I Am Root!” | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"droid",
"motorola",
"rooted",
"verizon"
] | Droid has been rooted
. It was only a matter of time but we do like to celebrate
this sort of thing
. Why? Because if you pay for it you should own it. This will probably spark a flame war about licensing agreements and such in the comments but answer this: if it breaks, who pays to fix it? If you’re the one paying for it, you should be able to do what you want with it.
The process seems simple. Copy the magic file onto your SD card and go through the firmware upgrade process. Just make sure you know what you’re doing so that you don’t brick this sexy device.
[via
Gizmodo
] | 71 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "111064",
"author": "Hackineer",
"timestamp": "2009-12-09T23:01:21",
"content": "That’s great. I hope in another 10 years or so service fees will fall to a level that I can afford to use one of these things.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,377,534.022542 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/09/robot-hands-you-your-ass-at-beer-pong/ | Robot Hands You Your Ass At Beer Pong | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"beer pong",
"compressed air",
"ping pong"
] | Guess who built this contraption? You’re right, college students. But as much as we like to make fun, the subject of Beer Pong is our addition, not theirs. The device uses an air stream that can be directed along two axis to
control and sort ping-pong balls
.
Unlike the
lethal ping-pong ball launcher
, the goal here is elegant control of the ball. They’ve achieved a great success. Watch the video after the break to see balls sorted into beakers by color, transferred to vessels over a large distance, and navigated through an elevated obstacle course. To give us a hint of what you can do with this, we see the machine controlling an apple, an onion, and a water bottle at the end of the video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkhMCCOHFmM]
[Thanks Dan for sending the tip:
The Foresight Institute
] | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "111024",
"author": "deoryp",
"timestamp": "2009-12-09T17:32:02",
"content": "what does the title of this post mean?did you mean “Robot hands whoop your ass at beer pong”?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111026",
"author": "k... | 1,760,377,534.147565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/fully-automatic-crossbow/ | Fully-automatic Crossbow | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"automatic",
"crossbow",
"duckman",
"electric"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4RKoRyTik]
We received an excited email from [Noah] regarding a gentleman who works with crossbows and crossbow pistols. Begrudgingly, we took a look and
what we saw made our day
. [TheDuckman666] must have an insatiable love for all things crossbow. His webpage has details and pictures covering seven different models that he built. His
YouTube channel
shows off three more models, all with magazines for multiple bolts.
Seeing the electrically-cocked, automatic
projectile launchers
wets our appetite, but we do wish there was more background info about the build process. | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "110912",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T23:42:10",
"content": "Love crossbows. Love this!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110913",
"author": "Parker",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T23:43:05",
"content": "Nic... | 1,760,377,534.401143 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/creating-wooden-enclosures/ | Creating Wooden Enclosures | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"comodore",
"keyboard",
"saw",
"wooden"
] | [Matthias]
built a wooden enclosure for his keyboard
. He’s used to using a Commodore 64 keyboard and decided he didn’t need the num pad found on modern keyboards.
It’s not the finished product that interests us, but the methods he used to create such a nice looking enclosure. From the
wooden binary adder
he produced we know he’s a talented woodworker. He takes us step-by-step through the use of a scroll saw, table saw, and router tabled to turn out this one-of-a-kind. You may not own these tools but someone you know does. Follow his example and turn out your own wooden wonders.
[Thanks Harald] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "110897",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T21:59:46",
"content": "looks great!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110899",
"author": "James Becwar",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T22:03:24",
"content": "It came out n... | 1,760,377,534.077627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/remote-bike-mountain/ | Remote Bike Mountain | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bike",
"stationary"
] | The
Remote Bike project
, caught our eye today. Inspired by
“cliff hangers”
on the tv show “The Price Is Right”, [atduskgreg] has built his own version. In this version, the bike on the mountain makes progress, or slides back down the mountain based on the speed you pedal. If you maintain your target speed long enough, you make it to the top of the mountain and win. The RPMs are gathered from a stationary bike using a hall effect sensor, then piped to an Arduino that controls the bike via a stepper motor and string. That seems fun, and a decent alternative to
biking through
google maps
or something. We have to wonder how long this would be amusing though. Then again, when you’re on a stationary bike you are usually just using a timer or a heart rate monitor anyway, so this is pretty cool.
[via
flickr
] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "111395",
"author": "Deyjavont",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T22:10:01",
"content": "The Price is Right plus arduino equals good. I do suggest him adding a lego figure on the bike with Bob Barker’s picture attached to his head.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,534.315009 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/advanced-in-car-computer-system/ | Advanced In Car Computer System | Caleb Kraft | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"car computer",
"gps",
"remote"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZj4ArrlhA]
[Jonathan] sent us a pretty in-depth writeup of his
car computer system
. This isn’t your typical quasi navigation/media system as you would usually expect with this title. What he has done is made a remotely accessible monitoring computer that can tell him everything from engine data to physical location of the car on a google map. He can start, stop, lock, and unlock the car as well, as long as the car is within a 3g network. This is pretty impressive and we see tons of uses for this, from analyzing your own data to keeping an eye on those pesky teenagers when they borrow the car. | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "111373",
"author": "trolltrap",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T19:43:38",
"content": "hey the steering wheel is on the wrong side…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111376",
"author": "Automation",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T19:52... | 1,760,377,534.576967 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/bender-keg-cooler/ | Bender Keg Cooler | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"beer",
"bender",
"keg"
] | What? Another
Bender project
? This almost went in the trash since it looks so much like the
bender brewer
from earlier this week, we thought it was the same tip. This isn’t a brewer though. This is a keg cooler, made to look like Bender. You can follow the build process to see exactly how they constructed it. They did a great job, the tap is in his cigar, and the keg resides in his body. Fantastic job guys, now you need some Benderbrau to dispense.
[thanks hexmonkey] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "111357",
"author": "Andrewr05",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T18:11:03",
"content": "Futurama FTW!I’d live to get my hands on a fullsize Bender like that to mod my PC into…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111371",
"author": "jh",... | 1,760,377,534.441701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/19177/ | Perspective Tracking With Only A Web Cam | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"final project",
"johnny chung lee",
"tracking",
"vr"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdqk6fedeGY]
[Johhny chung Lee], eat your heart out. Check out what these guys are doing with
face tracking and immersive
3d
as their final project in class. They’re using a singe camera and an FPGA to produce the demo you see in the video. Facial tracking is done by skin color, so that might have some issues in some environments, but being able to have perspective shift with you, without rigging up some more hardware is fantastic.
We realize that this is completely different that what [Johnny] is doing. We love
[Johnny]’s work
and think it is ground breaking to be able to pull this stuff off with a cheap game controller. We just couldn’t help but draw the parallel from the end result.
[thanks Bruce] | 19 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "111348",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T16:57:30",
"content": "OpenCV has face tracking in the example code section. I wonder why they didn’t use that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111350",
"author": "djruss... | 1,760,377,534.707704 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/word-clock-redux/ | Word Clock Redux | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"clock",
"led",
"word"
] | [drj113] wrote back to let us know his latest version of the infamous
Word Clock, now in Arduino flavor
. You may remember when we originally showed you the Word Clock
back in September
, while much hasn’t changed, he’s added and modified a few things to make it more user-friendly. Most notably is the use of Arduino instead of PIC, while some commentators will complain this as a waste of an Arduino, it is extending the project towards those who are less technically inclined. Other changes include a new case, dedicated time changing buttons, and blue LEDs (and who doesn’t love blue).
We would also like to give
[Alex]
, one of our commentators, a shout out with is
QlockTwo
. Same Word Clock concept, but used acrylic, paper sheet, and stickers to produce a much smoother look.
Update:
It would appear we’ve made a slight mistake, the original creator of the QlockTwo is actually [Ruud Burger], not [Alex]. Thanks [Ruud] for clearing that up. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "111344",
"author": "urlax",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T16:21:23",
"content": "Maybe it’s the picture, but it seems the colours bleed alot. nice hack though!(Btw, Instructables keeps nagging me to death that i’ve to register.. the site has degraded too much imho..)",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,534.509351 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/remote-control-pellet-gun-with-scope/ | Remote Control Pellet Gun – With Scope | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"internet",
"pellet gun",
"scope",
"turret"
] | Project Thunderbird
is an automated predator and pest control system. It consists of a pellet gun mounted in a motorized base. The icing on the cake is a 60x zoom camera that has cross-hairs superimposed on the picture. This reminds us of the
Internet hunting for the handicap
we heard about years ago.
In the video after the break you can see how the motorized base works, watch the trigger-pull motor, and observe a demonstration of some target practice. The creator, [Gadgetapodimus], mentions the possible sale of plans and kits as soon as he completes the system. Perhaps it would be better if this was
not
easy for people to build.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLyxvJGeyig] | 40 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "111252",
"author": "mp",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T00:37:12",
"content": "Trivial to adapt to more powerful weapon.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "111254",
"author": "Oler",
"timestamp": "2009-12-11T00:40:26",
"conte... | 1,760,377,534.651331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/10/wiimote-iphone-update/ | WiiMote + IPhone Update | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"iphone hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"btstack",
"mame",
"Mame4iPhone",
"nes4iPhone"
] | Using a
Wii remote as the controller for iPhone
games? Brilliant! We’ve been waiting to see some creative usage of this pairing since
we covered it back in August
. [ZodTTD] is the person who
ported MAME
over to the iPhone. Now he’s added support for the Wii remote in Mame4iPhone via the
BTstack project
. BTstack seeks to add Bluetooth stack functionality to devices that don’t have it or where it is limited (the iPhone).
We’ve embedded video after the break of the WiiMote used to play a MAME game. [ZodTTD] is also the author of nes4iPhone, we hope that’s the next project he will add BTstack support to!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AqgIWPnrlc]
[via
Hack a Wii
] | 13 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "111232",
"author": "bcoblentz",
"timestamp": "2009-12-10T21:54:27",
"content": "is that road rash? hell yeah!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1273140",
"author": "pierre",
"timestamp": "2014-03-17T01:10:56",
... | 1,760,377,534.759611 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/homebrew-kodachrome/ | Homebrew Kodachrome | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"camera",
"film",
"kodachrome",
"traditional media"
] | What do you do if you can’t find the film that your camera uses? The answer seems pretty simple,
you just make it yourself
. Making film is not a simple task. There are multiple stages involved and it all has to be done in complete darkness. This project is causing a bit of stir in its respective communities. Though not completely finished yet, it is already an impressive piece. Everyone is waiting eagerly for it to be completed. You can find a few of the discussion groups linked from the flickr page.
[via
BoingBoing
] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "110852",
"author": "polymath",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T19:25:40",
"content": "This is pretty sweet. We used to load our own 35mm back in high school but I never thought about making my own. I’m looking forward to seeing this finished. wouldn’t mind being able to use my old Cannon ... | 1,760,377,534.813892 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/overly-complicated-gas-guage/ | Overly Complicated Gas Guage | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"capitive",
"gas",
"level"
] | While this is most likely
overkill for a gas gauge
, we do thank [VadimS] for sharing the information. He shows us how to build a capacitive liquid sensor using an Arduino, some foil and some wire. He’s basically detecting the difference in capacitance between the foil sheets. As he gets more water in the bottle, the capacitance goes up. At least we think thats what is going on. He has included the source code for the Arduino, both for handling the sensor and running the LCD display shown in the picture above. When completed, this will be used in his dune buggy for a gas gauge. | 39 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "110843",
"author": "stealthmonkey",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T18:48:07",
"content": "now thats useful arduino usage =]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110845",
"author": "mattbeddow",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T19:02:38",
... | 1,760,377,536.496419 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/ledboy-super-pixel-brothers/ | LEDboy Super Pixel Brothers | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"gameboy",
"led",
"nintendo",
"pic"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6vSHDDdhI]
We really love
this version of super mario brothers that [Brad] is putting together
. It is played on an 8×8 RGB LED screen, powered by a pic microprocessor. There aren’t many details on the construction or code yet, but we expect he’ll publish it soon. We’re guessing it is very similar to his
other 8×8 game system
. If you really want to get a jump start, he has published some
great tutorials
on working with pic microprocessors.
[via
instructables
] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "110819",
"author": "Daley",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T17:33:58",
"content": "PIC != Arduino…I’m just sayin…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110822",
"author": "Jamie",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T17:39:35",
"content": "@... | 1,760,377,537.080995 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/ionocraft-aka-lifters/ | Ionocraft Aka Lifters | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ccckc",
"crt",
"flyback",
"hackerspace",
"high voltage",
"iconocraft",
"lifter",
"transformer"
] | It’s hard to believe that in five years we haven’t covered lifters before. This realization was sparked when [Tyler] tipped us off about a
lifter project
demonstrated at the Kansas City
hackerspace called CCCKC
.
Lifters, the casual name for
ionocraft
, fly without combustion or moving parts. We’re not going to tackle the particulars of what makes flight possible, but high voltage is required to feed the phenomenon that provides the lift. One of the first comments when we asked
what to do with old CRT monitors
was to use them for lifters. The flyback transformer puts out plenty of voltage if you can tap into it without killing yourself (no, seriously, that’s an issue).
This is the method that the CCCKC folks used. Take a peek at the video after the break. If you’re thirsting for more fun with lifters, stop by
the Lifter Project
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0SFvbD9DDg] | 40 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "110807",
"author": "Adam",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T16:26:56",
"content": "If it’s been done on Mythbusters…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110811",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T16:43:05",
"content... | 1,760,377,536.705696 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/08/water-the-tree-theres-an-app-for-that/ | Water The Tree – There’s An App For That? | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"christmas",
"iphone",
"mbed",
"water"
] | Well no, but [Chris] needed something to
remind him when to water the tree
. Most folks would use their nifty iPhone to set up a calendar reminder, but why do that when you can purpose a 32 bit microcontroller to do it for you?
To detect a falling water level [Chris] attached a two-pin header to the end of a clothes pin clipped to the side of the tree stand. When the water level is covering the pins it completes a circuit, verified by a measurable current. When the water level drops the
mbed microcontroller
detects the loss of conductivity and through some creative code sends out an email and SMS reminder.
If you’re in love with your iPhone but not your living things, this will keep that tree kicking until after the new year. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "110800",
"author": "pmow",
"timestamp": "2009-12-08T15:39:09",
"content": "Maybe if the iPhone calendar reminder had a snooze, Chris wouldn’t have to remember it for later. Since it’s now a microcontroller, perhaps it can remind him later if he hasn’t watered the tree yet. A great... | 1,760,377,536.758621 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/07/simple-liquid-dispenser-for-auto-cocktails/ | Simple Liquid Dispenser For Auto-cocktails | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"bar2d2",
"bartris",
"booze",
"cocktail",
"liquor",
"servo",
"super mario",
"tubing"
] | [Qdot] came up with a simple way to dosing out liquids to use in
his Bartris project
. As you can see above, flexible tubing is connected to some inverted bottles that house the liquid. A chopstick is attached to a board on one end, and via string to a servo on the other. When the servo turns it pulls the chopstick tight against the board, cutting off the flow of liquid through the tubing. This isn’t as elegant as the system the
Bar2D2
uses but it’s a heck of a lot less expensive.
You can check out some of the
build pictures in his Flickr pool
. He’s included this concept in a project he calls Adult Mario. Watch the video after the break but the quick and dirty is that the more coins you score in Super Mario Brothers, the more beverage is rationed out into your cup. Ah, human lab rats, is there nothing they won’t do for booze?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiKE3lif8Q]
[via
DVICE
] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "110737",
"author": "sarsface",
"timestamp": "2009-12-07T23:23:16",
"content": "Anyone else skim through and see ‘adult mario’ and ‘roboexotica’ and get kinda scared?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110738",
"author": "xeracy... | 1,760,377,537.135578 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/07/hackaday-links-december-7-2009/ | Hackaday Links: December 7 2009 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"clock",
"ferrofluid",
"iss",
"lathe",
"links",
"magic",
"magnet",
"nasa",
"radar",
"reflow",
"smd",
"space station",
"travel",
"wardriving",
"wifi"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5lksMvmqQc]
Ah the beauty of watching
molten solder pull SMD components
into place. Yeah, we’ve
seen it before
, but for some reason it never gets old.
The glory days of
wardriving
are certainly behind us but if you’re still hunting in certain areas for access points you can leave the laptop at home. A homebrew program called Road Dog can
turn your PSP into a WiFi search device
. You must be able to
run custom code
to use this app.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE2pB1pyZN0]
Ferrofluid is our friend
. But having grown up watching the Terminator and Hellraiser movies we can’t help being a little creeped out by the effects seen in this movie.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1OTSbIzcwI]
Follow along with the NASA astronauts in this 20 minute HD
tour of the international space station
. It’s a cramped place to live but we can’t help thinking that it looks incredibly clean. After all, where would the dirt come from?
How are your woodworking skills? Can you take a wooden block and
turn it on a lathe until you have a lampshade
1/32″ thick? We’d love to see
how these are made
, but imagine the artist’s reaction when hours of labor are ruined by a minuscule amount of misplaced pressure on a carving tool. Patience, we’ll learn it some day!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6pUMlPBMQA]
This
video from the past that is about the future of travel
does leave us wondering why our cars don’t have built-in radar for poor visibility? We’ve already realized the rear-view-mirror-tv-picture, but we’re going to need your help before the flying police/fire/ambulance-mobile is a common sight. Oh, the fun of seeing a high-tech push-button selector 3:30 into the video. Perhaps the touch-screen was a bit beyond the vision of the time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5PByaR2EQ]
Sometimes you have so many servants you need to find creative things for them to do. Only the most discriminating of the super-rich employ a person whose sole responsibility is to
erase and redraw the hands of a clock
each minute. This video is obviously a result of the global recession as the live time-keeper has been let go; a looping recording
took his job
!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7woG0pqFjs]
Last time we checked in with [Marco Tempest] he was
syncing video over multiple iPhones
. Now
he’s at it again
with an augmented reality setup. A camera picks up some IR LEDs in a canvas and translates that into information for a video projector. We’d call this a trick, but it’s certainly not magic. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "110729",
"author": "DanielG",
"timestamp": "2009-12-07T21:16:04",
"content": "I had to solder a FTDI FT232RL chip like the one in the first video once, I wish it was as easy as the vid. Took me like 2 hours with a soldering iron.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,377,536.566227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/07/pranav-mistrys-cool-input-devices/ | Pranav Mistry’s Cool Input Devices | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"gesture",
"input",
"sixthsense",
"ted"
] | [ted id=685]
This new video about
[Pranav Mistry’s] SixthSense project
doesn’t bring us much that
we haven’t seen before
. At least, not on that project. What really caught our eye was the device he shows off at the beginning of the video. Using two old ball mice, he constructed a grip style input device. It is simple and elegant and we can definitely see using this in future hacks. Not only is it cheap and apparently effective, it seems as though it could be constructed in a very short amount of time. all you need are the wheels that spin when the ball moves, 4 springs and some string. Why didn’t we think of that?
[thanks Sean] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "110705",
"author": "dpraetorius",
"timestamp": "2009-12-07T16:20:23",
"content": "Just a heads up, it seems that the wrong video is embedded in the post.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110706",
"author": "andrew",
"time... | 1,760,377,536.986821 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/06/sunday-software-sound-hacks/ | Sunday Software Sound Hacks | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"movement",
"pure data",
"thermin",
"ultrasonic",
"wii remote"
] | [vimeo
http://vimeo.com/7348848%5D
[Ico Doornekamp] sent us his
ultrasonic-entirely code based-thermin
project in response to yesterdays
Virtual theremin
. By using the programming environment
Pure Data
, he is able to transform his laptop into a dual input device (while only using a single microphone) without modification. By being so open-ended theoretically anyone can have a theremin within a few moments of downloading, but he does mention it might not work on all hardware.
Also in relation to yesterday’s use of a Wii remote [blobKat] let us know about his thesis project,
performance based music making
. After studying the connection between musicians and their use of laptops decided that they would want more interaction and movement in their music creation. He combined gesture recognition and synth based movement with Wii remotes to achieve his ends. The video above is an explanation and example of his efforts. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "110654",
"author": "Mark C. Roduner, Jr.",
"timestamp": "2009-12-07T01:08:25",
"content": "I’m near speechless… I’ve wanted something like this since I was a kid. Quite a novel control interface for music. I can just picture cuing some Bach and playing conductor for a day.",
"... | 1,760,377,536.924845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/06/nunk-on-droise/ | Nunk On Droise | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Beer Hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"alcohol",
"arduino",
"beer",
"drunk"
] | Nunk on Droise
is an art installation where noise is made depending on how drunk you are. In a configuration that could be called a cthoilet, the sensors shown above are alcohol sensors. Though we initially thought this would be testing urine, the description states that it tests the breath of the participant. Unfortunately there aren’t any schematics or code, though you can see how it is all assembled from the
flickr pool
. You can also see a
video demonstration
of the prototype. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "110618",
"author": "John R",
"timestamp": "2009-12-06T16:12:24",
"content": "That noise is going to cause machine-killing violence if you are drunk.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110621",
"author": "Q",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,377,536.631231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/05/saturday-afternoon-robot-cooking/ | Saturday Afternoon Robot Cooking | Jakob Griffith | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"input",
"multi touch",
"robot",
"wii"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3VstJSxZlc&feature=player_embedded%5D
What happens
when you combine an IR tracking PS3 Eyetoy, and a high-resolution projector? If you answered multi-touch display, you’re on the right track. Add a Wii Nunchuck controlled robot, a pinch of
Community Core Vision
tracking software combined with
Processing
, and the piece de resistance, a modified
Memo TUIO particle system
and you get the mesmerizing video above.
Check out
this combination of crazy robotics
and more with
SparkFun’s free robot hobby builders meet-up
on Saturday.
[Thanks Anon] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "110573",
"author": "babble",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T23:54:01",
"content": "It’s fucking awesome, but.. erm, that clicking / frying sound is annoying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110575",
"author": "sarsface",
"time... | 1,760,377,537.032747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/05/virtual-theremin/ | Virtual Theremin | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"gloves",
"ir",
"remote",
"scratch",
"theremin",
"wii"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo5IRWvznWc]
[Mojo] has taken a lot of the complex circuitry out of the mix by creating a
virtual Theremin
. A
Theremin
is an electronic instrument, usually with two antennas, that senses the proximity of the player’s hands to the instrument and responds accordingly.
This design, called the AirDeck, uses a Wii remote as an IR sensor and two gloves with IR LEDs in them. Data from the Wii remote is processed by a custom Java app that converts it into sound. [Mojo’s] interface also includes some
alternative options
such as a turn-table scratch interface.
In the end this is still just a synthesizer/midi controller and cannot stand up to the real thing. However if you’re not an accomplished player you’ll probably never notice the difference. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "110566",
"author": "Kealper",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T22:03:34",
"content": "Is it just me or did that sound like a very nerdy first song that he played?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110577",
"author": "James",
"time... | 1,760,377,537.231107 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/05/remote-controlled-robot-car-vs-solar-charged-tank/ | (Remote Controlled Robot) Car Vs (solar Charged) Tank | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"btnode",
"btstack",
"car",
"iphone",
"robot"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKFECpQ8asI%5D
[Matthias] sent in his team’s
iPhone Robot (CAR)
project in response to yesterday’s
iPhone controlled solar charged tank
. Unlike the tank, the iPhone car is controlled via Bluetooth
BTnode
and
BTstack
, and also isn’t solar-powered. However, both projects utilize iPhones and readily available components. We particularly liked how it not only used a multi-touch input, but also the accelerometer within the iPhone. It seems some competition is stirring, lets see who wins out. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "110541",
"author": "jamieriddles",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T16:18:08",
"content": "I don’t see multitouch anywhere in the video",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110544",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T17:41:5... | 1,760,377,537.569531 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/whats-the-worst-way-to-transmit-video/ | What’s The Worst Way To Transmit Video? | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"parallel",
"photo conductor"
] | Perhaps the worst possible way to transmit video would be to send all pixel data in parallel. That’s exactly how [Gebhard Sengmüller’s]
parallel image device
works. To be fair, this is an art piece called “A Parallel Image” that addresses the concept of where we would be if serial data transmission had never come to fruition. The
brochure
(PDF) accompanying the exhibit gives the juicy details we’re always looking for.
The device consists of a photo sensor unit and a display unit. Both are one-square-meter stripboard panels made of epoxy. The sensor unit consists of a 50×50 grid of photo-conductors that have their counterparts in the 50×50 grid of light bulbs on the display unit. Things start to get pretty crazy when you throw in the 7500 meters of magnet wire that connect the 2500 pixel sensor unit to the display unit.
You should be able to put together how this works. The sensors pick up light and then effect the brightness of the corresponding light bulbs. The result is an interesting image, and a nightmare of wire porn that would drive any TV repairman to drink.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRwgwX1Q5k] | 57 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "110442",
"author": "Tim Otto",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T00:11:59",
"content": "THAT IS AWESOME!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110448",
"author": "Torvaun",
"timestamp": "2009-12-05T00:42:18",
"content": "Could be w... | 1,760,377,537.458734 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/sugru-moldable-silicone-adhesive/ | Sugru – Moldable Silicone Adhesive | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adhesive",
"mold",
"moldable",
"silicone",
"Sugru"
] | Reader [James] told us about a new product developed with hackers in mind.
Sugru is a silicone-based adhesive
that cures at room temperature. It is moldable and once hardened it remains slightly flexible. You can see in the picture above that it has been used to create a hook but the inventor shows off a slew of other uses such as replacing missing feet on a chair, molding hand grips, and waterproofing. One of the most enticing aspects is that Sugru will create a chemical bond with smooth metal.
The product reminds us of the two-part earplug material used to
ruggedize electronics
from a while back. The difference is that Sugru is one part and is an adhesive. It comes as a satchel full of individually-sized packets.
To use it
, choose how much you need, cut open the package to reveal the product, then knead and mold the chewing-gum-looking substance to fit your needs. Check out the demonstration video after the break.
Want to try some out? Yeah, so do we but it seems they’ve already sold out of their initial supply (good for them, bad for us) and we haven’t seen word on pricing. We’d love to use this to mold enclosures, and for about a billion other things.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeJsH5WL9IE] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "110414",
"author": "eldino",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T22:28:48",
"content": "impressive! i want some!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110415",
"author": "dertyp",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T22:32:29",
"content": "I was... | 1,760,377,537.528359 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/eureqa-discovers-equations/ | Eureqa Discovers Equations | Gerrit Coetzee | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cornell",
"equations",
"eureqa",
"software"
] | While “
Software to discover equations and mathematical relationships in data
” isn’t at the
top of our christmas wish list
, we have to admit that Eureqa is pretty cool. Developed at Cornell University, Eureqa uses machine learning algorithms to determine the underlying math behind data sets. It derived Newton’s second law of motion in a few hours on a standard desktop computer, which isn’t bad at all for a cold unfeeling robot mind. There probably aren’t many applications for this in most hacks, but what hacker wouldn’t want Sir Issac Newton’s brain in their toolbox? The software can be
downloaded for free
from their website.
[Via
Wired
] | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "110384",
"author": "preciousRoy",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T20:08:41",
"content": "The only applications I can think of is seeing relations between results of fuzzing tests, and brute forcing serial numbers for software to build a keygen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,537.363781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/melloman-tape-looping-keyboard-2/ | Melloman Tape-looping Keyboard | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"loop",
"Melloman",
"Mellotron",
"tape",
"Walkman"
] | [Michael] tipped us off about an incredible build from back in 2005. The Melloman is a
keyboard that uses a different tape loop for each key
. The instrument is generally known as a
Mellotron
, and consists of a different looping tape for each key. When a key is depressed, the head comes into contact with the key and plays the sound sample.
This particular implementation uses 14 Walkmans to supply the tape loops. The Walkman units are constantly playing but the audio output is not enabled until a key is depressed. The main description of the instrument is on the final project page linked above but there are many construction photos available in the
build log
.
Update:
After the break we’ve embedded a video that will take you on a tour of the components of the Melloman. To clear up the looping issue: a Mellotron uses tape loops, but the Melloman uses tapes that are 30 minutes on each side instead of loops.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzPXWTQshtQ]
[Thanks Michael] | 27 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "110361",
"author": "thedudefrommiamivice",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T18:20:10",
"content": "So what happens when he hits the end of a tape, do you have to stop playing or maybe they auto reverse?Also nice job lately on the site.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,377,537.730318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/04/movie-mover-a-mobile-theater/ | Movie Mover: A Mobile Theater | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"projector",
"radio controlled",
"rc"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po8F6lIFhkk]
[Electricunicycle] put together this
radio controlled mobile theater system
to amuse his neighborhood pals. It is a projector and what looks like an electric wheelchair base. He has managed to fit a decent sound system in there as well, which required a second battery. This is pretty cool, though we could see ruggedizing it a little more to be able to drive around in fields. He states “this is one of the faster movie theaters around”. This makes us wonder what the competition is like. | 18 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "110352",
"author": "Michiel",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T16:38:23",
"content": "Why not just get a old TV…? :|",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "110353",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T16:40:09",... | 1,760,377,538.00173 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/03/make-a-mac-on-the-cheap/ | Make A Mac On The Cheap | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"case",
"mac",
"mod",
"pc"
] | We’re not usually the type for PC case mods, but when we received the tip for the
Macbook Mod
of hiding a Macbook inside of two Linksys routers, we decided to make an exception on three accounts. [Tyler’s]
original intent
was acquiring a Mac, the
total price
for a full functioning system was a little over $200, and
Macs aren’t PCs
.
[Thanks Bluewraith]
But what if you want the mac experience and not the nitty gritty hassle of fixing logic boards, searching for long lost components, and modding a case? Then
buy a Mac
you might like [Useless Ninjas’]
super cheap modification
of an
MSI Wind
into Leopard running brute for only $240.
[Thanks Flyordie2] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "110257",
"author": "duuuurp",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T00:12:42",
"content": "Watch that you don’t get sued by Apple…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110260",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2009-12-04T00:38:01",
"c... | 1,760,377,537.662379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/03/crushtoberfest-can-you-pwn-tom-selleck/ | Crushtoberfest – Can You Pwn Tom Selleck? | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Crushtoberfest",
"pressure sensor",
"test your strength",
"Tom Selleck"
] | [flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmillerid/4055251585/]
On rare occasion, the celestial bodies that control engineering and design awesomeness move into alignment and cast their blessed star dust upon a hacker. Today, we can witness
the glorious outcome
of such an alignment. Although almost unheard of, it’s a good omen that such a blessed hacker also be adorned with
a wickedly furry face
.
[Joel] wanted to up the ante for a yearly work gathering. He set out with the concept of Crushtoberfest, a test-your-strength game where a stake is hit with a mallet and the resulting force rings a bell. But bell ringing is for normal projects, [Joel’s] muse required LEDs and fire as a reward for success. In fact, Tom Selleck (god of all things mustache) becomes angry at successful contestants to the point that his eyes will flash red and flames shoot out of his ears.
The mechanical input is a clever design. The stake used as the target is a 6×6 block with some old tire tread affixed to the top of them. The stake rests on a piece of radiator hose that is sealed on one end and connected to a pressure sensor on the other. Radiator hose is resilient, so it takes quite a blow to cause much compression, which is then translated into a value by an Arduino via the pressure sensor. [Joel’s] gone to the effort of building gravitational deceleration into the progress tracker of the vertical string of LEDS. Too bad he didn’t have access to an
addressable LED rope
to make this easier, but he did pull it off nicely. He also goes into detail about prototyping and building some fireball modules.
Go now and
read his blog
(oldest at the top, newest at the bottom). We can call the experience nothing short of delightful. | 11 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "110229",
"author": "poofish",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T21:33:36",
"content": "That is awesome, Tom Selleck is awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110238",
"author": "jimmys",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T22:45:42",
... | 1,760,377,537.774703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/03/internet-enabled-cat-feeder/ | Internet Enabled Cat Feeder | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"cat",
"cisco",
"pet"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCC2Z96s3g]
When travelling, it can always be a pain to have your cats cared for. There are some commercial automated solutions out there, but they tend to be pricey, especially when there are two required. These two cats don’t need to worry though. They have an
internet enabled monster of a system
.
The system used is pretty unique. They wanted internet connected relays, but didn’t want to put an entire computer in line just for the cat feeder. Instead, a Cisco router was hacked to run relays hooked to the status lights on the ports. Not only can it be controlled over the internet, there is also a live feed so you can see the cats as the binge. These are some pretty lucky cats. They also have an
automatic cat door
.
[via
Hackedgadgets
] | 35 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "110206",
"author": "Rich",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T18:45:25",
"content": "That’s a switch, not a router.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110207",
"author": "Spunkmeyer",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T18:48:22",
"content"... | 1,760,377,538.074576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/slide-digitizer/ | Slide Digitizer | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"dslr",
"projector",
"scanner",
"slide"
] | Remember slide shows? The ones that used a carousel projector and real slides? [Brian] wanted to bring his slides into the digital age but was spending far too much time scanning in the 35mm relics. He set to work and
built a rapid slide digitizer
using a projector, a DSLR, and a microcontroller.
His system centers around an AVR microprocessor, the ATtiny2313. Some DIP switches are used to set the number of slides to be scanned, and the timing for synchronizing the projector and the camera. Using two relays, the cable release for the DSLR and the remote advance pins on the slide projector are connected to the AVR. [Brian] used a macro lens and sets the focus, exposure, and f-stop manual. Once everything looks good the touch of a button quickly steps through the entire carousel at about 1 slide per second. A small video of the process is embedded after the break and his writeup has some comparison photos between a slide scanner and this setup.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbryce/4149018287/] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "109857",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T22:49:12",
"content": "Excellent hack. Solves a problem with the material at hand and minimal hassle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109858",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"ti... | 1,760,377,537.838949 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/destroying-optical-media/ | Destroying Optical Media | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"cd",
"destroy",
"dvd",
"scratch",
"shred"
] | We got a tip about a USB CD destroyer. We found its methods amusing as it just scratches the CD as seen above on the left. If you really have data security issues, perhaps something more than scratched plastic should be used. There are a lot of paper shredders that can also shred CDs, what about taking that shredder with the burnt out motor and turning it into
a hand-cranked shredder
that doubles as a CD killer?
Got a lot of optical media that needs to go? These folks developed the
chain-gun of CD shredding
with an automatic feed. This consists of a CD shredder and a slew of discs connected with packing tape. As seen in the video after the break, the shredder advances and the next disk is pulled into its jaws.
Microwave has been a popular bringer of death for disc media. The
light show and resulting chaotic art
(above on the right and after the break) are what make this interesting, but it’s pretty hard on the much-loved kitchen appliance. What we’re really looking for is a way to force a CD/DVD writer to overwrite data. The fact that burnt discs, rather than factory pressed versions, are what normally need to be disposed of makes this a hack waiting to happen. Why isn’t this a standard hardware feature of all drives, and can it be implemented in software?
There’s always the low-tech snap, scratch, or mangle methods. We usually just scratch the foil off the top of the disc.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOxBAKlSQpM]
CD Shredder with automatic feed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JkCIfLE_-M]
The best microwaved CD. | 52 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "109816",
"author": "Foxdie",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T20:29:34",
"content": "The sound the chain-cd shredder makes is remarkably like the lift to “Sanctuary” / Box’s lair in Logans Run ;)*geek*",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "10... | 1,760,377,538.165237 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/mclvdt-a-straw-based-sensor/ | McLVDT: A Straw-based Sensor | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"inductance",
"LVDT",
"McDonald's",
"sensor",
"signal"
] | We saw [Kevin’s] home-built Linear Variable Differential Transformer in a YouTube video last week and wanted to know more. We’re in luck, he agreed to share
all the details
as well as a bunch of information on these sensors. An
LVDT
is used to measure distance along a straight path. Unlike a
linear optical encoder
, this method uses measurements of inductance between two electrical coils to judge the distance.
[Kevin] used some magnet wire wrapped around two straws of different diameter to fabricate his sensor. A signal generator is connected to the primary coil and the resulting signal induced in the secondary coil is measured to reveal the change in physical position. Check out the video after the break to see the results.
It’s not hard to get your hands on a McDonald’s straw (hence the name ‘Mc’LVDT), a smaller inner straw, and a few feet of magnet wire. This will be a fun one to try when those dark winter days start to get to you.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_q9jF4EscU] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "109818",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T20:32:04",
"content": "What?No audio?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109839",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T21:51:08",
"content": "synth time!",
"p... | 1,760,377,538.220885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/joystick-controlled-alarm-clock/ | Joystick Controlled Alarm Clock | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"alarm clock",
"Joystick"
] | While it may sound like a dirty joke, turning off the alarm clock with a wiggle of your joystick is entirely possible here. [Sean] was inspired by the
light gun alarm clock featured in Make magazine
a while back and decided to build something similar. Instead of going the light gun route, he chose to use a joystick. You set the time on the clock using the joystick and the fire button works as a snooze button. Though it currently doesn’t have a snooze-waggle feature, it could without too much effort.
[Sean]’s server is small. He notes in his comments that he can’t handle the traffic from us. This is why we had to find it our selves instead of him submitting it. Tsk Tsk. To help, we have included the few other pictures of his build after the break. If you really want to overload his poor little server, you’ll find the link to
his site here
, instead of at the beginning of the article.
[via
flickr
] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "109795",
"author": "shoosh",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T18:47:47",
"content": "most… useless… hack… ever.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109806",
"author": "Brett",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T19:48:53",
"content": "Ok s... | 1,760,377,538.269347 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/minimalistic-circuit-design/ | Minimalistic Circuit Design | James Munns | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"bigmech",
"circuit"
] | [David Terrill], whose
exploits
we have
covered
before
, has shared with us his techniques for
building circuits
without a prototype or bread board. [David] managed to incorporate a Dual
D flip-flop
at the heart of the circuit, as well as an impressive number of transistors, diodes, and other passive components. Unfortunately, the circuit diagram is a little low resolution to really make out the real function, but based on the components, our best guess is a two-output blinking circuit. Maybe for an encore, someone out there will build a circuit built entirely around a battery so that it can be a self-contained system.
Let us know if you have a better copy of this schematic, or a guess at what the circuit does! | 30 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "109772",
"author": "nave.notnilc",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T17:13:50",
"content": "reminiscent of freeform BEAM robotics.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109774",
"author": "Edward",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T17:28:55",
... | 1,760,377,538.338446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/control-your-tree-from-anywhere/ | Control Your Tree From Anywhere | Jakob Griffith | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"christmas tree",
"control",
"internet",
"server",
"x10"
] | We honestly never thought we would see an
internet controlled Christmas tree
before, sure maybe a
remote controlled claw
or
online soccer robots
, but a tree? Regardless, team [Schwippy] did just that. 5 separate sets of lights are connected to 5 individual
x10 modules
. The x10s are listening over the household’s AC lines for commands from a server in the other room, with its own x10. At about 12$ a module, the project can get expensive quick, totalling over 200$ for
[Schwippy’s] setup
. Just to control a tree, but anything to spread the holiday cheer, right?
[Thanks Yon] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "109763",
"author": "Odin84gk",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T16:30:26",
"content": "It’s Back! They have had that tree up for a few years, and they are very active on their chat. If you are nice enough, (and regular enough), they might even put up a sign or something else sweet.It is eve... | 1,760,377,538.397348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/30/pink-wireless-terminal-of-wonder/ | Pink Wireless-terminal Of Wonder | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"hunter davis",
"im-me",
"terminal"
] | [Hunter Davis] is at it again, this time hacking the pink
IM-ME to use as a wireless terminal
. It sells for between $12-16 and he ordered it to get free shipping with another purchase. The wireless antenna registered as an HID device when he plugged it into his Linux box. He then sat down for a long USB sniffing session only to be surprised by the lack of any type of security. Everything transferred to the device is just plain text in hexidecimal. Because of possible DMCA issues he hasn’t posted a driver but does explain most of the process to write your own.
[Hunter] has given us a lot of
handheld hacks
. This device is meant as a remote terminal for instant messaging. We’re sure you can think up a lot better uses so let us know in the comments and don’t forget to
send in
any projects you come up with.
[Thanks Paul] | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "109632",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T21:59:15",
"content": "Wireless tty coming right up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109635",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T22:21:48",
"content": "k... | 1,760,377,538.487281 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/03/phone-controlled-solar-charged-tank/ | Phone Controlled Solar Charged Tank | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"iphone hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"colorado",
"multitouch",
"rc",
"tank"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLU4GS7zAI]
This looks like a fun little project. [Chris] has built a
tank that he is controlling using his iPhone
. Constructed mainly of off the shelf parts, like an Arduino and an Xbee wireless unit, the tank is controlled via
processing
. You can see that it is fairly responsive as he changes the speed of the motors. You don’t need an iPhone for this, really to do exactly what he’s doing any multi-touch input would work. You can download the code for it from his site.
We’re a bit curious about the solar charging. How much power does this use? Doesn’t that panel look a bit small? How long does it take to charge?
[via
HacknMod
] | 11 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "110201",
"author": "martinmunk",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T17:46:38",
"content": "Why oh why did he swap the motors?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110202",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T17:56:09",
"co... | 1,760,377,538.605032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/03/ask-hack-a-day-touch-screen-hack/ | Ask Hack A Day: Touch Screen Hack | James Munns | [
"classic hacks",
"Tablet Hacks"
] | [
"askhackaday",
"tablet",
"touch",
"wacom"
] | Reader [Chad Essley] asked us:
“I’m wondering if the vast knowledge base of HackADay’ers out there might know of some way to turn almost any laptop into a touch screen of some kind. Actually, any surface.”
He has an older Wacom Tablet, and would like to be able to add resistive touch screen capabilities so that he isn’t forced to use the Wacom pen. Being an artist and part time hacker, he even summed up the question in a
comic-style post
.
We know of tools such as the
EZscreen
instant touch:
which allow “Clip on Tablet abilities”, however you have to use their pen, which doesnt help with the tablet problem, but may help with your “any monitor” problem. Another solution is to buy a generic touch screen kit (usually on
eBay
from somewhere in China), and install it yourself. That will work for most laptops and desktop monitors, however we wouldnt recommend using it with your Wacom tablet, as it would probably interfere with the pen functionality.
Hak5
recently did an episode on Touchscreen kits, but there are also a number of places all over the internet to find
step-by-step
how-tos for kits.
We dont think you could use an infrared camera from the side like in your drawing, because it would be very difficult to calibrate (wouldnt be able to tell the difference between cold hands, and hands that are farther away/etc in our opinions). Things like the Microsoft Surface use infrared, but from underneath (which is much easier for
machine vision
to handle.) A flat, unlit surface (not like a monitor or a tablet) could use something similar to the
laser keyboard
.
We have also covered a couple of gesture and touch based input tools which may help out anyone willing to take on this task.
TISCH
is a top-down camera based multi-touch framework, and
Scratch Input
is a tool for using acoustic signals on a wall or a table to interpret touch and drag motions.
Unfortunately, that is about all the ideas we could come up with, but the Wikipedia page on
Wacom tablets
might be a good place to start for background information on what could or could not work with this configuration. Hopefully some of our ideas will spark the interests and specialties of our readers, feel free to respond in the comments, or send any ideas to our tip line!
Thanks again to [Chad] for his question, and feel free to send any other ideas for Ask Hack a Day. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "110190",
"author": "BlackOp333",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T16:11:48",
"content": "Use a wiimote",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "110192",
"author": "mickern",
"timestamp": "2009-12-03T16:14:28",
"content": "What about ... | 1,760,377,538.559037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/02/x-mas-hack-8-channel-musical-show/ | X-mas Hack: 8-channel Musical Show | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"christmas",
"ssr",
"transmitter"
] | We’ve been seeing them appear one house at a time over the last few weeks as Christmas lights are making their annual appearance. Some folks just throw a set of net-style lights on the bushes and call it good but that wouldn’t suit [Noel]. He’s
outfitted his house with a show
that includes music, 8 controllable light channels, and an Internet interface.
He’s used a plastic toolbox as an enclosure to house everything. Affixed to the base of the enclosure are eight solid state relays for the strings of lights. An Arduino is used to control the SSR switching, playback music through an FM transmitter, and to interface with the wireless bridge.
Rubberneckers
can tune their radio to the broadcast frequency and log into the web interface to request their favorite tune or track Santa’s current location. The device even implements VU monitoring to sync the light show with the music. If you want more, watch the video after the break or check out his
step-by-step instructions
. The Arduino library sure makes the code pulling this all together pretty simple!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFg53oMUF5Q] | 22 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "110023",
"author": "Life2Death",
"timestamp": "2009-12-02T20:28:38",
"content": "Looks like it slaves off a pc so I’m not that impressed…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6533331",
"author": "John",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,538.715063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/02/ipv6-to-1-wire-protocol-translator/ | IPv6 To 1-wire Protocol Translator | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"atmega644",
"AVR",
"contiki",
"enc28j60",
"ethernet",
"IPv6",
"uIPv6"
] | [Fli] assembled an AVR based system that can
assign IPv6 addresses to 1-wire components
. An AVR ATmega644 microcontroller is used in conjunction with an ENC28J60 ethernet controller chip. To get up and running with IPv6 on this meek hardware [Fli]
ported the uIPv6 stack
from the
contiki project
over to the AVR framework. Although he encountered some hardware snafus along the way, in the end he managed to get five sensors connected to the device, each with their own IP assigned using the stack’s alias capability.
This is great if you’re looking for a low-cost IPv6 solution. We’re not sure if there’s much demand for that, but it’s useful for that
1-wire home automation
setup you’re considering. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "109991",
"author": "013@brokenhivemind.com",
"timestamp": "2009-12-02T17:20:35",
"content": "It’s reassuring to see that people are already considering embedded devices and IPv6 compatibility in the hacking world. How many devices are still using RS232 nowadays, even though USB is ... | 1,760,377,538.805402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/02/worlds-largest-pov-display/ | World’s Largest POV Display | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"Michael Pendry",
"POV",
"siemens",
"Wind turbine"
] | How do you convince a power company to let you play with their multi-million-dollar wind turbine? Call yourself an artist instead of a hacker! [Michael Pendry] convinced Siemens to let him install this
‘art’ piece on the rotors of a wind turbine
outside of Munich, Germany. It features 9000 LEDs, 3000 on each of the 30 meter blades, and can pump out 20,000 candelas when fully illuminated.
The problem? The blades of the power generator turn extremely slowly compared to
fan-based
persistence of vision
displays. This makes it more of a “long-exposure” display system that is
illustrated in some of their press photos
. Ok, so the POV is a bit of a let-down, but the
display effects achieved
are still pretty impressive.
[Thanks Sam] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "109973",
"author": "chicosoft",
"timestamp": "2009-12-02T16:19:21",
"content": "That is a really cool and expensive hack…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109978",
"author": "floe",
"timestamp": "2009-12-02T16:37:39",
... | 1,760,377,539.050299 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/02/arduino-shield-for-arduino-no-really/ | Arduino Shield For Arduino. No, Really. | Phil Burgess | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"fanboy",
"headers",
"omgwtf",
"shield",
"stacking"
] | We’ve been accused on more than one occasion…okay, pretty much every single day…of harboring some kind of creepy Arduino love affair. The topic
does
come up an awful lot here, we’re not oblivious to that, and had been patiently waiting for April Fool’s Day to post an article lampooning the whole situation, both ourselves and critics alike, so that everybody could have a good laugh (or possibly annihilate the entire planet in the resulting flame war, we’re not sure). And what could possibly make for a more self-referential joke than an Arduino shield…for Arduino?
Truth, as it turns out, is stranger than fiction
. “Core2duino” is — seriously now, no joke — an Arduino shield containing a second
ATmega
microcontroller and full complement of I/O pins. The two chips in this Young Frankenstein-esque assemblage coordinate over the
I2C
bus, providing, at least in theory, more
processing power
,
more I/O
, and perhaps a degree of fault tolerance. In reality, we’re pretty skeptical, but do have to give them props for a great Instructable, detailing the whole process start to finish with
Eagle CAD
files, board
etching
and drilling, and advice on where to score free
Cosmopolitan
magazines (it helps “if you know any women,” we’re told).
There’s no indication whether this works with
stacking headers
to allow for an Arduino shield for Arduino shield for Arduino, or perhaps some
Möbius strip
-like endless stack of Arduinos. Feel free to discuss in the comments. We’ll be waiting in our concrete
bunker
37 miles away! | 74 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "109960",
"author": "tom",
"timestamp": "2009-12-02T15:23:42",
"content": "You guys must have popped boners left right and center over this one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "109967",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
... | 1,760,377,539.147757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/12/01/double-dose-of-iphone-camera-hacks/ | Double Dose Of IPhone Camera Hacks | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"iphone"
] | Why take an iPhone, a slim device that already takes decent photographs and add several
macro magnifying lenses
? For [Mathijs], simply because he could, But now he can take some awesome macro pictures.
[Bhautik] (maker of the
tilt-shift Plungercam
) took the concept further. With some more trademark plumbing supplies and a lot of duct tape, secured an
interchangeable SLR lense
assembly to the back of his iPhone.
Check out some photos from both setups after the break.
[Mathijs’]
[Bhautik’s] (Before hack/After) | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "109865",
"author": "HIrudinea",
"timestamp": "2009-12-01T23:50:20",
"content": "Is that a telephoto lense on your iPhone are are you just happy to se me?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109877",
"author": "Godi",
"timest... | 1,760,377,538.882482 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/30/ds-based-reader-for-the-blind/ | DS Based Reader For The Blind | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"blind",
"ds",
"ocr",
"voice reader"
] | [Epokh] has release some homebrew software that uses a Nintendo DS as a voice reader for documents. This is extremely useful for blind and visually impaired folks who normally use screen readers but can utilize this technology for reading books, documents, and email on the go. Future versions look to add an email client and implement
OCR
via the camera for reading documents on the go.
The
flite package
is utilized to provide the text to speech functionality. We’re familiar with this package and judging by the video after the break, it lost nothing in
the port to the DS hardware
. [Epokh] pointed out that
similar readers
can cost $1500 when a DS sells for around $130. We can’t wait to see the final version fleshed out!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_xLKu3sgjc] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "109621",
"author": "babble",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T20:40:53",
"content": "I don’t know if I just qualify as being lazy, but I often find it hard to concentrate long enough to read more than a few paragraphs so text to speech is really useful for me..I like the idea of this projec... | 1,760,377,539.204709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/30/robo-one-dance-competition/ | Robo-one Dance Competition | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"biped",
"dance",
"robot"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z6a3oxKDiQ]
This year at the creepy robot dace-a-thon, also known as the Robo-one dance competition, we get to
see the creepy brought to new levels
. We thought the
Lou Vega decapitated head bot
was creepy, but somehow these people managed to make a biped out creep a hexapod. Watch above as this
uncanny valley
resident tries to shimmy into your heart. We really are impressed by these bots though. The world of robot dancing has come a long way, those little servo bags are doing a better job than us on the dance floor. | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "109575",
"author": "CabooseLoL",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T16:58:18",
"content": "Song: Love & JoyArtist: Yuki KimuraIs it strange that I actually know that?Anyways, yeah this has to be the creepiest things I’ve seen today…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,539.360646 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/30/nxt-turing-machine/ | NXT Turing Machine | Jake W | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"bergen",
"lego",
"nxt",
"turing"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYw2ewoO6c4]
This interesting use of Lego
popped up on the mailing list of the University of Bergen. Build by a group of
Norwegian
Danish students, it’s a simple computer that implements
Alan Turing’s design
from 1937. Having both read and write functions, it implements its own (somewhat inefficient) medium of non-volatile memory. What we find interesting is that rather than move the ‘tape’ through the machine, the machine rolls over the tape. Thanks to [Thorsten] for the tip. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "109560",
"author": "jbot",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T15:17:07",
"content": "It’s official: I NEED an NXT kit for Christmas.Also, first!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109561",
"author": "mickern",
"timestamp": "2009-11-3... | 1,760,377,539.456207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/30/xbox-360-controller-on-nes/ | Xbox 360 Controller On NES | Jake W | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"360",
"controller",
"nes",
"nintendo",
"xbox"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzW0JAx2lFM]
Some may think that linking
an Xbox
360 controller to an original NES console is overkill. [Francois] would not count him self among that group. When the robotics team at his school was done using the controller with one of their projects, [Francois] used a Cortex M3 processor to get it to run with one of
Nintendo’s 8-bit
consoles. Part of the
code for using the controller
with the robot and the NES is available. Now all that is left is being
able to play Duck Hunt
with a Sixaxis controller. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "109554",
"author": "mark",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T14:16:20",
"content": "uh.. first :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109557",
"author": "MarkyB86",
"timestamp": "2009-11-30T14:38:27",
"content": "overkill.. yes, ... | 1,760,377,539.400256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/29/hackaday-links-sunday-november-29/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday, November 29 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"adafruit",
"ds",
"pcb",
"reprap",
"repstrap",
"routing",
"Spinning Wheel of Death",
"time-lapse"
] | Sometimes we wonder if we’re making good choices with PCB layout when using EagleCAD. Watch how the pros do it with a
video of an hour-long Adafruit PCB layout
session compressed into seven minutes.
[Elijah] documented
his RepStrap build
. This is a chicken-or-egg project in that RepStrap machines are built without the assistance of an already existing
RepRap
.
Here’s an ASUS concept from CeBIT this year for
a laptop that has two touch screens
and no physical keyboard. Isn’t this just the
DS project we saw this week
but in a nice case?
[James] conjured up a
physical realization of the Spinning Wheel of Death
for an art exhibit. We can’t stop smiling when looking at this artful hack.
I’m sure nobody will raise an eyebrow when you pop out that roll of duct-tape and affix your phone to the airplane window. That’s what [floe] did to make this
airline flight time-lapse video
with an Android phone. Aren’t you supposed to turn off all electronics for takeoff? | 47 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "109455",
"author": "atrain",
"timestamp": "2009-11-29T22:32:06",
"content": "airline flight time-lapse link is broken.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109456",
"author": "Taylor",
"timestamp": "2009-11-29T22:35:27",
... | 1,760,377,539.294643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/29/xbox-intosh-an-atom-based-cube/ | Xbox-intosh & An Atom-based Cube | Jake W | [
"Mac Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"g4",
"hackintosh",
"mac",
"xbox"
] | Though [Will] is more of a PC guy, he needed a Mac to run the software he needed for his line of work (Final Cut). Making the best of an unfortunate situation, he constructed
this hackintosh
inside the case of Microsoft’s original gaming console – the Xbox. [Will] did a good job at
documenting the build
.
[Paul], who seems a bit more fond of Apple’s technology, still felt as though his hardware
could use an overhaul
. So he gutted his G4 Cube and dropped in an Intel Atom 330 based system to get
his ultimate HTPC
. To make controlling the 1 TB beast more fun,
he hooked up a Wiimote
through
DarwiinRemote
. | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "109422",
"author": "DeadNixons",
"timestamp": "2009-11-29T17:24:41",
"content": "“This left me with the distasteful choice of either setting foot in an Apple store or spending the next couple of months laboring in my garage, with the potential for serious injury. I of course took th... | 1,760,377,539.524108 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/29/magic-clock-knows-your-location/ | Magic Clock Knows Your Location | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"harry potter",
"location",
"magic"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-A4ZNdkmEs&feature=player_embedded%5D
Straight out of the fiction of Harry Potter is
The Magic Clock
. Just like in the novel this clock (is it still a clock even thought it doesnt tell time?) shows the current location of family members, from home to the doctor’s office, even to mortal peril (We hear its nice this time of year).
The clock hands are driven by
4 separate servo motors
, which are maintained by
an Arduino
. The location of family members is updated wirelessly via Twitter. We think a script written for each member’s GPS enabled cell phone might be more trustworthy, but it seems to be working fine currently.
[via
Make
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "109418",
"author": "xGROMx",
"timestamp": "2009-11-29T16:12:31",
"content": "Some type of device needs to be in each room that will detect who is in the room. Maybe an RFID pad in each room and a RFID keyring to activate it programed for each person.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,377,539.608717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/digital-bmxing-through-san-francisco/ | Digital BMXing Through San Francisco | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"bike",
"wireless"
] | [Alpay] sent in this project he did recently. He was hired to produce a kiosk that would stand out to the kids at the event. He chose to make a
bike riding game utilizing open source hardware and software
. There was some thought put into what interface to use to make it easiest for people to just pick up and use. The ultimate decision was a simple one. Use real handle bars from a bike. As for software, they used
Blender
, the open source 3d creation program. The actual control is done via a pair of Arduinos, an accelerometer, and a pair of XBee modules.
He notes that blender is fully capable of accepting the serial input from the controller, but they opted to have the controller mimic keystrokes to make life easier on the developer, as well as make the controller usable on more games. Maybe if enough people ask really nice, he’ll release the source code for the controller. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "108896",
"author": "proarduino",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T15:39:37",
"content": "“a bike riding game utilizing open source hardware and software.”“Maybe if enough people ask really nice, he’ll release the source code for the controller.”Since he used open source software I think he... | 1,760,377,539.562208 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/24/commodore-sq1000-twitter-wall-the-twypper/ | Commodore SQ1000 Twitter Wall: The Twypper | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"commodore",
"twitter"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV9_25N21eM]
Before we begin, let us soothe those first dreaded thoughts. No, the commodore was not destroyed in the process. They can simply clip the 16 wires they added to interface the keyboard and be back to stock. Breathe a sigh of relief, and enjoy the
twypper, a twitter wall made from a commodore SQ1000
.
[Alex] needed to make an interesting project for his companies Openspace/hack day. A friend, suggested a twitter wall, and that’s when [Alex] got the idea for a typewriter. After a quick search, he found
oomlaut’s typewriter
. They didn’t let that deter them from making their own version though. They found a nice fully functional commodore SQ1000 and began hacking. Ultimately they simply decided to use an Arduino to short the key switches to simulate typing. There are all kinds of details on the necessary steps to get the typing to function absolutely correct on the project page. Over all it was well done and we’re happy to see that it can be undone just as easily. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "108796",
"author": "Kyle",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T21:07:38",
"content": "Glad to hear they didn’t ruin it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108804",
"author": "absolutezero",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T22:11:56",
"con... | 1,760,377,539.777699 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/24/hack-a-sketch/ | Hack A Sketch | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"etch a sketch"
] | [vimeo =
http://vimeo.com/7367464%5D
Sometimes we miss that old Etch a Sketch we had when we were kids. The challenge of producing a decent image using those two knobs was always fun and frustrating at the same time. This project lets us recreate this interface on our computer. The
Hack a Sketch
is a combination of an Etch a Sketch style input and a processing sketch to recreate the experience. They’re using an Arduino to interpret the inputs and feed it to the computer via USB. We really like this thing. Simplify the electronics and we could see this as a neat toy for sale somewhere like Thinkgeek.
[via
hacked gadgets
] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "108736",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T16:27:23",
"content": "thats cool :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108737",
"author": "icewind",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T16:35:15",
"content": "Wouldn’... | 1,760,377,539.949032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/24/100-free-from-your-favorite-hobby-supplier/ | $100 Free From Your Favorite Hobby Supplier! | Jakob Griffith | [
"News"
] | [
"$100",
"community",
"free day",
"sparkfun"
] | We were wary at first when the email came in with the headline “
SparkFun is having a free day
” and figured surly this is in relation to
recent events
? But no, after 7 years of loyal customers, SparkFun is simply giving back to the community.
It’s interesting to think that without their services, we wouldn’t have some of the amazing hacks we introduce every day. Such as the
DIY mood lamp
, or
Cell phone alt-variometer
, or
Arduino iPod remote control
. And their free day will allow some disadvantaged hackers the ability to finally flex that muscle sitting between their shoulders. What do you plan to make?
Mark your calendars folks, On January the 7th 2010 SparkFun is giving every household a $100 (until they reach $100k), if that’s not an incentive to wake up early, what is?
As a side note, do you think we’ve had enough posts about SparkFun lately?
[Thanks Diego] | 88 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "108716",
"author": "mr_seeker",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T15:23:03",
"content": "Woehoei, free stuff!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108719",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-24T15:27:54",
"content":... | 1,760,377,540.350992 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/stm8s-discovery-microcontrollers-reach-a-new-low/ | STM8S-Discovery: Microcontrollers Reach A New Low | Phil Burgess | [
"hardware"
] | [
"debugger",
"kit",
"microcontroller",
"programmer",
"st-link",
"stm",
"stm8",
"usb"
] | A complete microcontroller development kit for little more than the cost of a bare chip?
That’s what STMicroelectronics is promising with their STM8S-Discovery
:
seven dollars
gets you not only a board-mounted 8-bit microcontroller with an decent range of GPIO pins and functions, but the USB programmer/debugger as well.
The
STM8S
microcontroller is in a similar class as the ATmega328 chip on
latest-generation Arduinos
: an 8-bit 16 MHz core, 32K flash and 2K RAM, UART, SPI, I2C, 10-bit analog-to-digital inputs, timers and interrupts and all the usual goodness. The Discovery board features a small prototyping area and throws in a
touch-sense
button for fun as well. The ST-LINK USB programmer/debugger comes attached, but it’s easy to crack one off and use this for future STMicro-compatible projects; clearly a plan of giving away the razor and selling the blades.
The development tools are for Windows only, and novice programmers won’t get the same touchy-feely community of support that surrounds Arduino. But for cost-conscious hackers and for educators needing to equip a whole classroom (or if you’re just looking for a
stocking stuffer
for your geeky nephew), it’s hard to argue with seven bucks for a full plug-and-play setup.
[thanks Billy] | 223 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "108560",
"author": "rd",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T22:44:10",
"content": "“The development tools are for Windows only” kind of ruins it for me. Pretty neat, otherwise.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "3418791",
"author"... | 1,760,377,540.032567 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/cable-management-for-pull-out-shelves/ | Cable Management For Pull-out Shelves | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"cable management",
"channel bracket",
"shelf"
] | Cable management is a headache for all, and if unmitigated it becomes a playground for cats. [kws103] posted a project a while ago that
takes care of the messy wires for electronics on pull out shelving
. Channel bracket is used to house the cables and has been articulated in three places to facilitate the movement of the sliding shelf. For an added touch an outlet was built into the surface to make it easy to unplug and remove the components if necessary. The hinges for articulation use aluminum base plates and rely on rivets as a pivot point, something that might need improvement if pulling the shelf in and out is a common occurence. Add this to the
Ikea based solution
we looked at in August and your days of electronic rats nests may be coming to an end. | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "108547",
"author": "Taek",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T21:45:52",
"content": "I like the idea behind this, as i have many electronic devices for my home entertainment, but i personally would have went with a multi-plug surge protector. They cost just about $15USD at my local electronic... | 1,760,377,540.09367 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/electronic-guitar-pick-tunes-the-strings-for-you/ | Electronic Guitar Pick Tunes The Strings For You | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"Atmel",
"gibson",
"guitar",
"pick",
"plectrum",
"tuner"
] | The
Stimmmopped is an electronic guitar tuner
made to be used as a guitar pick. This uses two LEDs synchronized to blink at the exact frequency of the string you are tuning. Pluck the string with the corner of the PCB and then shine the light on the string you are tuning. As the vibrating string moves back and forth it will only pick up the spot of light when the frequency matches that of the blinking LED. Once in tune, both red lights will appear to be constantly illuminated and immobile on the string.
An Atmel ATmega8 is used to control the device, interfacing with two buttons and a seven-segment display to choose the pitch currently being tuned. Gibson has a robotic guitar that features an
auto-tuning mode
, but if you don’t want to shell that much this low cost and simple build is for you.
[Thanks Sören] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "108519",
"author": "EdZ",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T19:32:53",
"content": "Hey, I remember making one of these as a high school electronics project! I wonder if I still have it in a box somewhere. It had an array of dip-switches with carefully chosen resistor values instead of a micr... | 1,760,377,540.263292 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/26/ds-goes-full-size-pockets-everywhere-rally-in-protest/ | DS Goes Full Size – Pockets Everywhere Rally In Protest | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"ds",
"fpga",
"lcd",
"nintendo",
"table"
] | It’s hard to believe we missed this one from a couple of years back but we’re thankful that reader [Christian] tipped us off about it. This a
Nintendo DS with two tablet pc screens
being used as an external display. He’s using an FPGA but not to
emulate the processor
. It is translating the video data from the DS board into usable signal for the larger LCD screens. In the video after the break you can see that pen input has been implemented, with the FPGA sending location data back to the DS.
[Neal], the creator, priced the project out at around $580. It’s worth a lot more considering the know-how needed to get the video scaling and pen input right using the FPGA. It won’t fit in your pocket, but it doesn’t have a case either so it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAI7RRbIn5E] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "109106",
"author": "mynamenixname",
"timestamp": "2009-11-26T21:09:10",
"content": "nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109109",
"author": "mowcius",
"timestamp": "2009-11-26T21:19:52",
"content": "Oh come on hackad... | 1,760,377,540.482043 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/26/tiny-keyboardtouchpad-has-hack-written-all-over-it/ | Tiny Keyboard/touchpad Has “hack” Written All Over It | Phil Burgess | [
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"htpc",
"keyboard",
"mouse",
"trackpad",
"usb",
"wearable",
"wireless"
] | Yes, we know, this is
not a hack,
yet it just has the vibe of something we’ll likely be seeing in many small form-factor systems and wearable hacks in the future.
The
USB Wireless Handheld Keyboard
is a diminutive keyboard and mouse replacement with a passing resemblance to a
BlackBerry
PDA — where the screen has been replaced with a laptop-style
trackpad
sensor. This seems a shoo-in for
home theater PC
use; it’s unobtrusive and won’t look out of place on the coffee table alongside the
universal remote
. But any
tiny system
requiring only occasional input could likely benefit.
The keyboard layout is funky as heck, though likely adequate for its intended use of couch web-surfing and interactive messaging (or whatever
wild applications
our readers will surely come up with). A USB wireless receiver and a charging cable are included in the $62 package. Video after the break…
[
USB Geek
via
Engadget
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TST3BqwwMxM&feature=player_embedded] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "109082",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2009-11-26T17:39:08",
"content": "I cant help but think it is vulnerable to wifi sniffing, depending on the methods they employ.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109086",
"author": "L... | 1,760,377,540.419578 |
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