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https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/make-any-gloves-work-with-a-touch-screen/ | Make Any Gloves Work With A Touch Screen | Phil Burgess | [
"iphone hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"capacitive",
"conductive",
"e-textiles",
"sewing",
"thread",
"touch",
"touchscreen"
] | The chill of autumn is upon us, and with it comes the awkward sport of trying to work touch-sensitive phones and gadgets with gloved fingers. One can try toughing it out with fingerless gloves, or we’ve seen some costly solutions in the forms of specialized gloves and capacitive-compatible styluses, but sometimes simple is best:
all it takes is a few stitches of conductive thread in the fingertips
.
Conductive thread
is available from various sources;
SparkFun Electronics
comes naturally to mind, but most vendors carrying the
LilyPad Arduino
will stock a suitable thread as well. Don’t fret if you’ve never
sewn
before — just a few simple loops are required, and it doesn’t need to be especially tidy. In principle this should work for trackpads and
capacitive mice
as well, if you use those in the field. For
multitouch
devices, add a separate conductive bit to each fingertip.
[via
Lifehacker
] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "108987",
"author": "Mdnight",
"timestamp": "2009-11-26T00:25:36",
"content": "LilyPad Arduino :’)dude I was annoyed by the anti-arduino comments but it seems you guys are have these things up your ass waiting to come out with every new article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,377,542.254327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/recover-borked-hdd-after-xbox-360-ban/ | Recover Borked HDD After Xbox 360 Ban | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"ban",
"banned",
"hdd",
"hex",
"xbox 360"
] | [Incudie] tipped us off about
a method to fix a borked HDD in your Xbox 360
. Many of the
one million consoles banned
earlier in the month also had the hard disks scrambled making off-line gaming impossible as well. It turns out that this is caused by having a ban flag in the NAND chip on the motherboard. It has been discovered that because of
wear levelling
, the NAND will have two copies of the “secdata.bin” file which stores the ban flag. Please note, this will NOT allow the console to use Xbox Live, it just re-enables the HDD.
The quick and dirty of the fix is as follows: First the
NAND is dumped
from your Xbox 360 to a computer. After verifying the file, it can be opened in a HEX editor and the two copies of “secdata.bin” located. Once identified by date, the older version is injected on top of the newer to overwrite the ban flag.
Looks like this is not for the faint of heart, but if you got banned for modding in the first place this should be easy to pull off.
Update
: Looks like xbox-scene now has a
collection of apps to help you
with this process. [Thanks CollinstheClown] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "108951",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T21:33:48",
"content": "It was only a matter of time…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108953",
"author": "Mark",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T21:37:08",
"content": "Ju... | 1,760,377,542.467136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/turkey-fryer-awful-bad-and-worse/ | Turkey Fryer; Awful, Bad, And Worse | Mike Szczys | [
"Roundup"
] | [
"deep fry",
"fire",
"fryer",
"idiot",
"turkey"
] | Tomorrow’s turkey day here in the United States. Do you fully expect your trashy neighbor to burn down his house while trying to cook a holiday feast? To see what’s in store for your neighborhood we’ve rounded up a great collection of idiots deep frying turkeys.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=473QNZss0PM]
Let’s set up the fryer on our wooden deck… now that it’s a flaming pyre what should we do?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNddKw90GNk]
“Ow my toes” – Boiling oil v. sandals
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vZnuYK2Wfg]
Get the extinguisher… wait, I don’t think that’s working.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLX4hKmgt9I]
Let’s learn about liquid displacement.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9mq29BaLLk]
[Alton Brown], the consummate kitchen hacker, has been kind enough to share the safe method of deep frying turkey. This includes how to measure for liquid displacement, and
how to build a derrick
(PDF) to lower the turkey into the pot from a safe distance. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "108941",
"author": "ClutchDude",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T20:43:17",
"content": "Mr. Brown, while often right on the matters of ktichen might be overkill.Then again, I was talking to a guy talking about frying inside because it’s “too cold outside” and thought about doing it in the ... | 1,760,377,542.388503 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/voice-controlled-lock-almost/ | Voice Controlled Lock? Almost… | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"keypad",
"lock",
"voice control"
] | [vimeo
http://vimeo.com/7504447%5D
If you watched the video before
reading the article
(like we did) and started shaking in your boots at a voice controlled lock system, prepare to be disappointed. His spoken commands are actually to his son to press the appropriate keys on a keypad off screen, the lock is not actually voice controlled.
But still, [Michael Krumpus’] door lock is pretty astounding. By using a torn apart CD drive he easily attains a nice fast and smooth linear motion to bolt and unbolt his door. It wont open his door like some locks
we’ve seen
, but it will probably be added sometime in the future…right alongside voice commands.
[via
DVICE
] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "108927",
"author": "Magrathea",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T19:22:58",
"content": "Won’t work unless the door pegs are perfectly aligned, if there’s the slightest tension there’s no way that flimsy motor is going to do the job, besides there’s no way to fit that into a regular door, pl... | 1,760,377,542.514663 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/25/ti-sports-watch-for-hacking/ | TI Sports Watch For Hacking | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"development",
"RF",
"texas instruments",
"usb",
"wristwatch"
] | How would you like to have a 3-axis accelerometer, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, RF wireless, and an LCD screen in a development package? What if we told you that you can have it in the form factor of a
wristwatch offering from Texas Instruments
? How much would you pay for such a device? Quit guessing, you can
pick it up for just $49
with an estimated delivery in mid-February of next year.
Our tip-line has been packed with emails about this since it was announced on Monday. The device ships with the firmware to serve as a sports watch with heart rate monitor. The price is pretty good just for that functionality but this package also includes a USB programming and emulation dongle so that you can develop your own firmware. It looks like the included development software is written for Windows but we’re hoping you can get it running on other platforms as well.
The LCD is a segment display, so you won’t see
DOOM running on board
. That said, we expect your first project to turn this into a wireless controller using the buttons and accelerometer. | 60 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "108914",
"author": "mark",
"timestamp": "2009-11-25T18:04:52",
"content": "ooooooooooooooooooooooo this looks like some fun.would be awesome to see 2 or 4 of these implicated ats motion detection for each limb of a person and make it a useful interface for virtual reality stuff. i i... | 1,760,377,542.145379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/28/using-an-iphone-as-a-newton-keyboard/ | Using An IPhone As A Newton Keyboard | Caleb Kraft | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"iphone",
"newton"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN44Eq4Thgo]
[Jesus Alvarez] sent us this funny little project. If you happen to have an iPhone and an old Apple Newton, you can
use the iPhone as a keyboard for the Newton
. You can download the schematic from his site to build the wire to connect the two. After that, you have to run an app on your iPhone that you can find once you’ve jailbroken your phone. At that point you are ready to go. Aside from the ability to say you could, we’re not sure why you would do this. It made us chuckle though. Maybe we’re not firing on all synapses though due to turkey overload. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "109351",
"author": "Godi",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T22:37:33",
"content": "The other week I did something similar by logging into my laptop from a Tandy model 200, not as fancy, but still fun though. And quite amazing to see a piece of 25yr old hardware just work.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,542.719664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/28/gsm-enabled-security-door/ | GSM Enabled Security Door | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"gsm",
"lock",
"security",
"xbee"
] | The security door at the front of [Oliver’s] building uses an intercom system to let in guests remotely. Each unit has an intercom handset with a button that unlocks the door. [Oliver] wanted a way to enter without carrying any extra items so
he built a system to unlock the door with his cell phone
.
He patched into the intercom and attached a GSM module. The module runs python so he wrote a script that will monitor the entryway buzzer, then wait for an approved cell phone connection to unlock it. He went through a couple of different iterations for the final project. The first attempt used XBee modules to communicate between the intercom handset and the GSM module. For the final version, he snaked cable through his wall using rare-earth magnets (creative!) in order to forgo the use of a battery in the handset.
Who doesn’t carry a cell phone with them? Because of this, the use of
GSM modules in automation
is a trend we think will continue to gain popularity. | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "109343",
"author": "Neckbeard",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T21:56:54",
"content": "No Arduino, no hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109346",
"author": "Oliver Nash",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T22:09:35",
"content": "I... | 1,760,377,542.197045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/28/how-to-use-wiimotes-w-linux/ | How To Use Wiimotes W/ Linux | Jake W | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"linux",
"mouse",
"nintendo",
"pointer",
"software",
"wii"
] | [
Sprite_tm
] has whipped up
yet another interesting tutorial
– software-based this time. He basically describes how he connected his Wiimotes to an HTPC. A USB Bluetooth receiver, and a little bit of Linux scripting, was all that was necessary to get the system up and running. To add to the fun, [Sprite_tm] configured a the controllers to work with
MAME (an arcade machine emulator)
, allowing one to
play Duck Hunt
on a computer
in its full glory
! | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "109314",
"author": "Juan Cubillo",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T17:10:20",
"content": "wake up, have some coffee, then post.double check for typing errors ;)Cool guide though (:",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109315",
"author":... | 1,760,377,542.31687 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/28/13th-century-navigation-system/ | 13th Century Navigation System | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"astrolabe",
"clock",
"navigation",
"sky",
"stars",
"survey"
] | [ted id=694]
[Tom Wujec] explains
how an astrolabe works
and its importance in our technological development. He argues that an astrolabe was the world’s first “popular computer”. It measures the sky and that measurement can be used to tell time, survey land, and navigate a ship.
Astrolabes are built from three pieces and according to [Tom], educated children in the 1200’s would not just have been able to use one, but could build one as well. Electronics have certainly made our lives easier, but there’s something powerful about such a useful yet simple device. | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "109307",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T15:20:35",
"content": "Could we maybe move the video to after the break please? Flash player is a bit big for some people.Also Astrolabes are cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,377,542.572758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/27/four-tear-downs-for-your-friday-afternoon/ | Four Tear-downs For Your Friday Afternoon | Jakob Griffith | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"dsi ll",
"nintendo",
"sega mega drive",
"sony",
"tear-down"
] | We know that feeling, you’ve been up all morning working hard, and now you just want to relax. What better way than to sit back and watch as helpless electronic devices are stripped, forced to show their goods, then put back together only hap hazardly – not that we’re into that or anything. Today, we had one thing on our mind, game systems.
With the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver shoppers were also given a device called the PokéWalker. A pedometer that helps your pocket monster gain experience and affection towards you.
Here is a tear-down
of the device next to Nintendo’s other try at getting children active, the Activity Meter pedometer. [Thanks Arty2]
Sega, while in todays day all we see is more and more rip offs of everyone’s favorite Hedgehog, we do remember a time when you brought more to the game field, especially with your advanced consoles. It does bring a tear to our eyes seeing
this beast being torn apart
, but its all for the best.
Those keeping up with Nintendo’s DS series will notice one thing, the console keeps getting smaller and smaller. That trend continued until the (Japan) release of the DSi LL. Some think its size can be attributed to an easier to see screen, others feel its jam-packed with more features. Make your own decision after seeing
its tear-down
. [via
engadget
]
Finally, we couldn’t decide what a fourth tear down should be, and couldn’t just leave with only three. So how about
10 separate Sony gadgets torn apart
! | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "109274",
"author": "sly",
"timestamp": "2009-11-28T03:41:37",
"content": "for some strange reason, seeing Sony stuff in pieces brings me joy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109276",
"author": "Haku",
"timestamp": "2009-... | 1,760,377,542.056627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/27/door-opening-help/ | Door Opening Help | Caleb Kraft | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"accessibility",
"prosthetic"
] | For those who are seeking prosthetic limbs, or just require a little bit of robotic gripper help, the choices are very few and very costly. A newcomer to the area is hoping to change the costly part with their
door opening arm
. Costing only $2,000 to build, it is quite cheap compared to the other offerings. This arm can grip, twist, and swing its arm at the same time using a single motor thanks to a slip clutch.
[via
Popular Science
] | 21 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "109205",
"author": "hackforfree",
"timestamp": "2009-11-27T17:54:56",
"content": "still no reason why it should cost $2000 and the assumption thats a great deal is ridiculous. i really wish people building this stuff would lose a limb and then some slime ball would offer them assist... | 1,760,377,542.774213 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/27/autonomous-turret-wielding-biped-bot/ | Autonomous Turret Wielding Biped Bot | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"gun",
"robogames",
"turret"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhrvKEmyTY]
Pay close attention. At roughly 36 seconds we see Asimov’s laws going out the window. We’re pretty sure we saw this little
autonomous battle bot
take a shot at a human. We can’t tell for sure, but it looked like it enjoyed it too.
This bot is being built by [xdream] to compete in the Mech Warfare section of the
Robo
Games 2010
. His target acquisition system and firing are completely autonomous. We think his motion is controlled by an operator though.
This little fellow may seem harmless enough, until you realize that those servos and guns could be replaced and this “little guy” becomes that “big fella”. That’s not anything the maker suggested, we’re just pointing out that a killer robot is only cute when it’s small.
[via
BotJunkie
] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "109186",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-27T15:28:35",
"content": "i love autonomous guard bots :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "109187",
"author": "cacovsky",
"timestamp": "2009-11-27T15:58:49",
... | 1,760,377,542.871977 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/21/review-mbed-nxp-lpc1768-microcontroller/ | Review: Mbed NXP LPC1768 Microcontroller | Phil Burgess | [
"Reviews"
] | [
"arm",
"cortex",
"m3",
"mbed",
"microcontroller",
"nxp",
"prototyping"
] | mbed
is a next-generation 32-bit microcontroller platform. It’s a prototyping and teaching tool somewhat along the lines of Arduino. On steroids. With claws and fangs. Other contenders in this class include the MAKE Controller, STM32 Primer and Primer 2, Freescale Tower, and Microchip’s PIC32 Starter Kit. The mbed hardware has a number of advantages (and a few disadvantages) compared to these other platforms, but what really sets it apart is the development environment: the entire system — editor, compiler, libraries and reference materials — are completely web-based. There is no software to install or maintain on the host system.
The Hardware
The mbed board is sensibly priced at $60; about middle of the road among its peers. mbed’s size (or lack thereof) is among its greatest assets, measuring only about 1″ by 2″ (26 x 52mm) in a stout 40-pin DIP package that just barely manages to fit in a
breadboard
…a major win.
The top of the board is dominated by the microcontroller itself: a 60MHz NXP LPC1768 based on the eminently capable 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 core, sporting 64K of RAM and 512K flash, and rounded out with an embarrassment of peripheral riches: Ethernet, USB (host, device, and to-go), CAN bus, multiple serial, I2C and SPI buses, 12-bit A/D and even a 10-bit D/A converter and realtime clock/calendar. Also on top is the USB connector (mini-B), some power regulation circuitry (operating on 4.5 to 9 volts DC, or USB power), several indicator LEDs, and the reset button (a plain vanilla tactile switch on our purchased unit, not the candy-like blue button seen in product shots).
The underside conceals an Ethernet transceiver chip (requiring only the addition of an RJ45 jack to get the board on a network) and a DiskOnChip-style component that provides a small (about 2MB) FAT filesystem when attached to a host system through USB, much like a thumb drive.
This latter feature — the FAT filesystem — is half of the key to mbed’s software-free, cross-platform magic. Getting new code onto the device is simply a matter of copying the compiled program (as a .bin file) to this drive. Press the reset button, and the new code is copied to the MCU’s internal flash and run. No special
programming hardware dongle
, no special bootloader software, just drag and drop. This has some serious implications. Pretty much
any
system these days can mount a FAT filesystem. We’re not just talking about getting Mac and Linux users into the fold alongside Windows…there’s also the impending wave of featherweight netbooks with ARM and VIA chips running peculiar, instant-on operating systems. Or the
OLPC XO-1
. Or older PowerPC Macs. The computers in the school’s lab that you’re not allowed to install any software on. Game consoles.
The Software
“
Cloud computing
” is still the hot buzzword this week, and the mbed project has adopted the concept wholeheartedly, comprising the other half of their softwareless strategy. Everything with mbed —
everything,
even your own source code — resides on their servers and is accessed through a web browser. This carries with it all of the good and bad points of any other network-based service such as Google Docs. There’s the potential for this to be a fantastic tool for teaching and collaboration, and in fact they’ve
created such an online community for mbed
, with forums and publicly-shareable code libraries. One can move between home and office, or
travel around the world
, and resume editing code on any system with a solid ’net connection. No need to check for software updates; the server will always be current.
mbed programs are written in C++ (yes, thankfully it’s “programs” and “C++,” not “sketches” or “the mbed language”) using their
JavaScript
-based online editor. When ready, click the
Compile
button. The compiler and linker run on the back end, on the server at the other end of the network connection. Provided your code is all syntactically valid, a compiled .bin file will then be downloaded to your computer…save this to the mbed USB disk, press the reset button, and you’re good to go. In Arduino-like fashion, the mbed device also appears as a virtual COM port, so you can monitor a program’s serial output using any terminal program.
The Good
We were taught that you should always say something kind before criticizing, so we’ll point out that the above process does, in fact, work exceedingly well, and has proved to be both quick and reliable. Once you get into the groove, the sequence of operations is no more onerous than with Arduino or any other microcontroller-specific programmer dongle.
To their credit, unlike some microcontroller evaluation kits, there are no artificial limitations to the mbed compiler; the full code and memory space of the processor is available to your code. The editor has realtime syntax coloring and multiple undo levels. And double-clicking on an error message in the compiler output will take you directly to the offending line, as in any decent IDE. You can import existing code from your local system to the mbed “cloud,” or likewise export individual files or an entire project. All good stuff.
The real saving grace of this setup is the libraries, both the official functions in what they call the “
Handbook
,” and community-contributed code in the “
Cookbook
.” A tremendous amount of functionality has been implemented in a concise and usually object-oriented manner. It’s almost comical sometimes, after having worked with other microcontrollers and girding for some expected coding nightmare, only to find that the corresponding library handles a task in a couple of lines (browse through the Handbook and Cookbook for examples). There’s a tendency also to follow stdlib or “UNIX-like” conventions for file access, character I/O, realtime clock access, etc., so existing systems programmers new to microcontrollers will feel right at home, no weird function names or syntaxes.
The mbed’s FAT filesystem is also accessible to the microcontroller, making it useful for more than just program storage. Web pages can be served from this space, or a
data logging
program can store results here. If the two megabyte capacity is too limiting for your needs, have a look at the
SDCard library
in the Cookbook — it’s almost trivial to wire up and use. Pretty much
all
of the libraries are like that!
The Bad and the Ugly
Hardware-wise, there are just a few minor nitpicks:
First is with the local FAT filesystem. Even though this is one of the device’s most unique features, and the very thing that enables its platform neutrality, the implementation just seems a bit anachronistic. The aforementioned SDCard library demonstrates how readily that format can be used. It’s faster, with the potential for far greater capacity, and cards could be easily swapped out for different code or data files. Not a major disappointment, just seems like an opportunity was missed to make this product even better.
Second is with the indicator LEDs on the board. Four of them, scant millimeters apart,
all blue
…making them pretty much worthless as status indicators from across the room, where they all blur into a singular blob. Ten years ago, blue LEDs were
novel.
Five years ago, they were
mainstream,
festooning every last USB hub, mouse, flash drive and imported piece of crap. Today they’re just
tired,
let’s get over it. Different colors would indicate status at a distant glance.
Finally, not a problem with the mbed board itself, but it would be nice to see one of the Cookbook projects, the “BoB2” breakout board, made into an available product. The blank board can be ordered through
BatchPCB
, but after postage and handling the price for just the empty board — no components — is $33. Have this populated and mass-produced, bundle it with the mbed in a $100 package, and it sounds like a winning setup, ready to go head-to-head with the MAKE Controller.
But really, those are just nitpicks. Our
real
beef is with the software…the code editor specifically. If you find the Arduino editor aggravating, the mbed editor will have you seeing red (or maybe purple if you factor in all those blue LEDs). Like Arduino, there’s no true tab formatting; everything’s expanded to spaces, like it or not. Auto-indent cannot be disabled, and there’s seemingly no command to increase or decrease the indentation of a block of code. If you’re accustomed to anything more than arrow keys to move and click-and-drag to highlight text, the editor disregards a lot of system-native editing behaviors that may be deeply ingrained in your muscle memory (such as shift-clicking to select a range of text, or triple-click-and-drag for multiple contiguous lines). What’s more, the quirky behaviors are a little different across each browser and operating system. Don’t even
try
that triple-click-and-drag in Firefox for Mac…you won’t get your text cursor back without a complete reboot (seriously, just restarting the browser isn’t sufficient). And at present, only the most common browsers are supported; all others are currently shut out.
The closed-source nature of the tools may also be off-putting to some. If one finds the Arduino editor distasteful, there are options: get in there and change the code, or simply use a different editor and link with the Arduino libraries manually…it’s all legal and encouraged. With mbed, there are no alternatives. Access to the compiler and libraries is “free as in beer,” but not “free as in speech.” There’s little recourse should the service ever be taken down, or if they should suddenly start charging a subscription fee (there’s no indication this is planned, just a hypothetical scenario).
The good news, at least with regard to the former, is that software is of course infinitely more malleable than hardware, and it’s almost certain the tools will improve with time. The site is under active development…new “Home” and “Notebook” features were added for registered users just yesterday. Perhaps, given time, they’ll get the Command key working properly on the Mac. The selection of user-submitted code will expand regardless, making it progressively easier to do more and different things with this board.
In Summary
The
mbed Tour page
is frank about what the platform is good for, and what it’s not. mbed was intended as a quick prototyping and educational tool, and at that it excels. A lack of features such as a debugger or offline compiler keep this from being a professional-strength development platform, which is okay. Think of it as Arduino: The Next Generation. Although the mbed board costs more up front than Arduino, there are capabilities here that would otherwise require costly “shields” and strain every last byte and CPU cycle of the 8-bit ATmega328 processor: Ethernet, USB, SD cards…mbed handles these tasks with aplomb.
mbed is not without its flaws, and the “cloud” development approach may never sit right with some. For a product that’s just weeks out of beta testing, the results thus far are extremely encouraging. There’s immense potential here: a seriously powerful chip, easy to interface and to program. If the online tools can be improved, or if open source alternatives become available, mbed could be a major player. We expect to be seeing a lot more of this device in future hacks. | 54 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "108285",
"author": "bencoder",
"timestamp": "2009-11-21T17:03:27",
"content": "Nice review, thank you. It sounds like it would be a good idea for mbed to eventually release a command line compiler so that those of us who like to actually use capable editors can do so on our system o... | 1,760,377,543.230205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/multixylophoniomnibus/ | Multixylophoniomnibus | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"augmented",
"multixylophoniomnibus",
"xylophone"
] | [Ania] wrote in to let us know her team had finished the Multixylophoniomnibus and that
they have posted an extensive writeup
about it. We covered this
augmented xylophone
when it was still in development at the beginning of this month. Originally they wanted to use mallets wrapped in tinfoil as switches that close when they contact the metal keys, something akin to
matchbox cars as a switch
. This plan was thwarted when they realized the paint surface insulated the metal keys. At this point they switched to piezo sensors which turned into an odyssey of trial and error to achieve a reliable input for the Arduino to monitor. In the end they got it working with around forty lines of code, interfacing six boxes containing a different type of noisemaker.
See the finished instrument played in the video after the break. Alas, the addition of the piezo sensors do impede the resonance of the xylophone keys, but we still like it! There’s something reminiscent of the beginning of
Pink Floyd’s Money
when this is played.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7605394] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "108220",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2009-11-20T21:26:55",
"content": "Voting this as the hardest HAD article title to pronounce.@Mike: I hear what you’re talking about hahaHere’s a supa slick cover of Money btwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaR4fsUeTVY",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,543.077623 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/tube-prototyping-station/ | Tube Prototyping Station | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"prototype",
"solderless",
"tube",
"vacuum tube"
] | [Gio] enjoys using vacuum tubes in his projects. He designs the circuits using a CAD program but was finding that there is no substitute for actually building a prototype before heading to a final design. To make this process easier,
he built his own tube prototyping station
.
At the top of the board he’s got three different sizes of tube sockets with the pins from each wired as common. The nine pins from the sockets break out to a terminal strip where they can be interfaced with a solderless breadboard. For added versatility he’s included terminals to tap into some RCA jacks, as well as a 100 kOhm variable resistor. We’d bet this is not something that you can find ready-made, but it sure does look a whole lot better than a workbench full of components alligator-clipped together. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "108212",
"author": "theweirdness",
"timestamp": "2009-11-20T20:17:37",
"content": "Thats Pretty sick!Great idea and it looks like it would be fun to use :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108213",
"author": "Kaj",
"times... | 1,760,377,543.020809 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/remote-uses-no-batteries/ | Remote Uses No Batteries | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"no battery",
"piezo effect",
"piezoelectricity",
"remote",
"RF"
] | How often do you change the batteries in your television remote control? Yeah, basically never. But that’s a tribute to how efficient the device is and not a reason to overlook this development. NEC is showing off
a remote control that uses no batteries
. Power is generated using the piezo effect that occurs when a button is pushed. That is to say, when a crystal is compressed it emits a tiny bit of electricity which is harnessed and used to power this device. This is the same principle that is used in the
electricity producing sidewalks
tested in Japan.
It’s pretty phenomenal that they can run the device using this method. Right now there’s only a handful of buttons but we’re sure there’ll be advances in the technology. There’s a ton of use for this if it can be miniaturized. It is using radio frequency instead of infrared, making it a useful development in wireless doorbells, garage door openers, key-less entry fobs for your car, and many more applications.
[Thanks das_coach] | 32 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "108190",
"author": "kb",
"timestamp": "2009-11-20T18:10:40",
"content": "I realize it’s not the same, but this reminds me of the very early TV remotes (of very limited function) where pressing the button struck a little metal bar which caused something inside the TV to resonate, the... | 1,760,377,543.143517 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/usb-accelerometer-controller/ | USB Accelerometer Controller | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"drive",
"game",
"Joystick",
"pic",
"RACE"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szZv2YYQm0U]
As you can see above, there is no wiimote in that accessory steering wheel. There is, instead, a
home-made accelerometer controller
that connects to the pc via USB. Based around a PIC 18F2550 and a 2 axis accelerometer, this device is detected by windows as a standard controller. The schematic and source code are available on his website. He says it can also be used as a “motion mouse”. You can see a video of that after the break.
When we first saw the video, we thought it might be the same person as
the accelerometer controlled maze project
, due to the wiimote steering wheel casing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k13UPjzrauk]
[via
make
] | 10 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "108178",
"author": "jamieriddles",
"timestamp": "2009-11-20T16:45:28",
"content": "“home-made accelerometer controller” makes it sound like he built an accelerometerstill a cool hack",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108179",
... | 1,760,377,543.272724 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/axe-your-camera-again/ | Axe Your Camera (again!) | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3.0",
"axe",
"camera",
"flash",
"high speed",
"photography",
"trigger"
] | [Maurice] let us know that his latest photography tool for hackers, the
Camera Axe 3.0
, is now available. The
original
allowed you to trigger a high-speed flash and camera from a multitude of sensors, including light and sound. The new one does all that, but also: allows multiple cameras or multiple flashes, clean up of software to make it more user adaptable, and the best (arguably the most important) part – cheaper components! All that and more under the Creative Commons that we do love so much. Keep up the amazingly detailed and just pure awesome work [Maurice]. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "108141",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-11-20T05:19:57",
"content": "This looks really good. It’s fun watching projects evolve from rough prototypes to finished products.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108144",
"au... | 1,760,377,543.372784 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/complete-the-maze-get-a-gumball/ | Complete The Maze, Get A Gumball | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"candy",
"maze"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcj9Sdiohog&w=470]
This neat
accelerometer controlled marble maze
adds a level of fun to retrieving a gum ball. You have to first navigate the maze using a controller that has a dual axis accelerometer in it to control the angle of the platform. Though that does look like a wii accessory, there is no wiimote in there. Only after you have completed it will the gum ball machine dispense the candy. [Dan] constructed everything himself, which might explain the lack of “pits” for the marble to fall into in the maze.
More details on the build and source code are available on his page.
[via
hacked gadgets
] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "108087",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T21:13:23",
"content": "/me puts thumb over hole for free gum. SCORE!I played one of these marble games on an accelerometer enabled mobile device, and it was very nostalgic, the only thing it needed was vibration when the ball h... | 1,760,377,543.534944 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/another-stationary-bike-vr-rig/ | Another Stationary Bike VR Rig | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"bike",
"exercise",
"google earth",
"second life"
] | [Shingo] shared his implementation of a
stationary bike as a virtual reality
interface. This is similar to the
Google Street View setup
we covered a week ago but goes a few steps further. They patched into the bike computer to pick up rotation of the bicycle wheel and added an accelerometer for directional control. This setup can navigate through Street View but the video after the break also details an interface with Google Earth and even the ability to navigate through Second Life, following your avatar as it bikes along with you. The use of a wearable display is far superior to something like the
SurfShelf
and really gives you a goal other than just some cold-weather exercise. So take this idea, patch it into a
wearable computer
and you’ve got the exercise setup worthy of the future world we’ve been promised.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG1FWa-0XrE] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "108107",
"author": "Jesse",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T22:35:27",
"content": "this would be really interesting to use for games like grand theft auto and other open world types of games. Not necessarily for completing the game, but for exploring and looking for hidden packages and suc... | 1,760,377,543.3253 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/avr8-virtual-processor-on-fpga/ | AVR8 Virtual Processor On FPGA | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"atmega103",
"AVR",
"butterfly",
"fpga",
"maple",
"vhdl"
] | [Jack] wrote in to let us know about a
project that creates a virtual microprocessor core
based on the ATmega103 by using a Field-Programmable Gate Array. Great, we thought. Here’s another rather esoteric project like the
NES on a FPGA
, but what’s the motivation behind it? We asked [Jack] and he provided several scenarios where this is quite useful.
Implementing the AVR core allows code already written for the chips to be easily ported to an FPGA without a code rewrite. This way, if your needs outpaced the capabilities of the microcontroller long after the project has started, you can keep the code and move forward from that point with the added capabilities of the gate array. Having the core already implemented, you then only need to work with HDL for the parts of the project the AVR was unable to handle. He also makes the point that having an open source AVR core implementation provides a great tool for people already familiar with AVR to study when learning VHDL.
With products like the Butterfly that this project is based around, or the
Maple
we’ve seen in the past,
programmable logic
for the recreational hacker is starting to get a little easier. | 15 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "108078",
"author": "urlax",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T20:11:14",
"content": "the fun of this is that you can build peripherals into the same FPGA! so if you want to control a led matrix, you could connect a port expander to PORTA & B, but you can do the same inside the FPGA!you can, ... | 1,760,377,543.422971 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/when-an-axe-isnt-enough/ | When An Axe Isn’t Enough | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"final countdown",
"guitar",
"keyboard"
] | [Chris] wanted a guitar with a keyboard but didn’t want a keytar. Like any good hacker he took a cheap guitar and a small keyboard and
introduced them to each other
. He moved the control knobs to make room for the keyboard and added the control circuitry from the keyboard to the top of the guitar’s body. A 9v battery is used to power the keys and something called “Chris Collins’ transformer trick” is used to amplify its sound. If you know details on this transformer, leave a comment and we’ll update the post. Take a look at the video after the break to see [Chris] perform the Final Countdown on keys and guitar.
The guitar is a Chinese made Telecaster clone and we think he’s the first one to find a realistic use for keyboards that don’t use full-sized keys. [Chris] apologizes for the lack of build photos but we give him a pass; he lost his phone while crowd-surfing and that’s as good an excuse as any for losing some pictures. We can’t wait to see another performance with this gnarly axe once he’s had enough practice to pull everything together!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amp49HqA5kE] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "108058",
"author": "JKirchartz",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T17:45:52",
"content": "methinks the transformer trick is using an impedance matching transformer like 1000ohm to 8ohm to bring the keyboards speaker/headphone levels down closer to the levels produced by the guitar.",
"pa... | 1,760,377,543.481856 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/uzebox-in-an-nes-controller/ | Uzebox In An NES Controller | James Munns | [
"classic hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"fuzebox",
"game",
"gaming",
"nes",
"nintendo",
"uzebox"
] | [David Cranor] has
managed to fit
a fully working Uzebox system into an old NES controller.
Uzebox
, an open source gaming platform based on the ATmega 644 and an AD725 NTSC encoder, is one of a
couple systems
that are becoming
more
and
more
widespread and accessible. There are a number of
ready-to-go
Uzebox kits available, but for the more hands-on types, [David] has been very generous with his schematics and step by step instructions. These schematics can all be readily reshaped, and would easily fit into controllers with less
fun applications
and sentimental value. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "108052",
"author": "urlax",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T17:06:28",
"content": "I’ve heard of a Vuzebox, but never a Uzebox..nice hacking! the resistor network DAC is a bit crude though..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108071",
... | 1,760,377,543.576932 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/19/mini-earthquake-in-your-living-room/ | (Mini) Earthquake In Your Living Room | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"boarduino",
"earthquake",
"processing",
"seismic"
] | Today we stumbled upon [jimthree’s]
Seismic Reflector
while looking at projects that employ the
Processing
language
we mentioned
a few days ago. Utilizing a Boarduino and some vibration motors from a game controller, the Seismic Reflector does just as its name implies – rattles itself around whenever there is an earthquake. While this does seem a bit silly at first, we were fascinated to learn there have been
165 earthquakes
just in the past week and almost no news reports, suddenly this device got a lot more interesting! | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "108036",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T15:05:25",
"content": "OMG 165 quakes its 2012",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108037",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-19T15:32:52",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,543.647431 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/18/outerspace-reactive-robotics/ | Outerspace: Reactive Robotics | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"crabfu",
"personification",
"robot"
] | While
Outerspace
may not have an extremely useful function, being an art installation, we really enjoyed reading through the build information. Basically, Outerspace is supposed to appear to be curious, exploring it’s surroundings and reacting to your contact. We do enjoy a
little bit
of
personality
in robots, so this seems like it could be fun. The head has 5 photo sensors and each piece of the “arm” has capacitive sensors. This allows Outerspace to sense what is going on. The motion itself is controlled by 4 servos in the base pulling cables that run through the body.
The programming seems like it could use a little work to achieve the effect of being “curious”, but we see potential here. You can see a
video of it in action here
.
[via
today and tomorrow
] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "107954",
"author": "sexualrobot",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T23:10:55",
"content": "Kinda looks and acts like a programmable female toy!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107961",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T2... | 1,760,377,543.89044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/18/look-ma-no-wires/ | Look Ma, No Wires | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"induction",
"inductive coupling",
"wireless electricity"
] | [Robotkid249] details
how to build a wireless power transmission system
. This is similar to the commercial applications we have seen in a
TED talk
as well is in a
Sony prototype
. Power is fed to a ring made of magnet wire. A smaller loop is attached to the system that you want to power and picked up from the base unit. In this case, he is powering some LEDs but the concept can be tailored for your purposes such as an inductive charging pad. We’d like to see a hack that incorporates the base into a mouse pad (or the desk itself) and the receiver into the body of a wireless mouse. We’ve seen a
commercial solution along these lines
but we want one that doesn’t require a physical connection for power transfer.
[Thanks Juan] | 47 | 46 | [
{
"comment_id": "107891",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T18:11:35",
"content": "Recharging mousepad: Afroman did it.http://www.afrotechmods.com/fuxx0red/mouse/mouse.htmDo follow the link on the bottom of the page too, btw; he improves the (non-working) mousepad to get something whic... | 1,760,377,544.040704 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/18/pic-powered-avr-programmer/ | PIC Powered AVR Programmer | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"18f4550",
"Atmel",
"AVR",
"isp",
"pic",
"programmer"
] | [Texane] wrote in to let us know he has implemented
AVR ISP programming using a PIC microcontroller
. He wrote some code for an 18F4550 that uses the STK500 standard for In System Programming. This means that his hardware is compatible with
AVRdude
, the open source AVR programming software. There has long been an argument over the virtues of PIC versus AVR but we say why not both? If you have already honed your programming chops with PIC, you can build your own programmer and give the Atmel family a try.
The current implementation uses a serial port to connect the programmer to a computer. Keep your eye on this one as [texane] plans to add USB connectivity and has told us he will post schematics for the device as soon as that is complete. | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "107880",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T17:12:45",
"content": "next programing PICs from and AVR…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107882",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T17:20:58"... | 1,760,377,543.95722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/18/argh-thar-be-a-big-wheel/ | Argh, Thar Be A Big Wheel | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"burning man",
"pirate",
"structural engineer",
"welding"
] | If you’re marooned on a desert island, you want to have a Professor who can build useful items out of coconuts. [LostMachine] is one of those guys, and he’s currently
building a land-loving pirate ship
. The wacky vehicle will use the giant wheel above to propel the vessel while the captain sits comfortably in the lofty crow’s nest. A crack-pot concept? Not really, he plans to take this to Burning Man where it will be a fairly useful build compared to
the folks who have really gone off the deep end
.
The story here is the build quality. Take some time to watch his videos which we’ve embedded after the break. In the first, he details his method for creating a precisely level building surface on top of his uneven driveway. This is accomplished by welding supports in a circle that are level compared to the center point. He goes on to share his liquid-cooling system for cutting the pipe supports with a custom-built jig and an old
windshield washer
water system pump from an RV (second video). The final video shows the construction of the wheel which came in with 2000 welds and about 250-300 hours of construction time.
If you hadn’t guessed, [LostMachine] is a structural engineer. Unfortunately he was laid-off this spring which has put a damper in his building schedule. We hope that with a quality project like this in his portfolio a new job is just around the corner for him.
Creating a level surface on an uneven driveway.
Cooling jig to cut fish mouthed joints in pipes.
Building the big wheel.
[Thanks Rebecca] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "107878",
"author": "MarekSokal",
"timestamp": "2009-11-18T16:39:20",
"content": "You know if this guy teamed up with the guy that made the spiral island teamed up, we could probably start creating nations of hackers that live at sea!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,377,544.085911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/diy-mood-lamp-looks-store-bought/ | DIY Mood Lamp Looks Store-bought | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"mood lamp",
"polypropylene",
"potentiometer",
"rgb"
] | [NeZoomie]
built an RGB mood lamp
as his first electronics project. He certainly hit it out of the park with this one, ending up with a design so clean it could be a commercial product. The controller is an Arduino board (further proof that this is a fantastic entry-level platform) that interfaces with 8 RGB LEDs. He’s built an enclosure out of thick polypropylene that does a great job of diffusing the light and adding a stylish look. The control system features a
rotary potentiometer from SparkFun
and what he calls a tilt-potentiometer of his own design after
drawing inspiration from Hack a Day
.
Blinky things are fun and that’s why
we see
a lot of
mood lamps
around here. Take a look at the video after the break and if you’ve got the parts, give this one a try!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6urXlhzcnE] | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "107751",
"author": "landon",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T22:32:58",
"content": "kool project, i really like the look of it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107753",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T22:38:05",
... | 1,760,377,544.280513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/beam-robot-tumbles-aimlessly/ | BEAM Robot Tumbles Aimlessly | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"74HD240",
"beam",
"robot",
"tumble"
] | [Harm’s]
tumbling robot
from a few years back is an excellent study in simple motion. Foregoing wheels or legs, he uses four flippers to roll the robot around the room. Two motors are used, each in charge of two flippers. Identical but separate circuits drive the motors with a 74HC240 gate IC monitoring the continuously rotation. When a flipper becomes stuck, the circuit reverses the rotation of the motor so the simple bot can tumble its way out of a jam.
The circuitry is less advanced than some of the
BEAM builds we’ve seen before
. That doesn’t diminish the cleverness of his design and we think
BEAM robotics
are great way to get your head out of the computer code and go hardware only. After the break you can take in some video of the tumbling motion. We’ve also included a video of another bot from his website that uses concentric rings for another type of unique locomotion.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiSuJMcwObY]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVwxzuKO6B8]
[Harm’s] ‘W’ bot uses concentric rings for locomotion.
[Thanks Thomas] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "107747",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T22:28:10",
"content": "Wow, the concentric ring bot is pretty clever. A more advanced version might be able to push itself on edge and roll around if it found flat ground (in a segway-esque style of balancing).",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,544.134564 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/banned-xbox-360s-boon-or-bust/ | Banned Xbox 360’s – Boon Or Bust? | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"ban",
"banned",
"resale",
"xbox 360",
"xbox live"
] | We’re sure you’ve heard about
Xbox 360s facing an other round of bans
from Xbox Live last week. It seems that living in a hole, or even in
Grenora, North Dakota
couldn’t help you escape hearing this from every news source possible. Apparently, this has caused
a slew of banned consoles to go up for sale
in a buyer-beware quagmire. This is a joke in several ways; didn’t the
hardware problems
of the machine already make the used market risky enough? Now
consumers will be even more wary
, losing game sales because less people are buying used consoles.
If you have just the right kernel, and a copy of your CPU key, and a second unbanned Xbox 360, you may be able to
reactivate your machine
. But how many people have those things available to them? Undoubtedly an Xbox 360’s desirability is greatly diminished if Xbox Live is removed from the equation. This is something Nintendo could learn from when it comes to the Wii (no online multiplayer with New Super Mario Bros Wii?… Really?). So whether you are the one who was banned, or you decided/were tricked in to purchasing a banned console, what are you going to do with it now that online play is out of the picture?
We’ve seen the console
emulating SNES games
and even
XBMC run with the help of Ubuntu
. Leave us a comment and tell us if you are planning to just go without Xbox Live, use the machine as a desktop running Ubuntu, or spearhead the effort to repurpose this powerful (and flawed) hardware platform. Will you go out and capitalize on cheaper hardware, or have you been burnt by the grim reality of a crippled rig? | 103 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "107708",
"author": "nate",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T19:48:34",
"content": "On the plus side, honest sellers might sell their banned consoles cheaply, which would be great for people who want a 360 but who wouldn’t be using Live anyway. Of course, the intersection of the set of hones... | 1,760,377,544.218434 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/rc-airplane-motors-from-computer-trash/ | R/C Airplane Motors From Computer Trash | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"airplane",
"motors",
"radio controlled",
"rc"
] | Here’s something that the R/C airplane crowd might think of as old news. These directions show us how to rework floppy drive and
CD Rom motors to be high power airplane motors
. There are several listed, with details on each, but those unfamiliar might want to start with the most
basic CD Rom version
. It covers winding your own copper and installing the magnets in the “bell”, putting it all together and mounting it. This is a great writeup for those who haven’t seen this done before. If you want something even simpler though, you might enjoy the
homopolar motor post
. If you’re more advanced, they have tips for you too on machining and balancing the motors as well as winding density. | 18 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "107689",
"author": "Daniel",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T17:25:01",
"content": "There was a post about a uuv (unmanned underwater vechicle) that used modded CDROM motors to provide a water proof way to transfer power to the props. Very neat idea.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,377,544.342916 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/omni-car/ | Omni-car | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"omnidirectional",
"radio controlled"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB15-uSNvHA]
We stumbled onto one of [Nik Melton]’s projects, an
Omni-car
. It is omnidirectional, meaning it can go any direction at any time without having to turn. The body was designed by him, then printed with a 3D printer. The control scheme is what interests us though. He has found a simple way to wire it to get the job done. Sure you can see that it suffers from some pretty bad “drift” when trying to go in a straight line, but overall, we think he pulled it off well.
You might want to take a few moments to look around his project page. This guy has done a bunch of fun stuff like delta robots, strange hybrid wheel/leg robots, tesla coils, and arm mounted flamethrowers. Judging by the videos, he’s pretty young too. We think his guy has a bright future ahead of him. | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "107670",
"author": "Remarknl",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T16:21:09",
"content": "looks weird how it moves.. pretty cool though",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107671",
"author": "Finger",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T16:23:49"... | 1,760,377,544.47388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/cnc-circuit-board-fabrication/ | CNC Circuit Board Fabrication | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"etch",
"mill",
"pcp",
"router"
] | [Jonathan Ward’s]
pcb mill
is as impressive as it is inexpensive. Twenty-six plywood parts, labeled A-Z, are used to assemble the machine along with the customary precision rods, stepper motors, and router assembly. His
bill of materials
prices the unit at $458.18, a small price to pay in order to forgo a
multi-step etching process
.
His test board shows some fairly fine pitch that could turn out most home-project circuit boards. We’ve contacted [Jonathan] regarding the specifics of milling the plywood parts out of a 2 foot by 4 foot sheet of plywood. Watch for an update with any information he’s willing to share. We hope he’ll make the milling files for the plywood parts available so that you can build a copy of the device for your own use.
[Thanks Charles] | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "108492",
"author": "wolfy02",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T18:00:50",
"content": "thats waaaay cool, but waaaay out of my price range. Guess it’s time to build my own",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108504",
"author": "Manfre",... | 1,760,377,544.416002 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/sparkfun-product-used-for-immoral-hacking/ | SparkFun Product Used For Immoral Hacking | Jakob Griffith | [
"News"
] | [
"bluesmirf",
"hack",
"sparkfun",
"unethical"
] | While we have our fun ethically hacking, its very easy to forget that sometimes our ideas could be used with
malicious goals
. Take for instance SparkFun’s
BlueSMiRF
– the device’s original intention is simply to act as a wireless serial cable replacement. After hackers discovered several PIN pads use a serial interface, they put one and one together to steal several hundreds of people’s personal bank accounts.
It seems SparkFun is getting a lot of
heat lately
, but we’re glad they stand up and address these issues. You can check out the original
news clipping here
. | 43 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "108468",
"author": "markii",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T16:09:38",
"content": "good publicity :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108469",
"author": "Harvie",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T16:12:55",
"content": "So now we ha... | 1,760,377,544.560704 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/23/automatic-pneumatic-drum-kit/ | Automatic Pneumatic Drum Kit | Jake W | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"automatic",
"drum",
"max",
"midi",
"pneumatic",
"robot"
] | Move over
Steve
and
PEART
… there’s yet another robotic drummer in town. [Fauzii] tipped us off to his own MIDI-controlled creation –
WizardFingers
. According to him, WizardFingers is already capable of 64th note rolls at over 250 beats per minute. That’s on every drum simultaneously. Each drum is hit with a lever attached to a linear pneumatic actuator. A laptop running
MAX/MSP
generates MIDI sequences, which are sent to
Doepfer MTC64 board
. All of these actuators are hooked up to the board, which sets them off in sequence.
[Fauzii] ultimately hopes to develop AI software that will allow WizardFingers to compose its own tunes on not only a drum kit, but bar chimes and an organ as well. His site documents the whole concept quite well (just watch out for wild cats). | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "108464",
"author": "Laminar",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T15:30:41",
"content": "I thought websites like that died with GeoCities.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108465",
"author": "HogieWan",
"timestamp": "2009-11-23T15:3... | 1,760,377,544.641811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/22/building-capacitive-sensitive-floor-tiles/ | Building Capacitive Sensitive Floor Tiles | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"Atmel",
"AVR",
"capacitive",
"dance dance revolution",
"ddr",
"sensor"
] | That title’s a mouthful but you’re already familiar with the technology and application of foot pads as sensors in games like Dance Dance Revolution. The
usbddr project sought to make a USB connected DDR controller from scratch
. The microcontroller used is an Atmel ATmega8 running the V-USB firmware for connectivity and uses the analog to digital converts to read in data from the capacitive sensors.
The physical implementation is cleaver. The base plate has a capacitor plate attached to the top of it and the tile has the other capacitor plate attached to the bottom of it. The two are separated by some weather-stripping which is spongy enough to allow compression, bringing the two capacitor plates together.
We’re not convinced of the long-term durability of the system. We certainly don’t think it will hold up to very much hard-core DDR playing. But we would love to see a Super Mario RPG style puzzle to unlock the door to the ‘castle’ at a child’s birthday party.
[Thanks Hans] | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "108394",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2009-11-22T20:19:30",
"content": "What you ‘really’ need to be doing is creating capacitive floor titles which store the energy into batteries, which can then be used to interface into your home or some other circuit. Think GREEN…",
"pare... | 1,760,377,544.716991 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/22/hackaday-links-sunday-november-22-2009/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday November 22 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"3d",
"beer",
"brass",
"links",
"mario"
] | Hacklab’s laser cutter got the customary musical treatment. You can
see it play the theme from mario brothers
here. It’s
nothing new
to us, but we still enjoy seeing it done.
Ever been curious how a pole transformer is made? Quench that curiosity
with this educational video
. [via
HackedGadets
]
Here’s a quasi humanoid robot that is
designed to be your workout trainer
. He’ll show you the exercises, give you motivational and encouraging pep talks and even play games with you. We think the idea sounds good, but in execution, he flails his arms and randomly says creepy insincere sounding things like “I’m having fun. I could play this game all day long. I’m having too much fun.” That’s just creepy.
[Mr. Nelson] got sick of walking all the way down the hall just to see if there was anyone in the bathroom. His solution was to
build this massively overdone indicator light system
. It uses a proximity sensor located in each bathroom to determine occupied status and has a fantastic industrial look.
If you’ve ever wanted to get into 3d photography you’ll be pleased to see this writeup on
how to build a simple rig
and compile the images for different viewing methods.
We were amazed by these
beautifully crafted brass machines
. The one in this video is solar powered and seems to run pretty smoothly. Not bad for something that was all hand crafted from sheets of brass.
Be careful with this one folks. This video shows how to
melt a beer bottle in your microwave
. We’re not sure why you would want to, but we sure enjoyed watching it happen. Maybe that’s reason enough. | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "108385",
"author": "kikkoman",
"timestamp": "2009-11-22T18:21:34",
"content": "that robot’s lips look like a sex toy. a very weird sex toy. how can you NOT stare at those lips when you’re supposed to exercise?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,544.874737 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/21/build-a-camera-boom-at-less-than-a-grand/ | Build A Camera Boom At Less Than A Grand | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"boom",
"camera",
"crane",
"junkyard wars"
] | The folks at The Geek Group
built a camera crane for less than $1000
. In the video embedded after the break a presenter takes you through the different parts that make up the boom and how it is operated. This feels like something from a
Junkyard Wars
challenge as most of the parts are scavenged or from an industrial surplus store. Don’t let that sour your opinion, what they’ve ended up with is amazingly functional.
The base of the unit is a rolling tripod used for television cameras from around the 1960’s. The aluminum boom attaches to the base with a few large bearings and features a fine tuning balance system. The camera mount is motorized and can be moved using a joystick or set to scan automatically. It’s nice to see more examples of
custom camera mounts
. Obviously this isn’t a build for everyone, but as cameras and camera equipment become more readily available it makes high quality video production available for the masses, not just the networks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKhQrQGQl98]
Camera crane walkthrough.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5VSsWR4MQ]
Camera crane shot demo.
[Thanks Will] | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "108331",
"author": "The Cheap Vegetable Gardener",
"timestamp": "2009-11-22T00:29:20",
"content": "Man you just made me miss JunkYard Wars…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108333",
"author": "sarsface",
"timestamp": "200... | 1,760,377,544.995247 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/21/led-pdf-from-ti-kuwta/ | LED PDF From TI (KUWTA) | Jakob Griffith | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"design ideas",
"led",
"pdf",
"texas instruments"
] | [Satiagraha] let us know that Texas Instruments(TI) has given out a neat “
LED Reference Design Cookbook
” PDF. The document contains 17 some odd little projects featuring different TI ICs and ways of using them to control LEDs in things from
backlights
to
torches
to
solar lanterns
to
advanced PWM control
! Sure the document is biased towards using TI equipment, but that shouldn’t stop you from recreating, modifying, and generally just having fun with their designs in your own productions. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "108367",
"author": "Drone",
"timestamp": "2009-11-22T10:41:44",
"content": "This was nice HaD. Thanks. Not strictly a hack but, nice. More like this – less blinky Arduinos.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "108416",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,544.914785 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/17/rfid-door-lock-the-right-way/ | RFID Door Lock – The Right Way | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"ATmega168",
"AVR",
"door lock",
"eletric strike",
"rfid"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT7E_GEIPVg]
[Pcmofo] has shared a well-built, well-explained example of
how to implement an RFID key system for a door
. We call this the right way because it is well thought out and functional. In the past we’ve seen doors that unlock
via a secret knock
,
keypads
, and
RFID
, but they are all non-permanent solutions capable being transplanted from one door to another. Rather than building a mechanism to turn the door handle, this implementation uses an electric strike mounted in the framing of the door to allow access. These are used for security doors in buildings and are built to keep your door secure.
The hack in this case is the electronics. Using an AVR ATmega168 running the Arduino boot-loader, [pcmofo] has prototyped a two-part design. An RFID reader is mounted outside the door with data wires running to the inside where the microcontroller resides. A hard-coded RFID card is used as a “master” to train any number of tags for entry. The master puts the device in training mode and the next tag to be read is added to the list of tags authorized to open the door.
We like messy wires and quickly thrown together devices but this is built to last and will look great once mounted in an appropriate enclosure. | 40 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "107661",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T15:22:23",
"content": "well done.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107662",
"author": "Daley",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T15:55:03",
"content": "I agree with... | 1,760,377,545.303274 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/rotating-radar-visualization/ | Rotating Radar Visualization | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ir",
"radar",
"sensor",
"sonar",
"ultrasonic"
] | [flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/peplop/4106571163/]
We ask, who wouldn’t want a rotating motion and distance tracking radar? Sure in today’s day and age anyone could purchase a wide-angle sonar or IR solution that achieves the same goal, but [LuckyLarry] took it old school and made his own
rotating radar
. He used an Arduino, servo, and ultrasonic sensor as a base to gather data, and the open source programming language
Processing
to draw the data on the screen. He says it’s a little inaccurate currently, but will try out some other sensors in the future. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "107594",
"author": "Vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T01:34:04",
"content": "So does it actually work? The demo video just shows a sweep with nothing on it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107596",
"author": "monkeyslaye... | 1,760,377,545.061019 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/usb-to-serial-adapter/ | USB To Serial Adapter | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"serial",
"usb"
] | [Spikenzie] is at it again. This time he’s posted a
nice USB to serial converter
. He points out that you can buy a USB to serial adapter pretty cheaply, but sometimes you want this functionality built into your project enough to justify the greater cost. In those cases where you want to integrate it, this is an elegant solution. This design was made to be fairly compact and still usable on a breadboard. As usual, you can download the files from his website. If his work looks familiar, it’s because we’ve covered his work
several
times
before.
[via
Flickr
] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "107577",
"author": "sephamorr",
"timestamp": "2009-11-17T00:11:54",
"content": "Personally, I would not even include this unless a serial port is necessary on a commercial product.I obtained my (working) serial dongle off ebay for about 50 cents as do many others…it’s simply not wo... | 1,760,377,545.124046 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/led-ring-light/ | LED Ring Light | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"led",
"ring flash",
"ring light"
] | [Jani]
built his own photography ring light
based on automotive LED rings. The rings he used are meant to encircle headlights on a car and are available at a low cost. The assembly is built around a filter that attaches to his camera lens. Two rings of LEDs are then glued to a case made from the plastic of a CD-R container. To diffuse the light, he sanded both sides of the clear plastic housing to make it translucent.
LED rings operate on DC power and unlike
a ring flash
, they provide constant light to help set up your shot. His finished project is well-built and should come in between $10-20. | 30 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "107544",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2009-11-16T21:38:23",
"content": "Creative use of CD box, very nice project, spectacular results (I hate making macro shots for the very reason I either get grainy dark crap or overexposed blob from the flash).I give it 3 strawberries.",
... | 1,760,377,545.190223 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/radio-assisted-drawing-device/ | Radio Assisted Drawing Device | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"etch a sketch",
"gantry",
"guest book",
"plotter",
"r.a.d.d.",
"rc"
] | An exhibition
just wrapping up at the Russian Frost Farmers Gallery in New Zealand presented an interactive artwork hack. Called the Radio Assisted Drawing Device (R.A.D.D), it is a plotter that mounts on the wall. It isn’t computer controlled, but rather relies on a remote control with two sticks to move the plotter
Etch-a-Sketch style
.
A clear gantry mounts vertically and travels along the top edge of the wooden backing. A slot cut in the acrylic steadies the plotter and allows for smooth vertical movement. Obviously built by hand, the mechanics seem to have tight tolerances for precise movements of the stylus. See the exhibit in the video after the break.
Wouldn’t you love to have one of these on the wall at your next party? It adds a whole new spin on a guest book.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7179774]
[Thanks Rich] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "107534",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2009-11-16T20:07:17",
"content": "Good sound :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107538",
"author": "nitpicker",
"timestamp": "2009-11-16T20:47:25",
"content": "Oh, for god’... | 1,760,377,545.232375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/tauntaun-costume/ | Tauntaun Costume | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"costume",
"halloween",
"tauntaun"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upl7F5p0DHY]
[Scott Holden] went all out this year and built an amazing
Tauntaun costume
. The
Tauntaun from Star Wars
was massive, standing 8 feet tall, and usually carrying a rider. [Scott] wanted to make it the correct size, and ultimately pulled it off. He had to build custom stilts to get the leg angle correct as drywall stilts were too straight. The rest is mainly pvc and fur. We think he did a fantastic job on this. The effect is quite nice, and we can imagine that in person it is even better.
Take note at the bottom of page 3. Apparently, he got pinned in the costume in his workshop and almost had to spend the night on the floor in the costume. That’s pretty wild, at least he was warm.
[via
makezine
] | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "107526",
"author": "nave.notnilc",
"timestamp": "2009-11-16T18:56:23",
"content": "it doesn’t make tauntaun noises! :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107527",
"author": "chicosoft",
"timestamp": "2009-11-16T19:16:12",
... | 1,760,377,545.357051 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/15/radar-detector-tester/ | Radar Detector Tester | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"detector",
"lidar",
"police",
"radar"
] | [Blacklight99] made this cool tool. It is a
tester for those radar detectors that people keep in their cars
. Though this seems like it would rarely be a tool we would need, it’s an interesting project. Some speed guns that the police use have a “stealth” mode that makes them invisible to some detectors. This tool can tell you if your detector is vulnerable to this. While this really is just a complicated flashing LED, he notes that it could be taken further to be made into a detector that is programmable and not vulnerable to any of the stealth modes. | 38 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "107443",
"author": "stealthmonkey",
"timestamp": "2009-11-15T22:09:29",
"content": "YAY! It’s a hack this time on hackaday =]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107448",
"author": "...",
"timestamp": "2009-11-15T23:00:57",
... | 1,760,377,545.509265 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/15/bulbdial-redux/ | Bulbdial Redux | Jakob Griffith | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"AVR",
"bulbdial",
"circle of light",
"clock",
"led",
"pic",
"rtc"
] | [Taufeeq] sent in his “
Circle of Light
” bulbdial clock. You may remember when we showed you
Evil Mad Scientist’s version
a while back, and [Taufeeq] did use it as a base but he’s added some of his own little touches. Some of the changes include using a PIC with an
RTC
chip instead of AVR, which allowed him to shrink the board down small enough to fit behind the clock face, rather than on front. He’s even
zipped everything up
conveniently to help you build your own. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "107437",
"author": "xGROMx",
"timestamp": "2009-11-15T20:42:20",
"content": "WOW! Now this is great! I am working on a clock with rope lights and 110v. But this is way more original. Congrats with this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,377,545.44079 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/14/rc-lawnmower/ | R/C Lawnmower | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"lawn",
"mower",
"rc"
] | [Johndavid400] built this
incredible looking R/C lawnmower
. After spending some time repairing broken R/C cars, he wanted to move on to something a little more useful and powerful. He decided to build a mower. He’s using a transceiver set from ebay, with an Arduino interpreting the signal and outputting to his custom motor board. In the video after the break, you can see that the mower looks responsive and quick. He does note, however, that he had some glitches early in the process that left him with a runaway mower. We covered a
very similar mower
ages ago that used a wheelchair as the base.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpMazvf-R98]
[via
littlebirdceo
] | 56 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "107324",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T17:14:53",
"content": "nicely done and, I WANT ONE lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107327",
"author": "Josh",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T17:31:15",
"con... | 1,760,377,545.592469 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/14/mouse-a-ps2-to-c64-adapter/ | [M]ouse: A PS/2 To C64 Adapter | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore",
"mouse"
] | [svofski] has a friend who is a pixel artist. They really wanted to try out their skills on a c64, but were missing a mouse. The original mouse for the c64 was not only serial, but used a different method of communication than more modern mice. [svofski]
built this adapter to translate the ps/2 data
to something the c64 can use. The writeup describes the build in detail and even has the PCB and source code available for download.
[via
flickr
] | 30 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "107310",
"author": "Frank McSteez",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T15:18:35",
"content": "What a ridiculous looking mouse.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107311",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T15:22:56",
... | 1,760,377,545.657838 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/diylilcnc-do-it-yourself-cnc-mill/ | DIYLILCNC: Do-it-yourself CNC Mill | Phil Burgess | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"axis",
"cnc",
"creative commons",
"fabrication",
"machining",
"mill",
"milling"
] | The DIY LIL CNC project
is the newest member of the homebrew fabrication scene. This is a three-axis
CNC
mill that can be built by anyone with basic shop skills and about $700 in their pocket. Many of the materials can be acquired from the likes of Home Depot: the basic framework is assembled from Masonite, while other cost-cutting measures include the use of skate bearings and a common Dremel tool for powering the cutting bit. About half of the cost is for the HobbyCNC driver and stepper motor package that runs the show.
The instructions for the DIY LIL CNC are distributed under a
Creative Commons
license, allowing for modification and distribution with few restrictions. They’re well-written and quite thorough, including all patterns and a complete bill of materials with suppliers, part numbers and costs. As documented, the ’bot can produce parts up to 12 x 14 x 2 inches, but the project’s creators offer some suggestions on adapting the design for larger work. It’s not self-replicating like the
RepRap
aims for; you’ll need access to a
laser cutter
for some of the parts. If you can clear that hurdle, this looks like a great introduction to
CNC
production. | 39 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "107257",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T02:17:39",
"content": "I’ve been looking for a decent way to make PCBs. I’ve been following the postings on this site, but have often wondered if a homebrew CNC machine could perform this task fairly well (among numerous other task... | 1,760,377,547.75963 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/duino-tag/ | Duino Tag | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ir",
"tag",
"wireless"
] | During our daily rounds we stumbled upon
Duino Tag
. Sure it’s not as awesome as a
coil gun
but it really sparked our imagination. First the base: an Arduino is wired up with IR LEDs and placed inside of a plastic pistol. A second Arduino with an IR receiver is scanning for the first Arduinos signal. A ‘shot’ of IR light is ‘fired’ and detected, you get a ‘kill’.
The base is nothing amazing, but it really gives us some ideas and we would like to see it expanded upon. [J44] has already put in a piezo and other LEDs to simulate muzzle flash and other effects. But we like to go further. Start off with multiple pistols and players. Include
GPS
to track players current position, and
wireless
to update each player of another player. A small
wrist watch display
could act much like a UAV. Add some expansions like IR ‘grenades’ and you’ve got a full-out war! What would you like to see? | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "107250",
"author": "me",
"timestamp": "2009-11-14T01:11:24",
"content": "Ranges, it would be great if different guns had different set ranges, this could create an effective team atmosphere. Also reload times.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,547.890081 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/auto-drummer/ | Auto-drummer | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"drum",
"rick allen",
"robotic drummer",
"steve"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COl1xmWAjUw]
Mix a cup of mechanical engineering with a dash of drum set and you end up with
Steve, the robotic drummer
. We know that it uses an
MSA-T Midi Decoder
but that’s about the extent of what has been shared. Just from observing the video, we think Steve’s got a few things going for him when compared to
PEART, the robot drummer
we saw back in 2005. Steve features two sticks for each drum and symbol and seems to be quite responsive.
Steve’s great, but we still think
Rick Allen’s
got this thing beat. Although this is a quality build, there’s no replacement for a human that can bang the drum in millions of subtly different way. That isn’t to say we don’t see potential in the hack. Perhaps it’s time to update a classic idea, the robotic orchestra. Don’t know what we mean? Check out 3:58 into the video embedded after the break.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/162062]
Take a look at the robotic orchestra 3:58 into the video.
[via
Highly Liquid
] | 25 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "107223",
"author": "emilio",
"timestamp": "2009-11-13T22:25:18",
"content": "maybe this will end the tradition that 99% of bands on earth are constantly looking for a drummer…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107224",
"author... | 1,760,377,547.997824 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/hackaday-links-friday-the-13th-2009/ | Hackaday Links: Friday The 13th, 2009 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"bowling",
"brew",
"coffee",
"dress",
"sphere",
"wort"
] | This
wort cooler
looks beautiful. No, it’s not for removing warts, it’s part of the brewing process for the nectar of the gods. Even if it wasn’t meant to create alcohol, we would be drawn in by those pretty copper curves.
We’re not surprised at all to see this
remote-controlled bowling ball
. We’ve seen
remote-controlled spheres
several times and this just seems like the logical conclusion. We wish there were some build details though. [via
neatorama
]
When [Anthony Toth] an aircraft enthusiast, decided remodel his garage, he
shot for the sky
. He has recreated the first class cabin of a Pan Am 747 circa the 1970s. It took him nearly 20 years to scavenge the parts and over $50,000 to pull it all together. [via
makezine
]
This
super cheap simple cable tester
caught our eye. There’s nothing complicated here, pretty common sense really. Why didn’t we think of it?
Over the years, Asimo has become a household name. At least in geek households. We’ve seen him go from crazy looking walking microwave prototype, to giant scary space man monster, to the lovable little guy we know now. You can see the
full evolution of Asimo
in this picture series.
Got an old box camera? Want to use it with modern 35mm film? Here’s a guide to
getting it to work
. It mainly just involves making a simple mounting bracket.
We like LEDs a lot, but this is getting ridiculous. This
dress has 24,000 LEDs
. They power it with iPod batteries spread throughout the dress. This cuts down on the bulk and helps distribute the weight.
Coffee cup technology hasn’t changed much in the last bazillion years. We’re pretty sure cave people carved them from stone, and now they’re made from ceramic which really isn’t that different. Some
researchers are changing all that
, and designing a coffee cup that is supposed to regulate its temperature in a new way. This mug is manufactured with internal convection channels and is made from a material known for its temperature regulation called PCM. Interesting, but it will probably cost much more than a simple insulated thermos. [via
neatorama
] | 13 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "107225",
"author": "taylor",
"timestamp": "2009-11-13T22:35:39",
"content": "I’m liking the links section being back. Thanks guys!-Taylor",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107227",
"author": "Michiel",
"timestamp": "2009-1... | 1,760,377,547.611282 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/instruments-as-games-games-as-instruments/ | Instruments As Games – Games As Instruments | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"beatboxing",
"flute",
"guitar hero",
"junxion",
"midi controller",
"osculatro",
"rock band"
] | Here’s a pair of diametrically opposed hacks. One makes use of a real instrument to play Rock Band, the other makes use of a game controller to play real music.
[Tim] lets us know that his friend figured out how to
play Rock Band 2 on expert level by playing flute
instead of singing. Of course this works because the game is just looking for the correct frequency for scoring. It makes sense that the vocal lines can be offset by an octave and still register correctly. We wouldn’t have thought of this ourselves but now that we’ve seen her success, we will try it (our instrumental skills far out pace our singing talents).
Seeing this sparks a correlation with
Phone Phreaking
, which started with a blind kid singing a tone into the receiver to make the remainder of his long distance call free. This was followed by
Blue Boxes
that allowed people without perfect pitch to play the tones electronically. It would be interesting to see what could have been done with a talented flute player (like
the beat-boxing flutist
) and one of those old phone networks.
On the other side of the coin, we have [Jordan’s] project in which
she creates midi controllers using Wii drums
from Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band. The Guitar Hero drums are velocity sensitive, a feature she’s using in her setup. The MIDI data takes into account how hard the drums are struck and the resulting sound reflects that. This particular writeup outlines her use of Osculator for the velocity sensitive system, but you can also check out the tutorial she wrote covering the use of JunXion with the Rock Band controller that
we covered in the past
.
Video for both of these control schemes is included after the page break. We love to see people break the guise of “I’m creating music by playing a video game” and actually use their musical talents in a new and interesting way.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oFP_TH8jYY]
Flute plays Rock Band.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ZX5qdIEB0]
Beatboxing Flute.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZT5v5HGQa0]
Wii drums as midi controllers. | 13 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "107203",
"author": "EdZ",
"timestamp": "2009-11-13T19:30:28",
"content": "If the vocal section of *-band games is frequency-based alone, it seems like a perfect candidate for a Vocaloid ‘hack’. No results on Youtube or Nicovideo, so it looks like nobody has tried this before. Unfort... | 1,760,377,547.322617 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/thingamawha-thingamagoop2/ | Thingamawha? Thingamagoop2! | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital audio hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"2",
"ledacle",
"thingamagoop",
"thingamakit"
] | Introducing the
Thingamagoop2
! Remember that
awkward looking box
with two LEDacles sticking out and a bunch of strange buttons and knobs that with some
circuit bending
synthesized different sounds that kept your neighbor up for hours on end? Well now its back! Smaller and one less LEDacle, but jam-packed with more features – like our personal favorite: the ability to program it via Arduino. Check out a video of the ‘music’ after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3m-9vrscew&feature=player_embedded%5D | 36 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "107081",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T23:33:54",
"content": "I’m not a huge fan of random noise myself. It seems like it wouldn’t be that hard to at least organize the sounds into a melody or something. I even enjoy electronic music and chiptunes, so it’s not li... | 1,760,377,547.684202 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/raid-the-dollar-store-for-an-illuminated-umbrella/ | Raid The Dollar Store For An Illuminated Umbrella | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"dollar store",
"flashlight",
"led",
"umbrella"
] | Here’s a quick and easy
illuminated umbrella
that [Mikeasaurus] built. How’s this for economical? He found an umbrella that someone left on the bus, and used an LED flashlight and clear poncho from the dollar store for the rest of the parts.
The scavenged LED circuit board is the perfect diameter to fit inside the handle of his umbrella. He removed the middle LED and drilled a hole in the board for the shaft to pass through. Although not well detailed, we gather he managed to shoehorn two CR2032 3v batteries underneath the PCB to power the device. The poncho is wrapped around the shaft to diffuse the light. This is a clever solution as the flexible plastic still allows the telescoping shaft to collapse down to its most compact size.
[Mikasaurus’] umbrella doesn’t
make noise
or
emulate the weather
but it is a clever idea. The low difficulty level and availability of parts makes this a great project to do with the young ones who don’t get included in your more intricate hacks. | 23 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "107056",
"author": "directive0",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T20:43:50",
"content": "This is a very cool idea! I’ve wanted my very own “Blade Runner” umbrella for a while!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107063",
"author": "Mic... | 1,760,377,547.560999 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/robot-interface-lets-fingers-do-the-walking/ | Robot Interface Lets Fingers Do The Walking | Mike Szczys | [
"iphone hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"best interface",
"fingers",
"gesture",
"iphone",
"robot"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=945Z2xtdEBE]
We’re filing this one under “best interface implementation”. This
robot is controlled by finger gestures
on the surface of an iPod Touch. It can walk forward, turn, sidestep, jump, and kick a ball based on the input it receives from your sweaty digits. Unlike vehicles
controlled by an iPhone
(or
by Power Wheels
), this has some potential. Especially considering the inevitable proliferation of
multi-touch devices
in our everyday lives. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "107054",
"author": "t3rcio",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T20:15:22",
"content": "Easy to control. Very creative. And very usefull. A light interface that lets a easy control for heavy devices.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107062"... | 1,760,377,547.941379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/set-phasers-to-blind/ | Set Phasers To “blind” | Mike Szczys | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"diode",
"enterprise",
"laser",
"phase pistol",
"phaser",
"star trek"
] | [Directive0]
added a 200mW laser to his Enterprise Phase Pistol
toy. This joins the ranks of
hand-held
laser hacks
that we’ve seen around here lately. His build makes use of the stun and kill settings of the toy to switch between different modes. The built-in 9 volt battery holder is tapped into for power. When set to stun, the stun LED indicator is illuminated and a trigger pull sends current limited electricity to the laser diode. When the kill (or blind) setting is selected, the appropriate LED is illuminated and the trigger sends the full current from the battery to the laser diode. Power regulation is managed by the driver circuit for the laser.
This build preserves the unmodded look of the toy gun. [Directive0’s] inclusion of protective glass should fend off the warnings we usually see in the comments of these types of hacks. | 30 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "107020",
"author": "AridTag",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T18:04:57",
"content": "“and the trigger sends the fill current from the battery”I think you mean full.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "107021",
"author": "Mike Szc... | 1,760,377,547.824923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/too-much-time-not-enough-pressure/ | Too Much Time, Not Enough Pressure | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"clock",
"pressure gauge",
"real time clock",
"restore",
"rtc",
"stepper motor",
"timer"
] | [Audin] got a hold of a pressure gauge and decided to
turn it into a clock
. We were under the impression that these types of gauges were filled with oil but he didn’t detail cleaning it up for his purposes. Once he gained access to the guts he replaced them with a stepper motor. The motor connects to an Arduino with the help of a Darlington array for handling the large load. [Audin’s] plans include using a real time clock (on order) and moving to an AVR ATmega8 microprocessor once the prototyping is finished. In the mean time, he has posted
the code used in his current prototype
.
Stay with us past the page break for some video of this in action. He’s got the needle dialed in for very precise movement and has coded a “jitter” effect as well. We’re not sure this would be the most convenient clock, but we’d love to affix it to our kitchen stove for a gnarly looking timer. [Audin] acquired the gauge at his local
Habitat for Humanity ReStore
, a place we’ve used many times to source reclaimed and unused items of all kinds for our projects.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/audin/4090937079/] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "107007",
"author": "Happosai",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T17:10:47",
"content": "Would’ve been cooler to drive it using actual pressure (electronic valve connected to an air cylinder?)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "107010",
... | 1,760,377,547.501127 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/12/linear-optical-encoder/ | Linear Optical Encoder | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"dc motor",
"linear",
"optical encoder",
"reprap"
] | Optical encoders are nothing new; they can be found in everything from mice to printers. They’re great for allowing DC motors to know their exact position and even current direction. If this is sounding like old hat, it’s because we’ve shown you rotational versions before.
[Chris] uses the same concept, but produced a
linear optical encoder
instead of
rotational
. His setup is much like whats used in non stepper-motor CNC and RepRap mills, allowing ordinary DC motors to know their position within a plane. It’s a quick tutorial, but we liked the detail and it reminded us we need to finish that DC motor based mill thats still a pile of parts in the closet. Check out a video of [Chris’] in action after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRQnXk99WDg&feature=player_embedded%5D | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "106995",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2009-11-12T15:58:44",
"content": "That encoder looks ghetto…but if it gets the job done that’s what matters.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106997",
"author": "Shiftall",
"time... | 1,760,377,548.152327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/pcb-light-box-in-a-scanner-shell/ | PCB Light Box In A Scanner Shell | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Atmel",
"attiny2313",
"AVR",
"cfl",
"compact fluorescent",
"light box",
"pcb",
"uv"
] | [Kizo]
repurposed a flatbed scanner to use as an exposure box
for making printed circuit boards. Exposure time is controlled by an AVR ATtiny2313 microcontroller. The device is connected to a separate display board to control four 7-segment displays using one shift register for each. Time is set in ten second increments and once started, switches on the lights with a relay. Once the right exposure time has been reached, the lights are switched off and a piezo speaker is buzzed. There’s no mention of they type of bulbs he’s using but they look like compact fluorescent with tin foil beneath as a reflector.
If these are just CFL bulbs, how will the performance compare to
a light box based around a UV light source
?
[Thanks Jake] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "106668",
"author": "Ben Ryves",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T17:22:37",
"content": "A nicely implemented project, and performance seems fine according to the project forum (and Google Translate) – “time highlighting the 2-2.5min and thus develop very quickly for about half a minute in 1... | 1,760,377,548.064199 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/voice-controlled-led-sign/ | Voice Controlled LED Sign | Jakob Griffith | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"google voice",
"led",
"matrix",
"message",
"voice",
"voicemail"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiYYJ5WMG6I&feature=player_embedded%5D
120 LEDs and NerdKit, check. Python and appropriate Google Voice module, check. Blend on high for 2 minutes, bake for an hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Your soufflé is done, whoops, we mean your
voice controlled LED sign
is done. Leave a voicemail on Davis’
Google Voice
account that starts with “message” and it will be displayed for all to read within a matter of minutes. We think: make it bigger and add a security code before you can leave a message, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for some
over sized message fun
.
[via
Make
] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "106652",
"author": "chicosoft",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T15:32:01",
"content": "Very cool hack",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106654",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T15:49:37",
"content": "Nice, thou... | 1,760,377,548.290876 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/roombas-with-uav-brains-play-pac-man/ | Roombas With UAV Brains Play Pac-Man | Devlin Thyne | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"pac-man",
"roomba",
"uav"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHtX2JwZAY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
[Jack], [Cory], and [Maciej] are playing
Pac-Man with Roombas
on a lab floor. The
Roombas
are outfitted with
ALIX3d2
single board computers running Gentoo and a software suite developed for UAVs at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s
Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles
. The hardware and software sections are quite in-depth and make for a good read. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "106644",
"author": "monkeyslayer56",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T15:00:06",
"content": "sweet if i had the money and the space to do that i soooo would :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106651",
"author": "chicosoft",
"tim... | 1,760,377,548.330325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/diy-circuit-etching-video-tutorial/ | DIY Circuit Etching Video Tutorial | Phil Burgess | [
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"board",
"circuit",
"diy",
"pcb",
"toner",
"transfer"
] | Circuit-bending blog GetLoFi has posted the
best tutorial yet on home-made printed circuit boards
using the toner transfer method.
We’ve covered
homebrew PCB
fabrication
techniques
about a
billion
times
before
. What sets this tutorial apart is that it collects many bits of knowledge otherwise scattered all about the web, and then depicts the entire process on video, from initial printing to cut PCB…because
reading about it
versus
seeing it done
are two different things entirely. They give a number of immensely useful tips throughout: choice of materials and where to get them, tools and techniques, and dispelling several myths about these methods (for example, they’re adamant about
not
using acetone
to clean toner from the PCB). Well worth the 30 minutes to watch. If that’s too much and you’ve been stuck on just one part of the process, the tutorial is in three segments.
Trimming finished boards on a paper cutter? Who would’ve guessed?
[via
Make
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "106560",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T00:25:28",
"content": "He’s right about acetone smearing the toner across the board and making it permanently look “dirty”. One way to prevent that from happening is to use a brush like he does.Another method which I have discov... | 1,760,377,548.719592 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/quickhack-ipod-hdd-to-cf-conversion/ | Roundup: Simple Hacks | Mike Szczys | [
"Roundup"
] | [
"adapter",
"arduino",
"cf",
"compact flash",
"ethernet",
"hdd",
"lamp",
"led",
"lego",
"Simple Hacks"
] | Here’s a collection of simple hacks you can do in between larger projects. After the break we’ll look at converting an iPod from hard drive storage to Compact Flash, build an LED desk lamp using LEGO and USB power for charging, and use an Arduino shield to add network control at the touch of a button.
iPod HDD to CF Conversion
[Richard] tipped us off about
converting an iPod from a hard drive to a Compact Flash card
. We actually did this a few years ago. Because we frequently buy broken electronics we had an old iPod 20GB with a broken HDD. Knowing we had seen
one wire-porn type diy adapter
and
reported on another
, a quick search produced a ready-made solution.
[Richard] went the same route by purchasing a CF to 1.8″ IDE adapter and a 32GB Compact Flash card. Just crack open your iPod, unplug the broken HDD, plug in the adapter and CF card, close the case, and go through a normal iPod recovery cycle.Compact Flash is considerably cheaper than solid state hard drives which makes this a cheaper conversion than
a comparable Zune upgrade
.
There you have it, what once was broken is now whole.
LED LEGO Lamp
[chAos]
put together a desk lamp
with parts he had on hand. A broken Bluetooth headset was used for the switch, battery, and USB charging capabilities. From there he built an articulated arm and body out of LEGO. The final step to provide illumination was just a matter of wiring up a white LED. This isn’t the
most beautiful LED lamp build
, but it gets the job done and adds a little “I built this” pride to your desk.
Mute button connected via the network
[Justin] needed a mute button for some speakers at the other end of the room. The music was played by a Mac mini so he built
a mute button that sends commands over a network
. By using an Ethernet shield for an Arduino he’s able to detect a button press and send commands over an XML-RPC server to get some peace and quite around here. The device gets its electricity by using power over Ethernet. The
Ethernet shield is one of our favorite add-ons
, taking on the brunt of the work in getting connected.
Don’t be afraid to
send in hacks
of all difficulty levels. If you’ve got one that’s a bit simpler, we may feature it as part of a group. | 15 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "106549",
"author": "Hackius",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T23:05:20",
"content": "That’s a nice setup with the ethernet button. He could integrate a whole lot of controls like volume, next, prev, get the song title on a little LCD screen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,377,548.833054 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/coaster-controlled-htpc/ | Coaster Controlled HTPC | James Munns | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"htpc",
"music",
"rfid",
"RFIDJ"
] | These days, HTPCs are becoming more and more common, however controlling the content elegantly can be a painfully annoying problem. Roteno Labs have come up with a wonderful solution they call
the RFiDJ
. Similar to the
RFID phone
we covered earlier, they used a set of picture frame coasters and mounted descriptive pictures as well as unique RFID tags in each one. When a coaster is placed in the sensor area the server begins streaming that particular selection, including local news,
This Week in Tech podcast
, and other specific albums.
Roteno Labs
even managed to include a “shuffle” tag which would play content randomly out of a library. The end result is very well put together, excellently documented, and there is even a working video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9KlZXyFiKA] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "106550",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T23:13:48",
"content": "“I am attempting to simplify the interface to my music”This looks cool and everything, but surely a more “simple” way to interface with your HTPC would not involve creating a physical coaster for every playli... | 1,760,377,549.002368 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/color-correction-patch-for-ps3-eye/ | Color Correction Patch For PS3 Eye | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"color correction",
"eye",
"kernel",
"patch",
"playstation 3",
"ps3"
] | [Max] was happy to see that the PlayStation 3 Eye has support in the newer Linux kernels. Having sat in his closet for quite some time, this would give the camera another chance at usefulness. Unfortunately, the driver doesn’t include framerate selection and color correction so he set about writing
a patch to control the color settings
. As you can see above, his success greatly improves the image quality you get from the device.
We get the feeling that the camera peripherals for Sony’s gaming devices seem like a good idea but don’t have much staying power as a realistic gaming interface. With contributions like [Max’s], they can be re-purposed. The PS2 had its own,
the EyeToy, which has long enjoyed driver support for Linux
. The NUI Group does a lot of work with multi-touch and recommends the
PS3 Eye for use with their projects
because they’re inexpensive with high frame rates and decent picture quality.
Great work [Max]. It looks like he’s sent this patch upstream to be considered for incorporation into the kernel’s webcam module. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "106551",
"author": "GSV Ethics Gradient",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T23:30:57",
"content": "apparently the patch also removes beards",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106557",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T00:02:... | 1,760,377,548.528136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/server-not-as-think-as-you-drunk-it-is/ | Server Not As Think As You Drunk It Is | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"Case mod",
"server",
"whiskey"
] | [Janos] pulled off a unique case mod by fitting
a computer system inside of a whiskey bottle
. Inside you’ll find a 733MHz processor, 256MB of ram, a 40GB hard drive, and a 60 watt power supply. The specs seem a little light but since this mod is from 2006 we certainly understand. Using
the right server software
this will still keep up with today’s demands.
It sounds like the hardest part was putting holes in the bottle. After a few failed attempts, [Janos] found a professional glass grinder to cut the openings for him.
The whole thing was running a little hot and instead of
filling the bottle with oil
(oh, how we wish he had) he added a second fan in the bottle’s neck and drilled some air intake holes. This brought the temperature under control while preserving the boozy look of this creative enclosure.
[via
Lifehacker
] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "105345",
"author": "dennis",
"timestamp": "2009-11-03T17:12:25",
"content": "roflmao ubuntu server edition as a suggested OS??!what kind of a script kiddie moron would use such a piece of crap?You FAIL.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,377,548.649544 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/push-competition-winners/ | PUSH Competition Winners | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"competition",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push"
] | Nokia team PUSH is proud to announce they have
winners from the contest
they held over the past two months. You may remember when
we first told you
about the competition, but here’s a recap. All you had to do was think of a good hack for the
Nokia N900
! Winners will receive funding and other resources to make their hack come alive. What possible hacks made the cut?
Haptastic – A compass and map? Not any more with this wearable guide that can lead the way.
KAPingwiththeN900 – Flying high with this aerial photography project
LIGHT HACK CREW
– Bring light graffiti to the N900
Rocket Pocket – Just Bonkers! An N900 in orbit, we love it!
SolderinSkaters
– Tony Hawk who? It’s all about Solderin Skaters! | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "105340",
"author": "Hackius",
"timestamp": "2009-11-03T16:25:39",
"content": "Kind of dissapointing results. Nothing new just same old same old rehashed designs.I really had my hopes up for the PUSH contest to inovate",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,548.938133 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/02/augmented-xylophone/ | Augmented Xylophone | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"xylophone"
] | [Ania’s] been working on extending a xylophone in
a project called Multixylophoniomnibus
. She’s fitted a piezo sensor on the bottom of each xylophone key, interfacing it with an Arduino. When a mallet hits a key the corresponding box augments the sound in one of several ways. It looks like she’s prototyped a box that twangs a rubber band, one that uses a solenoid to clap mini cymbals together, one that rattles a glass full of beads, another that vibrates a glass full of water, and yet another that rattles a chain.
It’s nice to see how versatile the xylophone is for
instrument hacking
. Her Flickr set is linked above but we’ve also embedded some prototyping videos after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjB6axbe6iA]
Motors jumping around when the keys are struck.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPi6boOvTkc]
Motor vibrating beads in a glass. | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "105242",
"author": "asdf",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T21:37:28",
"content": "is it really “augmented” if the xylophone no longer functions as a xylophone…? neat idea, but sounds lousy now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105244",
... | 1,760,377,548.782683 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/02/arduinix-nixie-shield-for-arduino/ | ArduiNIX: Nixie Shield For Arduino | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"ArduiNIX",
"high voltage",
"nixie tube",
"shield"
] | Flock of Butterflies has just published their
third post in a series about the ArduiNIX
, an Arduino shield that drives Nixie tubes.We’ve featured Nixie tube projects such as
a single tube clock
,
free-formed Nixie circuits
, and
tubes in a bottle
. Now the hurdle of handling high voltage tubes while protecting low voltage logic circuitry has been taken care of for you. The shield can be
purchased as a kit
but the Eagle CAD files are also available, allowing you to etch your own circuit board.
Although this is meant for the Arduino there is nothing to keep you from using it as a driver with any microcontroller. The board listens for 5V logic levels to switch the multiplexed display of up to eight tubes. Get your hands on some Nixies and give this a try yourself.
Related:
ArduiNIX Part 1
,
ArduiNIX Part 2 | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "105238",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T21:00:26",
"content": "I can see it now… Arduino + nixies = lots of noobs getting electrocuted.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105248",
"author": "bobob",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,548.882845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/02/computer-learns-from-tic-tac-toe/ | Computer Learns From Tic-tac-toe | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"computer",
"MENACE",
"noughts and crosses",
"probability",
"tic-tac-toe"
] | MENACE, the Matchbox Educable Noughts And Crosses Engine, is a fancy name for a machine that plays Tic-Tac-Toe. The concept is a product of Professor [Donald Mitchie]’s work in the 1960’s and was featured as an example in
the “A New THEORY of AWESOMENESS and MIRACLES” talk
given at this year’s
UK games conference
.
[James Bridle] built this fascinating example of how a computational system can learn from its successes and failures. Each box corresponds to one of 304 different board layouts. The operator uses an index sheet to locate the box that corresponds to the current state, shakes the box, then looks to see which bean has randomly fallen into a partition in the box. The color/type of bean corresponds to a space that the machine has “chosen” for that move. If MENACE won the game a bead matching the move that was played would be added to each box used. If MENACE lost, a bead would be removed from each box used. This way the machine cannot make the exact same mistakes twice, and is more likely to repeat successful solutions.
[James] notes that he couldn’t find any evidence of this machine actually being built before. It is possible that this was always a theoretical device but now we’ve seen an actual build. We consider this to be a computer because it is calculating moves based on probability of success but what do you think? If you’re thirsting for more pictures there’s plenty to see in the
Flickr set he’s posted
.
[via
BoingBoing
] | 30 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "105221",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T19:10:16",
"content": "hackaday finally has a worthy hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105222",
"author": "thethirdmoose",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T19:25:10",
... | 1,760,377,549.068701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/02/ping-pong-launcher-your-wife-cant-know-about/ | Ping-pong Launcher Your Wife Can’t Know About | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"compressed air",
"dangerous",
"launcher",
"lethal",
"ping pong"
] | Sometime the projects you see at the local hacker space are better left a secret when you return home for the evening. Case in point,
this ping-pong ball launcher that can put holes in a sheet of OSB
. The projectile is made more lethal because the ball has been injected with water to dramatically increase the density. Compressed air is used to propel it from the 14 round magazine with devastating effect.
We’ve embedded a video of the gun being fired after the break. The creator, [Ron Kessinger], demonstrated this at a
Denver hacker space called Club Workshop
. We’re hoping there’s no plans for
turret automation
because this thing’s dangerous! Either way, the significant other who usually watches out for our safety would never approve.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glvIJLeepck] | 27 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "105214",
"author": "jrw",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T18:32:10",
"content": "Want…This is a completely pointless hack but a completely awesome one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105219",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,549.131725 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/02/medium-format-camera-from-scratch/ | Medium Format Camera, From Scratch | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"film",
"traditional media"
] | [Peter Johansson] has taken it upon himself to
build a medium format camera
, from scratch. We know this is a shock to some of you, but this camera uses traditional medium. There is no sensor. He will be loading it with (gasps) film. He bought the lenses pre made, but everything else is being constructed by himself. Probably the most notable parts are the aperture and the shutter. The project is about 80% complete right now. We can’t wait to see it finished.
[via
Makezine
] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "105197",
"author": "Boudico",
"timestamp": "2009-11-02T16:28:14",
"content": "Very cool.However, proof the story before trying to be ‘First!!!!”Medial? Really?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105198",
"author": "Glen",
"... | 1,760,377,549.179792 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/biking-through-google-street-view/ | Biking Through Google Street View | Caleb Kraft | [
"google hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"street view",
"virtual reality"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdWwtApn6aI]
[Aki] wanted to do some stationary cycling to get in shape. Unfortunately, his stationary cycle is located in his garage which doesn’t supply much inspiration or amusement. His solution was to
build a VR rig
so that he could ride around inside google street view. He has rigged a simple sensor to his wheel to determine his speed and he’s using a vuzix VR 920 as a display and orientation sensor. While he notes that it isn’t perfect, or even reliable, we think it is pretty cool. He can go sight-seeing, while getting in shape from his own garage. We have to wonder if he gets a headache after a while though. | 49 | 46 | [
{
"comment_id": "106873",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T22:37:21",
"content": "That is cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106876",
"author": "MysticShadow",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T22:43:30",
"content": "REALLY?????",... | 1,760,377,549.625952 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/single-wing-flight-based-on-maple-seed-aerodynamics/ | Single-wing Flight Based On Maple Seed Aerodynamics | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"darpa",
"flight",
"maple seed",
"nano air vehicle",
"one wing",
"university of maryland"
] | The
Samara Micro-Air-Vehicle
is a product of over three years of work at the University of Maryland’s Aerospace Engineering Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory. The Samara is an applicant in the
DARPA nano air vehicle program
. Unlike the
ornithopter we saw in July
, this vehicle uses only one wing for flight. A small propeller on a rod mounted perpendicular to the wing provides rotation. The pitch of the wing is changed to climb, descend, or hover.
You can see a video of the flight tests after the break. The sound the Samara makes reminds us of classic alien invasion movies and the use of
Verdi’s Requiem
for the background music during flight tests (2:43) seems quite fitting. At about 5:45 there is some on board video footage that is just a blur of the room spinning by. This would be much more useful if a few frames per second were snapped at exactly the same point in the vehicles rotation.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbuGCgc-JCM]
[Thanks Waggy] | 77 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "106824",
"author": "Joe Knight",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T19:13:10",
"content": "I hope they never make an airplane out of this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106827",
"author": "barry99705",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T1... | 1,760,377,549.812428 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/battery-capacity-tester/ | Battery Capacity Tester | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"battery tester",
"rc"
] | [Moris_zen] built a
device to accurately measure the capacity of batteries
. He needed to have an accurate measurement for the batteries he uses in a RC airplane. Knowing the discharge time allows him to fly the friendly skies while avoiding crashes from lost communications.
He based the tester around the Arduino platform. Instead of using a pre-built Arduino board he referenced the
open source schematics
and built the device from components to fit his needs. His solution automatically detects the battery type (Lithium-Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride, etc) based on voltage when the battery is added to the circuit. It then uses a 2.2 Ohm resistor and ADC measurements to take the battery through a discharge cycle. A character display shows status information with the ability to track discharge information using a computer to graph the data.
Apart from flashing an LED this was his first Arduino project. It’s a great use of the platform and much more automatic than
other solutions we’ve covered
. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "106826",
"author": "Tito",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T19:20:44",
"content": "Awesome, I’d love to get one of these!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106848",
"author": "St.Jimmy",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T20:11:37",
"co... | 1,760,377,549.54086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/eyewriter-is-the-fruit-of-the-kaneye-project/ | EyeWriter Is The Fruit Of The KanEye Project | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"eye",
"eye tracking",
"eyewriter",
"graffiti research lab",
"kaneye",
"playstation 3",
"sony",
"tempt1"
] | The
EyeWriter is an open source eye tracking
initiative. This is the mature version of the
KanEye project
we covered in April. Collaboratively developed by
Free Art and Technology (FAT)
,
OpenFrameworks
, and the
Graffiti Research Lab
, they seek to aid a friend of theirs who suffers from the degenerative muscle disease ALS.
They’ve come a long way since we last looked in on the progress. The hardware used is pretty much the same: a set of sunglasses sans lenses with the CCD from a Sony PlayStation 3 Eye mounted in front of one eye. IR LEDs surround the CCD and point at the eye to increase the contrast between pupil and the rest of the eye. The major improvement comes with the software. Eye tracking appears to be extremely precise and they’ve written a custom drawing program to take advantage of their interface. Check in on
their developer page
for source code and a video walk-through of the software.
After the break you can see video of [Tempt1] using the system to create some tags. We’re thankful for the success this project has seen as this guy can do a lot better with his eye than we can with our hands.
[vimeo=6376466]
[Thanks Jessee] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "106814",
"author": "Aphex13",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T17:46:03",
"content": "That’s the best article I’ve seen on here in a while!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106816",
"author": "David S",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T1... | 1,760,377,549.48636 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/farewell-microblog/ | Farewell Microblog | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"farewell",
"microblog"
] | [Nico]’s
microblog
has been a regular source of inspiration since we were
introduced to it
last year. Aside from posting various technical thoughts and reviews, [Nico] won our hearts over by going through the trouble to strip chips and photograph them for our pleasure. Browse through his archive and download what you want, because he’s shutting down. The posts have waned, due to his final year of school taking all of his time and graduation is coming soon. [Nico] will be looking for a job soon, so check out his
resume
(pdf) if you’re looking for an engineer. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "106813",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2009-11-11T16:25:50",
"content": "All the best wishes to Nico! Why not make a more or less permanent archive available for browsing though?Just BTW, whatever happened to Flylogic blog:http://www.flylogic.net/blog/? They used to have most a... | 1,760,377,549.433406 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/remotely-control-your-crappy-car-dangerously/ | Remotely Control Your Crappy Car (dangerously) | Mike Szczys | [
"iphone hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"danger",
"iphone",
"Power Wheels",
"remote control"
] | Here’s one that brings back that giddy feeling we got when the original episodes of thebroken were posted all those years ago. The lunatics over at Waterloo Labs have
altered a beat-up Oldsmobile for remote control
via laptop, iPhone, and…. wait for it…
Power Wheels
.
Brake and gas pedals are actuated using a wrench connected to a motor bolted to the floorboards of the car. The steering wheel has been replaced with a gear and connected to a motor using a motorcycle chain. Much like
the van we saw last month
, an iPhone app has been written to wirelessly control the car of doom. This leads to some car surfing and
ghost riding the whip
in the video after the break.
To our delight, they’ve also implement the most unorthodox automotive interface yet, Power Wheels. A chain has been added to measure the orientation of the toy steering wheel, and an optical encoder is used to measure the speed of the tiny electric vehicle. It looks like it doesn’t do the best job of translating to a full size vehicle, but it maxes out their style points.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x5IziyOcAg]
Related:
thebroken | 41 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "106696",
"author": "toogood",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T19:21:48",
"content": "teen wolf",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106701",
"author": "gomi",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T19:52:09",
"content": "If you can slave it t... | 1,760,377,550.023073 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/10/homopolar-motor/ | Homopolar Motor | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"homopolar",
"magnet",
"motor",
"rare-earth",
"useless machine"
] | Slow day at the office? Here’s a trick that’ll make your coworkers smile. Dangerously Fun has
a guide to build a homopolar motor
from a battery, copper wire, and magnet. A homopolor motor doesn’t rely on electromagnets in an armature changing their polarity to force a rotation movement compared to stationary magnets. Instead, they use an electrical current’s orientation to a magnetic field to provide a repulsive or rotational force. In this implementation, the current moves through a loops of copper wire from one pole of a battery to the other. A rare-earth magnet on one pole of the battery provides the magnetic field.
After the break we’ve embedded video of this simple example as well as a few more complex homopolar examples such as a five speed version. The motor in action certainly brings a smile to our faces and places this firmly in the
useless machines
family of hacks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aPQqNt15-o]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu4375T1jro]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXbFfMBW97A]
Oops, this next one’s NOT a homopolar motor. Thanks Fallen.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-ihkq8mKI]
[Thanks Paine] | 36 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "106680",
"author": "vikki",
"timestamp": "2009-11-10T18:14:35",
"content": "neato, i’m gonna have to make one of those with my little girl, she’ll love",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106681",
"author": "Fallen",
"timest... | 1,760,377,549.887236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/careless-with-your-jailbreak-youll-get-rickrolled/ | Careless With Your Jailbreak? You’ll Get Rickrolled | Mike Szczys | [
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"iKee",
"iphone",
"jailbreak",
"Rick Astley",
"Rick Rolled",
"worm"
] | Here’s further proof that you should understand what it is you’re doing when you go to hack your handheld. Jailbreaking an iPhone has been made quite easy to the point that a lot of folks do it without reading any of the accompanying documentation. Those who didn’t heed the warning to change the default SSH password on a Jailbroken phone might get a bit of a surprise. A
worm has been unleashed that finds Jailbroken iPhones
and changes the background image to a picture of [Rick Astley]. That’s right, they’ve been
Rickrolled
.
It’s a clever little devil that propagates by grabbing the IP address of the iPhone it is currently on, then testing all of the IP address in that family to find other devices using the default password. Luckily this worm’s activities are not what we’d call malicious. It doesn’t format the root or create a cell based bot-net (that we know of). This would be akin to the antics of
searching Google for unprotected installations of MythWeb
and setting some poor schmuck’s MythTV to record every infomercial ever. The point is, this could have been a lot worse, but the attack is predicated on stupidity. In our digital age, why are people leaving default passwords in place? | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "106494",
"author": "Austin",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T19:21:51",
"content": "It is mostly young people jail breaking their iPhones so I do not find it surprising that this worm is spreading. What is the difference between the default SSH password and not to a high schooler?",
"... | 1,760,377,549.953214 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/awe-a-robotic-wall/ | AWE: A Robotic Wall | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"awe",
"robot",
"wall"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaMuS3wZ-bM]
AWE is an interesting project
, where your office wall is a helpful robot. That’s the goal anyway. The wall is articulated and can reconfigure its shape to fit your needs. You can see in their video that they have come up with several specific uses for AWE at different positions. We want to like AWE, we see that there is potential there. The video hasn’t won us over, there just wasn’t enough added benefit over a simple setup like a projector mount. We think the real benefit just isn’t as obvious. When we saw the girl stand up, and the wall back away intuitively, our attention was regained. What potential uses do you guys see?
[via
BotJunkie
] | 50 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "106457",
"author": "poot",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T17:28:34",
"content": "I’d hate to have that piece of crap fall on my head …LOL",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106458",
"author": "Duncan",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T17... | 1,760,377,550.186812 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/09/bike-brake-light-senses-you-slowing-down/ | Bike Brake Light Senses You Slowing Down | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"brake light",
"cycling",
"cyclist"
] | Group riding can be a bit dangerous if the pace is fast and riders don’t notice a slowing in the front of the pack. [WyoJustin]
designed a brake light system
for cyclists to try and remedy this issue. LEDs are mounted in the end caps of the handlebars on a road bike. When an accelerometer senses the bike slowing down the LEDs light up, warning those behind you that you’re slowing down.
The system is made to be portable, as a lot of serious riders have multiple bikes. To make this happen, all of the electronics are housed in the handlebar tubing for easy transfer. This includes an accelerometer with built in voltage regulator, an Arduino to control everything, and a battery. Take a look at the brake lights in action after the break.
Most of the
bike lights we see are for the front
of the machine, but this backward-facing package is a clean and easy solution we can get behind (safely).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-e05Un4-jA] | 57 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "106437",
"author": "Jefke",
"timestamp": "2009-11-09T16:01:10",
"content": "Why would you want to use an arduino for this, seems like extreme overkill…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106438",
"author": "Jefke",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,550.108075 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/08/gamecube-to-go/ | Gamecube To Go | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"Datamax",
"gamecube",
"Kidz Delight",
"lcd",
"mod",
"nintendo",
"playstation"
] | [Hailrazer]
built a handheld GameCube
so he could take his gaming with him. The final product is quite nice, providing a large display and about 3 hours of play time on the lithium polymer batteries.
Starting with the case from a Kidz Delight Datamax game, he used
Bondo
ABS cement and plastic bumper filler to alter the case but still provide a professional look. The display is a five-inch PlayStation One LCD Screen from which he also incorporated the speakers. At least four controllers were cannibalized for use as the buttons, sticks, triggers, and directional pad. Our favorite feature is the totally exposed optical head mounted on the back.
We’ve embedded video as well as a picture of the optical drive after the break. This goes so far beyond just making the
GameCube an all-in-one system
. If you like this build, check out the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast mods on
[Hailrazer’s] YouTube channel
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A76rFWBmug]
[Thanks Palmer] | 34 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "106355",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-11-08T20:17:35",
"content": "Wow I’m loving this, cravings for Sunshine coming back again.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106356",
"author": "Anthology",
"timestamp": "200... | 1,760,377,550.263413 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/08/centipede-shield-design-contest/ | Centipede Shield Design Contest | James Munns | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"centipede",
"i2c",
"macetech",
"prototype"
] | Our friend [Garrett Mace] from macetech has
finished a prototype
of a new shield which allows the Arduino (or any other microcontroller with
I2C
) to add 64 digital I/O pins using only 2 of the analog pins. Currently he only has a few pre-production boards, and rather than selling them he is throwing a contest to win them. The contest is looking for people who have a specific project in mind that could use the centipede, and on Friday November 13th he will pick his favorite two. To submit an idea, just head over the Arduino forums and post an idea complete with details and relevant schematics, etc.
We will be sure to follow up with the winners of the contest, as well as let you all know when the Centipede Shield makes it into production. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "106341",
"author": "RazorConcepts",
"timestamp": "2009-11-08T17:43:45",
"content": "arduino.cc is broken…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106346",
"author": "BiOzZ(c)",
"timestamp": "2009-11-08T18:56:36",
"content": ... | 1,760,377,550.318358 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/07/mindflex-teardown/ | MindFlex Teardown | Nick Caiello | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"brainwave",
"mattel",
"mind control toy",
"mindflex",
"neurosky"
] | Maybe we’re just imagining things, but it seems to us like brainwave control is the latest trend in toys. Similar to Uncle Milton’s Force Trainer, Mattel has recently released the MindFlex, a game that involves moving a plastic ball up and down through an obstacle course that you control using your brainwaves. Naturally when [Alpha] saw this, he decided to
take it apart
and document what he found. After disassembling both the headset and the base, he found that most of the chips were covered in black resin making them unidentifiable. However, he was able to find identify one chip, the NeuroSky TGAT1-L64 D498Q-010 0924. Judging by the name alone, we would guess that this is the chip that makes the brainwave control possible. While there’s no mention as to whether you’ll be able to interface with this like you can with the
Force Trainer
, we’re sure that it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out how to use this to control more than just a floating plastic ball. | 36 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "106274",
"author": "Freax",
"timestamp": "2009-11-07T22:44:32",
"content": "On the german amazon-page you can find a description that it als works if you touch only your fingers with the electrodes and it is suspected to only use random movements… can somebody check if it does the r... | 1,760,377,550.45521 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/07/urban-defender-location-aware-game/ | Urban Defender: Location Aware Game | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"ball",
"game",
"gps",
"location aware",
"urban defender",
"vibrator",
"xbee"
] | [youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrAFYava258&feature=player_embedded%5D
What do gangs, territories, cities, and glowing blue balls have in common? No, not that one drunken night you can’t seem to remember, rather a new location aware game called
Urban Defender
.
The
concept
behind the game is simple. A player hold a ball that knows its current location and can notify you if needed via LEDs and a speaker of changes in its environment. He or she then runs around the city until the ball tells them of an unclaimed or enemy territory. Bounce the ball against a building and that territory is now claimed.
The ball itself is a
prototype
combination of an Arduino, Accelerometer, vibration motor, LEDs, XBee, batteries, and wire all packed inside of an industrial rubber gym ball. Unfortunately after testing the Urban Defender team found the GPS and a few other components would need to be kept outside of the ball and on the player.
Finally, a project that warrants the use of an Arduino. Anyone up for a game? | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "106266",
"author": "ino",
"timestamp": "2009-11-07T21:13:05",
"content": "“…the game has no start, no end …” and I would like to add ” no point too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106267",
"author": "zetsway",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,550.573324 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/servoelectric-guitar-is-a-keytar-with-strings/ | Servoelectric Guitar Is A Keytar With Strings | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"fret",
"guitar",
"servo",
"servoelectric"
] | [Keith Baxter] has undertaken something of a ‘Mount Everest’ of guitar modifications. He’s
developing a Servoelectric guitar
that trades frets for a keypad. It is still a guitar in the sense that it has a body, strings, and pickups to sense the strings vibrations and pass them to an amplifier. The left hand, which traditionally would shorten the strings as needed by pressing them against
a fret
, now changes string pitch using a keypad. This is an interesting fusion between traditional guitar and 80’s phenomenon, the
keytar
.
Each string is connected to a different servo motor. When a key on the keypad is pressed, the corresponding servo adjusts the tension of that string, bringing it in tune at the new pitch. His original design involved a lot of custom circuitry but he’s
evolved the project to include an Arduino controller
. This second generation both simplifies the control circuitry and improves upon it.
We’ve embedded some video after the break. In the first example you can see the strings adjusting for each new pitch. In the second, take a look behind the guitarist… what do you think he’s got planned for those
giant
capacitors?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E-g4_zBb4U]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSzxpYb0Zw] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "106158",
"author": "placebo.3ffect",
"timestamp": "2009-11-07T00:18:00",
"content": "This is cool and all…. but I bet he goes through guitar stings like crazy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106159",
"author": "zxcbvnm",
... | 1,760,377,550.512233 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/physical-email-notification/ | Physical Email Notification | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"email",
"Gmail",
"notification"
] | One day computers will exist in every part of our lives. You’ll be standing in the shower, lathering up when Chantal, your holographic computer controlled AI partner, informs you in a cool voice you have a new email. How splendid, it must be the office letting you know there is no work today! “Anything else?” You ask; “Negative” her electronically synthesized voice responds.
Over at TINYenormous
they’ve made this dream
come true – minus the holographic computer controlled AI partner bit. Rather its simply a physical email notification system consisting of an LED and Arduino with some python code. We like the concept but prefer our
Google Desktop
with
Gmail
setup instead. Perhaps by using a small wireless server and rechargeable batteries, it could make a great dinner table centerpiece notifying you of the latest email. How simple, or how complicated would you make a setup?
[Thanks Madmaze]
[Update]
Rob created a very nice
USB version
.
Dan made a
wireless version
from
XBee modules
and includes an LCD.
J4mie is the
original inspiration
for the project.
Have your own
notification system
? Tell us in the comments, And we’ll place it here! | 60 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "106137",
"author": "babble",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T23:12:20",
"content": "sigh",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106138",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T23:15:56",
"content": "Kinda did the wireless serve... | 1,760,377,551.247939 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/cold-cathode-art-piece-controller/ | Cold Cathode Art Piece Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"16F628",
"cold cathode",
"daft punk",
"pic"
] | [Andrew] built a light box for an exhibition last year that displayed different colors statically. After showing it off, it went unchanged but future improvements remained in the back of his mind. Recently, he pulled it out again and
hacked together a controller to drive the colors individually
.
He’s actually reusing some of the hardware he built for a different project. At its core is a PIC 16F628 that actuates the lights using relays. In this case, only four of the eight on the board are used to control red, white, blue, and green cold cathode tubes. The video after the break shows the device randomly rotating through different patterns. This is a nice start to making the piece more interactive and we can image adding
web-controlled color changes
, or perhaps some
Daft Punk inspired functionality
.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7427024] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "106129",
"author": "babble",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T22:16:51",
"content": "I’m actually shocked that I liked the effect, nice work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106151",
"author": "cyanide",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06... | 1,760,377,551.08762 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/didgeridoo-modded-to-include-electronic-manipulation/ | Didgeridoo Modded To Include Electronic Manipulation | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"didgeridoo",
"synthesizer"
] | It’s not a bazooka, but this altered instrument makes it look like the player is toking off of some type of weapon. [Kyle] wanted to take the already mysterious
sounds produced by a didgeridoo then capture and alter them electronically
.
The physical build of this project is nothing short of beautiful. He’s mounted several curved control boards to the outside of the instrument. The controls feature six push buttons, five toggle switches, and six potentiometers that interface with an Arduino. The sound is picked up by the device then sent along with the switch settings to a computer via Bluetooth. The computer then works its magic to create the wicked audio effects heard in the video after the break.
His article, linked above, includes several diagrams detailing the synthesis process. They’re a little beyond our understanding but if you know what’s going on, please share your insight in the comments.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1VB1vA-UsI] | 68 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "106098",
"author": "derp",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T20:01:03",
"content": "O.OIncredible!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106099",
"author": "JBot",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T20:07:25",
"content": "“malipulation”?",
... | 1,760,377,550.995554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/06/servo-database/ | Servo Database | Caleb Kraft | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"database",
"reference",
"servo"
] | Starting a new robotics project and want to find the perfect servo for the job? It can be a real pain in butt sometimes. This is where
ServoDatabase.com
comes in. They’re compiling specifications and reviews on servos. We love seeing these databases pop up. Remember the
online chip reference
? You simply can not have too much reference material.
[via
makezine
] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "106078",
"author": "Dante",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T16:27:06",
"content": "Ok, that is way too handy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "106079",
"author": "Manfre",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T16:35:51",
"content": "I’ve... | 1,760,377,551.042784 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/05/udk-make-the-next-gears-of-war/ | UDK: Make The Next Gears Of War | Jakob Griffith | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"development kit",
"game",
"udk",
"unreal",
"xna"
] | Ever sat down from a long day of hacking and thought to yourself “I wish there was a cool video game out there made just for me. Better yet, made
by
me!” Today is your lucky day with the
release
of UDK –
Unreal Development Kit
.
In days of old, the only solution to satisfying your game creation desires was a cheap
game making kit
, or adding to the millions of
Source mods
. Epic has changed tables by now allowing anyone to use their engine (non-commercially of course) to create the game of their dreams; who knows, maybe even the next Unreal Tournament.
UDK is currently limited to PC, but plans are in the process for PS3 and Xbox360 development. For those who cant wait, we suggest checking out
XNA
. Whatever tools you use, ever made a cool game? Tell us in the comments!
[Thanks Kinigit] | 41 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "105985",
"author": "tom",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T00:01:18",
"content": "Pffft no mac support? Going back to Unity.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105989",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2009-11-06T00:13:05",
"co... | 1,760,377,550.776746 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/05/welcome-back-hackaday-links/ | Welcome Back, HackaDay Links | Caleb Kraft | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"links"
] | While browsing the web for new and interesting hacks to show you guys, we run across all kinds of interesting stuff. Often, we would love to share them with you, and get your thoughts, but they just simply don’t have enough information or aren’t hacks at all. This is where HackaDay Links come in. Occasionally we’ll gather up some interesting stuff and post it all at once. These probably won’t be hacks, so if you’re not into seeing other interesting stuff, just wait for the next post.
We used to do these posts from
time
to
time
, and we’ve decided to start again. Without further adieu, here are the links:
1.Medgadget has a
pretty cool crutch system
which uses your upper leg for support instead of your arm. Seems like a better way of building support for
digitigrade legs
to us.
2.
VR pods
sure are looking funny now days. Seems like you could do this on your own pretty easy with some
simple dome projection
.
3.We were unaware of The Gadget Show, till we saw
this post
on DVICE. For those that don’t want to sit through it all, they do two projects. One is a wearable computer jacket with a projector built into the sleeve, the other is a set of iPod controls built into some horribly gaudy high heels. We shouldn’t judge the fashion though, they probably know fashion better than us.
4.These
massive robotic arms
have been all over the net for the past few weeks. The video is sort of neat, with cool cgi effects, but all he does is wave them around somewhat lethargically. We do hope to see something more soon.
5.
Princess Leia, sunbathing
. We had to share. Thank us later.
6.You could
win [Ben Heck]’s PS3 laptop
. Unfortunately you have to spend a bunch of money at
the score
. Just in case you’re curious, they value it at $7500 | 32 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "105971",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2009-11-05T22:37:30",
"content": "I like it! thanks…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105972",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2009-11-05T22:37:45",
"content": "Thanks for a... | 1,760,377,551.15498 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/04/knock-detecting-lock/ | Knock Detecting Lock | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"knock",
"lock"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5PGeh2K9k]
[Steve] shows us his version of the
knock detecting lock system
. The idea is pretty simple, knock in a certain pattern and the door unlocks. We’ve
seen it
before
several times
. This solution is somewhat cleaner than the others, not only in physical design, but also in how you reprogram it. Simply push the reprogram button and enter your new knock. We’re a bit surprised that the suction cups actually hold it on the door. Maybe it’s just us, but we can never seem to get those things to hold very well. There are lots of great pictures as well as the source code available on his site.
[via
HacknMod
] | 18 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "105610",
"author": "Cabe",
"timestamp": "2009-11-04T16:10:06",
"content": "“Knock, Knock……click……..helllloooooo”Love it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105614",
"author": "ham sandwich",
"timestamp": "2009-11-04T16:24:2... | 1,760,377,551.341923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/04/hacky-thanksgiving/ | Hacky Thanksgiving | Mike Szczys | [
"Roundup"
] | [
"Halloween props",
"thankgiving gadgets",
"thanksgiving",
"turkey"
] | Friends, pilgrims, send us your hacks. Most especially, your Thanksgiving hacks. We had a wonderful time over the past six weeks collecting and highlighting your Halloween props and now it’s on to the next holiday. Did you build your own deep fried turkey rig with some special features? How about that pie making robot you built for last year’s celebration? Can’t live without your twittering cornucopia? Document it and
send it to our tip line
! All Thanksgiving themed hacks will be considered but only the well documented and creative entries will be featured.
If you just joined us, here’s a roundup of the Halloween Props we encountered this year:
Halloween props: Techy Jack-o-lanterns
Halloween props: Servo eyes
Halloween prop: glowing spooky eyes
Shift powered pumpkins
Animatronic winged demon terrorizes local garage
A modular Halloween with grid beam
Scare ‘em silly with a moving pumpkin
Halloween prop: Bigmouth billy bass
Halloween props: Low cost popup
Quoth the Raven: hack some more
Halloween prop: portable black light
Halloween props: DMX controlled skeleton
Halloween prop: the ground-breaker
Piecax the Poltergeist reinvents the Knock Block
Halloween props: Alien Costume
Halloween Props: Pie of Sauron
Halloween props: Skeleton springs from coffin
Halloween prop: DIY fog machine
Halloween props: flying crank ghost
disclaimer: boiling oil is dangerous, that’s why it used to be used for torture. Always consider your own safety!
[Turkey
photo source
] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "105598",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2009-11-04T15:00:00",
"content": "Turning up the oven to “make it cook faster” doesn’t count.Please pass the potatoes?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105606",
"author": "thed... | 1,760,377,551.291142 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/apple-remote-arduino-shield/ | Apple Remote Arduino Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"ir",
"led",
"remote",
"tv-b-gone",
"universal remote"
] | [Computergeek] made an
Arduino Shield in order to use it as an Apple remote
. We like the construction technique that he used; taking perf-board and soldering the circuit and using stripped wire to interface with the pin sockets on the Arduino. He’s written the code needed to function as an Apple Remote but this shield has a lot more potential. This is an excellent opportunity to delve into the different IR protocols out there and create a universal remote for
all of your random devices
. We’d also want to give it a try as a
TV-B-Gone
.
The parts are easy to find or salvage without putting in an order. We’re not certain about his design, he should probably have invited a resistor to the party the two IR LEDs are having. | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "105473",
"author": "octel",
"timestamp": "2009-11-04T00:20:12",
"content": "No menu button?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "105482",
"author": "Russ",
"timestamp": "2009-11-04T00:41:28",
"content": "I think he’s OK w... | 1,760,377,551.49859 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/ssd-upgrade-for-24-imac/ | SSD Upgrade For 24″ IMac | Mike Szczys | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"hdd",
"imac",
"solid state drive",
"ssd"
] | The hard drive in [Jason’s] 24″ iMac was on the blink. He decided that instead of just swapping out the bad drive for a traditional unit he would
upgrade to a solid state drive
. Tearing apart high-end hardware like this can be a bit nerve-racking but luckily the drive is mounted right behind the screen so he didn’t have to take everything apart.
The SSD he picked up was 2.5″ but the mounting hardware in the iMac is only setup for 3.5″ form factors. We would have used a bit of hackery to make it work but [Jason] went with an adapter kit. Uh-oh, once installed there was no problem with the mounting but the SATA cable didn’t reach far enough to plug it in. The cable snaked around under the motherboard and would have been a lot of work to swap for a longer one. He ended up removing all of the mounting screws except for one coercing the drive close enough for the connection.
It worked for him and it can for you as well. If you do this make sure to devise your own mounting scheme so that you don’t hit the same snag.
[Photo:
AppleInsider
iMac teardown]
[via
TUAW
] | 78 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "105416",
"author": "jan",
"timestamp": "2009-11-03T21:57:24",
"content": "wow, what a hack,this guy changed the hdd of his mac…mike you should feel ashamed! you know nothing about hack spirit.. you should not stand in the tradition of had, ’cause you obviously dont…",
"parent_id... | 1,760,377,551.435803 |
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