url stringlengths 37 208 | title stringlengths 4 148 | author stringclasses 173 values | publish_date stringclasses 1 value | categories listlengths 0 12 | tags listlengths 0 27 | featured_image stringlengths 0 272 | content stringlengths 0 56.1k | comments_count int64 0 900 | scraped_comments_count int64 0 50 | comments listlengths 0 50 | scraped_at float64 1.76B 1.76B |
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https://hackaday.com/2009/04/03/lego-head-tracking/ | Lego Head Tracking | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"head tracking",
"lego",
"pitch yaw roll",
"virtual reality",
"wii"
] | [Epoch] Sent in this
simple head tracking project using Lego pieces
. He’s made a custom mount to hold 3 Lego light sensors on a baseball cap. Then, after modifying his webcam for IR with some floppy disk scraps, he loads up the
free-track
software and can control his games. For convenience, he has programmed the Lego Nxt to only turn on the lights while he’s holding a contact sensor. You can see it in action after the break. This appears to be very similar to
[Johnny Lee’s] head tracking
. Judging by the video, it’s not as smooth though.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAjvcoLkDSc&2=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "69140",
"author": "Nicolas",
"timestamp": "2009-04-03T19:21:30",
"content": "Impressive work , Congratulation !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "69141",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-04-03T19:25:07",
"content... | 1,760,377,665.827594 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/03/cnc-music-factory-still-alive/ | CNC Music Factory Still Alive | Caleb Kraft | [
"cnc hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"jonathan coulton",
"mill",
"portal",
"router",
"still alive"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKCX1CeXIjA]
With some careful programming and probably tedious testing, [Tim] was able to get his
CNC router to play [Jonathan Coulton’s] “Still Alive”
. He didn’t just tell the motors to spin at the correct speeds directly though. He computed the 3d vectors necessary to produce the notes. The router thinks it is just doing its job. We would love to see those vectors rendered out in 3d space. Imagine having a physical sculpture of “Still Alive” as seen by a CNC machine. This reminds us of the
Obsolete Technology Band
.
[via
Skullydazed’s twitter
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "69114",
"author": "beStill",
"timestamp": "2009-04-03T16:20:03",
"content": "that is SO COOL!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "69115",
"author": "ziarkaen",
"timestamp": "2009-04-03T16:32:59",
"content": "Reminds me o... | 1,760,377,666.266726 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/02/rf-modem-250mw-amplifier/ | RF Modem + 250mW Amplifier | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"rf modem",
"transceiver",
"wireless"
] | [Trax] sent in his writeup on this
RF modem with built in 250mW amplifier
. The original power of the RF transceiver was around 10mW, his final results after testing were nearly 250mW. He was able to to easily transmit data over 1000 meters using his test setup. He states that he was actually able to achieve this without an antenna on the receiving side. That’s pretty impressive performance. It’s also worth noting that he soldered all of the components in place using a home clothing iron and some soldering paste. That must have been fairly tedious. | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "68988",
"author": "wacco",
"timestamp": "2009-04-02T21:00:09",
"content": "Fantastic trick.Also very illegal in (afaik most of) europe, at least at the maximum power setting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68989",
"author":... | 1,760,377,665.953452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/02/capslocker-2/ | Capslocker 2 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"april fools",
"caps",
"capslocker",
"joke",
"laser",
"prank"
] | Almost exactly a year ago, we posted the
random USB capslocker
. [Garrett] has revisited the idea to build a smaller, neater version. He has
posted the build process
to give us an idea how he goes about building things. The overall build is quite nice, but part if its neatness can be attributed to the fact that he had access to an Epilog laser cutter. If you think you might be using one in the near future, this is a great writeup for you.
[via the
Hack a Day flickr pool
] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "68969",
"author": "Wwhat",
"timestamp": "2009-04-02T18:41:52",
"content": "This might be a time to once again point out that a webmaster can supply alternative page styles that then become selectable in browsers like firefox by selecting them in the menu view->page style, and thus y... | 1,760,377,665.723753 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/06/toddler-computer-remote/ | Toddler Computer Remote | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"children",
"controls",
"kids",
"remote",
"toddler",
"video",
"vlc"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACbLjz-c4LE]
[Killerdark] has built a
simple remote for his toddler to control videos
on a PC. He gutted a USB number pad, built a new enclosure with the necessary buttons clearly labeled, and mapped the buttons in software. He could have possibly done better with larger color coded buttons, but really, it seems to work well as is. This reminds us of the
giant iPod remote
from back in 2006. Good job [Killerdark] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "69440",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-04-06T18:37:32",
"content": "Woa. I think I would have gutted a wireless device. That kids looks like he’s 30 seconds away from putting an htpc off its shelf.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,377,666.200404 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/06/dekatron-kitchen-timer/ | Dekatron Kitchen Timer | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"dekatron",
"egg",
"kitchen",
"nixie",
"steam punk",
"timer",
"tube",
"wood"
] | [Eschlaep] put together this
beautiful kitchen timer
using a
dekatron
.
We
see
all
kinds
of
tube
projects
, but dekatron projects are fairly rare. The over all aesthetic is quite nice, though we’d be tempted to find a way to protect that high voltage circuit.
[via the
Hack a Day flickr pool
] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "69441",
"author": "twistedsymphony",
"timestamp": "2009-04-06T19:00:02",
"content": "I’d never heard of a dekatron before, but it looks pretty damn cool. I’m surprised more people don’t use them to count the seconds on a nixie clock",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,377,665.880927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/06/bots-4-tots-charity-launched/ | Bots 4 Tots Charity Launched | Nick Caiello | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"bots 4 tots",
"donations",
"jungle robot",
"robot projects",
"robotics",
"robots for kids"
] | If you feel the same way that we do about robotics, you probably wish that you had more experience with them when you were a kid. [Don] felt that way too, and he decided to do something about it. So [Don] and his partner started the Chicago based organization
Bots 4 Tots
, with the mission of introducing inner city kids to robotics. [Don] told us that his organization plans on starting the kids with snap together projects like OWI’s
Jungle Robot
. After a few snap together projects, they plan to introduce the kids to soldering and hope to eventually move on to a larger collaborative project that all the kids can work on. Of course, doing all of these things requires money. Thats where we, as the DIY community, come in. So feel free to hit up the Bots 4 Tots site and
make a donation
to support their worthwhile cause, we know we will. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "69430",
"author": "polerin",
"timestamp": "2009-04-06T16:43:21",
"content": "This is an awesome idea. I helped my dad with a TKD class at a local middle school, and it was some of the best times I ever had :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,665.7733 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/05/simple-elegant-lemon-battery/ | Simple, Elegant, Lemon Battery | Caleb Kraft | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"epilog",
"flower",
"led",
"lemon juice",
"light"
] | [Madaeon] pointed us toward
this entry
for the
Instructables Epilog challenge
. While this may not be extremely complex, or have as many wires as our typical post, it is a fantastic example of thinking outside the box. How many lemon batteries have we seen? A lot. This one stands out as being more elegantly displayed and functional at the same time. In its final form, you sprinkle lemon juice on it’s petals and it lights up. If you ever find yourself in the position of teaching someone about electronics, remember this project. Sometimes aesthetics can make a dull simple project take on a life of its own. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "69346",
"author": "sandyloam",
"timestamp": "2009-04-05T19:56:35",
"content": "cool. a way to extract some beauty from acid rain?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "69348",
"author": "Hunnter",
"timestamp": "2009-04-05T20:... | 1,760,377,666.320491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/05/speech-controlled-garbage-can/ | Speech Controlled Garbage Can | Jason Rollette | [
"home hacks",
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"pic",
"Speech controlled garbage can",
"voice control"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–BIlxKVCYk]
This
speech controlled garbage can
was sent in via the
tip line
by [Amnon]. The garbage can will come to you following a black line and stopping when it sees a cross in the line, then waits for another voice command. It can then return to where it belongs or go outside following the line. The system is based on a microchip PIC 18F4431 and uses three 18 volts cordless drill motors and their batteries as the power source. “In the near future the line sensors will be replaced with UV line sensors and the black line will be replaced with clear UV color.”
When you call the system “Pach Zevel ” (garbage can in Hebrew) the system go to standby and the LED’s light up. After the previous stage if you say “ELAY” (to me in Hebrew) it will drive on the black line till the first crossing.
This adds new meaning to taking the trash out. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "69344",
"author": "Vjekoart",
"timestamp": "2009-04-05T19:33:50",
"content": "Lol, this can be very useful. And its funny to call your garbage can around the house :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "69369",
"author": "BRANKK... | 1,760,377,666.045476 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/05/s-video-from-an-atari-2600/ | S-video From An Atari 2600 | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"2600",
"atari",
"ben heck",
"classic",
"composite",
"s-video"
] | [Ben Heck] posted this writeup about
getting S-Video/composite out of an Atari 2600
. This is actually the hack of [Longhorn Engineer], who showed it to [Ben] at a recent event. If any of you have tried to play these classics on a modern TV you may have found it to be quite difficult. If you manage to get it physically connected, through adapters and such, you may still have video issues. This alleviates that issue completely. After you solder this in, your Atari has native composite/S-video. As you can see in the video after the break, it seems to work pretty well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcYMbcHG06A] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "69340",
"author": "ehrichweiss",
"timestamp": "2009-04-05T18:46:51",
"content": "VERY nice. Makes me wish I hadn’t sold my 2600 now BUT I gotta wonder if we can use this with other game systems as well like NES, etc. or even older computers like the TI-99/4a, Coco and such.",
"p... | 1,760,377,666.001956 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/05/wiimote-controlled-hexapods/ | Wiimote Controlled Hexapods | Caleb Kraft | [
"Nintendo Wii Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"basic",
"hexapod",
"phoenix",
"ps2",
"robot",
"wiimote"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBj7koZ9lk]
The
Phoenix
is a very impressive hexapod robot platform. It has 18 servos which gives each leg 3 degrees of freedom and a BasicAtom Pro 28 for the brains. Interestingly, the design started as a personal project of a forum member on the Lynxmotion forums. It turned out so well, it has become an actual product. We’ve seen videos of these before and they always have some pretty fluid and organic seeming motion. They seem almost alive in this configuration. The only thing that might make them scarier would be to add
Lou Vega’s decapitated head
, well maybe that plus some
really nice face tracking
. In the video above, you can see where someone
paired one up with a Wiimote
for a pretty intuitive control scheme. Yeah, we realize the video is nearly a year old, how did we miss this one? You can see a video of it walking around after the break, and another controlled by a ps2 controller.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ro_1-6ADQM]
The following one seems a bit quicker on it’s feet.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcsRiO4buOE] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "69333",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2009-04-05T16:46:20",
"content": "That is creepy. By far, the most realistic/fluid arachnoid/crab movement I’ve yet seen in a robot.I’d swear that thing was alive, if I couldn’t see the wires & servos. That is really extremely impressive movem... | 1,760,377,666.748006 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/02/mac-lcd-logo-tutorial/ | Mac LCD Logo Tutorial | Caleb Kraft | [
"laptops hacks",
"Mac Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"lcd",
"logo",
"mac"
] | [Eddie], who made the
Mac Logo LCD Mod
, had posted a
step by step tutorial on how to do it yourself
. He basically just fully disassembled his MacBook, popped out the logo, put one from an iBook or Powerbook, then mounted a small LCD back there and routed it into a USB port internally. He says the extra electronics cause a tiny bulge in the monitor casing. We wonder if this couldn’t lead to stress damage on the main LCD in the long run.
[thanks Koray] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "68972",
"author": "flaunt_dzx",
"timestamp": "2009-04-02T19:01:38",
"content": "What happens when pressure is put on the outside cover of the laptop? Normally there is a small space between the lcd and the case, as designed, to prevent damage.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,377,666.594967 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/01/eyetoy-kaneye-tracking-system-preview/ | KanEye Tracking System Preview | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"eye tracking",
"eyetoy",
"grafitti",
"grl",
"kaneye"
] | [vimeo=3952932]
[Tempt One] is a graffiti artist who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. He can no longer physically produce art, since his disease has taken his ability to control his arms. His friends, won’t let that be the end of it though. They’re
building a visual tracking system
to let him
work by moving his eye
. It seems like it would be very difficult to get any kind of a smooth curve out of eye movement, but the short demonstration video, which you can see after the break, does a decent job, at least for something this early in development. The source code isn’t released yet, but they do plan to do so. If you wanted to make your own, you could
find some info in a past post of ours
. We’re guessing they intend to use it with something along the lines of the
laser tagging system
.
[vimeo=3928435] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "68862",
"author": "Edward@Nardella.ca",
"timestamp": "2009-04-01T21:53:58",
"content": "YEAH thats amazing. I can’t articulate how awesome this is.What a gift. Why did no one try this before??? I bet Steven Hawking could improve his WPM output with something like this. Using somethi... | 1,760,377,666.854596 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/01/how-to-fix-your-stupid-internet/ | How-to: Fix Your Stupid Internet | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"how-to",
"News"
] | [
"april fools",
"humor",
"lolinternet",
"omgponies"
] | Dear Hack a Day,
Websites keep publishing poorly executed jokes today; how can I fix this?
We’ve been getting a lot of questions on the
tip line
like the one above, so we put together this one-step illustrated how-to. If you’re not the physical labor type, you can use [Steve Lambert]’s
SelfControl
.
[Related:
Hack a Day goes autonomous
,
Craft a Day
] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "68848",
"author": "Moat",
"timestamp": "2009-04-01T19:50:36",
"content": "Worked great! Wait.. how am I posting this?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68849",
"author": "Drumm'age",
"timestamp": "2009-04-01T19:54:04",
... | 1,760,377,666.706806 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/04/01/hacking-at-random-2009-ticket-sale-extended/ | Hacking At Random 2009 Ticket Sale Extended | Eliot | [
"cons",
"News"
] | [
"camp",
"cccamp",
"computer camp",
"conference",
"hacker conference",
"hackercon",
"hacking at random",
"har",
"har2009",
"Netherlands",
"tickets"
] | The massive hacker camp
Hacking at Random 2009
has
extended their early bird ticket sales until April 14th
. At EUR150, they’ve already managed to sell 1000 tickets. Every two years the european hacker community gathers together to hold a multiday camp that covers topics from hacking to art and politics. 2007’s
CCCamp
was largely the inspiration for this year’s
ToorCamp
. HAR2009 is looking for people to submit presentations, workshops, and lectures as well. They’re looking for entries that are very technology focused. The call for papers deadline is May 1st. The team is hosting a field day April 18th to tour the grounds with the various hacker villages that will be setting up. The main even is August 13-16 near Vierhouten, Netherlands. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "88126",
"author": "xSmurf",
"timestamp": "2009-08-20T12:13:45",
"content": "Ah yes I saw it at the eventphone booth, it was really nice! Didn’t get try it though as my stupid VTech DECT phone refused to ppair up with the network :/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,666.545199 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/31/axis-49-teardown/ | AXiS-49 Teardown | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"c-thru",
"dspic33f",
"harmonic",
"harmonic table keyboard",
"ken rushton",
"matrixsynth",
"microcontroller",
"midi",
"monome",
"pic",
"pic18f",
"pic18f2450",
"teardown",
"usb"
] | We touched on harmonic table MIDI controllers when [aris]
was building one
. [Ken Rushton] has one of C-Thru’s commercial keypads, the
AXiS-49
, and
disassembled the device to show how it works
. A
PIC18F2450
microcontroller provides the USB interface and is connected to a
dsPIC33FJ128GP310
digital signal controller which decodes the keypresses. The membrane buttons are made with two concentric graphite disks that touch gold contacts. The microcontroller measures the time between the two points contacting to determine the button velocity.
monome button clones
also use circular contact pads, but cannot calculate velocity because they only have one element.
[via
Matrixsynth
] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "68771",
"author": "Arthur",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T23:18:40",
"content": "Hey, not to be nitpicky, but one of the things that has bugged me about hack a day latley is the sheer amount of links in a article summary.I ended up clicking on “Was building one”, “monome button clones” a... | 1,760,377,666.640786 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/31/the-dream-tablet/ | The Dream Tablet | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"dreamcast",
"tablet"
] | [Matthew] has completed this
Dreamcast tablet modification
. That’s right, you’re looking at a Dreamcast laid out in tablet format. We’re not really sure what advantages the tablet layout has, since it’s not touch screen and you probably need to put it down to play anyway. The
laptop
or clam shell might have been a smart choice simply for screen protection. Putting that aside, this is really cool. He had to do some extensive re working of the motherboard in the Dreamcast to get it to fit. Interestingly, he hacked together a custom disk drive for it too. You can see detailed pictures of the entire process, including the construction of the case, on his site. Great job [Matthew].
[Thanks John, via
Fusion Mods
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "68735",
"author": "Tommy",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T19:12:27",
"content": "Not a ha… oh, wait…Frick’n Sweet",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68740",
"author": "Raged",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T19:37:34",
"content": "v... | 1,760,377,666.800092 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/31/through-hole-bus-pirate-kit-from-fundamental-logic/ | Through-hole Bus Pirate Kit From Fundamental Logic | Ian | [
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bootloader",
"bus pirate",
"electronics",
"ftdi",
"fundamental logic",
"kit",
"through hole",
"usb"
] | Fundamental Logic is selling a
Bus Pirate kit
and
bare PCB
based on our universal serial interface tool. They started with our serial port-based
v1a hardware
, and modified it to use all through-hole parts. 8pin DIP
LP2951ACN
/
-3.3
switchable voltage regulators replace the surface mount
TPS79650
/
33
that we used. The PIC is pre-programmed with our latest
firmware
, version 0f, which includes a bootloader for easy firmware updates through the serial port. Documentation includes illustrated
assembly instructions
.
Speaking of Bus Pirate goodness, we’re busy working on
hardware V2
. As astute readers may have
already noticed
, the final version of the Bus Pirate incorporates an FTDI USB->serial chip, and draws its power from the USB port. We also tackled the software-controlled pull-up resistor feature, and reduced the overall part count and cost. Best of all, we’re working to make assembled PCBs available with world-wide shipping. The how-to should be ready in a few weeks. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "68734",
"author": "Polaczek",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T19:09:00",
"content": "I’ve become really interested in making v1, but really thought that USB would kick major ass and would let faster communication. When do you guys think you’ll be releasing v2?",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,667.050992 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/28/the-narcisystem/ | The Narcisystem | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"biometric",
"iphone"
] | The Narcisystem is part of an art display where
[Eric] strapped himself to as many biometric sensors as he could
. The core of the system was a
Funnel IO
which includes an Arduino, Xbee plug, and LiPo charging circuit. It was collecting data from a heart rate monitor, an EEG, a
breathalyzer
, compass, and an accelerometer. This data was sent to a
laptop
and then sent to different displays. You can see the setup functioning in a video after the break. The red flashes are his heart beat, the blue light is the direction he’s facing. What you can’t see is the high power bass thud every time he takes a step. The EEG data was supposed to effect the tempo of the music, but it failed and was dropped, as was the fog machine based on his blood alcohol level. He notes that he
wanted to do more, but was lacking the hardware
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PCupxrO1uw] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "68365",
"author": "Louis II",
"timestamp": "2009-03-28T21:29:04",
"content": "That is pretty sweet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68366",
"author": "eric",
"timestamp": "2009-03-28T21:31:22",
"content": "“Failed” i... | 1,760,377,666.985299 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/27/macro-photography-with-chdk/ | Macro Photography With CHDK | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"chdk",
"macro photography"
] | [Tim] photographs insects for bugguide.net. As you can imagine, macro photography is a must. He was very frustrated with his camera’s stock ability to capture the insects. You can see in the example on his site that the image is blurry and has some color issues. He did some research and
hacked together a method of getting fantastic macro images for relatively cheap
. He used the
reversed lens method
to get his macro lens set up. He then modded his camera with
CHDK
for more control. He found that his focal distance was too small to get the entire bug in focus, so he took 15 images at different distances and combined them to make the final image. We’re curious how the
pringles can macro lens
would compare to this. Thanks for the submission [sp’ange]. Lets see some more
tips
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "68245",
"author": "BigD145",
"timestamp": "2009-03-27T19:44:51",
"content": "I have a couple SLR lenses laying around and really need to do this. The biggest hurdle is the lens adapter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68251",
... | 1,760,377,666.926354 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/26/distance-detecting-pc/ | Distance Detecting Pc | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"distance",
"sonar"
] | Reader [Joshua] sent in his latest project. using a sonar rangefinder, an Arduino, and some clever programming,
he’s made is computer react to his distance from it
. As you can see in the video after the jump, he has programmed it to change text size and background color depending on his distance from the screen. While he admits that his implementation doesn’t seem immediately useful, there’s lots of potential there. We can actually think of several uses. What would you use it for? | 55 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "68087",
"author": "William Deacon",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T21:15:56",
"content": "How about just simple everyday uses? Automatically turning off the screen saver when you sit down and reach for the keyboard? Or shuts off the screen when you walk away? It would seem to me the be... | 1,760,377,667.209775 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/26/banjo-hero/ | Banjo Hero | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"banjo",
"guitar hero",
"rock band",
"xbox"
] | We’ve
posted a plethora
of Guitar Hero style hardware hacks, but this one is completely different than the others. Behold, the
Banjo hero
. This unique controller was constructed from an old banjo and a guitar hero controller. Custom software was then built with custom songs for game play. We really wish we could see it in action. There are a couple videos available for download, but they are just pictures of the build process.
[via
Boing Boing
] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "68072",
"author": "fenwick",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T20:37:56",
"content": "That’s pretty cool. How do the gameplay mechanics work, just push the buttons instead of the frets?That’s actually a Rock Band controller, not a Guitar Hero controller.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,377,667.468057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/26/arduino-mega-is-official/ | Arduino MEGA Is Official | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino mega",
"spikenzie"
] | The
Arduino MEGA is official
and even more expansive than we
originally thought
. It has 54 digital i/o pins. 14 of those can be PWM outputs. Along with 16 analog inputs and 4 UARTs. It is even compatable with most shields for the Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimila. | 68 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "68023",
"author": "stealthmonkey",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T18:06:08",
"content": "yeaaah… alright… it’s _computable_ (nooooo… not compatible, but _computable_ with the shields) xD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68024",
"a... | 1,760,377,667.317294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/26/tweet-a-watt-kits/ | Tweet-a-Watt Kits | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adafruit",
"killawatt",
"ladyada",
"power meter",
"tweet a watt",
"twitter",
"wattcher"
] | [adafruit] wrote in to let us know that the
Tweet-a-Watt is now available in kit form
. While the
plans have been available
for a while, a kit is a welcomed addition. The kit doesn’t include the Kill-a-Watt monitor, but rather the XBee adapters and parts necessary to make it talk to your Arduino or computer. The kit is $90, while the Kill-a-Watt can be found for roughly $20. | 41 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "68021",
"author": "Ninja",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T17:42:48",
"content": "WTF is the point of this crap…?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68022",
"author": "will d.",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T17:57:38",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,667.609541 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/25/opensource-robotic-arm/ | Opensource Robotic Arm | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"oomlout",
"robot",
"thingiverse"
] | [oomlout] has released this
Opensource robotic arm
. It is 5 axis, using cheap hobby servos. The total cost, including
having it cut at thingaiverse.com
is roughly $150. The plans include all the pieces, down to the servo controller. This means that you’ll have to supply your own microcontroller and programming. They do state “We can guarantee it is loads of fun to play with, and we think potentially very useful for more serious pursuits.” and we would like to test that guarantee. We’ve been keeping an eye out for this ever since the
servo switch assemblies
.
[via
Hack a Day flickr pool
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "67922",
"author": "transhuman",
"timestamp": "2009-03-26T00:01:45",
"content": "this is quite simply: awesome.keep up the good work oomlout",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67928",
"author": "cyrozap",
"timestamp": "2009-... | 1,760,377,667.522846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/30/containing-conficker/ | Containing Conficker | Eliot | [
"downloads hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"conficker",
"Dan Kaminsky",
"honeynet project",
"network scanner",
"nmap",
"patch",
"rich mogull",
"scan",
"security",
"svn",
"whitepaper",
"windows",
"worm"
] | With
all the noise
about
Conficker
turning your computer into liquid hot magma on April 1st, there’s actually some positive news. Researchers from the
HoneyNet Project
have been following the worm since infections started in late 2008. They recently discovered an easy way to identify infected systems remotely. Conficker attempts to patch the MS08-067 vulnerability during infection. A flaw in the patch causes the machine to respond differently than both an unpatched system and an officially patched system. Using this knowledge, the team developed a proof of concept network scanner in python to find infected machines. You can find it in
[Rich Mogull]’s initial post
. [Dan Kaminisky] has
packaged it as an EXE
and has instructions for how to build the SVN version of
Nmap
, which includes the new signature. Other network scanner vendors are adding the code as well.
In conjunction with this detection code, the team has also released the whitepaper
Know Your Enemy: Containing Conficker
. It discusses ways to detect, contain, and remove Conficker. They’ve combined this with a
tool release
that covers Conficker’s dynamic domain generation among other things. | 50 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "68636",
"author": "tony",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T00:52:27",
"content": "One word…Linux.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68637",
"author": "happypinguin",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T01:06:22",
"content": "@tony+1",
... | 1,760,377,667.723311 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/30/psp-as-a-status-monitor/ | PSP As A Status Monitor | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"PSP Hacks"
] | [
"lua",
"psp",
"python"
] | [Avi] sent in his
PSP as a status monitor hack
(zip). He’s using Lua on the PSP, so you have to install LuaPlayer. The computer side is written in python, so it should be cross platform.
Last time we saw a psp as an extra monitor
, it had more capabilities, but it was limited to Windows. You’ll find the Lua script as well as the python in the zip file. It’s a nice use for an extra psp. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "68598",
"author": "digidev",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T18:47:48",
"content": "nice, very usefull when you’re on the go!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68599",
"author": "felippe",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T18:57:49",
... | 1,760,377,667.783019 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/30/parts-programmable-gain-amplifier-mcp6s26/ | Parts: Programmable Gain Amplifier (MCP6S26) | Ian | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"bus pirate",
"interface",
"MCP6S26",
"parts",
"programmable gain amplifier",
"spi"
] | Microchip’s
MCP6S21/2/6/8
are programmable gain amplifiers that multiply an input voltage by a factor of 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, and 32. The MCP6S22/6/8 also have selectable input channels for working with different signal sources. The multiplication factor and input channel are configured through an
SPI
interface. This chip is useful for multiplying a small input signal, and selecting among several analog input sources. We demonstrate the six channel MCP6S26 below.
MCP6S26
programmable gain amplifier (
Mouser search
,
Octopart search
, $2.56)
Datasheet
(PDF).
We tested the chip in the circuit shown above with a 3.3volt power supply. A resistor voltage divider (R1-4) outputs a fraction of the supply on channels 0, 2, and 4. We used 5K resistors, but the value isn’t critical. The divider outputs 2.4volts on channel 0, 1.6volts on channel 2, and 0.8volts on channel 4.
Bus Pirate
DS1801 (pin #)
ADC
VOUT (1)
GND
VREF (8)
GND
VSS (9)
CS
CS (10)
MOSI
SI (11)
MISO
SO (12)
CLOCK
SCK (13)
+3.3V
VDD (13)
We used our
Bus Pirate universal serial interface
to demonstrate this chip, but the transaction sequence will be the same for any microcontroller implementation. We connected the Bus Pirate to the MCP6S26 as shown in the table above. We setup the Bus Pirate for raw3wire mode (M, 8) with normal outputs, and enabled the on-board power supply (capital ‘W’).
RAW3WIRE>[0b01000001 0] d
CS ENABLED
<–begin SPI transaction
WRITE: 0x41
<–change input channel command
WRITE: 0x00
<–change to channel 0
CS DISABLED
<–end SPI transaction
VOLTAGE PROBE: 2.4VOLTS
<–Vout voltage measurement
RAW3WIRE>
Writing 0b01000001 (0x41) followed by a channel number changes the active MCP6S26 input. ‘[‘ lowers the chip select line to start an SPI transaction. We send the change channel command (0x41) followed by 0 to select input 0. ‘]’ raises the chip select line to end the SPI transaction. ‘d’ takes a voltage measurement and shows that input 0 with 0 gain is 2.4volts.
We can’t amplify the input voltage beyond the power supply (2.4volts * 2 = 4.8, 4.8volts > 3.3volts), so we need to change to a lower channel to play with the gain features.
RAW3WIRE>[0b01000001 4] d
CS ENABLED
WRITE: 0x41
<–change input channel command
WRITE: 0x04
<–change to channel 4
CS DISABLED
VOLTAGE PROBE: 0.8VOLTS
<–Vout voltage measurement
RAW3WIRE>
A measurement on channel 4 shows an output of just 0.8volts, plenty of room to test the gain features of the chip.
RAW3WIRE>[0b01000000 0b00000001] d
CS ENABLED
WRITE: 0x40
<–change gain command
WRITE: 0x01
<–gain setting (x2)
CS DISABLED
VOLTAGE PROBE: 1.6VOLTS
<–Vout is now 0.8volts * 2
RAW3WIRE>
A two-byte sequence sets the amount of gain. The command 0b01000000 (0x40) addresses the gain register, the second byte sets the multiplication factor (0x01= gain of 2). Setting the gain to 2 multiplies the output voltage by 2, 0.8volts * 2 = 1.6volts.
RAW3WIRE>[0b01000000 0b00000010] d
CS ENABLED
WRITE: 0x40
<–change gain command
WRITE: 0x02
<–gain setting (x4)
CS DISABLED
VOLTAGE PROBE: 3.2VOLTS
<–Vout is now 0.8volts * 4
RAW3WIRE>
This time we set a gain of 4, 0.8volts * 4 = 3.2volts.
RAW3WIRE>[0b01000000 0b00000011] d
CS ENABLED
WRITE: 0x40
<–change gain command
WRITE: 0x03
<–gain setting (x5)
CS DISABLED
VOLTAGE PROBE: 3.3VOLTS
<–not enough headroom to reach 0.8volts * 5
RAW3WIRE>
The maximum output voltage is the chip’s power supply voltage. If we set the gain to 5, the output voltage can’t exceed the power supply of 3.3volts (0.8volts * 5 = 4volts, 4volts > 3.3volts).
RAW3WIRE>[0b00100000 0] d
CS ENABLED
WRITE: 0x20
<–sleep command
WRITE: 0x00
<–don’t care byte
CS DISABLED
VOLTAGE PROBE: 0.0VOLTS
<–output is disabled
RAW3WIRE>
The MCP6S26 has a power-saving sleep mode. Shutdown the chip with the command 0x20, followed by any byte value. Leave sleep by sending any valid command.
Like this post? Check out the
parts posts
you may have missed. Want to request a part post? Please leave your suggestions in the comments. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "68619",
"author": "Rolf Stenström",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T22:33:11",
"content": "As always, a great write-up. Keep ’em coming!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68629",
"author": "TC",
"timestamp": "2009-03-31T00:10:33"... | 1,760,377,667.838747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/30/arduino-wii-nunchuck-servos/ | Arduino + Wii Nunchuck + Servos | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"nunchuck",
"robot",
"webcam",
"wii"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phcsDNOglLI]
[Yezzer] has posted a video of a cool little project he’s working on. He has
interfaced the Arduino and the Wii Nunchuck
to control some servos. He mounted a standard
USB
webcam
on it for good measure. There isn’t a whole lot of information, but he does include a few links to code he modified for the project. The movement is quite natural looking and seems like it would be a cheap way to get some good animatronic controls started. This might actually be a great way to control a robot for the
Crabfu challenge
, if they ever have another one.
Update: As [dokument] points out in the comments below, it looks like we’ve seen a
set up that could be almost identical
in the past.
[via the
Hack a Day Flickr pool
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "68582",
"author": "Ninja",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T15:19:45",
"content": "Pretty sweet hack. Reminds me of something you’d strap to an RC car in order to spy on somebody/something.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68587",
"a... | 1,760,377,667.930994 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/29/toorcamp-call-for-papersparticipation/ | ToorCamp Call For Papers/participation | Eliot | [
"cons",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"call for papers",
"cfp",
"conference",
"hacker con",
"hacker conference",
"missile silo",
"toorcamp",
"toorcon",
"twitter"
] | We’ve been watching and waiting intently as
ToorCamp
comes together. It’s a four day hacker conference that will be held in a Washington state missile silo July 2nd-5th. While we’re excited about this debut event, its success depends entirely on those presenting. The
call for papers
is currently open and they’ve got a number of formats available: 20 and 50 minute talks and 1 and 2 day workshops. They’re also looking for people to
organize campsites
and are offering discounts for groups. We’re encouraging you to submit your talk since we’d love to see more hardware talks. You can follow
@ToorCamp announcements on Twitter
. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "68527",
"author": "Ninja",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T02:50:15",
"content": "First",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68544",
"author": "JoRo",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T06:20:04",
"content": "“@ToorCamp announcements on T... | 1,760,377,667.882003 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/29/automated-drum/ | Automated Drum | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"drum",
"guthman",
"hacked gadgets",
"madi",
"mallet automatic drumming instrument",
"mechatronics",
"snare drum",
"video",
"x prize",
"youtube"
] | A team of three PhD students constructed this ‘
multi-mallet automatic drumming instrument (Madi)
‘. Their
Expressive Machines Musical Instruments
site is dedicated to building instruments like this and they recently showed their work at the first annual
Guthman Musical Instrument Competition
. A ‘low-stakes X Prize’ for musical instruments. 25 applicants were chosen to show their unique musical instruments for $10K in prizes. We like the team’s Madi because it’s adapting a traditional instrument and then pushing it to the limit. It reminds us of the
Crazy J mechatronic guitar
from 2005. You can see a video of the Madi playing below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d03cdQvYDvk]
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "68509",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T00:23:49",
"content": "wow but can it play anything not annoying?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68517",
"author": "Bull J Moose",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T01:10:15",
... | 1,760,377,668.000995 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/29/vexduino/ | Vexduino | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"vexplorer"
] | [Jeremy] picked up a Vexplorer pretty cheap, and wanted to make it better. He decided that
Arduino controls would probably be a nice upgrade
. He patched into the controller and installed a nice looking plug to interface with the
Arduino
. He says the software was custom made as he couldn’t find suitable examples on the net. His software is available for download. We covered a
picaxe controlled one
in January, but it looks like that site is currently down. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "68520",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2009-03-30T01:18:41",
"content": "all i can say about this one is – great soldering station, cant solder for shit",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "68563",
"author": "2419tech.",
"ti... | 1,760,377,668.047797 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/25/photographing-leds/ | Photographing LEDs | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"photography"
] | Since we rely on you, our loyal readers, to supply the tasty projects that we thrive upon, we felt this writeup about
how to photograph LEDs
could be very useful. Photographing them can be quite difficult at times, they throw off the standard settings on your camera pretty easily. EMSL takes us through all the settings for best results. While you’re brushing up on your photography skills, you might want to consider making a
flash ring
, or
some
kind
of macro lens. Now go take some awesome pictures and
submit your projects
. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "67912",
"author": "Mephistopheles",
"timestamp": "2009-03-25T22:48:51",
"content": "Wow, they never even mention using a flash in their article.I find the best way to take photos of brightly lit things (such as LEDs) is to use a flash to light the rest of the shot…eg.http://www.flic... | 1,760,377,668.1049 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/25/google-summer-of-code-2009/ | Google Summer Of Code 2009 | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"google",
"nui group",
"summer of code",
"VideoLAN"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBRRR0BQyz0]
This year’s
Google summer of code
has been kicked off with a fairly substantial amount of participants. You can still submit an application until April 3rd, to join the roughly 2,500 “graduates”. For those who don’t know what it is, the Google summer of code pairs developing programmers with open source projects and funding. It’s a great program, resulting in advances in some programs that we follow. We’ve talked about several of the groups that will be participating this year, such as
the NUI group
, rockbox, openstreetmap, and
videoLan
. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "67834",
"author": "daryl",
"timestamp": "2009-03-25T21:23:19",
"content": "Caleb, for the last link for videolan, did you mean this link?http://hackaday.com/2008/09/16/vlc-media-player-092-released/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,668.54296 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/25/bounty-on-bus-pirate-features-get-a-free-v2-pcb/ | Bounty On Bus Pirate Features, Get A Free V2 PCB | Ian | [
"contests",
"hardware",
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bootloader",
"bounty",
"BSD",
"bus pirate",
"code contributions",
"free PCB",
"open source",
"pcb",
"pic",
"pic24f"
] | We’re putting a bounty on two high-priority
Bus Pirate
features. You can get a free PCB for the upcoming Bus Pirate V2 by writing a bit of code. Hack a Day has a varied and talented group of readers, and we know someone out there has the experience to make these changes with minimal difficulty.
The latest code integrates the PIC24F bootloader for easy updates without a programmer. We’d like to add a protocol snooper, but that requires interrupts. With the bootloader, however, interrupts are relocated and we’ve yet to fully grasp how that works. We’ll send a PCB and PIC 24F to the first person who modifies the code to demonstrate UART, SPI, or change notification interrupts with the boot loader. Microchip’s 24F bootloader app note is available
here
.
Complete
.
The current frequency measurement feature is a hack that uses a counter and a timer. Be the first to implement the input capture peripheral instead, and get a free PCB. See the function
bpFreq(void)
in
base.c
.
Complete.
The latest Bus Pirate code and compiled firmware can be checked-out from
Google Code SVN
. Submit your code via the comments below or
buspirate@hackaday.com
.
UPDATE: Both issues were resolved. Thanks for your suggestions. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "67814",
"author": "cail",
"timestamp": "2009-03-25T19:31:29",
"content": "Are you willing to sell some of those spare boards? I’d love to buy just one at a price that costs me less than having to setup and fab a whole panel through any other PCB house.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,668.442348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/24/serial-to-usb-cable-for-the-g1/ | Serial To USB Cable For The G1 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"g1 hacks"
] | [
"android",
"G1",
"t-mobile",
"t-mobile g1"
] | For those wanting to do some hacking or kernel debugging on their G1, [macpoddotnet] shows how to make a
serial to USB cable
. He gathered enough information on the
Android platform google group
to be able to piece something together. He’s using a USB 2.8V serial TTL level converter, and lists several available that should work. Looks like a pretty easy build. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "67683",
"author": "Joe Franklin",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T20:35:53",
"content": "I think he meant 3.3v TTL to serial to USB.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67685",
"author": "...",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T21:02:12",
... | 1,760,377,668.362377 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/24/nickel-o-matic/ | Nickel-O-Matic | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"basic",
"coin",
"parallax",
"robot"
] | [Mike] sent in this project. It’s a robot, designed to print on wooden coins while people watch. It was built to be in the iHobby Expo 08 in Chicago. The main movement is controlled by a BASIC Stamp2, while the ink jet system is run off of a Propeller. The entire system has 4 servos, 3 stepper motors, a DC motor, a hacked breast pump, an ink jet head, and 5 IR sensors. in case you missed that, it has a breast pump. We’re assuming that’s the part that picks up the wooden nickels with suction. He states that the project was meant to be entertaining, so there are lots of superfluous and inefficient actions as you can see in the video after the break. Great job [Mike].
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F_ifyc5cVc] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "67672",
"author": "djlspider",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T19:47:53",
"content": "where’s the video?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67673",
"author": "djlspider",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T19:48:38",
"content": "THERE I... | 1,760,377,668.50241 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/24/external-keyboard-with-an-iphone/ | External Keyboard With An IPhone | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"infra red",
"iphone",
"keyboard"
] | Using an IR keyboard is now possible with a non jailbroken iPhone
. The folks at perceptive development have developed a custom interface that connects through the headphone jack. They had already developed the
serial modem
, so this was just another step at connecting peripherals. With some smart and small packaging, this could be a nice attachment to keep around. You can see a video of it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h2i2Idk7yw]
[via
Gizmodo
] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "67642",
"author": "Mike D",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T17:30:40",
"content": "Meh….isn’t this what netbooks are for? Seems a bit unnecessary.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67646",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-0... | 1,760,377,668.739731 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/23/autonomous-atv/ | Autonomous ATV | Adam Harris | [
"gps hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"atv",
"autonomous",
"camera",
"gps",
"lidar",
"path planning",
"radio controlled",
"rc",
"robot",
"video"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3ND8Pk_0M&hl=en&fs=1]
A team at UNC Charlotte has been
working on an autonomous vehicle
to drag a cart that has sensing equipment. Starting with a stock Honda ATV, different systems were added to give a
Renesas processor
control of the ATV. A model airplane receiver was attached to the Renesas to give remote control for Phase 1 of the project. Basically they’ve turned the ATV into a giant remote controlled car.
Later revisions will incorporate LIDAR, cameras, and multiple GPS units so the ATV can autonomously traverse most terrain with a high level of accuracy. Path planning will become a large part of the project at that point.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql91f_JgjDs&hl=en&fs=1] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "67545",
"author": "gazorp",
"timestamp": "2009-03-24T00:52:31",
"content": "(say it with me) REMOTE CONTROL != AUTONOMOUSI realize they have plans to get there, but at this point it is a big RC toy.Best of luck guys and CAN i have a RIDE?!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,669.070514 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/23/hacked-instruments-compete/ | Hacked Instruments Compete | Caleb Kraft | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | The
first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition
proved to be a very interesting place to be as hacked musical instruments competed for $10,000 in prizes. 60 people applied and 25 were chosen to show off their hacked together, strange, and whimsical instruments. There were all kinds of creations, from keyboard controlled motor cycle engines to tongue controlled synthesizers. We can’t imagine trying to pick some kind of a winner from the bunch this diverse. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "67505",
"author": "n00bert",
"timestamp": "2009-03-23T20:43:23",
"content": "First!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67507",
"author": "ho0d0o",
"timestamp": "2009-03-23T20:55:38",
"content": "Why write that? I like... | 1,760,377,668.790018 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/23/bios-level-malware/ | Bios Level Malware | Caleb Kraft | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"bios",
"malware",
"virus"
] | “Reformat it”. That’s pretty much our default answer when someone calls us complaining of malware and viruses. Though many can be removed, it can sometimes be quicker and less frustrating just to reformat it. Some of us even have specific ways that we organize all of our files just to make the quarterly reformat go smoother. Unfortunately, reformatting may no longer be the absolute cure.
Researchers have developed a piece of malware that infects the BIOS
. It is un affected by reformating or flashing. This means that it is also OS independent. They tested it on Windows and OpenBSD as well as a machine running VMware Player. This is a grim sign for the future.
[via
ZDNet.com
] | 83 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "67466",
"author": "Emerica",
"timestamp": "2009-03-23T18:15:11",
"content": "Domain is dead here. 403",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67467",
"author": "Sam Switzer",
"timestamp": "2009-03-23T18:17:58",
"content": "s... | 1,760,377,668.888697 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/22/brew-fridge-thermostat/ | Brew Fridge Thermostat | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"ATtiny25",
"AVR",
"beer",
"beer fridge",
"fridge",
"homebrew",
"microbrew",
"refridgerator",
"relay",
"sparkfun",
"thermistor",
"thermostat"
] | Reader [Will R] sent in a
thermostat mod for his brew fridge
. His friends had found a perfectly fine bar refrigerator and wanted to repurpose it for brewing beer. A previous batch of microbrew had been mangled by the Australian heat so they wanted something that could maintain the perfect temperature. The fridge’s built-in thermostat wouldn’t rise above 5 degrees so they had to build their own. [Will] used a 10K NTC thermistor to measure the temperature. It’s connected to an ATtiny25 microcontroller that does the comparison and determines whether to turn on the compressor. He referenced SparkFun’s
relay tutorial
for the switching side. Although he didn’t etch a board for this project, the design file is included along with all the code on the project site. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "67350",
"author": "Mephistopheles",
"timestamp": "2009-03-22T23:12:43",
"content": "Why use an op-amp when a microprocessor will do, huh… ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67351",
"author": "cynic",
"timestamp": "2009-0... | 1,760,377,668.964128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/22/snes-toaster/ | SNES Toaster | Eliot | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"nes",
"netbsd",
"nintendo",
"nintoaster",
"snes",
"super nintendo",
"super nintoaster",
"toaster",
"youtube"
] | From the same person who brought you the
NES toaster
comes the
Super Nintoaster
. It looks like the most difficult part of the construction was extending the cartridge connector. The slider button works as the power button. The toast control now changes the brightness of the glowing red LEDs. Video introduction embedded below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fsbYJNMf-Q]
Related:
2005’s NetBSD Toaster | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "67339",
"author": "Louis II",
"timestamp": "2009-03-22T22:19:56",
"content": "Haha; good mod and a great video.“when are you going to start?”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67340",
"author": "n00b",
"timestamp": "2009-0... | 1,760,377,669.018138 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/22/roomba-baby-cradle/ | Roomba Baby Cradle | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cradle",
"crib",
"roomba"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PllYYGakjEU]
The creator of the
pac man modded roomba
is at it again. This time, [Ron Tajima] is going in a completely different direction. He has made a
baby cradle attachment for his roomba
. We don’t know what safety concerns there might be, but the baby seems OK with, so far. We’ve seen
robot baby cribs before
, but they cost much much more and don’t clean your house. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "67327",
"author": "BigD145",
"timestamp": "2009-03-22T20:18:22",
"content": "Roomba movements are so unnatural, I can easily see this kid having some problems later in life.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67331",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,669.123188 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/21/daft-punk-costumes/ | Daft Punk Costumes | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"costume",
"daft punk",
"el wire",
"led"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHrWllxRLgQ]
[derektroywest] has posted a detailed
step by step breakdown of making a Daft Punk costume
. They’ve done a great job, the overall look is very convincing. They include links to where to get each part as well as information on how they pulled it off. The helmets were inspired by the
timelapse Daft Punk helmet build
. As you can see in the video, they don’t have the entire visor made into a display, but the effect is quite nice, especially because it is multi color. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "67254",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2009-03-21T22:43:05",
"content": "About as cool as the tron guy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67259",
"author": "chris",
"timestamp": "2009-03-21T23:38:03",
"content": ... | 1,760,377,669.182454 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/21/64pixels-are-enough/ | 64pixels Are Enough | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"alex",
"attiny2313",
"AVR",
"emsl",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"led",
"led matrix",
"microcontroller",
"video",
"vimeo"
] | [Alex] put together this
lovely minimal LED project
. The square pixel matrix is soldered directly to the microcontroller in the same style as
EMSL’s Micro-Readerboard
. During the prototyping phase he used resistors to limit the current from the programming board. The final product doesn’t use resistors and manages the current draw by only turning on a single pixel line at a time. The
illustrated assembly guide
is very thorough and should help your create an equally compact device. Check out a video of it in motion below.
[vimeo 3787969] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "67241",
"author": "arthur",
"timestamp": "2009-03-21T21:13:26",
"content": "err.. page not loading",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67246",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2009-03-21T22:07:33",
"content": "Argh, hope ... | 1,760,377,669.269912 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/20/sniffing-keystrokes-via-laser-power-lines/ | Sniffing Keystrokes Via Laser, Power Lines | Eliot | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"cansecwest",
"jeramy",
"keylogger",
"ps2",
"security",
"sniffing",
"tempest",
"usb"
] | Researchers from Inverse Path showed a couple interesting techniques for
sniffing keystrokes at CanSecWest
. For their first experiments they used a laser pointed at the shiny back of a laptop. The keystrokes would cause the laptop to vibrate which they could detect just like they would with any laser listening device. They’ve done it successfully from anywhere between 50 to 100 feet away. They used techniques similar to those in speech recognition to determine what sentences were being typed.
In a different attack, they sniffed characters from a PS/2 keyboard by monitoring the ground line in an outlet 50 feet away. They haven’t yet been able to collect more than just single strokes, but expect to get full words and sentences soon. This leakage via power line is discussed in the
1972 Tempest document
we posted about earlier. The team said it wasn’t possible with USB or laptop keyboards.
[Thanks Jeramy] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "67156",
"author": "amk",
"timestamp": "2009-03-21T01:55:08",
"content": "as an alternative to pointing a laser at the back of a laptop, I propose pointing a camera at the front.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67161",
"autho... | 1,760,377,669.34703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/20/airsoft-hacking/ | Airsoft Hacking | Caleb Kraft | [
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"airsoft",
"gun",
"ultra violet",
"uv"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnUufutxAzQ]
[Barrett] sent in this
hack he did to an airsoft pistol
. He was using “tracer rounds” or glowing airsoft pellets and found that there was no commercially available way of charging them up with uv light before they are shot. He cracked open his pistol, removed the safety mechanism, and placed a UV led in it’s place. Now, when he turns it on, it charges up the pellets so they’re nice and bright. If he’s playing airsoft at night, won’t that bright purple light give away his position? yeah, we know he was probably just using that pistol to show the mod off. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "67122",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2009-03-20T20:44:42",
"content": "uh…guys, that’s an ultraviolet LED, which is outside the spectrum of visible light for the human eye. The only reason you can see it in the video is because the CCD in the digital camera picks it up as being ... | 1,760,377,669.474033 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/20/making-a-rail-gun/ | Making A Rail Gun | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"capacitor",
"high voltage",
"rail gun"
] | [Rp181] has documented his entire
rail gun build
. He takes us through collecting the materials and assembling the system. It required 18 400V 3900uf capacitors to get the 5600 joules he wanted. It looks pretty impressive, though a video of it wreaking havoc on something might have been nice. We’ve seen rail guns before, from
tiny ones for a robosapien
to
larger projects
very similar to this one. In his instructable, he touts this as a “green” system. The capacitors are aluminum and no gun powder is required to move the projectile. Anyone want to do the math to figure out if it really is any better? Maybe if he’s collecting his energy via a giant solar panel.
[via
instructables
] | 17 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "67110",
"author": "Prospektor",
"timestamp": "2009-03-20T18:54:58",
"content": "Shots of it firing here:http://rp181.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_32_Shots",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "67115",
"author": "polymath",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,669.640418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/19/hackit-xbox-360-hardware-failures-on-the-rise/ | Hackit: Xbox 360 Hardware Failures On The Rise? | Eliot | [
"HackIt",
"News",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"bga",
"e74",
"HackIt",
"hdmi",
"joystiq",
"reflow",
"rrod",
"smd",
"solder",
"warranty",
"xbox",
"xbox 360",
"xenon"
] | Joystiq has been tracking the new starlet of
Xbox 360
failures:
the E74 error
. It appears as the lower right light on the console turning red and an on-screen message telling the user to contact support with the error E74. The number of reported E74 errors seems to have risen since August 2008 and people are wondering if the more recent increase in errors are related to the release of the New Xbox Experience (NXE) Dashboard update. Did Microsoft reclass Red Ring of Death (RROD) failures as E74 to avoid warranty replacements?
From day one, the Xbox 360 has been plagued by hardware failures. So many failures that Microsoft ended up pushing the 90 day warranty
up to a full year
. Less than a year later they acknowledge the systemic RROD problem and extended replacement for affected consoles
to three years
. The RROD is named because of the
three red lights
displayed when the console failed. The culprit appears to be poor cooling of the console’s components. Components like the GPU would
overheat causing solder joints to fail
. People were able to repair their own consoles by
reflowing with a heatgun
. Microsoft has never officially disclosed why these systems fail. Our console
purchased on launch day
RROD’d, but [bunnie]’s
solder joint inspection
of it proved inconclusive. Every
Xbox
owner on Joystiq’s staff has had an RROD.
The E74 error is apparently not new. While Microsoft officially calls it a “
general hardware failure
“, users have been calling it a general video error since launch. It can occur when you have a bad video cable attached to the console. Users are
blaming the HANA video scaler chip
for the latest issues. There have been
five different motherboard versions
of the Xbox 360 so far. Each version upgraded the cooling and/or the size of the GPU and CPU. The HANA chip was introduced when the consoles started supporting HDMI. The original ANA video scaler on the Xenon board was a
quad-in-line style SMD package
with pins around the perimeter. The HANA chip on newer board designs is a ball grid array (BGA) package, which means it can fail the same way the GPU does for an RROD.
Did Microsoft change the error reporting on the Xbox 360 so they’d replace fewer consoles? No, we don’t think so. Is this a similar hardware failure? Most certainly. Unfortunately, E74 errors are only covered under a one year warranty instead of the RROD’s three year despite it being the same failure mode. Why are so many E74s happening now? There aren’t any hard numbers on how many failures there have been or how it compares to the RROD. We think that it’s just a result of more people having Xbox 360s with HDMI support now. A large portion of the Xenon 360s have been replaced with more reliable HDMI consoles, but that just means a larger install base of E74 prone consoles. More consoles means more possible failures.
Related:
Xbox 360 Hacks
,
Xbox Hacks | 51 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "66974",
"author": "alex dresko",
"timestamp": "2009-03-20T01:54:34",
"content": "My 360 had e74 three times BEFORE the new “experience”.. Fortunately, I purchased the three year warranty from Walmart and they’ve “fixed” it every time. so far, it hasn’t broken again. If it does, Wal... | 1,760,377,669.735088 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/19/status-icon-for-your-office/ | Status Icon For Your Office | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"display",
"oled"
] | [flickr video= 3187384682]
[Furan] wanted a way to let people know his status at the office. Maybe he didn’t want to be bothered, or wanted to let them know he was on break. His solution is to set up an
OLED display outside his office to display his status
. He’s using a 4d systems OLED display. He has a windows application that updates the status, with plans of making it synchronize with his messenger status. Its a fairly cool idea, but just watching the video, we have no idea what some of the icons are supposed to mean. We would possibly choose something a little more obvious and generic, like text stating our status. What would you use? | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "66946",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-03-20T00:05:04",
"content": "no, i like the icon idea. he could have made their meanings more obvious tho.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66947",
"author": "Boter2099",
"t... | 1,760,377,671.826744 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/19/solar-cells-from-donuts-and-tea/ | Solar Cells From Donuts And Tea | Caleb Kraft | [
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"donut",
"solar",
"tea",
"titanum"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVwzJEhMmD8]
It sounds unbelievable, but it is true. You can harvest most of what you need for a simple
solar cell from powdered donuts and tea
. Powdered donuts have nanoparticles of
titanium dioxide
which is a “high band gap semi conductor”. This means that it can be used to make solar cells. The tea is simply used to dye the material so it can pick up the visible spectrum. The process is a bit too involved to be something you would just toss together in the field, but it’s cute nonetheless. | 41 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "66903",
"author": "Arthur Hall",
"timestamp": "2009-03-19T19:59:24",
"content": "Hardly practical, but very educational!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66907",
"author": "tRANIS",
"timestamp": "2009-03-19T20:14:52",
... | 1,760,377,671.939827 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/19/usb-sniffing-in-linux/ | USB Sniffing In Linux | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"linux",
"sniffing",
"ubuntu",
"usb"
] | [Robert] sent in this tutorial on how to set up
USB sniffing in linux
. Useful for seeing exactly what is being communicated to and from your USB devices, this ability is built into linux. [Bert], the author, shows us the steps involved and how to filter it to get the data we desire. You can specify exactly which device to capture data from. His example, shown above, is a session with an Arduino. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "66881",
"author": "Robert Liesenfeld",
"timestamp": "2009-03-19T18:38:12",
"content": "Actually this is mis-attributed, it should be attributed to Bert Vermuelen, as he’s the one who actually put together the writeup!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,671.585794 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/18/wii-nunchuck-and-classic-usb-mod/ | Wii Nunchuck And Classic USB Mod | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"nintendo",
"ps3",
"usb",
"wii"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLWAWtpcelM]
[kero905] sent in this project he’s working on. It is an
open source hardware converter to connect Wii controllers via USB
. It uses an
Arduino
for its brains. It is still in development, the only controllers that work are the nunchuck and the classic. He notes that there are enough extra pins left to adapt to an arcade controller fairly easily. The code is available on the site, as well as a rough parts list. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "66809",
"author": "tikimexican",
"timestamp": "2009-03-19T00:06:57",
"content": "I suppose it’s interesting, but I don’t really think the wii controllers are very comfortable, or good looking.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "668... | 1,760,377,671.773782 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/18/hacking-the-magsafe/ | Hacking The MagSafe | Caleb Kraft | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"kensington",
"laptop",
"macbook",
"macintosh",
"magsafe",
"power supply"
] | This is a simple hack that could come in handy one day. [Mooner] wanted to use a Kensington universal power supply with his Macbook Pro, but found the adapters and peripherals involved “hideous”. His solution was to
wire directly to the Kensington power supply
. It’s pretty simple really, only a couple resistors are needed. It’s nice to have someone else do the research for you sometimes. While his final picture does look neat and tidy, we just don’t know how much of an improvement he’s made to the aesthetics. What do you think? | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "66788",
"author": "xero",
"timestamp": "2009-03-18T21:33:02",
"content": "got a link??",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66790",
"author": "Brad",
"timestamp": "2009-03-18T21:34:42",
"content": "doh:)",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,377,671.735693 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/18/gps-cradle-upgrade-to-bluetooth/ | GPS Cradle Upgrade To Bluetooth | Caleb Kraft | [
"gps hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bluesmirf",
"bluetooth",
"gps",
"ipaq",
"kirrio"
] | [emuboy] sent in this neat hack where he
converted a GPS dock to bluetooth
(
google translated
). He has an ipaq rz1710 and a Kirrio GPS cradle. Apparently there were annoying problems when inserting the ipaq into the cradle. He decided that he would much rather just connect via
Bluetooth
. After tearing apart the cradle, he found the documentation for the
GPS
chip online. He ordered a
bluesmirf bluetooth modem
and got to work. The end result is something that could be concealed in his car and just connected to when he gets close enough. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "66782",
"author": "pokey",
"timestamp": "2009-03-18T20:36:19",
"content": "Hey kids! Wanna get an article on Hack-A-Day? Glue a BlueSmirf to your async serial gadget! Hurry, you could be the first to bluetoothify your cable STB’s tuner port!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,377,671.870391 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/17/iphone-30-adds-custom-protocol-support-for-addons/ | IPhone 3.0 Adds Custom Protocol Support For Addons | Eliot | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"iphone hacks",
"Mac Hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"a2dp",
"apple",
"apple iphone",
"dock",
"dock connector",
"engadget",
"iphone",
"iphone 3.0",
"mms",
"multitouch",
"tuio"
] | In middle of all the
adding features that should have been available day-one
, Apple announced something really interesting for the hardware hacking community. The new
iPhone 3.0
OS will support application communication over bluetooth or through the dock connector using standard or custom protocols. From
Engadget’s coverage
:
10:19AM “They talk over the dock, and wirelessly over Bluetooth. Things like playing and pausing music, getting artwork — or you can build your own custom protocols.”
10:19AM “Now here’s a class that we think will be really interesting — medical devices.” Scott’s showing off a blood pressure reader that interfaces with the iPhone — wild.
10:18AM “Here’s an example — an FM transmitter. With 3.0, the dev can build a custom app that pairs up with it, and automatically finds the right station and tunes it in.”
10:18AM “With 3.0, we’re going to enable accessory developers to build custom apps that talk directly to that hardware.”
No solid connection specification has been published yet. We’re excited about the prospect of developing our own accessory hardware, but we wonder what sort of hoops you’ll have to jump through. Apple doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to approvals. Just this week they
denied MSA Remote client App Store entry
; it’s a multitouch client that uses the standard
TUIO protocol
. Prepare for similar roadblocks in the future.
[via
adafruit
] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "66656",
"author": "fyrebug",
"timestamp": "2009-03-17T20:22:47",
"content": "well, using the hacked sdk you can already use the dock connector for TX RX, but it’s nice to see it in the official app. also nice to see bluetooth in their being used for communication….",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,377,671.478012 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/17/amiga-joystick-camera-cable-release/ | Amiga Joystick Camera Cable Release | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [] | [betaj] shares this cool mod with us. They used an
Amiga joystick to create the shutter release
for their camera. The circuit is pretty simple, consisting of a battery and a switch. It interfaces with the camera via a USB type A connector. Its fairly simple, but will definitely get some comments from onlookers when it is used. Still, the best mod we’ve seen for a camera by far is the
chdk software
for Canon digital cameras. I’ll bet we see an NES controller version soon, despite the ergonomic nonsense of it. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "66655",
"author": "SleighBoy",
"timestamp": "2009-03-17T20:18:36",
"content": "I think a NES light gun would be even better, and probably attract more looks.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66659",
"author": "twiz",
"tim... | 1,760,377,671.32459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/17/megashield-for-arduino-mega/ | MEGAshield For Arduino MEGA | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino mega",
"shield"
] | The folks over at NKC electronics didn’t waste any time with this one. They sent in the
MEGA shield for the Arduino MEGA
. We just
posted the story of the Arduino MEGA yesterday
, so that was pretty fast. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "66677",
"author": "pragma",
"timestamp": "2009-03-17T22:59:53",
"content": "I wonder what the insertion force is for that many header pins. Looks like it would be tough to get off the motherboard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,671.52808 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/16/arduino-mega/ | Arduino MEGA | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino mega",
"atmega",
"atmega1280",
"AVR",
"emsl",
"etech",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"mega"
] | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
spotted one of the
first images of the Arduino MEGA
. The board is based on the
ATmega1280
microcontroller, which has 128KB of flash,
4KB of RAM
, and 4KB of EEPROM. We haven’t seen any official specs yet, but the silkscreen shows 12 PWM connections, 36 Digital I/O, and 16 analog inputs. The post mentions 4 hardware UARTs and an I2C bus as well. No release date yet, but we can assume it’s soon since the hardware was already demoed at ETech.
Related: We added an
Arduino
category. | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "66523",
"author": "incognito",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T23:54:54",
"content": "just one more reason to design one of those damn christmas light displays..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66532",
"author": "emperor",
"tim... | 1,760,377,671.673513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/adding-esata-to-an-acer-aspire-1/ | Adding ESATA To An Acer Aspire 1 | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"laptops hacks"
] | [
"acer",
"sata",
"tnkgrl"
] | In another installment of her ongoing efforts to mod the Acer Aspire 1, [tnkgrl] has
added eSATA capabilities
. During the
hard drive upgrade
she did, she used the spare PATA connection, leaving an SATA connection free. This time she has gone in and extended it to be accessible outside the case. To do that, she scavenged an eSATA connector from a desktop and simply wired it into the connections on the motherboard. She then mounted it flush as seen in the picture above. In the past she’s covered adding RAM,
internal Bluetooth
and the hard drive upgrade. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "65858",
"author": "cde",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T00:13:50",
"content": "Neat. This can be done on any computer with a free sata port, just drill the hole and add the cable.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65872",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,672.003603 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/building-the-shmooball-cannon/ | Building The Shmooball Cannon | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cannon",
"shmooball",
"shmoocon"
] | We’ve been
eagerly anticipating
this, [Larry] has published the
entire build of the Shmooball gun for 2009
. This design is more compact and elegant than the one for
2008
and has a slightly more Ghost Buster’s aesthetic about it. The pictures are great and there’s lots of good tips along the way. We can’t wait to see what they make next year. How about a
gattling
version? | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "65841",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2009-03-10T20:32:07",
"content": "See, now we just need one with a Portal aesthetic!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65847",
"author": "morcheeba",
"timestamp": "2009-03-10T21:53:4... | 1,760,377,672.16984 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/09/replacing-a-point-and-shoot-lens/ | Replacing A Point And Shoot Lens | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"cannon",
"canon",
"lens",
"point and shoot"
] | Cockeyed.com
is a peculiar site. It is spattered with links in an almost unintelligible manner, but if you dig hard enough, or just click randomly, you can find some pretty fun stuff. One nice writeup they’ve done is how to
replace the lens in their point and shoot camera
. This one happens to be a Canon Powershot sd750, but it will give you an idea about how difficult it can be for any point and shoot. The lens assembly couldn’t be replaced until almost every single piece had been disassembled. There are tons of pictures showing the process and the final result. Though the install was a success, his replacement lens was already beat up pretty bad. Looks like he’ll have to go through it all again.
[via
The Old New Thing
] | 19 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "65726",
"author": "Michael Witt",
"timestamp": "2009-03-09T22:33:12",
"content": "“Discard. No! Wait. Keep that.”Best quote from the article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65731",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2009-0... | 1,760,377,672.223017 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/09/24-solid-state-drives-in-raid/ | 24 Solid State Drives In Raid | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"samsung",
"solid state",
"ssd"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs]
In a time when marketing is all around us, companies often have to come up with new and creative ways to get us excited. Some go the viral route, others hire famous spokes people.
Samsung did well with this idea
. Let some computer geeks build something awesome and have fun with it. They chained 24 drives together to create a whopping 6Terrabyte array. They run various speed tests and even test the drive integrity by bouncing on a trampoline while dangling them from their chords. Yeah, they make the computer geeks a little geekier than they need to be, but who didn’t get excited to see those transfer speeds? | 63 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "65707",
"author": "Alex Towler",
"timestamp": "2009-03-09T20:35:56",
"content": "I love the soundtrack – Good fun video – and bloody hell. I thought my machine was fast but DAMN! Now how much would a build like that cost.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,672.432902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/09/parts-4x4-rgb-button-pad-controller-spi/ | Parts: 4×4 RGB Button Pad Controller SPI | Ian | [
"Parts",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"blinkenlights",
"bus pirate",
"button pad",
"buttons",
"leds",
"massive fail",
"monday parts",
"parts",
"RGB LED",
"sparkfun electronics",
"spi"
] | We covered SparkFun’s new
RGB button pad controller
a few weeks ago. This is a full-color clone of the
monome
interface; a 4×4 grid of buttons with tri-color LEDs underneath. Each LED has
24bits of color control
, for more than 16million color combinations. Up to 10 panels can be chained together to create huge button grids, like
SparkFun’s Tetris table
. We previously used a smaller version in our
RGB combination lock
.
We asked SparkFun to send us the SPI version of the button controller to test. This is a new product developed in-house at SparkFun, with open source hardware and software. Read about our experience interfacing this board below.
4×4 RGB button pad controller SPI (SparkFun #
WIG-09022
, $39.95)
The button pad controller is a bare PCB, we also received a button pad cover (SparkFun #
COM-07835
, $9.95), and two of each bezel (SparkFun #
COM-08747
, #
COM-08746
, $3.95). The SPI version we’re working with can be driven directly by a microcontroller, or by a USB ‘master’. The USB controller version has an additional microcontroller and FTDI USB->serial converter for PC connectivity.
When the button pad arrived, we immediately sat down with the datasheet and tried to interface the board with our
Bus Pirate universal serial interface
. The protocol described in version 1 of the datasheet didn’t work, at all.
SparkFun open sourced this project, so we determined the correct interface protocol from the source code for the
button pad SPI
(ZIP) and the
button pad USB controller
(ZIP). We figured out most of the protocol from the source, but it still took help from SparkFun’s engineers to uncover some of the undocumented, finer points of interfacing the board. Version 2 of the
datasheet
(PDF) accurately depicts the interface protocol.
Connections
Bus Pirate
Button pad
MISO
MISO
MOSI
MOSI
Clock
SCK
CS
CS
+5volts
VCC
GND
GND
The button pad’s SPI signals are described as they relate to the on-board microcontroller, which is opposite the usual notation. The MOSI (master out, slave in) signal is actually the board’s data output, and MISO (master in, slave out) is the data input.
We tested the button pad with the Bus Pirate, but the same basic principals apply to any custom microcontroller code. The board runs at 5volts, so we powered it from the Bus Pirate’s on-board 5volt power supply. The SPI interface operates at 5volt logic levels, so we connected the Bus Pirate’s
pull-up resistors
to the 5volt power supply and enabled them on all signal lines.
We interfaced the button board using the Bus Pirate’s raw3wire library. Raw3wire is a software SPI library with bit-wise operations. The hardware SPI library only allows full byte operations which aren’t granular enough to interface the board. We put the Bus Pirate in raw3wire mode (menu option M), and chose the HiZ pin option because the pull-up resistors will hold the bus at 5volts.
RAW3WIRE>l
<–configure bit order
1. MSB first
2. LSB first
MODE>2
<–least significant bit first
LSB SET: LEAST SIG BIT FIRST
RAW3WIRE>W
<–enable power supply
VOLTAGE SUPPLIES ON
RAW3WIRE>
The button pad communicates least significant bit first, so we also configured the library to communicate LSB first. Finally, we hit capital ‘W’ to enable the Bus Pirate’s power supplies. The button board will flash each color momentarily as part of its power-on self-test.
Single/multiple button board setup
Each board needs to be configured for single or multi-board use. Boards come pre-programmed for single-board operation, but it might be a good idea to set the configuration anyways. The board configuration is permanently stored in EEPROM, so it only has to be done once.
RAW3WIRE>[\_
<–take all signals low
CS ENABLED
<–CS enabled is 0volts
CLOCK, 0
DATA OUTPUT, 0
RAW3WIRE>
A special sequence places the board in configuration mode. Begin with all signal lines low (]\_).
RAW3WIRE>-^ 1 1
<–set single board operation
DATA OUTPUT, 1
<–data high
0x01 CLOCK TICKS
<–one clock tick
WRITE: 0x01
<–config option 1, number of boards
WRITE: 0x01
<–set the number of boards
RAW3WIRE>w
<–small ‘w’, power off
VOLTAGE SUPPLIES OFF
RAW3WIRE>W
<–capital ‘W’, power on
VOLTAGE SUPPLIES ON
RAW3WIRE>
To enter configuration mode, take the data line high (-) and send one clock pulse (^), but
leave chip select low
. The board is now ready to accept configuration settings.
The first byte sent after entering configuration mode tells the board which setting to modify. Currently, only the number of boards can be configured (0x01). Next, send the number of connected boards, between 1 and 10. we sent 1 because we’re interfacing a single board. Reset the board and it will light a LED corresponding to the programmed number of boards.
Set colors and read button status
Now we’re ready to send color data to the board and read the button status. First, note that the CS (chip select) signal is opposite normal conventions. Usually CS activates a chip when the signal is low (0volts), and idles it when the signal is high (5volts); this is usually denoted by /CS, #CS, or !CS. Instead, the button controller is active when CS is high.
A 64byte transaction sets the LED colors and retrieves the button status. The first 16bytes program the red level for each LED, followed by 16bytes of green, and 16bytes of blue. Finish by reading 16bytes from the board to get the status of each button. Buttons data is sent as 0x00 if pressed, and 0xff if not pressed. The datasheet recommends a 400us delay between writing the color frames and reading the button data, but the Bus Pirate is slow enough that we won’t worry about that.
The protocol is simple enough, but there’s one
major
catch. The clock line
must
be high before raising CS, or the bytestream will be off by 1 bit. For this reason, many hardware SPI modules won’t work with the board. This isn’t a problem if your microcontroller lets you twiddle pins that are controlled by a hardware module, but the micros we’ve worked with
don’t
allow this.
RAW3WIRE>/]255:16 255:16 255:16 r:16[
CLOCK, 1
<–clock
must
be high prior to raising CS
CS DISABLED
<–CS to 5volts, opposite normal use
BULK WRITE 0xFF , 0x10 TIMES
<–red LEDs
BULK WRITE 0xFF , 0x10 TIMES
<–green LEDs
BULK WRITE 0xFF , 0x10 TIMES
<–blue LEDs
BULK READ 0x10 BYTES:
<–read button state
0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF
CS ENABLED
<–CS to 0volts, opposite normal use
RAW3WIRE>
This command sets every color of each LED to full, and reads back the 16 button status bytes.
We first set clock high (/), and only then can we raise CS to 5volts (]) and begin the data transaction. 255:16 is a repeated command that sends the value 255 sixteen times. As each color channel has 8bits of intensity control, 255 is 100% on. We send 255 a total of 48 times, once for each color of each LED. Finally, we retrieve one 16byte frame of button data (r:16) and lower CS to end the transaction ([). The button values are all 0xff, indicating that no buttons are pressed.
RAW3WIRE>/] 0:16 0:16 128:16 r:16[
CLOCK, 1
CS DISABLED
BULK WRITE 0x00 , 0x10 TIMES
BULK WRITE 0x00 , 0x10 TIMES
BULK WRITE 0x80 , 0x10 TIMES
<–all blue to 50%
BULK READ 0x10 BYTES:
0x00 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF
CS ENABLED
RAW3WIRE>
Here, we set the blue level of every LED to 50% (128) and turn off all other colors. The button output now shows that button 0 is pressed.
RAW3WIRE>/] 0 0 0 0 255 255 255 255 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:16 0:16 r:16[
CLOCK, 1
CS DISABLED
WRITE: 0x00
<– red LED 0, off
…
<–more of the same
WRITE: 0x00
<– red LED 3, off
WRITE: 0xFF
<– red LED 4, 100% on
WRITE: 0xFF
<– red LED 5, 100% on
WRITE: 0xFF
<– red LED 6,
100%
on
WRITE: 0xFF
<– red LED 7,
100%
on
WRITE: 0x00
<– red LED 8, off
…
<–more of the same
WRITE: 0x00
<– red LED 15, off
BULK WRITE 0x00 , 0x10 TIMES
<– all green LEDs off
BULK WRITE 0x00 , 0x10 TIMES
<–all blue LEDs off
BULK READ 0x10 BYTES:
<–read button status
0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF
CS ENABLED
RAW3WIRE>
This example shows how to address single LEDs. This time we actually write out all 16 bytes of the red color frame. Buttons 0-3 and 8-15 have a red value of 0 (red off), buttons 4-7 are set to 100% red (255). All green and blue LEDs are off (0, 0%).
Conclusion
It was really frustrating to get this board working because the first version of the datasheet had so many errors. SparkFun’s engineers and support were really helpful, and posted a corrected datasheet within days. As long as you have the updated datasheet, this is an easy board to work with.
We’d like to see a firmware update that eliminates the need to keep the clock signal high before raising CS. This quirk makes the board incompatible with many hardware SPI modules, leaving slow bit-bang routines as the only interface option. Fortunately, the source code is open and available to anyone who wants to make this change.
The button pad controller is a really neat board, and we look forward to using it in a future project.
Hack a Day review disclosure
: We asked for a free board and SparkFun sent it to us. We had a terrible time getting it to work with the instructions in the first version of the datasheet, we documented that experience here. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "65750",
"author": "Jim",
"timestamp": "2009-03-10T01:13:48",
"content": "One work-around to this oddity would be to use a pull-up and tri-state the clock line before asserting CS — I’ve used this on a certain humidity / temp sensor that doesn’t meet spec. On many of the microcontro... | 1,760,377,672.679899 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/09/motion-detecting-cat-toy/ | Motion Detecting Cat Toy | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"cat toy"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFX8vSw42DY]
We love our pets, but sometimes we just can’t keep up with them all the time. Sometimes, we need some automated playmates for our furry pals. [Kateham] has built a
motion detecting cat toy
to keep their cat content and active. Their price list was roughly $5 for the whole project, but they did obtain things like microcontrollers from family members. Some places they did manage to cut costs were to harvest various parts from a VHS deck. Its great to see kids not only hacking, but recycling as well. Great job [Kateham]. This project is like a simpler version of the
laser pup
. | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "65683",
"author": "medix",
"timestamp": "2009-03-09T15:00:57",
"content": "I wonder what motion sensor was used?This would be fun to do with the ‘motion’ package for linux. (similar to the ‘blender defender’ but no x10)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},... | 1,760,377,672.944323 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/08/model-rocket-gps-and-data-logger/ | Model Rocket GPS And Data Logger | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"data logger",
"gps",
"rocket"
] | Serious rocket hobbyists aren’t content with merely launching their rockets into the air. [wwgd] wants to have an on board computer to control his flights and log the data. He doesn’t quite know how to do it all yet, so he’s starting with the basics. He has
built the basic GPS data logger
using an accelerometer, a GPS unit, and a BS2P microcontroller. The overall weight is 62 grams and it can record for the whole 5 minute flight. At roughly $200 though, we’d be thinking twice before launching it into the stratosphere. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "65645",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-03-08T23:35:12",
"content": "stratosphere? geez what kind of rocket are we talking about?but still, it’s cool. too bad he’s using a basic stamp. could stick a pressure sensor in there yet to get more accurate altitude data.",
"pa... | 1,760,377,672.740192 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/11/batchpcb-now-even-more-a-la-carte/ | BatchPCB Now Even More à La Carte | Eliot | [
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"batchpcb",
"fab",
"fab house",
"gold phoenix",
"manufacture",
"pcb",
"sparkfun"
] | BatchPCB is a low-cost PCB manufacturing service run by retailer SparkFun in cooperation with Gold Phoenix. Using them, you can get your design prototyped for as little as $2.50 a sqin. We used the service in our “
How-to: Prepare your Eagle designs for manufacture
“. The service collects orders until they have enough to manufacture an entire panel. It may take time to get the boards back, but they’re high quality. BatchPCB just
added a brand new feature
: Now anyone can list their verfied design files on the ‘
products
‘ page for other hobbyists to order runs of. Yes, people could always upload free designs themselves, but this makes it much easier to order a board even if the designer has no plans of making a kit of it. | 39 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "66025",
"author": "Jay",
"timestamp": "2009-03-12T01:23:35",
"content": "Nice!anyone wanna make Ladyada’s scrambler?;pif so,keep me informed!jordan2_delta@hotmail.com",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66027",
"author": "Mike",... | 1,760,377,672.900479 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/11/rocketting-fun/ | Rocketting Fun | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"rocket"
] | [Gabe] sent in this
project summary from his rocketry club’s yearly project
(pdf). The goal was to build a rocket that would go up to about 800 meters and eject a robot that would pilot itself to a destination on the ground for re use. There’s tons of great information from what hardware is in the robot to hardware design for the ejection mechanism. There are great pictures of the final build, not so many of the construction itself. The project seemed to go well until
EMI
problems caused everything to fail during flight. If you’re interested in seeing more from the club, check out
their site
(
translated
). | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "65983",
"author": "matthieu",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T20:08:38",
"content": "Awesome !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65984",
"author": "polymath",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T20:25:11",
"content": "think of what this... | 1,760,377,672.540623 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/11/android-app-scans-barcodes-downloads-torrents/ | Android App Scans Barcodes, Downloads Torrents | Eliot | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"downloads hacks",
"g1 hacks",
"google hacks"
] | [
"adp1",
"android",
"android market",
"androidandme",
"barcode",
"bounty",
"compare everywhere",
"G1",
"google",
"piratebay",
"t-mobile",
"The Pirate Bay",
"torrent",
"torrent droid",
"torrentfreak",
"upc"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05KrEjHW6g]
AndroidAndMe is running a
bounty program for Android applications
. Users can request a specific application and pledge money to be awarded to the developer who delivers the functional app. [Alec Holmes] just fulfilled the first request by creating Torrent Droid. You can use the app to
scan media barcodes and then download the related torrent
. It uses the phone’s camera to capture the product’s UPC barcode (similar to
Compare Everywhere
‘s price lookup) and then searches major torrent sites like The Pirate Bay to find a copy that can be downloaded. After getting the .torrent file, the app can submit it to
uTorrent
‘s web interface for remote downloading. The app will be released later this month and you can see a
screenshot tour
of it on Alec’s blog. It’s doubtful that an application like this would ever clear Apple’s App Store approval process.
[via
TorrentFreak
] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "65963",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T17:49:04",
"content": "I LOVE YOU ALEC!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65968",
"author": "Nemo",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T18:04:10",
"content": "cool app. the music... | 1,760,377,673.002797 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/11/arduino-mouse-trap/ | Arduino Mouse Trap | Caleb Kraft | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"mouse trap",
"tupperware"
] | [scott] had a need to capture a mouse and wanted to learn about how to program an arduino, so he built an
Arduino controlled mousetrap
. It is made from things he had laying around the house, like some
Tupperware containers
and wooden rods. The program is pretty simple, when a trip wire is touched, the servo jerks the wooden rod out of the way, closing the container. You can see it working after the break. The trip wire seems like a big failure point. he states that it is just a wire, slightly above a tin foil strip. That seems like it would only be a tiny area that the mouse would need to touch to trigger it. What better switch could he design as cheap and quick as possible?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoeSoHXQGJw] | 51 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "65943",
"author": "kormsbee",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T16:41:43",
"content": "what about using a laser to trip the trap?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65944",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T16:43:29",... | 1,760,377,672.826567 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/ipod-touch-2g-jailbreak-released/ | IPod Touch 2G Jailbreak Released | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks",
"ipod hacks",
"Mac Hacks",
"Portable Audio Hacks"
] | [
"24kpwn",
"2g",
"apple",
"iphone",
"iphone dev team",
"ipod",
"ipod touch",
"ipod touch 2g",
"jailbreak"
] | The iPod Touch 2G jailbreak was
first shown in January
. It had to be applied every time the iPod was booted. The iphone-dev team just released the
24kpwn LLB patch
to allow for a persistent jailbreak. The team had been hanging on to this patch because there was the possibility the exploit could be used on future iPhone versions. Unfortunately, a group started selling the code, so the team was forced to release it for free. iPod owners are certainly happy though. There is a tutorial available for
updating a factory reset iPod
(
backup link
). The team will include the patch in future official tools.
UPDATE:
[cptfalcon] pointed out a post that covers the
technical details of the exploit
.
[photo:
Joits
] | 36 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "65896",
"author": "Kyle",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T05:39:15",
"content": "Not to be pedantic, but the pictured iPod Touch is 1G, not 2G.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65897",
"author": "Eliot Phillips",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,377,673.073512 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/usb-finger/ | USB Finger | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"cyborg",
"drive",
"flash",
"memory",
"prosthetic",
"usb",
"wearable"
] | [Jerry] lost his finger in an accident and has since added a
prosthetic USB flash drive
in its place. It’s making the best of a bad situation; there’s nothing wrong with a little voluntary cyborgization. At least it’s not as invasive as some of the implants
we’ve seen before
.
UPDATE:
Here’s the entry on [Jerry]’s personal blog
.
[via
Gizmodo
] | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "65856",
"author": "supernova_hq",
"timestamp": "2009-03-11T00:11:08",
"content": "Ok, so you stick your finger in the usb port, open your portable version of openoffice, firefox, etc. Now how in the hell do you type with one hand?!?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,377,673.145279 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/wearable-projector-adds-info-to-everyday-activities/ | Wearable Projector Adds Info To Everyday Activities | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"media lab",
"mit",
"pattie maes",
"projector",
"ted",
"ted2009",
"video",
"waxy",
"wearable"
] | [Pattie Maes] from MIT’s Media Lab showed a really interesting augmented reality demo at TED this year. It’s a
wearable projector that lets you interact with any surface
. A camera tracks the gestures your fingertips make and performs related actions. She shows several uses: projecting a dial pad on your hand, displaying additional info on a product you’re holding, and taking a picture when you form a frame with your hands. The current equipment cost is $350, but that would be reduced in a dedicated device.
[via
Waxy
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "65850",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2009-03-10T22:37:08",
"content": "…WANT!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65851",
"author": "baris",
"timestamp": "2009-03-10T23:00:50",
"content": "I think it’s a great ide... | 1,760,377,673.196117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/14/rfid-controlled-phone-dialing/ | RFID Controlled Phone Dialing | Caleb Kraft | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"home hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"elderly",
"iobridge",
"iphone",
"phone",
"rfid"
] | In an attempt to create an easier to use interface for the elderly, [Stephen] has put together this
phone prototype which uses RFID tags to dial
. It is common for our motor skills and eyesight to deteriorate as we get older. There are special phones out there, but generally the only changes they make are enlarged buttons and louder speakers. [Stephen] had the idea to make a system where an elderly person would hold up a picture of the person to the phone and it would dial. He picked up an RFID card reader and an Arduino. The code for the RFID reader was already available, and with minor modifications to prevent multiple swipes from hand tremors or slow movements, he was able to get it working pretty fast. The Arduino then sends the data to an ioBridge to make the call.He’s using
Google voice
to physically place the call, so you could probably adapt this to other services as well. You can see a video of it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-NNGHiohzE]
[Stephen] points out that even though he’s using an iPhone in the video, this project should really work with any two phones. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "66293",
"author": "dan",
"timestamp": "2009-03-14T16:54:29",
"content": "that’s a pretty nice idea. it really wouldn’t take much effort to make this work with any landline phone – just plug a wedge in between the handset and the main body and generate dialtones for whichever person’... | 1,760,377,673.251762 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/13/avr-hv-rescue-shield/ | AVR HV Rescue Shield | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega",
"rescue",
"RSTDISBL",
"shield"
] | While playing with an ATmega168, [Jeff] programmed the
RSTDISBL fuse bit
. This pretty much makes the chip useless in most cases. [Jeff] didn’t want to give up on it though, so
he built a system to program it using the rarely used high voltage parallel programming mode
. He used an Arduino, a few lines of code and a few spare parts to make it. After sharing the idea with some fellow programmers, he decided to make an Arduino shield specifically for this purpose. You can use this to reset almost any fuse to rescue a chip. If you are a die hard AVR person and never started using Arduino instead, the
STK500
actually has this built in. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "66244",
"author": "D1g1talDragon",
"timestamp": "2009-03-14T01:40:10",
"content": "As does the AVR Dragon, which has saved my butt more then once since I started learning AVRs. I like the idea here though!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,377,673.292562 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/13/3rd-generation-ipod-shuffle-teardown/ | 3rd Generation IPod Shuffle Teardown | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital audio hacks",
"ipod hacks",
"News"
] | [
"ipod",
"shuffle",
"teardown"
] | You should all know the drill by now. New electronics hit the market and someone has to post pictures of it spread open bit by bit. The
new shuffle is no different
as iFixit shows us. There are some very nice pictures of the entire process. As you can see, most of the space is taken up by the battery. The thing that is probably most striking here is the main problem that many people have with it; there aren’t any buttons.
[via
Makezine
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "66222",
"author": "Rawrl",
"timestamp": "2009-03-13T23:27:29",
"content": "From the design geniuses at Apple that brought you such successful products as the Macbook wheel, the laptop with only one button, comes the iPod Shuffle 3G, the iPod with no buttons.Shitsux. But then again, ... | 1,760,377,673.342923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/13/apple-logo-secondary-monitor/ | Apple Logo Secondary Monitor | Eliot | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"display",
"mac",
"macbook",
"monitor",
"secondary",
"video",
"youtube"
] | MacMod member [EdsJunk] has modified the Apple logo on his MacBook to
act as a second video display
(
cache
). There’s a video embedded below showing it playing Quicktime videos and the iTunes visualizer. Unfortunately there aren’t any details of the hardware used. From the display settings, it looks to have a resolution of at least 640×480. We hope to see more details soon.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5GZNHPfo0]
[Thanks
Astera
] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "66202",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2009-03-13T20:26:33",
"content": "Thats pretty rad, it looks like he didn’t do any special software for it either, appears to be configured just like a secondary monitor.I especially like the apple on fire thing he showed and the isight was nov... | 1,760,377,673.70164 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/13/laser-etched-kindle2/ | Laser Etched Kindle 2 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Laser Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"kindle",
"ladyada",
"laser etch",
"xkcd"
] | After seeing the
xkcd comic where they call the Kindle2 the hitchhiker’s guide
, [Ladyada] couldn’t help but
laser etch the Kindle 2
with “Don’t Panic”. We think it looks pretty good, if a bit bubbly. You can see the video of the entire process after the break. Now that xkcd has infiltrated our interwebs, hearts, and minds, maybe he can put just a tiny bit of effort into learning to draw. If you don’t have access to a laser etcher, you could always
make your own
. Just be careful you don’t accidentally go full out and cut your kindle to shreds.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2TGO-Q2F9g]
The kindle isn’t the strangest thing we’ve seen etched by far. We’ve seen
Pizza cut by laser
and even
laser tattoos
.
[via the
Hack a Day flickr pool
] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "66190",
"author": "Laslow",
"timestamp": "2009-03-13T18:10:51",
"content": "Not-so-nice video – all I can make out for most of it is sun reflecting off the glass cover and the laser head moving back and forth. Weeeee.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,673.869898 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/12/thermosmart-arduino-thermostat/ | Thermosmart: Arduino Thermostat | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"thermometer",
"thermostat"
] | [Chris] sent in the
Thermosmart
. It is an Arduino controlled thermostat. It has a web interface which allows him to see the current temperature and make adjustments from remote locations. He can set heating or cooling to on, off, or auto and adjust the ranges as well.
We’ve seen similar done with an Arduino before
, even
one with a nice LCD interface
. This could possibly be useful for
remote plant monitoring
as well. | 26 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "66121",
"author": "yoss",
"timestamp": "2009-03-12T19:24:08",
"content": "remote plan monitoring? Is that the new euphemism used for growing illegal substances now?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66124",
"author": "goldscot... | 1,760,377,673.641823 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/12/replacing-the-ipod-shuffles-headphones/ | Replacing The Ipod Shuffle’s Headphones | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital audio hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"earbuds",
"headphones",
"ipod",
"shuffle"
] | [blip.tv ?posts_id=1878228&dest=-1]
With the recent announcement that the only controls for the Ipod shuffle will be on the headphones, many were let down. [James] has come to the rescue, showing that you
can just solder new ear buds on the end of the wires
. Though this may not be the perfect solution, especially if your cable gets damaged, at least you can get a little better sound. This is a great example of something to show kids. It’s not too difficult and teaches them that if we’re not happy with something, we can hack it. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "66099",
"author": "Hackius",
"timestamp": "2009-03-12T16:33:52",
"content": "…come onApple sells an adaptor so you don’t have to kill your earbuds.Next you’ll tell me I can clean my own monitor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,377,674.231937 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/16/cupcake-cnc-kit/ | CupCake CNC Kit | Caleb Kraft | [
"cnc hacks",
"News",
"Robots Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"cnc",
"extrude",
"reprap"
] | The
CupCake CNC Kit
is the flagship product of MakerBot industries, a joint venture between [Bre Pettis] and [Zach Hoeken]. At $750, it comes with all the motors, belts, body pieces, bearings, belts, and other pieces to assemble it. You could be printing your own 3d objects in a matter of hours with this. 3D printers with only slightly larger capacities can run thousands of dollars. The only advantage to some of the commercial products might be resolution. They don’t give much as far as technical data as the unit isn’t available yet. They should start Shipping before April 15th, so they can’t be far off. This could possibly be a competitor for the
RepRap
. Since RepRap doesn’t offer a complete kit, we’ll have to speculate. We’ve seen estimates from $500 to $1000 to build one.
[via
adafruit industries blog
] | 29 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "66487",
"author": "Dawning",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T21:23:40",
"content": "Bre & Zach, you guys rule! Ohh man!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66489",
"author": "Av",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T21:28:59",
"content":... | 1,760,377,673.93702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/16/ultra-mouse-modification/ | Ultra Mouse Modification | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"mouse",
"usb",
"wireless"
] | When traveling with a laptop, we often find that the list of peripherals that we have to attach can get pretty long. Especially if it is an older laptop without wireless built in. [Dawning] has
taken steps to consolidate some of his peripherals
(registration required)by cramming a USB hub and a wireless card into his mouse.
He started by dismantling a USB hub. After placing the board in the mouse to see how it fit, he realized that he was going to have to reduce the size. To do this, he removed the USB slots themselves. This forces him to wire things directly to the board, but saves a ton of space. Next, he took the guts from a USB wireless adapter and wired them up. The decorative LED in the mouse was then moved to the wireless card. This way he could see light flicker with his network traffic. At this point, that’s all he’s added, though there’s still plenty of space for other items. He notes that he’ll probably add some storage or a CF reader. The only problem he has encountered is that his mouse tends to get warm during use. What peripherals would you put in there?
Update: [Dawning] let us know that he didn’t actually remove the LED from its original location. He connected a wire from the wireless adapter that causes the LED to short when traffic is going through. Also, there’s a video which you can now see after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs4N_b9r2nQ] | 75 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "66444",
"author": "ZombieD",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T18:25:47",
"content": "How about a small fan to both cool the mouse guts and aerate the palm?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66445",
"author": "barry99705",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,674.075395 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/16/parts-ds1801-spi-audio-volume-potentiometer/ | Parts: DS1801 SPI Audio Volume Potentiometer | Ian | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"3 wire",
"audio",
"bus pirate",
"ds1801",
"parts",
"potentiometer",
"spi",
"volume"
] | Dallas/Maxim’s
DS1801
is an audio volume
potentiometer
with a simple
SPI
interface. This chip has two channels of volume control that might be useful in a DIY audio project. We previously looked at the
DS1807
, a similar part with an I2C interface. This week we’ll show you how to use the SPI version.
DS1801
SPI digital audio volume potentiometer (
Digikey search
,
Octopart search
, $6.50).
Datasheet
(PDF).
Bus Pirate
DS1801 (pin #)
GND
GND (1)
AUX
RST (3)
GND
ZCEN (4)
GND
AGND (11)
MOSI
D (12)
Clock
CLK (13)
+3.3volts
VCC (14)
We connected the DS1801 to our
Bus Pirate universal serial interface tool
as shown in the table. We used the Bus Pirate to demonstrate this chip, but the same basic procedures apply to any microcontroller. The DS1801 power requirements are flexible, it works at either 3.3volts or 5volts, we used a 3.3volt supply.
The DS1801 has an SPI interface. The data output pin can be used to cascade multiple DS1801s. We used the Bus Pirate’s SPI mode with default options to interface this chip.
The DS1801 SPI protocol is described in figure (a) on page 4 of the datasheet (shown above). Note that the SPI enable signal, called RST on the DS1801, is actually opposite standard notation. Data input is active when RST is high, and inactive when it’s low.
Each DS1801 has two audio potentiometers with 64 steps of volume control. 0 is full volume, 63 is the lowest volume, position 64 is mute. Setting the volume is really simple; just raise the RST signal, clock in the volume level for each potentiometer, and lower RST to enact the new settings.
SPI>A 64 64 a
AUX HIGH
<–RST pin high
WRITE: 0x40
<–mute setting channel 0
WRITE: 0x40
<–mute setting channel 1
AUX LOW
<–RST pin low
SPI>
Here, we set both potentiometers to mute (64). First, raise the RST pin to 3.3volts (capital ‘A’,
silly CSS
). Next, write the mute setting for each (64 64). Finally, lower the RST pin to enact the new settings (small ‘a’).
SPI>A 0 0 a
AUX HIGH
WRITE: 0x00
WRITE: 0x00
AUX LOW
SPI>
Now we change both potentiometers to full volume by writing a 0 to each. The sets a resistance level of 0, or 100% of the input volume.
SPI>A 0 64 a
AUX HIGH
WRITE: 0x00
WRITE: 0x40
AUX LOW
SPI>
Finally, we set a different volume levels on each potentiometer. Pot 0 is at full volume (0), pot 1 is muted (64).
Like this post? Check out the
parts posts
you may have missed. Want to request a part post? Please leave your suggestions in the comments. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "66443",
"author": "Mycroftxxx",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T17:13:19",
"content": "Could this chip be used to vary the inductive load if used to short a motor? I have been wondering about using plain DC motors as both drivers and restistive parts in a variably compliant joint for robo... | 1,760,377,673.987616 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/15/zigbee-aes-key-sniffing/ | Zigbee AES Key Sniffing | Eliot | [
"Security Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"802.15.4",
"aes",
"aes128",
"crypto",
"mote",
"probe",
"sensor network",
"sniffing",
"spi",
"syringe",
"telosb",
"wireless",
"zigbee"
] | [Travis Goodspeed] posted a preview of what he’s working on for this Summer’s conferences. Last weekend he gave a quick demo of
sniffing AES128 keys on Zigbee hardware
at
SOURCE Boston
. The CC2420 radio module is used in many Zigbee/802.15.4 sensor networks and the keys have to be transferred over an SPI bus to the module. [Travis] used
two syringe probes
to monitor the clock line and the data on a TelosB mote, which uses the CC2420. Now that he has the capture, he’s planning on creating a script to automate finding the key. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "66417",
"author": "fenix849",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T05:42:32",
"content": "There comes a point where the issue becomes physical security rather than software/electrical engineering style security.“Just a moment while i open up your home automation controller and/or hospital care ... | 1,760,377,674.11915 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/15/standalone-eye-fi-upload/ | Standalone Eye-Fi Upload | Eliot | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Tool Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"eye-fi",
"gallery",
"gallery 2",
"gup",
"jeff tchang",
"python",
"sd",
"sd card",
"server",
"will",
"will o'brien",
"wireless"
] | Former Hack a Day contributor [Will] has been using a
Eye-Fi
SD card to
automate his photo transfers
. Unfortunately this requires using Eye-Fi’s software and talking to their servers. He used [Jeff Tchang]’s
replacement server written in Python
to recieve the images from the card. [Will] manages his own online photo gallery using
Gallery 2
. To get the images uploaded, he added a call to
GUP
. Now all of his photos are transfered just as easily as with the standard Eye-Fi but without all of the middleman.
[photo:
Eye-Fi teardown
] | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "66410",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2009-03-16T02:58:36",
"content": "Nice, exactly what I was looking for ^_^ I help out at a beauty pageant, and I was looking for a way to automate the photo gathering process. I’ve looked at the eye-fi before but didn’t like the need for the ... | 1,760,377,674.17187 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/14/paintball-gun-turret-assembly-videos/ | Paintball Gun Turret Assembly Videos | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"gun",
"InventGeek",
"jared bouck",
"paintball",
"paintball gun",
"turret"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG3FQYe4rBc]
[Jared] has updated his paintball gun turret page with
more detailed assembly videos
. You can read more about the project in
our original post
. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "66326",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2009-03-15T00:36:26",
"content": "So it’s controlled manually by a remote control? That’s not quite as cool as I had hoped. It just seems cooler if the device shoots at anyone it sees (and has a good chance of hitting them), which would chang... | 1,760,377,674.278195 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/14/glowing-patch-cables/ | Glowing Patch Cables | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"el wire",
"ethernet",
"PoE"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi3lpVzM-bM]
[Sleepydog] just sent in this
cool video
of a patch cable he made with a built in
EL wire
. He’s using a Power over Ethernet router to control which ports have power. He states that this would allow easy identification of specific cables in the mess. While the proof of concept seems completely functional, and the idea is nice, we have to wonder if the cost to put in all the extra hardware would be worth it. Each cable would have to have its own inverter, not only driving up cost, but possibly adding interference. That does not mean we don’t want this desperately, we do. But we want it just because it looks cool. He needs to choreograph this to some music now and make his entire server room into a fancy display. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "66310",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2009-03-14T21:12:15",
"content": "Cool! That does indeed sound like it would be too expensive to be practical, but it sure looks great.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66311",
"author"... | 1,760,377,674.458935 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/04/tethering-the-kindle-2/ | Tethering The Kindle 2 | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"kindle",
"tethered",
"usb"
] | This is not an article on how to use your Kindle’s internet connection with your computer. We’ll let [Jesse] explain why:
This is not a tutorial about how to use the Kindle 2’s Sprint connection from your computer. I don’t know that it’s possible to do so without making changes to the Linux installation on the Kindle. I do know that abusing the Kindle’s Sprint modem like that would upset Amazon a great deal. Bear in mind also that Amazon know where you live. They know your Kindle’s serial number and thanks to the built in GPS, they know where you are right now.
What this is, however, is a
nice tutorial on how to connect your Kindle to your computer
so that it can use your computer’s internet connection. The instructions assume you are using a Mac, so you may have to adapt it if you aren’t. Basically you put the Kindle in Debug mode and tell it to use the USB tether for it’s network connection. This should allow not only a faster connection, but possibly a chance to see what exactly they are transferring back and forth. | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "65273",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2009-03-04T20:47:21",
"content": "So, we disable the GPS (cut the power trace) and find out how to mask/change/remove the serial number from our device?Really, I think internet and phone is headed for a low monthly fee. Like utilities. Which ... | 1,760,377,674.620176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/03/smart-card-emulator/ | Smart Card Emulator | Eliot | [
"Security Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"fuzzing",
"goodspeed",
"java",
"java card",
"microcontroller",
"msp",
"msp430",
"smart card",
"smartcard",
"travis goodspeed",
"travisgoodspeed"
] | Here’s a quick prototype from [Travis Goodspeed]. It’s a
smart card built around an MSP430 microcontroller
. We’ve used the MSP430
in the past
because of its low power demands. He says this business card currently supports 1.8V to 3.3V, but a future design will have 5V as well. Technologies like
Java Card
exist for running applets on smart cards, but a familiar microcontroller like the MSP430 could certainly make development much faster. Knowing [Travis], there’s a reader somewhere about to go through some serious
fuzzing
. | 48 | 45 | [
{
"comment_id": "65200",
"author": "mike",
"timestamp": "2009-03-04T03:11:22",
"content": "these are legal, but they can have serious implications if you use them to pirate satellite tv. I know it’s just an ISO-7816 interface and not an unlooper, but if you write any pirat3 war3z for an interface li... | 1,760,377,674.543414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/03/distributed-computing-in-javascript/ | Distributed Computing In JavaScript | Eliot | [
"google hacks",
"News"
] | [
"browser",
"chrome",
"cluster",
"cluster computing",
"dataset",
"dc",
"distributed computing",
"hack-a-day",
"ilya grigorik",
"java",
"javascript",
"mapreduce",
"ruby",
"slashdot"
] | We’ve heard about the idea of using browsers as distributed computing nodes for a couple years now. It’s only recently, with the race towards faster JavaScript engines in browsers like
Chrome
that this idea seems useful. [Antimatter15] did a
proof of concept JavaScript implementation
for reversing hashes.
Plura Processing
uses a Java applet to do distributed processing. Today, [Ilya Grigorik] posted an
example using MapReduce
in JavaScript. Google’s
MapReduce
is designed to support large dataset processing across computing clusters. It’s well suited for situations where computing nodes could go offline randomly (i.e. a browser navigates away from your site). He included a JavaScript snippet and a job server in Ruby. It will be interesting to see if someone comes up with a good use for this; you still need to convince people to keep your page open in the browser though. We’re just saying: try to act surprised when you realize Hack a Day is inexplicably making your processor spike…
[via
Slashdot
] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "65188",
"author": "Insipid Melon",
"timestamp": "2009-03-04T00:39:15",
"content": "Maybe instead of selling advertising websites could start selling process cycles on their visitor’s computers.I run adblock because hell if most ads aren’t just annoying eyesores that I wouldn’t click... | 1,760,377,674.692706 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/03/putting-a-digital-picture-frame-to-work/ | Putting A Digital Picture Frame To Work | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"picture frame"
] | [Tobe] shares living accomodations with a few other people, so he
built this tool to help them all communicate
. using a Samsung SPF-83v wifi enabled picture frame, he’s made a central location for things like shopping lists and messages. He uses PHP for the database accessing and writes it all to an image using
gd
. Every 15 minutes a cron job runs that pushes the updated image to the picture frame. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "65169",
"author": "bluehash",
"timestamp": "2009-03-03T21:51:43",
"content": "Nice idea. But I was unable to find the script.Does any one know of any sites showing hacks of picture frames. Any info on the chip/os used?Following are hacks to Keychain frames:http://spritesmods.com/?ar... | 1,760,377,675.029122 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/03/remote-thermometer-using-arduino/ | Remote Thermometer Using Arduino | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"temperature",
"thermometer"
] | [Peter] sent in this writeup on how to
build a remotely accessible thermometer
. The hardware side is pretty easy on this one, all you need is an Arduino, a resistor and an thermistor. The software is where the main focus is. You can check the temperature via command line, but also via email. It can also tell you the temperature using the host computers sound hardware. You can see a video of it in action after the break. We have to wonder
why
he
didn’t
make
it twitter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLrxeNcR4M] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "65148",
"author": "scabby",
"timestamp": "2009-03-03T19:51:49",
"content": "I love these kinds of projects. While the hardware aspect of this one is ridiculously light (a resistor and thermistor…), the follow-through on code is nice. I plan on using the arduino platform for a full... | 1,760,377,674.904393 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/02/hackit-consumer-rfid/ | Hackit: Consumer RFID | Nick Caiello | [
"HackIt",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"HackIt",
"qr",
"rfid",
"tag",
"tikitag",
"touchatag",
"usb rfid reader"
] | RFID
seems to have invaded every part of our lives. Sure, the technology has been primarily used in government and industry, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have consumer applications. Recently, we posted about [max’s]
RFID dorm room lock
, that he built to provide a safe, convenient way to access his room. A while back, we talked about an
RFID spatially aware address book
that used a combination of rfid tags and post-it notes to control the
NFC
enabled Nokia 3220 cell phone. Both of these projects highlight unique applications where RFID is used. We bash on RFID from time to time, mostly due to its security (
or lack there of
). That said, there is an interesting consumer solution out there for people who want to voluntarily use RFID called
Touchatag
(formerly known as Tikitag). The cool thing about Touchatag is that it uses a combination of RFID and QR (2-D barcode) tags to trigger applications on the Touchatag website. The starter kit, which includes 10 tags and a USB RFID reader, goes for about $40; a decent price considering the hacking potential for the RFID reader. In addition to using the reader, you can also use any NFC enabled phone to read the tags. While NFC enabled phones are currently few and far between, the technology will likely be implemented in many of the new phones released in the coming year.
We’re curious, what do you think is next for consumer RFID? What kind of innovative project ideas do you have? | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "64938",
"author": "Ted Haeger",
"timestamp": "2009-03-02T23:58:45",
"content": "Cool write up, Nick. Thanks.–TedTed HaegerManager, Touchatag Developer Network",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "64939",
"author": "Avaviel",
... | 1,760,377,675.094029 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/02/breath-controlled-guitar-hero-kick-pedal/ | Breath Controlled Guitar Hero Kick Pedal | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"bass",
"drums",
"guitar hero",
"kick pedal",
"rock band"
] | [Ben Heck] the uber modder has posted a new project. He has made a
breath controlled kick pedal
for all of the Guitar Hero style games. Though the tutorial focuses on Guitar Hero World Tour, he does explain how it could be done for Rock Band at the end. This is intended for someone in a wheelchair who couldn’t actually use the kick pedal and needed their hands free to play the rest of the drums. He took apart the kick pedal that came with it to get the piezoelectric switch out of it. Then, he made a little chamber and placed the switch on a diaphragm at one end. When you blow, the diaphragm moves and triggers the switch. Pretty simple really.
There is a video available
of [Ben] trying it out as well. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "64921",
"author": "frollard",
"timestamp": "2009-03-02T22:02:34",
"content": "It’s good they mention that rock band uses a different (simpler) kind of magnetic reed switch. They done did their homework :DGreat mod!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{... | 1,760,377,674.962015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/08/stk500-as-an-arduino/ | STK500 As An Arduino | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ATmega168",
"Atmel",
"AVR",
"led",
"stk500"
] | The
AVR STK500
has been Atmel’s standard AVR development platform for many years. Recently though, hobbyists have embraced the
Arduino
. [Alessandro] has decided to bring the two together so that you can
use the Arduino environment with the STK500
. Unlike the Arduino, it comes with 8 LEDs, 8 switches, a variable power supply, and variable analog reference. It’s a great way to get hardware you might already have back into service. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "65678",
"author": "pokey",
"timestamp": "2009-03-09T13:36:07",
"content": "So what you’re saying is: I can use one development platform for a chip to emulate another development platform for the same chip? Brilliant.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,674.760604 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/07/remote-image-processing-in-javascript/ | Remote Image Processing In JavaScript | Eliot | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"downloads hacks"
] | [
"browser",
"camera",
"canvas",
"javascript",
"mapreduce",
"mjpgstreamer",
"pdf",
"webcam"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3_cFel26J8]
[Tom] wrote in to tell us about his JavaScript project for motion detection. It ties together two ideas we’ve talked about recently. The first is doing image processing in-browser using Canvas(), which we’ve seen
employed in captcha breaking
. The second is offloading heavy processing to browsers, which we saw recently in the
MapReduce implementation
. [Tom] is using JavaScript to compare consecutive images to determine if there’s any motion. He did this as part of
MJPG-Streamer
, a program for streaming images from webcams. It can run on very limited hardware, but image processing can be very intensive. Doing the image processing in-browser makes up for this limitation and means that a custom client program doesn’t have to be written. You can
find the code here
and a
PDF about the proof of concept
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "65739",
"author": "rompush",
"timestamp": "2009-03-09T23:59:05",
"content": "Nice, but it must do something now…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "114410",
"author": "Mutant",
"timestamp": "2010-01-01T20:17:33",
"conte... | 1,760,377,675.223287 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/06/tools-saleae-logic-logic-analyzer/ | Tools: Saleae Logic, Logic Analyzer | Ian | [
"Reviews"
] | [
"debugging",
"logic",
"logic analyzer",
"reverse engineering",
"saleae",
"troubleshooting"
] | A logic analyzer records bus communications between two chips. If you’ve ever had a problem getting two chips to talk, or wanted to reverse engineer a protocol, a logic analyzer is the tool you need to spy on the bus.
The Logic
is a USB logic analyzer with eight channels and sampling rates up to 24MHz. Among hobby-level logic analyzers, the Logic has a good mix of features and decent sampling rates. We’ve been following Joe Garrison’s work on the Logic for a long time. If you’ve ever considered bringing a product to market, you can learn a lot from
Joe’s blog
that documents his development process.
When it debuted, the Logic was so popular that it was hard to buy one. It’s now widely available, and Saleae gave us one to try. Read our review below.
Logic Analyzers vs. Oscilloscopes
Most modern electronics projects will benefit more from a logic analyzer than an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope displays a graph of an analog voltage as it varies over time, such as the curve of a sine wave. A logic analyzer only detects high and low digital states, but it records many signals simultaneously. Logic analyzers dump data to a computer for analysis, very few oscilloscopes have this feature.
What you get
The Logic comes packaged in an external hard drive case. The analyzer is a small, anodized aluminum puck with laser etched signal markers. It’s much smaller than we expected, slightly smaller than a compact flash storage card. A mini-B USB cable is included.
A heavy-gauge cable and nine
E-Z-Hooks
(5 shown) connect the Logic to a circuit. The hooks are a really nice touch; press the back of the hook to expose a pair of tweezers, grab onto a signal wire, and retract to hold it in place. The retractable tweezers prevent accidental shorts on cramped test circuits.
Software isn’t included, instead you get instructions to
download
the latest version from the Saleae web site. We always download the latest software, so we appreciate that there’s one less CD headed to the landfill.
Right now, only Windows XP/Vista software is available, but Mac and Linux software
should be ready soon
. Warning: the Windows version requires .NET 3.5, download the
redistributable off-line installer
if you don’t want to give internet access to Microsoft’s online installer.
Using it
Using the Logic is simple. Connect the gray ground wire to the ground of the test circuit, then hook into the signal lines you want to record. We connected it to the
32K SPI SRAM
that we demonstrated earlier this week.
SPI
has four important signals; enable, data in, data out, and clock. The E-Z-Hooks make it dead simple to tap into the signals without accidental shorts.
Be mindful of wire orientation. We associate a black wire with ground, but the Logic cable uses gray.
Comments
on SparkFun’s product page suggest that reversing the connections will damage the Logic.
The software analyzes and displays signal captures. The primary configuration options are the sampling rate (200KHz-24MHz) and number of samples (millions to billions). We were able to sample at 24MHz, but the top speed depends on how much other stuff is using the USB bus. A 24MHz sampling rate can capture signals up to 12MHz, we found this suitable for all the protocols we use. The total number of samples is limited only by the available PC RAM.
There’s a four level trigger that watches the signals, and waits for a specific combination before it starts recording samples. Since we’re analyzing SPI, the most logical place to start capturing is when the SPI enable signal drops at the beginning of a bus transaction. We set the Logic trigger to start sampling when SPI enable is 0 by changing its trigger to ‘0’.
We really like the profiles that decode most common serial protocols; 1-Wire, I2C, SPI, and asynchronous serial. CAN and other protocols
will be added eventually
.
Profiles suggest names for each signal, and convert squiggly lines into readable byte values. This is a really awesome feature. Without it, you’d have to count clock pulses to identify byte boundaries, and then manually decode the values.
This transaction shows the host issue the read configuration register command (0x05), and the SRAM response (0x41).
We also tried the 1-Wire decoder with a
DS2431 EEPROM
. The software identified the 1-Wire reset command, and the 1-Wire ‘search rom’ command (0xf0).
A look inside
The Logic is based on the Cypress Semiconductor
CY7C68013A-56PVXC
, an Intel 8052 microcontroller with a USB peripheral. The
8052
is an enhanced version of the well-known
8051
. We can also identify a 24MHz crystal, which is probably multiplied to 48 or 96MHz by an internal
phase-locked loop
.
Conclusion
Logic analyzers take the guess work out of debugging inter-chip communication. If you can’t see what’s going on, the best you can do is guess about the problem. When a project won’t work, 99% of the time we can solve the problem immediately by looking at the signals with a logic analyzer. Without it, there’s no easy way to know what’s happening.
The Logic records 8 channels at 24MHz. The Windows software has useful features, and there’s an SDK if you want to write your own apps. Linux and Mac versions are under development. We really like this logic analyzer, and plan to use it to illustrate future articles.
The Logic is $149 at the
Saleae website
and
SparkFun
, and Joe is working on EU distribution. If you’re interested in the Logic, but aren’t ready to buy, you can
download the software
and try it in demo mode.
Hack a Day review disclosure
: We asked for a Logic and Saleae sent it to us | 65 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "65490",
"author": "mrasmus",
"timestamp": "2009-03-06T22:25:26",
"content": "I just got my first logic analyzer from a family member for Christmas (as merely a hobbiest, I couldn’t afford dropping money on one for myself… I just don’t have quite enough need) this past year. I wasn’t... | 1,760,377,675.186707 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/06/new-battery-for-an-hp50g/ | New Battery For An HP50G | Caleb Kraft | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"hp calculator",
"psp battery"
] | According to the author, the HP 50G is an awesome calculator. But as awesome as it is, it is powered off of not-so-awesome AAA batteries. These little batteries don’t last long under the load of the calculators awesomeness, so a
mod needed to be done
. The battery chosen for installation was a replacement battery for a Sony PSP. He was able to find one, including the external charge regulator board for $10. Dropping it into the case and wiring it to charge off of the existing mini USB port looks fairly simple, very few actual modifications are necessary to the body. Unfortunately, they did end up with an LED protruding from the bottom that makes it wobble a bit, but they’re guessing that they get about 2x the battery life now. | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "65484",
"author": "goldscott",
"timestamp": "2009-03-06T21:03:26",
"content": "TI-89s use AAA batteries as well. To solve the costly battery replacement dilemma, I bought a 4-pack of rechargeable NiMH batteries for about $10. They last for about a semester (~4) of light to moderate ... | 1,760,377,675.274818 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2009/03/06/automatic-blind-opener/ | Automatic Blind Opener | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"blinds",
"drill",
"venetian"
] | [Contraptionmaker] ran into a problem when putting plastic insulation over his windows during the winter. When you cover the windows from the inside to prevent drafts, your access to the stick that opens the blinds is cut off. His solution was to build an
automatic blind opener
from a cordless drill. He started with some motors he had around the house, but none of them were strong enough. The final solution was a $10 Black & Decker drill. After removing the handle and trigger to extend it, he made a simple wall mount for it. You may notice him soldering some batteries into it, in his directions. Those are just for backup, in case the power goes out. You can see a video of it in action after the break. If you want something
triggered by an alarm
, or for a
different type of blind
, we may be able to help you out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqCndsA0Oqo] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "65475",
"author": "polymath",
"timestamp": "2009-03-06T19:42:58",
"content": "pretty sweet. I think I’ll wire one to my alarm clock.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "65479",
"author": "qoncept",
"timestamp": "2009-03-06T2... | 1,760,377,675.330748 |
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