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https://hackaday.com/2008/11/11/gift-card-electronics/ | Gift Card Electronics | Kimberly Lau | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"best buy",
"christmas",
"electronics",
"gift cards",
"holiday",
"shopping",
"target"
] | Gift-giving season is upon us, and it’s time for people to start panicking about what to give to their friends and families. Gift cards have gained in popularity over the years, as companies count on people to forget to use them. But how about gift cards that do more than store a token amount of cash? Best Buy is now selling a
gift card that doubles as a speaker
. It has a mini headphone jack that’ll plug into any audio player. You only need to spend fifteen dollars to get it. Target’s gone all out, with a
gift card that is also a 1.2 MP digital camera
. It comes with a USB cord and driver disk, and there’s even one with a
64MB USB flash drive
. We’re very interested to see if these will take off, and what people will do with them once the cards are used up.
[via
Gizmodo
] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "50369",
"author": "Taylor Alexander",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T19:25:30",
"content": "I propose a card that is also an abattoir. That will sell well! Poor repeat business, but think of the tourist trade!-Taylor",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,731.922941 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/11/super-nintendo-clock/ | Super Nintendo Clock | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"super nintendo"
] | [Aaron] sent us this sweet
Super Nintendo Clock
that he built. When he found himself with a broken SNES, a friend challenged him to
out do his previous NES
clock. This time, the display would be located in the cartridge, and removable. Setting the time is done on the SNES controller and seems to work pretty well as you can see in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoqRfSjfAIc]
Now that the display is removable, he needs to build different displays. How about a laser projected display? | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "50344",
"author": "scott",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T15:44:34",
"content": "pretty cool, but those pins but have been a bitch to solder to. i might try this out some time, i have a closet full of old nes’s (value village was throwing them out.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,377,732.061924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/messing-with-barcodes/ | Messing With Barcodes | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"24c3",
"badge",
"barcode",
"barcode hacking",
"conference",
"conference badge",
"nico",
"scott blake",
"stencil",
"swipe",
"terry burton"
] | [nico] just received his credentials for an upcoming conference. On each badge, there’s a 2D barcode with the participant’s bio and contact info. These are meant to be scanned by vendors for future contact. [nico] isn’t so interested in that and plans on updating his personal info by generating a new barcode. To this end, he’s
collected a number of links to help out barcode hackers
. He used the
SWIPE toolkit
to identify the format and decode (it has an
online component
too). There are also several online encoders you can use,
like this one
from [Terry Burton]. If you’re wondering what sort of shenanigans you can get into faking barcodes, check out [fx]’s
presentation from 24C3
.
[photo:
seanbonner
] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "50285",
"author": "Tacticus",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T03:22:40",
"content": "This sounds like a job for little boby tables",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "50286",
"author": "Tacticus",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T03:23:25"... | 1,760,377,732.202168 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/the-effs-privacy-agenda/ | The EFF’s Privacy Agenda | Eliot | [
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"agenda",
"ecpa",
"eff",
"government",
"obama",
"privacy",
"real id",
"state secrets privilege"
] | With a new administration coming into power, the Electronic Frontier Foundation feels that it’s time for a change (see what we did there). They’ve
posted an agenda
that covers fixing privacy issues that have come to the forefront in the last eight years. It involves repairing amendments that prevent corporations from being sued for warrantless wiretapping. They would also modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act so that it would cover modern technology. The heavily abused
State Secrets Privilege
needs reform as well. Their final issue is with
REAL ID
and datafarming that many state governments have already rejected. If even a bit of this gets fixed, we’ll be happy. In any case, it’ll be good to have a more tech focused administration that doesn’t need the internet explained to it in terms of dumptrucks and tubes.
[photo:
Jake Appelbaum
] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "50278",
"author": "-hero",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T02:26:20",
"content": "my mum just switched to att in terms of phone tv and net. a little privacy would be nice.=(-hero",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "50280",
"author": "h... | 1,760,377,731.976007 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/easy-high-voltage-power-supply/ | Easy High Voltage Power Supply | Eliot | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"coil gun",
"CoilGun",
"discharge",
"high voltage",
"high voltage power supply",
"hv",
"power supply"
] | [rocketman221] wrote up one of the simplest ways to
build a high voltage power supply
. This one in particular was used on his
coilgun
. Instead of building a custom circuit, he’s using flash charging boards from disposable cameras. Six 450V 470uF caps are wired in parallel to make up the bank. Two of the charger boards are wired to one switch to initiate the charging process. Four additional boards are wired two a second switch for the second charging stage. The part cost on this is incredibly cheap and it only requires a 3.3V input to reach 450V. The writeup has plenty of warnings about the dangers of high voltage; you need to clean off all flux residue to prevent arcing across the circuit boards. Embedded below is a video of the bank being discharged through several objects.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbXJGOYpQpo] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "50269",
"author": "rivetgeek",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T01:20:35",
"content": "Whoever is doing this damned well better be wearing welding goggle since the uv light from those arcs will gladly fry your corneas",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,377,731.857169 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/autonomous-cookie-monster/ | Autonomous Cookie Monster | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"autonomous cookie monster",
"autonomous robot",
"cookie monster",
"dj sures",
"microcontroller",
"pic",
"pic18f",
"pic18f4685",
"plushie",
"robot",
"trossen",
"wall-e"
] | [DJ Sures], who built the
autonomous Wall-E
, is back with another creation. His new
autonomous Cookie Monster
is certainly an interesting build. He had the cookie monster plush toy already so the first step was to flay the blue beast and insert a skeleton. He used another robot for that. There are two servos for the wheels plus one for each arm and one for the neck. There’s a distance sensor in the mouth. He built a custom board for the PIC18F4685 microcontroller which is running the same 2D mapping code as his previous bot. Check out the video of it in action below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVMWG0OgO4] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "50264",
"author": "Ty Johnson",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T00:05:13",
"content": "I, for one, welcome our cookie-eating, fun-loving, hug-wanting, kid-friendly, 2D mapping robot overlords.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "50266",
... | 1,760,377,732.104557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/best-new-science-inventions-2008/ | Best New Science Inventions 2008 | Kimberly Lau | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"best of",
"best of 2008",
"cake robot",
"electric plane",
"inventions",
"popsci",
"popular science",
"popularscience"
] | Not to be
outdone
, Popular Science published their
Best of What’s New 2008
and packed it with videos and photo galleries. Inspiring inventions include the
Pipistrel Taurus Electro
, the longest-flying two-seated electric plane, the
Intel Core 2 Duo Small Form Factor
, which you can thank for the thinner laptops like Apple’s
MacBook Air
, and the
GroundBot
, a spherical robot that can roll through the mud, sand, and snow. It’s not even the end of the year yet, but with all these great inventions, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2009.
[via
io9
] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "50248",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T22:28:33",
"content": "i wrote up a blue print for that sphere bot when i was in 7th grade still have it in fact they have yet to figure out my trick though but that is the basic design i wish i had the money to build this stuff i s... | 1,760,377,731.753672 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/neon-light-christmas-tree/ | Neon Light Christmas Tree | Kimberly Lau | [
"News"
] | [
"christmas",
"christmas lights",
"christmas tree",
"christmaslights",
"gareth pugh",
"neon",
"neon lights",
"tree",
"xmas"
] | Everyone always complains about the Christmas season coming earlier and earlier, but we think when we can have
Christmas trees like the one pictured above
, it’s not such a bad thing. Created by English fashion designer [Gareth Pugh], the tree features sixty white neon tubes, and is supported by a freestanding metal rod. It reminds us of the light sabers in Star Wars, which is probably why we like it so much. The tree is just a carrier for the decorations anyway, right? You can check out the tree in person at the TOPSHOP in Oxford Circus, London. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "50253",
"author": "Cyrozap",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T22:40:29",
"content": "first!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "50267",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2008-11-11T00:52:57",
"content": "i wonder if an equivalent ... | 1,760,377,732.014983 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/hacking-the-mini-cooper/ | Hacking The MINI Cooper | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"amplifier",
"car audio",
"mini cooper"
] | [war6763] sent us this
hack to power an amplifier in a MINI Cooper
. Apparently, aside from being unconventionally handsome, they’re also unconventionally wired. Amplifiers are generally wired to the ignition or stereo and turned on when the car is turned on. Due to some strange wiring, this just isn’t possible in the MINI Cooper. Some people use the cigarette lighter to power on their amplifier, but [war6763] wanted something that left his cigarette lighter free for other things. He built a circuit that monitors the cars built in USB input line and turns his amp on and off accordingly. The entire unit cost around $10.00. You can see the video demonstration after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-PZI8pOUxg] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "50232",
"author": "digitalmaddog",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T20:09:06",
"content": "not to knock you ( pretty cool idea) but how log did it take you to work this up — and what is really wrong with splicing into the cig lighter or accy harness from the key to turn on your amp — the am... | 1,760,377,732.152522 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/impressioning-at-lockcon/ | Impressioning At LockCon | Eliot | [
"cons",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"barry wels",
"hope",
"impressioning",
"key",
"key impressioning",
"lock",
"lockcon",
"lockpicking",
"the last hope",
"toool",
"video"
] | [Steffen Wernéry] has published a
video of the impressioning contest
at
LockCon
. We
learned about key impressioning
at this year’s
HOPE conference
. You start the process by inserting a key blank into the lock. By turning the lock until it stops and then moving the key up and down you create marks on the blank’s face. Take a file to those marks to remove the extra material and then repeat the process. Once the pins are set properly, they’ll stop leaving marks on the blank. It takes a lot of skill to do this right, but you end up with a perfectly functional key. [Barry Wels] managed to win the competition in 5:30 with second place coming in at 6 minutes. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "50243",
"author": "FlyinRyanIa",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T21:49:47",
"content": "I love reading these lock picking stories. Wish I had more time to get into doing it myself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "50294",
"author":... | 1,760,377,731.800691 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/kill-a-watt-teardown/ | Kill A Watt Teardown | Eliot | [
"home hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ac",
"kill a watt",
"killawatt",
"meter",
"power meter",
"powersave",
"sparkfun",
"teardown",
"ups"
] | Come on, folks. If we keep
tearing apart
everything that’s handed to us, we’ll never get nice things. SparkFun got their mitts on two
Kill A Watts
and proceeded to plug them into everything and then
dismantled them to see how they work
. The Kill A Watt keeps track of how much power is used over time. The largest load they found was their soda machine using 500W (should probably add a motion sensor to that). They plugged a meter on either side of a UPS and found out that it uses 5W just to charge. On the inside of the meter, there isn’t anything too substantial. One unlabeled IC runs the whole show. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "50212",
"author": "tony",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T18:34:16",
"content": "probably an micro controller with two analog to digital inputs and a shunt. calculate the current drawn from the voltage drop, multiply by line voltage to get watts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,732.495086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/10/waldflote-midi-controlled-pipe-organ/ | WaldFlöte: Midi Controlled Pipe Organ | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"midi",
"organ"
] | Members of Dorkbot Edinburgh have done what most of us would do if we had a 19th century pipe organ. They
hacked it to be midi controlled
. The organ is located above a cafe owned by the university of Edinburgh. Students have been repairing and modifying it to get it back in working order.
The electronics are composed of an Xilinx
Spartan-3E Starter Kit
as the brains and a
Microblaze
processor converting midi events for the solenoids. The cool thing is that none of this required any permanent modification to the organ itself. It can all be removed to put the organ back in normal playing condition. Check out the video after the break for some classical Van Halen.
[thanks Jonas] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "50202",
"author": "Orv",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T17:36:03",
"content": "One interesting point is that this isn’t the first MIDI-controlled pipe organ. Some larger pipe organs, especially theater organs, were originally built with electric actions, so converting to MIDI isn’t much ... | 1,760,377,732.35903 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/09/functional-etch-a-sketch-costume/ | Functional Etch A Sketch Costume | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"costume",
"dry erase",
"etch a sketch",
"etchasketch",
"halloween",
"howstuffworks",
"Iron Oxide + Aluminum Powder",
"portrait"
] | We love all of the creative Halloween costumes that have started trickling in now that the holiday is finally over, and people have found time to document their last minute projects. Take this
functional Etch A Sketch costume
made by [mazinbenny]. The knobs are lawnmower wheels. The pulley system is strung with 1/16″ wire rope to move a carrier for a dry erase marker. The marker draws directly on an acrylic screen. HowStuffWorks has a post on
how a real aluminum powder based Etch A Sketch works
.
We’ve covered more technical Etch A Sketch projects in the past. We’ve seen them
hooked up to computer mice
,
drawing portraits at Maker Faire
, and commenters have even suggested turning
mechanical dry erase boards
into giant Etch A Sketches. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "50147",
"author": "Reezy",
"timestamp": "2008-11-10T07:46:12",
"content": "Checkout the bender costume I made for my daughter, and the IRON MAN Proto type costume that I was quite impressed with. Note that both costumes are made primarily out of cardboard.http://www.facebook.com/pho... | 1,760,377,732.404917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/pcjr-25-years-later/ | PCjr 25 Years Later | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"anniversary",
"classic",
"dma",
"ibm",
"pcjr",
"trixter"
] | [Trixter], connoisseur of old hardware, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the PCjr. IBM’s PCjr was killed only 18th months after being revealed and [Trixter]
lays out exactly why
. Overall, it was designed to be cheap to produce and sell, but many of the choices made it difficult to use. They used the CPU instead of DMA for floppy access; cheaper to make, but you couldn’t do much during disk reads because of it. The video memory scheme left little room for programs that could take advantage of it. It also had compatibility issues that made IBM clones a more attractive choice. [Trixter] ends by pointing out that some good came of it when the Tandy 1000 copyied the good ideas while leaving out the restrictive memory issues. He recommends
Mike’s PCjr Page
for more information on this classic machine. | 24 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "49915",
"author": "michael fincham",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T07:57:33",
"content": "hoorah! thanks for posting this up :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49926",
"author": "michael fincham",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T08:... | 1,760,377,732.874715 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/adjustable-breadboard-power-supply/ | Adjustable Breadboard Power Supply | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"7805",
"adjustable voltage regulator",
"breadboard",
"power supply",
"ps",
"voltage regulator"
] | This looks like a great addition to your breadboard. [Nerdz] wanted a power supply that was easily portable and adjustable. He built a custom board that
plugs directly into the breadboard’s power rails
. It has a pot attached to the ground of a 7805 voltage regulator so the output can be adjusted from 5V to just under the supply voltage. Anything that makes a breadboard less of a rats nest is definitely a good thing. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "49906",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T05:46:26",
"content": "Very nice. The LM7805 will ensure the 5V no matter what DC supply is used (granted it is 5v or above since this is not a switching voltage regulator) but I would use a switching regulator to have something bett... | 1,760,377,733.061581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/business-card-avr-board-updated/ | Business Card AVR Board Updated | Eliot | [
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"AVR",
"breakout",
"breakout board",
"business card",
"isp",
"programmer",
"tennis for two",
"zif",
"zif socket"
] | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has
updated
their
business card AVR breakout boards
to version 1.1. We suspect the changes will probably make them even more popular. The boards are designed for the ATmegaXX8 family of microcontrollers. The center has all 28 pins labeled while either end has a prototyping area. An
in-system programming
header is also provided. For the new version, both prototyping areas have been increased to accommodate DIP14 packages. The holes for the microcontroller are now larger so that they can hold a ZIF socket. Finally, the power and ground traces have been expanded. We’ve always like the versatility of these boards, as demonstrated in the
Tennis for Two project
, and can’t help wondering if these updates were made to facilitate another project. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "49928",
"author": "electron",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T08:42:51",
"content": "These are a great idea. I would like to see something like this with surface mount pads for prototyping instead of all through hole. A combination of both would be good.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,377,732.765054 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/stripboard-drawdio/ | Stripboard Drawdio | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Portable Audio Hacks"
] | [
"drawdio",
"dylski",
"ladyada",
"stripboard"
] | When we posted about the
Drawdio release
, mentioned how simple the circuit was and that we wouldn’t be surprised if people adapted it. [Dylski] decided to
build it using stripboard
and parts he had laying around. He shows how he laid it out on paper so that it would fit on a 29×5 piece. It took some planning, but the end result is a perfectly functional as you can see in the video below.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/2170727]
[via
ladyada
] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "49898",
"author": "colecago",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T04:46:19",
"content": "That has to be the most annoying pencil conceived by man. I would like to purchase these and give them to my friends’ kids.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,377,732.918726 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/design-for-manufacture/ | Design For Manufacture | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cadsoft",
"cadsoft eagle",
"eagle",
"eagle 5",
"gerber",
"layout",
"sparkfun",
"tenting"
] | SparkFun has
posted an excellent guide
to the many different issues you could run into when you finally decide to get a circuit board professionally produced. We assume that most of you aren’t running a professional design firm and will appreciate these tips gleaned from years of experience. They provided a rule list,
Eagle
DRC, and CAM file to help you get it right the first time. The end goal is designing a board that won’t be prone to manufacturing errors. The tutorial starts by covering trace width and spacing. They recommend avoiding anything less than 10mil traces with 10mil spacing. For planes, they increase the isolation to 12mil to avoid the planes pouring onto a trace. They also talk about annular rings, tenting, labeling, and generating the appropriate gerber and drill files. SparkFun isn’t completely infallible though, and manages to
produce a coaster
from time to time.
SparkFun naturally followed up this strict tutorial with a guide to
unorthodox header hole placement
. If you want to learn more about Eagle, have a look at [Ian]’s
overview of Eagle 5
and
Ruin & Wesen’s layout videos
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "49885",
"author": "reza naima",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T02:07:40",
"content": "I don’t know what board house they use, but in my experience, you take the specifications provided by the manufacturer, and set your DRC rules to be equal to their limits. If they mess up, then you can ... | 1,760,377,732.810764 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/08/nintendo-dsi-teardown/ | Nintendo DSi Teardown | Eliot | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Nintendo DS Hacks",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"bunnie",
"dsi",
"nintendo",
"nintendo dsi",
"oled",
"sony",
"sony xel-1",
"teardown",
"xel1"
] | [bunnie] managed to pick up a
Nintendo DSi
while in Japan. It seems he had the device running less than an hour before he
tore it down for an impromptu hotel photoshoot
. There’s nothing too surprising and he mentions that the CPU certainly feels more capable than the previous model, which may explain the shorter battery life. The ARM processor sits under an RF shield directly below the
WiFi
card. The best photo is the top side of the board with every single debug point labeled in plain English on the silkscreen. We’re sure that’ll help with the development of
new homebrew hardware
.
[bunnie] has posted some interesting teardowns in the past. Have a look at his
Sony XEL-1 teardown
to see the inner workings of an OLED TV. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "49880",
"author": "epicelite",
"timestamp": "2008-11-09T00:49:16",
"content": "NUMBAH ONE!Also DSi is lame and only stupid people should buy it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49882",
"author": "Nubie",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,733.112317 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/07/ir-glass-level-detection/ | IR Glass Level Detection | Eliot | [
"computer hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"ir",
"johnny lee",
"microsoft surface",
"multitouch",
"paul dietz",
"rfid",
"surface"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG3_2lvoL8A]
[Johnny Lee]’s colleague [Paul Dietz] has done some interesting work using interactive tables. He’s specifically researched
how to determine how full a drink glass is
. In the video above, he’s using
Microsoft’s Surface
, but this technique should work with any IR camera based multitouch table. Determining the drink level requires custom glassware that has a small prism inside. When the liquid level is above the prism, light passes through, but when it’s below the top it reflects more IR light back into the table. Using this information, restaurant staff could serve drinks in a more efficient manner.
[Paul] has worked on another project that uses
RFID and capacitive sensing
to a similar effect. | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "49760",
"author": "jeremy",
"timestamp": "2008-11-08T00:52:26",
"content": "so you cant have a drink with ice in it, cuz that seems like it would messed this method up",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49761",
"author": "Webli... | 1,760,377,733.279799 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/07/catgenie-hacking/ | CatGenie Hacking | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"cat",
"catgenie",
"litterbox"
] | [ScottSEA] has six cats. As you can imagine, with six cats, a simple litter box just doesn’t cut it. [ScottSEA] uses the
CatGenie
. While a self cleaning cat toilet is a technical marvel, it has one major drawback. Much like an ink jet printer, it has disposable cartridges. Those cartridges, just ike some print cartridges, have a built in counter that disables them after so many uses. After adding up the totals for six cats worth of cartridge use, [ScottSEA] started hacking. He has posted directions on how to
manually refill them
, as well as
reset the internal counter
using an
Arduino
.
We suggest that he find a way to harness all that cat power for his home electronics. How many watts could you produce per cat? | 37 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "49735",
"author": "vsnine",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T22:06:44",
"content": "If only I could train the dog for one of these…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "4741826",
"author": "James T",
"timestamp": "2018-07-1... | 1,760,377,733.230943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/07/acidmods-custom-fps-controller/ | Acidmods Custom FPS Controller | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"acidmods",
"controller",
"fps",
"gamepad",
"xbox"
] | Yet another
custom X Box controller
has come out of the acidmods foundry. This one, specialized for FPS games opts for two analog sticks up front, and complete removal of the D pad and buttons. They break down the process quite nicely with very detailed pictures of how to modify the case and move the analog stick. Check out the video of it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VALa_jlQ8o]
As you may recall, this isn’t the first
FPS specific controller mod
we’ve seen from them.
[thanks Mark] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "49718",
"author": "panthar",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T18:42:08",
"content": "You have the link pointing to the WordPress admin page O.o",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49719",
"author": "fail",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T1... | 1,760,377,733.163875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/07/arduino-rc-airplane/ | Arduino RC Airplane | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"airplane",
"arduino",
"radio controlled",
"rc",
"wireless",
"xbee"
] | [Olivier] told us about this fantastic project where he
built his own RC airplane
. The airplane itself is nothing special, it is the controls that are worth paying attention to. He used an Arduino Diecemilla , some XBee transceivers, and a SparkFun Wee. The main site is a general overview, but there are links to more detailed breakdowns of how to build some of the parts. There are several videos of him flying it as well. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "49725",
"author": "tom",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T19:14:11",
"content": "I wonder how it compares with a futaba radio rig, esp. range and price. you could probably get good quality plastic shell with the levers for free if you ask around. actually , I think I will get one to control... | 1,760,377,733.327067 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/06/3d-printer-uses-office-paper/ | 3D Printer Uses Office Paper | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"3d",
"3d printer",
"a4",
"a4 paper",
"lom",
"matrix",
"mcor",
"mcor matrix",
"office paper",
"paper",
"printer",
"rapid prototyping",
"rp"
] | Mcor Technologies recently launched a brand new rapid prototyping machine. The
Mcor Matrix
forgoes the standard of expensive and rare build materials by using A4 office paper. The machine selectively deposits glue on the sheet of paper: more glue on the cross-section, less on the waste. It then uses a blade to cut out the part profile. The vertical resolution is determined by the paper thickness. You can use either 20lb paper, which has a thickness of .1mm, or 40lb, which is twice as thick, so it will build twice as fast. The final part can be sanded and painted like wood. The idea is similar to
LOM
, but those machines require specialized paper. It’s nice to see a company intentionally target a low cost of ownership. If they had used a laser though, you’d only have to worry about sourcing the glue. Machine and material prices have yet to be announced.
[via
Fabbaloo
] | 41 | 41 | [
{
"comment_id": "49554",
"author": "Insipid Melon",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T03:51:44",
"content": "I was hoping that it would use origami to make stuff. :(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49557",
"author": "veegeezee",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,733.429254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/06/official-arduino-ethernet-shield/ | Official Arduino Ethernet Shield | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino shield",
"ethernet",
"ethernet shield",
"ip",
"sd",
"shield",
"w5100",
"wiznet"
] | Arduino has just released an
official ethernet shield
. It’s based on the same WizNet W5100 chip that was used in the
tiny ethernet board
we covered earlier. The W5100 handles the full IP stack and can do TCP or UDP with four simultaneous sockets. The board has a power indicator plus six LEDs to debug the connection. It works with the standard
ethernet library
. The reset button resets the shield and the Arduino. The SD adapter is not currently supported by the
Arduino software
. | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "49588",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2008-11-07T06:49:43",
"content": "So Maybe I am slow but why would they put an unsupported SD card slot on there. I am all for it but I don’t see it doing anything so it makes me confused.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,377,733.482474 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/06/design-robots-to-hunt-humans/ | Design Robots To Hunt Humans | Kimberly Lau | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"military",
"militaryrobots",
"robots rule the world"
] | The
Department of Defense wants you to design a pack of robots
that would hunt humans. Or, as they put it, “search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject”. While the project brings to mind Terminators, there are also non-terrifying uses for these robots, including search and rescue missions. The robots should be about 100 kilograms or less, provide immediate feedback, and defer to a human operator in the event of a difficult decision. This project presents some interesting challenges for robot designers. They’ll need to consider several key issues, like robot cooperation and decision-making abilities. We knew it was only a matter of time before the DoD turned the
Grand Challenge
into
Death Race
.
[via
Warren Ellis
] | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "49510",
"author": "Nemf0",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T23:31:37",
"content": "I LOVE THIS! FIRST PosT!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49515",
"author": "rivetgeek",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T23:41:39",
"content... | 1,760,377,733.865258 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/06/install-osx-on-the-hp-touchsmart/ | Install OSX On The HP TouchSmart | Kimberly Lau | [
"computer hacks",
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"HP",
"HP TouchSmart",
"os x"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLoqu8G9oEo]
[Aaron Nelson] of
Hijinks Inc.
wrote up how
he installed OSX on his HP TouchSmart IQ507
. It looks and works like you would expect, save for a few things. The touchscreen works, but the calibration is so far off it’s useless. The most important things, like ethernet and the memory card reader, work fine. [Nelson]’s biggest frustration is that he has to disable the on board audio every time he logs in, so that the keyboard and mouse will be recognized. He is working on improvements, and would love to hear any suggestions you have. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "49511",
"author": "doug",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T23:33:37",
"content": "through the company I work for, we just bought a touchscreen iMac for a tradeshow kiosk. it utilizes our advertising application that we custom built to show customers all the ads we run…http://ads.mechanix.c... | 1,760,377,733.787445 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/04/election-night-holographic-interviews/ | Election Night Holographic Interviews | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"3d",
"election",
"gorillaz",
"hologram"
] | Instead of the normal head in a window or split screen display used when interviewing remote guests, [Wolf Blitzer] will be
interviewing 3d holograms
. Supposedly, they will be recording in a way that allows for 360 views to be projected on stage with [Wolf]. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how they plan to pull that off, but our suspicion is that it will be similar to the Gorillaz live performances. Join us after the break to watch one.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWNP2ty8hgg] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "49087",
"author": "pip",
"timestamp": "2008-11-04T21:24:33",
"content": "This does it. I’m leaving you.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49088",
"author": "theisovist",
"timestamp": "2008-11-04T21:44:28",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,733.74919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/colorize-your-election-party/ | Colorize Your Election Party | Eliot | [
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"cnn",
"colormixing",
"dmx",
"egradman",
"election",
"election results",
"eric",
"ikea",
"led",
"macetech",
"mame",
"mccain",
"obama",
"rgb",
"rgbLED",
"shiftbrite",
"trs80"
] | [Eric] has put together a simple python script to
scrape election results from CNN.com
. It uses urllib2 to return the popular and electoral votes for each party and throws an ElectionWon exception when CNN calls the race. He’s planning on hooking this to DMX controlled RGB LED lighting that will shift to either blue or red as the night progresses. It’s a great starting point if you want to pull off something similar.
You may remember [Eric] for building the
IKEA MAME table
and the
TRS-80 wireless terminal
.
[photo:
skenmy
]
UPDATE:
[Garrett] of macetech is
putting the finishing touches on his version
which uses 32
ShiftBrite
modules and 2 4-digit displays controlled by a
CuBLOC
. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "49022",
"author": "tricky",
"timestamp": "2008-11-04T02:40:05",
"content": "Oh, but how will I build this in less than 24 hours with Radioshack closed?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49023",
"author": "dirk",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,733.69135 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/inductive-charging-going-mainstream/ | Inductive Charging Going Mainstream | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"conductive",
"inductive charging",
"wireless charging"
] | The recent
announcement of Psyclone’s TouchCharge kit
has us moderately excited. Though inductive charging has been used in
electric toothbrushes
for ages, we have yet to see it infiltrate the rest of our lives. The kit is a bit pricey at the moment, but it is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, you have to have an adapter for your specific product and their selection is pretty limited right now. Why not
make your own
to power your devices? Warning: it is written from the perspective of [Arnold Schwarzanegger].
Update: Is the TouchCharge kit inductive? It appears to require contacts to touch the base. | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "48973",
"author": "dax",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T21:23:51",
"content": "I personally can’t wait to get rid of all these moronic wall warts. Maybe another 5 years? 10?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48980",
"author": "Coder... | 1,760,377,734.04901 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/rapidfire-wii/ | Rapidfire Wii Mod | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] | [
"acidmods",
"rapid fire",
"rapidfire",
"wii"
] | AcidMods is at it again. They just can’t bare having to push the fire button over and over on their own. They’ve made a
rapid fire mod for the wii
. They said the mod wasn’t too difficult as Nintendo labeled everything nicely on the PCB. We like that they have added the back light on the button to tell you that you’re in rapid fire mode.
[Thanks Mark] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "48976",
"author": "Mark",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T21:36:57",
"content": "Vimeo Killed the video for reasons “Gamming Video” so you can check it out herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRVgXtuNZVg",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,377,733.917631 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/wooden-retro-keyboard-build/ | Wooden Retro Keyboard Build | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"retro",
"steampunk",
"von slatt"
] | [phirzcol] sent us this cool step by
step build of a retro looking keyboard
, Inspired by [Von Slatt] and
his work
. [phirzcol] starts with a standard keyboard and removes the keys. He steams some wood to wrap the keyboard, then finishes it off nicely. The process of making the keys looks pretty grueling. Each key has 4 parts which have to be hand cut and assembled. A blue accent light is a nice touch as well. The keyboard looks pretty good, but we’d like to try typing on it for a while to see how usable it is. If it looks like too much effort, you can actually
buy it on ebay
. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "48949",
"author": "jim",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T17:31:16",
"content": "i’m not a massive fan of steampunk. if i spent a $100 on this, i’d be wishing i had an unmodified, good quality keyboard instead",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,377,733.975403 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/propeller-halloween-contest-winners/ | Propeller Halloween Contest Winners | Caleb Kraft | [
"contests",
"home hacks",
"News"
] | [
"animatronics",
"halloween",
"parallax",
"propeller",
"skeleton"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkUSjf0U-GU]
Meet Skelly, the propeller powered singing skeleton, winning entry to the
Unofficial Propeller Halloween Contest
. Sick of the massive amounts of Arduino projects floating around the web, [Oldbitcollector] offered a halloween challenge. Make something spooky using a
propeller and other parallax stuff
, win a prize. Skelly, made by [Chuck Rice] was the star of the show, so [Chuck] will be getting some USB development boards in the mail. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "48930",
"author": "Perry",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T15:44:57",
"content": "I hate to be the one to naysay, but there wasn’t anything that required an MCU in that skeleton. A spinny motor and a cam would have done all of that, just like the store bought animated stuff.",
"parent... | 1,760,377,734.31009 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/03/no-nintendo-dsi-homebrew/ | No Nintendo DSi Homebrew | Eliot | [
"handhelds hacks",
"News",
"Nintendo DS Hacks",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"dsi",
"handheld",
"homebrew",
"nintendo",
"Nintendo DS",
"nintendo dsi",
"portable",
"region free",
"region locked",
"videogame"
] | The latest version of the
Nintendo DS
, the
DSi
, has officially launched in Japan. It features larger dual touchscreens, dual cameras, and an SD card slot. The members of GBAtemp.net have decided to tackle the most important question:
will it run homebrew
? Current DS systems just need a purpose built flash cartridge to load homebrew software (usually stored on MicroSD). Forum members have tested at least 10 different flash carts, and
none of them worked
. While not completely exhaustive it’s proof enough to us that current generation carts will not work. We hope this is something that can patched with a new firmware. Most carts load their firmware off the flash, so upgrades are easy. The blocking of homebrew maybe a side-effect of Nintendo’s announced
region-locking on the DSi
.
We hope this gets sorted out soon. Maybe we’ll see hackers figure out how to take advantage of the SD slot instead. If you’ve got a Nintendo DS, there’s no excuse not to be playing with homebrew. It’s as easy as copying files to a card. We’ve had success with the DSTT, which you can
find on DealExtreme for just $10
.
[via
Gizmodo
] | 44 | 44 | [
{
"comment_id": "48928",
"author": "DigitalMind",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T15:20:26",
"content": "I’ve bought 2 of those cards for family. I bought them from difference places, one of the cards went in the back where you regularly put your game cards, and the other went into the front in the slot w... | 1,760,377,734.22639 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/06/gyro-controlled-game/ | Gyro Controlled Game | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"game",
"gyro",
"gyroscopic",
"powerball"
] | [Eric] sent in this cool project that he did as part of his graduation project. He built
a game that uses a gyroscope as an input device
. For the gyroscope, he’s using a
Powerball
with a sensor inserted into it. This data is gathered by an Arduino in a pretty enclosure. The whole unit connects to a PC
via
USB
and is supposedly plug and play. There’s a video of the setup in action on the site, just try not to laugh too hard watching them. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "49498",
"author": "ion",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T21:39:49",
"content": "Cool I have a Powerball",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49501",
"author": "error404",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T22:15:53",
"content": "Sigh, wro... | 1,760,377,734.271646 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/05/minimalist-led-light-detecting-candle/ | Minimalist LED Light Detecting Candle | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"attiny13",
"AVR",
"candle",
"led",
"sprite_tm"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPe5RtUOOdc]
Our
flickering LED circuit
combined two known circuit, and certainly wasn’t graceful because of it. [sprite_tm] saw quite a few areas
where the circuit could be reduced
. He ended up taking it down to just two LEDs, a battery, and an ATtiny13. The first step was getting rid of the current limiting resistors. The datasheet shows that with a 3V supply the AVR will limit the current well below the maximum current. The light sensor was removed next. [sprite_tm] referenced an earlier post on
sensing with LEDs
. He measures the voltage across one of the LEDs while it is off to see how much light is hitting it. The current draw while on is 10mA and 50uA while off. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "49215",
"author": "Fool2cool",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T02:58:09",
"content": "Elliot you mentioned battery twice in the description :) Brilliant bit of work otherwise good job sprite you obviously know your stuff very well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,377,734.443162 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/05/getting-root-on-the-g1/ | Getting Root On The G1 | Eliot | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"g1 hacks",
"Security Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"google",
"root",
"telnet",
"telnetd",
"terminal",
"tmobile",
"tmobile g1"
] | If you’ve been holding off on a
T-Mobile G1
purchase because you didn’t like the apparent user restrictions, there’s some good news. The
Android
powered phone comes with an easy button for getting root. Install a terminal app and you can
manually start the telnetd service
. All that’s left is telenetting into the device and it’ll give you root level access. | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "49195",
"author": "Taylor Alexander",
"timestamp": "2008-11-06T01:32:18",
"content": "I really can’t wait till more hacks come in, I’ll get an android phone when it:A) Has been released in a flavor that works with ATT 3G service,andb) has been hacked wide open.-Taylor",
"parent_... | 1,760,377,734.564965 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/05/arduino-wireless-rotating-pov/ | Arduino Wireless Rotating POV | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"POV"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QMV4mRVpo4]
got an old cdrom and an Arduino laying around? Why not make it into a
spinning POV display
. It was built using parts from a floppy drive and a cdrom, as well as an Arduino and a small wireless transceiver. Using an IR sensor to detect rotations, the Arduino sends data to the LEDs. The wireless is used when sending new messages to the device. The link is in Spanish, so here’s the
Google Translation
.
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "49174",
"author": "rivetgeek",
"timestamp": "2008-11-05T22:15:50",
"content": "that was a really long video for only having 5 seconds of actual POV video…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49188",
"author": "Eric",
"timest... | 1,760,377,734.646727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/05/lcd-that-scans-fingerprints/ | LCD That Scans Fingerprints | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"fingerprint",
"lcd",
"scanner",
"uv"
] | AU Optronics Corp has unveiled a new
LCD panel that doubles as a fingerprint scanner
. Each pixel is equipped with 4 optical sensors, so a 320×240 screen would have a scanning resolution of 640×480. They have also experimented with different sensors, such as UV. You can see an LCD panel that detects and displays the UV index above. Why did they use a secondary display to show the data though?
[via
Gearlog
] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "49160",
"author": "kirk",
"timestamp": "2008-11-05T19:36:47",
"content": "maybe so you can read stuff while your finger is covering the screen",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "49161",
"author": "chris",
"timestamp": "2008... | 1,760,377,734.502212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/05/whiteboard-pong/ | Whiteboard Pong | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"News"
] | [
"pong",
"projection"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azP-1Ja1GLc]
It seems like there is a pre requisite that any technology demo should include pong. It may not be new tech, but we’ve
never seen pong played like this
. It seems like it could get pretty hectic if it were to be sped up.
[via
Gizmodo
] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "49154",
"author": "Mark Carlson",
"timestamp": "2008-11-05T18:15:52",
"content": "Neat, at first, I thought it was going to be low-tech, like nethack on a whiteboard:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6_TsYZRb3EBut it actually looks like a fun game to play… if it were sped up.",
"p... | 1,760,377,734.700212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/04/multi-color-fog-spreader/ | Multi-Color Fog Spreader | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"election",
"fog",
"led"
] | Though we’re pretty sure this was meant for Halloween, we think it would be a perfect addition to your election night party. [marc92] shows us how he built a
fog spreader with red or blue lighting
. Fog machines generally spit out the fog from a single point, relying on the breeze to spread it around. [marc92] wanted it spread a little more evenly, as well as some nice mood lighting. He built a pipe system that would emit fog from a much larger area. Mounted on the pipe are red and blue LEDs. Mix this with some of the
election lighting systems
and you’re set for a party. We know this is an extremely simple project, so it should give you plenty of time to get out and vote before the polls close. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "49104",
"author": "dirk",
"timestamp": "2008-11-05T01:41:14",
"content": "It should be noted that tubing of any kind tends to significantly increase the amount of condensed fog fluid on the floor, and that stuff is gross.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,734.607318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/01/shmoocon-registration-opens/ | ShmooCon Registration Opens | Eliot | [
"cons",
"News"
] | [
"con",
"convention",
"data recovery",
"gsm",
"gsm cracking",
"hacker convention",
"shmoocon",
"shmoocon2009",
"ssd"
] | November 1st means that registration for
ShmooCon 2009
has opened. The DC hacker convention is entering the fifth year. They’re releasing the tickets in blocks; after today’s are gone the next won’t be available till December 1st. Today is also the closing of first round consideration for their call for papers, but you still have another month before the final deadline.
We’ve always enjoyed our time at ShmooCon. In 2008 we saw talks on
cracking GSM encryption
and
recovering data from SSDs
. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,377,734.937167 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/31/exersize-for-a-good-cause-cold-beer/ | Exersize For A Good Cause, Cold Beer | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"News"
] | [
"beer",
"chill",
"cooling",
"excersize"
] | It can sometimes be difficult to decide what items we want to fill space in our homes. Our health is valued highly, as is our ability to consume cold beer. Someone out there must have been thinking of us when they designed this
exersize bike that chills your beer
. Admittedly, it won’t chill it as fast as some other methods
we’ve tried
. We also may end up forcing our friends and loved ones to do the actual chilling, but beer tastes better when cooled by slave labor anyway. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "48554",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T20:16:44",
"content": "hahaha im totally going to build one of those i have an air compressor and an old shwin in the basement[woo first comment]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,734.890634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/31/horrifyingly-wonderful-hexapod-dancing/ | Horrifyingly Wonderful Hexapod Dancing | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"dance",
"hexapod",
"mambo",
"robot"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUH3m6ZyW-g]
We don’t know whether to be horrified, or elated at the sight of this dancing hexapod. Yeah, it isn’t a hack. It isn’t even a build article. But if there is ever a time to post a six legged dancing head with glowing red eyes, it is today, Halloween. Enjoy.
[via
BotJunkie
] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "48511",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T17:10:46",
"content": "Wow, I bet tons of work went into building that thing. Though this choice of display is well… less than ideal for showing off such technology, it does show how robust this build really is.Imagine some sort of... | 1,760,377,735.104508 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/31/asus-eee-pc-for-200-in-2009/ | ASUS Eee Pc For $200 In 2009 | Caleb Kraft | [
"Netbook Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"Asus",
"eee pc"
] | Promises, promises, promises. The
$200 Eee PC is supposedly coming in 2009
, according to chairman Johnny Shih. No word on whether it will be a 10 inch screen, but it seems possible as they have stated they are phasing out the smaller models. Other interesting facts were divulged, such as 70% of them are now loaded with Windows XP and hard drives.
[via
Engadget
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "48504",
"author": "_Matt",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T16:12:42",
"content": "i <3 my eee pc 1000hi did choose the hard drive over the ssd, since the ssd wasn’t exactly blazing fast.my favorite thing about this is that it can play up to 1080p video, and I’m not tethered to a power outl... | 1,760,377,734.989376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/31/hexbug-brain-transplant/ | Hexbug Brain Transplant | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hex bug",
"hexbug",
"microcontroller",
"pic"
] | The Hex Bug, at $10, proves to be
a perfect platform for building your own droid
. Out of the box, it has pretty limited functionality. It walks forward until its antennae bump something, then it backs up and turns left. Applied inspirations shows us how you can replace the bug’s brains with a microcontroller to give it much more life. Instead of hacking into the existing electronics, they chose to completely replace the board. The final result, though still only able to turn one direction, is much more robust. They discuss the ability to add numerous sensors as well as pre program different behaviours and personalities. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "48502",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T15:57:08",
"content": "I love it!However, wouldn’t it be easier to hack the existing antennae system to give the reverse/turn process more time to avoid left-hand obstacles?Seems like a strategically-inserted timer circuit m... | 1,760,377,735.042107 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/30/how-to-usb-remote-control-receiver/ | How-to: USB Remote Control Receiver | Ian | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"how-to",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"computer remote control",
"decode ir signals",
"electronics",
"how-to",
"IR remote",
"logic analyzer",
"pc remote control",
"remote",
"remote control",
"usb ir receiver",
"usb remote"
] | Now that we listen to
MP3s
, and watch XVIDs or x264s, a computer is the entertainment center in at least one room of most homes. Unless you have a special HTPC, though, you’re probably stuck using the keyboard to pause, change the volume, and fast-forward through annoying Mythbusters recaps. PC remote control receivers range from ancient serial port designs (who has one?) to USB devices not supported by popular software. In this how-to we design a USB infrared receiver that imitates a common protocol supported by software for Windows, Linux, and
Mac
. We’ve got a full guide to the protocol plus schematics and a parts list.
Design overview
Remote controls transmit data on an modulated infrared beam. An infrared receiver IC separates the modulated beam into a clean stream of 0s and 1s. The data stream is decoded by a microcontroller and sent to a computer over a USB connection. Software processes the codes and triggers actions on the computer.
Background
Computer infrared receivers
The
oldest PC infrared receiver design
uses a receiver IC to toggle a serial port pin, usually DCD. This design probably originated on
Usenet
, and it’s still the most popular on the web:
Engadget
,
Instructables
, etc. These aren’t true serial devices because they don’t send data to the PC. Instead, a computer program times pulses on the serial port and demodulates the signal. This is a super simple design, but it depends on direct interrupt access and timing precision that’s no longer available in Windows. Linux or Mac users can try this receiver, if you still have a serial port. We couldn’t get this type of receiver to work with the serial port on a modern Windows XP PC, and don’t expect the precise timing to transfer through a USB->serial converter.
Some more advanced infrared receivers are true serial port devices that measure or decoding infrared signals before sending data to the computer. The
UIR/IRMan
and
UIR2
incorporate a classic PIC 16F84, but don’t provide firmware and/or source code. These devices should work on a modern computer, through a USB->serial converter if necessary. The
USBTINY
and
USBIRBOY
are native USB devices, but lack wide support.
Receiver software
Regardless of receiver type, the computer needs a program to listen for incoming remote commands and convert them to actions on the computer. Linux and Mac users have
LIRC
, which supports a bunch of different receiver types. Windows users are a bit less fortunate.
WinLIRC
is an abandoned Windows port of LIRC for simple interrupt-based serial port receivers; WinLIRC was last developed in 2003.
Girder
was originally a freeware PC automation utility, but has become expensive bloatware with a 30 day trial. Fortunately, the last
freeware version of Girder (3.2.9b)
is still available for download.
Working with IR remote protocols
Decoding IR signals
Remote controls encode commands in the spacing or timing of a 38KHz carrier pulse, [San Bergmans] has an
explanation of the principals involved
. An infrared receiver IC separates the data stream from the carrier. Our job is to decode the data stream with a microcontroller. There are dozens of remote control protocols, but Phillips’
RC5
is widespread and commonly used by hobbyists.
RC5 is stream of 14 equal length bits of exactly 1.778ms per bit time. A pulse during the first half of the bit time represents 0, a pulse in the second half represents 1. This scheme is called
Manchester coding
.
We used a logic analyzer to examine the output of a Happauge WinTV remote control, a
known
RC5 remote. The diagram shows two presses of the 1 button, and two presses of the 2 button; note that the output is inversed and the Manchester coding is backwards from the above description.
The first two bit times are start bits, followed by a toggle bit. The toggle bit inverses each time a button is pressed so the receiver can tell the difference between a hold and a repeated press. The next 5 bits are the address (0b11110=0x1E), followed by the command (0b000001=0x01, 0b000010=0x02). A backwards compatible extension to RC5 uses the second start bit as command bit 7.
Representing remote codes to the computer
Looking at previous designs, we saw three general methods of communicating remote commands to a computer:
Protocol specific receivers decode one protocol, and send actual decoded commands to the PC
A more general type of receiver measures the timing and spacing of each pulse and sends the full waveform to the PC for analysis.
Some receivers create a unique hash for a signal, but don’t actually include enough data to fully recreate the waveform.
While our preference is towards the general hash method, our only remote uses RC5 and it was more interesting to build an RC5 specific decoder. We describe modifications for a more general version in the firmware section.
Computer interface protocol
We didn’t want to write our own receiver software or driver, so we looked for an existing, well established communication protocol to imitate. The UIR/IRMAN/IRA/CTInfra/Hollywood+ type receiver is supported by Girder and LIRC, and uses a
simple serial protocol with handshake
:
The device is initialized by the DTS and DTR pins of the serial port. We don’t have these and don’t care.
The computer sends “IR”, with an optional delay. The device replies “OK”. We’ll just send “OK” on every “R”
Remote control codes are sent as a unique six byte hash. We’ll decode an RC5 signal and send the actual values, but a generic hash could be used instead.
This protocol is for a serial port device, but our USB receiver will appear as a virtual serial port and the program won’t know the difference.
Hardware
Click here for a full size schematic
(png). Our receiver is based on a USB enabled PIC
18F2455
microcontroller, the smaller, cheaper version of the 18F2550. The 18F family is programmable with the hobbyist favorite
JDM-style programmers
if
a diode is used
to drop VPP to a safe level. The PIC gets one decoupling capacitor (C1), and a diode (D1) and resistor(R1) on the
ICSP programming header
. We exposed the serial port on a pin header for debugging or a mixed USB/serial port version using a
MAX RS232 transceiver
IC.
The USB peripheral requires a 20MHz external clock (Q1, C5,6), and a .220uF capacitor. We faked the capacitor using 2 x .1uF decoupling capacitors (C2,3). A 3mm LED (LED1) and a 330ohm current limiting resistor (R2) show USB connection status.
We used a TSOP-1738 infrared receiver IC which calls for a 4.7uF decoupling capacitor (C4). If you can’t find this particular IC,
any receiver listed here
should work. The TSOP-1738 output is the inverse of the received signal, it pulls to ground when a pulse is detected, so a pull-up resistor (R3) holds the pin high when no signal is present. Check if you use a different receiver, you may need to use a pull-down resistor and reverse the Manchester decoding routine in the firmware.
The circuit draws power from the USB bus, so we don’t need an additional power supply.
Parts list
Click here for a full size placement diagram
(png).
The PCB design is 100% through-hole and single sided. The schematic and PCB were made with
Cadsoft Eagle
, freeware versions are available for most platforms. All the files are included in the
project archive
(zip).
Part
Description
IC1
PIC 18F2455
—
28 pin .300 socket
C1,2,3
0.1uF capacitor
C4
4.7uF capacitor
C5,6
27pF capacitor
(
15pF
might be better)
D1
1N4181 diode
Q1
20MHz crystal
R1,3
10K ohm resistor
R2
330 ohm resistor
TSOP
TSOP1738 (obsolete, try
TSOP1138
)
USB
USB ‘B’ plug, female
SER
.1″ pin header
ICSP
.1″ pin header
Firmware
The firmware is written in C using Microchip’s free demonstration
C18 compiler
. Firmware and source are included in the
project archive
(zip).
We used
version 2.3 of Microchip’s USB stack
to create a USB serial port using the default drivers already available on most systems. The USB stack has simple functions to enumerate the USB device and transfer data between device and host. It only took a few pin changes to get the CDC demonstration working on our custom hardware.
Our implementation of the UIR/IRMAN/IRA/CTInfra/Hollywood+ protocol simply responds to the letter ‘R’ with ‘OK’. This should satisfy the handshake requirements of any implementation of this protocol.
We chose to specifically decode RC5 (and RC5x) because it’s a widely used protocol, and the only type of remote we have to work with. Most of the decoding is done in the interrupt handler:
The first signal change triggers an interrupt that starts a 889us (one-half bit period) timer.
On each timer interrupt, one-half of a Manchester coded bit is sampled.
Every other interrupt the measurements are compared, and the bit value is calculated to be 0, 1, or an error. Errors reset the decoding routing.
At the end of each transmission the address and command bytes are decoded, and sent to the host with 4 buffer bytes(0). We discard the toggle bit because it would confuse the PC software into thinking every other press was a unique code. We append the second start bit to the command bit for RC5x compliance; this just adds 0x40 to non RC5x remote codes.
A more general version can be made by removing the Manchester coding step (3), and sending 48 sample bits (all 6 bytes) to the computer.
Installing the USB infrared receiver
Most operating systems already have drivers that support a virtual serial port device like the receiver. Windows XP has the required drivers, but needs help from an .inf file to properly associate them with our device.
Windows will show the new hardware dialog the first time you plug in the receiver. Choose to use a custom driver and point it to the .inf file included in the
project archive
(zip). This links the device to a driver already included in Windows, and adds the receiver as a COM port. You can check the COM port number in the control panel.
Mac and Linux users can use the receiver with LIRC, but Windows users will be faced with the choice of the old, freeware Girder, or the new, 30-day trial shareware version. We used the freeware version of Girder, but hope you guys can suggest a great, open source alternative that we overlooked.
Regardless of the computer-side control software you use, configure it for a UIR/IRMAN/IRA/CTInfra/Hollywood+ style receiver, and enter the COM port or serial address assigned to it. Our receiver is also compatible with any protocol options like ‘Fast UIR Init’ and ‘Skip UIR Init Check’, which shorten or eliminate the “IR”->”OK” handshake. Now test the receiver and add a remote according to the documentation for your software.
Manual terminal interface and debugging
If you have a problem with the receiver, or you’re just curious, try to interface it from a serial terminal. We really like the serial terminal on
Hercules
. Set the correct COM port, but the speed and configuration settings are ignored by the USB serial port driver.
A capital ‘R’ will prompt the receiver to reply ‘OK’. RC5 codes are returned as raw bytes, so be sure to set your terminal to show HEX values rather than interpret it as
ASCII
text. The first byte is the RC5 address byte (0x1E), followed by the command byte (0x41), and then four buffer 0s to comply with the UIR/IRman protocol. The image shows the handshake, and the output of a short press on the 1,2, and 3 buttons.
A free utility called
Portmon
logs COM port activity for review. This is helpful for spying on existing receiver protocols, and debugging the interaction of our custom hardware and closed/proprietary software. The image shows Girder sending the initialization string ‘IR’ (0x49,0x52), and the receiver reply ‘OK’ (0x4F,0x4B).
Taking it further
Our RC5x compliant receiver follows a widely used interface protocol. There’s a ton of possibilities for additional features in an open source infrared receiver:
Support all remotes through a generic hash generator, like the original UIR/IRman hardware.
Add additional remote protocol decoders, like
RC6
.
Support multiple, configurable interface protocols.
Implement the serial port I/O.
Store configuration options in EEPROM, including protocol, interface mode, timing options, serial port, etc. | 126 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "48419",
"author": "Bryan",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T02:47:07",
"content": "I’ve wanted something like this for a long time…thank you thank you thank you…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48422",
"author": "theweirdness",
... | 1,760,377,735.294086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/30/asymmetric-gear-heart-sculpture/ | Asymmetric Gear Heart Sculpture | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"asymmetric",
"gears",
"sculpture",
"video",
"waxy"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dKZjP4NOo]
Here’s a video of a mindbending piece of papercraft engineering. We’d love to see a 3D model for this heart to at least have a starting point when designing our own. The
creator’s site
is in Japanese though, so it’s hard to glean any insight into his process. Embedded below is a similar cube version.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfspDCpVDTw]
[via
Waxy
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "48397",
"author": "hanson",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T00:57:43",
"content": "Wow! Makes me want to make one!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48405",
"author": "bazacko",
"timestamp": "2008-10-31T01:10:21",
"content":... | 1,760,377,735.463716 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/aspire-one-3g-hack/ | Aspire One 3G Hack | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"laptops hacks",
"Netbook Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"3g",
"acer",
"acer aspire one",
"aspire one",
"dell",
"dell mini 9",
"hsdpa",
"jkk",
"jkkmobile",
"mini-PCIe",
"sim",
"tnkgrl",
"wifi"
] | [tnkgrl] is back with
part three of her Acer Aspire One hacking
. This time she’s adding in 3G. You may look at the picture the above and think, “Cake. She just plugged the card in”. No, the Acer doesn’t ship with the mini-PCIe slot or the SIM card holder. First you have to solder a right angle mini-PCIe connector to the board pads and bridge two others to provide power. The SIM holder was another problem. She wasn’t able to find a pin compatible one. The one she installed is mounted to a riser so she could change the wiring order (let her know if you can find the correct part). This mod definitely requires some good soldering skills and she warns that even she managed to destroy a SIM in the process.
The Dell Mini 9 is another netbook that doesn’t have the appropriate connectors soldered on board, but
JKK has a work-around
. You need a 3G modem that has the SIM card on board. You plug it into the WiFi slot after taping over a few pins and then use a USB WiFi card instead. | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "48103",
"author": "Andrew Pollack",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T10:05:03",
"content": "Bravo! Its good to see a really great hack again, and this one is useful, functional, and a great example of hack-fu.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,377,735.185492 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/28/arduino-gameboy-killer/ | Arduino Gameboy Killer | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"News",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"game boy",
"gameboy"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgKSLxRPtu8]
For roughly $250, you too can have this
sweet bit of gadgetry
based off of the
Arduino platform
. It is open source, and has some pretty impressive specs. Sporting a rumble pack, lithium ion battery,
OLED
display, and space for expanson. You can buy the pieces pre assembled, or as a kit. If you get the kit, you’ll see that the controller board has been laid out so that you can solder your buttons and joystick in as either left handed or right handed. The only problem? No games yet. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "48023",
"author": "Alex ~",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T01:03:23",
"content": "Very impressive.i was meaning to look into driving an lcd (read: 3300) screen with an arduino, guess it could be done quite easily if it can run an OLED in colour.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,735.515194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/28/autonomous-wall-e/ | Autonomous Wall-E | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"robot",
"wall-e",
"walle",
"wally"
] | [djsures] went crazy on his
Interactive Wall-E toy
. Wall-E just didn’t have enough bounce in his step, so [djsures] decided to give him an overhaul. He went through the entire robot and replaced most of the joints with servos, giving much more control and adding head tilt. All of this was wired to a microcontroller housed in Wall-E’s body. The distance sensor was mounted in Wall-E’s neck, so when he turns his head, he’s actually surveying his surroundings. Check out the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdV3zfvbF5Q]
There’s lots of great info in this instructable, from specifics on how he did certain parts to links about how servos and microcontrollers work. Great job [djsures]. | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "48010",
"author": "Bryan Thielbar",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T23:06:13",
"content": "Dude that is so awesome… I want to build one asap… send me infospdexl@gmail.com…I would buy this for you if you wanted to build another.Bryan",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,737.284496 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/28/e-ink-shows-off-the-am300-developer-kit/ | E Ink Shows Off The AM300 Developer Kit | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"News"
] | [
"am300",
"e-ink"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n2xxqMQyfY]
The
AM300 developer’s kit
, shown in this video, has some pretty cool new features. It has the ability to show much faster animations than before, as well as having 16 bit gray scale image rendering and pen input. The animations look pretty quick, they mention this being useful for diagrams and advertisements. We just can’t wait to have our newspaper look like its covered with annoying flash banners and animated gifs. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "47998",
"author": "Jack",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T21:15:59",
"content": "it’s 4 bit , 16 levels of gray.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48003",
"author": "G Beardrondo",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T21:53:58",
"content... | 1,760,377,737.597919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/28/cellular-automata-and-led-matrix-fun/ | Cellular Automata And LED Matrix Fun | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"automata",
"cellular",
"led",
"matrix",
"multiplex"
] | Blinkomat, an LED matrix
, turned out quite well. 240 LEDs controlled by an Atmega 16 is what we call a decent bookshelf decoration. The dimensions of 12×20 were chosen due to the fact that the microcontroller has 32 I/O lines. The LEDs are switched on and off using
multiplexing
. The brightness, controlled by pulse width modulation can be varied by 16 levels. The overall effect is quite smooth an fun to look at. He has programmed it to do other things than just cellular automata. Our personal favorite is a simple sine wave. Watch it after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udbwu2lItB4]
Last week, we covered a smaller, but equally cool
automata simulator using charlieplexing
. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "47955",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T15:48:35",
"content": "Mommy?What’s an OGGZ?(seriously? wtf?)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47956",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T15:50:58",
"content": "P.S... | 1,760,377,737.334619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/27/flaming-lips-guitar-hero-mod/ | Flaming Lips Guitar Hero Mod | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"ew",
"flaming lips",
"guitar hero",
"kaossilator",
"korg"
] | Here’s a fun little suprise that showed up in a recent Flaming Lips interview. Frontman Wayne Coyne built this custom guitar rig out of a double-necked Epiphone. It has a neck from a Guitar Hero controller, which triggers a built in KORG
Kaossilator
touchpad synthesizer. Checkout the
video interview at around 1:55 for a demo
. He went with the Guitar Hero controller because he feels that it’s replacing regular guitars in childrens’ perception of how guitar is played.
[via
Joystiq
] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "47891",
"author": "theweirdness",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T00:45:51",
"content": "Thats pretty slick!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47893",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2008-10-28T01:07:53",
"content": "this act... | 1,760,377,737.218715 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/27/making-the-psp-not-so-portable/ | Making The PSP Not So Portable | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"Playstation Hacks",
"PSP Hacks"
] | [
"psp"
] | [alien x] has posted this
peculiar hack for a PSP
. He has gutted and splayed the
PSP
spreading its insides neatly and mounting them on a plexiglass back. Everything is easily accessible and ready to tinker with. It may not fit in your pocket, but adding mods and experimenting with ideas should be much easier like this. It looks pretty cool too, we want one for our office wall. That could be possible too, he’s selling it.
[thanks doodle] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "47859",
"author": "kurf",
"timestamp": "2008-10-27T17:19:57",
"content": "a rebuild and redesign adding new features to the device like bluetooth audio, don’t know if the psp already has that, or more memory. It’s not quite as complicated a breakdown as I first thought but still int... | 1,760,377,737.438439 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/26/smart-phone-hacking-roundup/ | Smart Phone Hacking Roundup | Eliot | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"g1 hacks",
"iphone hacks",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"baseband",
"boingboinggadgets",
"G1",
"iphone",
"iphone 3G",
"minicom",
"ssh",
"tmobile",
"video"
] | [vimeo 2049219]
T-Mobile’s G1
was released last week and there has been
at least one Android vulnerability announced already
. The New York Times reported on research done by [Charlie Miller], who also helped find one of the first
iPhone
bugs, so we think the report is fairly credible. Last year, we saw him deliver a
seminar on real world fuzzing
at ToorCon 9. It covered exactly how they found the iPhone bug.
If you just want to use a G1 without service, you can
activate it with any T-Mobile SIM card
.
Above is Boing Boing Gadgets’ concise
video review of Griffin AirCurve
. It’s garbage. We first talked about it in our
loaded horn post
because it looked like something fun to redesign.
The iphone-dev team published a video today showing
access to the iPhone’s baseband processor
. They connect to the device over ssh and then use minicom to issue AT commands. They’re writing custom AT commands for full control. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "47795",
"author": "kyle",
"timestamp": "2008-10-26T23:23:14",
"content": "Incorrect video for the post.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47796",
"author": "kyle",
"timestamp": "2008-10-26T23:23:53",
"content": "scratc... | 1,760,377,737.483808 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/26/adafruit-arduino-sale/ | Adafruit Arduino Sale | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"adafruit",
"arduino",
"microcontroller",
"sale"
] | With the
release of the Arduino Duemilanove
, Adafruit is trying to shift out some old stock Arduino Diecimila by
offering 10% off
. [amk]
noted
that the new Duemilanove is not so much an upgrade as an Arduino with a new hat. The only changes were autoselecting power and a cutable reset line. The best part about the Adafruit sale is they’re offering Atmega328s preloaded with the Arduino bootloader as a $5 upgrade. The Atmega328 gives you twice the flash memory, twice the RAM, and twice the EEPROM than the original Atmega168. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "47769",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2008-10-26T19:02:39",
"content": "lamersssss",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47773",
"author": "tom",
"timestamp": "2008-10-26T19:40:23",
"content": "sell outs……",
"parent_... | 1,760,377,737.543991 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/25/tiny-optical-theremins/ | Tiny Optical Theremins | Eliot | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"buzzer",
"matrixsynth",
"synth",
"theremin"
] | Matrixsynth
pointed out
a couple incredibly small optical theremins that look like they’d make for a great afternoon project. [AlexArt]
first built the simple circuit
on a piece of protoboard (Google translated). Knowing he could go smaller, he then
built it freeform with a buzzer
instead of a full size speaker. The design is based around the common 555 chip and photoresistor.
Here’s a simple circuit
you can use to lay out your own. The optical theremin should not be confused with the traditional RF theremin since the name comes from the similar sound, not similar construction. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "47708",
"author": "kurf",
"timestamp": "2008-10-25T23:18:59",
"content": "I would love to see a whole group of these working together.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47718",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2008-10-26T00... | 1,760,377,737.386776 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/24/coin-slot-detector/ | Coin Slot Detector | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks",
"Security Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"coin slot",
"coin slot cream",
"hulu",
"lilypad",
"lilypad arduino",
"neutrogena",
"wearable"
] | Wow, how quickly the wearable electronics world has slid into the gutter. They’re now resigned to watching our nations finest natural resource, the butt crack. This project by [semiotech] uses a
LilyPad Arduino
to
monitor the exposure of the wearer’s coin slot
. It detects the presence of light with a photoresistor and alerts the user with the vibrations of a pager motor. This breakthrough in coin slot technology will prevent dryness and certainly reduce our exposure to domestic terrorism. We see plenty of room for future development; the Arduino is already capable of logging exactly how often your coin slot is exposed. Even if you feel this is more protection than your coin slot needs, we recommend
Neutrogena’s Coin Slot Cream
for general upkeep. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "47640",
"author": "Insipid Melon",
"timestamp": "2008-10-25T06:04:48",
"content": "Hey guys, wanna go hang out at Instructables?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47648",
"author": "dirk",
"timestamp": "2008-10-25T06:38:06... | 1,760,377,737.166613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/24/led-life-and-charlieplexing/ | LED Life And Charlieplexing | Eliot | [
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"charlieplexing",
"conways game of life",
"game of life",
"gpio",
"led",
"led matrix",
"leds",
"life",
"msp430",
"video"
] | Yesterday, we featured [Andrew]’s
orientation aware camera
. We want to highlight another one of his projects:
LED Life
. It’s a 6×5 LED matrix playing Conway’s Game of Life. He used the low power MSP430
like our e-paper clock
. The best part of the writeup is his explanation of how Charlieplexing works. Microcontroller GPIO pins generally have three possible states: output high, output low, and input. This combined with the directional nature LEDs and some creative wiring means you can run a large matrix of individually addressable LEDs with just a few IO pins. Instead of just flipping the IO pins on and off you change their assigned state. Have a look at [Andrew]’s site for some great illustrations of how the system works. A video of his LED Life board is embedded below.
[flickr video=2606304451] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "47615",
"author": "pip",
"timestamp": "2008-10-25T01:48:09",
"content": "Yay!! More wasting electricity!o.o",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47618",
"author": "Fwirt",
"timestamp": "2008-10-25T02:14:11",
"content": "C... | 1,760,377,737.093268 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/24/vertical-axis-wind-turbine-update/ | Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Update | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"News"
] | [
"off grid",
"turbine",
"vawt",
"vertical axis wind turbine",
"wind"
] | [Faroun] sent in his
updated vertical wind turbine
. After running his
previous one
for a while, he felt that the motor he was using was inadequate, it required too high of RPM to produce what he wanted. He didn’t want to gear it up, fearing that the light construction couldn’t sustain rotation.
He built a new version that has the same surface area of fins, but much higher RPM. The new one, dubbed V8 is made mainly from PVC and an Amatek DC motor. His goal was to produce 100 watts at 35km/h. He doesn’t really state whether or not he achieved it though. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "47580",
"author": "will",
"timestamp": "2008-10-24T20:08:22",
"content": "im glad i get to be the first to comment i love the site.this is pretty cool try and get more post like this thanks for the hard work guys",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,737.650911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/24/interactive-touch-capable-mirror/ | Interactive Touch Capable Mirror | Kimberly Lau | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"interaction",
"interactive",
"lasergames",
"litstudios",
"mirror"
] | [vimeo
http://vimeo.com/1867956%5D
[Alpay Kasal] of Lit Studios and [Sam Ewen] created this patent-pending
interactive mirror
after being inspired by dielectric glass mirrors with built-in LCD panels, and wanting to add a human touch. The end results look like a lot of fun. You can draw on the mirror and play games. According to [Kasal], mouse emulation is essential. The installation features proximity sensors and gesturing. Any game can be set up on it, which makes the possibilities endless… except these are the same people that built
LaserGames
so expect no further documentation about how it works.
[via
NOTCOT.ORG
] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "47567",
"author": "f",
"timestamp": "2008-10-24T18:44:59",
"content": "csi miami?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47569",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2008-10-24T18:55:31",
"content": "the only good use I saw was ... | 1,760,377,737.883799 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/02/wireless-arduino-programming-with-zigbee/ | Wireless Arduino Programming With ZigBee | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Tool Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"adafruit",
"arduino",
"digi",
"ladyada",
"wireless",
"xbee",
"zigbee"
] | ZigBee
is a low-power communication system using digital radios. It’s intended to be easier to work with than
Bluetooth
. Adafruit recently added an adapter board for Digi’s XBee product line and has put together a great how-to to show the devices potential. Using two XBee radios and adapters you can
wirelessly program an Arduino board
. This would be great if your Arduino was installed in an inaccessible area or maybe it’s over 100feet away from where you’re working. The radios do serial communication just fine. What the how-to covers is getting the reset line working so the Arduino can restart automatically after you program it. Once the radio pair is configured properly, it will pass the RTS line state directly from one device to the other. | 18 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "48901",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T08:17:51",
"content": "http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8471a simple modification of that may be cheaper and look nicer",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,377,738.232355 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/02/robot-fish-cad-models/ | Robot Fish CAD Models | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cad",
"fish",
"robofish",
"robot",
"robot fish",
"robotfish",
"servo"
] | [Bre]
dug up
this excellent
robot fish prototype project
. The PPF-O9 has three servos. One on the forward fins to control depth, one on the middle joint, and one final one drives the tail fin. The battery box is mounted to the underside. The control scheme is interesting: the right stick controls left/right and up/down while the left stick controls the frequency and amplitude of the motion. They say the robot is fairly stable, but swimming and turning can be slow. They’ve included
CAD files for almost every component
to help you with your own designs.
In June, we highlighted a
robofish designed for swarm communication
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "48898",
"author": "steven smith",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T06:35:54",
"content": "the fail whale without the fail",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "51019",
"author": "iCADsales.com",
"timestamp": "2008-11-16T11:03:37",
... | 1,760,377,738.275844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/02/hack-o-lantern/ | Hack-o’-lantern | Jason Rollette | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"carving",
"hackolantern",
"halloween",
"jack o lantern",
"pumpkin"
] | [Todd] sent in his
Hack-o’-lantern
just a bit late for Halloween. He did a good job of working with the logo considering the difficulty it poses for pumpkin carving. We would have been proud to have that on our porch for the kids to steal and smash in the road. Since others in the past have also done
Hack a Day pumpkins
, maybe this will spawn a Hack a Day pumpkin carving contest next year. If he had enough time to get the green LED working, it would have been that much sweeter; everything is better with electronics. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "48886",
"author": "Aaron",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T04:32:15",
"content": "looks photoshopped",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48906",
"author": "Grovenstien",
"timestamp": "2008-11-03T09:19:37",
"content": "Why not u... | 1,760,377,737.993677 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/02/bsodomizer-blue-screens-your-enemies/ | BSoDomizer Blue-screens Your Enemies | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [
"bsod",
"bsodomizer",
"defcon",
"defcon16",
"gizmodo",
"ir",
"joe grand",
"JoeGrand",
"l0pht",
"vga"
] | In case you were wondering what industrious hacker [Joe Grand] was doing when he’s not building stuff for
Prototype This!
, designing
Defcon badges
, or
testifying before congress
, it’s this: The BSoDomizer is a VGA pass through device that displays an image of your choice on the victim’s screen. It can do this either periodically or via an IR trigger. The image of choice is a Windows style Blue Screen of Death. It’s powered by a watch battery. The project site has all the schematics you need plus
ASCII
goatse imagery;
you’ve been warned
. Embedded below is a demo of the device. We unfortunately didn’t get to see it when it was originally presented during
Defcon
16.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNZjXMae1U]
[via
Gizmodo
] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "48832",
"author": "pcairic",
"timestamp": "2008-11-02T21:50:57",
"content": "WARNING … homophobic contentdisgusting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48834",
"author": "gm",
"timestamp": "2008-11-02T21:54:08",
"conten... | 1,760,377,738.175548 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/01/haxapod/ | Six Legged Crawler | Jason Rollette | [
"cnc hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Playstation Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hexapod",
"robot",
"servo",
"six-legged robot"
] | This hexapod was sent to us on the
tipline
from [Jamie]. If you want to take the six-legged robot a bit farther than our earlier posts,
here
and
here
, this is the
hexapod
for you. The structural pieces were modeled, and cut out of 3mm thick plywood using CNC. He used TO-220 transistor nylon isolation mounts for the bearings, and bolts and locknuts at each joints. The main body houses eight servos, six for the legs and two for a camera head pan and tilt. There are another six servos, one for each leg, to lift the feet. The whole thing is controlled by an Atmel AT90S8515 clocked at 8 Mhz. The code was compiled using WinAVR free GCC GNU-C. He uses a
PlayStation controller
to help debug the walk cycles, and change parameters as needed. Watch a video after the jump.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWQVH0tBcIY] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "48793",
"author": "Jimi",
"timestamp": "2008-11-02T13:52:49",
"content": "This thing is cool….. as long as it doesn’t start replicating itself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48797",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "200... | 1,760,377,738.318866 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/01/flash-sync-port-hacking/ | Flash Sync Port Hacking | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"adrian",
"camera",
"flash",
"flash trigger",
"sync port"
] | Reader [Adrian] picked up a couple cheap wireless flash triggers on eBay. Unfortunately, his Sigma EF-500 DG Super strobe doesn’t have the necessary sync port to make use of these. He popped the device open to try to figure out a way to
trigger the device manually
. The first idea was to use the test button to fire the device. Thanks to lag, it didn’t work for anything under 1/20th. The solution was to go straight for the optical trigger. [Adrian] has posted some teardown pictures that will help you determine the appropriate solder points for your own mod. The only bit that’s left is
adding a 3.5mm mono headphone jack
as a sync port. He also has a post on modifying the flash
for greater head movement
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "48748",
"author": "ATP",
"timestamp": "2008-11-02T01:55:11",
"content": "…I guess I’m not the only hacker around these parts with that name. :POne day, this Adrian will have a hack on here. That is one of my big goals, believe it or not. I hold this blog in high regard.As for this... | 1,760,377,738.117692 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/11/01/a-very-power-suit-halloween/ | A Very Power Suit Halloween | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"aliens",
"atst",
"halloween",
"make",
"mech",
"power suit",
"powerloader",
"powersuit",
"starwars"
] | We spent our Halloween dressed as an irate traveler as we flew cross country, but it looks like a lot of people were having much more fun. [flaming_pele!]’s
Aliens power loader
is one of the best costumes we’ve seen yet. He built it by referencing a 1/12th model kit and a lot of photos. The final costume is about 80% full size which gets it under their 8 foot ceilings. There’s a video of the suit embedded below. Our love of power suits was documented fairly well in
our roundup post this summer
. Make found two other related costumes: a
Star Wars AT-ST
and a
generic mech constructed from packing foam
. Did any of you dress as something truly nerdy for Halloween?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAqNmx3d8ZY] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "48714",
"author": "arT2",
"timestamp": "2008-11-01T21:42:39",
"content": "yeah, n1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48723",
"author": "mykle",
"timestamp": "2008-11-01T22:18:13",
"content": "i think my dalek costume q... | 1,760,377,738.370157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/30/flickering-led-circuit/ | Flickering LED Circuit | Nick Caiello | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Atmel",
"attiny13",
"diy",
"flickering leds",
"halloween",
"jack o lantern"
] | Here’s a simple project for your Halloween celebration. The other day while looking through our box of Halloween decorations, we noticed that the incandescent lamp in one of the jack-o’-lanterns was burnt out. Instead of simply replacing the outdated bulb, we decided to build a small dark detecting circuit with 2 yellow LEDs based on
this Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories design
. After successfully building the circuit, we took the project one step further by incorporating an Atmel ATtiny13 microcontroller. The code switches the LEDs on and off randomly for a flickering effect and is
based on this instructable
. Below is the schematic we created in EAGLE and a parts list.
T1, T2: 2N3904 transistors
T3: LTR-3208E phototransistor
LED1, LED2: 10mm diffused yellow LEDs
R1: 5kohm resistor
R2, R3: 50ohm resistors
IC1: Atmel ATtiny13
Source: 2xAA battery case with batteries | 16 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "48355",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2008-10-30T22:23:11",
"content": "I think you have your battery symbol backwards in your schematic… Just to make sure others don’t connect it up wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "483... | 1,760,377,738.425511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/30/battle-of-the-thumb-drive-linux-distros/ | Battle Of The Thumb Drive Linux Distros | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"News"
] | [
"linux",
"live cd",
"thumb drive"
] | We were expecting eye gouging and body slams, but this
review of several thumb drive Linux distributions
will do. They compared Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, Xubuntu, and Fedora. They don’t mention why they chose these four specifically, as
UNetbootin
has many many distributions available. They put each through its paces, listing common issues and boot up speed.
Their conclusion was that puppy Linux was preferable as it has a graphically nice interface and the ability to have persistent data storage on the disk. They have a poll going though, so head over and voice your opinion. | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "48325",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2008-10-30T18:33:17",
"content": "Where’s Slitaz?http://www.slitaz.org",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "911741",
"author": "Anonymous Viper 7",
"timestamp": "2012-12-31T23... | 1,760,377,738.48947 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/voting-roundup/ | Voting Roundup | Kimberly Lau | [
"News",
"Roundup"
] | [
"e-voting",
"security",
"vote",
"voting system",
"votingmachine"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q9NSVUu8nk]
With the election coming up in less than a week, voting machine security (or the lack thereof) is critical, especially with the popularity of
early voting
this year. While we’ve previously discussed
voting machine insecurities
, it looks like the problems haven’t been fixed, and in some cases, it’s escalated.
Voters in states like West Virginia and Tennessee have complained
about voting machines “flipping” their votes, even after they were recalibrated as in the video above. Voters have been advised to
avoid voting straight Republican or Democratic tickets
, to avoid the likelihood of their votes being flipped. What if you actually do want to vote a straight ticket?
Video the Vote
is an organization that advises documenting as much of your voting process as possible. Other ways you can protect your vote include
voting absentee
so that a paper trail is available, and
refusing to accept provisional ballots
, which are often thrown out. After seeing
videos of ROM swapping
and finding out that the locks can be
opened with hotel minibar keys
, we’re waiting to see what’s going to fail this year… and voting absentee. | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "48194",
"author": "monster",
"timestamp": "2008-10-30T01:12:39",
"content": "i have a feeling you’re more likely to have your votes flipped if you vote straight democrat.why don’t they print out a receipt? it’s a lot harder to fake a vote you have proof you made",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,738.661449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/swarming-robot-ants/ | Swarming Robot Ants | Kimberly Lau | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"robots",
"robots rule the world"
] | European researchers in the I-SWARM project are
hard at work developing small, autonomous robots
that can work together and communicate to perform different functions. They successfully built two types of robots: the I-SWARM, and the Jasmine robots. The I-SWARM robots are three millimeters in size, are powered by a solar cell, and move by vibration. The Jasmine robots are the size of two-Euro coins, have small wheels, and are powered by battery. These tiny robots have several advantages over their bulky predecessors, such as high redundancy, greater flexibility, and the ability to manage tough terrain. They could even be used to repair larger robots. They also come with distinct challenges. Because of their minuscule size, programming memory is necessarily limited, and the team had to come up with special algorithms to manage and control the machines. Though they haven’t been able to meet their goal of making a thousand of them, the researchers are hopeful and confident about their abilities to mass produce the robots cheaply.
[via
io9
] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "48186",
"author": "fatali",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T23:46:20",
"content": "and so is how the predecessors of the replicators began…. ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48259",
"author": "PUNiSH3R",
"timestamp": "2008-10... | 1,760,377,738.593625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/tesla-turbines-for-fun-and-profit/ | Tesla Turbines For Fun And Profit | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cd spindle",
"tesla turbine",
"turbine"
] | [youtube=http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aoRh8T_VX-Y]
[Rick] has been building Tesla turbines in various ways and posting his projects to youtube. For those who are unfamiliar, a
tesla turbine
is a fanless turbine that uses a smooth central disk spun by friction from a gas or fluid. Since the turbine itself has no protrusions, it is extremely stable. There are lots of other benefits, which can be explored on the Wikipedia page. [Rick], as you can see from the video above has found several uses for them, from Halloween props, to
generators for lights
, to an
automated shake flashlight shaker
, you can even watch him
rev one up to destruction
. Though most of these are at relatively low speeds, he has shown that he can make one from CD spindles that is stable enough to reach
10,000 RPM
. [Rick] admits that all they really do is spin fast and make cool noises, but they do that pretty well.
Update: Moments after this was published, we found an instructable by [Rick] on
how to build a blender using a tesla turbine
. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "48178",
"author": "dax",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T22:36:34",
"content": "I could swear this was on hackaday before.. perhaps just in a comment somewhere.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48185",
"author": "VonSkippy",
"ti... | 1,760,377,739.114021 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/cnc-pumpkin-carving/ | CNC Pumpkin Carving | Caleb Kraft | [
"cnc hacks",
"home hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"lumenlab",
"mill",
"pumpkin"
] | How do hardware geeks carve pumpkins? With
giant home made CNC mills
, that’s how. Using the
open source CNC kit from Lumenlab.com
, they converted a photograph into g-code, then fed it to the machine. After about 20 minutes of pumpkin drilling, they had this beautiful jack-o’-lantern. We are definitely jealous. Keep up the good work Lumenlab. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "48141",
"author": "Brett_cgb",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T17:13:29",
"content": "A video with a higher frame rate would be greatly appreciated. (2FPS simply doesn’t convey motion – it looks like a fast slide show.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,738.836648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/29/psp-snes-controller-mod/ | PSP SNES Controller Mod | Caleb Kraft | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Playstation Hacks",
"PSP Hacks"
] | [
"accessibility",
"handicap",
"psp",
"snes"
] | [foo] sent in this amazingly well done mod to
add an SNES controller to a PSP
. He was contacted with a request to mod a
PSP
for someone who had limited use of one hand. The PSP controls were too difficult for her, but miraculously, she could play an SNES controller well. The quality of the mod is very nice. [foo] has added a port on the back that the controller plugs into. Other than the port on the back, the PSP looks completely stock and functions fine. When plugged in, the cable and plug act as a stand for the PSP too. Check out the video after the break for more.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JER2Mkqp1HI] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "48124",
"author": "Erik",
"timestamp": "2008-10-29T15:16:49",
"content": "Cool. Would like to do this, but, I would probably need the 5 psp he has to do it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "48126",
"author": "kyle007",
"t... | 1,760,377,738.992528 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/24/quick-cheap-cassette-adapter/ | Quick Cheap Cassette Adapter | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"cassette",
"tape adapter"
] | [Dane] sent us this
super quick tape adapter
project. Yes, we know we can go buy one of these for pretty cheap and it will probably sound much better, but really, wouldn’t it be cool to make one? Using a headphone adapter, a couple resisters, some wire, and an old cassette tape, [Dane] shows us how easy it is to build one of our own. You are basically pushing the signal from the headphones through a coil that is up against the tape read head. This is a perfect project to teach beginners about magnetic fields.
[Dane] has sent in some stuff before. You may recall his
PWM adio generation with an AVR
post several months ago. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "47559",
"author": "kyle007",
"timestamp": "2008-10-24T17:40:33",
"content": "um neat-o but like 20 years to late…you can achieve the same success by taking apart an old tape deck and removing the “head” the magnetic thingy that reads the tape. It conveniently has three wires on most... | 1,760,377,738.927743 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/23/open-up-and-say-eureka/ | Open Source Hardware Inspires Innovation | Kimberly Lau | [
"News"
] | [
"design",
"hardware",
"open source"
] | Technology Review turns the
spotlight on the open source hardware movement
. Open source hardware is hardly a new concept, but lately it’s been getting a lot more attention, with the help of magazines like
MAKE
and websites like
Instructables
.
Chumby
, a company that sells a modifiable cube with a screen, embedded computer, and a Wi-Fi connection, designed their product to be easily hackable. The openness of the product caused a community heavily invested in the product’s development to be created. The growth of such communities has also sparked interest from corporations such as
Nokia
, which is collaborating with
MIT
on open source video decoders. They recognized that opening up would cause development time to be reduced and provide greater flexibility, allowing them to allocate resources to other areas, including marketing and brand development. [Jamey Hicks], director of the Nokia Research Center in Cambridge, believes that the open source movement can even complement closed designs, as long as it’s handled appropriately. With greater access to sophisticated software tools and resources, the barriers to entry keep falling away, and it’s much easier for the world to discover the joys of tinkering and hacking.
[photo:
Andreas Pizsa
] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "47456",
"author": "kurf",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T21:25:34",
"content": "If only cell phone manufactures had this mentality.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47457",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T21:26:29",... | 1,760,377,739.060786 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/23/orientation-aware-camera/ | Orientation Aware Camera | Eliot | [
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"microcontroller",
"opengl",
"visualization",
"webcam"
] | [Andrew Magill] just added his
Orientation Aware Camera
to the
Hack a Day Flickr Pool
. It uses a 3-axis magnetometer and 3-axis accelerometer. He didn’t want to spend too much effort on the USB side so he picked up USBMicro’s U421. It’s a fairly well documented preprogrammed microcontroller for USB. He later regretted this; his final sample rate was only 5Hz because of all the overhead. Using the positional data the, webcam image can be corrected for any sort of shaking. [Andrew] took this one step further by using OpenGL and stitching all of the video frames together live into a full panorama. Be sure to watch his excellent video demo embedded below.
[flickr video=2610193676] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "47435",
"author": "Insipid Melon",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T19:24:35",
"content": "Sweet! I look forward to seeing how his mapping software progresses. With two lenses for a binocular view you could take this even farther.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,377,739.289259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/23/uv-oven-from-an-ikea-cabinet/ | Uv Oven From An IKEA Cabinet | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"etch",
"ikea",
"led",
"pcb",
"uv"
] | This may not be an amazingly complicated project, but it is a very elegant and fairly cheap way of
building a UV oven
for exposing PCBs. [aris] started with an
IKEA FIRA
cabinet. He basically left the framework as an empty shell and made a make shift top hinged door to enclose it. Mounted in the top is an array of 35 UV LEDs powered by an HP printer transformer. He did not have a timer circuit, instead he just watched the clock and unplugged it at the right time. You can see from his pictures that his results were quite good.
If you don’t want that piece of furniture taking up room, and don’t mind using a little more elbow grease, you could follow our directions on how to
make your own single sided PCB
. If money isn’t an issue either, you can always just get your PCBs
laser etched
. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "47424",
"author": "Jack",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T17:40:20",
"content": "Maybe my google skills aren’t very good, but I can’t see to find a source for these UV reactive PCB boards. Is there a special name for them?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{... | 1,760,377,739.335257 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/23/motorcycle-visor-rain-disk/ | Motorcycle Visor Rain Disk | Caleb Kraft | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"helmet",
"rain",
"visor",
"windscreen"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LsTVro-o1Q]
[andrew] sent us this
proof of concept
. Based off of the
Spiech Clear view screen
, used in marine applications, it uses a spinning disk to keep a part of your vision free of water droplets. While you may not be too impressed by watching the video initially, keep in mind that this was a quick prototype. With some planning and a little work, this could be moved to a more convenient location and run by a side mounted motor. It could even be made to be removable for fair weather. It probably doesn’t do so well with mud though. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "47395",
"author": "Roly",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T14:28:42",
"content": "A full-face slipstream-driven version of this was being advertised in motorcycle magazines perhaps 25 years ago now (alongside cigar-like plastic tube thingies that allowed a rider to smoke while riding).Never... | 1,760,377,739.457634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/sticky-tape-emits-x-rays/ | Sticky Tape Emits X-rays | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"science",
"sticky tape",
"vacuum",
"wired"
] | Wired posted a gallery covering an interesting phenomenon. When you unroll regular sticky tape it emits visible light, but what was recently discovered is that
under vacuum it actually emits x-rays
as well. They’re still trying to nail down the cause. Have a look at the gallery of UCLA’s research lab to see what kind of equipment you need to unroll tape in a vacuum. | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "47311",
"author": "nick",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T02:03:46",
"content": "If that’s true, that is a whole new kind of messed up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47312",
"author": "burnliff",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T02:1... | 1,760,377,739.408634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/microsoft-anti-piracy-solution-backfires-in-china/ | Microsoft Anti-piracy Solution Backfires In China | Kimberly Lau | [
"News"
] | [
"china",
"chinese piracy",
"microsoft",
"piracy"
] | There’s no doubt that software piracy is rampant in China. Microsoft attempted to remedy the problem with its new version of
Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program
, which will turn the screen black every hour if the system fails the validation test. Previous versions just notified the user that they were using pirated software. You can imagine this
didn’t go over too well with the Chinese
, who were outraged by the inconvenience and more than one even accused Microsoft of hacking into their computers. A genuine, unpirated version of Windows costs over 1000 RMB, which is more than most Chinese make in a month. Contrast that with the 5 RMB (less than one US dollar) for the pirated version, and you’ve got a no-brainer.
[via
MetaFilter
] | 66 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "47289",
"author": "Insipid Melon",
"timestamp": "2008-10-23T00:30:44",
"content": "I’m not detecting what part of their plan “backfired.”The whole point was to make using a pirated version more of an annoyance to increase legitimate sales. They apparently succeeded:“Panic is the fi... | 1,760,377,739.640156 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/international-caps-lock-day/ | INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"apple",
"caps lock",
"CapsLock",
"international caps lock day",
"modifier keys",
"OsX",
"vim",
"windows"
] | As you can plainly see, we’re embracing
International Caps Lock Day
with full gusto. Go ahead, try it out in the comments. Caps lock is the cruise control for cool. Surprisingly, there are quite a few full time haters of the key running campaigns:
CAPSoff
and
anticAPSLOCK
actually united to form
CAPSoff.org
to further development of a caps lock free keyboard.
Once you’re tired of yelling at people online (like that’ll happen), you might attempt to do something useful with the key. In OSX, you can remap the caps lock key in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse >
Modifier Keys
. You can make it an extra Command, Control, Option, or select No Action. If you want to map it to another key entirely, try a program like
fKeys
. You could map it to Esc to make
Vim
—THE BEST TEXT EDITOR EVER—easy to use. In Windows, try this
handy guide from TechRepublic
for remapping your keys.
If ease of use is not your goal, you could always make a
random caps locker hardware dongle
.
[photo:
catcubed
] | 46 | 46 | [
{
"comment_id": "47276",
"author": "toaste",
"timestamp": "2008-10-22T23:19:42",
"content": "ENJOY YOUR SHAMELESS PLUG MUCH?I AGREE THE AUTO-CONVERSION OF COMMENTS TO LOWERCASE MAKES THIS FAR LESS FUN THAN IT COULD BE.CAPSLOCK SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR UNFORTUNATELY LONG #DEFINES.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,739.54376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/mini-pov-hat/ | Mini-POV Hat | Caleb Kraft | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"hat",
"mini-pov",
"POV"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfYU4grHD7g]
Viddy yourself this Halloween standing out amongst your droogs with this
Mini-POV bowler
. We’ll quit with the
nadsat
so as to avoid a kick to the yarbles, you have our sincerest appy polly loggy for starting in the first place. [cheeto4493] modified a Mini-POV to sit atop the bowler with an extension hanging out toward the brim that houses the lights. A motor, mounted inside the hat spins the entire device. Some counterweight was necessary to keep the whole thing from wobbling too much.
It is worth noting that, in person, the message scrolls slowly by. The refresh rate on the camera causes it to seem to jump around in the video. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "47251",
"author": "kurf",
"timestamp": "2008-10-22T20:46:13",
"content": "love the Nadsat! My costume is actually Alex this year, but I think i would be hitting people in the head too much to enjoy. great project though, i’m sure some other interesting ones will follow.",
"paren... | 1,760,377,739.734794 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/reflowing-with-a-toaster/ | Reflowing With A Toaster | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"News"
] | [
"re flow",
"reflow",
"smd",
"solder"
] | This
Reflow toaster oven project
(pdf) was part of a
contest back in early 2007
, but it is new to us. We’ve seen
several approaches
to reflowing, but a bread toaster hasn’t been one of them. This has a nice controller with a large Nokia 3310 display too.
[via
Projects-Lab
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "47201",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2008-10-22T16:23:58",
"content": "Not a ‘bread’ toaster no, but really close.http://hackaday.com/2008/02/16/toaster-oven-reflow-controller/That being said, I never mind another take on a good idea.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,739.697349 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/usb-authenticated-deadbolt-lock/ | USB Authenticated Deadbolt Lock | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"deadbolt",
"entry",
"freeduino",
"lock"
] | The Makers local 256 sent us this
USB authenticated deadbolt prject
. For roughly $60 these guys built an authentication system that reads the serial number off of the chip in a USB storage device. The actual content on the memory in the USB device is not used at all. They are using a Freeduino board to control its behavior. It has a magnetic sensor that keeps it from initiating the lock when the door is open. They mention that they are using Transparent Aluminum as an enclosure, we assume they mean the
Star Trek variety
, not
Aluminium oxynitride
. Be sure to check out the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTXRlaXLDQ]
Also, we received a security certificate warning when going to their wiki. Everything seems fine, just didn’t want you guys to be scared away. | 29 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "47178",
"author": "brimstone",
"timestamp": "2008-10-22T14:31:54",
"content": "The security certificate “warning” is because they’re using CAcert.org on their site.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "47186",
"author": "roooooma... | 1,760,377,739.800518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/22/hard-player-8-bit-tunes-hardware-player/ | -hard PlAYer- 8 Bit Tunes Hardware Player | Kimberly Lau | [
"digital audio hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"8 bit",
"atari",
"hardware",
"music",
"old school hardware",
"ym file format"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgb_NFdTHZc]
For people who miss the golden age of Atari music, you can recreate the magic of 8 bit music with the
-hard plAYer-
. [Tolaemon] put a lot of thought and work into this hardware player. From the AY-38912 programmable sound generator, which used to be in old computers like the
Atari
or
Colour Genie
, to working with the
YM file format
, each piece is put together with the utmost care. [Tolaemon] also provides his design,
firmware
(ZIP), and
parts
list so that you can make your own hardware player.
[via
Matrixsynth
] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "47216",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2008-10-22T17:53:52",
"content": "good old days, I remember some ZX spectrum games had support for AY-3-8910 chip, you had to mod your ZX81 yourself to add this “sound card”. I myslef had C64, I even wrote a player for SID files in assembler. ... | 1,760,377,740.340879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/21/android-source-code-released/ | Android Source Code Released | Eliot | [
"Android Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"g1 hacks",
"google hacks",
"News"
] | [
"android",
"cellphone",
"G1",
"google",
"htc",
"n810",
"nokia",
"open source",
"source code",
"tmobile"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y4thikv-OM&fmt=18]
Google has
officially released
the
Android source code
. While the
T-Mobile G1
is being released tomorrow—
some already have it
—it is just one
Android device
. The availability of the source means that the platform could be port to almost any device. It’s a complete embedded
Linux package
and we’ve already seen it
running on the N810
. We can’t wait to see what hacks come out of this. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "46988",
"author": "Prizzo",
"timestamp": "2008-10-21T20:50:24",
"content": "I just want android on my iphone, that would make my day.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "46990",
"author": "Sirmabus",
"timestamp": "2008-10-21... | 1,760,377,740.103986 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/21/hydro-electric-power-in-your-shoes/ | Hydroelectric Power In Your Shoes | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"hydro",
"shoe"
] | All comments on style aside, these are pretty cool. They are
power generating shoes
, that use water and a small turbine. As you step down, the water is forced through the turbine and recirculated back to the reservoir when you lift your foot. It may not change the world, but is definitely interesting. This reminds us of those
shoes that we used to pump up til they burst
. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "46986",
"author": "EdZ",
"timestamp": "2008-10-21T20:39:11",
"content": "Stillsuits here we come.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "46993",
"author": "therian",
"timestamp": "2008-10-21T21:21:54",
"content": "why so co... | 1,760,377,739.926272 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/20/parts-chip-sockets-for-dual-in-line-package-dip/ | Parts: Chip Sockets For Dual In-line Package (DIP) | Ian | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"chip holders",
"chip sockets",
"choosing parts",
"dil chip",
"dip chip",
"dual in-line chip sockets",
"parts",
"parts monday"
] | DIP through-hole chips are an old package with instantly recognizable
dual in-line
pin rows. Beginners love these chips because they’re large and look easy to solder; we abhor them because we hate messing around with the drill. Whatever your motivation for using a through-hole chip, use a socket whenever possible. A circuit board with socketed chips is easy to test without endangering the parts, and ICs can be removed, tested, and replaced, without resorting to a soldering iron. This week, by request, we looked at several common through-hole chip sockets.
DIP sockets are available in almost any pin-count, or you can use individual strips to make a custom size (Mouser #
40-0518-10
). ICs with less than 40 pins usually have .300″ row spacing, but many 40+ pin ICs are .600″ wide. Footprints are included in the
Cadsoft Eagle
default
ic-package
library as DIL
xx
. Below is a list of our most commonly used DIP sockets.
8 pin .300″ socket
(Mouser#
571-1-390261-2
, $0.
14)
This socket is useful for
op-amps
and small microcontrollers, like the
12F629
used in the
Esquire e-paper cover
.
14 pin .300″ socket
(
Mouser #
571-1-390261-3
, $0.15)
Another small socket we occasionally need.
18 pin .300″ socket
(
Mouser #
571-1-390261-5
, $0.18)
A very common chip size for lots of microcontrollers and
7400 series
parts
28 pin .300″ socket
(
Mouser #
571-1-390261-9
, $0.30)
Another common size for through-hole microcontrollers, and chips like the
TLC5940
16 channel
pulse-width modulator
. Check your datasheet because a .600″ row spacing 28 pin DIP package also exists.
40 pin .600″ socket
(
Mouser #
571-1-390262-5
, $0.41
)
Watch out, this is a wide socket for chips with .600″ row spacing. Fits common 40 pin chips, like the
PIC 18F4455
USB microcontroller.
Don’t forget to check out our previous
parts
posts. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "46650",
"author": "pokey",
"timestamp": "2008-10-20T14:35:09",
"content": "I always buy whatever size (14-28) surplus sockets I can find, and if I need a size I don’t have laying around I’ll cut rows off two sockets until I have the size I need. It might be a bit wasteful, but the ... | 1,760,377,740.001573 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/19/lasercut-reprap-kit/ | Lasercut RepRap Kit | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"3d printer",
"acrylic",
"ponoko",
"rapid prototyping",
"reprap",
"repstrap",
"rp"
] | The RepRap is a self-copying 3D printer. The project has published plans for creating a
lasercut acrylic version of the device
. They call it a RepStrap since once assembled it could produce printed plastic versions of the machine components, bootstrapping true RepRaps. The
plans are available
for Ponoko an on-demand product service, and it would cost ~$380 if you used their service. The plans are free, so you could get them manufactured by other means. [vik] is still putting together the
assembly instructions
. He hopes to have an all inclusive electronics kit at some point too. This is another great step towards putting desktop manufacturing within reach of everyone. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "46599",
"author": "stunmonkey",
"timestamp": "2008-10-20T00:47:34",
"content": "There are many functional 3D prototyper concepts, almost all better than this thing, yet this one gets all the press. Why? the “self-replicating” claim. It isn’t self-replicating, not even close. In fact... | 1,760,377,740.055213 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/19/maker-faire-austin-2008-in-pictures/ | Maker Faire Austin 2008 In Pictures | Eliot | [
"cons",
"News"
] | [
"flickr",
"maker faire",
"maker faire austin",
"maker faire austin 2008",
"o'reilly",
"sparkfun",
"tetris"
] | Maker Faire
Austin has come to a close, which means it’s the perfect time to start checking out photos from the event. Pictured above is SparkFun’s
Picture Frame Tetris
. You can see this and
many other pictures on Flickr
. Let us know what you thought of the event in the comments.
[photo:
pt
] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "46590",
"author": "pt",
"timestamp": "2008-10-19T23:38:47",
"content": "special thanks to all the hack-a-day readers who found me and said hi!!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "46647",
"author": "justDIY",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,377,740.147634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/19/arduino-duemilanove/ | Arduino Duemilanove | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino diecimila",
"arduino duemilanove",
"atmega",
"ATmega168",
"AVR",
"book",
"diecimila",
"duemilanove",
"hardware",
"massimo banzi",
"mosfet",
"opamp"
] | The latest generation of
Arduino
hardware has been released. The
Arduino Duemilanove
(2009 in Italian) has the same form factor as previous generations. The specs are essentially identical to the
Diecimila
, but there have been a few changes to the hardware. The power source is no longer chosen using a jumper. A MOSFET and dual OPAMP have been added to the board to automatically selected between USB power and the external plug. Automatic hardware resets are optional now. Next to the USB port are two solder pads labeled RESET-EN. Cut the trace between them to kill the reset. If you ever want it back, just bridge the pads. The hardware was updated to correspond with the release of Arduino cofounder [Massimo Banzi]’s
new book
. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "46591",
"author": "amk",
"timestamp": "2008-10-19T23:43:49",
"content": "Meh, not the latest generation. It’s the diecimila with a new hat.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "46594",
"author": "TheFool",
"timestamp": "2008... | 1,760,377,740.190792 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/18/jar-of-fireflies/ | Jar Of Fireflies | Eliot | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"fireflies",
"firefly",
"firefly jar",
"led",
"led matrix",
"matrix",
"randomskk",
"smd"
] | [Randomskk] has been attempting to make electronic fireflies for quite some time and finally settled on a design he liked. His
jar of fireflies
uses an ATtiny13 to control a set of 12 matrixed LEDs. The green SMD LEDs are each soldered to a pair of thin wires that hang down into the jar. The software picks an LED at random to flash and then flashes it 1-3 times. The random seed is incremented each time the jar is turned on, so you’ll get 255 different patterns. The power is just a standard coin cell. The project is fairly simple electrically, but the LED soldering could prove difficult. It was inspired by this
firefly jar project
. Check out [Alex]’s
synchronizing fireflies
too. A video of the jar is available below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yk0CZp2Ywc&fmt=18] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "46353",
"author": "YoYo-Pete",
"timestamp": "2008-10-19T01:35:44",
"content": "Wonderful… Childhood memories. Phase two should add an actuator that moves the wires, letting the positioning also be as random as the patterns.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,377,740.440406 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/18/wearable-project-inspiration/ | Wearable Project Inspiration | Eliot | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Portable Audio Hacks",
"Portable Video Hacks",
"Roundup"
] | [
"arduino",
"engadget",
"gizmodo",
"hmd",
"lilypad",
"lilypad arduino",
"wearable",
"wifi"
] | Yesterday, Gizmodo published a
roundup of wearable gadgets
for people who “don’t mind looking like a tool”. It’s interesting to see what has been deemed commercially viable and put into mass production. The list covers HMDs, embedded WiFi detectors, integrated keyboards, tech jackets, speaker hats, and others. We thought you might find some inspiration from the list for your next project. In the past, we embedded a
WiFi detector in a backpack strap
for our Engadget how-to. The natural choice for wearable projects is the
LilyPad Arduino
which was featured most recently in the
turn signal jacket
.
[photo:
cksthree
] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "46340",
"author": "nubie",
"timestamp": "2008-10-19T00:18:10",
"content": "Looking like a Tool? Is that similar to looking like a low-rent Borg?Sign me up, I already wear glasses just to go from 20/35 to 20/15 :).I just wish that at minimum 1024×768 was available, even if just on o... | 1,760,377,740.385529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/18/chrome-and-firefox-showing-javascript-improvements/ | Chrome And Firefox Showing JavaScript Improvements | Eliot | [
"downloads hacks",
"firefox hacks",
"News"
] | [
"chrome",
"firefox",
"javascript",
"lifehacker",
"mozilla",
"performance"
] | With new betas for both
Firefox
and
Chrome
being released, CNET decided to find out
how good their JavaScript performance was
. Both browsers got a performance boost with Firefox slightly edging out Chrome. You have to
turn on TraceMonkey
, Firefox’s new Javascript engine in 3.1b1, to get the improvement. We never thought Google was that serious about building a new browser. They just want wanted Firefox to get their act together and suck less. It seems to be working.
[via
Lifehacker
] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "46339",
"author": "Brutos",
"timestamp": "2008-10-19T00:17:50",
"content": "Mozilla is working longer on TraceMonkey then Google announced Chrome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "46355",
"author": "android_04",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,740.496373 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/16/uberbong-evaporative-pc-cooling-probably/ | UberBong: Evaporative PC Cooling, Probably | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"News"
] | [
"bong",
"evaporative",
"water cooling"
] | We’re not 100% sure
what exactly is going on here
. It appears to be a massive
evaporative cooling
rig for a computer, though the title has us wondering if it doesn’t have any other uses. There isn’t much of a description, but we felt the sheer magnitude of this cooling system warranted some publicity. Some digging around shows that this was out in 2003, but it is new to us.
[via
reddit
] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "45916",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2008-10-16T21:04:58",
"content": "It’s actually quite a poor design, the water running down the side walls isn’t doing much of any cooling. Some of the good evap towers on ocforums.com (Like mine, Pro*Banshee), have been able to get at far as 1... | 1,760,377,740.55318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/16/hack-the-ben-heck-access-controller/ | Hack The Ben Heck Access Controller | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"access controller",
"ben heck"
] | [Ben Heck], in a display of true hacker spirit, has released a tutorial on
how to mod the Access Controller
.
We have been waiting
for it, but we can’t help but commend the detail he goes into. He lists pinouts, as well as digi-key part numbers for various replacement parts. Great job as usual [ben]. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "45923",
"author": "sparr",
"timestamp": "2008-10-16T22:03:26",
"content": "This hacking guide seems to indicate that this controller treats all of the buttons as digital switches? The PS2 controller has analog buttons (not sure about the PS3), which would make some games impossible... | 1,760,377,740.612919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2008/10/16/internal-wireless-mouse-on-a-dell-mini-9/ | Internal Wireless Mouse On A Dell Mini 9 | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"laptops hacks",
"Netbook Hacks"
] | [
"dell mini 9",
"eee pc",
"laptop",
"usb"
] | [strider_mt2k] sent in this
new Dell Mini 9 hack
. After seeing the recent
GPS in a Dell Mini9
project, he decided to jump in and do some hacking of his own. His idea was to integrate his Logitech wireless mouse receiver internally. He basically added an internal usb port, allowing for future replacements if the mouse should it get broken or upgraded. The final result is completely hidden. There was plenty of space in the case, so there’s no bulge at all. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "45940",
"author": "pip",
"timestamp": "2008-10-17T00:20:46",
"content": "“He basically added an internal usb port, allowing for future replacements if the mouse should it get broken or upgraded”lol.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,740.656369 |
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