BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day » September 2009

Feeds

105363 items (97572 unread) in 19 feeds

Friends (1021 unread)

• 2 Star (84 unread)
• John Carrino (12 unread)
• Comments for Josh the Outspoken (296 unread)
• Josh (34 unread)
• Planet Matt (595 unread)

Build (68091 unread)

• MAKE Magazine (20292 unread)
• Instructables.com (35006 unread)
• Hack A Day (5017 unread)
• Toolmonger (7776 unread)

Heads (716 unread)

• Exploration Through Example
• Paul Graham: Unofficial RSS Feed (113 unread)
• Stevey's Blog Rants (34 unread)
• Joel on Software (207 unread)
• Gibson Blog (239 unread)
• Adventures in Bloggery (123 unread)

News (27537 unread)

• Slashdot (25203 unread)
• Economist.com Global Agenda (1412 unread)
• Ruby Inside (922 unread)

fun (207 unread)

• Templar, Arizona (207 unread)

Hack A Day (222 unread)

• 

  Farm hacking: 7 amazing corn mazes

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  If there’s one thing we’ve got a LOT of here in America, it’s corn. In the past few years Corn Mazes have become a wildly popular fall activity for all ages. We’ve enjoyed many ourselves and part of what we like about them is that they’re a hack. Whether made by the farmer down the [...]
• 

  Dean Kamen’s prosthetic arm

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  60 minutes has covered [Dean Kamen]’s modular robotic arm.  This thing is light weight, adjustable for different body frame sizes, modular, and eventually thought controlled. The system is currently functioning quite well, as you can see in the video. Current testers are controlling it with buttons under their toes, but the thought control is in [...]
• 

  Multi-camera rig makes trees say cheese

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 12:21pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Nick Nichols] set out to take a photograph of a full redwood tree. Here’s the catch, these redwoods are over 300 feet tall and they’re not just standing in the middle of a vast desert. If the photo is taken from a distance, you will only capture the top part of these majestic beauties. How [...]
• 

  Arduino powered singing table

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This musical Lazy Susan, or “Crazy Adam” was brought to us by students from MIT.  It basically plays [Soul II Soul]’s “Back to Life”  as it turns.  In their words: “Through the interaction with the Singing Lazy Susan, we found the eating patterns and behaviors unique to each person, which reflect our personalities and interests. [...]
• 

  Pick-and-place Lego prototyping

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Ned] tipped us off about his project for a class at Carnegie Mellon. Utilizing a Denso 6-AOF robotic arm they have built a rapid prototyping machine that uses Lego as the building material. LDraw, the open standard Lego CAD program, is used to build a model which is then translated into MATLAB files that the [...]
• 

  Laser triggered photography

  Posted: September 30th, 2009, 7:30am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  Popped balloons or bullets fired into apples, anyone can photograph with a quick sound based camera rig. Lasers have been used forever in motion detection. And even door bell chimes have been used before for remote camera shutter releases. No, [SaskView] wanted to go further and created his Laser Triggered High-Speed Photography setup, to photograph [...]
• 

  Batcave-style entrance (on a budget)

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 7:05pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  Want to enter your hidden lair in style? Well [Jimmy] simply wanted to create a cool prop for his school’s homecoming dance. This project includes some obvious inspiration from Wayne Manor. [Jimmy] wired up the automated entrance with a 12VDC motor. In order for it to be able to push the door , the motor had to be attached to [...]
• 

  Build a Google-style panorama rig for $300

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 5:57pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  As part of a “disruptive technologies” course at the United States Military Academy, [Roy D. Ragsdale] produced a working prototype of a Google Street View-like system called PhotoTrail. Like its corporate-backed inspiration, the system captures georeferenced 360-degree panoramas that can be viewed interactively in a web browser…but at a hardware cost of only around $300. [Ragsdale’s] [...]
• 

  Jet powered hijinks

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 3:15pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This jet powered carousel is brought to you by the Madagascar Institute. They convene, or collide, to create large scale art, sculptures, and rides. This one seems to fit the last definition. The two gentlemen are strapped to a jet powered carousel. It actually looks pretty fun, but we would have been needing some fresh [...]
• 

  How to generate font and picture header files

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Displaying custom fonts or images on an LCD screen using a microcontroller usually requires quite a bit of work. We’ve used some readily available tools to make this a bit easier for your next project. Our python script will convert BMP files into a header file ready for use with AVR microcontrollers. We’ll walk you [...]
• 

  Noise box synth lays down some beats

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Tim] sent us his Noise Box Synth. The box is a sixteen step synthesizer that can generate sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waves as well as a collection of sound effects (video after the break). The hardware is simple; an Arduino, four potentiometers, four buttons, a switch, a speaker, and some LEDs. This was a [...]
• 

  Connect a PS/2 keyboard to a microcontroller

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  The guys at Nerdkits have put together this tutorial on connecting a PS/2 keyboard to a microcontroller. Though this tutorial is written for one of the kits they sell, you should be able to apply this to pretty much any microcontroller. It is also a lesson in using interrupts instead of polling. They have several [...]
• 

  Make an Arduino talk to you

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  One of the highlights from the Music Hack Day in Berlin was the Arduino singing “Daisy Bell”. If you don’t know, this is an homage to the HAL 9000 in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey; an artificial intelligence that was taught the song in its first steps toward self awareness culminating in an attempt [...]
• 

  Ball catching bot

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  Who needs a robot that can catch a tennis ball? We do. What would we do with it? Probably just throw tennis balls at it, that’s the only use we can think of. The work of University students in Kunzelsau and Vienna, it is actually a prototype for new transport systems for industrial robots. Though [...]
• 

  Touchscreen picture frame

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Circuit Ideas Design has posted a digital picture frame project based on their 240×320 16-bit color QVGA display. We made our own digital frame from a smaller screen a while back and this is pretty much the same implementation except with a larger screen and built around the AVR family of microcontrollers rather than PIC [...]
• 

  Add IR control to your WiFi router

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Craig] wanted to use Boxee on his TV but his computer was in a different room. He rigged up a rather dubious method of delivering the A/V signal (this is a hack in the most guttural sense). More interesting to us is his solution for a remote control interface. We’re familiar with building USB connected [...]
• 

  PSP Go gets butchered (teardown)

  Posted: September 29th, 2009, 7:22am MDT by Jacob Woj

  Not due to be released until the beginning of October, a PSP Go demo unit (shipped to G4TV) has already earned itself a teardown from [iFixit]. Among what was discovered: - Once a few screws are removed, the battery is user replaceable (as-in: no soldering iron required) - Wireless connectivity is only supplied through a 802.11b chip (no [...]
• 

  Internal Wireless Headphones

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 7:34pm MDT by James Munns

  Wireless headphones can be a wonderful way to help clear up the clutter inherent in most desktop PC systems. However, after plugging a wall wart in, and the headphone jack into the computer, the number of wires used has actually doubled. After [Parker] found an old set of JVC 900 Mhz wireless headphones (and a [...]
• 

  Gameboy Color boot ROM

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 6:00pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  It’s only been a week since the Super Gameboy’s boot ROM was dumped by [Costis] and he’s already at it again. This time he’s managed to grab the Gameboy Color’s boot ROM. He found the newer Gameboy Color’s hardware is able to cope with a clock speed up to 100MHz, so the original clock increase [...]
• 

  The incredible breakfast machine

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 5:00pm MDT by Matt Schultz

  A lot of us skip breakfast in the morning, be it because we don’t have time to make something, don’t have the patience, or for some other reason. Yuri Suzuki and Masa Kimura are aiming to make your breakfast a little easier, a little quicker, and a lot more interesting. Their latest project is a Rube [...]
• 

  Pinch control2: laser drawing

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [atduskgreg] posted this cool looking rig.  That’s a batting glove, chopped up and equipped with a flex sensor and a pressure sensor. The end goal was to create a new method of drawing. You can see he’s interfaced with the servos decently. It seems fairly responsive and intuitive. Looking at his results though, make us [...]
• 

  Halloween props: DMX controlled skeleton

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 3:02pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [scarylady] has posted this video about her setup. The skeleton was rigged up to a rotating base with a single pneumatic solenoid to jostle it. She then goes on to show how she has it all connected to her computer with an explanation of the software setup. Though some of us might feel she could have accomplished [...]
• 

  Tool Tip: microcontroller timer calculator

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  In life and embedded systems timing is everything. Give [Frank's] web-based timer calculator a try. Set your system clock resolution (in hertz making sure you account for any system clock divider), select your timer resolution and prescaler, then calculate based on desired ticks, overflows, or real time. He’s built this with the AVR chips in [...]
• 

  Pong on your wrist

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [John] wanted to take a pong clock and put it in a wristwatch form factor. Take an afternoon and pour over his detailed build logs. This multi-year project is done with meticulous cleanliness that makes us jealous. He’s milled the case and buttons himself, achieving a professional look that equals or surpasses the quality of [...]
• 

  Capacitive buttons control all life

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 11:40am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Projects involving Conway’s Game of Life and utilizing a Nokia 3310 screen are quite popular with electronics hobbyists. [Droky] put these two together and went one step further by adding capacitive sensors to control the Game of Life. His work is a great example of how to use the Atmel QTouch capacitive sensor (QT100a datasheet). [...]
• 

  OmniZero.9 multi format biped

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 8:18am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  There are so many biped bots circulating the web that we tend to overlook them. This one caught our eye this morning due to its interesting ability to change its layout. Named OmniZero.9, this biped can drive on 4 wheels like a car, walk like a biped, and even carry a person. While it certainly [...]
• 

  Open Source Weapon Makes You Puke

  Posted: September 28th, 2009, 7:00am MDT by Devlin Thyne

  [Limor] of Adafruit Industries and the Ice Tube Clock has made her own open source non-lethal weapon: The Bedazzler. After attending a conference by the DHS where she saw the big-budget Dazzler, she decided to make her own. Thirty-six LEDs, six switching FETs, a Boarduino, and a former flashlight later, the Bedazzler makes a better [...]
• 

  Homemade UAV

  Posted: September 27th, 2009, 6:59pm MDT by Gerrit Coetzee

  [Terence Bordelon] sent in his impressive UAV (Unmanned Arial Vehicle). The hack is a culmination of his other projects. It can be turned to fully automatic at the flip of a switch. It will fly itself to gps way points, land, and take off. The UAV has a range of 100km thanks to his home [...]
• 

  Word clock: tell the time with words

  Posted: September 27th, 2009, 4:17pm MDT by Gerrit Coetzee

  [drj113]  posts his cool word clock. After seeing a similar clock on an industrial design website, he set out to make his own version. He made custom pcbs with the toner-etch method. The front is a solid piece of copper clad board and the light shines through the etched areas. It’s powered by a PIC [...]
• 

  Unhackable Netbooks given to students

  Posted: September 27th, 2009, 8:41am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  Where would be the best place to test out an unhackable netbook? The NSW department of education in Australia thinks that college is perfect . They plan on distributing netbooks, preloaded with Windows 7,and iTunes. They also have bios level tracking and security, allowing them to be remotely shut down on command. With 20,000 of [...]
• 

  Open garage door indicator

  Posted: September 26th, 2009, 7:09pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  How many times has this one happened to you? Just coming home from work, you walk in from the garage, settle down, and pick up the newspaper. But wait, did you remember to shut the garage door? Presenting the open garage door indicator. [xjc2010] chose the simplest circuit possible, using only a switch to turn on [...]
• 

  Frankenstein has a thing for coin-op

  Posted: September 26th, 2009, 3:47pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The amount of detail [Doug] put into his Dr. Frankenstein MAME cabinet is outrageous! Usually we’re more interested in the guts, but in this case the real story is the cabinet itself. Painted to resemble weathered metal, the effect of dripping water is visible on every rivet. There are illuminated portals on either side: one [...]
• 

  AVR Dragon wiring alternative

  Posted: September 26th, 2009, 10:41am MDT by Mike Szczys

  We love our AVR Dragon programmer. It is a small board with a lot of functionality: in-circuit serial programming, JTAG, debug wire, and high voltage serial programming. Unfortunately, out of the box it is not quite ready for action. The Dragon ships with an unpopulated prototyping area and missing a pin header for the HVSP. [...]
• 

  Halloween prop: the ground-breaker

  Posted: September 26th, 2009, 9:12am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [casafear1] has put out this video detailing how to build the “ground-breaker”, a zombie escaping from the grave. It is a simple frame for the arms and shoulders, with a couple pneumatic pistons to make it jerk as though it were pulling itself from the grave. He goes into a decent amount of detail explaining [...]
• 

  SLI anytime anywhere

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 7:54pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  SLI, for those who don’t know, is the process of taking two Nvidia graphics cards and allowing them to work in parallel to render to a single monitor. In theory this doubles the power, getting more FPS for video games. Great right? Except due to encryption, only a limited amount of motherboards can actually support [...]
• 

  140 db alarm clock hack

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 4:30pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This silly little video caught our attention. It is an alarm clock, hacked with two amazingly loud car horns. They are using a laptop power brick to push the two external car horns. The horns are triggered by a relay wired to the internal speaker of the alarm clock. This is a super quick project [...]
• 

  Arduino Thermoscanner

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 3:30pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Steve] sent in a tip to show us his Thermography scanner. Constructed from an Arduino, two servos, a thermal sensor and a little bit of code, it is fairly simple. The results aren’t groundbreaking. You can see his examples are fairly low resolution and took about 30 seconds to capture. It isn’t bad for a [...]
• 

  Radio controlled beetle flight footage

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 2:30pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Earlier this year we were amazed when University of California researchers controlled a beetle via electrical implants. The video available at the time of the original report showed beetles tethered in place while electrical stimuli was applied via the chip. New video of free flight is has now been posted. Although the motion is rather [...]
• 

  Eee PC bios resurrection

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 1:25pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Hot on the heels of our post about reading passwords from EEPROM, [n0th1n6] tipped us off about a similar hack used to resurrect an Eee PC from a bad bios flash. After discovering that a factory repair for a dead bios costs about $200, [CutenaCute_7] took on the challenge herself. She disassembled the computer and [...]
• 

  Google to Trolls: please flame EVERY web site

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Google has unveiled their latest web app. It’s called Google Sidewiki and makes it easy to “Contribute helpful information to any webpage”. We’re not quite so sure. If you have the Google Toolbar installed on your browser, Sidewiki allows you to open a side-panel, add your comments about the page, and read the comments of [...]
• 

  With Zipit, who needs a netbook?

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Hunter Davis] keeps rolling out the hacks for the Zipit. In the past he showed us how to run DOSbox, and then how to get NES emulation working on this tiny device. Now he’s got Linux kernel 2.6.29 running Fluxbox with mouse (newly added), audio, and WiFi functionality. Follow his step-by-step [...]
• 

  Tear your iMac’s insides out

  Posted: September 25th, 2009, 8:02am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Saying that [Ian] had some overheating issues with his iMac G5 would be an understatement. After losing three hard drives due to heat he decided to do something about it. The first step was replacing the thermal paste with Arctic Silver. The solution for the hard drive was a little more unorthodox. [Ian] picked up a [...]
• 

  Junk bots win awards in Vietnam

  Posted: September 24th, 2009, 12:16pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  In a national competition for creativeness in children, junk bots have reigned supreme. Pictured above is a detail from one of [Vu Van Thankg]’s junk bots. Created entirely from parts pulled from the trash, this thing has 11 motors which supposedly allow full arm and hand control. We know you’ll be upset at how little [...]
• 

  Edison cylinder recordings need more cowbell

  Posted: September 24th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Norman] spent three years developing and building his own Edison cylinder phonograph with electric pickup. We’re glad he did, and that he shared it with the world because the product is a thing of beauty. Every part is clean and precise with plenty of room for adjustments to accommodate differences in media. He’s reused the [...]
• 

  Steal the administrator password from an EEPROM

  Posted: September 24th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Did you forget your hardware-based password and now you’re locked out? If it’s an IBM ThinkPad you may be in luck but it involves a bit more than just removing the backup battery. SoDoItYourself has an article detailing the retrieval of password data from an EEPROM. The process is a fun one. Disassemble your laptop. Build [...]
• 

  Twitter, talking fish, and more

  Posted: September 24th, 2009, 8:25am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Dan Ros] and the mbed team sent in their hack of a twitter talking Big Mouth Billy Bass. Originally the hack simply had an mbed micrcontroller and an SD card with some wav files allowing Billy to say classic quotes. Wanting to go further however, they used the mbed’s HTTPClient library to grab Twitter updates, [...]
• 

  Vintage Hack – Game Boy Camera

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 7:06pm MDT by James Munns

  Back in 2005, a member of a French robotics team named [Laurent] wrote a wonderful how-to that we somehow missed on using the Game Boy Camera as a vision device for a robot. The images above are actual shots from his project. The Game Boy Camera features a stunning 128×123 pixel resolution in a gorgeous [...]
• 

  Custom shortcuts from Firefox address bar

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We picked up a great Firefox bookmark tip from [Colin]. He wanted an easier way to look up bug numbers on the launchpad bug tracker. Because the url is always the same with the bug number at the end of the address, he replaced the final portion of the url with %s. Now, when he [...]
• 

  Ben Heck gets sloppy and we love it

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Ben Heck] is a name synonymous with game system hacking. His projects have been seen and praised by people all over the world for both their quality and their ingenuity. He’s so good, in fact, that many of his projects have gone far beyond what we typically think of as hacking. They look and feel like commercial products. [...]
• 

  RCDC: DC motor control via servo signals

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Spikenzie]  has put together this nice kit for controlling a DC motor with RC servo signals. He’s using a PIC12F629 to convert the signal to PWM. As you can see in the video above, it seems to work quite well. It is in a neat and tidy package and available as a kit. We have [...]
• 

  Arduino-human synthesizer

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  (Thanks to [Aaron] for the tip) As a promo for [Calvin Harris], some of the creative minds at Sony Music have put together an Arduino-based sythesizer composed of 15 bikini clad babes. By analyzing which circuits are closed, the Arduino Mega is able to tell a sequencer which sample to play. The only innovation happens to be that the circuits are painted onto [...]
• 

  Berlin Hack Day

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  This past weekend, Berlin played host to Music Hack Day – an event where attendants built and tested hacks, contraptions, and software all dealing with sound, music, or the distribution thereof. Some of the hacks are simply mind blowing to see built in only a day or two. Like the location based CitySounds.fm or Tracks [...]
• 

  Universal credit card in the palm of your hand

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Do you remember the magnetic card spoofer in Terminator 2? It was a bit farfetched because apparently the device could be swiped through a reader and magically come up with working account numbers and pin numbers. We’re getting close to that kind of magic with [Jaroslaw's] card spoofer that is button-programmable. Building off of a project [...]
• 

  Hacking USB serial port adapters

  Posted: September 23rd, 2009, 8:05am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  The folks at Openschemes.com have written up an article on how to convert a USB serial port adapter to a low voltage serial interface for interfacing with microcontrollers. Though you can always just buy one, this is a fairly quick and cheap solution, especially if you are in a pinch or don’t have access to [...]
• 

  Photographic key duplication

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Ben] and his associates over at the University of California at San Diego came up with a way to duplicate keys using a picture of them. They developed an algorithm that uses measurements from known key blanks to extrapolate the bitting code. Because the software is measuring multiple points it can correct the perspective of [...]
• 

  Seawater cooled data centers

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Remember Mauritius from High School geography? We didn’t either, but apparently it’s a small island nation east of the southern tip of Africa. It seems they are trying to develop an industry in eco-friendly data centers. The plan is to use a pipeline to gather cold water from the ocean, run it two miles to [...]
• 

  New Wii drive hardware emulation

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The Wii-Optical-Drive-Emulator (WODE) makes it possible to load Wii and GameCube ISO files from an SD card or USB storage device. This hack uses the ribbon cable for the optical drive to connect to the Wii, requiring no soldering. The WODE is based on an ARM9 processor, runs Linux, and features a backlit LCD screen [...]
• 

  TI lashes out at their biggest fans

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  Texas Instruments has issued a DMCA notice to United TI, a group of enthusiasts. They had been cracking the keys that sign the operating system binaries in an attempt to gain access and possibly expand on the features. This seems, at least a little counter productive to us. Texas Instruments doesn’t sell the operating system separately do they? [...]
• 

  Barcode scanner in Processing

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 11:00am MDT by James Munns

  Reader [Nikolaus] decided that instead of using an existing image based bar code decoder, he would write his own. Using the Processing language he created a scanner that parsed the black and white pattern when a bar code was centered on the image. His code then parsed that data and compared it with the initializing character to [...]
• 

  Cheap Yaris cabin filter

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Jake] never ceases to amaze with his inventions, from his Powered respirator to his Steampunk LCD and more. Today he proves that not every hack has to be an amazing one requiring hundreds of hours, tons of soldering, and an Arduino. Instead, he was tired of being charged $50 for a $5 cabin air filter. [...]
• 

  Introduction to FTDI bitbang mode

  Posted: September 22nd, 2009, 8:53am MDT by Phil Burgess

  It was an interface that launched a thousand hacks. Near trivial to program, enough I/O lines for useful work, and sufficiently fast for a multitude of applications: homebrew logic analyzers, chip programmers, LCD interfaces and LED light shows, to name a few. Today the parallel printer port is on the brink of extinction (and good riddance, [...]
• 

  Six monitors, one video card

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 6:53pm MDT by Chris Gilmer

  With most of us utilizing at least two monitors these days in our day to day operations, six monitors, while an awesome thought, might seem a little too excessive. After all, do we really have space for multiple video cards? AMD has a new setup in their testing lab that is running six Dell 30inch displays [...]
• 

  Virtual pool, real-world interface

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 5:00pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  Sunday we saw robots playing pool and an augmented reality pool game. Today we’ll complete the pool trifecta: virtual pool using a real cue stick and ball in another vintage video from Hack a Day’s secret underground vault. The video is noteworthy for a couple of reasons: First is the year it was made: 1990. There’s been much buzz lately over real-world gaming [...]
• 

  Toilet and Figlet

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We thought [Kristofer's] Tech Tip about using figlet with scripts was kind of fun. It’s a throwback to the days of logging onto a BBS and being greeted by a vertically scrolling ASCII art image that had been meticulously hand crafted (although a lot of the coolest stuff was actually ANSI art). No hand crafting [...]
• 

  Defocusing LED Clock

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 3:06pm MDT by Devlin Thyne

  [Dennis] has created a well-documented and very beautiful clock in his latest project. This clock stands out from the other clock projects we have covered with its unique display. The seven segment LED displays mounted on a sled that moves them back and forth behind an array of fiber optic lenses, effectively taking the display [...]
• 

  Tweetidor, the tweeting humidor

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Matt Schultz

  As cigar aficionados will tell you, cigars should be stored in climate controlled humidors to keep them in best condition for smoking. Most of the time a humidor is just a simple air-tight box with a hygrometer attached, which measures the relative humidity inside the box. Feeling as though he needed more control over the [...]
• 

  BlokClok – Abstract time display

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Clocks made from blinking LEDs always make for fun projects. [Earthshine] built a clock that displays time abstractly using an 8×8 RGB LED matrix. The video embedded after the break illustrates how to read the time but here’s the gist of it: One LED is illuminated in the outside box of LEDs and moved in [...]
• 

  MP3 Hand Grenade

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  One man’s useless machine is another man’s treasure… or something. [Matt] shared a link to his MP3 gr3nade in the comments of our useless machines post. The project took a decomissioned hand grenade and shoehorned an MP3 player into it. His decision to locate the headphone jack where the safety pin goes is a nice [...]
• 

  Eee PC NAS

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 11:08am MDT by James Munns

  Hack a Day reader [The_Glu] shared with us a project of his. He used an Eee PC 701 he had lying around with a broken LCD, along with three 1TB SATA drives to create a custom NAS server for his house. The server features a number of other interesting components, including USB2SATA converters to connect [...]
• 

  Stop light for HotWheels

  Posted: September 21st, 2009, 7:28am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Paul] wrote in to show us this little project he did for his kids. His children love playing with their toy cars. In an effort to give them even more fun while playing, [Paul] built a stop light for them. He’s using an ATtiny13 to run them and has the source code available on his [...]
• 

  Wacom light graffiti

  Posted: September 20th, 2009, 3:14pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Jon] wanted to have some fun with the Graffiti Research Lab’s LASER Tag. Unfortunately his computer wasn’t quite up for the challenge of detecting the laser pointer with a webcam. Not to be discouraged by this hardware limitation, he purchased a used Wacom tablet and threw together some code to make it work with the [...]
• 

  Nokia PUSH competition

  Posted: September 20th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  With the upcoming release of a Cortex-A8 based handset, Nokia is looking at gaining some popularity with the hacker crowd through their new project/competition. If you can think of a good hack for the Maemo-running Nokia N900, you could win a vague prize pack consisting of the device itself, plus support (including financial) to make your idea a [...]
• 

  Wireless RGB light bulb

  Posted: September 20th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  Want to make the above yourself? [Sprite_tm] did a thorough job documenting the build step by step (complete with pics, schematics, graphs, and links to the parts used). In summary, [Sprite_tm] busted open an Ikea CFL bulb to reuse the housing. Inside, he installed a scavenged power supply, ATtiny44, RGB LED module, and a radio receiver. A remote control allows [Sprite_tm] to [...]
• 

  Pool-playing robot + ARpool

  Posted: September 20th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  Enjoy losing at pool? Well the folks at Queen’s University just made it a whole lot easier. The Deep Green robot was created with the purpose of playing a flawless game, allowing it to beat even the most skilled human players. More than a couple of research papers have been written on the project. A [...]
• 

  Laptop running on a sealed lead acid battery

  Posted: September 20th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Viktor's] laptop needed a new battery; he had the trade off between carrying around a cheap but heavy sealed lead acid (SLA) battery, or buying an expensive but light Li-Ion battery. Figuring his old laptop was pretty heavy already, and having an unused SLA available, re-purposing it for his laptop wouldn’t be too much of [...]
• 

  How to make your project an Internet sensation

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 5:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’d like to spend some time talking about documenting your project and sharing it with the world. For many, the goal is to become an Internet sensation, hopefully for the right reasons. Taking a bit more time to make certain you do a great job of sharing your information will pay off. Here at hackaday.comwe [...]
• 

  Web controlled Dark Crystal

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Reza] sent in his mood rock. Unlike other “mood” devices, instead of showing what mood you’re in, it shows what mood the internets are in. Two ShiftBrite modules are controlled by an AVR ATmega8 which then connects to a computer via USB. The assembly is placed inside of a piece of alabaster. USB communications are controlled [...]
• 

  Jolicloud OS seeks to move past browsers

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Jolicloud is a new Linux based operating system aimed at netbooks. The developers were nice enough to let us get our hands on their closed development version of the new OS. This distribution is built off of Ubuntu Netbook Remix(9.04 Jaunty Jackalope). At first glance it looks like nothing more than Ubuntu with a new [...]
• 

  Double the RAM on D-Link router

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Pelaca] upgraded the RAM on his D-Link DIR-320 router from 32MB to 64MB. This hack is simple enough: swap out the existing RAM chip for another one and change the bios to make use of the upgrade. The actual execution is not that simple because of the pitch of the TSOP II package; you’ll need [...]
• 

  Show us your most useless machine

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We were fortunate enough to StumbleUpon the most useless machine ever. Delightful! Eclipsed perhaps by the world’s most useless machine copy. We say that because the doll arm looks more realistic which creeps us out in a very entertaining way. So these machines aren’t useless, they provide entertainment. We, on the other hand, have had some [...]
• 

  EDuino – Arduino or AVR breakout?

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’ve had a lot of requests in the comments for more Arduino centered posts so we were happy when [Njay] told us about his EDuino board. This is a minimal Arduino clone that has a crystal and its capacitors, a pull-up resistor and button on the reset pin, and a detachable serial programming connection. He [...]
• 

  High altitude balloons

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  We received quite a bit of tips, after posting about the 150$ high altitude balloon project, from communities and teams who had done similar tasks. There is more to these projects than simply filling a balloon and attaching a camera, so in order to allow everyone their 7 seconds of well deserved fame, we’ve compiled [...]
• 

  RepRap milling machine

  Posted: September 19th, 2009, 10:31am MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Chris] liked Cartesian RepRap idea so much that he decided to design his master’s diploma project around it. Though it uses most of the same parts as the RepRap (even the PCBs), [Chris] has adapted it so it does milling rather than 3D printing.  Most of the parts (such as the stepper motors) were harvested from old inkjet printers and [...]
• 

  Timelapse dolly

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Andrew Curtis] does fantastic timelapse photography. He found that he wanted to be able to move the camera while taking the shots to give motion to the final product. While this isn’t exactly a new idea, not too many people mess with it. The dolly to do it with can be quite expensive as it [...]
• 

  Are you human? Then type out this book

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Google has acquired reCAPTCHA and plans to use the system for digitizing books. Wait… what? CAPTCHA is the method of requiring a user to type in a visually obscured word to prove they are human. How can this digitize books? The answer is a bit obscure and takes some time to discover, but you’ll have [...]
• 

  Super Game Boy boot ROM dumped

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 11:45am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Costis] managed to dump a copy of the boot ROM for the Nintendo Super Game Boy. This small piece of code (256 bytes) writes a graphic to the display at boot time as it loads the ROM on the game cartridge. He was able to dump the code by finding the exact point at which [...]
• 

  How to write udev rules

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Since the adoption of Kernel 2.6, Linux has used the udev system to handle devices such as USB connected peripherals. If you want to change the behavior when you plug something into a USB port, this section is for you. As an example, we will use a USB thumb drive but these methods should translate [...]
• 

  Touch sensitive keypad

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Viacheslav] built a keypad that uses human capacitance to detect key presses. Unlike normal keys which close a physical connection, his project detects touch through the PCB substrate. He uses the analog comparator of an AVR ATmega8 to detect the moment of zero crossing and then measures the time it takes to discharge in order [...]
• 

  Tech leaders enlisted to help the newspaper industry

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Chris Gilmer

  It is pretty obvious to everyone that the newspaper industry is in a tiny bit of trouble. They have thus far failed to reach the rapidly changing landscape of news, online news at that. They must do something to keep our interests up, or end up flailing on the ground. Microsoft and Google among others [...]
• 

  USB Isolation

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Devlin Thyne

  [Oleg] over at Circuits@Home has made a USB isolator for his hacking needs. This isolator separates the signal, ground, and power lines of a USB host device, such as a PC, from a USB device like a USB oscilloscope or logic analyzer. This might be useful for Keyboard sniffing, ECG, EEG or diagnosing the control [...]
• 

  Vintage Video: Computing Across America

  Posted: September 18th, 2009, 7:32am MDT by Phil Burgess

  in 1983, [Steve Roberts] packed up a Tandy 100 laptop and a 5-watt solar panel, fleeing suburbia on his recumbent bicycle on what would become a 17,000 mile journey that forever cemented his place in the geek pantheon…not just as a technology hacker, but as one of the preeminent “life hackers,” pursuing his own dreams [...]
• 

  Nintendo DS mini USB plug

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  Noting that so many of his electronics are using the mini USB plug for charging, [Xavier] decided to modify his Nintendo DS to charge via the same adapter. It looks like the existing adapter is basically a proprietary mini USB plug, so replacing it was actually almost a perfectly clean swap job. He has nice [...]
• 

  Mail-E email checker

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Totoro] sent in this cool little email notification device he made. Using a paper model of Wall-E, he added some servos and connected it to his computer using a PIC. Mail-E has independent arm rotation and head rotation. He admits that the PIC processor is major overkill and plans some upgrades such as making it [...]
• 

  Software pulse width modulation

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Pulse Width Modulation is a topic that tends to give a lot of beginners trouble. [Daqq], whose nixie plasma ball we covered a few days ago, has a simple but effective PWM project that you should take a look at. The circuit used 9 LEDs clustered together into 3 sets of RGB modules and connected [...]
• 

  Arduino command interpreter shell

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Matt Schultz

  A lot of people like fancy GUIs and nice graphics, but some of us just feel more at home in a command prompt. [nevdull] is one of those people. Instead of just using the Arduino dev tools that are available for download, he wanted the ability to shell into his Arduino, so he created AVR [...]
• 

  Build your own joystick

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  What can you build with a ballpoint pen and some extra parts? [gzip] found himself with a bonus box of right angle switches and other miscellaneous parts and set out to build a joystick. Simple arcade joysticks use switches that are actuated by the movement of the stick and this design embraces the concept. The [...]
• 

  iPhone cop-cam

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Tim] wanted to make some recordings of himself driving similar to those made by the dashboard cameras on police cars.  In a simple two step hack (1. Measure, 2. Drill), he altered his iPhone windshield mount so that it didn’t block the lens of the camera. We will admit (sheepishly) that at first glance we [...]
• 

  Xmarks helps polish Chrome

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Brett Haddock

  The guys over at Xmarks are working hard to bring their bookmark synchronization service to all browsers and platforms. They’ve recently begun a closed alpha test for their Google Chrome/Chromium extension. We got an invite and decided to give it a test run. Since extensions aren’t yet fully supported, and still a bit buggy you’ll [...]
• 

  GPS USB port repair

  Posted: September 17th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Jair2k4] learned the hard way not to lend out your expensive GPS to untrustworthy people. His Garmin 200 was returned with a broken USB port and unable to charge. Luckily, all it took was some inventive thinking and he had it repaired in no time. By breaking open a Nokia cellphone car charger, he had [...]
• 

  How to replace a Netgear router antenna

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 6:41pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  a.ntivir.us wanted to use a different antenna for their Netgear mbr624gu WiFi router. Unfortunately, this model comes with an antenna that is not removable. As with other antenna retrofits, this involves no soldering. But because there is already a mounting area for an antenna, no case altering is needed either. After opening the router with [...]
• 

  8-bit binary calculator

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 1:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Don’t feel like shelling out $5 for a fancy factory made calculator that won’t even do binary math? [Jeff] decided to prove his mastery of gates and his disdain for base 10 by building a binary calculator using XOR, AND, and OR chips. Calculations can be input in two ways: through digital logic headers or [...]
• 

  The Blind Juggler

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  The Blind Juggler is a robot that juggles or bounces balls in a controlled manner without any sensory input. It is basically just a linear actuator with a paddle on the end to smack the ball back into the air as it returns to the ground. The crazy thing is, it is doing this based [...]
• 

  Router/Twitter/Arduino clock

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Kyle] decided to build the above LED clock for his church. Though it may look impressive enough, it is also hiding loads of features. [Kyle] wanted to make the clock as easy to control as possible, so rather than use buttons or dials to control what is being displayed, he used Twitter. The clock is connected [...]
• 

  DIY Lincoln welder conversion

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Fritz] built this 600 joule capacitive discharge spot welder in a case scavenged from a Lincoln plasma cutter. All of the circuitry was designed by [Fritz] and the schematics are available on his website. He has a few other welding related project also documented on his site that are worth checking out. While this isn’t the first homemade spot welder we have [...]
• 

  Zune HD teardown

  Posted: September 16th, 2009, 8:12am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  Our friends over at ifixit are at it again, how they get these devices so early before release and make a complete teardown in time still amazes us. Today they bring us the latest Microsoft media device, the Zune HD. Some features worth mentioning: The astoundingly thin, 1mm we’re talking, OLED screen. The Nvidia Tegra [...]
• 

  Rotating Lego dock take two

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Last week we saw a rotating iPhone dock built from Lego. This week we’re happy to put up another example of a dock made of these popular building blocks. Thank goodness this one takes into account all of the sudden jolts that our desk is prone to by incorporating shock absorbing springs. The design is [...]
• 

  Grow box controls heater, fans, and water

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The Cheap Vegetable Gardner wanted more automation than their previous PS2 controller based grow system. This time they set out to design a full featured, compact grow controller that can measure temperature and humidity as well as control a heat lamp, fan, and water pump. An Arduino provides USB connectivity and interfaces the solid state [...]
• 

  Using MatchBox cars as a switch

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 2:41pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [atduskgreg] posted this interesting setup to flickr. He’s using two toy cars as a switch. He has wired into their metal undercarriages so when they collide, the circuit closes. We’ve seen some pretty nifty home made interface items, but usually they are posted with a clear purpose or a project. This one is a little [...]
• 

  1:35,200 Scale Train is World’s Smallest

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  This train layout is so small it nearly defies photography as much as it defies expectations. Built by model railroad enthusiast [David Smith], this is a model of a model: an N scale (1:160) layout inside a Z scale (1:220) world! For size reference, the entire layout is shown under a ballpoint pen tip in the photo [...]
• 

  Color changing paint display

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’ve seen several creative projects from [Sprite_tm] and this one sets a new bar. He got his hands on some paint that changes color with temperature. By covering a circuit board with the paint then heating the circuits he’s created a heat actuated 7-segment display (his post is in Dutch). Three seconds at about 1 [...]
• 

  Bar2d2 on the Discovery channel

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 12:03pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The friendly robotic bartender we’ve covered a couple of times before hit the airwaves last week. [Jamie], the inventor of Bar2d2 sent in a link to video of the barkeeper in action. The story runs from 0:30-4:40 and covers a bit about the build, the conversion to automatic drink mixing, and plenty of happy liquor-guzzling [...]
• 

  Modified RX7 dimmer control

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  We were a little surprised when we learned the Mazda RX7’s high beams were controlled by ECU, compared to typical cars using just a toggle switch. Ubermodder [Trent Bruce] realized how much of a pain in the rear end this can be if the ECU ever burns out, meaning no brights. By using a D-Flip [...]
• 

  SecurityTube – a YouTube for hacks

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Brett Haddock

  SecurityTube is a site which has recently caught our attention. The site has quite a variety of videos from various sources related to security and hacking. Videos range from DEFCON talks, to documentaries, step by step how tos, and even proof of concept vulnerability videos. It’s certainly a great resource for anyone looking for something [...]
• 

  PhoneTag helps you read your voicemail

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Chris Gilmer

  Have you ever been too busy to check in with your voicemail service? PhoneTag might have the solution for you. Some of us might have done it before, let voicemails pile up if we know nothing urgent or important is coming down the pipes. Wouldn’t it be much simpler and more convenient if those voicemails played [...]
• 

  Nixie Plasma ball

  Posted: September 15th, 2009, 8:25am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This one came out over a year ago and we missed it. [Daqq] has made a plasma ball out of a nixie tube.  All that was required was the transformer from a cold cathode meant for computers and a nixie tube. He did have to do a tiny bit of modification to the power supply, [...]
• 

  BBox MIDI drum sequencer

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Zach Banks

  We’ve covered sequencers before, but reader [Johan] sent in his latest project that is much more minimalistic approach. Dubbed the BBox, he based his drum generator on an Arduino and an LCD display. Rather than synthesizing sound, the Arduino just outputs MIDI which is then interpreted by his Roland Juno-D. In building the device he used a [...]
• 

  Dual voltage power supply

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Melanie] had some time this weekend so she whipped up a dual voltage power supply from parts on hand. This design plugs right into a breadboard and, unlike the last breadboard power supply we saw, provides two voltages at one time. 5v is delivered to one power bus while 3.3v goes to the other. Her [...]
• 

  Android app “tests” Windows vulnerability

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 2:30pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  An Android App for “testing” the Windows SMB2 vulnerability we covered last week has been released. For testing? Yeah right! The availability of this kind of software makes it ridiculously easy for anybody to go out and cause some havoc. Go right now and double check that your machines that run Windows Vista or Windows [...]
• 

  Head bangers beware: motion sensing headphones

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The iPhone doesn’t have the market cornered on the use of accelerometers. The tiltphone project incorporates a three axis accelerometer into a set of headphones transforming them into a remote control for an iPod. A PIC16F690 reads in data from the analog sensor, translates specific movements into commands, and like the Arduino iPod Remote from [...]
• 

  Classy hard drive speaker set

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 1:23pm MDT by Matt Schultz

  Hard drive speakers aren’t anything new, but they have yet to be done very professionally. Most hard drive speaker hacks are awesome, but aren’t meant to be a showpiece. [Oliver] took the opportunity to put together a set of 20GB drives and a custom-built acrylic case with a horizontal VU meter up front. The project [...]
• 

  Disabling your cell phone’s mic for security

  Posted: September 14th, 2009, 8:48am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [Dan] set up this simple cell phone hack to disable his microphone when he’s not using his cell phone. He had read that the government can listen to you using your cell phone, even when it is off. This concerned him enough to hack into his phone. He removed the expansion port and wired the [...]
• 

  Blue light special: Earn $10 by installing spyware

  Posted: September 13th, 2009, 7:49pm MDT by Brett Haddock

  Ars technica is reporting on the ruling from the FTC about the software shenanigans of Kmart and Sears. The marketing geniuses behind the parent company of Sears and Kmart decided they needed more information about the users of their website. Their solution? Offering $10 to users who install their custom software which phones home with [...]
• 

  Laser spiro made from junk

  Posted: September 13th, 2009, 5:03pm MDT by Gerrit Coetzee

  Sometimes we need someone like [FireMyLaser] to show us that you really don’t need things like custom PCB’s, expensive tools, or laser cutters to pull of a hack. His laser spiro subsists mostly of  toothpicks, hotglue, and determination. It is a two motor spiro with a base motor and a motor mounted in a  spinning [...]
• 

  Pictures from space for $150

  Posted: September 13th, 2009, 1:35pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  Ever wanted to be able to launch a balloon into space, track its location via GPS, take some photographs of the curvature of the earth, and recover the balloon, all for the low low cost of $150? [Oliver Yeh] sent in his teams project, Icarus, which does just that. The group of MIT students found [...]
• 

  Beer brewer’s temperature controller

  Posted: September 13th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Steady fermentation temperatures, usually at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, are an important part of brewing beer. Because of this, the wort (unfermented beer) is often temperature controlled during fermentation. [android] needed a temperature controller for fermenting beer in a chest freezer. Much like the energy efficient fridge hack from last month, the chest freezer is [...]
• 

  How to build a life-sized electronic game

  Posted: September 12th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’re very impressed with [Steve's] Electronic Snowball Fight game. It consists of two life-sized players standing opposite of each other. Each can throw a snowball or duck, the object is to hit the other person and not get hit yourself. He’s utilized a lot of good building techniques that could be easily adapted to other [...]
• 

  Tube amplifier in a PSU

  Posted: September 12th, 2009, 1:44pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Niclas] sent us his home made tube amplifier. For the case he used a computer power supply unit, took out the guts and replaced them with the amplifier board. He based this build off of an existing design but took a more minimalist approach. The wooden face plate has an on/off switch, an audio jack, [...]
• 

  Dot matrix clock on the way

  Posted: September 12th, 2009, 11:49am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Kevin] sent in his almost finished open source dot matrix clock. Sporting a hefty 40 x 16 display powered by a PIC 18F he has complete pixel by pixel control of the graphics. Combined with with a triple buffer he is at least able to output 15fps, with planned 30fps. While this has great potential [...]
• 

  Controlling an R/C car with a pic16F84

  Posted: September 12th, 2009, 8:53am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  [GuySoft] sent in this project. He doesn’t normally mess with electronics, but decided to give it a try. He chose a fairly complicated project to be his first, but seems extremely comfortable with it. This project was to control his R/C car with a pic16f84. That chip was chosen simply because it was the only [...]
• 

  Homing pigeon email

  Posted: September 12th, 2009, 8:01am MDT by Jacob Woj

  Yes, you read that correctly: electronic mail carried by birds. [Ferdinand] tipped us off to this story, which involves combining new and old methods in transferring data. The Unlimited Group, a firm in a remote section of South Africa, transfers loads of encrypted documents to a second office 50 miles away. A pricey broadband connection would take between 6 [...]
• 

  CableCard card tuners on the way

  Posted: September 11th, 2009, 6:19pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We were momentarily excited when we heard that CableCARD compatible tuners will be available for purchase by the end of the year. A card like this would allow you to hook up your digital cable to your computer and record programs natively. This has been possible for a long time with analog cable and PVR [...]
• 

  AVR controlled Rubik’s cube solver

  Posted: September 11th, 2009, 3:44pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Andrius] just sent in his robot Rubik’s cube solver. It isn’t as fast as the solver we saw last year but it also doesn’t require as many parts either.  This project utilizes two claws, each actuated by just two servo motors. The thinking is done by a PC which calculates the necessary moves to solve [...]
• 

  Linux (via iLoader) out for Nano 2G

  Posted: September 11th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Linux4Nano] over at the [Gna! repositories] have just finalized a breakthrough for their bootloaderproject.  Because the iPod Nano 2G has a hardware encryption chip, it could previously not be flashed with a custom firmware. By digging around in some assembly code (and working their magic) the team was able to get Linux onto the 2G, develop [...]
• 

  Exoskeleton rental now available

  Posted: September 11th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  The HAL two-leg exoskeleton is now available for rent in Tokyo for $2300 per month. We saw the HAL in our power suit roundup from last year. There is footage of this lower-extremity suit demonstrated by three people. The video is a bit creepy because the they are apparently just out for a stroll in [...]
• 

  Rock Band drum set remake

  Posted: September 11th, 2009, 8:58am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  We’ve seen some impressive mods for the popular video game Rock Band, from new cymbals to an air powered kick pedal, but we cant say we’ve seen someone go as far as the folks over at EDrums. They start off making their own mesh heads, a junction box to connect everything, and then a base [...]
• 

  SparkFun kegerator goes to eleven

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 12:55pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  It started with a simple need: keep tabs on SparkFun Electronics’ in-house kegerator so the beer won’t run out at inopportune times. But of course SparkFun and “simple need” make strange bedfellows…throw beer in the mix, and you know this can’t end well. The result, as you might imagine, reads like a who’s-who of electronics hackery buzzwords. Arduino? [...]
• 

  Tapping Tree Power

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Devlin Thyne

  [bugloaf] tipped us off about this flower power hack. University of Washington researchers, [Babak], [Brian], and [Carlton] have developed very low power circuits to run directly off of trees. This builds upon the work of MIT researchers and Voltree Power. A voltage of up to around 200mV is generated between an electrode in a tree [...]
• 

  Low-cost ARM7 prototyping

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Do you find that the capabilities of your current microcontrollers are holding you back when you try to take over the world? Moving up to ARM7 architecture will put your projects in the same arena with the iPod and the Nintendo DS. The BlueBoard-lpc214x is a prototyping board with a lot to offer. It incorporates two [...]
• 

  The Old Robots Website

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  We found The Old Robots Website this morning and ended up spending way too much time there. It’s a display of mainly consumer robots, though there are some custom jobs tossed in there too. Ranging from silly to awesome and everywhere in between, we found tons of great information. By strange coincidence, we saw Arok [...]
• 

  Uzebox video player

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  Everyone’s favorite open source game console, the Uzebox (also cloned as the Fuzebox), just got a new feature hacked into it – a video player. At reduced quality (8-bit color), the Uzebox was able to play ‘The Matrix’ off an SD card @ 30fps plus the audio @15kHz. That’s a pretty impressive feat when one considers it is running [...]
• 

  S.P.A.R.K. beginer robotics resources

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 8:26am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  We love to see educational resources appear. iRobot has put together Starter Programs for Advancement of Robotics Knowledge or S.P.A.R.K to serve as not only education, but amusement with the purpose of getting people interested in robotics. With sections divided into different grade levels, it is obvious that this is mainly meant for school aged kids. [...]
• 

  Cain and Abel: Windows password recovery utility

  Posted: September 10th, 2009, 7:00am MDT by Brett Haddock

  As far as password recovery utilities go, Cain & Abel is by far one of the best out there. It’s designed to run on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista but has methods to recover passwords for other systems. It is able to find passwords in the local cache, decode scrambled passwords, find wireless network keys or use [...]
• 

  40 years of NERF

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 6:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  In 1968 a guy by the name of [Rey Guyer] came up with an idea for a game. It involved foam balls as game pieces. After failing to sell the game to Milton Bradley, he approached Parker Brothers. They bought his idea but ended up tossing the game itself and just marketing the foam ball. [...]
• 

  In-depth MAME cocktail cabinet build

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 5:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Recently, a friend of ours got married who is a Ms. Pac-Man fanatic. His best man set out to fulfill the groom’s dream of owning a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail cabinet. The problem is that the unit he was after was selling for $2500. It’s great to buy the real thing (and with guest contributions he [...]
• 

  How to download books from Google

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Chris Gilmer

  If you want books, but don’t want to pay for them, there is a better way than walking into your local book store and pocketing them. Try grabbing them online, from Google! Everyone must be aware of the Google Books Library project by now. If you’re not, it’s basically a way for Google to ensure all [...]
• 

  12kW solar collector

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  Though not much info is readly available about it on the web, [Joe Carruth] is trying to build publicity (and venture capital) for his home-built solar electric generator. At its essence, it is a Stirling dish system with an adjustable composite mirror surface. This means that instead of having to rotate the entire contraption in order to [...]
• 

  Drilling precise grids

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Drilling precise grids without a CNC machine can be tough to pull off. [Ookseer] has come up with a nifty method for dilling aligned holes with a drill press. He uses a right-angle jig on a Dremel drill press with stacks of business cards as spacers. The same number of cards is added between the [...]
• 

  Apple gives c64 emulator the boot

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  After making it to the top 20 in most regions, Apple has removed the c64 emulator for the iPhone from the App Store. Apparently the thorough app review process didn’t discover that the BASIC system had not been removed from the app, but was instead merely hidden. Another revision of the emulator has been submitted for [...]
• 

  Rotating iPhone dock from Legos

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Hot on the heels of the aluminum dock and the Lego camera mount, [Steve] sent in his iPhone/iPod Touch dock made out of Lego bricks. It’s very stylish with a black and grey theme but we think the function makes this DIY spectacular. In the design [Steve] has included the ability to rotate the cradle [...]
• 

  Trim the fat from Gmail

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Chris Gilmer

  Google’s Gmail is a highly viable option for email. With numerous features and options like widgets, a task list, labels, and chat, Gmail has a slight tendency to get overwhelming and might force us to loose focus on what it is really all about: email. What can make Gmail better? For starters, how about no ads; [...]
• 

  Create a temporary phone number with inumbr

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Chris Gilmer

  Maybe you don’t want that one person that has barged into your life to know your private phone number? Could be a salesperson or a co-worker who you aren’t that impressed with, but have to get in contact with. Check out inumbr. inumbr is a free online service that gives US users the ability to set [...]
• 

  Life size animatronic wolf tail

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  We’re not 100% sure the usefulness of this hack, but it is extremely interesting regardless and will probably make a lot of furries happy. WolfTronix presents their method for creating a realistic animatronic wolf tail. It uses an Atmel MCU controlling two servos alongside a mess of Klixx toys and paper clips to produce a [...]
• 

  Windows 7 and Vista crash via SMB exploit

  Posted: September 9th, 2009, 7:14am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Laurent Gaffié] has discovered an exploit that affects Windows Vista, Windows 7, and possibly Windows Server 2008 (unconfirmed). This method attacks via the NEGOTIATE PROTOCOL REQUEST which is the first SMB query sent. The vulnerability is present only on Windows versions that include Server Message Block 2.0 and have the protocol enabled. A successful attack requires [...]
• 

  Hand of Man Mechanical Claw

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 7:41pm MDT by James Munns

  [Christian Ristow], a former Muppet creator, has created a much larger puppet that has caught the attention of Popular Mechanics. His Hand of Man is a 27 foot long remote control mechanical claw. Powered by a 90 hp diesel engine, the hydraulic system can be controlled by a glove worn by the operator. This started [...]
• 

  DIY Solar Panels

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 6:52pm MDT by James Munns

  Reader [unangst] pointed out to us an article in the U.K.’s Daily Mail, where a teenager from Nepal had managed to create a 9v, 18W solar panel using human hair rather than the usual semiconductors (usually crystalline-silicon). The complex silicon in solar panels are what keep the prices out of reach of developing nations, and [...]
• 

  Build your own browser extensions for Google Chrome

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 5:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Ryan] posted a writeup on developing extensions for Google Chrome. The extension system utilizes HTML with a JavaScript API which is still sparsely documented. After taking us through his twitter bar extension project, he concludes that the Chrome extensions are not nearly as versatile as what we’re used to seeing with Firefox. That being said, [...]
• 

  Monome mainstream: performance on Letterman

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 4:35pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The monome was spotted being used in a performance by Imogen Heap on Late Night with David Letterman. Imogen uses the monome 256 model connected to a laptop sitting on the piano. In her performance she uses a combination of live samples and pre-recorded loops proving how great this product is in the hands of [...]
• 

  Time lapse light sculptures

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 3:42pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Jared] sent us a feature he posted involving time-lapse photography and an LED. Using a custom built aparatus an LED is moved on two axis’ during a long exposure of around thirty seconds. The frame is wood and PVC with two gearhead motors powered by AA batteries to provide the locomotion. The LED is powered [...]
• 

  Digital Camera LCD replacement

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 3:33pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Turning on your camera to this kind of black blotch will ruin your day. Cracked LCD screens have got to be the biggest digital camera killer out there. Although you can still take pictures with it, a non-functioning screen makes it difficult if not impossible to change settings and take decent photos. [myles_h] has document the [...]
• 

  Poor exhausted littledog

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This video of littledog doing some terrain navigaion excersizes is just hilarious. We really don’t have any technological updates since last time we mentioned him, but you should watch the video anyway. [Evan] at botjunkie pointed out how tired littledog must be to absolutely collapse at the end of each run. We started out thinking [...]
• 

  Arduino as iPod remote control

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [David] had an Arduino in search of a project. He decided to make an Arduino powered iPod remote control using an ipod connector breakout board and a 3.3v to 5v level converter (both from SparkFun). The circuit was built on a mini breadboard, controlled by an Arduino Mini, and housed in an Altoids tin. To [...]
• 

  Game Boy HDD update: the guts

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  Last week we showed you the ingenious hard drive enclosure made from a broken Game Boy. We caught up with [_n3o_], the person responsible for this mod, and he was nice enough to share some pictures of the inside of the project. Let’s get down to business and take a look. [_n3o_] opened this project back [...]
• 

  Arduino crib rocker

  Posted: September 8th, 2009, 8:17am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  Anyone with children will understand the value of this project immediately. This is an Arduino controlled sound activated crib rocker. [Lars] built a custom suspension system for his baby’s crib which allows a servo, mounted to the floor to rock it gently back and forth. Ok, maybe it’s a vigorous rocking, but that’s what some [...]
• 

  snega2usb update: usb snes and sega cartridge reader

  Posted: September 7th, 2009, 4:19pm MDT by Gerrit Coetzee

  When we first posted [Matthias_H]’s USB reader for SNES game carts, it was met with enthusiasm. The snega2usb allows you to play SNES and Sega games on your pc right off the cartridge. The latest revision is even more amazing than the first.  [Matthias] has added the ability to read Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges as [...]
• 

  Proto-board Z80 computer

  Posted: September 7th, 2009, 1:34pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’ve seen  Z80 processor based computers before but they usually use a printed circuit board to easily and reliably connect all the components. [Marton] sent us his Z80 based computer from a while back that is built entirely on prototyping board. He made his own video board that utilizes a TV as the monitor and [...]
• 

  Arduino powered delta robot

  Posted: September 7th, 2009, 9:53am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  We spotted this video of a delta robot today that seems to be powered by an Arduino. We were wondering when we would see this, happen. The source code is available on the project page. We really like the mouse control, its just fun to watch. You may recall that we recently covered some slightly [...]
• 

  Hard drive RGB clock

  Posted: September 7th, 2009, 8:30am MDT by Jacob Woj

  We’ve brought you an HDD clock in the past, but [mb1988] tried to bring his project to another level by fully documenting it (in Polish). Inspired by [dzgdzzh]’s version of the same invention, [mb1988] decided to reverse engineer it (as well as make a few changes) and base it on the powerful ATmega128. Since this [...]
• 

  C64 emulator for iPhone approved — minus BASIC

  Posted: September 7th, 2009, 7:27am MDT by Phil Burgess

  After a lengthy process that had previously met with rejection, Manomio’s Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone and iPod touch has finally been accepted by Apple. This marks the first time a multi-purpose emulation title has been approved by the App Store. The $4.99 C64 app comes bundled with five fully-licensed classic games, and additional titles [...]
• 

  Aluminum iPhone dock

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 7:30pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  Last week we mentioned an article to cover up that ugly iPod dock; [Jozerworx] did one better by creating his own iPhone dock entirely. He had access to a machine shop where he combined some spare aluminum with an existing iPhone connection cable, but mentions the dock could probably be created with basic hand tools [...]
• 

  Hack a Day turns 5

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 6:49pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  September 5th marks the fifth anniversary of Hack a Day. We hope you’ve had as much fun hacking, reading, and sending us stories as we’ve had sharing them with everyone. Whether you destroyed your hard drives or built your own web server we tried to keep things interesting over the past year. It was easy at [...]
• 

  Firefox CSS hack: change navigation icons

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 4:25pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Why settle for the standard home icon on your browser? If your home button brings you to hackaday.com, why not make the icon reflect that destination? This hack is quick and simple. We’ll take you through it using Firefox 3 and the default theme with standard sized icons. We start by using our favorite graphics program [...]
• 

  Open source digital camera

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Those brainy folks over at Stanford are working on an open source digital camera. This is an effort to advance what they call “computational photography”. Basically they’re looking to combine some of the functionality of Photoshop or Gimp right into the camera. One example they discuss is utilizing an algorithm to even out the light [...]
• 

  Cellphone-controlled home

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 1:00pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Tixlegeek] used a Motorola 68HC705J1 development board to remotely control his home through his cellphone. The video above, as well as [Tixlegeek]’s website, is in French, though the video has been captioned. The development board (called the ERMES125) is controlled by a PIC externally. It has an array of LEDs, and apperantly a few high voltage relays. The PIC [...]
• 

  Diamond thermal paste: update

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The need to conduct laboratory-style experiments runs deep in some people. [Freddyman] built an apparatus to test out several commercial and homemade thermal pastes, including the DIY diamond thermal grease we reported on last month. He setup each experiment in the middle of an air conditioned room, ran the heat sink fan for 30 minutes [...]
• 

  DIY coffee table scale

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Guus] screwed together this coffee table which doubles as a scale. No welding was required to put it together - just some bolts, pulleys, miscellaneous fittings, and an original design. The weight is indicated through the (unlabeled) position of the counterweight arm. Currently it is limited to measuring 10kg (22 pounds), but can easily be boosted by adding a [...]
• 

  Toyaanisqatsi: time lapse control using LEGO parts

  Posted: September 6th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Phil Burgess

  A simple panning motion can add impact to the already-dramatic effect of time lapse photography. To accomplish this, frugal cinematographers sometimes build [Rube Goldberg] contraptions from clock motors, VCR parts or telescope tracking mounts. Hack a Day reader [Stephan Martin] has assembled a clever bargain-basement system using an Arduino-driven stepper motor and a reduction gear system built up [...]
• 

  Take command of your BASH prompt

  Posted: September 5th, 2009, 3:37pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Joshua] has put together a list of BASH prompt customizations. The command prompt is used in a command-line interface to show that the system is ready for the next command. Often times this is nothing more than a user name, host name, and working directory: mike@krusty:~$ [Joshua's] customization examples can be used to color code the information [...]
• 

  Harry Potter Marauders map realized

  Posted: September 5th, 2009, 3:25pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  After reading about cheap wireless for microcontrollers, [Leigh] left a comment about his Marauders map. Much like the Harry Potter version, whoever holds the ‘map’ is able to see the location of the ‘marauders’ within certain bounds. Unlike the magical version however, each person being tracked needs to hold a PICAXE 08M, GPS, and 433.92MHz [...]
• 

  Programmable spring actuator legs

  Posted: September 5th, 2009, 9:02am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This proof of concept shows an interesting way of making robotic legs. They are using programmable spring actuators to make these legs function as though they had a “reflex”.  The builder pulls the robot along on a leash. As the leg reaches its limit of backward motion, a signal is sent from the shoulder down [...]
• 

  Arduino email alert

  Posted: September 5th, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Zach Banks

  The Arduino makes a great platform for alert systems because it doesn’t need additional parts, other than an LED or motor. [Torchris] made email notifier, and used an Ethernet shield to make it standalone. The Arduino polls your POP server seeing if there are unread emails. POP is an incredibly simple protocol, even simpler [...]
• 

  Multi-screen video with Ipod

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 6:30pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Marco Tempest] has developed some software called MultiVid that allows synchronized video across multiple iPhone or iPod Touch devices. For this to work, all of the devices must be connected to the same WiFi network. Playback can be controlled from any one of the iPhones/iPod Touches or from the Mac running the controller software. There [...]
• 

  Mozilla Fennec Alpha 3 for Windows Mobile released

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 5:50pm MDT by Brett Haddock

  Mozilla released the latest alpha version of their new mobile browser Fennec for Windows Mobile. It brings many new features and fixes, such as improved startup time and a caching system to help scrolling on a page. They have also added support for a wider range of screen resolutions, and for those of us running [...]
• 

  Farewell, Hack a Day

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 2:55pm MDT by Eliot Phillips

  Now, on the eve of Hack a Day’s fifth anniversary, seems like an appropriate time to announce my resignation. Site founder [Phillip Torrone] published the first post, a red box, on September 5th, 2004. On May 7th, 2005 I took over editorial duties at Hack a Day by publishing one of my favorite projects: [Jonathan [...]
• 

  Hard Core Nintendo DSI hacking

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 1:05pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  So, you hacked your DSI did you? Let me guess, you ran a flash cart. No? You probably added some LEDs then right? No? You must be pretty hard core, did you add a NES controler? No? Well what did you do? We still have no idea what this guy is doing. But he is doing [...]
• 

  How a storage company builds their own

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Want 67 Terabytes of local storage? That’ll be $7,867 but only if you build it yourself. Blackblaze sells online storage, but when setting up their company they found the only economical way was to build their own storage pods. Lucky for us they followed the lead of other companies and decided to share how they [...]
• 

  Why we don’t need phone numbers

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 11:30am MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’re starting to think that phone numbers are deprecated; it may be time to integrate how we connect telephones with the new digital millennium. To get a firm grasp on this topic it is important to take a look at the reason we started using phone numbers, why we still use them, and the why’s [...]
• 

  Variable Range Sprinkler

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Devlin Thyne

  [Pete], a musician, and the guy behind SparkFun’s pogobeds and locking footprints has a sprinkler hack. He wanted to keep his dog, Choppy, happy with a green lawn while also keeping his sidewalk water free. To solve this problem, he hacked his sprinkler and hose to adjust the sprinkler’s range. He uses an Arduino to [...]
• 

  Digital motorcycle monitor

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Jacob Woj

  [Bill] documented the creation of his motorcycle monitor over on the Arduino forum. Consisting of a speedometer, tachometer, and gear indicator, the monitor accurately displays the variables measured by each of the gauges. The gear indicator works by comparing the engine RPM to that of the rear wheel. This ratio is unique to each gear, allowing [...]
• 

  Mini MAME cabinet

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [luis] added to the collection of MAME projects we’ve covered with his mini MAME cabinet build. This is his 5th mini cabinet and features a 5″ PlayStation LCD screen, a joystick, four control buttons, player 1 and 2 start buttons, speakers, and a lighted marquee. The controls are interfaced through an I-PAC and the system [...]
• 

  Tap-controlled metronome

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Adam] and his buddy [Matthew] sent in their tap-controlled metronome, or as they prefer, “metronome with an attitude.” Using the piezo speaker you can tap patterns and rhythm into the memory and it will repeat it back to you in loop. The two buttons allow you to speed up or slow down the beat which [...]
• 

  80 gig drive inside a Game Boy

  Posted: September 4th, 2009, 9:58am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [_n30_] put together a nice external storage mod by fitting a 2.5″ drive into a broken Game Boy. This mod fooled quite a few people because it appears that the device still plays games with the drive stuffed inside of it. Sadly, this is not the case. The reflective backing has been removed from the [...]
• 

  NES on ZipIt

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 6:57pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  Going even further back in time than 4th gen, [Kevin] tipped us off to this project by [Hunter Davis]. It is a collection of software mods for Zipit’s Z2 instant messenging device. Some of them include allowing it to run (ports of) the Fluxbox window manager, FCE Ultra NES emulator, and (most impresively) the Java framework. The [...]
• 

  Arduino muon detector

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 5:50pm MDT by Zach Banks

  [Sebastian Tomczak] was borrowing a homeade muon detector from his friend, and managed to hook it up to his computer through an Arduino. The detector itself uses 3 fluorescent tubes to detect radiation. Three separate tubes are used in order to filter out terrestrial radiation; cosmic radiation will fall in-line with the tubes and pass [...]
• 

  700 lumen LED bike lamp

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 5:10pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’ve seen bright bike lamps before. This one caught our eye because it needs a heat sink while in operation. [700lumenLED] built a super bright light for his bike that features an aluminum enclosure and heat sinks to protect the LEDs against overheating.  Some nice work was done incorporating the 12v battery into a bike [...]
• 

  Simple pop-up notifications

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 4:24pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Kristofer] shares a tip on a simple way to add pop-up notifications to Linux scripts. The package libnotify allows you to use the command “notify-send” to pop up a message when you need it. The syntax is simple enough, just place your message in quotes after the command like so: notify-send "Go read hackaday.com" There are a [...]
• 

  Top 10 iPhone apps for electronics hackers

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 3:24pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  There are so many apps available for the iPhone, one might even say there are a plethora. We would like to take a moment to help you find a few that might help with your hacking projects. Ever have problems remember a formula when you need it? Need to track the acceleration of your brand [...]
• 

  Look at Your Gerber Files with Gerbv

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 2:22pm MDT by dthyne

  Tired of making kindergarten macaroni art PCBs? Check your Gerber files before you send them off to a fab house with a Gerber file viewer. Viewplot , GerbTool’s Viewer , and FAB 3000 Free DFM are all free versions of for-pay software to view your Gerber files. If you use Windows and demo software, these [...]
• 

  Ubuntu 9.04 on Kindle 2

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 1:09pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Having read books on a Palm device for years we were excited when Amazon came up with the Kindle. Our problem is that if you’re going to carry around a portable device it should do a whole lot more than just display text from a few books. [Jesse Vincent] managed to get Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty [...]
• 

  Guitar Hero strum bar as guitar kill switch

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 11:24am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Ray] had a Guitar Hero controller for PlayStation 2 sitting around. Because he moved on to playing the game on Xbox 360, he decided to cannibalize the older controller for its parts. He removed the strum bar and fit it inside of a mid-1980’s Peavy Patriot electric guitar. Once wired up, it works as a [...]
• 

  Single Tube Nixie Clock

  Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 9:19am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  This single tube nixie clock cought our eye today. After receiving an IN-8 tube from a friend, [Trax] wanted to find some project to show it off.  He decided on an art piece that doubles as a clock. Tastefully mounted in a simple wooden box with a pretty inlay, the tube is lit from below [...]
• 

  Neo-Geo case mod

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 7:30pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  What do you get when you cross a Neo-Geo and a Sega Genesis? A pretty vintage case mod. [Brett] used a variation of the 16-bit console (known as the Mega Drive II) as the base of his project. With an original Neo-Geo motherboard and a few other components (such as a power indicating LED), the ‘Geosis’ was born. [Brett] [...]
• 

  Build an analog TV station

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 7:00pm MDT by Zach Banks

  With the transition to digital TV, the FCC has abandoned the old analog format. Luckily, you can take advantage of this and set up your own analog TV station. The FCC has a tool on their site to see what channels are open in your area to broadcast in. To broadcast, you need a TV [...]
• 

  Direct-to-PCB inkjet printing

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 6:45pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  Full Spectrum Engineering has offered up a tutorial for their inkjet direct PCB kits that repurpose direct-to-CD capable inkjet printers (such as the Epson R280) to print etch-resistant ink straight onto copper clad board. This is easier and less error prone than some iron-on methods, especially for two-sided boards. Just print (no need to reverse the design), dry on [...]
• 

  Repurpose an unused portable CD player

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 6:15pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Ariel] liked the look of the Muji wall mounted CD player. He set out to build his own, posting a how-to that documents his project. The custom paperboard case contains a portable CD player, two portable speakers with amplifier, and a pull-string switch to turn it on and off. With mp3 players sending portable CD [...]
• 

  Gmail without the cloud: tips for next time

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 5:38pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  Yesterday’s Gmail service outage is a hot topic on just about every news site right now. For so many of us that have always taken the reliability of Gmail for granted it was a real shock to lose all of the functionality of the web based system. Now that we’ve learned our lesson, here’s a [...]
• 

  Simple automatic LED lamps

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 4:43pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  [woody1189] put together some automatic lighting for his closet. Nine LEDs are grouped into three lamps and controlled by a hall effect sensor. He prototyped this on an Arduino and then migrated over to an ATtiny85. Although the current implementation could be accomplished without a microcontroller, we’d love to see some firmware improvements such as [...]
• 

  Fire Horn

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 4:31pm MDT by James Munns

  Artist [Ariel Schlesinger] has managed to replace an air horn’s compressed air tank with butane fuel. This hack manages to change the pitch of the horn slightly, as well as making one very noisy flamethrower. While not as impressive as other flamethrowers, this would probably take the cake for most achievable. Currently the site containing [...]
• 

  Twitter remote control

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 3:20pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  We’ve already brought you a homemade Twitter-enabled washing machine, and toilet, but now a new innovation is being brought to the table by a bigger player. IBM is working on a tweeting television remote, which would allow the user to inform the world what they are watching. Although unfiltered reporting could create awkward situations, the combination [...]
• 

  Real Time searching

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 12:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

  With the fresh competition of Bing, we are reminded that search engines haven’t changed much since Google came along. Bing has made some nice advancements, like video previews, but still has a way to go to be truly different than Google. [Long]put together this prototype of a real time search system based off of Bings [...]
• 

  Happy birthday internet: 5 history videos

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

  National Geographic has pegged September 2, 2009 as the 40th anniversary of the Internet. They do not cite their source and our source doesn’t make the same claim. But, August 30, 1969 is the date the first Interface Message Processor was delivered to the Arpanet. The IMP is what allowed different computer networks to talk [...]
• 

  BeerTroller brewing control system

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 10:18am MDT by Mike Szczys

  BrewTroller is an open source brewing control system based on the Sanguino. Targeting home beer brewers, this project gathers some of the best features from other DIY brewing controllers and packages them into a hardware and software setup so it’s accessible to those without the skills to design their own. It can interface with 4 [...]
• 

  Peggy-zilla

  Posted: September 2nd, 2009, 8:21am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  For some, a peggy 2.0 is pretty cool, but simply not impressive enough. [MonsieurBon] felt this way and simply built a larger LED rig for his peggy2.0.  It still uses the brains of the peggy, but the LED array is a custom built cabinet, using ping pong balls as diffusers. Another interesting modification is that [...]
• 

  Blackberry download limit remover

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 4:30pm MDT by James Munns

  On the standard Blackberry Web Browser, there is a fixed file download limit of 2.3MB. Many users avoid this by installing a 3rd party browser (such as Opera Mini, for example), but there is still that bitter taste for having an extra web browser around just to download decently sized files. This limit seems to [...]
• 

  Lubuntu 9.10 alpha image available

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  The alpha version of Lubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is now publicly availabile. The project brings together Ubuntu and LXDE, the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment. This combination makes for a lighter version of the most popular Linux distribution. Both Xubuntu (which utilizes the Xfce desktop) and Lubuntu are meant to run well on lower resource computers [...]
• 

  Homebrew carputer

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 3:30pm MDT by Jacob Woj

  Though not from scratch, [Avbrand] integrated a powerful set of tools into his Subaru station wagon. The system was compiled from off the shelf electronics, such as a Compaq notebook, 3G USB modem, touch screen, and an assortment of other peripherals. It is based around Windows XP, though most of the carputer-specific applications, such as backup camera integration, Google [...]
• 

  Zelo, the Improbable Wooden Trike

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 2:40pm MDT by Phil Burgess

  The earliest bicycles were made from wood. Nearly two centuries later, some garage tinkerers still turn to this most traditional of materials for their own creations, since welding one requires experience and tools beyond the reach of many. Resembling Gilligan’s Island props, the resulting bikes are both artistic and great fun, but not very practical for real [...]
• 

  Firefox master password recovery tool

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 2:09pm MDT by Matt Schultz

  It’s great in this day and age that browsers can remember our passwords for us, allowing us cross-site security without the hassle of memorizing a million different random passwords. It’s great, that is, until we forget our master password. Fret not, though; there is a solution. The folks over at Lifehacker show us how to [...]
• 

  Circuit board instrument

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 1:09pm MDT by Jakob Griffith

  [Moldover] decided to change up the way CDs are packaged for his album release. Yes, you still get a CD with some pretty sweet music, but the case can also play sounds. He custom printed a circuit board containing some LEDs, buttons, photoresistors, and what looks to be a piezo transducer which all combine to [...]
• 

  Snow Leopard ditches real math for fake

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 12:42pm MDT by Mike Szczys

  We’ve always felt that hard drive manufacturers were dirty crooks because of their use of fake math to make drives sound bigger than they actually are. Here’s a quick refresher for those who need it: Because digital information consists of 1’s and 0’s (two possible settings), digital architecture revolves around powers of 2. Long ago, [...]
• 

  Arduino pH meter

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 11:30am MDT by Mike Szczys

  [Carlos] sent us his project that uses an Arduino as a pH meter. In order to sense the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, a glass electrode is connected to the ADC of the Arduino through a fairly complicated calibration, amplification, and filtering circuit. Admittedly, it may not be cheaper or as accurate as some [...]
• 

  Arduino + hang man = Hangmanduino

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 9:30am MDT by Caleb Kraft

  We saw this nifty little toy today and thought you guys might get a kick out of it.  Its called the Hangmanduino, and as you can probably tell from the name, it plays hang man. This was an exercise in simplicity, you’ll notice there is only a single control for the entire game. We thought [...]
• 

  Tiny GSM alarm system

  Posted: September 1st, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Gerrit Coetzee

  We’ve covered this sort of thing before, but there is something to be said for the simplicity of this tiny GSM alarm system by [trax]. The alarm system is designed to send the owner a text message when a sensor is triggered. This alarm only works with Siemens phones, but it shouldn’t be too hard [...]