BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day » September 15, 2009

Hack A Day (10 unread)

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, [...]