BuffaloFeeds » Hack A Day » October 1, 2009

Hack A Day (9 unread)

Machining Gets Wet and Wild

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 4:00pm MDT by Devlin Thyne

[Tyler] has had his electrochemical machining hack up for a while now. His final version uses a pump to move electrolyte out through the etching head and onto the workpiece. This keeps fresh electrolyte in the etching region and clears out the insoluble material. We see how this could be attached to a CNC system [...]
Power generating backpack

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 3:00pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

In the military, you have to carry tons of stuff. This is something we hear and see all the time. They are always trying to come up with ways to reduce the weight or quantity of the things that you bring into the field. This power generating backpack harnesses the natural up and down motion [...]
TV hack bypasses HDCP

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 2:00pm MDT by Phil Burgess

Reader [GRitchie] wrote in with an interesting find in his new TV set: with just some minor soldering it was possible to tap into an unencrypted hi-def video stream. HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), used by Blu-Ray players and cable or satellite receivers, normally ensures a DRM-protected link between the device and a compatible display. Any [...]
See through walls via wireless network

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 12:46pm MDT by Caleb Kraft

Researchers at the University of Utah have been able to detect movement in a room based on variations in wireless signals. Accurate to about a meter, they are using a 34 node wireless network to do their sensing. As a person moves, they change the signals, and can therefore be detected. They state one possible [...]
Skip Vegas with this BS slot machine

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 11:18am MDT by Mike Szczys

We caught a glimpse of this Basic Stamp 2 controlled electronic slot machine on YouTube. We’re very grateful that [Mike Donahue] was willing to share more about his project with us. He uses tactile switches instead of dropping coins in a slot, and a lever-style switch sets the one-armed bandit in motion. The action is displayed [...]
Microsoft unveils Open Source multi core OS

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 10:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

A new operating system, code named Barrelfish is being developed by Microsoft research labs and ETH Zurich in Switzerland. This operating system is being built with multi core operations foremost in priority. It is supposed to be extremely scalable and able to function on a very wide range of hardware. You can download the current snapshot [...]
Coil Gun speed meter

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 9:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

One of the best parts of building a coil gun is seeing just how fast you can get that slug to move through the air. [Daniel] built this speed meter to be able to see exactly that. It is comprised of two optical sensors, one at each end of a barrel. As the projectile passes [...]
Solar tracking, without overkill

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 8:00am MDT by Caleb Kraft

We saw this pretty smooth solar tracker run by an Arduino. There aren’t many details, but we can see that it works well, and is in fact, run by an Arduino. We knew if we posted this that people would be commenting that the Arduino is overkill. We agree. So this post is to ask, [...]
Homemade Bokode

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 7:32am MDT by Jakob Griffith

We’ve recently been getting a lot of new comments on our Bokode post from a while back, and with good reason. [M@] has managed to find a way to replicate Bokode at home, using $0 worth of equipment (before the price of microprint). To accomplish Bokode at home, it seems all you need is and [...]