BuffaloFeeds » Items by Mike Szczys

Feeds

104649 items (96858 unread) in 19 feeds

Friends

Build

MAKE Magazine (20223 unread)

Instructables.com (34656 unread)

Hack A Day (4913 unread)

Toolmonger (7725 unread)

Heads

News

fun

Items by Mike Szczys

DSLR performance measured with audio editing software

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 3:29pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Jaroslav's] camera didn’t have a feature to measure the speed of its response in different modes so he figured out his own method. Using the microphone on his webcam he recorded the sound made by the mirror and shutter movements, then used Audacity to analyze the camera’s performance. When you get right down to it, [...]

How to add flair to a webpage that shows your project data

Posted: January 27th, 2012, 10:58am MST by Mike Szczys

This temperature display may not knock your socks off, but it’s a simple demonstration of how you can used vector graphics as a web readout for data (translated). [Luca] wrote this four page tutorial to help others, he makes it look really easy, and the sky’s the limit on eye candy once you get he basics [...]

Real-time depth smoothing for the Kinect

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 4:33pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Karl] set out to improve the depth image that the Kinect camera is able to feed into a computer. He’s come up with a pre-processing package which smooths the depth data in real-time. There are a few problems here, one is that the Kinect has a fairly low resolution, it is also depth limited to [...]

Rotary phone-light-amp could be filed under bizarre

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 3:33pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Samimy's] latest project is a little strange, but one man’s weird is another man’s wonderful so we’re not about to start criticizing his work. Nope, we’re here to praise the fact that his rotary phone turned reading light and audio amp is very well constructed. He started by removing the phone housing. Those old enough [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2012/01/25/Very_accurate_clock_can%e2%80%99t_be_read_accurately'

Very accurate clock can’t be read accurately

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 2:32pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Martijn] is showing off his new clock which he calls a Light Spectrum Clock. We like to look of it, using RGB LEDs in five squares that remind us of some of those LED coffee table builds. From left to right this shows the week, day, hour, minute, and second. Simple, right? We had to [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2012/01/25/Modular_controllers_you_can%e2%80%99t_wait_to_show_off_to_your_friends'

Modular controllers you can’t wait to show off to your friends

Posted: January 25th, 2012, 1:33pm MST by Mike Szczys

Let’s get this straight, [Alex] is going to show us how to make controllers like this one? Where do we sign up? Even without seeing it in action we want one, but the urge to build is even greater after he shows it off (check the clip after the break). He’s a design student who [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2012/01/07/A_bicycle_built_for%e2%80%a6_Siamese_twins_'

A bicycle built for… Siamese twins?

Posted: January 7th, 2012, 8:01am MST by Mike Szczys

This project really puts an end to arguing over who has to ride in the back of the tandem bicycle. We challenge you not to smile while viewing the maiden voyage that [Carlos] and his daughter take on this side-by-side bicycle. The video can be found after the break. It certainly makes a bit more [...]

Treaded robot modified for stair climbing

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 4:01pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Mike Li] is showing of his stair climbing robot. It’s a bot that cruises around on a pair of tank treads, but some interesting modifications gave him the traction needed to ascend a flight of stairs without slipping backward. The image above shows this process in great detail. You can see the unaltered treads leaving [...]

737 cockpit will satisfy even the most discriminating simulator afficiandos

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 3:01pm MST by Mike Szczys

This isn’t an airplane, it’s a simulator. But you won’t find it at a flight school as this labor of love is a home build of a 737 cockpit (translated) that has been going on for more than two years. It started off as a couple of automotive bucket seats in a room with two computer [...]

Running the numbers on a cheap PSU

Posted: January 6th, 2012, 2:01pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Mike] picked up a cheap USB hub for four pounds (about $6) including delivery. He wanted to know how it’s possible to get quality electronics for that price, and as you may have guessed it’s not possible. He cracked open the power supply that shipped with the hub and hooked it up for some testing. [...]

Leaking water detector from an old smoke alarm

Posted: December 27th, 2011, 11:36am MST by Mike Szczys

[Thomas Clauser] had his basement flood last year when a hurricane swept over New England. The problem with flooding or leaking water is that chances are you won’t notice until it’s too late. He decided to protect against this in the future by building his own leaking water detector. It’s a simple device that sits [...]

Rooting a Motorola Actv (Android wristwatch)

Posted: December 27th, 2011, 9:01am MST by Mike Szczys

[Chris'] family made the mistake of giving him a hackable Christmas gift. We’d bet they didn’t see much of him for the rest of the day as he set about rooting this Android wristwatch. This thing has some pretty powerful hardware under the hood. It’s sporting an OMAP3 processor running at 600 MHz along with [...]

Self-balancing unicycle only for those with good balance

Posted: December 27th, 2011, 7:01am MST by Mike Szczys

The only problem with this self-balancing unicycle is it’s inability to balance itself. You see, it automatically balances along the axis that is parallel to the line of travel. But since there’s only one wheel the rider is responsible for balancing perpendicular to travel. This is really not too much different from a bicycle; balancing while in [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/12/26/Arcade_cabinet_that_doesn%e2%80%99t_monopolize_your_space'

Arcade cabinet that doesn’t monopolize your space

Posted: December 26th, 2011, 2:55pm MST by Mike Szczys

We’re guessing that if you ever though of buying an arcade cabinet it was only briefly, and you decided against based on the difficulties of moving and finding a place for such a large and heavy item. You could go the opposite way and build a controller for a MAME box, but for some, there’s [...]

Counting down to the New Year

Posted: December 26th, 2011, 6:00am MST by Mike Szczys

[Rod] is in a position to provide a community service on New Year’s Eve. He spends the evening at a relative’s house next to the beach. There are fireworks at midnight, but the crowd has no communal way to count down to the deadline. This year, he build his own count-down display so that everyone [...]

Using an ATmega8 to program PIC24FJ chips

Posted: December 25th, 2011, 12:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Fezoj] likes to play around with microcontrollers and decided that he wanted to try a Bus Pirate as a new tool in his adventures. Since it’s open hardware he had his own board made and populated it himself. The trouble is, he works only with AVR chips and doesn’t have a PIC programmer. No problem, [...]

Reduced-cost Braille display for use with computers

Posted: December 24th, 2011, 12:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

Apparently a Braille computer display can cost several thousand dollars. That’s why [David Pankhurst] is working on a low-cost alternative. His offering is an open source version he calls the Audrey Braille Display. The concept is quite good. This prototype has one line of six Braille characters. Each character is made of two sliding strips [...]

[Scot] whips up breakout board for his ARM breakout board

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 1:30pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Scot Kornak] got his hands on the new STM32 Discovery Board. He got his as a free giveaway, but at only $18 he probably would have picked one up anyway. His one complaint about the device is that he dual pin-headers which break out the ARM processor’s pins are not the most convenient for hooking [...]

Animated LED buckyball

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 10:30am MST by Mike Szczys

This animated LED buckyball has little to do with modeling a carbon molecule but a lot to do with adding some excitement to your party decor. [Tim] felt that the LED cube hacks had run their course, so took on the challenge of a sphere made out of pentagonal and hexagonal components instead. As with [...]

Make any scrap of paper sticky with 2000 volts

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 9:30am MST by Mike Szczys

Who needs chemistry when a little bit of physics will do? Instead of brewing up a batch of weak adhesive to make his own post-it notes, [Valentin] built this handheld device to add an electrostatic charge to bits of paper. Just give them a couple of seconds to charge and they’ll stick to the wall [...]

Bitbuf delivers some of the best chiptune effects around

Posted: December 23rd, 2011, 8:30am MST by Mike Szczys

Wow. And furthermore, WOW! Just looking at that clean prototype you know that a lot of work has gone into the project, but when you hear this chiptune MIDI device you’ll really be impressed. We know what you’re thinking, but really, you’ve got to hear this to appreciate the quality [Linus Akesson] achieved in this [...]

Simple touch sensors with the Arduino CapSense library

Posted: November 21st, 2011, 11:01am MST by Mike Szczys

Ever thought of using touch sensors on your projects but didn’t because it would be too much work? [Paul Stoffregen] proves that it can be pretty easy if you use the CapSense library for Arduino. Here he’s created three touch sensors, connecting them to the Teensy microcontroller with two resistors each. The larger resistor (looks [...]

Black Friday deals and Contest Giveaways

Posted: November 21st, 2011, 9:01am MST by Mike Szczys

Winter is coming, and it’s a great time to start accumulating parts and tools to keep you occupied with projects during the dark and cold days ahead. Black Friday We got a tip from Pololu about their planned Black Friday deals, and thought we’d check with some of the other parts suppliers that cater to [...]

Stroboscope project uses optical drive motor and Arduino

Posted: November 21st, 2011, 8:01am MST by Mike Szczys

In the quest for a diy laser cutter made from DVD burner parts (that hack’s still in the works) this guy ended up with a junk box full of optical-drive leftovers. He put some of that surplus to good use by building this stroboscope. As the media spins, the white LED just out of focus [...]

Experimenting with an air muscle and sensor feedback

Posted: November 21st, 2011, 7:01am MST by Mike Szczys

Check out this setup that [Ruenahcmohr] is using in his air muscle experiments. The orange mesh contains an air bladder that is connected to a hose on the right side. The bladder can be filled, or emptied with two solenoid valves not seen here (but you can get a good look in the video after [...]

TI Launchpad adds computer control to a robot arm

Posted: November 21st, 2011, 6:01am MST by Mike Szczys

[Eric Gregori] had an OWI535 toy robotic arm. Although cheap (coming it at around $30) the arm is only set up to be used via a wired control box. [Eric] knew he could do better by adding computer control via a TI Launchpad and motor driver peripheral. The arm has shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, [...]

Gridrunner: a custom part for measuring in Eagle CAD

Posted: November 20th, 2011, 11:01am MST by Mike Szczys

[Koogar] came up with a useful tool for checking the measurements of your layouts in Eagle CAD. He calls it the Gridrunner; a custom part that adds a 200mm ruler to your design. Tick marks are in 1/10th of a millimeter increments for great accuracy when used with the zoom feature of Eagle. Once you’ve [...]

Experimenting with bridge rectifers for AC to DC power conversion

Posted: November 20th, 2011, 9:01am MST by Mike Szczys

The folks over at Toymaker Television have put together another episode. This time they’re looking at bridge rectifiers and how they’re used in AC to DC converters. This is a simple concept which is worth taking the time to study for those unfamiliar with it. Since Alternating Current is made up of cycles of positive [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/11/19/Pushing_FPGA_config_files_via_serial_using_%e2%80%98cat%e2%80%99'

Pushing FPGA config files via serial using ‘cat’

Posted: November 19th, 2011, 3:26pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Andrew] is trying to buckle down and hammer out his PhD project but was surprised by the sorry state of the configuration options for his FPGA/ARM dev board. Using JTAG was painfully slow, so he studied the datasheet to see if there was another way. It turns out the Xilinx FPGA he’s using does have [...]

Animated turn signals add a little bit of Cylon to your automobile

Posted: October 3rd, 2011, 10:01am MDT by Mike Szczys

[StarfireMX] churned out a fantastic turn signal replacement for his Mustang. When he switches on his blinker, a chasing pattern of amber LEDs is shown on the front corner of his car. Pretty cool, and as far as we can tell this is still street legal. But once he gets onto private property [StarfireMX] can [...]

How to build your own cat door

Posted: October 2nd, 2011, 3:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Dino] continues his to satisfy his weekly hacking goal by building a cat door for his pets. He has a Habitat For Humanity resale store nearby that was doing a 50% off sale on doors. So he picked up a six-panel door and set to work. The first step is drawing out the opening and [...]

Robotic arm follows the movements of your own limbs

Posted: October 2nd, 2011, 3:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Alejandro] and his friends recently finished a first prototype of scratch-built robotic arm. They’ve got some nice electronics bench equipment for use with a project like this, but for the actual fabrication work it’s off to the kitchen. As you can see in the video after the break, they’re using PVC as the stock material [...]

[Clement] sees the cargo bike and raises a bicycle cargo trailer

Posted: October 2nd, 2011, 2:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Clement] and his friends were going on a long bike tour and needed a way to carry their gear along with them. They set to work and managed to build this cargo trailer from mostly reused materials. The only part of this trailer that is reused junk is the connection mechanism that lets you attach [...]

Dustbin computer lets you clean and prototype with a Neato XV-11

Posted: August 30th, 2011, 5:02pm MDT by Mike Szczys

So you bought yourself a Neato XV-11 and your floors have never been cleaner. The only problem is that you want to hack around with the hardware without losing your floor-sweeping minion. [Hash] found a solution to the issue by building a computer inside of the dustbin module. You can see at the center of [...]

A cellphone based Interactive Voice Response System

Posted: August 30th, 2011, 12:08pm MDT by Mike Szczys

We’re all familiar with IVRS systems that let you access information using a touch-tone telephone. [Achu Wilso] built his own version which uses a cellphone, microcontroller, and computer. The cellphone is monitored by an LM324 op-amp with an attached 555 timer chip. When a call comes in the voltage on the headphone output goes high, [...]

Retractable iPad dock for the kitchen

Posted: August 30th, 2011, 11:08am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Evan Flint] and his wife use a lot of online recipes in the kitchen. Rather than printing them out, they bought an iPad as a cooking companion. But in their cramped kitchen he needed to find a place for the high-end hardware that is out-of-the-way yet accessible. Some head scratching and parts bin diving led [...]

Water vortex exhibit repair gives a look at the bearing and gasket design

Posted: August 30th, 2011, 10:07am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Ben Krasnow's] water vortex machine has been an exhibit in the lobby of the San Jose City Hall for quite some time now. Unfortuantely he recently had to perform some repair work on it due to the parts inside the water chamber rusting. This is the same water vortex that we saw about a year ago. [...]

Speaker-mounted WAV player for street performances

Posted: August 29th, 2011, 4:14pm MDT by Mike Szczys

This naked speaker is the basis for [MaoMakMaa's] newest project called the Wavedrone. He plans on using the autonomous and cable-less device during street performances. You can hear the effect of some stretched jazz cords being played on it in the video clip after the break. The sound is kind of an ethereal background noise that observers might [...]

Chumby controlled mechanum wheel robot

Posted: August 29th, 2011, 3:14pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Madox] gutted an Insignia Infocast to use with this robot. Insignia is Best Buy’s house brand and they partnered with Chumby to make their Infocast line. If you can find a used or clearance model it’s a great way to get yourself and embedded Linux board for a project like this one. The body and [...]

[Easton's] animatronic hand gets 3D printed upgrade

Posted: August 29th, 2011, 2:14pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Easton] as been working with [Jeremy Blum] to come up with the newest version of his animatronic hand. You may remember seeing [Easton's] first animatronic hand, with which he won his regional science fair and made a trip to nations. Since then he’s been working on improvements, and with access to [Jeremy's] Makerbot he harnessed [...]

RepRap voyeurism

Posted: August 3rd, 2011, 2:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Hey everybody, [Nbitwonder] is building his own RepRap 3D printer. What’s special about that? Well, not much and and lot all at the same time. The art of building a self-replicating 3d printer still has a lot to do with luck and forum-crawling to make all of the decisions that go into this complicated project. [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/08/03/Microsoft%e2%80%99s_attempt_at_an_Arduino_killer_%e2%80%94_feels_like_a_gimmick'

Microsoft’s attempt at an Arduino killer — feels like a gimmick

Posted: August 3rd, 2011, 12:24pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Microsoft has thrown its hat into the open source hardware hobby market. Their offering is called the Gadgeteer. We’d love to tell you all about it, but the big M didn’t make it very easy to find out about the device and it’s addons. When we set out to find what processor is running on [...]

How to add modular tools to your soldering platform

Posted: August 3rd, 2011, 10:01am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Patenomics] has had some trouble finding a suitable place to work on projects in his tiny apartment. Lately he’s taken to using the stove top as a soldering platform and was looking for ways to protect the stove while adding functionality. He built this soldering platform from a couple chunks of pegboard and some hardware store parts. [...]

Measuring RPM with reflective sensors

Posted: June 25th, 2011, 1:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Arao] wanted to measure the RPM of a spinning wheel using parts that he could scavenge from his junk box. A bit of thought led him to build a reflective sensor which can measure the spinning of a wheel (translated). He got his hands on an infrared phototransistor which had been used as part of the [...]

Semi-automatic PCB drill press

Posted: June 25th, 2011, 11:00am MDT by Mike Szczys

Kiss the days of breaking bits while drilling through-hole PCBs goodbye thanks to this semi-automatic drill press (translated). Now it’s not going to line up the bit with the exact location of the hole (that would make it a fully automatic drill press). This works by lining up the board manually, then stepping on a pedal [...]

Building a robot without using a machine shop

Posted: June 24th, 2011, 5:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

We usually avoid the prospect of buying new tools just for one project. In the long run we’re sure we’d use them again, but sometimes even with that outlook you can’t afford it. Case in point is our life-long-lust for a laser cutter; we just can’t justify the upfront cost but we sure would use [...]

A pick and place machine for under $1k

Posted: June 24th, 2011, 4:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Pick and place machines are marvels of modern technology. They the can lift, orient, align and drop tiny electronic components onto a circuit board that is headed for the reflow oven. On an industrial scale they move so fast it’s a blur in front of your eyes, and they use imaging to ensure proper placement. [...]

LiveLight is an expertly crafted ambilight clone

Posted: June 5th, 2011, 5:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[SunWind] developed his own version of the Phillips Ambilight system (translated) which he is calling LiveLight. We’ve seen more than a few of these hacks, many of them are based around Arduino, and most use LED strip lighting. [SunWind] is using strip lighting as well, but his design is clean and polished quite a bit more [...]

Washing machine mechanical timer replaced with microcontroller

Posted: June 5th, 2011, 3:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

After the electromechanical timer on [Paul Canello's] washing machine broke for the third time he decided he needed to stop repairing it and find a more permanent fix. He decided to build his own microcontroller-based system for washing his clothes (translated). Caution: The image links on [Paul's] page seem to be broken and will unleash a never-ending [...]

Faking high-speed video photography of repetitive events

Posted: June 5th, 2011, 2:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Destin] has been doing some high-speed and high-resolution video photography using a standard DSLR. He accomplishes this using a bit of ingenuity to capture images of repetitive events at slightly different points in time. The banner image above shows a bullet travelling through a set of matchsticks. [Destin] uses the sound of the gun firing [...]

Programming robots like you would train a pet

Posted: June 4th, 2011, 4:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Jim] has been working with a team from various Universities to develop an intuitive way to guide and train assistance robots. They focused on one particular technique, training a robot to follow on a leash in the same way you would a pet dog (PDF). He was inspired to send in a link to his research [...]

Canon A70 CCD replacement/repair

Posted: June 4th, 2011, 3:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Looking for an underwater camera setup, [Imsolidstate] picked up a Canon A70 and a Canon water-tight housing on eBay for around $45. Unfortunately the camera arrived with a non-functioning CCD. Another trip to the online auction site landed him a replacement CCD which he set about installing. We have this exact model of camera with [...]

Shop lighting: weighing cost and efficiency

Posted: June 4th, 2011, 2:01pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Ben Krasnow] wanted to upgrade his shop lighting but before he made any decisions he decided to educate himself about the options that are out there. Luck for us, he shares the facts about different lighting in terms of cost and efficiency. His old setup uses fluorescent light fixtures with T12 bulbs. These are rather bulky and inefficient bulbs. [...]

GSM-to-Skype bridge lets you lose those roaming fees

Posted: May 11th, 2011, 2:15pm MDT by Mike Szczys

Here’s the scenario: you’re going to be traveling somewhere and you’ll be charged roaming fees if you use your cellphone. But there is free WiFi available in this place. You can save yourself money by leaving your SIM card at home and using a GSM-to-Skype bridge to take calls on your phone via WiFi. [Trax] [...]

Touch-based synthesizer is a wiring nightmare

Posted: May 11th, 2011, 1:30pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Jane] wrote in to let us know about the touch-based synthesizer she and her classmates just built. They call it the ToneMatrix Touch, as it was inspired by a flash application called ToneMatrix. We’re familiar with that application as it’s been the inspiration for other physical builds as well. A resistive touch screen in the [...]

Adding power trim to a boat

Posted: May 11th, 2011, 12:44pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Matt's] boat had a trim plate that could be adjusted by hand. The problem with this setup is that the trim angle of a boat changes as you speed up or slow down. Last year he never really went over 35 MPH because of this issue, but he set out to correct that by adding [...]

Tilt and pivot camera base uses just two servos

Posted: March 15th, 2011, 11:45am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Caled] shows us how to build a tilt and pivot camera base. One of these can be quite handy for taking precisely aligned images that can later be stitched together into panoramic, or even spherical images. We have grand visions of being able to produce something along the lines of these stunning interactive images with [...]

PIC based frequency counter

Posted: March 15th, 2011, 11:01am MDT by Mike Szczys

Here’s a PIC based frequency counter that outputs the count via an RS232 serial connection. [Oakkar7] tipped us off about it after seeing the AVR based counter we featured yesterday. This project is a bit older and a bit dirtier. Inside the metal DB9 housing you’ll find just seven parts. The most important is a [...]

CO2 powered pinewood derby car is definitely cheating

Posted: March 15th, 2011, 10:01am MDT by Mike Szczys

The Pinewood Derby is a classic Cub Scout competition where dads and sons come together to build a small-scale race car. You start with a kit that includes a block of wood for the body, as well as four plastic wheels and four nails to act as axles. Most innovations in the ‘sport’ center around reducing [...]

Guide for working with AVR microcontrollers

Posted: March 14th, 2011, 2:15pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Q] wrote in to let us know about the AVR-Guide he’s been working on. It looks like he’s finished posting about 80% of the content he planned for in his initial draft outline. We read through several of the sections and found them to be concise, yet able to present information in a way that’s [...]

Beginner Concepts: 595 shift register simulator

Posted: March 14th, 2011, 12:45pm MDT by Mike Szczys

[Aaron] just finished building an online 595 shift register simulator. These inexpensive chips let you extend the number of devices that can be controlled by a single microcontroller. You see them in quite a few LED multiplexing projects, included the Ping Pong Clock that we recently built. But they can be a bit tricky to [...]

Commandeering public video screens: real or fake?

Posted: March 14th, 2011, 12:00pm MDT by Mike Szczys

It’s time for everyone’s favorite comment thread game: Real or Fake? This week’s edition comes in from a tip that [Phil] sent about a way to take over video screens in Times Square. Watch the video after the break to see the hackers using a two-part solution to rebroadcast video from an iPhone onto a [...]

Frequency counter for $10 worth of parts

Posted: March 14th, 2011, 10:55am MDT by Mike Szczys

[Scott] built this frequency counter using less than $10 in parts. It’s set up to meter frequencies in megahertz which is fitting since he’s planning to use it with his radio hardware experimentation. But we would find it useful too because our cheap multimeter only reads up to around 4 MHz. He’s using an ATmega16 that he [...]

Bench-top laser engraver does some cutting too

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 2:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

Grab that stack of old optical drives you have in the corner and get to work building this laser engraver. [Groover] is taking a no-nonsense approach to the build and we think it is just simple enough to be accessible to a very wide audience. The physical assembly uses sleds from two optical drives. These [...]

Bounce flash in multiple mediums

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 12:30pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Nigel's] been trying out a series of designs and materials to make his own bounce flash. He set out on this mission because most of the images he used flash on ended up washed out with dark shadows. The flash add-on seen above seeks to curb the harshness of the direct light but shielding the [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/03/11/Microsoft_Points_algorithm_cracked%e2%80%a6_they%e2%80%99re_out__1M'

Microsoft Points algorithm cracked… they’re out $1M

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 10:15am MST by Mike Szczys

Looks like someone figured out the algorithm that Microsoft uses to generate unique codes for their alternative currency: Microsoft Points. We were always a bit baffled by the need to do this sort of thing (Disney dollars, tokens at arcades, etc.) but figured it’s just a grift to get you to spend more dough. Looks [...]

Phillip Torrone makes case for next-gen public libraries

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 8:45am MST by Mike Szczys

[Phillip Torrone] has started a discussion about a possible upgrade to the public library system in the US and wants to know what you think. His name should be familiar (Hackaday founder, Open Source hardware advocate, and Tron costume model) and he’s definitely got his finger on the pulse of today’s electronics enthusiasts. He poses [...]

Build your own vertical axis wind turbine

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 7:01am MST by Mike Szczys

You can build a copy of this vertical wind turbine in a weekend and it won’t cost you all that much. Applied Sciences developed the hardware and they’re sharing all for the build details. You will be taken through every part of the build starting with the fin assembly which is made from stove-pipe material. [...]

Water droplet sculpture using LEDs and Arduino

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 6:04am MST by Mike Szczys

This water sculpture can stop drops of water in mid-air. This is accomplished by flashing LEDs to illuminate the droplets at just the right time. But it’s not limited to blinky lights alone. The top of the frame has eight nozzles, each fed by its own pump. An Arduino controls the pumps and the lights making [...]

All about PS3 SixAxis controller USB communications

Posted: March 11th, 2011, 5:03am MST by Mike Szczys

[Austyn] is currently working on reverse engineering a PlayStation 3 SixAxis controller’s USB communications. You may be thinking that this has already been done but [Austyn] was unable to find useful source code so he’s started his own project called libopenaxis. The process he used to sniff out USB communications makes for an interesting read. [...]

Repair stuck iPod Nano buttons

Posted: February 23rd, 2011, 3:03pm MST by Mike Szczys

A system is only as strong as its weakest link and [Roberto Barrios] found that on the sixth generation iPod nano the buttons are the problem. It makes sense that the buttons would be exposed to wear since they’re movable parts. The issue isn’t one of contacts or springs wearing out, but how the buttons [...]

Force feedback rig

Posted: February 23rd, 2011, 2:01pm MST by Mike Szczys

Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. No really, if you don’t believe us, check out the video after the break of this bouncing and rolling game system. [Shawn McGrath] built it to compliment the gaming experience for Dyad, an indie game for which he is a developer. His wife was kind [...]

Gauss Weapons

Posted: February 23rd, 2011, 1:02pm MST by Mike Szczys

This collection of gauss weapons use rare earth magnets to accelerate projectiles to damaging speeds. They work using the same concepts as a coil gun, but instead of just one projectile travelling along a length of guide track, there are many projectiles that work in a chain reaction. A series of magnets are placed at [...]

Breaking the iClass security

Posted: February 23rd, 2011, 12:11pm MST by Mike Szczys

iClass is a popular format of RFID enabled access cards. These are issued to company employees to grant them access to parts of a building via a card reader at each security door. We’ve known for a long time that these access systems are rather weak when it comes to security. But now you can [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/02/22/DARPA%e2%80%99s_hummingbird_spybot'

DARPA’s hummingbird spybot

Posted: February 22nd, 2011, 2:01pm MST by Mike Szczys

Nope, this isn’t some extravagant fishing lure, it’s the US Government’s newest way to spy on its people enemies. The hummingbird bot has no problems flying like an actual hummingbird while recording video. It was developed by a company called Aerovironment as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract. Of course details are scarce, [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/02/18/Valentine%e2%80%99s_gift_counts_the_days_spent_together'

Valentine’s gift counts the days spent together

Posted: February 18th, 2011, 2:03pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Vegard Paulsen] dug deep down to the romantic geek at his core and built this box that counts the days he’s spent together with his Valentine. As you can see, it uses a four-digit seven segment display installed in the lid of a wooden box. An Arduino mini is responsible for driving the display, but [...]

Molded parts: Prusa Mendel in 30 minutes

Posted: February 18th, 2011, 9:00am MST by Mike Szczys

This set of white RepRap parts were created in molds, instead of being printed by another RepRap. [Mark A. Ganter] of the University of Washington admits that this breaks the idea of a 3D printer that is self-replicating. But the molds – which were created by tweaking Prusa Mendel parts to be mold friendly – [...]

8-bit MIDI synthesizer

Posted: February 18th, 2011, 8:02am MST by Mike Szczys

[Derek Enos'] toils are starting to yield results. He’s been working on an 8-bit synthesizer that is MIDI controlled which he calls the deMIDulator. As he demonstrates after the break, the device has sine and square wave functions that produce quite a pleasing sound. But it also offers the option to record your own samples which [...]

Xprotolab: oscilloscope and Xmega development board

Posted: February 17th, 2011, 3:03pm MST by Mike Szczys

Here’s a nice hands-on overview of the Xprotolab, a development board based around the AVR ATxmega32A4 microcontroller. The tiny DIP package includes an OLED display, four tactile switches, and it can be powered via a micro USB connector. The device ships ready to use as a two-channel Oscilloscope, but check out how small it is [...]

Motion tracking prop from Alien movie

Posted: February 17th, 2011, 2:02pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Erv Plecter] likes to recreate movie props that actually work. This time around he’s making the motion detector device from the original Alien movie. You’ll immediately remember this prop after seeing and hearing it in the video after the break. For our money, the most brilliant part of that movie was the use of rhythmic sounds [...]

More ambient lighting monitor hacks

Posted: February 17th, 2011, 12:02pm MST by Mike Szczys

[Christian Pigeon's] first big project was to build this ambient light system for his computer monitor. This is based on the same concept as the Phillips Ambilight system which illuminates the area behind a television to match the color on the edges of the screen. We’ve seen clones before, but this is the first one [...]

Your first Digital to Analog Converter build

Posted: February 17th, 2011, 10:00am MST by Mike Szczys

Have you ever built a Digital to Analog Converter before? This is a circuit that can take the 0 or 5V coming off of several digital logic pins, combine them together, and spit out one analog voltage that represents that value. If you’ve never made one, here’s your chance. [Collin Cunningham] over at Make put [...]

Overclocked ATmega32 gaming

Posted: February 13th, 2011, 1:04pm MST by Mike Szczys

With more pixels and more objects to track you’re going to need to get that AVR running pretty fast to get the job done. But [Vladutz2000] figured why stop at 16 MHz when you can overclock an ATmega32 to 27 MHz for a faster gaming experience? This build may not be as colorful as Super [...]

Flash trigger with programmable delay

Posted: February 13th, 2011, 9:03am MST by Mike Szczys

Here’s a flash trigger with a programmable delay. These triggers are often used to capture quick events like a balloon popping. The technique takes place in a dark room with the shutter open. When the event is triggered the flash illuminates the scene and an image is captured. Because these require precise timing it has [...]

Modern freaking: pull phone numbers from YouTube audio

Posted: February 13th, 2011, 7:01am MST by Mike Szczys

[Charlie X-Ray] is having some modern fun with the phone system by pulling dialed numbers from the audio track of YouTube videos (translated). The first step was to find a video where a telephone is being dialed and the sounds of the keypresses are audible. You can’t tell those tones apart, but a computer can. [...]

Uncrippling lower model speakers

Posted: February 12th, 2011, 12:30pm MST by Mike Szczys

It looks like this low-end Sennheiser HD speaker has the same internals as it’s better-brother but has been altered to reduce sound quality. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to hobble a product in order to sell more units at a lower price that reflects less features. Linksys WRT54G routers immediately come to mind, or perhaps [...]

Model car additions make us hear Knight Rider theme

Posted: February 12th, 2011, 11:29am MST by Mike Szczys

This collection of model vehicle hacks adds obstacle avoidance in an attempt to make them autonomous. At the front end you’ll find two PCBs which use IR approximation to monitor the road ahead. We’re not familiar with this particular use of these IR receivers (TSOP1738) which we’re used to seeing in remote control receiver applications [...]

SMS controlled irrigation

Posted: February 12th, 2011, 10:28am MST by Mike Szczys

[Mhkabir] built an irrigation system that communicates by text message. The concept is simple, sending a text message to the system will cause it to switch on the water pump. Many times we see text message manipulation via the Internet, or using a GSM module. But in this case an inexpensive cellphone is used as [...]

Paper accelerometers for pennies in the works

Posted: February 12th, 2011, 7:27am MST by Mike Szczys

Cheap paper accelerometers? Put us down for a dozen to start. They’re not quite ready for mass production yet but it looks like they’re on the way. [George Whitesides] led a team to develop the new technology that uses simple manufacturing methods to produce the sensor seen above. Graphite and silver inks were screen printed [...]

Building linear amplifier prototypes

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 2:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

We know way too little about this subject but hopefully [Bob4analog] helped us learn a little bit more this time around. He’s building his own linear amplifiers on what looks like sheets of MDF. This is an evolving design and the two videos after the break show two different iterations. He’s salvaged several components, like [...]

Simple sensors to calculate RPM

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 12:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

Ever wonder how to calculate revolutions per minute using a microcontroller? This project shows you how by purposing an IR emitter and detector and a computer fan. As the fan blades spin they disrupt the beam of infrared light between the emitter and the receiver. This results in a waveform on the receiver’s circuit which [...]

Take your PS3 on world tour

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 11:00am MST by Mike Szczys

[Lossfresnos65] must be planning to do a lot of travelling because he’s entombed his PlayStation 3 in a Pelican case. Inside you’ll find some diamond-plate bezel to cover the console itself and used to surround the 19-inch high-definition television that is mounted to the lid of the case. In the picture above you see the door that [...]

SIM card carrying traffic lights

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 10:00am MST by Mike Szczys

Apparently some of the traffic lights in Johannesburg, South Africa have SIM cards in them to help maintain the network without a physical connection. Now that’s some and not all, but apparently thieves have learned that the SIMs can be used in cell phones to make anonymous and unlimited calls. Officials are convinced that the [...]

Patching into an optical mouse with a PIC

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 9:00am MST by Mike Szczys

[MikyMouse] cracked open a couple different optical mice (or is it mouses?) in order to play with the data communications coming off of the chips inside. Once he figured out the protocol, it wasn’t too hard to grab the data for use in his own projects. The chip that controls the mouse is one of [...]

Monitoring the Engine Control Unit

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 8:10am MST by Mike Szczys

Is there a place in the dashboard of your high performance automobile for this Engine Control Unit feedback panel? There’s several methods of showing information at work here. The row of LEDs at the top of the bezel provide RPM feedback. The two red LEDs with chrome bezels are alarm indicators. But that big OLED [...]

Xbee controlled, granite-wrapped clock travels into future

Posted: January 27th, 2011, 1:30pm MST by Mike Szczys

From the looks of it this clock is a couple of months ahead of its time. [Oscar] built the clock (translated) taking time to add a lot of goodies into the mix. First up, the parts you see include six large 7-segment displays for hours, minutes, and seconds as well as an LED marquee which [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/01/27/5_8%e2%80%b3_ball_bearing_playground'

5/8″ ball bearing playground

Posted: January 27th, 2011, 12:30pm MST by Mike Szczys

This kinetic sculpture is a ball bearing’s paradise. Not only do they get a cushy ride around two lift wheels but there’s a variety of enjoyable obstacles they can go down. The first is a vortex made from a wooden flower pot which sends the balls randomly down one of two possible exits. From there [...]

Mitch Altman hosts a tour of Noisebridge

Posted: January 27th, 2011, 11:23am MST by Mike Szczys

[Mitch Altman] just popped up once again (seriously, this guy is everywhere!) in a video tour of Noisebridge, and hackerspace he co-founded in San Fransisco. The space is 5200 square feet and they’ve managed to cram a lot of different uses into it. There’s areas for computers and electronics, crafting and sewing, a dark room , [...]

Permalink for 'Hack_A_Day/2011/01/27/Conways%e2%80%99_wall_of_life_and_whiteboard_emporium'

Conways’ wall of life and whiteboard emporium

Posted: January 27th, 2011, 10:31am MST by Mike Szczys

White board beats chalk board, LED marquee beats white board, and an LED white board trumps them all. This hybrid lets you draw on the surface with dry erase markers while Conway’s game of life plays out underneath. [Bert] sent us this tip after seeing yesterday’s office marquee. This version is quite similar in appearance but [...]

Inaccurate Breathalyzer is still quite nice

Posted: January 25th, 2011, 2:00pm MST by Mike Szczys

Sure, [Hunter Scott's] Breathalyzer can only differentiate between hammer and sober, but look how nice it came out. He’s using an MQ-3 alcohol sensor which, from previous projects, we know is very difficult to accurately calibrate. But if you want to monkey around with embedded systems you’ve got to have a goal. [Hunter] chose a gorgeous aluminum [...]