Football Hero

For Kasabian’s new single Underdog, they decided to do something original. After dreaming up a Guitar Hero style controller powered by soccer football players, they set out to make it happen. Using 5 wall mounted pressure sensors connected to a microcontroller, they hooked up the rig to a computer running Frets on Fire (an open source Guitar Hero clone) with a custom version of their single. After an afternoon of practice, the team was able to 5 star the song, and while this isnt the only or most complex Guitar Hero hack, we would love to have this in our house.

Video after the break.

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Headpiece Jabbing for Smiles

[Lauren] has created a facial conditioning device dubbed the Happiness Hat. The hat measures a sensor at the wearer’s cheek to determine if the wearer is smiling. When the hat does detects the wearer is not smiling, it activates a servo that prods the wearer. This project is fairly unique in that it provides haptic bio-feedback of what the body is doing, a similar project to the Happillow. While the Happiness Hat seems to work for treating the outward symptoms of unhappiness, this is but an early step towards the droud.

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Hot off the presses its Android 2.0 SDK.

Today Google released the Android 2.0 SDK, allowing developers to begin writing for their latest cell phone platform. Unlike programming for Apple’s iPhone or Touch, however, there isn’t as much documentation on the installation and setup process. AndroidandMe steps in at this point for all those that have gone a muck by writing a very detailed how-to on the install process. So what are you waiting for, start now and you might just be the next Android Developer Challenge winner.

[Thanks Taylor].

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Xerox ink will print circuits

Xerox has announced a breakthrough in printable circuits. They’ve developed a conductive ink called “silver bullet” that can be printed on many different types of substrate to create circuits. The key part of the new ink is its lower melting point. Plastic film substrate melts at 150 degrees Celsius but the ink is liquid when ten degrees cooler to avoid damaging the film. This begs the question: how do you then solder components to the circuit?

The benefits of printable circuitry are obvious. Aside from cheaper and easier RFID, disposable circuits like greeting cards, and fabric-based electronics, we’re hoping this will facilitate more environmentally friendly PCB fabrication. That really depends on the ink’s production process and the resilience of the resulting circuitry.

[via Gizmodo]

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libTISCH 1.0 released

[Florian] is proud to announce libTISCH 1.0 is finally ready for release. We told you about libTISCH just under a year ago and how it is a multitouch framework that factors more on the software side of things, instead of hardware for multitouch interfaces. A lot has changed including more widgets, more gestures, more hardware support, and some other nice features. If you’re looking into making your own multitouch surface, or making your own widgets for a multitouch surface – libTISCH would be a great place to start.

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Upgraded Atari 1024STf

[Gerritt] wanted to give his crippled Atari 1024 STf a new purpose in life. He cracked it open and set to work filling it with some modern components. The keyboard from the nearly 25-year-old dinosaur doesn’t have all the keys we’re used to, nor did they all work, so he replaced the original with a 101 key model. The internal hardware was replaced with a microATX board, a picoPSU, Bluetooth and WiFi transceivers, a hard drive, and a slot-fed DVD drive. He even rebuilt the original mouse to use the circuitry from an optical mouse.

The final product is a 1.6GHz Pentium Mobile with one gig of ram. Now he has no need to pick up an EEE Keyboard PC when they hit the market.

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Read about trash-hackers… for free

[Cory Doctorow] has published a novel about the near future and a couple of hackers who can make anything from the stuff lying around. We like a good sci-fi novel, and have no shortage of recommendations (go read Snow Crash) for those who need them. We’re adding ‘Makers’ to our must read list.

Not only is this book about you, but its release most likely agrees with your life philosophy. You can download this book, right now, for free, legally. This is because it has been release under the creative commons license. Best of all, if you like the book and want to make a donation, you are directed to purchase a book on behalf of a school or other program that has requested a copy but doesn’t have the funds to acquire it themselves.

So, buy the book if you want a physical copy, download it if you prefer that method, but either way we think this is better than stealing the printed word.

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Linux iPhone sync draws near

[Emuboy] lets us know about some software advances that will make iPhone and iPod Touch syncing possible under Linux. Apple made big changes to how the iPhone syncs compared to legacy iPods. Locking out all communications other than through iTunes was surely part of their motivation. This has left Linux users out in the cold with shoddy sync capabilities which should be coming to an end. If successful, syncing will be be possible with phones that have not been jailbroken.

One of the biggest hurdles in reverse-engineering the new protocol is the non-standard way in which the devices communicate over USB. The usbmuxd developers have been working to implement communications and now have a Release Candidate for the 1.0.0 version. Along with testing of this package, libgpod is now being updated to play nicely with the new database format and hash of the iPhone.

This isn’t quite at the plug-and-play level of convenience yet but if you’re comfortable working with Linux packages you should be able to get this working and help report any bugs you might find. But if you’re tired of open source playing cat and mouse with Apple you can always switch over to a device based on Android.

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Arduino “python” integration

[Cyberspice] informs us she likes snakes. Hey, who doesn’t? She’ll soon be adopting a lovely ball python and wanted to keep close tabs on the sensitive creature’s environment. To that end she assembled a network-enabled vivarium monitoring system based on Adafruit’s Boarduino (a minimalist Arduino clone), a TMP36 analog temperature sensor, Saelig’s WIZ810MJ Ethernet interface, and a common LCD screen. The Arduino rig periodically issues updates to a web server, which can then generate informative graphs using a set of PHP scripts (what, no Python?).

Okay, so we could probably count on one hand the number of readers in need of fancy reptile monitoring and still have fingers left over. There are countless other applications where networked sensor monitoring of this sort is a frequent necessity, so the article could be a good starting point for your own projects. There’s lots of source code to work with, on both the Arduino and web server sides. And the parts list demonstrates serious frugality: the Boarduino, the generic LCD, and especially the Ethernet interface; even with the breadboard adapter, this unit is about half the cost of the usual Arduino Ethernet shield, leaving more funds available for the snake food budget!

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Processor built with Transistor-Transistor Logic

[Donn] wanted know exactly what is going on inside of a processor so naturally he built a CPU out of TTL components. He had previously built a couple of versions of a computer based on the Z80 processor. Using the troubleshooting skills he learned and a second-hand textbook, he set to work using 74LS series chips connected using the wire-wrap method we’re familiar with from other cpu projects.

The finished product runs well at 1.8 megahertz, but he also included a 2 hertz clock and a step clock for debugging. At the slower speeds, the register board (seen at the left in the picture above) lights LEDs and can be used to tell what the CPU is currently working on. Programming is accomplished through either a dumb terminal or a PC running a terminal emulator.

His writeup is from about five years ago but that didn’t prevent us from getting that fuzzy feeling in the geek-center of our brain when we read about it. It is well written and thorough so if you’re into this kind of thing there’s plenty to enjoy.

[Thanks Raleigh]

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How to create TrueType from an image

[Viacheslav] wanted his virtual terminal to have the look of a DEC VT220. He was unable to find a font set that looked just right so he set out to make his own TrueType font. He managed to find a sample image of the glyphs that the VT220 used as fonts. Using a collection of free software he sliced the image into 256 different parts, resized and converted to one-bit index images, and converted these to vector graphics. This was accomplished with a bit of python, an image tracing program, and font editor called FontForge.

Take some time to dabble with these font tools. With an adequate sample you should be able to reproduce any font set. We won’t achieve anything as sophisticated as the font printed with bacteria, but this will be a start in the right direction.

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Time-lapse courtesy of Arduino

[Ross] put together a small package for use with time-lapse photography. The Nikon camera he’s using can snap a picture when it receives an IR command. [Ross'] solution connects an IR LED to an Arduino to generate this signal. The delay between frames is set with a potentiometer that is read in through the ADC. This is quite a bit less involved than the last solution we saw.

The unit consisting of an Arduino clone, a 9v battery, and the IR LED on a cable is easy to fit into a camera bag. He’s posted the code and we’ve embedded an example of his work after the break. An enclosure as well as time references around the potentiometer would complete this handy tool.

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Broken TV brought to life in LEGO body

After letting it sit around for about 3 years, [Blake] decided it was time to fix his broken 15″ television. A little trouble shooting showed the problem was with the inverter. The backlight would come on for a few seconds, off for a few seconds, then repeat. By freeing the Magnavox 15MF400T from its metal case he got it working again, but couldn’t find the source of the short. His solution: build a new case out of non-conductive material. Voilà! We have the 15″ LEGO monitor.

It’s not a very complicated LEGO build, but it’s the first case mod we’ve seen in a long time that isn’t strictly gratuitous. Join us after the break for more pictures. Read the rest of this entry »

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XBMC running on ARM

The XBMC team has posted a teaser showing the current state of the ARM port of this popular open source media software. We’ve embedded it after the break where you can see the package boot up and playback HD video. In it we see that the system is decoding the signal well, but image rendering needs some tweaking before this will be ready.

The hardware used is a Beagleboard which runs a 600 MHz ARM processor, has OpenGL 2D/3D acceleration, puts out HD via a DVI port, and is selling for about $150. The 3″ by 3″ board can be connected to a network using a USB WiFi dongle. Although integrating XBMC by hacking TV firmware is a long way off, we’d consider velcroing one of these to the back of our HDTV and getting rid of the hulking PC behind the entertainment center.

Can’t wait for this version to hit a stable release and don’t mind using hardware that is just a bit bigger? Check out this guide for setting up XBMC on the $200 Acer Aspire Revo.

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Name that thing

[Alan] over at HackedGadgets.com has been doing a “Name the Thing” contest where he occasionally posts an image and people try to figure out what it is. We’ve seen similar posts on some other web sites too. We usually don’t post them here because they’re not only not a hack, they’re usually not even projects. This one, however, caught our eye.

We apologize for posting this, without telling you what it is. The simplest explanation is that curiosity is getting the best of us. We were hoping that you guys could help out. What is this thing? Can we have two?

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White Pearl Necklace

This pearl necklace is composed by 63 freshwater cultured pearl beads and finished with box clasps. Each pearl bead is plump and round with solid texture and smooth surface. There are few visible blemishes on some pearl beads which are the proof of genuine. Look at the light reflections on those pearl beads are so brightly with vivid luster. Pearl is the symbol of elegant which also represent the purity. Simply but classic. Wearing this piece not only make you look more fabulous but also shows the beauty of elegant. This pearl jewelry never goes out of style and definitely worth you to cherish away. The length of this necklace is approx. 16.14 inch. Those 63 pearl beads are not in the same size with slightly different diameter.
The color of this pearl necklace is absolutely natural. The surface of each pearl bead is brightly with shining luster. Its pure white color with slightly silver sheen are so pretty and distribute evenly all over each pearl bead. Its vivid luster completely make this piece look more pretty and splendid. It is so pleasing and fascinating.

Diameter:0.28 Inch

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Floral Tourmaline Bracelet

Vivid, alluring, and gorgeous. This sparkling bracelet features contrasting colours sending a strong signal of vibrant creativity. Tourmaline beads in Oval-Cut and round shaped are joined all together into a breathtaking floral ornament by elastic string. Blossom in a deliberately elegance. Translucent in clarity and cut maximizes its unique beauty, sensual and daring, is the perfect interpretation of a delicate yet playful elegance. Each round bead is 0.24 inch in diameter.
This accessory is a singular beauty. Colorful hues of hot pink, brilliant green, fancy golden together with satin black represent perpetual explosion of emotions. Make a harmonious scene you can not resist.

Length:0.28 Inch
Width:0.20 Inch
Height:0.12 Inch

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Scallop Shell Jade Jadeite Necklace

Captivating and splendid. The pendant of this necklace is natural, pure and A grade Burma jade jadeite. The texture of this piece is superior with high quality. This piece is carved into scallop shell shape with smooth and obviously carving lines. Its surface is vivid with natural shining luster which is so pretty and chic. This glorious green pendant is set with 18k white gold and make it look more fabulous. It is strung by 925 sterling silver chain and perfectly shows the beauty of antique and trendy. The classic quality with modern elements together turn into an amazing jewelry. Luxury but understated. This jade silver necklace is the most fascinating collection deserved to be treasured. The length of silver chain is approx. 15.94 inch.
This pendant has natural texture with genuine color. The rich vivid emerald green is so lively and distribute evenly all over this piece. The sparkling silver totally make its gorgeous green color look more brightly. Its surface is quite brilliant with shining luster of gemstone which is so attractive and shows the beauty of highly quality.

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Opaque Amber Bracelet

This magnificent bracelet is totally natural of the original mineral. It is strung by 23 round opaque amber beads with elastic string. Each bead has sleek surface and in the same perfectly round. The original mineral of amber came from Baltic, in natural quality, which is brilliant and pure. Simply design with brightness round beads. This piece is the symbol of classic. It is pleasing and fascinating. A perfect choice for your refined and understated elegance.
The color of this bracelet is tawny orange and separate evenly on each opaque amber beads. Its surface is smoothly with brilliant luster. Its color make this bracelet look like the sunset, and attract people sight. It is deserved to be one of your collection and cherish away.

Diameter:0.31 Inch

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Bisbee Turquoise Earrings

Bisbee Turquoise

The Bisbee mine "the Lavender Pit", near Bisbee, Arizona, is one of the more famous of the American mines because Bisbee turquoise was one of the first put onto the market. The Arizona turquoise mine is part of the Bisbee copper mine (The Copper Queen), the main operation of the site. Bisbee turquoise has developed a reputation as a hard, finely webbed or dendrite, high blue stone, known for its "chocolate brown" matrix. Bisbee Turquoise also comes in a beautiful dark green color. Most of this turquoise has already been mined and what is left is in limbo due to circumstances with the copper mining in the open pit, it is one of the most highly collected stones. Most jewelry being made with this stone today is being made via the orders of the current owners of the mine, the rest (such as ours, which is all hand cut and mounted in silver jewelry by Durango Silver Co.) is found through old "stashes" or collections that have been obtained. Bisbee Turquoise Jewelry is some of the most desired jewelry on the market.

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Two-factor authentication using a hardware token

We ran into a friend a while back who was logging into her employer’s Virtual Private Network on the weekend. She caught our attention by whipping out her keys and typing in some information from a key-fob. It turns out that her work uses an additional layer of protection for logging into the network. They have implemented a username, pin number, as well as a hardware token system called SecurID.

The hardware consists of a key-fob with an LCD screen on it. A code is displayed on the screen and changes frequently, usually every 60 seconds. The device is generating keys based on a 128-bit encryption seed. When this number is fed to a server that has a copy of that seed, it is used as an additional verification to the other login data.

This seems like a tech trickle-down of the code generating device from GoldenEye. It does get us thinking: with the problems free email services have been having with account theft, why aren’t they offering a fee-based service that includes a security fob? With the right pricing structure this could be a nice stream of income for the provider. We’re also wondering if this can be implemented with a microcontroller and used in our home network. As always, leave comments below and let us know if you’ve already built your own system using these principles.

Update: Thanks to Andre for his comment that tells us this type of security is available for Apache servers. The distribution includes a server side authentication system and a Java based token generator that can run on any handheld that supports Java.

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Brain control for the Arduino

When we hear about a brain controlled Arduino project we immediately think about a coding nightmare. As always, the simple hacks are the best hacks. [Joel] and [Akshay] used hardware from a kid’s game as a brain interface for an Arduino.

We came across the video (embedded after the break) of their work and asked for more info on what we thought was an incredibly difficult hack. It turns out they purchased Uncle Milton’s Force Trainer which uses a headset to measure brain waves and has a base unit that reacts to these measurements. Hacking into this device didn’t require reverse engineering of anything. They took the easy route, and tapped into the five LEDs on the base unit. As the game measures greater levels of concentration, it lights up more LEDs.

So far tapping into the game is just a proof of concept. It’s up to you to implement a brain controlled beer bot.

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Boombox warns construction ahead

[Sam] built himself a boom box using salvaged parts and a car stereo. The case was cut using a CNC router he had access to at his school. The front panel is cut from a “Construction Ahead” road sign. The size of the case is based roughly on the rotting enclosures from which he pulled the speakers. He’s included connectors for external speakers as well as a USB charging port. The unit is powered by a gel battery and is recharged using an automotive battery charger.

A boom box lets you take the party anywhere. We like this one because of the pop art feel of the finished project.

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well engineered diy Segway

[Mark] wanted a Segway but why buy something if you can have more fun building it? His end product is an amazing homemade version of the self-balancing transportation package. We’ve seen several projects that include auto-balance, but this one is large enough to ride on and has a bit of an advantage in the design. The motors, batteries, and other components are mounted below the wheel hubs and are weight balanced. This means that the device wants to find balance naturally, even when the electronics are switched off.

The frame was modeled in CAD and then welded together. For propulsion [Mark] has installed two 750 Watt motors which will use sprockets and chains to turn the wheels. The machine balances based on data from both a gyroscope and an accelerometer, with the entire packaged tied together using an Arduino.

[Mark's] build log is well laid out and details each part of the build with a different post. His two most recent entries include video of the unit balancing and of him riding the 95% completed project. A big thanks to [Mark] for taking the time to document this so that we can share in the excitement of a well-executed project.

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freeBOOT gives the Xbox 360 JTAG hack new life

There has been another development in the never-ending battle that is Microsoft trying to keep its gaming system closed to unauthorized use. Xbox-scene reports that a new hack called freeBOOT v0.01 allows the Xbox 360 to upgrade to the newer kernels, but allows the option of rebooting to an older kernel in order use the JTAG exploit and gain access to the hardware.

In case you missed it, the JTAG hack is a way to run homebrew code on an Xbox 360. Exploiting this hack makes it possible to boot a Linux kernel in about five seconds. We’ve long been fans of the homebrew work done with XBMC on the original Xbox and hope that advances like this will lead to that end. We want this because the older hardware cannot handle high definition content at full resolution but the Xbox 360 certainly can.

This exploit is still far from perfect. It currently requires that the Cygnos360 mod chip be installed on the system. A resistor also needs to be removed from the board to prevent accidental kernel updating. That being said, this is still progress. If you’re interested in step-by-step details, take a look at the text file instructions provided.

[Thanks wdfowty]

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Ps3 laptop courtesy of Ben Heck

[Ben Heck] may be the coolest person ever (take that [Adam Savage]). You would think that after producing so many laptop versions of gaming consoles he would grow tired or we would be bored of them. But no! We love each and every new production – including his latest laptop-ified Ps3. Not too much in the terms of ‘new’ comes from his latest article, but it does reaffirm some things including: why make what you can buy, cheap foam sheet should be purchased by the ton, and use the screws from an overheated Xbox 360 when you lose the Ps3 originals. Oh, and [Adam] we were just kidding, you know we will always love you. Check out a video after the break.

[Via Ps3Mods]

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Bouncy iPhone controlled dance lights

[John Boiles] introduces us to dimlet, his portable network controlled light dimmer. Inside the box is a fonera 2100 router that is running openWRT connected to an unnamed AVR microcontroller. Right now, he’s controlling the unit with his iPhone. It has three modes of control; a manual “slider” mode, an accelerometer controlled “dance” mode, and a programmable “tap” mode. You can download all the source code and schematics on his site.

[via Makezine]

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Ski bot

[Bojan Nemec] has come up with a robot that can ski better than us. Not that skiing better than us is a hugely lofty goal. The bot is capable of skiing using standard, off the shelf skis. It has a dual computing system. One system only does steering and balance while the other does all the vision and control. He’s using the carving technique of skiing, stating that normal skiing is just too hard for a robot. That sounds like a challenge to us. You can check out the blooper reel, which is still better than us, after the break.

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Yahoo hires strippers for hackers

Yahoo has issued a public apology for an event that occurred at their recent Hack Day in Taiwan. Apparently they hired strippers for the event, two years in a row. The girls did their usual bump and grind all over some poor hackers. Poor guys. While there is a part of us that says, “what about the little girls getting into hacking?” the other part of us says, well, you know what it says. Wow, we’re suddenly feeling the urge to use yahoo for all of our services. How peculiar.

[via BoingBoing]

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War monument hacking

[Timo] tipped us off about a War Monument that has been… upgraded. The story starts when a monument was erected in Cherkassy, Ukraine to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice that was made by Russian soldiers during World War II. The huge statue and expansive plaza were capped off by an eternal flame. Unfortunately, when the Soviet Block broke up, the natural gas that had been provided by the government became a luxury so the flame was extinguished.

The eternal flame sat unlit, a sad commentary to the remembrance of the dead. But how to fix this issue? As cell phone companies came into the area, a need for cell phone towers arose. At some point a solution was reached; a cell phone tower was built in the bowl of the eternal flame and then wrapped with an LED marquee. The marquee now displays the image of a flame in perpetuity.

We’re not quite sure what to think about this. After some adjustment, the substitution of LEDs for flames will probably become accepted. The monument is now providing a useful purpose for the living, and once again shows a flame. We think that having something there showing that the memory is still alive is much better than the message an unkempt derelict sends.

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Mind control via serial port

[Zibri] found a very simple method for using brain waves as a controller via a DB9 serial port. He’s using Uncle Milton’s Force Trainer which we saw yesterday in the brain controlled Arduino. In that project the Arduino tapped into the LEDs and interfaced those signals with a computer via USB. This time the connection was made using an RS-232 transceiver to pass data from the programming header inside of the toy’s base unit to a computer over the serial port. Tapping into the programming header has a lot more potential and should be more reliable than sniffing logic out of LED connections. [Zibri] has written an application to display the received data but it doesn’t look like he’s made the code available for download.

Apparently he tipped us off about a week ago. We recall seeing this submission but as you can tell it’s a little bit light on the detail. So if you want your tips to be at the front of the line, make sure you do what you can to fill us in on all the details of your project. At our request [Zibri] provided a picture of the PCB from the Force Trainer’s base unit. See it after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bluetooth cartridge for Nintendo DS

We’ve received tips from a few different people about a new Bluetooth module that connects as a game cartridge for the Nintendo DS. This is a homebrew solution and not an official Nintendo add-on. The cartridge houses an ATmega168 microcontroller which provides the interface between the DS and a Roving Networks RN-41 bluetooth module.

They’ve provided a schematic for the device but we didn’t see any board artwork or pictures of the internals so you’re on your own for board layout. The libraries needed to use the bluetooth connection with homebrew software are up for download. This should provide a nice way to use the DS with a Bluetooth GPS module, or perhaps as a discrete Bluetooth sniffer and spoofer.

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Gear clock

Analog clocks now a days get no respect. Everyone is digital this, or binary that, and we admit it is nice to look over and see the time promptly displayed. But there’s something about the quiet ticking and ominous feeling you get when around a large intricate clock that you know some serious time has been invested.

Nostalgia feelings aside, [Alan] from Hacked Gadgets introduced us to his Gear Clock. While it’s not a new idea, and in fact we have a few around the office, his concept really inspired us. His clock is driven via stepper motor and a PIC, allowing for the time to be fairly accurate. The only small problem he mentions is the poor paint job, but we think it looks amazing regardless.

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Hackable Geiger Counter

[Aaron] A.K.A. [A1ronzo] at SparkFun has put together a hackable USB Geiger Counter. In his tutorial, he gets the Geiger counter to work as a random number generator. Later, he analyzes and discusses how well it works as a random number generator. In the past, we have seen a number of radiation detectors hacks such as the Mr. Fission digital Geiger counter, a count accumulator, and a Polonium detecting pen, Besides our inital thoughts of speeding up the number generation, and using it as a special character device, what else can you come up with to do with this device?

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Magic Mouse and MacBook teardowns

The folks at iFixit must hold some kind of record for fastest-voided warranty. It’s been less than 48 hours since Apple unleashed a torrent of new computers and peripherals, and they’ve already set upon the new wares like a pack of ravenous, spudger-wielding Velociraptors, photoblogging the splayed entrails for our edutainment.

The refreshed MacBook holds few surprises, resembling a Star Trek teleportation mix-up between the prior 13″ white MacBook and the current 13″ MacBook Pro. It retains a white polycarbonate case much like its predecessor while adopting a subset of the Pro’s components — CPU and GPU, glass trackpad, Mini DisplayPort, and the long-lived but sealed battery. Internally the system is still a maze of different-sized Torx, Phillips and tri-wing screws, but they do report this latest revision to be easier to dismantle for repair.

More novel inside and out is the new Magic Mouse, which early reports suggest may finally redeem Apple’s eleven year train wreck of mice. There’s not much to see on the bottom half — it’s a typical wireless mouse consisting of batteries, laser tracker and a Bluetooth chip. The top is something to behold though, with nearly the entire surface encrusted in capacitive sensors capable of gestural input. It resembles a miniature version of this electrostatic interface we saw in April.

No teardowns of the new iMacs, Mac mini or Time Capsule have taken place yet, but it’s surely just a matter of time. Even Velociraptors need to eat and sleep.

Update: 27″ iMac teardown added. Rawr!

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Score online with robot soccer

[Erik] and [Heni] have been using soccer as a way to improve code development techniques in robotics. Their soccer playing robots won first prize in the development competition at the 2007 RoboCup competition. They are using a teaching method they call Kinesthetic Bootstrapping to program the motions of the Bioloid robotic platform. The robots are moved by hand and those motions are recorded twenty times per second. The recorded data is then optimized in software and ready for playback in the robot.

After the break you’ll see a video of the robots playing soccer against each other. They receive commands from a computer via zig-bee with Nintendo Wii remotes as the user interface. That’s all fine and dandy, but perhaps you should try your own hand at a game. [Erik] and [Heni] developed a web interface that allows you to control the bots over the internet. We tried it out yesterday and had quite a bit of fun. We set the video stream to “Spectator” and “Jpeg Server Push” to get an image. You’ll have to wait until next week to play because the bots need someone to pick then up when they fall over. Live play is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6pm GMT+2. That should give you plenty of time to program your Arduino to say “Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll!!!” when you score. Read the rest of this entry »

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Driving USB peripherals with Arduino

Circuits@Home have managed to host a USB keyboard with an Arduino and display the keyboard inputs on a character LCD. This uses the USB host shield we covered in August. That host shield includes a MAX3421 which is used here to drive the character LCD.

The control code for the keyboard ends up being fairly simple. The keyboard is polled for entries. The HID input is then examined and converted to ASCII codes for use with the LCD screen. This could make for an excellent controller or debugger for embedded systems. The Arduino, shield, and LCD could be integrated into the keyboard itself with an I/O port for connecting to your project. Commands can be typed out and sent through the I/O port when enter is pressed, with feedback displayed on the screen.

The example code provided with this project lays out the framework for hosting peripherals. We’re looking forward to more projects, and code libraries that take advantage of this new functionality.

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Drone Lab brings the excitement of Hypnotoad home

[Peter] tipped us off about his new synthesizer kit, Drone Lab. It has the things we look for a synthesizer: knobs, inputs, switches, wacky sounds. You can get your soldering on with the kit version, or buy these pre-built. Peter bills this as an open source kit but we didn’t see board artwork, just a schematic.

What we didn’t expect is its ability to mimic the Hypnotoad. As seen in the video after the break, the glorious sounds of your favorite television show can now be created in your own home. If you’ve never seen an episode of the Hypnotoad (gasp!) we’ve got that covered after the break as well.

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

Update: PCB artwork has now been posted just below the schematic.

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Psystar taunts Apple a second time

As if bankruptcy shenanigans and an unresolved exchange of lawsuits with Apple weren’t enough, Mac clone maker Psystar is really swatting the beehive now with the release of Rebel EFI, a $50 software package that promises a straightforward installation of Mac OS X on a variety of commodity x86 systems.

Setting up one’s own “Hackintosh” system has traditionally been a painstaking process of duplicating the OS install disc and fiddling around with various kernel extensions. Rebel EFI claims to do away with all this, bringing click-and-drool simplicity to the Hackintosh experience. The package can be downloaded free of charge in order to test compatibility with one’s hardware before committing to buy; in this trial mode, the system is limited to two hours run time. Minimum requirements include an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core i7, or Xeon Nehalem CPU.

Normally we’re all for voiding warranties, challenging EULAs, and sticking it to The Man, but some have been calling Psystar’s underdog image a charade, claiming the commercial Rebel EFI software is simply an uncredited derivative of open source efforts such as the Chameleon bootloader. Whether or not this proves true, it will be interesting to see how this whole surreal skit plays out between Apple, Psystar and the open source Hackintosh community.

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Unreasonably bright bike light apparently hunts deer

[Jukka] wanted a bike light that wasn’t afraid to go into the woods during the dark winter. He put together a lamp that uses eight 3 Watt LEDs to pump out 1680 lumens (english translation). The high power LEDs were mounted on a large aluminum heat sink and use lenses to optimize the beam of light. The system uses a 2 amp driver board that he assembled himself. Power is provided by sixteen AA Nickel Metal Hydride batteries that are housed along with the driver circuit in a water bottle.

This more than doubles the output of the last bike light we thought was too bright. Where will this lumen-arms-race stop?

[Thanks Sami]

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Make your own SNES games with developer cartridge

Have you always wished that you could develop games for the Super Nintendo but couldn’t because you were only 4 years old when it was released in 1990? Here’s a second chance. [Max] and his team have created a SNES developer’s cartridge that allows you to load your own code, run it on the SNES, and debug as needed. At its core is an Atmel AVR ATmega644 that is running a boot loader, allowing for firmware updates via USB. Once the system is powered on, ROM code is sent over USB to the 16 megabits of onboard SRAM. A debug terminal can be connected with an RS232 converter, providing status information and allowing some register manipulation.

We can believe there are a few hardcore SNES fans out there who will take the time to write custom code. We could also see this being used for the purposes of SNES sythesized music. But is there a wide demand for this type of hardware? If you’ve ever looked into developing for the SNES, let us know in the comments.

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Hot air pencil for under $20

Here’s a project from back in 2001 that might be of interest to some of you. It is a guide on how to build your own hot air pencil for SMD soldering. He is using a super cheap 45W soldering iron from “the shack” combined with a pump type desoldering tool and an aquarium pump. He says it works pretty well, and we don’t see why it shouldn’t. This is a pretty elegant solution. There are also some more recent versions of this mod, but the idea is basically the same.

[thanks Stuart]

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Poddwatt: Tube amp with mp3 in mind

[Bruce] has designed a push-pull tube amp that has enough gain to connect to a portable audio player. The design is closely related to his OddWatt offering from a few years ago. The new amp has many redesigned circuits and the new hardware choices drop the price tag of the parts by about $50.

This little wonder pumps out 5-7 watts and [Bruce] is please with the end result. It doesn’t put out quite as much low-end as the KT88 amp we saw last year, but compared to some other iPod speaker solutions this provides stellar audio.

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SparkFun gets a cease and Desist

[Nate] over at SparkFun Electronics has posted a cease and desist letter he received from SPARC industries. Apparently their legal department feels that his name is close enough to theirs to ignite a legal battle. They are demanding that he transfer his domain to them immediately to extinguish the flames. This all seems a bit silly, his name isn’t really at all like theirs and his product isn’t similar either. To add to the peculiarity of this, going to their site throws up a big red malware warning for us (in chrome).

[thanks IraqiGeek]

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Halloween props: Skeleton springs from coffin

[Tony's] trying to scare the kids again this Halloween. This year’s creation is a skeleton that springs up from a coffin. His creepy coffin is built from plywood and in the classic style it gets narrower at each end. Inside, there’s a full-sized rubber skeleton affixed to a 2×4. Pneumatic rams are used to lift the lid and spring forth the skeleton from the dead.

He’s planned his performance well. The finished system uses a fog machine and looped audio for ambiance. A motion sensor detects innocent victims approaching, kills the music, opens the coffin lid, and adjusts the lighting. The coffin is right next to the door so when the doorbell is pushed and the skeleton springs upright this should scare the bejesus out of you. See how effective this in the video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mixed Necklace

I had a brief, but intense fling with turquoise about a year ago... I hope to find the time to make & design more pieces like this soon.

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Mixed Amber Blossom

These images are just some things that caught my eye & I didn't want them to sink into oblivion, they're too beautiful. Most are long gone, but a few are still available in our catalog, viewable at http://www.amberjewelry.com/default.aspx

The names aren't necesarily correct if you end up searching on a term, I'm just adding them on the fly.

About the Mixed Amber Blossom:

We had a handful of these & hope to bring back more this year. A hair tie made of mixed amber petals with rough amber skin or bark still showing in places. A great example of what can happen when the designer "listens" to the amber...

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Little Amber Dragonfly

We had only a handful of these & they all flew away, but we managed to keep a photo of this little one.

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Lemon Dagger

A lovely slice of amber containing two complimentary colors in an unusual combination, flattering both.

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Lady Luck

I was sitting across the table from my boyfriend in a diner, wearing these. He kept staring at me & finally I said, "Um. What are you looking at?" He smiled & said, "Your earrings are very suggestive..." I said, "Are you taking me to Las Vegas?..."
:) This seriously happened, but I didn't get to go to Vegas (at least not yet!). We just got these in, I've wanted them forever.

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