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February 27, 2009

Tweet-a-Watt wins 1st place at GreenGadget design competition!

Sany1826
By audience "vote" with applause (applause meter!) at the GreenGadget design competition presented by Core77 - the Tweet-a-watt won 1st place!! The prize was $3,000 and we're donating it to Engineers without Borders - this open source hardware project, source code, schematics and all work present / future will be in the public domain. The audience at the conference seemed to value devices that could enact social change and our little twittering power meter fit the bill. Thank you so much!

The Paper Architect contest winners

We have our five winners for the Crown Publishing giveaway of The Paper Architect. They are:

Kelly Faerie
Sleep Goblin
Daniel Dorsen
WoofBoy111
Richard Kaufman

Congrats you guys! I'll send you an email and you can return your mailing addresses. And after you make some of the projects in the book, please send us pictures and we'll post them to the site!

More:
Book Giveaway: The Paper Architect by Marivi Garrido and Ingrid Siliakus

DIY Parallax Propeller laptop

Alan Parekh, of Hacked Gadgets, write:

Using a DVD player screen, a rewired toy keyboard and toy laptop looks like it made a great start to this DIY Parallax Propeller Laptop.This project demonstrates the power of the Propeller microcontroller. Full documentation is available so that you could make your own.

"This is a Propeller laptop - with a 6502 co-processor and 64K of static RAM! The Propeller handles all I/O for the 6502 and runs an integrated debugger so you can program the computer. The Propeller serves as the programmable chipset for this 6502 laptop. You could use an FPGA in this capacity, but could you easily do this and implement visual debugger software inside an FPGA? Over the years hardware prototyping has evolved from building-block hardware (TTL) to programmable hardware (PLA's and FPGA's). I believe the Propeller represents the next revolution: 100% software-based virtual hardware - and I built this laptop to prove it!"

PROP-6502 Propeller Laptop [via HackedGadgets]

Cooler Master's 5-CPU single-case PC

Cooler Master shows off a "because we can" mod of a five quad 2 core CPU system (20 x single cores) stuffed inside of a single ATCS 840 PC case. 53GHz worth of computing power. A Cooler Master 1000W Real Power M PSU was used to power everything. And they used 2.5 HDDs to reduce power consumption and noise. CPUs were water cooled, everything else was air cooled.

5 Full Systems on 1 x Real Power M1000W and Housed in a ATCS 840

MAKE @ GreenerGadgets!

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Woo! We're here all day @ Greener Gadgets! Stop by! The first ever Twittering power meter (Tweet-a-Watt) is working and on display too!

Easy, cheap homeless dome

Young maker Max Wallack designed this system for using plastic, wire, and packing peanuts to construct a shelter for homeless people and disaster victims, and he won a hefty design prize for it. Keep up the good work, Max! Via Geekologie.

Update: Chris Connors covered this event in more detail, and even gave Max a copy of MAKE to read inside the dome!

Austin event: get (circuit) bent

Check out this circuit-bending Austin celebration tonight:

No cover charge, and all-ages friendly. Map here; hope to see you there!

Weekend Project: Cellular Automata Video Synthesizer

What is a Cellular Automata? It's a collection of colored cells on a grid that morphs through a number of time steps according to a set of rules based on the state of the neighboring cells. Put these endless patterns on your TV with this easy to construct kit from the Maker SHED.
Pick up the Cellular Automata Video Synthesizer kit here.
To download The Cellular Automata Video Synthesizer MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Sudo Make Me A Sandwich Robot

Bre and Adam's Sudo Make Me A Sandwich Robot.

DIY mini-mellotron sampling keyboard

Gijs Gieskes' Motor Keys instrument produces some beautiful sounds. Reminiscent of the legendary Mellotron tape sampling keyboard, the project uses the popular ATMega168 chip and a modest part count. PCB image and source code is available on Gijs' site. [via Synthtopia]

For a similar project using multiple cassette players, check out Bre and Eric's walkman mellotron -

Make a mellotron out of walkmans - Weekend Projects Podcast

Convert a 300 watt torchiere lamp to a 20-40 watt CFL

The torchiere lamp does a really nice job of lighting a room, but with a blazing hot 300 watt halogen bulb they've also had a nasty track record for igniting rooms. Ten years ago, these were a required addition to any dorm room or apartment that lacked overhead lighting--the bright upward facing light bounces off the upper walls and ceiling to create a soft blanket of light from above. With their massive energy use and dangerous reputation, however, the torchiere is no longer a very popular lighting option.

Instructables user bben46 took to solving this problem, creating a cool-running, energy efficient, compact fluorescent version of the torchiere:

I converted my 300 Watt lamp to an energy efficient and cool 20 Watt CFL type bulb for less than $10 in parts.This modification results in a savings of 280 Watts. With the addition of the second 20 watt CFL, the savings comes down to only 260 Watts.

Keep in mind that the color spectrum of the CFL is pretty different from the halogen bulbs, but the conversion is a simple wiring job and the result is a safe and cheap way to light a room from above.

Show of hands. How many of you have one of these stored away in the basement just waiting for a CFL conversion?

Convert a 300 Watt Torchiere Lamp into a Dual 20 Watt CFL

Biz stuff from a kit maker

Assembly3
Joe posted an interesting overview of inventory & assembly, fulfillment, new marketing, sales and Linux/Mac support at Saleae - I really like their logic analyzer (not OSH, but one can hope!)...

World clock site...

Make Pt1793
Wow, this is fun/morbid/scary to put on an extra screen or flat panel... via BoJ.

Shanzai

Gktr Shanzai
bunnie writes...

The shanzai of China are a tech trend to keep an eye on. Typically dismissed by popular press as simply the “copycat barons from China”, I think they may have something in common with Hewlett and Packard or Jobs and Wozniak back when they were working out of garages. I’ve heard quite a few stories about the shanzai while on my most recent trip to China, some of which I will share here.

First, let’s try to understand the cultural context of the word shanzai. Shanzai (山寨) comes from the Chinese words “mountain fortress”. The literal translation is a bit misleading. The English term “fortress” connotes a fortified structure or stronghold that is large, perhaps conjuring imagery of castle turrets and moats. On the other hand, the denotation simply states that it is simply a fortified place. This latter denotation is closer to the original meaning from Chinese; in fact, the fortress they are referring to is closer to a cave or guerrilla-style hideout. In its contemporary context, shanzai is a historical allusion to the legends that dwelled within. One such legend is the 12th-century story of the 108 bandits of Song Jiang. It is still a popular tale today; my father recognized it instantly when I asked him about it. A friend of mine described Song Jiang as a sort of Robin Hood meets Che Guevara; Song Jiang was a rebel and a soldier of fortune, yet selfless and kind to those in need.

February 26, 2009

How-To: Variable temperature soldering iron controller

Instructables user titaniumw41 writes:

This instructable will show you how to make your Radioshack "firestarter" soldering iron into a variable temperature version using around $10 in parts. This idea came to me after i started lifting traces on a circuit board because I was using a 30w soldering iron to solder on a chip. Plus, I am cheap and variable temp soldering irons cost a lot more than $10. Caution: this instructable deals with household AC current. If you don't feel comfortable wiring things up or plugging things in, this is not for you

John Park on Attack of the Show (video)

Ty from Attack of the Show writes -

We're joined in the studio once again by John Park from his DIY projects TV show on public station's across the country called 'Make.' He's come back with even more stuff you can build yourself and he's going to do some fancy demonstrations for us.
Take for example, a Twitter hack that makes your device tell the world what it's doing, a unique instrument called the Thingamakit, and something called the Twitchie. This John Park appearance is apparently brought to you by the letter T!

MAKE presents: The Capacitor

Simple yet effective, they come in a dizzying array of forms and materials. Vital to so many circuits for storage, timing, and filtration - the mighty capacitor!

Download the m4v file or subscribe in iTunes

In this installment of the MAKE presents series I explain - how to build a leyden jar, how the capacitor was invented, and how to use one to light an LED. I incorporated some viewer requests from MAKE presents: The Resistor and I'll be adding more in the next installment. Please a comment if there's anything else you'd like to see covered in this series.

BeatBearing Tangible Sequencer: Interview with Peter Bennett

One of my favorite projects from MAKE Volume 17 is the BeatBearing Tangible Rhythm Sequencer by Peter Bennett, a Queens University Belfast Ph.D. student in the Sonic Arts Research Centre. Playing with the sequencer is mesmerizing and addictive! It's a great way to see a physical incarnation of making electronic beats and rhythms. Simply put, moving the ball bearings on the clear plastic grid changes the beat. Check out this video to see the sequencer in action:

Having been to numerous "laptop performances," I'm really drawn to the visual appeal of the BeatBearing sequencer as well as its inherent simplicity. Here's a neat closeup:

Per the intro, "The fun part is that the whole interface is transparent and sits on top of a computer screen, allowing graphics to be shown from directly underneath." Here's a picture of the whole setup:

Build your own BeatBearing sequencer using the 10-page DIY in MAKE 17, and drop some beats! Pick it up at a newsstand near you, at the Maker Shed, or in your mailbox when you subscribe.

Head-up display unit for FPV hobby flying

The whole FPV (First Person View) R/C flying hobby fascinates me. I'd love to try it at some point. This system, being developed by a French maker, is a board that plugs into the video camera system used in a FPV rig to provide a heads-up display with useful flight, navigation, and power information. Looks like it's still in the prototyping phase and there's no word about selling it, kits, open sourcing, etc.

Check out some of the other cool projects on his site, like this analog instrument panel to go in the cockpit of an FPV plane so you can see the instruments from the camera POV as if you were in the cockpit.