RSS
Archive: Electronics
Page 33 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
August 23, 2007
Stealth-ifying your wireless mouse receiver
Harry Andreou, a Dutch programmer, got tired of looking at the bloated receiver for his MS Laser Mouse 6000, so he recased it... in a thick magazine. Now that choice might be a little... different, but you can recase it in anything you like. Get creative. Liberate your tech from its drab little cases.
How to stealth your mouse RF receiver - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 23, 2007 04:00 PM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Personal health monitor demo
Reza Naima, a bioengineering student from University of California, San Diego, has uploaded a video of his thesis project to YouTube. Called the Pervasive Health Monitor, it's a Bluetooth-enabled, TI MSP430-based microcontroller board (1.4" x 1.8") designed to be worn on a person to monitor various vitals. Reza explains:
It's meant to be worn 24/7, and will record a wide variety of biometric data such as your ECG, EMG, GSR, body temperature, body noises, pulse oximetry. It's Bluetooth enabled and stores data on a tiny Transflash memory card.
More details on his website, including a schematic of the device.
Projects ยป HealthMonitor - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 23, 2007 02:00 PM
Computers, Electronics, Science |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Using an ADXL330 accelerometer with an AVR microcontroller
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories writes -
The last decade has seen more than an order of magnitude drop in the price of accelerometers, devices capable of measuring physical acceleration (often in more than one direction). History suggests that whenever a useful technology makes a precipitous drop in price, unexpected applications follow, and that's exactly what has happened in this case.Using an ADXL330 accelerometer with an AVR microcontroller - Link.Starting from zero and summing up acceleration, you can use an accelerometer to find velocity, and from that derive relative position information. By measuring the acceleration due to gravity, one can also determine orientation (technically, inclination)-- you can tell which way it's pointing. Those are pretty useful skills for a chip! And so as bulk prices for tiny chip-scale three-axis accelerometers have begun to approach $5, they have started to appear in all kinds of mass-market applications that you might not have predicted: laptop computers (for hard drive protection), smart phones and cameras (for orientation-- e.g., portrait vs. landscape on the iPhone), cameras for image stabilization, and quite visibly in the controllers for Nintendo's Wii system.
With all that promise, you might think that an accelerometer is a difficult beast to harness. That turns out not to be the case. In this little project we demystify the mighty accelerometer and show you how to get started playing with one. In the spirit of hobbyist electronics we do this the easy way-- without designing a PCB or even soldering any surface-mount components.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 23, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Getting started with Arduino
A SUPER article up on CRAFT from R.Stern! She writes -
I've compiled a brief tutorial on getting started with Arduino for the absolute beginner. I'll cover where to learn, what to buy, and where to go for help. Why should you crafters be interested in Arduino? The Arduino platform, more-so than any other way of incorporating electronics into your projects, is geared towards do-it-yourselfers. It's open source (both on a hardware and software level), so the community plays a large role in its development and improvement. Crafting is a community endeavor; individuals share tips, tricks, techniques, skills, and materials all the time. Arduino comes out of the same spirit. On a more practical level, you may just want to make your crafts more fun, interesting, and interactive by introducing some lights, motion, sound, or simple sensors. Stuffed toys can become glowing night-lights or cat-chasing robots, fibers can carry currents to make smart clothes, accessories, you name it. There's also an overlap in materials between crafting and circuit building that can lead to some non-traditional works in either category: threads, fabrics, paints, and glues with conductive properties introduce subtle ways to incorporate electronics in your crafting practice. Read on to start learning about Arduino! Add your Arduino tips and resources in the comments.HOW TO - Getting started with Arduino - Link.
From the pages of MAKE:
R. Stern's HOW-TO on making plush irradiated steaks - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 23, 2007 05:00 AM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Ambient orb DIY serial port
Huh, I missed this before - Ambient has instructions on making your own serial port interface to their glowy orbs- Link. Ambient recently released their datacasting chip set... Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 22, 2007 05:00 PM
Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
The world's smallest Pong game
Ronald's tiny pong game, he writes -
When the µSCOPE project was well underway, it was clear to me that my next project just had to be a miniature version of the classic PONG game. The PONG game was invented back in 1966 by Ralph Baer [1,2]. In the seventies the game became very popular and I remember that as a child I was completely fascinated by it. We had a later version at home, and on inspection it appeared that there was only one 40 pen IC in it, how did they do it ? In 1973 the Dutch electronics magazine Elektuur (Elektor for the rest of the world) organized a circuit design contest. Electronics enthusiasts where invited to submit their favorite circuit designs. Via a complicated set of rules, which I have never understood, a calculation of the costs for the components that were used was made. Part of the sum was given to the designer, the rest was given to the charity fund: "Aktion Sorgenkind". The first price was a homebrew version of PONG by the youthful B Lübcke from Kiel, Germany [3]! With nine TTL 74121 type one-shots and a handful of logic gates the clever designer was able to make a real functional tennis game on the TV. I was amazed how simple it all could be!microPONG, The world's smallest pong game - Link.The µPONG game works essentially the same as the original 1966 design. However, in the PIC version the hardware one-shots have been replaced by software delays. A number of microcontroller based PONG games have been published or posted on the internet [4,5]. This µPONG version is so far the smallest, using only an 8 pin PIC processor, and is the only one to use two potentiometers for the bat controls, just as the original PONG game. In Fig. 1 the circuit diagram of the µPONG is given. Although the circuit is pretty simple, it does contain some special tricks which will be explained in the text below.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 22, 2007 03:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Keith's Electronics blog
Keith's Electronics blog is exactly what it sounds like, a blog about electronics. On the site there are dozens of projects, step by steps and photos, good stuff! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 22, 2007 01:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Fridge alarm
Latest Gadget Freak... Fridage alarm! Schematics included -
A fridge that's alert for midnight snacks...When you've popped in your fridge alarm, getting peckish in the middle of the night and forgetting to close the door - along with escalating electricity bills - will be a thing of the past. Italian inventor Flavio Dellepiane has designed a 3V battery-powered fridge alarm that beeps if you leave the door open for more than 20 seconds. When the fridge lamp illuminates, the alarm's photo resistor lowers its resistance, the IC starts counting down and after a preset delay the piezoelectric buzzer beeps for 20 seconds.Fridge alarm - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 22, 2007 06:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Arduino Pong
Wow, Pong with Arduino, doesn't get cooler than that, wait it does! Source and schematic included! Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 22, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
August 21, 2007
Motherboard power light
HackedGadgets.com:
Bill from DSE GLOBAL has created a tool called the Case Light that will ensure you don't forget to remove power from your motherboard before you work in the case. Modern motherboards are still live when your computer is shut down and some don't have any LED indication of the lurking power...
Case Light - ATX Power Supply LED Power Indication - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 21, 2007 06:00 PM
Computers, DIY Projects, Electronics, Toolbox |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Bingo! on your TV
Here's a DIY electronic Bingo! game for your TV - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 21, 2007 05:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
In-line headphone amp
Here's an inline headphone amp using a MAXIM MAX9725 surface mount chip and some smd capacitors. Feel free to make yours look prettier than this one.
In-line headphone amplifier - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 21, 2007 04:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables, Portable Audio and Video, iPod |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Make-It-Yourself PONG systems
Pekar sent in this collection of "Make-It-Yourself PONG systems" outstanding! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 21, 2007 12:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gaming, Retro |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
PIC & electronic development on a shoestring
David writes in -
One of the many factors that can put people off learning how to use microcontrollers is the cost that can be involved. Steven show us how to minimize the costs for solid PIC microcontroller development environment for using free[1] (or very cheap) software.PIC & Electronic Development on a Shoestring - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 21, 2007 05:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
The Jaldi charger
Pauli writes -
I was assigned to design and implement a battery charger for 12 volt lead acid batteries used to backup WiFi- routers in rural areas of developing countries. Doesn't sound very complicated a task in the first place, does it? At least that's what I thought before finding out the facts (most of them using trial and error- method) that makes this task challenging. First of all, in some places here in Dharamsala the mains power can be anything between 80-380Vac + 1000V surges. This big variation puts any kind of power supply under heavy stress. Secondly, I couldn't have any idea how hard it can be to find proper tools, equipments and components here in Himachal, not to mention the quality of some Indian- (hand) made components...Jaldi Charger - safe charging at a reasonable price - Link.Jaldi Charger V.1.1 (and newer) is implemented using custom design, one sided printed circuit board that can be quite easily produced using Press'n'Peel technique. All parts are easy to solder (big size, non-smd) and mostly easily available in India (except some of the surge protection diodes). The currently used power supply solution is heavy duty, robust linear transformer with rectifier bridge, big filter capacitor and varistors for surge protection. Charger unit is based on highly reliable, well protected L200 linear regulator, that can efficiently work in this implementation with input voltages between 17 and 26Vdc. LVD unit is based on low cost voltage dual comparator LM393 connected to provide hysteresis and delay on connection and disconnection of the load. Ethernet surge protection is implemented using ultra fast Transient Voltage Suppressor Diodes. All cable connectors used are high quality screw terminals.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 21, 2007 03:00 AM
Electronics, Green |
Permalink
| Comments (1)
The World-famous index of Arduino knowledge
Wow, here's a an evolving index of subjects covered in the main Arduino site, the Playground and the Arduino forum - called: "The World-Famous Index of Arduino Knowledge" Link.
From the pages of MAKE:
Arduino fever. The tale of a cute, blue microcontroller that fits nicely in the palm of your hand, and the expanding community of developers who love and support it. MAKE 07- page 52. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition or get MAKE 07 @ the Maker store!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 21, 2007 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
August 20, 2007
Fuel cell car kit
When I was a kid, I lived for all of the science and tech kits I'd get for Christmas: the chemistry sets, the rocketry starter kit, the telescope set, the X-Acto hobby tool chest, etc. Today's budding nerds get to experiment with hydrogen fuel cells, thanks to the Thames & Kosmos Fuel Cell Kit offered by Carl's Electronics (for $125). Experiments include: "How to build a solar-powered car; Effects of direct and indirect radiation; Characteristics of a solar module; Electrolysis and its effect on water; Oxy-hydrogen test; How to construct and load a reversible fuel cell; Decomposition of water in the fuel cell; Qualitative and quantitative analysis of gas in a fuel cell; How efficient is electrolysis?; How light influences electrolysis; Solar electrolysis; Fuel cell-powered car." I wonder if it's too late to finagle one of these under my Christmas tree?
Fuel Cell Car Kit [via] - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 20, 2007 08:00 PM
Electronics, Kits, Science |
Permalink
| Comments (2)
Kip Kay's video hacks and pranks
Kip Kay has made something of a name for himself on Metacafe with his numerous how-to, hacks, and tech-oriented pranks videos. He's also made some $40K with the "Producers Rewards" that Metacafe pays for popular vids. When I saw the first Kipkay vid, with his super-slick informercial voice, I thought he was another DIY spoof videomaker, a la Mark Erickson's hysterically goofy Infinite Solutions. In fact, Kip Kay may have been Erickson's inspiration. But Kay's videos are legit, and while some of them may be over the top and more about garnering eyeballs (and revenue) than anything else, there's some useful and interesting stuff here. In the above video, Kip shows how he made the equivalent of a $95 SureFire high-power flashlight for under $10.
$10 Police Flashlight Hack! - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 20, 2007 04:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets |
Permalink
| Comments (9)
How To - Make a desk lamp from a scanner
This Instructable details how to turn a scanner lamp assembly into a tres geeky desk lamp.
Scanner Parts - Desk Lamp - Link
Related:
- Old scanner = light table - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 20, 2007 02:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Arduino blog
If you're really in to Arduino, and *a lot* of you are... Here's a new blog from the Arduino team in Italy! - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 20, 2007 12:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
Page 33 of 143 << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 >>
Features and more @ MAKE!
MAKE @ The NYC Toy Fair 2008 - Covering DIY!HOW TO - Build the arms of assistance.
MADE in Japan - Part I.
MADE in Japan - Part II.
MADE in Japan - Part III.
Make store - Blinky bug kit - Blink!
Make store - Loud Objects Noise Toy Kit
Makers - MAKE Flickr pool contest. Win cool stuff!
Makers - Join the MAKE Facebook page - Meet other makers.
MAKE on Twitter - Tweet! Tweet!
What you're reading in MAKE - Data!
Add MAKE to your RSS reader - Real simple.
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!
Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311
Gareth Branwyn
Robot Maker
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Researcher
Natalie Zee Drieu
Senior Editor
CRAFT
Becky Stern
Culture jammer
Collin Cunningham
Sound Maker
Marc de Vinck
CNC Maker
Current Podcast
AHAB High Altitude Ballooning - Best of Weekend Projects
mp4|mov|hd|3gp|3g2|itunes This week on Best of Weekend Projects, we look back at part two of the AHAB (High Altitude Balloon Adventure). In this epic Bre & Co. travel to Eastern Washington to launch a GPS and camera enabled balloon...
More...
