Noise Cancelling Headphones

headphones

Here are plans for building a noise canceling headphone circuit. Noise cancellation works by placing microphones close to the ear and then playing the recorded sound out of phase causing destructive interference. Commercial headphones have the mics and power supplies built into the headphones. The page has some other fun suggestions for playing around with the stereo mic setup. If you’re looking for a cheaper route, there is this.

[thanks flybri and h-tech]

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Event Coverage: Dorkbot Meetings And Artbots 2005

bwhackevent

Continuing on our streak of Friday coverage of cool hackerly events, we would like to say a few words on Dorkbot and Artbots.  Dorkbot started as a New York City monthly meeting for robot and homebrew interactive device aficionados.  It has now spread to many cities, perhaps even one near you.  Guests are invited to speak and afterwards, the hardware hackers mix and mingle to the geekery beat.  The collection of projects presented in the past are stored on their site with linkage for you to peruse.  We at Hack A Day are a bit sad that neither Paris nor Nebraska hosts a monthly Dorkbot.  That said, you are invited to start a new Dorkbot chapter near you if you so desire.  The next New York City Dorkbot meeting is on Wednesday, October 5th at 7 pm.  Check the listings and/or mailing lists for the city nearest you.

As if Dorkbot’s artsy tech scene wasn’t cool enough, once a year Douglas Repetto also organizes Artbots: The Robot Talent Show.  We had a chance to attend Artbots 2003 at the Eyebeam Gallery in NYC.  Particularly marking that year was Stijn Slabbinck’s scratchbot which has been covered rather extensively elsewhere. LEMUR – the league of electronic musical urban robots — was also in attendance in 2003.  This year’s Artbots was held in Dublin, Ireland and included workshops: a MIDI scrapyard challenge and a 60 minute bot building course.

Some of our favorite artist installations from this year’s Artbots include:

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