Axe your camera (again!)

[Maurice] let us know that his latest photography tool for hackers, the Camera Axe 3.0, is now available. The original allowed you to trigger a high-speed flash and camera from a multitude of sensors, including light and sound. The new one does all that, but also: allows multiple cameras or multiple flashes, clean up of software to make it … Read the rest

Complete the maze, get a gumball

This neat accelerometer controlled marble maze adds a level of fun to retrieving a gum ball. You have to first navigate the maze using a controller that has a dual axis accelerometer in it to control the angle of the platform. Though that does look like a wii accessory, there is no wiimote in there.  Only after you have completed … Read the rest

Another stationary bike VR rig

[Shingo] shared his implementation of a stationary bike as a virtual reality interface. This is similar to the Google Street View setup we covered a week ago but goes a few steps further. They patched into the bike computer to pick up rotation of the bicycle wheel and added an accelerometer for directional control. This setup can navigate through Street … Read the rest

AVR8 virtual processor on FPGA

[Jack] wrote in to let us know about a project that creates a virtual microprocessor core based on the ATmega103 by using a Field-Programmable Gate Array. Great, we thought. Here’s another rather esoteric project like the NES on a FPGA, but what’s the motivation behind it? We asked [Jack] and he provided several scenarios where this is quite useful.… Read the rest

When an axe isn’t enough

[Chris] wanted a guitar with a keyboard but didn’t want a keytar. Like any good hacker he took a cheap guitar and a small keyboard and introduced them to each other. He moved the control knobs to make room for the keyboard and added the control circuitry from the keyboard to the top of the guitar’s body. A 9v … Read the rest

Uzebox in an NES controller

[David Cranor] has managed to fit a fully working Uzebox system into an old NES controller. Uzebox, an open source gaming platform based on the ATmega 644 and an AD725 NTSC encoder, is one of a couple systems that are becoming more and more widespread and accessible. There are a number of ready-to-go Uzebox kits available, but for the … Read the rest

(Mini) Earthquake in your living room

Today we stumbled upon [jimthree's] Seismic Reflector while looking at projects that employ the Processing language we mentioned a few days ago. Utilizing a Boarduino and some vibration motors from a game controller, the Seismic Reflector does just as its name implies – rattles itself around whenever there is an earthquake. While this does seem a bit silly at first, … Read the rest