Third-person vehicle

Science wins!

Here is something we didn't expect (NSFW). The machinima crew behind RedVsBlue, Rooster Teeth, actually did a hack! The idea is simple enough, how could you experience driving a vehicle like in a video game - aka, third-person. With some steel bar, Canon 5D camera, and a 15inch monitor inside of a blacked out cab, they accomplished just that. What surprised us the most, is the great … [Read more...]

On-the-go prototyping

prototyping-on-the-go

[Riley Porter] has been working on several different custom enclosure designs. Above, you can see his Proto Desk which holds a breadboard, Arduino, and has two recessed boxes with sliding tops for components and patch wires. He's got a miniature version that gets rid of the breadboard, as well as slick-looking cases for the Bus Pirate, tinyISP, and face plates for word clocks. Well, if you've … [Read more...]

PC fan failure alarm

Need to monitor not only if a fan is running, but if it is running fast enough? Check out this PC fan failure alarm circuit. After several failed attempts using various circuits, they settled on a Schmitt trigger. They even show a couple variations including a manual reset and a relay instead of a buzzer. [via HackedGadgets] … [Read more...]

Peering in a the A4, the iPad’s brain

339S0084_A4_BG

Sure, tearing down devices to see what components are in there is fun. But tearing down the components themselves is even more fun. iFixit sent off their iPad guts to be laid bare after they were done with their iPad teardown. We've seen pictures of stripped chips in the past, but the work that Chipworks is doing for iFixit is quite amazing. Get the skinny on just about every part in there from … [Read more...]

Solenoid motor from a VCR head

Here's a solenoid motor you can build from a VCR head and some common components. It uses an LED and a light sensor, paired with an LM311 comparator to manage the switching of the motor. As the head turns, the LED shines on the sensor through a hole and triggers a TIP120 transistor to turn on the motor during the power stroke. Once the beam of light is broken, the transistor turns off the motor … [Read more...]

A cop in every car

arduino-speed-enforcer

[Michael] designed this display board to mimic the appearance of a police car pulling you over. It resides in the rear window of his car (facing forward) as the controller board measures the speed of the vehicle. An Arduino grabs NMEA data from a GPS module and compares it with a table of speed limits. If you are speeding, based on your current location, the reds and blues flash as if you're … [Read more...]