LED suit lights up the night

+1 Yahtzee and stonking great.

When the tipline popped up with this LED suit, part two, by [Marc DeVidts] we were expecing a simple led version of the previously known EL coat. Well we were right and wrong in the same instance. Correct in that like predictions, the outcome is stonking great. Wrong in that this suit far outpaces EL in abilities we weren't expecting. Namely to start off, an iPhone app over WiFi dictates to … [Read more...]

Alarm clock learns new trick, opening doors

I wanted to make a breakfast machine joke so badly. But figured it better not to.

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning. [Mark Stead] didn't like the idea either when his chickens started crying to be let out. One simple solution obviously is to eat the chickens build an automatic door opener. The mechanism starts out with an old style mechanical alarm clock, add a geared motor with some creative switch work to pull open the door, weather proof the entire thing, and done. [Mark] … [Read more...]

How to fix AVR-SIZE on Ubuntu 10.04

fixing-avr-size

The program avr-size is part of the AVR-GCC toolchain used to develop programs for that line of microprocessors. The program tells you how much space the code will take up on the chip, important information if you're trying to cram a program into a small program memory. Perhaps more importantly, it shows you how much ram is being used. This is the "Data:" portion of the image above and if you … [Read more...]

Using quality optics with a webcam

webcam-lens-interfaces

[Devon Croy] built a case to join a webcam sensor with a camera lens. The box is a PVC conduit box you'd find at a home center. He used JB Weld to attach four bolts to the back of the box. These are used to fine-tune the mounting plate for the webcam sensor to ensure it's at the focal point of the lens. The lens connects through a couple of extension tubes to an adapter mounted in the center of … [Read more...]

Open source version of the Play Station 3 Jailbreak

teensy-ps3-jailbreak

Don't steal. It's a lesson that children are taught from the youngest age and a core principle in every society. The PSGroove sets out to follow this mantra in several ways. It is an open source implementation of the PSJailbreak hardware we covered a couple of weeks back. It's difficult to find a definitive source of information on that hardware but many have speculated that the original device … [Read more...]

Replacing the driver board in an old-school door chime

old-school-chime-driver-replacement

[Dan Kouba's] parents replaced their doorbell button with one that lights up and found that the chime wouldn't stop sounding after the button was pushed. These lighted buttons use an incandescent bulb in parallel with the button (a piece of hardware we've hacked in the past). It draws a small amount of current which isn't enough to trigger the chime, but it is just enough that the chime unit … [Read more...]