Getting the lead out of the Arduino runtime

mhvlib_arduino_efficiency_runtime

Ah, the Arduino. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that part of its accessibility comes at the expense of speed and efficiency. We honestly like the platform as well as all of the others out there, because we believe that everything has its proper place and purpose. The crew over at Make, Hack, Void think that the Arduino dev boards are well and good, but that the core of the Arduino … [Read more...]

Spamming a label printer with #cookiehammer

cookiehammer

[John] has always loved stock ticker machines. These machines are highly collectible, so short of finding one that wasn't hurled from a Manhattan skyscraper in 1929, a stock ticker is out of reach for the casual enthusiast. There is another way to get a stock ticker-like device though: hack a label printer to print out stuff from Twitter. The build is really quite simple. A Dymo thermal label … [Read more...]

Incredibly cheap upcycled cargo bike

diy_lastenrad_cargo_bike

What has two wheels, is made from five different bikes, and can carry all of your stuff for miles and miles on end? [Paul Blue’s] DIY Lastenrad, that’s what. (Google Translation) A Lastenrad is a cargo bike where the load sits in front of the rider rather than being towed behind. [Paul] wanted one for hauling things around town, and rather than buy one, he built one of his own. One thing … [Read more...]

Hacking SPOT personal satellite tracker to pass more information

hacking-the-spot-satellite-transmitter

For less than $100 you can buy a little tracking module that will upload your location to a satellite. But you'll only get latitude and longitude information. [Natrium42] spent some time reverse engineering the hardware, and the communications protocol, to allow custom data to be transferred using a SPOT module. The flat fee for the hardware includes a one-year service plan allowing you to tack … [Read more...]

Make Your Own GPS Receiver!

Board

GPS receivers may be available for well under $100 these days, but what's the fun in buying one when you can build it yourself? According to [Andrew], the creator of this device, he was inspired by Matjaž Vidmar who developed a GPS receiver from scratch over 20 years ago. His article can be found here and includes some nicely hand-drawn diagrams as well as a lot of theory. However, [Andrew's] … [Read more...]

A sunrise clock for those cold, dark winter mornings

sunrise_alarm_clock

For most of the working world, the onset of autumn and winter in the Northern hemisphere means one thing - waking up well before the sun rises to get a start on the daily grind. [Brent] from Freeside Atlanta knows that routine well and decided to build himself a sunrise alarm clock in an attempt to wake himself more naturally on those dark mornings. He bought an assortment of LEDs in varying … [Read more...]

Weekly roundup 10/1/11

wr10111

In case you missed them, here are our most popular posts from the past week. Our most popular post was about a Chinese man who is attempting to build an octocopter that he can fly around by pairing motorcycle engines to propellers. There were a considerable number of comments on this one! Next we have a post about a project where a 12-series PIC is used with a single inductor to create a … [Read more...]