Conductive filament means printable sensors

The 3D printer world has the creation of plastic trinkets pretty much down pat. The next step, obviously, is the creation of multi-material models, whether they be made of two different colors of plastic, or completely different materials entirely. A few folks from the University of Warwick and GKN Aerospace in Bristol, UK have come up with a way of … Read the rest

Hacking BodyBugg fitness sensors to get around subscription fee

This arm cuff is a sensor package which logs data whenever you’re wearing it. It records accelerometer data, skin temperature, and galvanic skin response. That data can then be analyzed to arrive at figures like calories burned. But… The company behind the device seems to have included a way to keep the cash flowing. Once you buy it you can … Read the rest

100 meter spring reverb makes us hear satanic voices

Spring reverb is something we’re used to hearing about when it comes to guitar amplifiers. It’s a coil spring stretched the length of the amp’s housing. One end is fed the guitar signal, with a pickup at the other to capture the output. But this spring reverb is on a much grander scale. [Jochem van Grieken] strung up 100 meters Read the rest

MOD player for the Stellaris Launchpad

[Ronen K.] wrote in to tell us about the MOD playing Stellaris Launchpad project he recently completed. A MOD is a sound file for the computers of days long gone. But you’ll certainly recognize the sound of the 8-bit goodness that is coming out of this device.

To understand how a MOD file stores samples you might want to glance Read the rest

Internet radio occupies an 80-year-old radio case

[Florian Amrhein] made use of some old hardware to build his own internet radio in a 1930′s radio case.

The original hardware is a tube-amplified radio which he picked up on eBay. There’s tons of room in there once he removed the original electronics and that’s a good thing because he crammed a lot of new parts into the … Read the rest

Adding Node.js based sensors to the Parrot AR drone

[Max Ogden] wanted the option to add sensors to his Parrot AR Drone. This a commercially available quadcopter which runs Linux. This makes it rather easy for him to use Node.js to read the sensors from an Arduino board. The use of the Arduino is merely for easy prototyping. It is only needed to bridge the drone’s serial port with … Read the rest

Hackerspace Tour: Kwartzlab

Located in Kitchener, Ontario, Kwartzlab is a 3000 square foot hackerspace. In 2009, the group was founded and set up their space in a former box factory. We dropped by the space on one of their Tuesday Open Nights to take a tour. Join us after the break for a quick walk through of Kwartzlab.… Read the rest