Hack a Day » Sean Percival

Obsolete technology band

Sean Percival — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Radiohead held a contest for fans to remix the single Nude from their album In Rainbows. Frontman Thom Yorke mentioned on NPR that the contest was essentially a joke, since the Nude track is recorded at 6/8 timing and 63bpm, much slower than traditionally mixed music. The above video from [James Houston] is one of the most creative entries. Using old computer hardware he has recreated the track in a very unique way. He uses a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for the guitar track, a dot matrix printer for the drums, a scanner for bass, and a hard drive array for vocals.

Want to make your own band with obsolete technology? Click through for a few pointers to get you started.

Scanners used to be the hot peripherals of their day; now many are reduced to collecting dust. Revive these relics and put them to good use as instruments.

In the Radiohead video we saw an array of hard drives used as speakers. Afrotechmod created the video above featuring the Star Wars theme. He wired the audio input directly to the coils used to control head and platter motion. Since all hard drives are different it may take a little poking around to get the desired effect.

Dot matrix printers are well known for their iconic sounds. In the above video, [Sue Harding] tells us about her experiences with them and how she plays around with color and character density to create new sounds.

Lastly, we have the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. While it’s not entirely clear what program is being used, there are quite a few audio trackers available for the platform. The video above is a ZX Spectrum demo made by Digital Reality.

[via Waxy]

One handed controller available for pre-order

Sean Percival — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

You are probably familiar with the work of [Ben Heckendorn]. His latest commercial project, the one handed Access Controller, is now available for pre-order. A well known modder, he has created several unique video game console adaptations including a scratch built one handed Xbox 360 controller.

A unique feature of this controller is that it allows you to change the location of the buttons/joysticks. This modular design can be swapped and customized depending on your needs. Ben is including a guide for creating your own modules, should you be so inclined. The device uses 2.4Ghz wireless to communicate and is available for $129.99.

Since we know you are more interested in hacks than gadgets, be sure to checkout Heckendorn’s nice collection of how-tos on Engadget.

[via Engadget]

3 liter homebrew beer keg

Sean Percival — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Beer kegs are several things. They are expensive, heavy, but most importantly delicious. We found a nice guide for creating your own 3 liter beer keg. This is an inexpensive solution for homebrewers looking to keg their own beer.

The guide goes into detail on assembly and parts needed to create the bottle adapter. Most of the parts can be picked up locally or through MoreBeer.com. CO2 cartridges are used to pressurize the bottle. To keep everything cool you can use a standard water cooler with a few simple modifications. The 3 liter bottle is too tall for some coolers so you’ll need to cut a hole in the lid. Add a piece of aluminum covered styrofoam to the top and bottom, toss in some ice, and your brew should stay cold for about 3 hours.

The author does note that this is not recommended for long term storage. So drink up!

Gaming with Roombas

Sean Percival — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Yesterday we looked at the Pac-Man Roomba casemod. In the video, creator [Ron Tajima] expressed interest in seeing Roombas participate in real life games. So we did some digging around and found some used in an interesting augmented reality game. From Brown University, these modified Roomba Create units play various games, like tag, with an underlying goal of developing smarter robots.

The setup consists of a Java powered client/server arrangement. The game server coordinates the Small Universal Robot Vehicles (SmURVs) and builds a database of events for future use. Players can also control the robots through a Java telepresence client.

The units themselves are made up of the iRobot Create with a Mini-ITX computer strapped to the top. They run Linux and communicate over WiFi with the server and players. They also have an IR emitter used in the games to “shoot” other units.

Gameplay has the server acting as the referee and humans only acting as instructors. The humans come into play when the robots are unable to respond based on their existing database of decision making policies. Through the client, players are able to see exactly what the robot sees with the addition of 3D overlays. Future plans for the game include removing the camera view and replacing with nothing but these overlays. One of the final goals of the project was to create a 24/7/365 gaming experience similar to what is found in MMOs and Xbox Live applications today.

Roomba Pac-Man

Sean Percival — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:00:00 +0000

[Ron Tajima] fashioned a Pac-Man casemod for his Roomba using 448 LEDs and a SH2 MPU control unit. It features the correct arcade sounds and even the death animation. The bot has Bluetooth access thanks to his previous Wiimote hack. He hopes to use this platform to create a real world version of the game.

For more Roomba hacking, check out the Hacking Roomba book and our previous Roomba related posts.

[via Geekdad]

Using multiple browsers for security

Sean Percival — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

[Rich] over at Securosis takes us through some of his browser paranoia exercises. He uses different browser profiles for different types of web activities. Based on potential risk, various tasks are separated to protect from CSRF attacks and more. Everyday browsing with low risk passwords is done in one. RSS reading with no passwords is done in another. He runs his personal blog in a browser dedicated just to that.

For high risk research, he uses virtual machines to further minimize any potential nasty code getting through. Very high risk sites are browsed through a non-persistent read-only Linux virtual machine. While these techniques can be less effective if the entire OS is comprised, they can still provide a few layers of additional security.

Fellow browser paranoia sufferers may want to consider Firefox plug-ins like NoScript and memory protection from Diehard.

DIY ballistic gel

Sean Percival — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Earlier today, we looked at DIY ballistic glass, so we decided to look into DIY ballistic gel as well. Anyone who watches Mythbusters is probably already well familiar with their extensive use of this wonderful gel. Turns out the stuff is beyond easy to create at home. With some gelatin molds (and firepower) you could have a lot of fun with it.

To get started, pick up a box of gelatin powder from your local supermarket. Using 8 oz. of the powder and 2 quarts of cold water, stir together until the consistency is thick and all powder moist. Then, place the mixture in the fridge to chill for two hours. You will then need to heat the mixture until melted; be sure the liquid does not exceed 130 degrees. Finally, apply a layer of nonstick spray to your favorite mold or tupperware, and pour the mixture in. Allow to set in the fridge for 36 hours before use.

If you want even more DIY ballistics, check out this nice guide to creating your own chronograph, for measuring bullet velocity. After the break are videos on making and, of course, shooting the final product.

Recent news followup

Sean Percival — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Last week we talked about a single rumored arrest over the OiNK torrent tracker. Since then, there’s been a confirmed report of 6 arrests. The arrests appear to be the result of users uploading pre-release music to the now defunct site. For some time, police have had access to the OiNK user records minus the passwords which are thought to be stored as a salted MD5 hash. It seems British authorities can force these individuals to reveal passwords under something called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

The Phoenix Mars Lander (pictured above) has found what might be a large piece of ice directly underneath it. This week the lander will scoop up a sample, melt its contents and test the various gases it releases. Twitter users can watch the mission’s progress in semi real time by following the MarsPhonix account. Lastly it looks like the official website for this mission was defaced through a SQL injection attack.

We already reported the world’s largest GPS drawing as a hoax. It has however inspired a few to look closer at the concept of position based art and others have already created authentic works. Our friends over at BoingBoing even made a little flash application to create your own “Unimpressive GPS Art“. Upon hearing of the hoax we were quick to draw up a brand new proposal for DHL using Google maps.

Parasitic power devices

Sean Percival — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:45:00 +0000

Aside from having a very cool name, parasitic power is an innovate way to recapture already spent power. This power can come in the form of wasted heating or cooling of a building for example. Last week the Southern Methodist University activated the first commercial Green Machine from ElectraTherm. The unit recycles residual heat from the building into electricity. So far, the 50kW Green Machine has exceeded expectations. The company also says owners can recoup the units cost after about three years.

Pictured above is a Parasitic Wind Turbine built as an experiment to see if any useable energy could be captured from a standard home air conditioning unit. Although not listed on the website, the 6 phase 90 V 4.0 the motor used here is available from Skycraft or auction websites like eBay. Using the rotor of a standard box fan and placing it at a 45 degree angle yielded the best RPM.

Lastly, these applications of parasitic power remind us of an art project by Michael Rakowitz from 1998. Rakowitz created temporary homeless shelters that were inflated by a building exhaust vents. The air flow from these vents provided both structure and heating for the shelters. They also served to draw attention to the homeless housing situation and encourage cities to think of new ways to address the problem.

Powered bicycles

Sean Percival — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0000

We’ve started to noticing a lot of commercial electric bikes on the street. Last year we looked at an electric trike project, after the break find out what people have been up to lately with similar projects.

[Jeff Radtke] and [Hans Noeldner] are two engineers who put together a self-contained electric powered bicycle wheel. The unit can attach to just about any bike and covers around 10-20 miles on each charge. By using standard Dewalt 36V battery packs, new batteries can be easily swapped out when needed. Overall you are getting about 1HP with this setup and maximum speed of 28MPH.

Inventor [Eric Peltzer] recently announced his electric bike project was going open source. After sharing his experience through on his website for years he is now looking for contributors to help develop and monetize the project.

[Frankg] lost his license some time ago so he built himself another form of transportation. He candidly takes us through the building and tweaking of his electric bike conversion through his website. He even takes us through the process of how not to build an electric bike as well.

This week in (our) history

Sean Percival — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Time to look way back into the Hackaday archives, well back to 2005 at least. This is a new feature to follow up and revisit some of our favorite projects of the past. Our first installment includes the week of May 24-31 2005.

Pictured above we see one of the amazing cable braiding machines from UK based Cobra Machinery. This link was found on a post about creating your own high end speaker wires from cat5 cable. At the time we hoped to find a DIY braiding machine. No such luck today but we did come across and interesting site in the process. diyAudoProjects has a ton of great how to guides for all things audio. They even have a few walkthroughs for creating your own speaker wires.

We looked at the robotic dexterous hand from The Shadow Robot Company. Browsing through their high rez image gallery its pretty clear to see the product has been progressing nicely: 24 degrees of freedom complete with force feedback and a GPL based software package.

Three years ago we covered the Nokia 770 internet appliance and it’s upcoming SDK. The device has now been replaced by the Nokia N810 (pictured on the right). However, open source support from Nokia has continued to develop. We found a blog from software developer Ari Jaaksi where he talks about Nokia’s involvement in the community. Recently he discussed the latest news from MAEMO, the platform used for open source development of Nokia internet tablets and other Linux-based devices.

Alternative 3D controllers

Sean Percival — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:00:00 +0000

There are several very nice 3D mice out there for navigating services like Google Earth or Second Life. 3Dconnexion for example makes a whole line of devices for 3D navigation. Their compact units offer 6-8 degrees of freedom with several customizable options. The company has an SDK available and many of their devices are natively compatible with Linux (or available for access through an XInput driver). So while that is all well and great, lets look at some alternative ways people are navigating 3D spaces.

We are glad to see it didn’t take long for someone to figure out how not to get healthy with a Wii Fit. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence turned one unit into a global surf board. Using the Bluetooth connection of the Wii Fit they developed software to port the user’s motion back into Google Earth. The result, surfing over the alps to 90s techno music. They also briefly demo using the balance board to walk in Second Life.

Why use any input at all when you can use your face? The Human Media Lab has developed software that allows for hands free navigation of Google Earth simply by moving your face. The software is free (although a download link is missing) and currently only available for Windows. They do appear to be using OpenCV as part of this package which is open source.

Lastly from the virtual world of Second Life we have navigating with your mind. This brain-computer interface (BCI) was developed by Japanese professor Jun’ichi Ushiba of Keio University in Japan. The user wears a headpiece that monitors activity in three areas of the motor cortex, where movement signals are processed. A user simply thinks about the direction they want to move and the avatar responds accordingly. Still under development, this device is aiming to recognize more complex movements and gestures in the future.

Upcoming convention roundup

Sean Percival — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Lots of con news is coming in these days so lets do a quick roundup of upcoming events:

REcon
June 13-15, 2008
Montreal, Canada

REcon has started posting information about their training sessions such as the Advanced Reverse Engineering session with Nicolas Brulez.

The Last HOPE
July 18-20, 2008
New York City

The Last HOPE just announced its speaker list. It includes the infamous Kevin Mitnick, Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage, and author Steven Levy to name a few.

DEFCON 16
August 8-10, 2008
Las Vegas

The DEFCON team also released the first batch of speakers for this year’s convention. Qualification starts tonight at 10PM EST for the capture the flag (CTF) contest so be sure to get registered. Check the txt for more information. We recently talked about the beverage cooling contraption contest, but you can find many other contests on the forums.

The integrated desk

Sean Percival — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Since it happens to be the day after a nice holiday break, many of us are finding ourselves back in front of our desk once again. Perhaps some of you never left it the entire weekend. In any case, it seems fitting to take a look at a few interesting integrated desks we’ve come across lately. Follow through after the break to see our favorites.

Cable management seems to be a constant struggle for many of us, do we have too many electronics? Probably, but how can one effectively manage the cable clutter? [Van Mardian] came up with a nice solution that only required about $30 in parts from a local hardware store. Using a pegboard mounted under the desk itself he was able to hide most of his wires and even some peripherals. The comments have a lot of other examples.

For those who live in a closet or perhaps a New York apartment, available space can sometimes be an issue. Thankfully a Romanian design company called MTI Impex has created the cube PC desk. Unfortunately we couldn’t find additional information such as plans, but it doesn’t look like it would be too hard to construct.

Similar to the previous example this normal looking trunk converts into a mini cubicle on wheels. From Japan, this melamine resin trunk comes complete with a fold out desk and several pre-drilled holes for cables. Ordering is available on the official site, but will set you back $2000US.

Lastly, we have the desk that inspired this post as it made its way around the net today. This beauty is like a mullet, all business up front with a party in the back. From a 1947 edition of Popular Mechanics this “dream desk” is just aces with all the features a modern executive needs. Yes, it has a 6 tube radio, dictating equipment, and even an electrical convenience outlet. More importantly, the backside (or play side) is equipped to turn any office into party central with its fridge and other spirit related fineries. Toss in a safe and we can only imagine this desk weighed more than its short lifespan was worth.

If you have come across an interesting desk hack, or have created one yourself, please let us know in the comments.

IKEA Linux cluster

Sean Percival — Mon, 26 May 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Building a render cluster doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money, even if you’re buying brand new hardware. [Janne] built this 6 unit cluster inside of a 6 drawer IKEA Helmer cabinet. He wanted the cluster to be low power and low cost. After finding a good price on 6 65nm Intel Core 2 CPUs, he found 6 cheap Gigabyte motherboards. The memory on each board was maxed at 8GB. With 24 2.4GHz cores consuming 400W, the power consumption and cost isn’t much more than a high end PC. Each board is running Fedora 8 and mounts an NFS share. Dr Queue is used to manage the render farm’s processes. [Janne] says jobs that previously took all night now only require about 10-12 minutes. The estimated capacity is 186Gflops, but plans are already in motion for a12Tflop version.

His site also has plans for an underwater camera housing like our recent post. If you want to see more IKEA abuse, check out IKEA Hacker, even if it’s not very technical.

[via Hackzine]

[UPDATE: yep, we duped ourselves]