Modular security system is portable too

diy_security_system

Hackaday reader [Oneironaut] wrote in to share a modular, portable security system he built for himself. He likes visiting the Caribbean, but his favorite vacation spot is apparently rife with cat burglars. He enjoys sleeping with the windows open and wanted to find a way to scare off ne’er do wells. At home, there are a few different buildings on the property he owns, and he was looking to … [Read more...]

Simple AVR based GPS tracker

gps

The latest project from Lucidscience.com is a simple AVR based GPS tracker. As usual, the instructions here are quite in-depth including schematics and step by step procedures all the way down to modifying cables when necessary. What we found interesting is that the GPS module he's using is so simple. It only requires 3 wires, one for power, one for serial communication, and one for a … [Read more...]

Laser camera sees around corners

laser scanner

After reading over the proceedings of the 2005 SIGGRAPH, [Dan] realized he could reproduce one of the projects with $50 worth of equipment and some extreme cleverness. [Dan]'s dual scanning laser camera operates by scanning a laser across an object. The light reflected from the object illuminates a flat surface, and this light is measured by a photocell. After measuring the resistance of the … [Read more...]

Open Hacker Conference Badge Project Needs Your Help!

[Aestetix] writes in to tell us that the OpenAMD (Attendee Meta-Data) project is working on a new revision of their hardware, to be debuted at CCC Camp this fall. For the uninitiated, OpenAMD combines an Active RFID tracking system with social networking, and is completely open-source. You walk into the conference, put on the OpenAMD badge, and suddenly you can see yourself as a dot moving … [Read more...]

LED build monitor helps keep an eye on your servers

build_status_board

In his line of work, Hackaday reader [Pedantite] often has to monitor the build status of several continuous integration servers throughout the day. One afternoon, he got the idea to install a set of stop lights in the office in order to monitor the status of the servers, but filed it away as a "wouldn't it be cool if..." project. After some time had passed, he was bitten by the idea bug again … [Read more...]

Compost heap temperature logger helps keep things hot

compost_temp_logger

HackHut user [lackawanna] is looking to start his own compost pile, but as many urban composters discover, things can get quite smelly if you don't manage it properly. The process of composting is broken up into two phases, aerobic and anaerobic decomposition. The former is the first stage to occur and produces plenty of heat, but should be scentless. The latter gives off less heat and is more of … [Read more...]

Atmega Analog two pack

adconverter2_01_med

Back in February, [ProtoStack] posted a pretty good tutorial on how to do Analogue to Digital Conversion on an Atmega168. Based on a bread board, the tutorial also shows the often forgotten low pass filter on the AVCC lines to ensure an extra stable reference and an analog input connection to a simple voltage divider as a study point. Moving on into the micro controller, the … [Read more...]