How to add audio in to the Sony NEX-5 line of DSLR cameras

add-audio-in-to-sony-dslr

[Tynan] loves his Sony NEX-5 camera but he's fed up with not being able to choose any external microphone when recording video. Recently he set out to remedy that, and managed to add an audio in jack without modify the camera itself. The real trick here is to modify how a microphone accessory connects to the camera. In [Tynan's] tutorial video (embedded after the break) he uses the enclosure … [Read more...]

A laser audio transmitter

laser-audio-transmitter

Here's a way of transmitting audio that makes it virtually impossible for someone else to listen in. Instead of sending radio waves bouncing all over creation, this uses the focused light of a laser to transmit audio. In the image above you can see the silver cylinder which houses the laser diode. It is focusing the beam on a light dependent resistor to the right which looks almost like a red LED … [Read more...]

Turn your old Bluetooth headphones into a DIY car audio receiver

wireless-car-audio

[Tim] drives a 1995 Mitsubishi TS Magna, which is equipped with a less than stellar accessory package he lovingly calls a “poverty pack”. He outfitted his ride with an aftermarket head unit that can support the Bluetooth A2DP profile, provided he buys the ridiculously overpriced kit sold by Pioneer. Reluctant to shell out more money on an audio kit than his car is worth, he whipped up his own … [Read more...]

Toorcamp: Bliplace 2.0

Bliplace 2.0

We've shown [Tanjent]'s Bliplace 1.0 in the past. He handed out a few hundred of the open source audio toys at Burning Man. At Toorcamp, he's been showing off an improved 2.0 version of the project. This one has a more powerful microcontroller and many more RGB LEDs. The device uses the ATMega328 and an electret microphone to sample ambient noise. It the processes the sound into a light pattern … [Read more...]

Robot servo control using smartphone audio jack

robot-servo-control-using-smartphone-audio-jack

[Jim] has an old Android phone he'd like to use as a Robot brain. It's got a lot of the things you'd want in a robot platform; WiFi, Bluetooth, a camera, an accelerometer, etc. But he needed some way to make the mobile, mobile. What he came up with is a chassis with servos that can be controlled by the phone's audio port. To start his adventure he crafted a square wave audio file in Audacity … [Read more...]

Adding Bluetooth audio playback to a Toyota Matrix

adding-bluetooth-audio-to-toyota-matrix

In this project [Ryan] shows how he added Bluetooth audio to the stock stereo of his Toyota Matrix. The work he did with his add-on hardware is quite good. And the installation was surprisingly easy. For example, the dashboard bezel which is hanging in the foreground of this picture simply pulls off without the need for any tools. Also, the CD changer input for the stereo is what he uses to patch … [Read more...]

Stiltwalker beat audio reCAPTCHA

defeating-audio-recaptcha

This talk from the 2012 LayerOne conference outlines how the team build Stiltwalker, a package that could beat audio reCAPTCHA. We're all familiar with the obscured images of words that need to be typed in order to confirm that you're human (in fact, there's a cat and mouse game to crack that visual version). But you may not have noticed the option to have words read to you. That secondary option … [Read more...]