Halloween props: Pumpkin in standby-mode

October 22, 2010 By 28 Comments

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is preparing for Halloween with this standby-mode pumpkin. Inside there’s an LED plugging a hole that is drilled just to the skin of the gourd-like vegetable. It fades in and out similar to a sleeping Mac, using what we think is a vastly over-powered circuit based on an ATtiny2313 (1k  of programming space for this?). … Read the rest

Filed Under: home hacks Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Prototyping the Bulbdial clock

August 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

Evil Mad Scientist posted a story about what went into developing the Bulbdial clock. We think the Bulbdial is one of the best pieces of kit out there for many reasons; using colored shadows for each hand is a brilliant idea, the design is clever and uses a low parts count, and the concentric rings that make it work

… Read the rest

Filed Under: classic hacks, clock hacks Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Zif socket for Arduino

April 24, 2009 By 14 Comments

zif

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has put out this nice tool. It’s a Zif socket for Arduino. If you’re doing a lot of flashing, this could be a nice addition to keep from having to pry your chip out every time. Plus, it looks cool in a soviet era technology kind of way.… Read the rest

Filed Under: Arduino Hacks, tool hacks Tagged With: , , ,

Uses for magnets

April 22, 2009 By 20 Comments

magnets

Sometimes we forget just how useful magnets can be. Sure, we use them in some projects, but usually we just pull them apart for our amusement. Evil mad scientist laboratories reminds us that they can be useful tools. They’ve made a list of 17 uses of magnets. We’re also reminded that magnets can be dangerous. What else … Read the rest

Filed Under: misc hacks Tagged With: , ,