Hackerspace security system brings RFID, video feedback, and automatic doors

rfid-hackerspace-door-lock

[Will] has been hard at work on a replacement system for his Hackerspace's RFID door lock. The original is now several years old and he's decided to upgrade to a much more powerful processor, adding some bells and whistles along the way. The control box seen above is the exterior component of the system. It's a telephone service box like you'd find on the back of most houses in the US. They had … [Read more...]

Pranking a hackerspace IRC for April Fool’s Day

face

Like most hackerspaces, when the folks at DIYode, the Guelph, Ontario hackerspace, aren't in the workshop, they're on IRC. It's a great way to build a community, complete with a bot that collects and catalogues to-do items, meeting topics, posts events to IRC, and even does a bit of text-to-speech so members currently at the DIYode can listen in on the IRC room. There's also a webcam for the … [Read more...]

Hackaday Links: March 8, 2013

GPS

Cheap GPS modules If you're making a GPS-enabled project, you may have noticed the commonly available GPS modules are pretty expensive - usually around $50. Here's one for $8. It's a U-blox PCI-5S GPS receiver on a PCI Express card. There are test points for serial and USB data, though, so fitting this in your project is a breeze. Grandfather clock makes a giraffe's scarf Here's a … [Read more...]

Street Art Bot

Street Art Bot

For the Deconstruction decentralized hackathon, "The FABricators" from Fab Lab Tulsa built a Street Art Bot. The robot drives around and dispenses liquid chalk in a pattern to make sidewalk art. The FABricators' robot is based on an electric wheelchair platform. Attached to the base is the hardware for dispensing chalk, which is controlled over wifi. The operator drives the robot around the … [Read more...]

Laser Etching an iPhone 5

Laser Etched iPhone 5

CrashBangLabs in Regina recently got their hands on a laser cutter. The Full Spectrum cutter was donated by a local company, who were upgrading to a larger machine. With no laser cutting experience, [Brett] decided that his first project would be laser engraving his iPhone 5. This is a bit of an ambitious first project, since the power and speed would have to be set correctly to get a good … [Read more...]

Watching 50 teams build something cool

Last summer, we here at Hackaday participated in the Red Bull Creation Contest. Basically, twelve teams were given webcams and instructions to build something cool. The teams live streamed their build process, and the best of the bunch won a trip to the New York Maker Faire. [Jason Naumoff], the guy behind this build-off is doing it again right now. It's called The Deconstruction and it pits 50 … [Read more...]

The Nottingham Hackspace

nottinghack

Hackerspaces (or hackspace in this case) come in all shapes and sizes, from those just starting up, to some that are very impressively equipped. [Dominic] wrote in to tell us about the Nottingham Hackspace, which would fall solidly into the second category. We'd invite you to take a look at their intro video after the break, but be prepared to wish you lived near their location. If you do … [Read more...]