Month: September 2005

How-To: Embed A Wifi Detector Into A Backpack Strap

September 13, 2005 by 18 Comments

wifisniffer01

We’ve posted our How-To of the week over at Engadget.com. Take a peep at our cool little mod for embedding a wifi sniffer into a backpack strap or messenger bag strap. Haven’t you always wanted to have squishy switches and LED’s built into your bag? Well, now you can! The How-To even has spiffy Flickr photos for your viewing pleasure.

If you make a cool version of this hack, please let us know. We’re sure you’ll come up with all sorts of ways to make this mod better: super bright LED’s, luminescent wire, fibre optics, etc. Take this How-To and run with it yo

Build Your Own Surfboard

September 12, 2005 by 12 Comments

surf

We’ve covered snowboards and longboards on previous Mondays, but it would be a shame not to mention their precursor the surfboard. [biscuitdough] suggested this online book by Stephen Pirsch for getting started with board building. The introduction does a good job of covering why you would want to pursue this and also reasons not to. It even suggests that reading the guide would help you if you plan on ordering a custom board. Make sure you check out the “Helpful Links” section for a description of their small wave design. (photo via)

Continue reading “Build Your Own Surfboard” →

-100degC Cascading CPU Cooler

September 11, 2005 by 8 Comments

cooler

From a thermodynamics standpoint this project is damn near pornographic. The goal is to cool both the CPU and GPU down to -100 degrees Celsius using a dual evaporator cascade system. The project is fully documented starting with making the CPU/GPU blocks and polishing them to 0.005 microns. Next step is the case build up followed by a ton of brazing. He got everything assembled and pressure tested with only a few bugs. Right now they’re troubleshooting the system. They can get one of the heat exchangers down to -48.9degC, but not both. I’m sure they’ll get through this. Head over and check out the beautiful work they’ve done so far.

[thanks weirdguy0101]

Continue reading “-100degC Cascading CPU Cooler” →

Ladyada.net Is Back Online

September 11, 2005 by 18 Comments

Yes, I’m going to dedicate an entire post to this. Limor is one of our favorite hardware hackers, but her site was unfortunately down last week when we picked it for Editor’s Choice. Well, she is back from vacation and has gotten the site back online as promised. Take some time to check out her great projects: the Minty MP3, Mini POV, and my favorite, the x0xb0x.

Continue reading “Ladyada.net Is Back Online” →

Mac Mini Robot

September 10, 2005 by 6 Comments

minirobot
The University of Oklahoma wanted to get a good idea of what it is like to operate a robot using visual and aural sensors before they built one of their own. They started with the Pioneer 3-AT robotics platform. They added a Mac Mini and powered it using a 12V battery and an inverter (this was only a temporary setup). The Pioneer is controlled through a USB-to-serial connection. An iSight camera provides visual feedback. Turning control is jerky over the WiFi connection, but since this will eventually be an autonomous system it isn’t a concern. It is a nice quick proof-of-concept.

[thanks Jason Striegel]

Continue reading “Mac Mini Robot” →

Noise Cancelling Headphones

September 9, 2005 by 24 Comments

headphones

Here are plans for building a noise canceling headphone circuit. Noise cancellation works by placing microphones close to the ear and then playing the recorded sound out of phase causing destructive interference. Commercial headphones have the mics and power supplies built into the headphones. The page has some other fun suggestions for playing around with the stereo mic setup. If you’re looking for a cheaper route, there is this.

[thanks flybri and h-tech]

Continue reading “Noise Cancelling Headphones” →