Day: September 18, 2009

Timelapse Dolly

September 18, 2009 by 7 Comments

[vimeo = http://www.vimeo.com/3150715%5D

[Andrew Curtis] does fantastic timelapse photography. He found that he wanted to be able to move the camera while taking the shots to give motion to the final product. While this isn’t exactly a new idea, not too many people mess with it. The dolly to do it with can be quite expensive as it has to support the camera and move it in an automated and controlled fashion. [Andrew] has been working on building his own dolly and has documented the process.

[via Flickr]

Are You Human? Then Type Out This Book

September 18, 2009 by 52 Comments

type_this_text

Google has acquired reCAPTCHA and plans to use the system for digitizing books. Wait… what? CAPTCHA is the method of requiring a user to type in a visually obscured word to prove they are human. How can this digitize books? The answer is a bit obscure and takes some time to discover, but you’ll have fun along the way. Continue reading “Are You Human? Then Type Out This Book” →

Super Game Boy Boot ROM Dumped

September 18, 2009 by 31 Comments

gameboy_boot_rom_dump_hardware

[Costis] managed to dump a copy of the boot ROM for the Nintendo Super Game Boy. This small piece of code (256 bytes) writes a graphic to the display at boot time as it loads the ROM on the game cartridge. He was able to dump the code by finding the exact point at which the device locks down the boot ROM. Just as that point approached he overclocked the device causing it operate so fast it couldn’t write the lockout bits into the register. Once past that single point of security, he executes a code that writes the boot rom out to a different address that he is able to read from. He’s got a copy of the dump along with the explanation up for your enjoyment.

[Thanks Anthony]

How To Write Udev Rules

September 18, 2009 by 36 Comments

Since the adoption of Kernel 2.6, Linux has used the udev system to handle devices such as USB connected peripherals. If you want to change the behavior when you plug something into a USB port, this section is for you. As an example, we will use a USB thumb drive but these methods should translate to any device handled by udev. As a goal for this exercise we decided to create a symlink and execute a script when a specific thumb drive was loaded. The operating system we used for this exercise is Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. Continue reading “How To Write Udev Rules” →

Touch Sensitive Keypad

September 18, 2009 by 12 Comments

capacitive_keypad

[Viacheslav] built a keypad that uses human capacitance to detect key presses. Unlike normal keys which close a physical connection, his project detects touch through the PCB substrate. He uses the analog comparator of an AVR ATmega8 to detect the moment of zero crossing and then measures the time it takes to discharge in order to detect key presses.

Continue reading “Touch Sensitive Keypad” →

Tech Leaders Enlisted To Help The Newspaper Industry

September 18, 2009 by 19 Comments

Call to help newspapers

It is pretty obvious to everyone that the newspaper industry is in a tiny bit of trouble. They have thus far failed to reach the rapidly changing landscape of news, online news at that. They must do something to keep our interests up, or end up flailing on the ground. Microsoft and Google among others have recently entered the picture with solutions to the problem and some fresh eyes from a digital perspective.

Leading edge tech companies enterend the picture with a plea from the Newspaper Association of America on how they can monetize content online through transactions or enhanced ad targeting. Microsoft submitted a news river system that resembles TweetDeck and Sobees. Google is looking at developing an extension of Google Checkout that would help newspapers charge for content through a micropayment system. IBM as well as Oracle have submitted proposals that look at the use of content management systems.

So far the only shining example of the possibilities newspapers have to push things forward is Microsoft’s Next Generation Newspaper that pulls in all sorts of data such as RSS feeds, photos, videos, updates and news from across multiple news as well as social networks, into an information hub. So what does all of this mean for you? Newspapers might not be dead, they are in the hot seat and looking at the best of the best to help them out of the jam with intuitive solutions that meet today’s news viewing needs.

What would you like to see newspapers do to engage you as an online news viewer?

[via NiemanLabs]

USB Isolation

September 18, 2009 by 20 Comments

[Oleg] over at Circuits@Home has made a USB isolator for his hacking needs. This isolator separates the signal, ground, and power lines of a USB host device, such as a PC, from a USB device like a USB oscilloscope or logic analyzer. This might be useful for Keyboard sniffing, ECG, EEG or diagnosing the control system on the positive ground of your autonomous Ford 8N. What other applications can you come up with for this tool?