Day: January 8, 2010

Beginner Concepts: Binary-coded Decimal

January 8, 2010 by 13 Comments

A rudimentary understanding of digital logic and simple integrated circuits is critical if you’re ever going to pull off some really gnarly hacks. [Daniel] put together an explanation about the use of 4511 BCD 7-segment drivers. These chips take binary data in and output decimal data to a 7-segment LED display. In short, they can read 0b1001 from input pins and light the numeral ‘9’ on the display. The best part is that you can build this example circuit in the Atanua logic simulator without ordering parts. We love zero-cost learning!

CES: PS3 Gun Controller

January 8, 2010 by 6 Comments

Yesterday we spotted a PS3 gun controller at the CTA Gaming Accessories booth. We have covered home made solutions like this before, like the WeeP5 zapper, and it is great to see alternative controllers spreading to other consoles. Now all we need is some force feedback, and we’ll really be able to feel in the game. As always, Hi-Res is available.

[Caleb]-I think the home made ones had better button layouts. See the thumb stick on the back of the pistol grip? They did that so it will work  for right and left handed people instead of making it on one side.

CES: Parrot AR Drone Update

January 8, 2010 by 8 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL9nCShB9Ac]

Here’s a small update on the AR Drone from Parrot. We finally got this video uploaded. It isn’t anything fantastic, but you get a good view of the board on the bottom of the device. You can clearly see a tiny camera in the middle and what looks like sonar range finders toward the front of the drone.

As some commenters have stated, this looks like a more robust platform of the X-UFO. We haven’t seen the X-UFO, but the salesperson even mentioned it. Check out some flight video after the break. We’ve shot some flight video of our own that we’ll have up soon. Continue reading “CES: Parrot AR Drone Update” →

CES Multitouch

January 8, 2010 by 8 Comments


Here, [Devlin] can be seen playing with a multitouch setup. We inspected it and found 4 lasers, located in the corners. We are pretty sure we have seen this exact setup before.  There wasn’t really much of a booth there, so we played with the TV and then kept moving.

We also ran into a reader of Hack A Day and totally forgot to take his picture. Sorry man, if you run into us again, we’ll get you.