Day: October 25, 2010

RC Controlled Camera Takes Intimate Video Of Rodents

October 25, 2010 by 27 Comments

[Leor] wanted to take some video of the wildlife in his yard, like this chipmunk or some hummingbirds, but every time he tried to get close it scared them away. His solution was to rig up a cheap video recorder to be radio controlled (PDF). The donor camera was a cheap SD card based eBay purchase that takes 720×480 video. [Leor] removed the SMD switches from the recorder’s PCB and wired up a 4066 quad bi-lateral switch IC in its place. An RC toy car donated the receiver transmitter pair. The receiver signals are monitored by an AVR microcontroller which translates the commands in a proper set of button presses for the video. What you get is a controller that and turn the camera on and set to the proper mode, and the ability to start and stop the recording.

We’ve got some pics of the hardware after the break, and [Leor] posted a bit of the chipmunk video for your enjoyment.

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Gas Containment For Laser Cutters

October 25, 2010 by 27 Comments

Tired of breathing all the noxious fumes your laser cutter puts out? Yeah… we don’t have a laser cutter either. But [Jeri Ellsworth] does and she needed a way to evacuate off-gases generated during cutting so that they don’t damage the laser cutter, or her lungs. What she came up with is a containment box that attaches to a pump system.

The problem is that you want to keep the gases away from the laser cutter hardware but you still need to be able to shoot the laser at your work material. Her clever solution is to use a silicone wafer like the ones with which she makes integrated circuits. They allow the infrared laser to pass through without being chopped in half. What you see in the image above is a red box with the round wafer in the center. Near the bottom of the image is a clear window so you can see what’s going on with your work piece. But to get the full idea you need to watch the video embedded after the break.

We can’t help but think she’s building this in preparation for some more chemistry hacking.

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Firesheep: Promoting Privacy In A Scary Way

October 25, 2010 by 50 Comments

Often, software hackers are the activists that push software giants towards updating vulnerable applications. In todays example, [Eric Butler] is pushing Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and more all at the same time. By creating a user script-kiddie friendly extension for Firefox, he has allowed just about anyone to sniff unsecured connections on public Wi-Fi access points and log into these unprotected accounts.

Right now the extension is available for Windows and Mac, with a Linux port coming soon. Temporarily, the best way for a user to avoid getting taken advantage of would be to not use these social networking sites on a public connection, or to implement a secure proxy for these connections that would keep your data safe. Hopefully these websites will have a quick rebuttal that allows for security without workarounds. With all of the bad press they are recieving, they certainly have incentive to.

Are there any software or security buffs out there? We would love to see someone port this to an iPhone or Android app that could check and log open Wi-Fi points. We’ll leave the foot work to the experts out there, but do be sure to give us a heads up if anyone manages to make it happen, okay?

Fully Customized Robots

October 25, 2010 by 8 Comments

i.materialise, a custom 3D printing fabrication house are looking for talented robotics enthusiasts with the skills to design custom robotics parts such as functional frames, decorative shells, as well as unique parts required by robots to look and perform their best. The best part? They are offering free 3D printing of parts to the people they select with the most interesting or useful ideas. Make sure you check out their blog for details on what they are looking for and how to enter, as well as checking out some of the other cool things they do, such as a fully customizable 3D printed frisbee. Let us know what you design, we would love to show it off!

[via Robots-Dreams]

Hacker Housing – Rally To Restore Sanity

October 25, 2010 by 44 Comments

HacDC, Washington DC’s own hackerspace has been kind enough to open their doors (and floors) to fellow hackers planning on visiting DC this weekend for the upcoming Rally to Restore Sanity. They are taking registrations now, and space is limited, so act fast. They have a suggested donation of $20 a night, which will get you floor space and breakfast each morning, as well as the warm feeling of supporting a community based Hackerspace. Details can be found on their registration page, and please make sure you read the rules before registering. Thanks again to HacDC for supporting the Hacker community!

In other news, Hack a Day will be at the Rally, so keep an eye out for the writers wearing the Hack a Day shirts, as well as the HackaDay Twitter. If you get seen with one of us, you might just make it to the fan gallery. We will also be handing out some HackaDay Swag if you catch us soon enough on Saturday.

Halloween Props: This Drill Makes Your Head Spin

October 25, 2010 by 9 Comments

[Nollie551] sent us a demonstration of his head spinning yard prop. Adding a possessed child as part of your Halloween display is a nice touch. But when her head starts to spin (think: The Exorcist) as trick-or-treaters saunter by it should scare the life out of them. You can see that all it took is a jig to hold an inexpensive power drill in place. He didn’t include details of how this is hooked up but we think it would be a great way to use that drill switch hack that [Ben Krasnow] did a while back.

Join us after the break for some video.

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AVR Programming 02: The Hardware

October 25, 2010 by 67 Comments

You may be able to write the most eloquent code in the history of embedded systems but without a way to run it on the hardware it will be worthless. In this installment of the tutorial series we will:

  • Look at some of the available AVR programmer options
  • Place the microcontroller on a breadboard and connect it to a power supply and a programmer.
  • Use programming software to send some example code to the microcontroller

If you missed Part 1 take a few minutes to review that portion of the tutorial and then join us after the break.

Series roadmap:

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