Build A Wireless Keylogger

wireless_keylogger_schematics (Custom)

Hardware Keylogger solutions has released the plans and files for their wireless logger. It has a range of about 50 yard between the transmitting dongle and the receiver. It is based around an Atmel AT91SAM7S64 and the PCB is pretty tiny. In case you hadn’t noticed yet, they sell them as well. The cool thing about this is that key data is transmitted in real time, allowing you to see it as it happens instead of having to go retreive the log physically like you used to.

Little Dog

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBSK7LYpg9w]

Dating back to September of 2007, this certainly isn’t new news, but its new to us. This is Little dog, the miniature version of the ever so creepy Big Dog. We aren’t sure if the lack of Big dogs signature jogging in place makes this little guy seem more lifelike or less.  Little dog was designed to be a research platform into study automated navigation of natural terrain. We wouldn’t mind having one of these around the office, though we would have to add some kind of a head or face to give it some character.

[via Bot Junkie]

$15 HDR Camera

rewire1 (Custom)

[Steve] was planning a 15 mile hiking trip when he came up with this idea. He wanted to get some good HDR photography, but didnt’ want to lug around his 5D MKII. He managed to pick up a couple of cheap Polaroid X530s. These have decent optics and record in RAW format, which is pretty impressive for something he got for 99cents plus shipping. He had all of the buttons wired for external control via a Viliv umpc. As you can see on his site, his results are quite nice. Of course, you don’t actually have to hack your camera to make HDR images.

Musical Typewriter

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/5411878%5D

We have often commented that we’re a bit tired of hearing random notes when someone sends us a musical project. We love home made instruments, circuit bending, and creative sound, we just like some intentional direction to the noise. This just might be an exception to the rule. This typewriter plays random notes as you type.  While it might annoy your cohabitants into a violent rage, it seems oddly cathartic. We have heard people talk about the pleasure of hearing the keys clack as they type. It just seems like you would get used to this and find it just as pleasurable. Maybe we’re crazy. Unfortunately, they don’t divulge any technical details, but we can imagine a simple way of wiring directly into a cheap keyboard to get the same effect.

Lunar Lander Remade

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnKzeHPgWy8]

For those that are lucky enough to remember it, Lunar Lander was a fantastic game. Though it had simple vector graphics and highly repetitive game play, it kept us captivated. We probably lost entire weeks of our lives competing with friends to be the best. Well, now we can relive that experience with a physical version of the game. [Lain] built this fantastic arcade style game to replicate Lunar Lander’s game play exactly. The style of the project is fantastic with giant analog meters and dials giving real time feedback.  You even get a prize if you complete all 3 levels. You can get plenty of build details by going through his blog. Maybe he should hook up with the folks that built the Apollo landing computer replica to build the ultimate simulator.

[thanks Mike]

Integrated Steering Wheel Radio Controls

van-pioneer (Custom)

[Graham] bought a new stereo for his Peugeot 406. Unfortunately, the built in radio controls in his steering wheel didn’t interface directly with the head unit, but rather with the vehicle itself. His solution was to build a device to decode the button presses and send them to the head unit in the appropriate fashion. All source code and schematics are available on his site. He states that this should work on any PSA/Renault vehicle with a 125Kb VAN bus. We’re curious how similar some of the American systems are. We have seen something similar where someone wanted to control their Zune from the steering wheel.

The HeliControl Project

helicontrol_offen (Custom)

We’ve all seen those little toy helicopters appearing everywhere. They’re getting cheaper and cheaper with some models getting down to roughly $30. The JRL team wanted to be able to control them with a PC, and figured the best way to do it was to build somewhat of a universal remote for them. The HeliControl module currently has several different types of copters programmed in, and they plan on adding more. Its not surprising to see the rise in popularity of these mini choppers, we’ve even seen some pretty extensive mods to the bodies and even mechanicals. Click around this forum to see what some people are doing to them.