Author: Caleb Kraft

1567 Articles

Composite Video Through Cat5

November 28, 2008 by 48 Comments

cat5_composite

[mixadj] needed to run some video cable from one part of his house to another. He was lacking the proper amount of video cable, but had a bunch of cat5 laying around. so he built a converter to run his composite signal through the cat5. He states that he wouldn’t run it more than 70 feet without amplifying the audio somehow. Aside from that, the performance is supposedly decent.  This just adds to the multitude of other uses for that Ethernet cable. We’ve seen voice, data, composite video, VGA, and power. What else have you seen run over cat5?

Make Your Own Holiday Lights

November 28, 2008 by No comments

lights

No matter what holiday you choose to acknowledge, you probably enjoy the thought of getting to put lights up everywhere. We know we do. Here are some instructions on how to make your own string of color changing lights. Sure, you can probably just buy a string of color changing lights for cheaper, but then you couldn’t arrange them however you want on the line, and you also wouldn’t get the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

WEEE Man

November 27, 2008 by 9 Comments

weee

WEEE Man is an art display that has been roving around England. No, he doesn’t walk or talk. He is here to remind us of how wasteful we can be. Hackers rejoice, we’re part of the solution. It also doesn’t hurt that he is Seven Meters tall and over three tons. WEEE Man looks awesome, but are we the only ones that spotted stuff and thought “ooh, I could have used that for a cool project.”?

[via The Presurfer]

Zap New Life Into Ni-Cads

November 27, 2008 by 18 Comments

nicad_zap

Apparently you can revive dead Ni-Cad batteries by zapping them with high voltage. Some people have used welders in the past, but many of us just don’t have access to one. This project shows you how to hack a disposable camera into a battery revival device. This could be very cost effective. A single regular AA battery could revive many Ni-Cads. Remember, this doesn’t charge them, just makes them able to be charged again.

Rocket Camera

November 27, 2008 by 5 Comments

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

[Jordan] sent us his Rocket Camera project. It really isn’t much that we haven’t seen before, but we thought many of you would be feeling the effects of gravity a little harder today. So when your belly is stretched to its limits with Turbaconducken and you don’t think you can stand, take a little flight with [jordan]. Careful you don’t lose your lunch on the way back down though.

USB Power From Your VGA Port

November 26, 2008 by 41 Comments

vga_usb

[gmgfarrand] needed an extra USB port to power some devices. Since he just needed power, and no data, he slapped together this quick adapter that pulls power from the vga port instead. While we’re not sure if this could possibly damage your video card if you pull too much power from it, we’re happy to see someone being original. That VGA port goes unused so often, this adapter might just make it a tad more useful.

[thanks Adam]