Using Old Phones As An Intercom In Your VW Bus (or Anywhere Else)

June 8, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 68 Comments

In case you haven’t noticed from my many comments on the subject, I drive a VW bus. It is a 1976 Westfalia camper with sage green paint and green plaid upholstery. I absolutely love it and so does the rest of my family. We go for drives in the country as well as camping regularly. We have found that the kids have a hard time communicating with us while we’re going higher speeds. These things aren’t the quietest automobiles in the world. Pushing this bread loaf shaped hunk of steel down the road with an engine that might top out at 75hp results in wind noise, engine noise, and of course, vibration.

I decided to employ a really old hack to put two functional telephones in the bus so my kids can talk to my wife (or whoever the passenger is) without screaming quite so loud. This hack is extremely easy, fairly cheap, and can be done in just a few minutes. The result is a functional intercom that you could use pretty much anywhere!

Continue reading “Using Old Phones As An Intercom In Your VW Bus (or Anywhere Else)” →

Hackerspace Intro: Hacker Consortium In Nashville TN

June 7, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 10 Comments

The last stop on my trip this summer was the Hacker Consortium in Nashville TN. The Hacker Consortium has been around since late 2007 after acquiring a building that had been abandoned for several years. They had quite the task ahead of them, since parts of the roof had caved in and the building was in a general state of disrepair. The price was right though, so they set out to make it habitable. They did a great job too. We found the space to be pretty cool. They’ve got tools for wood working, metal working, collaboration, etc. They also have a nice little kitchen area, a classroom, and a laser cutter. Unlike the other spaces we visited where anyone willing to pay the monthly fee can be a member, these guys tend to be a little more concerned with how you can contribute to the group. You don’t necessarily have to bring a new skill to the table, but you have to be an active part of the team somehow.

Continue reading “Hackerspace Intro: Hacker Consortium In Nashville TN” →

Where Is My *%$#! Virtual Reality Display?

June 7, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 75 Comments

For years I’ve been asking, loudly and frequently, where’s my F*&#$%ing virtual reality? I realize that many of us, depending on what influenced our dreams of VR will have different definitions, so let me elaborate. When I was a kid, I played Dactyl Nightmare at the Union station in St. Louis. You stepped inside this “stage”, donned a massive clunky headache inducing HMD, and brandished a floating joystick of doom to challenge other players and a flying Pterodactyl. I was awe struck. My 12 year old brain decided that this was the future.

Continue reading “Where Is My *%$#! Virtual Reality Display?” →

Hackerspace Intro: Chatt*Lab In Chattanooga TN

June 6, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 6 Comments

During our trip through Tennessee, we were able to get a sneak peak into a hackerspace that hasn’t quite opened its doors yet. Chatt*Lab in Chattanooga has just acquired a space and begun putting equipment in. Chattanooga, once called “the dynamo of the south” due to the amazing amount of industry located there, has been in need of a gathering place for like minded hackers for a while. They’ve been conversing through various means on the web for some time, but have finally found a space that suits their needs.

[Tim Youngblood] gave us a tour of what they currently have and shared a little bit of their plans for the future. As you can see in the video, there’s not a whole lot of stuff there yet. There are a handful of nice tools and a very nice looking and rather large CNC machine. However, they have solid plans and determined people, so we expect this to expand soon. On the subject of expansion, this space may seem tiny but that’s only because we shared the active space. The rest of the facility is vacant and available for them to expand into as they grow!

Let this act as a reminder, we don’t care how big or small your hackerspace is, send us a tour and we’ll publish a story on it. On almost every single hackerspace intro, we’ve seen comments where people had no idea there was a hackerspace in their immediate vicinity.

Open Hardware Moodlamp With ATmega

June 5, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 8 Comments

[Daniel Andrade] has built a pretty cool mood lamp circuit. He was initially inspired by [Toon Beerton’s] Ikea lamp, but found he just didn’t have the knowledge to proceed with the PIC processor. He rushed out and bought an arduino to begin learning. Once he figured out how to properly make a mood lamp function, he created a custom circuit to utilize an ATmega chip instead of his whole arduino. He’s now on his second revision of the circuit and is sharing all the files with whoever would like to download them.

His circuit utilizes a 3wRGB LED and any ATmega 8/168/328. He has left some space for expansion on the board as well just in case you’d like to add sensors of some kind (he mentions a temp sensor).

Book Scanner Kits Now Available

June 4, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 28 Comments

[Daniel Reetz] wants you to be able to scan books. This has been a goal of his for quite some time, and now he’s bringing a kit into play. We’ve always liked book scanners here, many of us have extensive libraries or even peculiar selections we would like to share. [Daniel] is starting off with a short run of these scanners. Once all the bugs are worked out, there should be plenty available for everyone. The kit includes the frame, LED lighting, bicycle levers, and cables. You have to add glass, books, and a camera.

Of course, if you still want to design and build your own, there are TONS of variations available in the forums at DIYbookscanner.org.

[via Adafruit]

Continue reading “Book Scanner Kits Now Available” →

Wi-Fli Copter Broken? Harvest The Parts!

June 4, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 10 Comments

[Nick] was somewhat disappointed when the Wi-Fly helicopter he bought his son broke in less than 10 minutes. The main gear that turns the rotor split in half, rendering the copter WiFi enabled trash. [Nick] however decided that he didn’t want to waste an opportunity and harvested the receiver parts. To test them out, he wired them up to the controller for an R/C truck. This gave him a WiFi truck with a nifty android interface. It actually works pretty well, as you can see in the video below. [Nick] points out that, while this works fine, he could ultimately repurpose this fancy little WIFI controlled 3v switch to whatever he wants. He mentions garage doors and lights (and terminators), so this might be an opportunistic way for him to get into some fun home automation.

Continue reading “Wi-Fli Copter Broken? Harvest The Parts!” →