Part Arcade, Part Guitar

April 28, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 11 Comments

Finally a guitar that all of the arcade gaming geeks can jam with. [Mike Davenport] sent us his 8bit arcade based guitar for his senior project. Details are a little sparse if you intend to build you own at the moment, but he does mention the basics: such as it uses an FPGA for logic and function, the strings and joystick modify pitch, it has selectable waves and other parameters, and even includes save banks! Check out a video of him playing street fighter rocking out after the break. Continue reading “Part Arcade, Part Guitar” →

USB VU-meter

April 22, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 14 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsg24MGNpRc&feature=player_embedded%5D

WaitingForFriday’s [Simon Inns] is quite possibly the USB interface and PIC master. This week he let us know about his VU-meter repurposed as a computer performance monitor using a PIC18F2550 and his open source USB Generic HID communication class. With PWM the meter’s needles and RGB LED can be accurately set and even dampened for CPU usage, network usage, HDD utilization, and even memory usage. Oddly enough, in his software we didn’t find the ability to use the device as a VU-meter – go figure.

GPS Embedded In Visor

April 20, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 38 Comments

We’re all for putting a GPS where it doesn’t normally go, but we’re not sure [Roberto’s] version* is the best of locations. Take for example [Jair2k4’s] GPS. It doesn’t block out 50% of his vision of the road and the impending accident in front of him.

Regardless, the solid aluminum and seamless mounting really does make it look like part of the car, and props to him for making it ‘hidden’ when he’s out of the car to try and prevent thieves. But there are cheaper, easier, and dare we say better solutions out there.

*We found his site only works in Internet Explorer, gah!

Zune Gets Hacked, OpenZDK

April 17, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 21 Comments

Here is one that really got some of us at the HAD offices excited (yes, we own Zunes). The introduction of the Open Zune Development Kit. Sure, there was XNA, and we even toyed around with it. But anyone will quickly realize just how limited XNA is, especially with older hardware.

OpenZDK is in its infancy, with only one application thus far (don’t worry, you can still use XNA apps too). But we wanted to give it a shout out and let the hacker community make this potential into a reality.

[Thanks Galen]

Beer Can Pinhole Camera

April 16, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 23 Comments

When [Justin Quinnell] sent in his beer can pinhole camera, we were just floored. The parts are easy to obtain, and the process for building and ‘shooting’ with the camera are near effortless.

The really impressive part of this hack is letting your camera sit for 6 months facing the sun. Yes, you read that correct, a 6 month exposure. Check out after the break for one of his astonishing shots, and trust us, its well worth the click. Continue reading “Beer Can Pinhole Camera” →

Ask HackADay: Organization?!

April 15, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 34 Comments

Several people have been asking a similar question to,

“How do you at Hackaday keep track of and organize all your equipment?”
-[Jeff Allen] and others.

We have a variety of resources to help you keep track of your tools, equipment, parts, and supplies! Follow us after the jump for some tips for keeping your workspace clean and tidy. Continue reading “Ask HackADay: Organization?!” →

Punching Accelerometers

April 15, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 16 Comments

Shortly after finishing his Makiwara punching bag, [Abieneman] wired and programmed an Arduino to an accelerometer to find out just how much acceleration (and with some math, force) is behind his punches. The project is simple and would be quick to reproduce for your own measuring and experiments: all that he used included an Arduino, accelerometer (with A/D converter), LED displays (and shift register). We were a little disappointed to learn of how much static the accelerometer produced, so measuring things such as impulse, energy, and pretty much anything not kinematic is nullified. But it makes us wonder, how much static would be in say, a Wii Remote punching bag?