Hey, I just created this cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. I think it’s going to be really popular.
Bluetooth Headset Teardown Guide
Recently people have been adapting Bluetooth headsets for use in other devices: the NES controller headset and the classic brick phone. [matt billings] put together a guide to tearing down a Motorola HS820 Bluetooth headset to show how easy this is. He picked the HS820 because it is apparently only $30 at Radio Shack and Amazon. Sounds like a good enough candidate to me.
Laptop External Antenna Mod
Yes. [Minh-Tam]’s addition of an external antenna to his Dell Latitude C840 is incredibly easy. We don’t remember seeing anyone else attempt this though. Minh-Tam has done it the “correct” way by using a pigtail so he should have minimal loss and get a lot more use out of his 9dB external antenna.
Squeezebox Audible Caller ID
Ben loved using his Squeezebox music streamer, but every time the phone rang he would have to pause the music. Once the phone call was complete he wouldn’t remember to start the music again. He decided to automate the entire process. His circuit is a combination of a couple different circuits he found online: a ring detector, an on/off hook detector, and an audio interface. Most of his article details how caller ID signals are encoded and how he decodes them. Now whenever the phone rings the music is automatically paused. Between rings the Squeezebox announces who is calling. When the phone is placed back on the hook the music automatically starts again.
Industrial Strength Dance Pad
Inventgeek has just posted their latest project: an industrial strength dance pad. It’s built out of 14GA 1″ steel tubing and acrylic. I brains are from a generic set of DDR pads. There is also a separate lighting system. The pad was built it for an Xbox, but they’ve got a USB adapter for use with Stepmania as well. Although the construction looks really solid, [jared] is careful to mention that this is just the first prototype. It definitely looks better than anything you could buy or find in the arcade.
Aux Input For Bose SoundDock
Reader Rob requested this hack back in November so I jumped on it when it showed up in my RSS reader. Although Mike Kruckenberg preferred the sound of his SoundDock to the iPod HiFi, he was disappointed that it didn’t feature an auxiliary input. He decided to crack the box open and mount his own aux port. Bose doesn’t use the same pin numbers, but Mike was able to figure out the left, right, and ground. He still needs to do a little more digging to figure out how to turn on the dock without having the iPod in place. I think a nice hack would be building a dummy plug that appeared to the dock as an iPod but only has a line-in jack.
[via Digg]
Quick And Dirty Ferrofluid
When we posted our first ferrofluid story [frogz] threatened to make a video of his own version. Well he did and here’s the video. He uses laser printer toner and suspends it in lightweight SAE10 motor oil. He says that a thinner oil produces shapes quicker. I don’t think the power drill with the spoon attachment is really necessary though.
