The Ericsson T10s outputs sms messages through its on-boared data connector when they are recieved. Serasidis Vasilis exploited this feature to build his own SMS remote control. His example provides on/off control of four devices. The hardest part was programming the Atmel to turn the 7 bit output from the phone into the 8 bits the Atmel expects.
[Ken Keiter] has written up a guide to unlocking your T-Mobile SDA, overclocking it, and then adding Skype for use over WiFi. The unlock procedure is pretty simple and only needs some free software. The overclocking is just as simple. The OMAP processor needs to be overclocked to 240MHz otherwise Skype will have a lot of lag. The Skype install is straightforward except for one hitch: the phone doesn’t have a touch screen so you can’t click Sign-In. You can get around this using a piece of software called Pocket Controller which lets you click the button with your mouse. After that you can set Skype to auto sign-in so you’ll never need to use the mouse again. Ken’s final tip is how to change the T-Zones button so that it launches Skype.
Every couple months I get a tip about how to get unlimited calling for minimal money. They usually involve some less than elegant forwarding, but I figured I’d post one and hopefully be done with this topic. Here is [van12]’s version posted on Howard forums. First you need a cellphone plan that has free inbound/outbound calling to your home number. You use a home number from a VOIP provider that lets you forward inbound calls to your cellphone. By calling home you can use the VOIP providers cheap unlimited plan to make calls.
[UPDATE: HoFo seems to be blocking us with a registration page now]
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.
[th0mas] has put together a concise how-to on forwarding Atom or RSS to you cellphone. In his example he grabs an Atom feed from his Gmail account then parses it to find the new messages. The new message list is compared to a file so that duplicate messages aren’t sent. All new messages are then sent to the phone’s email address. th0mas has provided enough information so that this script could be easily expanded. It looks like a decent introduction to PERL as well, so even if you aren’t looking to send stuff to your cellphone it might still be worth a look.
[moddy] sent in a couple of his projects that would probably be entertaining on a Sunday afternoon. The first one is how to reverse the rotation of a battery powered travel clock. It’s just a simple modification of the plate the coil is wrapped around. The second is adding 9V battery terminals to a cell phone. Neither project is practical, but they’re still fun.
Looking for a way to demonstrate his AutoIt script that allows Windows control using a cellphone, zerocool60544 put together this automatic door opener/closer. It uses two water bottles as counterweights and two LEGO motors to drive the door. The motor control is a parallel port connected relay board. It’s a pretty simple demo, but I’ll definitely be looking into AutoIt in the future.
[thanks emdy]
