[Pierre-Philippe] sent in his instant messenger USB puppet. It’s a little silly, but I like it. The puppets servo is driven by a pic controller with a max232 serial/ttl converter. To make things interesting, it responds to people entering and leaving gaim or xchat.
Peripherals Hacks1540 Articles
Gesture Laser Pointer Control
After I linked his basic laser pointer webcam interface the other day, [mnt] sent me this excellent demo of his gesture based laser pointer control. This one works alot like graffiti on the old palm pilots. My question? What does he make when he’s not sick?
Pentium Powered Extra With Friggin’ Lasers
[Neil] sent along this one and I found this one highly amusing. The latest use for recycling those old cpus: overvolt them a bit with a USB cable and keep your coffee cup warm. Use them as dressing for heat generating resistors.
[nik] came up with a non-destructive way to mount an external wi-fi antenna to his thinkpad. I like it, but I think you need a double height PCMCIA slot to fit it – Maybe a slimmer version could be built for a powerbook/macbook.
[Hybrid] found some interesting diy LASER projects. Including a $10 air laser. Sweet.
[joek1010] noted some interesting webcam laser hacks. The laser tracing webcam has definite possibilities.
[dualbandit] found a similar twist, but this time a laser pointer is used to remote control a mediacenter.
In case you’ve been following it, my DIY HD projector build on Engadget is finished up with the final review. I’m pleased with the image quality, but I’ll probably be tweaking the lamp/reflector assembly a bit.
Oh, and if you were into exploiting vending machines and getting free coke, it looks like they’ve pushed out a firmware patch.
Remember, only 11 more days to get your entry in for the Design Challenge. Just check out the prizes if you need motivation.
USB Airsoft Turret
[Jared] over at inventgeek.com remembers to think of us whenever he finishes up one of his projects. His latest is an USB Airsoft gun turret based on one of those USB nerf dart turrets. Hrm, this could make a decent base for a defconbots entry. It sounds like he’ll be building an even deadlier expensive version later on.
Don’t forget, December 25th is the deadline for your Design Challenge entries!
Fab@home
I’ve received a few tips on this, and somehow it keeps slipping by. The fab@home project immediately reminds me of reprap. This is a completely open source hardware project for rapid prototyping/3d modeling. In the past, manufacturing something like a turkey baster bulb required injection molding. The project wiki has full details on building your own, including manufacturing houses to get all the acrylic laser cut. It looks like you could get your hands on one of these pretty easily if you don’t mind making a dent in your wallet. Thanks to [nickjohnson] and [peter B]. [peter B] also noted that the cornell boys have an even nicer one that they use to make zinc-air batteries and artificial muscles.
If you happen to be in Berlin on December 27th, you might want to sign up for Fabienne’s wifi detector hacking workshop at 23c3.
Guitar Hero Guitar Controller
[Chuck] sent me this How-To on building your own custom Guitar Hero controller. I love the idea – the stock controller is a bit small for me. This one was built for a Child’s Play fund-raiser, so maybe you can score it and help get some games to some kids in need.
Remember, there are just 20 more days to get your entry in for the Design Challenge!
Wiimote Windows Drivers!
Just a quick update to yesterday’s Wiimote bluetooth hack. [steve] pointed out [CarlKenner]’s release of a windows driver. Let us know how this works. Looks like you have to use the slightly deprecated/abandoned PPjoy to get the joystick functions working.
So, if you have a HTPC, maybe the Wiimote could make an interesting home theater remote? (I use linux on mine these days. The windows display drivers kept breaking)
