[Coreyfro] recently sent me a thank you note for the biquad wifi antenna article I did for Engadget last fall. He directed me to his monster Beerquad antenna he built based on it. While searching for materials to build his antenna he discovered that flattened Guinness cans are the perfect size for regular antennas and that 25oz Labatt cans make for great double wide versions. He says the reception is great . I’m sure he’ll raise some OpSec eyebrows once he gets the laptop mount done. Most biquad wifi projects on the web are based on Trevor Marshall’s antenna.

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WiGLE is a massive user contributed database of WiFi access points and GPS coordinates. IronGeek decided to take that data and parse it into a KML file that Google Earth can understand. It uses cached data from WiGLE’s Java interface, JiGLE. Reader [bird603568] has been playing around with the script so that it will indicate the quality of service in addition to IronGeek’s showing whether or not WEP is being used. Visit his site if your interested the QOS feature.

[UPDATE: corrected based on bird603568’s comments]

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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.

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We saw Amal Graafstra, the author of RFID Toys, at Maker Faire. Even though we spent most of the time at his booth poking at the RFID tags embedded in his hands we did remember him mentioning that he would be releasing a free bonus chapter. The first chapter of the book shows how to connect an RFID reader to your home automation system for front door access control. The free bonus chapter describes how to build a standalone system for operating a single deadbolt. The Powerbolt deadbolt he chose makes this project pretty easy since it already has marked solder pads for open and close. A BASIC Stamp 2 is used to read the tags and operate the lock.

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With version 5 of the WRT54G, Linksys decided to dump Linux and start using VxWorks. This made buying a WRT a gamble if you wanted one with Linux. DD-WRT recently released a micro version that supports version 5. You’ll need a JTAG cable to install it since very little is known about VxWorks bootloader. Even with this new firmware it’s hard to ignore that the router is underpowered and you’d be better off with something else.

[via Digg]

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Tom Walsh has been hard at work building an add on board for the Zipit Wireless Messenger “IM Device for Teens”. The board adds a mini-SD card slot, RS-232 (using a mini-USB connector) and a power supply for an EL backlight. I’m impressed that he got everything to fit inside of the case, very slick. A year ago we covered putting Linux on these devices. Have any of you readers picked up one and what fun tricks can it do? I looked around and they still cost over $90. I should probably just resurrect my Zaurus and be happy

Steve Roberts has been doing technomadics since 1983. You’ll probably remember him from his 580-pound BEHEMOTH bicycle which he was checking his email on in 1991 over satellite. Shacktopus is his latest project. His previous vehicles all had heavily integrated systems, but because of that you couldn’t just grab the communication system and run. Shacktopus is an easy to pack communications platform that contains multiple RF and sensing technology into one device. HF, VHF, UHF, Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular communication are all there plus GPS and environmental sensors. Here’s a block diagram of the device. Now, no matter what vehicle you choose to head off into the wild with you’ll be able to communicate with the rest of the world using one device.

[thanks fbz]
[UPDATE: fixed name]

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