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September 03, 2010
14:00
C Sharp Development 101 – A Tutorial Series
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: Software Development

In this tutorial series we are going to look at C# Development using the Visual Studio 2010 Express editions. This will take you from the basics of installing Visual Studio 2010 Express, to the Object Oriented Programming style associated with C# and other languages, dabble in some database access (Access & SQL Server Express) and [...]
13:00
The Spindicator
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: led hacks

[Harvey] wrote in to share the Spindicator with us. The spindicator is a hard drive activity activity indicator built in a ring to resemble a dekatron. Using the pulses from the hard drive activity LED, [Harvey] tested several different methods of interpreting that data for display. The final version, negative edge triggered with a lowpass [...]
11:51
EEVblog dissects a kindle 3
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: home entertainment hacks

[Dave] over at the EEVblog did a review of the kindle 3 recently, but never got to the good stuff, the guts. He is now rectifying this with a full video dissection of the eReader. Full of details on how to open it up as well as specifics on the internals, this is a fun [...]
7:50
Controlling the power of a flash with a tv remote
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: digital cameras hacks

For those who do fancy photography, setting up the lighting ends up being one of the larger tasks of each session. There are flashes out there that can be controlled via a remote control to help ease the process, but they can cost a considerable amount more. [Dsvilko] shares with us a fairly simple circuit [...]
September 02, 2010
16:00
Trossen Robotics holding another contest
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: contests

You have until December 1st to get your entry into the Trossen DIY robotics contest. Unlike the last Trossen contest we told you about, this one has no clear theme. The goal is simply to make an awesome robot. Registration is free, and entries will be judged on Ingenuity, Originality, and presentation/documentation. There are prizes [...]
15:00
Using an NES controller on an Android phone
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: android hacks

[Sk3tch] rigged up a way to use an original NES controller with Android. He bought the controller and a breakout board for it at DEFCON. By combining the controller, an Arduino, and a blueSMIRF BlueTooth module the controller can be used as a keyboard on his Android device. In the video after the break he [...]
14:00
Car computer requires PIN for ignition
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: transportation hacks

[Ben's] added some nice goodies to his Volvo in the form of an in-dash computer. The system monitors two pressure sensors for boost and vacuum, as well as reading RPM, O2, and exhaust directly. All of this is tied into the touch interface running on an eeePC 900A. But our favorite feature is that the [...]
12:48
Meter clock using the TI Launchpad
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: clock hacks

Here’s an analog meter clock using an MSP430G2211 microcontroller. [Doug Paradis] chose this processor because it is the lesser of the two that come with the TI Launchpad. The parts count is fairly low too; a clock crystal, two analog meters, a few buttons, and a voltage regulator. He’s done a nice job putting this [...]
12:00
Firmware hacking on Behringer midi devices
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: classic hacks

A new project called the Unofficial Behringer Control Development Kit lets you tweak or completely replace the firmware on the popular devices. The proof of concept demo shows a custom message scrolling on the 4-character 7-segment display but you can do with the device is only limited by how well you can code for the [...]
10:30
Meat smoker texts you when it is done
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: home hacks

[Peter Rauch] has built this meat smoker that has a touch screen control interface. His system is capable of controlling the cooking by monitoring the internal temperature of the smoker as well as the temperature of the meat itself. His touch screen interface allows him to enter his desired parameters and it basically just takes [...]
9:12
Barcode Infiltrator
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: classic hacks

Whenever someone manages to expose vulnerabilities in everyday devices, we love to root for them. [Adrian] over at Irongeek has been inspired to exploit barcodes as a means to attack a POS database. Based on an idea from a Pauldotcom episode, he set out to make a rapid attack device, using an LED to spoof [...]
7:45
Spy Video TRAKR: software and first hack
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: classic hacks

Our initial view of the Spy Video TRAKR “App BUILDR” site had us believing this would be an internet-based code editor and compiler, similar to the mbed microcontroller development tools. Delving deeper into the available resources, we’re not entirely sure that’s an accurate assessment — TRAKR may well permit or even require offline development after all. Regardless [...]
September 01, 2010
17:51
LED suit lights up the night
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: wearable hacks

When the tipline popped up with this LED suit, part two, by [Marc DeVidts] we were expecing a simple led version of the previously known EL coat. Well we were right and wrong in the same instance. Correct in that like predictions, the outcome is stonking great. Wrong in that this suit far outpaces EL [...]
15:56
Alarm clock learns new trick, opening doors
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: misc hacks

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning. [Mark Stead] didn’t like the idea either when his chickens started crying to be let out. One simple solution obviously is to eat the chickens build an automatic door opener. The mechanism starts out with an old style mechanical alarm clock, add a geared motor with some creative [...]
13:14
How to fix AVR-SIZE on Ubuntu 10.04
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: news

The program avr-size is part of the AVR-GCC toolchain used to develop programs for that line of microprocessors. The program tells you how much space the code will take up on the chip, important information if you’re trying to cram a program into a small program memory. Perhaps more importantly, it shows you how much [...]
12:05
Using quality optics with a webcam
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: digital cameras hacks

[Devon Croy] built a case to join a webcam sensor with a camera lens. The box is a PVC conduit box you’d find at a home center. He used JB Weld to attach four bolts to the back of the box. These are used to fine-tune the mounting plate for the webcam sensor to ensure [...]
10:33
Open source version of the Play Station 3 Jailbreak
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: playstation hacks

Don’t steal. It’s a lesson that children are taught from the youngest age and a core principle in every society. The PSGroove sets out to follow this mantra in several ways. It is an open source implementation of the PSJailbreak hardware we covered a couple of weeks back. It’s difficult to find a definitive source [...]
8:40
Replacing the driver board in an old-school door chime
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: home hacks

[Dan Kouba's] parents replaced their doorbell button with one that lights up and found that the chime wouldn’t stop sounding after the button was pushed. These lighted buttons use an incandescent bulb in parallel with the button (a piece of hardware we’ve hacked in the past). It draws a small amount of current which isn’t [...]
August 31, 2010
12:00
Making a smaller keyboard
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: peripherals hacks

The keyboard on [Marek's] laptop stopped working. He didn’t want to buy a replacement so he decided to start using an external keyboard. But hauling around a full 104-key model is a bit of a pain so he decided to make himself a shorter keyboard. He basically chopped off the 10-key pad on the right [...]
11:00
Wearable controller for your paintball tank
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: robots hacks

If you’re too frail to take the full impact of a paintball round let this tank serve as your surrogate. The camera perched on top of the platform feeds video back to the operator’s head-mounted display. Instead of using a joystick or other traditional controller, the user aims by looking around, with his or her [...]
10:00
Build your own magnetic levitator
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: classic hacks

Here’s a great magnetic levitator build. [Scott Harden] dug up the link after seeing that awesome rotating globe this morning. This version hangs objects below an electromagnet but it has a sensor system to provide a constant distance between magnet and object even if the payloads are a different weight. This is done with a [...]
8:00
Floating globe, hacked to rotate
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: classic hacks

[Alexy Sha] has done this fantastic hack, where he modified a magnetic floating globe to be motorized and spin on a tilted axis. The original globe was simply levitating via a magnet mounted inside. Though you could spin it by hand, it wasn’t motorized, and actually floated completely vertically instead of being tilted. [Alexy] wanted [...]
7:15
Controlling an AC drill using one PWM connection
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: tool hacks

This peculiar setup allows [Ben Krasnow] to control an alternating current device using one pin on a microcontroller. He’s experimenting with a power drill and has relocated the trigger circuitry that makes it spin. On that board he found a variable resistor combined with a capacitor which control a triac, actuating the speed of a [...]
August 30, 2010
17:00
Pressure mapping sensor mat
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: Microcontrollers

[imsolidstate] built his own pressure sensitive mat. It utilizes two discs of copper clad board with a piece of foam in between for each of 64 sensors. As the foam gets compressed, the capacitance between the two pieces of copper changes, a measurement that is fairly easy to make with an analog to digital converter. [...]
15:45
Spy Video TRAKR: the teardown
» ‎ hack-a-day

Tags: robots hacks

Last Friday we looked at Wild Planet’s Spy Video TRAKR programmable RC vehicle mostly from an end user perspective. Much of our weekend was spent dismantling and photographing the device’s internal works, and poring over code and documentation, in order to better gauge the TRAKR’s true hackability. Our prior review included some erroneous speculation…we can clarify a [...]