Hasta La Gadget!

The advent of cheap cameras and free online streaming services means teachers can stream or even pre-record their lessons so students can watch them at their own pace and even in advance. But using conventional blackboards or whiteboards means the teacher is often facing away from the camera. That’s why Prof. Michael Peshkin of Northwestern University made the Lightboard.

The Lightboard is a 4 x 8 ft. pane of architectural glass lit by 8 ft. strips of white LEDs at the top and bottom of the frame. The transparent board lets Prof. Peshkin write and look at the camera at the same time. He uses fluorescent markers and a black background to make his notes and sketches more vivid. He also uses the board to superimpose images from a projector.

When he’s recording his lessons, Prof. Peshkin shoots himself and the board through a mirror to correct the orientation of his notes and sketches.

If you want to make your own Lightboard, check out Prof. Peshkin’s guide here.

[via Laughing Squid]

Here’s a fun kit that you can use to make simple electronics, even wearable ones. Circuit Stickers are just that – electronics with adhesive backing. The star of the kit are the LED stickers. Put them on a conductive surface – wire, foil, conductive thread or fabric etc. – connect a power source at one end and you have a light show.

If you want to add an element of interactivity to the LEDs, you can also get the Effects Stickers, the Sensor & Microcontroller Sticker or both. The Effects Sticker modifies the LEDs, making them blink, fade, twinkle or pulsate like a heartbeat. The Sensor & Microcontroller Sticker on the other hand adds a light sensor and a sound sensor to the mix. It also has a trigger that can turn on your Circuit Stickers for five seconds at a time.

Pledge at least $25 (USD) on Crowd Supply to get a Circuit Stickers Kit. Aside from the electronics themselves, each kit will also come with additional materials such as copper tape, coin cell batteries and binder clips so you can experiment out of the box. I think the Electric Paint Pen complements the kit well.

[via Boing Boing]

Because of its size and form, Google Glass has a limited – albeit seemingly capable – user interface: touch gestures, head gestures and voice commands. Even though Glass’ display is visible at all times, there are times when it would be impractical, insensitive or downright impossible to interact with it. That’s why researcher Brandyn White came up with three alternative ways of controlling Glass.

The first method is via eye tracking, i.e. triggering commands just by looking at a particular spot. Brandyn achieved this using a modified webcam, a 3D printed case and a custom software. As Brandyn notes, future versions of Glass may have eye-tracking built-in so this hack may be rendered obsolete. But even if that happened Brandyn says he doesn’t want this to be used in public, probably because it’s distracting and can also be offensive if used when you’re with other people.

Brandyn also made a browser-based control interface for Glass with the help of a JavaScript-based platform called WearScript. As silly as it sounds, this interface will probably let you control Glass even if you’re not wearing it.

Finally, Brandyn used a MaKey MaKey and WearScript to enable alternative touch controls for Glass. For instance, he wired MaKey MaKey to his clothes so that he could control Glass just by touching his sleeves. He also used two bananas to play Super Mario Bros. on a NES emulator.

You should check out Brandyn’s full article about his hacks on his website. Brandyn and his colleague Andrew Miller also made a couple of Google Glass hacks designed to help the blind become aware of their surroundings.

[via Mike Elgan via The Future of Things]

A few years ago we saw a View-Master that was upgraded with digital picture frame displays. Alec Smecher took the classic toy to the next logical progression. He bought a very old model of the View-Master and installed a pair of 0.9″ 96 x 64 OLED displays, a Raspberry Pi and a laptop CD-ROM drive on it. After a lot of hacking and programming, he was able to make it play 3D video.

All of the electronics fit on the View-Master because this particular model has an attachment for a light bulb and two D batteries so that the toy could be used in low light. The Mini-CD actually sticks out of the top of the View-Master as it spins, a nod to the cardboard reels used with the toy. Alec also made the smallest possible modification to the case of the View-Master so that he could still restore it to its original state if he wanted to.

Alec says that his hack isn’t 100% done yet but as you saw in the video it does work. Check out Alec’s website for more details on his hack. I bet a lot of people would like it if Oculus VR released a View-Master case for the Rift.

[via Hack A Day]

If you have a failed garage band, you might as well get some value out of that amp that’s gathering dust in the corner, right? Just because your dreams of rocking out on stage are over doesn’t mean that lawnmower is gonna fix itself. Best to turn your old amp into a toolbox.

This cool toolbox was made by Redditor Maxatron4000 from an old Fishman guitar amplifier. As toolboxes go, it is pretty sweet. The drawers are made with 22-gauge sheet steel and have ball bearing slides for smooth sliding action. Those pulls? Modified 1/4″ audio plugs. Maxatron4000 was thinking about making these beauties to sell, but they just take too much time and work. Still, the result is really nice.

You can check out more images of the build here.

[via Hack A Day via Neatorama]