Hasta La Gadget!

Instructables member KlockworkKevin made a generator attachment for his bicycle. Even though he mostly used scrap parts for the generator, he was able to avoid making the whole thing an eyesore by hiding it in plain sight. When not in use, the generator is neatly hidden under KlockworkKevin’s patio table:

When he’s ready to burn some calories and charge some batteries, he just flips the table on its side and attaches his bike:

Here’s a demo of the generator (turn your volume down before you play it):

Wouldn’t it be awesome if all gym equipment worked like this? Head to Instructables to read KlockworkKevin’s walkthrough.

[via Inhabitat]

Minddrive is a non-profit program in Kansas City, in which students have designed an interactive car-powered by social media. This car is powered through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The students converted a vintage Volkswagen Karmann Ghia into an electric car operated via tweets, shares, and likes. They have a tablet linked to the engine’s circuitry that controls the power flow, converting each mention of Minddrive project on the three social networks into energy or “Social Watts.” A new like on an Instagram photo adds one watt, and a comment or share on Facebook gives three watts and a new follower on Twitter translates as five watts.

They are trying to raise awareness about the non-profit so the team will use this social fuel to drive the car from Kansas City to Washington, DC. They will need 71,040 social watts to get there. Hit their website to help them out.

[via Damn Geeky]

The Mindstorms line already makes it possible to create robots, machines and other moving and highly interactive toys out of LEGO. But the company isn’t resting on its laurels. Recently LEGO teamed up with Sony to make what they’re calling Toy Alive – prototype LEGO bricks that have motors, LEDs and even cameras.

Toy Alive was one of the prototypes shown off by Sony Computer Science Laboratories Tokyo at its 25th Anniversary open house. As you’ll see in the video below, the embedded gadgets can be controlled wirelessly. There are motors that let you race LEGO, actuators that can be used to destroy LEGO structures on cue and a LEGO toy with a built-in camera that sends footage to an iPad app.

Sony researcher Alexis Andre explained that the collaboration aims to look at ways to combine the strengths of videogames and LEGO. The Toy Alive prototypes provide kids with a wider array of interactivity compared to normal LEGO toys without restricting their imaginations, as most videogames do. You can listen to Andre talk about Toy Alive at around 0:58 in the video below:

It’s like a real world Little Big Planet.

[via Network World & The Japan Times via Topless Robot]

Back in the 1980s, I always wanted a set of those Simmons electronic drums – not because I had any idea how to play percussion, but because they just looked cool and geeky. Of course, now I look back and think they were pretty silly looking. Still, I always enjoyed the sound of electronic drums. While I suppose I could go buy a fancy drum machine, but I rather like the way this kit looks instead.

Designed by Dr. Bleep, the Bleep Drum Kit is an Arduino-based electronic circuit that generates percussive sounds. It offers four different sounds, along with pitch control for two of them. You can also record and play back sequences with the Bleep, by simply tapping them out. Its sampled sounds are decidedly lo-fi, but that’s what I love about it. Here, check it out in action:

Since the code for the Bleep Drum is provided, you can hack in your own .WAV samples, or with a little bit of work, you could probably control it via MIDI too.

You can order the Bleep either in Kit form for $60(USD), or if soldering is above your pay grade, you can go for the pre-assembled version for $85. Both are available over on Bleep Labs website.

Growing up, Hack A Day’s Caleb Kraft loved the James Bond movies. But he didn’t idolize 007. Kraft looked up to the guy who provided Bond with high tech and fortuitously plot-relevant gizmos: the Quartermaster, aka Q. To emulate his idol, Kraft decided to recreate a spy movie staple: a self-destructing gadget. A self-destructing laptop, to be specific.

Kraft took out the CD-ROM drive on a laptop and packed it with thermite. Thermite is a very explosive substance that can make short work of the laptop’s hard drive, which of course is the most vital part of the gadget. But because thermite itself is hard to ignite, Kraft made a multi-stage self-destruct mechanism. The first stage is lighting up a model rocket igniter. Kraft says this can be done via the 12v line inside a computer. The model rocket igniter will then light up a bit of gunpowder, which will light up some magnesium shavings, which finally will be hot enough to ignite the thermite. Did it work? See for yourself in the video below. You’ll see that Kraft also rigged a self-destructing external hard drive.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to Head to Hack A Day for more information about the project as well as before and after images of the laptop. This page will not self-destruct. You are not Ethan Hunt.