Modders turn piano into Doom controller (video)

DNP Give me a BFG cord playing Doom on a piano

It’s been almost too long since we’ve seen something (in)appropriated to satisfy a twisted modder’s Doom craving, and this time, it’s not the hardware running Id Software’s classic game that’s ill-fitted, but the controller. If the timeline on David Hayward’s Vine account is accurate, a crew of what appear to be professional tinkerers has turned one old piano into an awkward keyboard in little more than 24 hours. Details on how this was achieved are limited, but it seems to involve some basic PC interfacing and a “load of wiring.” Head past the break to catch the noisy mod in action, and if you’d like to a see a few more clips of the “Doom Piano” in development, hit up Hayward’s Vine profile. Now, which one’s the BFG chord?

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Via: Geek

Source: David Hayward (Vine)

This Arduino hackaphone was never going to be pretty, but it does the job

This Arduino hackaphone was never going to be pretty, but it works

Okay, we’ll admit that it looks a bit like a baby monitor. But in contrast to those over-engineered pieces of parenting paraphernalia, this DIY cellphone can actually make calls and send texts over GPRS. More importantly, Hackaday claims it was put together by a lone hacker (“Victorzie”) from an assortment of off-the-shelf and modded parts, including a TFT touchscreen, lithium ion battery, charging circuit, GPRS module and shield. These components were hooked up to an Arduino Uno microcontroller running a barebones UI and then jammed into a 3D printed case, which makes the device look far more pocketable than some previous hackaphone efforts. The end result inspires big respect for the creator, but also, more grudgingly, for the pro engineers at places like Nokia, who can pull all this stuff together and even get it FCC-approved for just a few dollars.

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Source: Hackaday

Visualized: a tour of Ben Heck’s lab (video)

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We’ve been following Ben Heck since the days of the Atari 800 laptop, so we jumped at the chance to take a look at the modder extraordinaire’s shop in Madison, WI. As expected, the place is jam-packed with industrial tools, 3D printers and half-finished pinball machines. Check out where the magic happens below — and as a bonus, Heck takes us on a tour of his work-in-progress Ghost Squad pinball machine.

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Modbook Pro to launch with SSD storage, up for pre-order October 3rd

Modbook Pro to launch with SSD storage, up for preorder October 3rd

It wasn’t all that long ago that Modbook Inc‘s CEO, Andreas Haas, made the mac-in-tablet Modbook Pro official, now we’re learning that the super-slate will launch with high performance SSD storage. So, as you wield your MacBook Pro come tablet, you’ll be free from spinning disks. Great, but what impact will this have on capacity? Well, according to the firm, storage will start at 64GB as standard, with upgrades possible all the way up to a, not-unreasonable, 480GB. Pre-orders go live on October 3rd, along with the all important reveal on price. Regardless of cost, if that void between the iPad and full-fat Windows 8 slates had been irking you, here’s your answer.

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Modbook Pro to launch with SSD storage, up for pre-order October 3rd originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Modder builds $150 open-source thermal imaging camera to help insulate his house (video)

Modder builds $150 thermal imaging camera to help insulate his house video

Modder Andy Rawson thinks he’s found the secret to turning smartphones into super-cheap thermal imaging hardware. Inspired by his quest to find leaks in his old home and the high cost of professional gear, he set about building his own. A 64-zone temperature sensor connects to his iPhone via the dock, overlaying the data onto his camera display. He’s planning to open-source the $150 hardware, and an Android variant of the hardware is currently in the works — although details for both are currently thin on the ground, you can see his announcement video after the break.

Continue reading Modder builds $150 open-source thermal imaging camera to help insulate his house (video)

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Modder builds $150 open-source thermal imaging camera to help insulate his house (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digispark, Arduino’s unofficial kid brother, takes Kickstarter by storm (video)

Digispark, the quartersized Arduino board takes Kickstarter by storm

Hobbyist Erik Kettenburg was concerned that the size and cost of Arduino stifled his ability to craft, so he set about developing Digispark. It’s an Arduino-compatible board, the size of a quarter, that offers a few pins at around a third of the cost of an Uno — so you don’t have to worry about taking projects apart when you’re done. Designed to be fully compatible with the Italian standard, it’s packing six I/O pins, 8k memory and a full USB connection amongst other things. The aim is to retail the gear for $12 a piece, and has been so popular that it’s made nearly $100,000 in Kickstarter pledges, smashing its original goal of $5,000. We’ve got video for you below, and you can still throw some cash Mr. Kettenburg’s way if you fancy getting your hands on one quickly.

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Digispark, Arduino’s unofficial kid brother, takes Kickstarter by storm (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 09:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video)

Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video)

Just when you thought developments in trash can technology hadn’t moved too far since the trusted b-ball backboard accessory, a Japanese genius comes along to raise the bar. Modder FRP has created the Smart Trashbox, a moving can which uses a Kinect to track airborne garbage and make sure you’ll never miss another three. Impressively, it appears he designed and built every piece of the puzzle himself, from the motorized wheel base right down to the PCB. We dread to think how much coding this took, given that the Kinect monitors the entire room, calculates trash trajectory and sends the can interception orders. Apparently the accuracy stats don’t demand MVP awards just yet, but check out the highlight reel (and more details of the project) after the break.

Continue reading Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video)

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Moving trash can catches your waste, annoys Larry Bird (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CyanogenMod’s Steve Kondik and crew talk Android hacking in Google I/O video

cyanogenmod-crew-talk-android-mods-video

If you’ve ever slapped a CyanogenMod ROM on your Android phone instead of waiting months or longer for an official update, you may have wondered who was behind it and how they did it. Well, CM founder Steve Kondik spilled the beans to developers at Google’s I/O conference, and the first half of that presentation is now up on YouTube. It not only provides the modders’ MO, but also reveals a few things about the green robot itself. The second half of the presentation will be coming soon as well, but this one is must-watch territory for tinkerers — go past the break to check it out.

Continue reading CyanogenMod’s Steve Kondik and crew talk Android hacking in Google I/O video

CyanogenMod’s Steve Kondik and crew talk Android hacking in Google I/O video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 07:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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