Apr 10

Sensor Locks Your PC By Detecting Body Heat

Posted in: diy, hack, security, Today's Chili

20110406-102457.png

Here’s a unique bit of technology for the paranoid and forgetful. A developer has written an application for PCs that locks your computer if you’re not at your desk. Now, most of the time this is accomplished through timers and the like, but this one is a little different. Using an IR heat sensor, it monitors your body heat. When it sees that it’s no longer there, it locks down the system, ensuring that nobody can see whatever super-secret data you had been working on. You can set custom delays before locking and the temperature at which the lock will trigger.

The application itself is free, but the sensor that developer Dider Stephens used costs about $90. Hack-A-Day suggests that it can work with any USB temperature sensor, so you might be able to save some money by finding a cheaper one.

Click through the break to see a video of the app in use.

[via Hack-A-Day]

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Apr 10

Sony’s Move.me database used to create gesture-enabled mouse driver (video)

Posted in: controller, diy, hack, Hacks, mod, mods, mouse, playstation, sony, Today's Chili

Unless you’re into weird promotional mascots, video games, or measuring the rotation of the earth, the PlayStation Move probably hasn’t caught your eye. Here’s an idea: what if you could wave it about to control your PC? Earlier this week, electronics hobbyist Jacob Pennock used the Move.me C library to build a gesture-controlled mouse driver, and we’ve got the project’s tech demo after the break. Watch as Pennock launches Facebook by drawing an “F,” starts a video with a jaunty “V,” and closes a few items with a quick “X” motion over the offending windows. Control motions are loaded through the creator’s own gesture recognition library, called hyperglyph, which he claims can record motions with 98 percent accuracy. As Move.me is currently a closed beta, Pennock is keeping the source code under wraps, but he hopes to eventually put the driver to use controlling a gesture-based Linux media center. Pretty neat, but not quite enough to stave off our Kinect hack envy.

[Thanks, Robert]

Continue reading Sony’s Move.me database used to create gesture-enabled mouse driver (video)

Sony’s Move.me database used to create gesture-enabled mouse driver (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceJacob Pennock  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 10

SparkFun intros IOIO for Android, a hack-free breakout box to get your mind spinning

Posted in: Android, diy, Google, hack, hacked, Hacks, mod, mods, Today's Chili, video

Meet any seasoned techie, and they’ll likely spin whimsical tales of computing’s early days, and the challenge of finding a practical use for a device with seemingly limitless potential (you know, like feeding your cat while you sleep). A new product from SparkFun promises to bring this old-school awesomeness into the smartphone age: introducing IOIO (pronounced yo-yo), a breakout box that enables any Android 1.5+ device to control electronic circuits from within Android’s applications. Designed in collaboration with Google, Spark’s PCB connects to your phone over USB, working its magic through a Java library that hooks into your apps. This DIY paradise will begin shipping in a few weeks, and can be yours for $49.95 on pre-order. We’ve already witnessed some clever mods with IOIO, and when it sent a real alarm clock ringing, we couldn’t help but smile. Crack one yourself after the break.

Continue reading SparkFun intros IOIO for Android, a hack-free breakout box to get your mind spinning

SparkFun intros IOIO for Android, a hack-free breakout box to get your mind spinning originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Microcontrollers, Electronics & Robotics, Android Community  |  sourceSparkFun  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 08

DIY Circuit Board Lets You Build Your Own Android Accessories

Posted in: Android, diy, hacking, Today's Chili

ioio.jpg

Smartphone apps are great for controlling things like GPS and cameras, but what if you need to add a bit of gear that isn’t built into your handset? Enter the IOIO (pronounced “yoyo”). This little board lets Android developers interface with any number of electronics components through Java, the language used to write Android apps. Think of it like an Arduino for your cell phone: it makes it possible to control anything connected to the little board using an app on the phone. It doesn’t even require any modification to the phone’s hardware or firmware. Your warranty remains intact if you want to tinker around with homemade phone accessories.

Created by DIY-er Ytai in Tel Aviv, the device is coming to the online retailer Sparkfun soon. When the board ships, Ytai has promised to open source the hardware and software behind it with a “very permissive license,” so if you decide to monetize your weekend project, it might not be out of the cards. It’ll be absolutely fascinating to see what inspired developers do with this board if it has anywhere close to the same impact as the Arduino. And hardware hackers, if you’re listening, an iCade for Android would be pretty nice.

[via Make, Ytai]

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Apr 06

DIY Zelda Treasure Chest

Posted in: diy, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

Zelda Chest

The sound of a treasure chest opening from the iconic Legend of Zelda videogames is a sound that’s etched into the minds of young people everywhere: it hasn’t changed in well over 25 years. Now, thanks to a true Zelda fan at Instructables (where else?) you can learn how to make your very own 8″ wide treasure chest that plays the Zelda timed opening tune when you pop it open. 
The chest is large enough to store a decent number of items, too: it’s not just a prop that makes noise. The instructions even call for black felt to line the interior. The music is provided courtesy of a cheap generic mp3 player that you’ll install in the chest, pre-loaded with the treasure chest sound, and a cheap audio amp or stereo speaker connected to the mp3 player. 
The best part of the project is that it’s not even terribly difficult. The full instructions and the list of parts needed are listed at Instructables, but there’s a video of the treasure chest in action behind the jump.
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Apr 06

Bacteria’s disciple improves upon technique, crafts N64 handheld capable of GoldenEye split-screen

Posted in: diy, hack, Hacks, handheld, mod, modding, mods, portable, Retro, Today's Chili, video

This isn’t the smallest portable Nintendo 64 we’ve seen, nor the most elegant, creative or complete — in fact, it’s pretty much a straight clone of Bacteria’s iNto64, but with a spiffier paint job and one critical improvement. Yes, that is an extra controller port you see in the foreground of the image above, and if you click your way below, you will indeed be able to watch its creator engage in some wonderfully retro split-screen Mario Kart 64 and F-Zero X races, not to mention the obligatory GoldenEye death match and a wee bit of Quake 2. Ahhh, memories.

[Thanks, Alon T.]

Continue reading Bacteria’s disciple improves upon technique, crafts N64 handheld capable of GoldenEye split-screen

Bacteria’s disciple improves upon technique, crafts N64 handheld capable of GoldenEye split-screen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceModded by Bacteria Forums  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 05

KR1 DIY guitar / synth makes its debut at Castle Frightenstein

Posted in: diy, guitar, hack, homebrew, mod, Today's Chili, video
We’ve seen a few Zoybar-based behemoths since we were hepped to the modular guitar platform way back in ’08, but few have caught our fancy like Kevin Rupp’s KR1. Featuring a Korg Kaossilator synth, both the Pocket Pod and a wireless transmitter from Line 6, and the beloved Sanyo Pedal Juice battery pack, this bad boy can do double duty as both your ax and your backing band. But enough of our jabber jaw — you want to see it in action, right? Check it out after the break.

[Thanks, TK]

Continue reading KR1 DIY guitar / synth makes its debut at Castle Frightenstein

KR1 DIY guitar / synth makes its debut at Castle Frightenstein originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceZoybar.net  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 04

DIY NES in an NES Game Cartridge

Posted in: diy, Games, nintendo, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

NES in NES Cartridge

We’ve all marveled at one point or another at how technology has changed even in the past few years. Mobile phones are smaller and more powerful; computers are thinner, lighter, and more powerful than ever. Even so, what about game consoles? They’re still fairly large, even though “slim” models generally come a few years after their release. If the original Nintendo Entertainment System were released today, how small could it be? 
One DIY enthusiast over at Instructables wanted to try their hand at making an NES as small as possible, and wound up fitting the entire console inside of an NES game cartridge. That’s right – they managed to get the entire console, including ports for controllers and an on-off switch inside of one of the cartridges you used to insert into the console to play. 
The modder, known over at Instructables as dany32412, found himself an old Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) and took it apart. With some hard work, he managed to squeeze the whole thing into the cartridge, and standard NES controllers even work with the cartridge console. Instructions, as always, are at Instructables if you want to try it yourself.
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Apr 04

Spotify Radio Puts Playlists On Physical Disks

Posted in: diy, Home Audio and Video, Linux, speakers, Today's Chili

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Jordi Parra’s Spotify Box is a wonderful reworking of the mix-tape and the radio, all in a hot little Dieter Rams-inspired box.

It works like this. The “radio” part has (or will have) a Wi-Fi connection and runs the Spotify music-streaming service using libspotify on embedded Linux. The radio comes with a clutch of tiny RFID disks. These can be tied to any Spotify track or playlist, so when you pop them into the little RFID-reading circle on the front of the box, music starts to play. Buttons on the faceplate let you skip tracks.

Apart from the wonderful look of the box, I like the concept a lot. You get the convenience and huge music library of Spotify, but the physicality and hand-crafted playlists come from the days of CDs, vinyl and cassette tapes.

That perforated front isn’t just a speaker grille, either. LEDs behind the holes light up in a kind of dot-matrix to make numbers, letter and icons to let your know what is happening inside. Here’s the video:

Spotify box from Jordi Parra on Vimeo.

Parra plans on continuing with his project, and has even been in contact with people from Spotify. Right now the box is little more than a peripheral that needs to be connected to a computer to play music, but those are just details. The idea itself is a good one. And add in some kind of AirPlay or Bluetooth audio capabilities and you have a super useful — not to mention hot-looking — wireless speaker for the home.

Spotify Radio [Jordi Parra / Zenona]

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Apr 03

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video)

Posted in: Apple, arduino, diy, hack, Hacks, ipad, kinect, Microsoft, mod, mods, open source, opensource, remote, remote control, RemoteControl, Today's Chili, video

With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days… but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that’ll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he’ll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What’s more, he’s also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories’ NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand — we’re already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don’t need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself?

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack A Day  |  sourceGaurav Manek  | Email this | Comments

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