Hasta La Gadget!

Few things do a better job at decimating desktop real estate than a bulky old flatbed scanner. Skinnier replacements are cheap these days, but what’s one to do with the old ones? An enterprising hacker who goes by the handle Sprite_tm, the same bloke who brought us a knock-operated door, has managed to create a multitouch panel out of his. He extracted the single-line CCD and mounted that below the display. He then attached five LEDs above it to shine light down. When his finger touches the screen it casts a shadow on the CCD and, with a little (probably a lot) of custom software he’s able to triangulate the position of the touch. The system even works with multiple fingers, though we’re guessing should they overlap vertically the system might get a little finicky. Check out a demo below and then click on through the source link for one heck of a detailed how-to.

Continue reading Flatbed scanner becomes multitouch panel in five-fingered DIY documentary (video)

Flatbed scanner becomes multitouch panel in five-fingered DIY documentary (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Photo by Flickr user Mad House Photography]

Open-source hardware has brought us things like an NES controller for iPad and a tweeting toilet, but folks over at Seeed Studio, purveyors of various DIY parts, are trying to do some serious good in the world using their hardware-hacker mentality. On their blog, the company has put out an open call for developers and hobbyists to collaborate on an open-source radiation detector that could help the residents of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan deal with the ongoing nuclear accident.

The comments section is awash in suggestions on how to build the thing, from this article on making a random number generator with a geiger counter to this site with schematics for building the world’s smallest radiation detector. According to a commenter from a hackerspace in Tokyo, there’s already an effort there to create a network of homemade radiation detectors using Arduinos around the city, with 10 of the custom Arduino-compatible add-on boards ready for testing.

With radiation already detected in milk in Fukushima, it seems like the open-source hardware community might be able to really make a difference for the people of Japan with this project. If you’re a hardware hacker yourself, head on over to the comments thread on Seeed or Hack-A-Day and join in the discussion. Otherwise, just marvel at the fact that the same device that made a thirsty houseplant tweet might save lives some day soon.

[via Hack-a-Day]

They’re getting ever more practical, these Kinect hacks. Two days ago it was creating 3D models in free-space, today it’s letting the blind see. Well, not really see, but better navigate through and stay informed about their environment, at least. A Kinect is attached to a helmet and connected to a backpack-mounted Dell laptop. Also connected to the laptop is an Ardunio-controlled belt that has three separate regions of vibration and a Bluetooth headset of the “obnoxious guy talking loudly to his stock broker on the train” variety. Finally, thanks to a little C#, the whole package allows someone to walk down a hall and receive verbal and tactile notifications of obstacles in their path. Wearers can also receive navigation to different areas and, thanks to ARToolKit identifiers stuck on the walls, even have signs read to them. It’s called NAVI (Navigational Aids for the Visually Impaired), created by Michael Zöllner and Stephan Huber at the University of Konstanz, and it’s all demonstrated for you below. Dig that hat, man. Dig that hat.

Continue reading NAVI hack uses a Kinect to let the blind see, wear awesome headgear (video)

NAVI hack uses a Kinect to let the blind see, wear awesome headgear (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh Arduino, is there anything you can’t do when put in the right hands? The hands in this case belong to a guy named Joven of ProtoDojo, and they whipped up the contraption you can see in the video below. Basically, it’s a wired NES controller that goes to an Arduino board, which in turn controls a set of servos. Those servos articulate conductive arms to touch the screen in just the right places. The whole contraption enables a rather playable version of Reckless Racing, making it feel all the more like the RC Pro Am successor it’s trying to be. Check it out in the video below, and then hope that Jovan hurries up and posts the instructions so we can start building our own.

[Thanks, Chad]

Continue reading RoboTouch brings a wired NES controller to a wireless iPad (video)

RoboTouch brings a wired NES controller to a wireless iPad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TechShop, in San Francisco, is loaded to the gills with high-end tools of all descriptions.

If your town has a lending library for tools, consider yourself lucky. But if your town has TechShop, you’re in geek heaven.

TechShop, founded in 2006 in Silicon Valley, is a workshop filled to the gills with all kinds of tools. Instead of renting the tools, you pay a flat monthly fee and can come in and use whatever you want.

“It’s kind of like a health club,” says CEO Mark Hatch, “but it’s a health club for makers and geeks and tinkerers.”

For $100 per month, you get access to the workshop and all the tools inside it, ranging from the simple (and somewhat archaic) English wheel to the high-end and extremely precise CNC milling machine. They’ve got everything in between too, including TIG welders, table saws, drill presses, laser cutters, sewing equipment and 3-D model prototyping machines.

TechShop also offers classes (what, you don’t already know how to operate a laser cutter?)

The company has locations in Menlo Park, California, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and just opened a shop in San Francisco, in the South of Market district, not far from Wired’s headquarters. New York, Detroit and San Jose, California locations are coming soon, the company says.

Mythbusters star Adam Savage is a fan: In this video, he calls TechShop “the ultimate possibility engine.”

Watch the Wired video below, and let us know what you’d do with a workshop full of tools like this.