Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s proprietary dock connector may keep would-be peripheral manufacturers at bay, but if you want to build your own iOS companion devices, there’s another way. You might have noticed that the Square credit card reader uses Apple’s 3.5mm headset jack to transmit power and data at once, and gadgeteers at the University of Michigan are busy open-sourcing the same technique for all the DIY contraptions you can dream of. Project HiJack has already figured out how to pull 7.4 milliwatts out of a 22kHz audio tone, and built a series of prototype boards (including working EKG, temperature, humidity and motion sensors) that transmit data to and from an iOS app at up to 8.82 kbaud — using just $2.34 worth of electronic components. See the basic principles at work in the video above, and — as soon as the team updates Google Code — find out how to build your own at the links below.

iPhone headset socket hijacked to power DIY peripherals (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading GameBoy Advance Phone caught in the wild (by the guy who built it)

GameBoy Advance Phone caught in the wild (by the guy who built it) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harness the power of nature’s winter wrath by turning it into your own PC cooling system. Hack-a-Day showed off a geek’s setup of his rig next to a window with, what looks like, a dryer duct enabling a seamless connection between the great outdoors and his tower. The computer system’s internal fan sucks in the cold air, which when mixing with the hot air inside the PC may cause unwanted condensation. Ultimately leading to rig death. 

While a brilliant showing of how to “go green” with an o-natural cooling system, it’s not a perfect system. Even though the outdoor portion includes a hood, damper, and some Scotch Brite pads as a filter, there’s always the factor of having your PC a little too cold. Though this could be the poor-man’s solution to keeping high-end heated components cool without a liquid-based system.

Over the years we’ve seen loads of Arduino hacks and mods — a DIY kit that lets plants tweet, a robotic iPhone, and even touchscreen GBA SP. All of these impressive, heartwarming and otherwise inspiring projects were made possible by the Arduino platform. Just in case you’re unfamiliar with what Arduino actually is, let us remind you that it’s an open source project geared toward students and other humans who wish to delve into the wild, wacky world of do-it-yourself electronics hardware and software coding. We’d encourage you to check out the documentary in full — you know, to get the skinny on the company’s inception and watch as the Arduino folks talk about their movement and its future — but we doubt you need our elbowing. Check out all 28 minutes of footage after the break.

Continue reading ‘Arduino The Documentary’ now available for your streaming pleasure

‘Arduino The Documentary’ now available for your streaming pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The bounds of Android fandom, will we ever know them? The latest exhibition of one man’s love for his mobile OS is this here beverage (we know it’s only going to house beer, let’s be honest) cooler, which has been lovingly recreated in the form and proportions of the Android logo. Standing somewhere over four feet tall, it’s really a fantastically well executed DIY project, and its maker has taken the time to document it on video for us as well. You’ll probably find the unfinished droid a little disturbing to see, what with its unpolished skin and rough edges, but maybe that’s a fitting metaphor for the constantly evolving operating system anyway. All we know is that the end result is at least as sweet as Gingerbread, if not more so. See it all just past the break.

[Thanks, Tony]

Continue reading Beer cooler built in the shape of Google’s Android… just because (video)

Beer cooler built in the shape of Google’s Android… just because (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  dacavy75 (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments