Hasta La Gadget!

The Arduino board has been the engine of many wild and wacky projects over the years, from bakery tweeting to various musical instruments. For its next trick, our man Steve Hoefer has taken his microcontroller and, along with a piezoelectric speaker, a gear reduction motor, and some PVC pipe, programmed it to listen for a preset sequence of knocks — a secret knock, if you will — and unlock the deadbolt upon hearing the right combination. Although this might not be the security system you want to put in place for your home, this definitely looks like a fun weekend project. Check out the read link for instructions and schematics, but not before you see the video of the thing in action. It’s after the break.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

Continue reading ‘Secret Knock’ Door Lock defends home from rhythmically-impaired perps (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

‘Secret Knock’ Door Lock defends home from rhythmically-impaired perps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Print your own circuit boards with an Inkjet (and a modicum of skill) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like humans, dead gadgets get autopsies, too — only we call such hardware dissection “teardowns.” But why do we rip our beloved gadgets to pieces? To learn more about the nature of technology, engineering and industrial design, of course.

It’s kind of a beautiful thing, actually: staring at a gadget’s ugliest internal parts to learn its secrets.

To celebrate teardown culture, we hosted a contest in collaboration with teardown company iFixit, and 19 people participated (20, if you include a hilariously failed attempt). The rules were simple: Disassemble a Sony gadget, take photos of each step, and post the results.

Why Sony? Because the company makes some of the most elegantly designed hardware out there, and we were curious to see what lurked beneath the products’ sleek exteriors. Also because Sony told iFixit that it doesn’t like its products being torn apart publicly like this, and we couldn’t resist a challenge like that.

IFixit is handing out two awards to the winners: a PS3 Slim for “Best Overall Teardown,” and a PSP Go for “Most Creative Teardown,” Check out photos of the two winners, as well as eight other teardowns we found thoughtful, clever and impressive.

Thanks to all 20 who participated!

The winner of “Most Creative Teardown” goes to iFixit author Bac, who disassembled a vintage Sony TR-63 transistor radio. Not only were we shocked at the author’s ballsiness for ripping up this valuable antique; we were wowed by the old-school circuit board, which looks like an array of colorful beetles and worms.

Photo: Bac/iFixit

We’ve seen no shortage of homegrown clocks in our day, and while most are cute for their time, few are worthy of being lauded in this manner. Alan Parekh’s Gear Clock is a delightful mishmash of machined gears, thrown together in a fashion that resulted in an actual time-telling gizmo. Hop on past the break to watch this thing spin, but be sure to hold the mute button for the lead-in. Clearly ‘Sound Check’ wasn’t activated.

Continue reading Machined Gear Clock makes watching the time pass a true joy (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Machined Gear Clock makes watching the time pass a true joy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some folks say less is more, but we’ll bet they never saw Guitar Hero being played by kicking footballs against a giant wall. This epic undertaking will give your plastic axe a major inadequacy complex with its huge wall-mounted piezo vibration sensors and absurdly large fretboard projection. An Arduino acts as the conduit between the contact sensors and a PC running the freeware Frets on Fire. The outcome from such a relatively simple setup is pretty astounding, and you can check it out in the videos past the break, including some behind the scenes footage.

Continue reading Football Hero mod takes Arduino to the Kasabian-approved big leagues (video)

Filed under: Gaming

Football Hero mod takes Arduino to the Kasabian-approved big leagues (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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