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MAKE Asks: Epic Kludges
MAKE Asks: is a weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column sparks interesting conversation and is a way for us to get to know more about each other. This week’s question: A kludge is define as “An ill-assorted collection of [...]
Alpha One Labs Grand Opening Party
Brooklyn, NY’s Alpha One Labs hackerspace is throwing a grand opening party (May 18th at 7pm) and fundraiser to buy a sign for their storefront as well as to bank funds in order to keep 3 months’ rent in the kitty. Your contribution will allow us to thrive without the [...]
OTM-02 is a 3D printed wristwatch
We love looking at roll-your-own wristwatch projects. Getting a project small enough to carry around on your wrist is a real challenge. But we think the OTM-02 wristwatch really hit the form factor right on the mark.
OTM stands for Open source Time Machine. It’s the work of [Hairy Kiwi] and he managed to bring the guts of the watch in at a thickness between 6.5 and 7mm. That includes the LCD, PCB, piezo diaphragm, and the battery. The PCB itself is a four-layer board built on 1mm thick substrate. It’s running an EFM32 (ARM) microcontroller which comes with hardware USB support. The little door sitting open on the side of the 3D printed enclosure provides access to the micro USB connector which can be used to charge the 150 mAh battery inside. That may not sound like much juice, but if you set the display to show minutes only [Hairy] calculates a battery life approaching 175 days. If you just have to have the seconds displayed you can expect about two weeks between charges.
Like the name says, this project is Open Source.
[Thanks Liam]
Filed under: clock hacks
BeagleBone Lego Motor Control Board
What are the best hacking documentaries?
Continuing with our series of best and worst portrayals of hacking, we’re gathering our resources to bring you the top 10 Hacking Documentaries. Again, we feel the strongest resource is the hacking community, so lets hear what you think should qualify. While it would be fantastic to only have documentaries, if there is a hollywood movie that you feel fits, go ahead and let us know. If you’re up for a challenge, find us something dealing with hardware hacking instead of computers/phones!
Just for reference, here were the top 10 worst portrayals of hacking in movies as well as part 2. What you see above were the top 10 best, though admittedly I screwed up #4.
Filed under: Ask Hackaday
Console radio given new life with a WiFi router retrofit
[Craig] did a great job of restoring the case of his antique console radio. But he wanted to bring the guts up to modern standards. The fix ended up being rather easy when it comes to hardware. He based his internet radio retrofit around a wireless router.
We laughed when we heard that he removed about eighty pounds of original electronics from this beast. He then cut a piece of MDF to serve as a mounting platform for the replacement hardware. The WiFi router takes care of audio playback from several sources and offers him the ability to control the stereo from a smart phone or a computer. It has a USB port to which he connected a hub to make room for the USB sound card and a thumb drive which holds his music library. The black box in the upper right is an amp which feeds the NHT stereo speakers housed in the lower half of the cabinet.
It doesn’t make use of the original knobs like the recent tube-amp conversion we looked at. But [Craig] did add some LEDs which illuminate the dial to help keep that stock look.
Filed under: digital audio hacks
Kickstarting the HexBright: Adventures in Flashlight Hacking
Christian Carlberg is a Cornell-educated mechanical engineer. After his undergraduate degree, he spent three years doing classical aerospace work and getting an MS, part time, at night school. At 25 he moved to LA to work in movie FX, specifically “practical effects”—physical, animatronic robot-based puppets now in decline thanks to [...]
Game Boy Pitch Bending Turntable
Andrew “MilLs Dj” Miller’s modified DJ Hero turntable allows you to bend the sound and gameplay speed of any Game Boy game! [via GetLoFi] Filed under: Electronics, Music
200,000 Piece Lego Sci-Fi Jaw Dropper
New York-based graphic designer and artist Mike Doyle's latest piece, titled Contact 1, employs over 200,000 Lego bricks and took him over 600 hours to build.
King of the Nerds is Now Casting for Season 2
The popular competition-based reality show from TBS, "King of the Nerds", is currently casting for Season 2. The reality show embraces and celebrates all things "nerd", so the mere fact that you're reading this probably means you'd qualify. You'll have to submit a 5-10 minute video of yourself to apply, and must be at least 18 years old. The winner of the show will receive $100,000!
Introducing DIY Hacks and How To’s: A Video Series with Jason Poel Smith
Today we're launching DIY Hacks & How To's, a weekly video series with maker Jason Poel Smith. His videos will appear on Mondays
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Things About Lee Zlotoff
Producer, director, screenwriter, and problem solver Lee Zlotoff is best known for being the creator of television series MacGyver, which ran for seven seasons in the U.S. and abroad from 1985 to 1992. The title character, who has become somewhat of an icon in the maker movement, is a secret [...]
BeagleBone Black Has Arrived
At half the price and with more power, this is more than a mere revision.
20 pounds and a gut feeling yields a configurable Rubidium atomic clock source
So you see an image like this and the description “Aircraft stable oscillator” on an eBay listing for twenty pounds (about thirty bucks), what do you do? If you’re [Alecjw] you buy the thing and crack it open to find an atomic clock source inside. But he really went the distance with this one and figured out how to reconfigure the source from the way it was set up in the factory.
First off, the fact that it’s made for the aerospace industry means that the craftsmanship on it is simply fantastic. The enclosure is machined aluminum and all of the components are glued or otherwise attached to the boards to help them stand up to the high-vibrations often experienced on a plane. After quite a bit of disassembly [Alec] gets down to a black box which is labeled “Rubidium Frequency Standard”… jackpot! He had been hoping for a 10 MHz signal to use with his test equipment but when he hooked it up the source was putting out 800 kHz. With a bit more investigation he figured out how to reconfigure the support electronics to get that 10 Mhz source. We think you’re going to love reading about how he used a test crystal during the reconfiguration step.
Once he knew what he had he returned to the eBay seller and cleared out the rest of his stock.
[Thanks DIY DSP]
Filed under: clock hacks
Ohm’s Law Reference Poster
I love this Ohm’s poster by ZarthCode’s Anthony Clay. In addition to the classic Ohm’s Law triangle (“It’s the Law!” the poster proclaims) it also includes a resistor color chart, a discussion of voltage dividers, as well as an explanation of the markings on surface mount resistors. Just the thing [...]
MAKE’s First International Robot Meetup set for Thursday
Calling all robots and the people who love them: MAKE is hosting its first International Robot Meetup Thursday, April 25, in the MAKE offices and live on Google+. Joining us on a special Google+ hangout on air at 6pm will be David Lang and Eric Stackpole, co-founders of the OpenROV underwater [...]
Connect a Retina display to a regular computer
You don’t have to search very long before you find someone raving about the Retina display used in Apple iPads. We’re not going to disagree. These 9.7″ panels pack in a whopping 2048×1536 resolution and the color is fantastic. But we were surprised to hear you can get one of these for a meager $55. That’s how [Andrzej] sourced the part when he set out to connect a Retina display to a regular PC.
It turns out this isn’t all that hard. The display uses the eDisplayPort protocol. This is an extension of DisplayPort which is an alternative to LVDS that is gaining a foothold in the industry. An external DisplayPort adapter can already be found on higher-end laptops, which means this should be a snap to use as an external display if the signals can be routed correctly.
To do this, [Andrzej] figured out how to order the PCB connector for the panel’s ribbon cable. He then etched and populated his own board which serves as an adapter for a DisplayPort cable. It even powers the panel, but an external 20V supply is necessary for the backlight.
[Thanks Adam]
Filed under: video hacks
Light-up E-Textile Kits and More from Fay Shaw
Crafter and engineer Fay Shaw, founder of bitwise E-textiles, is bringing both her charming light-up plush kits and her experience as a woman engineer and Maker to the Maker Faire Bay Area. 
The Internet of Things: Why Does it Matter?
This is the final installment of a three-part series on the Internet of Things with Atmel’s Tom Vu and Internet of Things Council member Michael Koster. Today's topic: Why the Internet of Things matters. 
The $12 Cellphone
How cheap can you make a cellphone? Bunnie Huang recently bought a one in Shenzhen for just $12. There wasn't a carrier subsidy, it was contract-free, and unlocked. As Bunnie says, "...that about the price of a large cheese pizza, or a decent glass of wine."
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