On this page, I will introduce the electronic signboard with PIC16F84A.

112 LEDs are used for message display and 50 LEDs are used for around.

Latch registers by CPLD are used for the display of the LEDs.

Interesting little project there. I could see spending some time building my own programmable LED board. (via MAKEzine)

Technorati Tags: Signboard, DIY, LED, MAKEzine

“Technology now is way ahead of what was available in 1957, and making your own fully functional Sputnik would now be very simple indeed,” says Jan Buiting, editor of Elektor Electronics, a hobbyist magazine.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you could build one in a container smaller than a matchbox, weighing about as much as a wristwatch. The components, including a transmitter, battery and the sensors you’d need would probably cost less than £50,” he says.

Of course, launching it into space, getting it to the right altitude to orbit, and keeping track of it might all require a bit more. However, the basics of building the device are clearly easily achieved in modern times.

Technorati Tags: Sputnik, Space race, DIY, Build your own Sputnik

Project description – This is not a beginner project!

The MP3stick is a simple and small portable MP3 player. A microcontroller Atmel AVR ATmega128 is the heart of the circuit. MP3 decoding is done by an VLSI VS1011b decoder IC. A MMC/SD card works as memory medium for MP3 files, playlist files and skin files. The player is designed to draw his power from a LiIo/LiPo battery with 3.6V. a charger cicuit, based on MAX1811, is included. All information will be shown on a Nokia color LCD with 128×128 pixel and 256 colors. The player will work in text-only mode and if a skin file is available, also with nice graphic skins. A docking port allows outside connectivity for serial control signals, audio signals and charger voltage input.

All the necessary hardware is detailed in the guide following the introduction. A number of pictures are included to see various phases in the build. Firmware information is given. Even finaly build size (22x39x64mm) and approximate battery life guidelines are included. The work on this is impressive, and if you have the talent to build, this looks like a great project to get involved with.

Technorati Tags: mp3, DIY, MP3 player, Hardware project

Self-balancing scooters, like the Segwayâ„¢ are often thought to be technological miracles, but it is not actually very hard to build one. I built the one described here in about a week using off-the-shelf parts. I spent another week tweaking the high-speed stability, improving the steering control, and writing about it.

Shoot yeah!  I have mad skillz.  So mad they have to be spelled with a ‘z’ instead.  But not quite mad sizzles, which is what I hear Snoop Dogg has.

So just how does the DIY self-balancing scooter compare to a real Segway?

The Segway is made with quite high-quality, high-tech, and expensive components. Overall, the components I used are a lot lower-tech and cheaper than the ones in the Segway. Yet, mine seems to ride just fine. It suggests that there’s room for a Henry Ford of balancing scooters to develop and sell a low-cost everyman’s version. Here’s a quick comparison. Quotes below are from segway.com.

This is followed by the comparison.  And I can tell you from reading it that while the real deal certainly wins for polish, the DIY scooter doesn’t measure up too badly on functionality.  Now to find a few hundred spare hundred lost in the sofa to make my own.

The author of the page has extensive information on the why of building this, some ideas for doing your own, and even updates on his next generation DIY home-built.  Overall, it’s a really cool project.  The write-up and details are long, but if you are into this kind of project work, I assure you it is worth the time to read it.

Technorati Tags: Self-balancing scooter, DIY Segway-style scooter, DIY

The guide starts out with the virtual cleanups you need, such as uninstalling programs you don’t need any more and looking at disk usage and cleaning clutter, but also includes the real-world cleanup task you should do regularly – clean out dust from the system and keyboard.  As is typical with a LifeHacker article, the comments add extra suggestions that are as good as what is in the article.

Technorati Tags: Cleanup, Clean your computer, Declutter, LifeHacker

The autorun.inf file is the key to getting your USB drive (or CD-ROM drive, for that matter) to perform certain actions automatically and customize it’s look in My Computer. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on how this can be done.

Topics covered are:

• Autorun.inf Structure
• Setting a Custom Icon
• Naming Your USB Drive
• Setting AutoPlay Options
• Adding Context Menu Items
• Changing Default Action
• Viewing a File
• School’s Out, Time To Play!

Unfortunately, the author doesn’t have anchors set at each heading, or I would link you directly to each section. Fortunately, the entire article is brief and pretty easy to follow, so this isn’t a big negative in the article layout.

USB key break-ins are a real security threat, and this kind of tutorial helps you make the security breach even easier if you are in to that kind of thing. Whether you depend on natural curiosity to cause the breach or use something like the above-linked tutorial to get a tool running and stealing what you need from your victim, the USB key is handy. This also means you should be aware that the bad guys are learning (or already know) these things and will use them to attack you some day.

So to end, the next natural question for you, the reader, should be “How do I stop this vulnerability from impacting my system/network/company?” now. Well, there are many places that have the answer. I haven’t found one that I would point out as The best way to do this – this Microsoft technet article has the necessary information if you already know your way around the registry, as does this more concise and clearer article. Other helpful points include this CD-Freaks forum post asking that question, as does this web site that seems to focus on autorun features/bugs/benefits. That last one is probably the clearest, so may be the one I point folks to in the future.

Technorati Tags: USB autorun, USB keys, Security, DIY, Daily cup of tech

On Instructables, there is a guide to making your own refrigerator LED light kit, so you can put up cool (no pun intended) signs or images. It seems to be a pretty easy project, requiring just a few out-of-the-ordinary things to make.

Turn your fridge into a canvas for LED art. Any passerby can place and relocate the magnetic LEDs any way they wish to create illuminated pictures and messages.

It’s great for high traffic kitchens and It’s fun for kids and adults alike.

. . .

• Super Shield conductive nickel paint
• 1/4″ copper tape used for circuit board repair (optional)
• Spray Paint
• 10mm LEDs in quantities and colors of choice
• 330 Ohm surface-mount resistors
• One 4.5 Volt, 500 milliamp AC power supply
• 1/8″ diameter x 1/16″ NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
• 1/4″ diameter x 1/16″ NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
• 5 minute epoxy
• Masking tape
• 1/4″ Quilter’s tape

More details on the ingredients listed above as well as necessary tools for the project are available in the full Instructables guide.

As a side-note to those few readers who know much about the late life of the Tandy Color Computer, this project was done by none other than the amazing Sock Master, creator of some of the most amazing (at the time) demo-scene style work ever seen on the CoCo.

Technorati Tags: DIY, LED, LEDs, refrigerator lights, Sock Master

Here’s a bit to help you see if you are ready to start:

step 1:Materials / Necessities
Okay, so here’s what you’re going to need to make your own cotton candy machine!
Materials:

• 1- standard electric motor (preferably 1/4″ motor shaft)
• 1- 3.25″ X 6+” Aluminum extruded round bar (3.25″ diameter)
• 2 – 1/2″ bolts of any size diameter (smaller = better, but you need the tap for it)
• 2 – 1″ bolts of any size diameter (need the tap for the right size)
• 1 – average toaster heating element
• ? – .25″ diameter copper pipe (or crimping connectors for wiring)
• 1 – radio-controller “floppy” antenna
• ? – lots of miscellaneous screws, nuts, and bolts
• 1- 3″ (dia) X .125″ piece of wood
• 1- Light Switch Dimmer or Adjustable power supply ( needs to be able to handle high voltage and amperage output)
• Teflon Tape
• Conductive Tape
• A large, plastic or metal, circular object (if you don’t have one, make one)
• Some wire mesh (usually used as gutter covering)
• A Few Sheets of paper
• Some tape
• Some heavy gauge wire
• A small bit of fast drying concrete

Tools:

• Lathe
• Tap
• Electrician’s pliers
• Band/Hack saw (if using copper pipe)
• Drill press (and the smallest drill bit you can find, at least 1/16″ or smaller)
• metal working clamps
• Tin Snips
• Alibre Design Express (free at www.alibre.com)

The entire instruction set is a bit long, but we’re talking home-made cotton candy here, folks. You just can’t pass up awesomeness like that.

Technorati Tags: Instructables, MAKEzine, Cotton Candy, DIY, Do it yourself, Build your own cotton candy machine

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/07/11/holding-post-13/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/07/10/h/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/07/10/h/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:52:28 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/07/24/h/ Continue reading →]]> Thankfully, there are more people out there that feel as I do about some of the so-called “security” we are getting for our tax dollars.  And they are way smarter than I am, so they write insightful things about the problem.  So there are frequently new posts out there from which I can draw.  The latest is this simple “guide” to taking your liquids on a plane with you.

My latest experiment with TSA security happened by accident. I recently flew to Memphis on business, and while I was there I bought my wife a souvenir bottle of Vidalia onion salad dressing (pictured at left [well, not on my site when I rip his text]). Vidalia onions are one of the four food groups of the South, the other three being barbecue, fried foods, and gravy.

. . .

I took my time packing up my things, watching her wrap the bottle loosely in the paper and drop it into the trash barrel.

I looked around casually. There weren’t very many TSA agents servicing the area, and they were joking around, screening oncoming passengers, watching the X-ray monitor. Everyone’s attention was focused elsewhere. No one was watching me.

I moseyed over to the walkway and glanced in the barrel. It was filled with half-empty coffee cups and discarded water bottles. There, on top of the trash, wrapped in its protective paper, was my salad dressing.

. . .

Calmly, I reached down into that unstable barrel of atomic liquid and grabbed my salad dressing. Then I calmly boarded the moving walkway, and stuffed the salad dressing down my pants. The TSA lets you keep things there, apparently.

No one came after me. I have to be honest, it was almost like they wanted me to take it. The hardest part was returning a few minutes later to take these pictures on my cameraphone.

Mission accomplished, I suppose.  Read the full article for more details and the camera phone pictures that go along with the story.  This story has been covered by several of my favorite web sites/blogs/smarty-smart folks.  Schneier rightly points out that this probably isn’t a smart thing to brag about online and that he probably wouldn’t have been so glib had he been caught.  Boingboing, other the other hand, looks at this from the critique of DHS security standpoint:

The reason this “smuggling” technique works, of course, is that liquids aren’t dangerous. Everyone knows this — even the TSA. That’s why they don’t guard the barrel after they confiscate your wine, water, and salad-dressing. The point of taking away your liquid isn’t to make airplanes safe, it’s to simultaneously make you afraid (of terrorists with magic water-bombs) and then make you feel safe (because the government is fighting off the magic water-bombs). It’s what Bruce Schneier calls “security theater.”

So take your pick of viewpoints – probably unwise and overly risky or possible because everyone realizes liquids aren’t that risky.  Or both, which is what I think – he wasn’t doing himself a favor by doing this, but it wasn’t likely to be caught given how non-dangerous liquids are and therefore unprotected after “disposal” anyway.

Technorati Tags: Liquids on a plane, How to smuggle liquids onto a plane, That Zug guy

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/07/10/h/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/05/16/do-it-yourself-air-conditioning-zone-controls/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/05/16/do-it-yourself-air-conditioning-zone-controls/#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 09:21:04 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/05/16/do-it-yourself-air-conditioning-zone-controls/ Continue reading →]]> Hack-a-day recently had a link to a project for doing your own zoning and computerizing your air conditioning system.

I’ve been planning to computerize my A/C once I buy a house. I stumbled across this simple vent mod. A $10 servo was added and controlled with some off the shelf computer servo controllers. Personally, I have visions of doing this along with several 1-wire temperature sensors. Check out the DIY zoning project for more ideas along these lines.

I’d love to have the time, energy, and drive to do something like this. I’m a huge computer geek, which contributes to my desire to computerize and/or automate everything, but automated or computer controlled home climate conditioning would just be so damn handy. (via Hack-a-Day)

Technorati Tags: Do it yourself home climate zone controls

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/05/16/do-it-yourself-air-conditioning-zone-controls/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/29/have-you-had-your-head-checked-lately/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/29/have-you-had-your-head-checked-lately/#comments Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:03:02 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/29/have-you-had-your-heart-checked-lately/ Continue reading →]]> Have you ever wondered if your spouse is dead or just not interested in putting out for you? Have you ever wanted to check someone for epilepsy? Shoot, have you ever just wanted to see the brain waves of someone you know while they slept?

Well, thanks to the tireless efforts of hardware and software hackers from around the world, you now have a way to build and use your own EEG for home use. Of course, I doubt you’ll be able to use the information for any valid clinical diagnosis. Still, it’s a pretty cool project, and completely open-source.

Many people are interested in what is called neurofeedback or EEG biofeedback training, a generic mental training method which makes the trainee consciously aware of the general activity in the brain. This method shows great potential for improving many mental capabilities and exploring consciousness. Other people want to do experiments with brain-computer interfaces or just want to have a look at their brain at work.

Unfortunately, commercial EEG devices are generally too expensive to become a hobbyist tool or toy.

The OpenEEG project is about making plans and software for do-it-yourself EEG devices available for free (as in GPL). It is aimed toward amateurs who would like to experiment with EEG. However, if you are a pro in any of the fields of electronics, neurofeedback, software development etc., you are of course welcome to join the mailing-list and share your wisdom.

On the other hand, it’s a pricey project to try out:

The designers have done their best to create a safe device, but knowing whether the effort is good enough is a completely different matter (an $8000 matter actually). Therefore: everything is provided as is, without any warranty of any kind, expressed or implied.

If you build one, let me know – I’ll volunteer to try it out for you.

Technorati Tags: Open source EEG, Check your own bravewaves with this make-it-at-home project

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/29/have-you-had-your-head-checked-lately/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/01/build-your-own-x-ray-vision-camera/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/01/build-your-own-x-ray-vision-camera/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:03:01 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/01/build-your-own-x-ray-vision-camera/ Continue reading →]]> Popular Science has starting instruction on their How 2.0 Blog for building your own X-Ray vision camera. They are quick to point out one of the potential issues with building the camera:

You’ve seen them in the back of magazines–heck, probably Popular Science–all your life: the crazy swirling paper X-ray specs, with the campy ’50s pervert looking at the bloomers of a shocked gal. While we don’t support such nefarious uses, you can make your own working X-ray camera, just by modifying a CVS Disposable. It won’t give you Superman vision, but you should be able to see through one or two layers of paper and fabric (again, behave!) in the right light. Here’s the catch: The key is in a hard-to-find X-ray conversion material called a beryllium window. PopSci got its sample from NASA during a visit to the Goddard Space Flight Center a few years ago, as it is sometimes used in satellites to block out cosmic X rays that might distort digital communications.

So if you don’t have friends at Goddard, you might want to start looking now for another source of a beryllium window (a quick search of ebay turned up zero, so don’t think it’s that easy). Still, I think the results show this to be worth trying to get and build anyway.

Technorati Tags: Build your own X-Ray vision camera, PopSci X-ray camera instructions

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/04/01/build-your-own-x-ray-vision-camera/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/02/28/gaussian-pistol-2/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/02/28/gaussian-pistol-2/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:03:04 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/02/28/gaussian-pistol-2/ Continue reading →]]> Oh, the things I have seen. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

Errrr, wait. That’s not right. Sorry – had a moment where I think I called upon the spirit of Roy Batty.

What I meant was, I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff posted on the web. And it’s not always posted on the more visited or more “cool” sites. So here we’ll take a peek at one of the cooler things I’ve seen online that wasn’t posted on absolutely every major geek site out there (sure, a lot of them covered it, but one or two had to have missed it). Check out this home built Gaussian pistol (also known as a rail gun – at least to gamers).

• Two coils are precisely pulsed in sequence (350 Amp peak) to fire a steel projectile
• Two infrared sensors detect the projectile position within the firing tube
• Controlled by a PIC microcontroller
• Powered by 8 AA NiCd battery pack
• Built-in battery charger
• Bar display tracks capacitor bank charge progress
• Battery and Fault LED indicators
• Laser targeting sight
• Makes no sound when fired

Man, that looks like a cool project. (via DIYlive)

Technorati Tags: Gaussian pistol, Handheld rail gun, Do it yourself, DIY

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2007/02/28/gaussian-pistol-2/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/29/turn-your-urine-blue/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/29/turn-your-urine-blue/#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2006 07:44:03 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/29/turn-your-urine-blue/ Continue reading →]]> I don’t know why you would want to do this, but it seemed funny enough to me that I thought I’d point you towards a guide on how to turn your urine blue.

We’ve all dreamed of it – who wouldn’t want to have bright blue urine? Alright, I admit some people might be appalled at this strange activity, but many will find it interesting.

. . .

My interest in this subject began from hearing a rumor that there was a chemical you could add to food that would make someone’s urine turn blue, as a prank. The person I heard it from had no idea what chemical it was but insisted that it existed.

I, of course, being of the Google generation, searched immediately for turn urine blue and lo and behold, the second result was a Wikipedia entry for a chemical called Methylene Blue. I knew I had to have it.

Now you can make your toilet look like you’ve got Tidy Bowl at work after you use it rather than before. Why? I don’t know. But I’m sure someone wants this information. Also, in the comments to the article is this warning:

WARNING: TAKE METHYLENE BLUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. The prank is fairly harmless if small amounts of methylene blue are used, although allergies are possible and it is advisable to use pharmaceutical-grade stain which has been carefully protected from contamination. The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of methylene blue. Be aware if you have any other medical problems, especially:

Followed by the problems which should lead you to not trying this. (via boingboing)

Technorati Tags: Turn your urine blue

]]> http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/29/turn-your-urine-blue/feed/ 0 http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/26/backyard-roller-coaster/ http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/26/backyard-roller-coaster/#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:21:02 +0000 ragmanx http://www.blahblahblahg.com/2006/11/26/backyard-roller-coaster/ Continue reading →]]> I don’t have the back yard to build it. I don’t have the skills to pull it off. I don’t have the time to work on it. I don’t have a wife who would in any way support my working on it. I don’t have the money for the materials nor the tools for building it. But I have 2 kids who would get a kick out of it, and a personal love of coasters that just makes me wish I could build this coaster (or really, just something like it) for my own personal use.

Technorati Tags: Backyard roller coaster, Personal roller coaster

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