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(Lala's brother Richard always called Digit that, for his polydactyl-ism. I loved that. Fingers. Anyway.) Good morning, kiddos! I am back to feeling almost normal. Thank god. I do, however, have to have my tonsils out AGAIN, which, while I...

Durn it. She blogged the unbearable cuteness that is Waylon snuggling with Clara. They're ridiculously cute. However, I have this one, which is almost as cute. Okay, it's not. But tell me it is, anyway, okay? I'm at work, as...

Apart from the whole breathing at night thing, which I'm not so good at anymore, I'm getting better everyday. Still on antiobiotics, and off to see the ear-nose-throat specialist next week. Thanks for your good wishes. In the meantime, all...

Hello, kids! I've missed you. Sorry for causing alarm. I am, in fact, still sick, and I believe I've been struck with the chronic tonsillitis again. I accidentally went off antibiotics for about 24 hours this weekend, and I got...

Should that be where are they, or what are they?

I've been meaning to check out Slide. It's been a while since I've played around with it. And I've been seeing big numbers for their photo widgets and I want to understand why. I finally uploaded some of my Pebble...

Filed under: misc hacks, peripherals hacks

Dive computers help divers keep an eye on bottom time and calculate nitrogen saturation during dives. Many of them, like the Suunto above have a built in provision for downloading dive data post dive. [CIBDiving] figured out a way to enable this missing feature on one of Suunto's cheaper computers. The Gekko has the same pins as the more expensive units, but Suunto's download manager won't allow you to download the data. By using a simple software patch, [CIBDiving] tricked the software into pulling down the data.

You can buy a cable to pull down the data, or you can build your own serial or USB level shifting interface.

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Filed under: misc hacks

I knew about this when it came out, but it never made it's way to Hack-A-Day. We've mentioned a computer controlled roaster before, but this one is far and away the best I've seen. [Jeffrey Pawlan] has been selling individual units to the coffee industry (and extreme coffee geeks) - with good reason. He modified an already sweet Hottop coffee roaster (~$500 US) to be completely computer controlled. He wrote a complete software interface that accounts for room temperature to create complex, repeatable roast profiles. More than anyone, I've lamented the lack of details on the system. It's a safe bet that he's using more than a few thermocouples with a multi-line A/D converter. Anyone feel like writing some open source coffee roaster software? Modifying my current setup wouldn't be that difficult.

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Filed under: misc hacks

[Ryan] sent in his simple but effective keyless entry hack for his apartment. Many shared apartment buildings have doors that allow residents to buzz visitors inside. He interfaced a keyless entry remote with the entry button on his intercom system. Press the button and voila - open sesame. It's almost a head slapper because it's such a simple hack, but sometimes those are the best.

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Filed under: misc hacks

Last year a friend of mine was kind enough to watch me jump out of a perfectly good airplane. While pondering that incredible adrinaline rush, I thought it was time for an altimeter hacking extra. (Don't answer your phone for at least 12 hours after the jump or you might accidentally tell your mom.... Even if you're 30 and in another state, you'll probably get yelled at.)

The 2004 KAP rig on this page caught my eye. It features a small dongle that logs altimeter data when the shutter is activated on the camera. Schematics are in the pdf. The rest of the setups are pretty freakin' impressive too.

Of course, there's the classic model rocket altimeter project. If you'd prefer to leave off the cost of a basic stamp, try the more recently updated recording altimeter. It's got a nice low parts count.

If you want something a bit more versatile, check out this RF transmitting altimeter. It's still in progress, but it's getting a thorough writeup as it progresses.

We've seen them before, but I'd be remiss not to mention a GPS data logger. (I took my old garmin foretrex on my skydive, but didn't have a decent signal until I was out of the plane.

If someone finds a diy audible altimeter, let me know.

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I'm attending ToorCon Seattle Beta this weekend. Today was a single track made up of 20 minute talks. ToorCon is really best in breed when it comes to hacker conferences. Highlights follow:

Beetle, from the Shmoo, opened the conference with WiFight Club. Of course, by me mentioning that, you're officially in WiFight Club. This will eventually become a competition that is summarized best with the phrase: "Faraday Cage Match". He mentioned interesting projects like GNU Radio and others. I really want to see where this goes. It looks like a lot of fun.

Rodney Thayer's talk on credit cards boiled down to this: everyone worries about internet security when doing online transactions, but that doesn't really matter since the credit card company security policies are garbage.
Matt Peterson presented on Web 2.0 pr0n. Using 25 encode machines, 3 ripping machines and 1 150 disk SCSI DVD jukebox they can process 200 DVDs in 24 hours... which is all I can safely say on that topic.

Quinn Norton's body hacking talk was surprisingly fascinating. I had known about her experience implanting rare earth magnets, but this talk was more about the societal issues. Like why are athletes allowed to get LASIK, but not use steroids.

RSnake showed off the Master Reconnaissance Tool aka Mr. T. It's a demo of how much info a site can pull using JavaScript. This could be used to automatically pick intelligent attack vectors or targeted marketing. You can download it here.

Toby Kohlenberg presented the KB6 project. It's goal is to create a vulnerability taxonomy so that it's easier to see when a new vuln actually makes an old vuln more vicious. Hopefully it'll be open sourced soon.

Dr. Raid talked about MySpace being used for botnet control. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything out of the ordinary with a simple search.

|)ruid patched Asterisk so that he could do VoIP fuzzing with it (and other packet manipulations).

Dan Kaminsky showed a lot of pretty pictures (more than usual). He was able to do live autocorrelation on an MP3 stream. It easily shows patterns in music... and coincidentally breaks audio captchas.

David Maynor and Robert Graham presented on their data seepage idea. It was met with mixed reactions. Mostly a "you're sniffing, so what?"

In the lightning round, Chris Abad ranted that Web 4.0 should have no idiot users; I'm not sure why he didn't just go for the ideal case: no users. Felix Domke's 5 minute talk about the Xbox 360 hack was the shining star in the bunch.

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Filed under: laser hacks

The laser community forums have a nice primer on basic laser effects. [Steve] thought I'd really be interested in this sweet prototype dual laser saber. It's a custom piece that uses a wicked laser pointer (You can use any laser, but those happen to be damn powerful) and a polycarbonate blade(tube/rod) to create the hallowed light saber effect. (Now I know what I want for christmas.) Mcmaster-carr carries polycarbonate rod and tube if you want to make your own,

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Filed under: misc hacks

I was poking around the lumenlab forums and ran across this nice little project. It's designed specifically for diy projectors. I settled for a simple thermal switch for my cooling, but this provides temperature monitoring/protection, dual fan control, lamp hour counter, serial interface and optional LCD controls. Everything you need to build your own is there, but it's mostly in german.

Now I'm outta here - I'm going scuba diving.

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Filed under: robots hacks

[Niklas Roy] sent in probably one of the largest line following robots ever built. The Gallerydrive project is used to move visitors around an art gallery. It can follow either a black or white line. It also has a touchscreen display for displaying information about the art which is read from RFID tags. Niklas has a full diary of the build on his site with everything you need to build your own.

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Robert Katz: An article in this week's Economist (subscription or free day-pass needed) profiles a soon-to-be-published paper by Harvard's Robert Jensen that demonstrates mobile phones' positive relationship...

David Zaks: New Tower Creates All Its Own Energy Incredible Shrinking Packages Is This What it Takes to Save the World? Transcontinental Wildfire Emissions Monitored From...

Sarah Rich: Last summer, we ran an interview with Paul Kephart of Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and Living Architecture, a known leader among "green roofers," with a...

Mike Millikin: Global carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, with the world producing 16% percent more CO2 in 2003 (the year of the most recent comprehensive data)...

WorldChanging Team: Whether in government, business, science, technology or media, transparency is one of the key factors in demonstrating authenticity, establishing trust, and proving there's truth to...

David Zaks: Sale of Carbon Credits Helping Land-Rich, but Cash-Poor, Tribes New York Barges Into Sustainable Urban Farming It's Good To Be in the 'RED' China...

WorldChanging Team: Strategic consumption is the recognition that the immediate, or tactical, effects of our purchases are of such limited power as to be essentially meaningless. Bill...

WorldChanging Team: Around the world, small island nations whose existence is threatened by climate change and other environmental dangers are pioneering innovative technologies to both help the...

David Zaks: Photo Exhibit Depicts Magnitude of Product Consumption LEDs Emerge to Fight Fluorescents Will Greensburg Bloom Again as a 'Green' Town? Plans for British Eco...

Regine Debatty: Reporting from Day one of OFFF Barcelona: International Festival for the Post-Digital Creation Culture Mario Klingemann seems like a cheerful guy from Munich, but he's...

WorldChanging Team: In the industrialized world, we've gone through many phases and iterations of innovation to reach the level of technological advancement we currently enjoy. It took...

David Zaks: Linking Future Scenarios Across Scales Bacteria Found in Tar Pits Could Have Positive Impact New Fungus Could Provide Alternative Fuel Help Me Redesign the...

Jon Lebkowsky: Austin's Clean Energy Venture Summit included a session on the Utility of the Future, including Roger Duncan from Austin Energy, Robert Howard from Pacific Gas...

Sarah Rich: If you teach an actor to farm, and you give him two acres and tell him to work the land, is he acting or farming?...

David Zaks: Designing Cities for People, Rather than Cars Nokia Gets It Right for South Asia Planning for a Climate-Changed World Land of Milk and Biofuel....

I'm not buying what Mother's Day is selling. I know it tends to be a painful holiday for infertiles, because it brings reminder after excruciating reminder of what we don't have and might never get. But I have to confess...

My dark gray cargo pants Charlie's exuberant greeting, delivered at a height of approximately 36 from the floor + His red and white face paint Scandalized strangers eyeing my crotch askance, obviously thinking I must recently have been...enthusiastically appreciated...by Ronald...

I walked into a minefield a couple weeks ago when I posted about the age of the entrepreneurs we've been backing. That wasn't really the point of the post. I'd been thinking about my entrepreneur friends who are my age...

Whenever I want to buy something, I go to the Amazon search field in my Firefox browser and look there first. Why? Because I like the experience of buying on Amazon. We've been buying from Amazon for over ten years...

In my avatar audio this morning I suggested that people leave me comments (second button from the left on the avatar player). I got three comments so far and they all cracked me up. I figure I ought to extend...

Standing outside of Hammerstein Ballroom at 10 30pm on a muggy spring night in NYC watching about a dozen tanked brits chant football cheers. Arctic Monkeys At Hammerstein Originally uploaded by fredwilson. That's what the Arctic Monkeys fan base is...

I believe that our firm's website is terrific for many reasons. It doesn't try to do too much, the frequent posts encourage repeat visitors, and it gives people a quick sense of who we are and what we do best....

You will probably notice that I have a new avatar on the blog this morning. That's because our portfolio company Oddcast, which is the company behind the SitePal avatar that was on this blog for the past year, has released...

I miss Warren Zevon. But his music lives on. And today, I had the pleasure (thanks Jay) of listening to a show he did in 1982 at The Capitol Theater in Passaic New Jersey. It's on Wolfgang's Vault and you...

The kids and I talked long and hard about this one. And we got it right. Phew....

I am not commenting on the rumors about Wallstrip being acquired. I guess time will tell if they are accurate or not. But let's get our facts straight. I did not invest $500k into Wallstrip. The Gotham Gal and I...

My friend Tom Evslin has the news on his blog. Vermont is the first state in our country to pass legislation requiring adequate cellular and broadband coverage for everyone. Being a rural state, that's a big deal. If you read...

Thank you for all your well-wishes, dear readers o'mine. I am feeling better, if only just the tiniest bit better. I have strep. I hate strep. I know, you do, too, but I really, truly think I hate it more...

I love LinkedIn. It's an awesome database/social network that I can use to figure out how to reach almost anyone I need to talk to. Need to find out who runs a product at Google and how to reach them?...

Let me preface this post by saying that I don't like Rudy at all. I had eight years to watch him in action in NYC and I feel that he's a bully, he's intolerant, and he's more of a divider...

I got this comment last night on my 15 million post from Kevin Farnham:I usually agree with you, but this time I think you're missing an important distinction. Blogging and twittering are two very different things. Blogs are a medium...

I've been kind of quiet on the DoTube front for the past couple weeks but I wanted to tell all of you parents about a DoTube for your kids. If you have kids under the age of ten, you probably...

When the leader of a country with a parliamentary system becomes irrelevant, they step down. I was reminded of that fact when I saw this picture of Tony Blair in today's Times. Blair's buddy George Bush has become even more...

Murgatroyd? Didn't he marry Betsy?

David Boreanaz's "action-packed thrill ride" will be released in the States on May 22nd. And David fans will be pleased to hear that Titan Books will be releasing 'Bones: The Official Companion Seasons 1 & 2' later on this year.

There was a live chat hosted by the JGAS MySpace Group on Friday, May 4th.

This is according to a story from E! Online. Also discusses the next Terminator trilogy, without Arny.

Just got tickets on StubHub (I love StubHub) and the whole family's going on June 5th. To celebrate, here's Eddie Vedder rocking on the tambourine with the current kings of rock and roll....

I got an email from a friend the other day. Did you see that Clearspring has served 3bn widgets in the past five months? I hadn't actually seen that news, but here is the press release my friend was referring...

I just talked to the Gotham Gal and the kids. They went to see The National and Arcade Fire play Radio City last night. And as I expected, it was a transcendent experience. Radio City is my favorite place to...

Peter Bradshaw writes in the Guardian about how Hollywood studios' obsession with blockbusters and the opening weekend squeezes out smaller films. Serenity is mentioned as an example of the 'very decent films which get shouldered aside because their opening weekend figures have been poor'.

Filed under: misc hacks

While clocky runs away from you, this alarm clock can probably strike back. It's got a pair of basic stamps along with relay's to control external devices. [Jason] built it from parts he already had, and has visions of it being used for stage fx control later on. For now, I'll bet that none of the guests will want to attempt turning it off for fear of reprisal by the clock.

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Filed under: misc hacks, peripherals hacks

[A. Smyth] passed this along - it's another take on the non-mechanical dance pad. The first prototype used IR detection, but apparently the hardware was flaky. The new version uses cheap laser pointer style diodes with photo detectors. Personally, I want to see one that breaks the laser into a line and collimates the resulting beam, and senses beam interference by measuring the intensity. (And it would look incredible with a fogger) The electronics are pretty simple - the photocells are interfaced with the guts of a USB game pad and breaking the beam creates a button push.

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Filed under: misc hacks

The page pretty much lacks every possible detail, but [Mattias] put together his own RADAR camera notification. It uses a published database of camera's and a GPS receiver to notify the driver that they're approaching one of the many permanent speed detection cameras in Sweden. Despite the lack of details, I can guess about the design. It shouldn't be that difficult to construct something similar with a PIC or AVR with a decent amount of memory. Just compare the current location with the list, and notify the driver when it determines that it's within a specified distance. Unfortunately all the RADAR detectors where I live are strapped to police cars.

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Filed under: digital cameras hacks

This isn't a brand new hack, but it's a great solution for most digital cameras that like to go to sleep on you.
[T. Black] put together a nice simple pic circuit to control a cheap aiptek digital camera. It uses a 12C508, a cap and a resistor. The PIC not only activates the shutter, but can wake up the camera from sleep mode. You don't even have to provide a dedicated control channel - it can piggy-back on the throttle control signal. The hardest part of the project is tapping the signals on the SMD pc board inside the camera. There have been quite a few R/C camera controllers built, but this is certainly one of the most elegant. You can grab the code and schematic from the bottom of the project page.

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Filed under: digital cameras hacks

I was under the impression that canon firmware hacking had fallen by the wayside a bit. [random guy] pointed out that Canon firmware hacking is still alive and well, but it's the smaller consumer models that are getting the attention. Several cameras, like the A610 happen to share the same digic II image processor as my Rebel XT. By uploaded some modified firmware, you can shoot RAW format pics, and get quite a few other features as well. There's even a HDK (Hack Developer Kit) for rolling your own firmware. Most of the work appears to have been written up in Russian, but there's an english wiki and guide page to get you going.

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Filed under: misc hacks

[Zach Norman] built this electric bike on a Harley frame. I couldn't dig up much in the way of details, but the flickr photo set looks good.

[Micheal Raines] built a great looking electric chopper.

In the lightweight category, this hybrid (pedal/electric) bike uses li-poly batteries and a simple motor-tire drive to keep going. via [hacknmod]

Early this morning [tnkgrl] sent in her HSDPA mod for the OQO Model 2. Engadget beat me to it, but it's a great mod for anyone who visits outside of those handy EVDO areas but want the speed for their UMPC. Living in the middle of nowhere means that I'm stuck with RxTT.

[andrew] built a handy parallel port A/D converter - so far he's got it logging temps. The parts count is pretty low, depending on an ADC, a 555 and some OP amps.

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Filed under: misc hacks

[KLOZ] submitted his final project from college. Rather than an expensive CCD camera, he used a set of colored resistors LEDs and a light dependent resistor (I'm assuming he means a photo resistor) to determine the color of a product (m&ms). He used the carriage from an old HP inkjet, a custom cnc cut wheel to separate and deliver the m&ms and a Parallax propeller micro controller board to tie it all together. Now he can hog all the green ones for himself.

Update: Yes, I'm an idiot. I did mean colored LEDs. People who caught me will get an email - I've got something for ya.

Check out the sorting demo video after the break

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Filed under: laser hacks, misc hacks

It's that time of year when [Bruce Land] sends in the latest batch of Cornell mcu final projects. There are 32 new projects this year - including a model retina built from RGB LEDs and photo sensors. My favorite has to be laser pong. Or maybe the wearable air guitar. Damn, I can't make up my mind.

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WorldChanging Team: by Worldchanging NYC local blogger, Ben Jervey: Of all the progressive, forward-thinking proposals spelled out in the PlaNYC report, the one that promises to spark...

Mike Millikin: Mitigating climate change is feasible without sacrificing economic development and is affordable, according to the summary report for policymakers released by Working Group III of...

Sarah Rich: The city of Seattle recently approved a proposed modification in building codes which would set a new bar for U.S. standards in urban development. Based...

David Zaks: China Builds a Bright Green Metropolis Social Lending Gains Net Interest Birth of a New Wedge: Agrichar The Transformation of Manufacturing in the 21st...

WorldChanging Team: Worldchanging is in the process of making some very exciting changes. We have new plans for our editorial content, as well as for the site...

WorldChanging Team: As the public gains interest and personal investment in living more sustainably, knowing the backstory becomes increasingly important. Whether it's food, lifestyle products, building materials...

David Zaks: The Silver Lining to Impending Doom Spy Plane Employed to Shame Owners of Heat-Loss Homes Grading Sustainability Reports: Creating the Curve Sun Powered Mobility...

Alex Steffen: Our friends over at Grist have published a sharp little essay by Michael Tobis called My little world (and yours, too). Essentially, Tobis takes the...

WorldChanging Team: The green space is teeming these days with lengthy and complex explanations about the meaning of sustainability. But from that wealth of information, two exceptionally...

WorldChanging Team: By Eric de Place I have an untidy habit of eating while I'm on the computer. Unfortunately, my habit means that crumbs of sandwich or...

David Zaks: Solar Boat Finishes Fuel-Free Atlantic Voyage Jet Stream Could Fill Global Energy Needs A Two-Wheeled Option (With a Battery) for Commuters Internet Encyclopedia to...

WorldChanging Team: The 20th century industrial model follows a linear course -- what many people now call "cradle to grave" -- meaning that products we manufacture die...

Jeremy Faludi: Green buildings do many things to save water, sometimes spending thousands of dollars to do so. But what if they could save 50 to 100...

David Zaks: 'Intelligent' Cars as Fuel-Efficient as Hybrids Urban Farms Empower Africa Former Weed May Fill World's Fuel Tanks Murdoch Sets Emissions Goal Green Diesel Technology...

WorldChanging Team: Following on yesterday's Principle 3: Cradle to Cradle and Closing the Loop, the fourth principle in our series looks at life cycle analysis (LCA) and...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to give it up for HR 735! (Now is when you applaud wildly, shout Whooooo! and make those rock 'n' roll devil horns with your hands. I think those are simply adorable.) Known as the...

It's National Nurses Week, and long past time I thanked the ones who've helped me. ... Dear nurse who patiently helped me down the hall when I found it impossible to walk upright during my excellent ectopic adventure, I am...

Now, I'm not one to wear my heart on my sleeve, or my infertility on my clothing. I prefer to share it subtly: by the occasional phlebotomy bruises on my inner elbow, the inexorable widening of my sweatpanted ass, the...

Our own Captain Tightpants was selected as "Best Actor in a Feature Film", while "Waitress" won the Audience Feature Award.

The opening scene taking viewers throughout the ship has been included in the Daily Film Dose blog's new list of the best loooooong tracking shots.

Oh, my god, am I sick. This is sick like when you were a kid sick. I've had a fever hovering around 101.5 for the past two days and my throat is so sore it hurts to breathe. I've had...

My friend wrote this to me about an entrepreneur we know: He's looking for the anti VC Now that's an interesting statement. What exactly is the anti VC? I presume the anti VC still invests money in your company. If...

A comic book store owner comments on the non-availability of Joss Whedon's Dark Horse back catalogue at a time "when the heat for the [Buffy] series is on NOW".

The original Buffy will be on NBC's Law and Order: Criminal Intent tonight playing an Anna Nicole Smith-like character. Also click here to see Kristy talk about her role.

You can win a signed "You're Welcome" script or a signed one-of-a-kind event poster.

It's worth noting that this standalone 40 page issue is "personally important to... Joss Whedon". This'll come out on August 1st with the the regular Jo Chen cover and also variant covers by Georges Jeanty and Paul Lee.

EW.com's PopWatch blog asked its readers what sci-fi characters/creatures they'd love to hang out with. Our favorite crew is featured alongside Tom Servo, Chewbacca and Hiro Nakamura, to name a few.

Gets a five on the travesty scale of 1 to 10.

I never travel without my laptop and my trip this week to the west coast is no different. But one thing is different. I've been using my laptop less and less and my blackberry more and more. I prefer to...

Who decides what's best for a website? Highly skilled professionals who work with the site's users and serve as their advocates? Or schmucks with money? Most often, it's the latter. That's why a web designer's first job is to educate the people who hold the purse strings.

 

Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!

One of the things that I've tried to do with this blog is keep it real. I want to be myself, candid, honest, and transparent. It's a challenge frankly. When I am working on a competitve deal, I always wonder...

She explains why she thinks its a fantastic service. I totally agree and plan on blogging my thoughts shortly. If you want to check it out, go here....

You've got thirty seconds to sell your work to the well dressed nemesis who's paying you. Handle the next few moments gracefully, and the project will be one you can be proud of. Flub an answer, and you can kiss excellence goodbye. Are you prepared? Can you deliver?

 

Hide Your Shame: The A List Apart Store and T-Shirt Emporium is back. Hot new designs! Old favorites remixed! S, M, L, XL. Come shop with us!

Courtesy of Erika, source of many, many good things, lolcats just for ME! Hee! And also for her, since she mocked our meltdown, shot from a moving car (I was not driving): Yes, that was a freeway. You heard about...

Why abet? Isn't aid enough?

The NY Post is reporting that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo! for $50bn. This map explains why. They want to consolidate the icy north. They might as well pickup AOL why they are at it. Tickers: MSFT YHOO...

It appears that Brad Garlinghouse's famous peanut butter memo is finally resulting in action. Yahoo! (YHOO) is killing Yahoo Photos in favor of Flickr. Can they kill MyWeb in favor of delicious now?...

Well actually I don't think it's gonna be a riot, but I couldn't help myself from using the title of a cool Kaiser Chiefs song. KAISER CHIEFS - I Predict A Riot Tonight (7pm) at PS 41, which is at...

Still at my work class, out in the middle of nowhere, stealing this time again, but OHMYGOSH don't you want to take my class? Starts next Tuesday the 8th and goes for three weeks. We'll have a blast, and you...

Wow. I touched a nerve with that post. I did not mean to suggest that 40 is too old to be an entrepreneur or to suggest that we prefer to back younger entrepreneurs. Nothing could be farther from the truth....

I've been around web communities since we invested in Geocities in 1996 and one thing I've learned is the community thinks they own the community. And if you are the one who actually owns it, you'd better act like the...

I have two meetings this week with guys in their early to mid 40s that are two of the best entrepreneurs I've ever worked with. Both are asking me the same thing - what should I do next? There are...

Filed under: misc hacks

[H.P. Friedrichs] sent in his Sanfordyne project a while back, but It took me a while to appreciate the effort he put in. (Partly because the write up is so long - but thorough) Grab some of your favorite caffeine supplement and take your time reading over the details. Most of the parts were scavenged, and he mechanically etched the pc board with a dremel tool.

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Filed under: transportation hacks

[Gary]'s built some nice AVR projects. The most interesting is the charge controller/monitor he built for his EV Porsche. Each board controls a charger - with one charger per battery. When the system isn't charging the batteries, it provides real-time data to a VFD display in the dashboard of the 1978 Porsche 924. Hopefully he'll notice the spike in traffic and will update the charger project page.

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Filed under: robots hacks

[Colin] sent in his prototype for the Defcon bot contest. The performance of the bot in the video is impressive. Hit it after the break. His build looks clean and simple - he even managed to score some sponsorship in the form of pololu servo controllers. Targeting the moving white sensor reminds me of the old MacGuyver episode with the lethal heat seeking robots.

If you're working on any attack bots, feel free to let us know via the tips line.

Update: I woke up to realize that I forgot to embed the video. It should work now.

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David Zaks: We come across a lot of interesting ideas and innovative solutions, but we choose only a few to discuss in detail. The best of the...

Sarah Rich: Every year, Metropolis Magazine runs a competition for emerging designers focused on utilizing innovative design as a tool to address and promote...

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Ethan Zuckerman: My friend JC Herz spoke at the same State Department event I was attending in Washington yesterday, and came away with the best quote of...

Regine Debatty: Urban Interface Berlin is THE event of the moment. I've been eagerly looking forward to enjoying it slowly on these sunny days. Both an exhibition...

Sarah Rich: For those of you who haven't heard yet, a portion of a highly trafficked freeway interchange in the San Francisco Bay Area collapsed early yesterday...

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Sarah Rich: Because we focus on new and emerging solutions at Worldchanging, we don't talk too often about permaculture, because while it's a beautiful and brilliant tool...

David Zaks: Eat Local Movement Competes With Organic Craze A Starring Role for ?Green? Construction More Recycling on the Farm Could Reduce Environmental Problems Malaysia to...

Companies don't really sell for multiples of revenue, but the math is easy so everyone does it. I've read that Doubleclick sold for 10x their revenue of $300mm. And that Right Media sold for 12x their annual revenue of $70mm....

MODEST MOUSE Originally uploaded by meg bourne. Jackson and I went up to Washington Heights to the newest rock music venue in NYC, The United Palace Theater, to see Modest Mouse last night. We met my friend John and a...