S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
s1axter
Oh this is just too cool not to post. Zedomax has a post about an MP3 plays that plays CDs without the big clunky round case. Totally impractical for moving around but still a cool design!
http://zedomax.com/blog/2007/08/09/play-cd%e2%80%99s-on-this-mp3-player/
Found this plotter on Makezine today. The Plotter uses a pen to do graphical drawing on paper, glass or even PCBs. The mill looks like an upgraded version of the plotter. Not a whole lot of details on how it works other than a few screen shots of the software and board. Still, enough to stimulate the mind and get those thoughts of your own mill going.
Plotter Original (Russian)
Plotter Translated
Mill Original (Russian)
Mill Translated
Check this out if you are interested in programming PIC microcontrollers.
http://www.mikroe.com/en/books/picbook/picbook.htm
I've always thought bionics was cool. Someday I will get an RFID chip implanted in my hand and be that much closer to a cyborg :-P
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/08/darpa-funded-bionic-arm-gets-second-prototype/
Embedded.com and EETimes have an interesting story on an 8 year old kid who enjoys playing with FPGAs. Field Programmable Gate Arrays are chips who's internal hardware can be re-wired to produce complex logic solutions. Most modern FPGAs can even be programmed' to have one or many CPUs on them.
I think it's cool an 8 year old is playing with VHDL. Just getting a LED blinking on a dev board is a big step for most who are new to VHDL.
Hey Carson, drop us a line and we'll give you a GI blog!
Embedded.com Post
EETimes Post
Check out this AVR controlled power supply from from TuxGraphics.org. The supply has a voltage range of 0-22 volts with a max output of 2.5 amps, more than enough for almost all home projects. On their website is a writeup on how it works and includes the code written for an ATmega8 from Atmel. They even sell a kit with most of the components needed (minus the LCD and power source).
Good project for those who want an advanced PSU but don't want to spend the mega bucks.
http://tuxgraphics.org/electronics/200707/bench-power-supply-unit.shtml
Lexus seems to have gotten this down on a large scale but it's always cool to see student and hobby projects tackling something like autonomous parallel parking. Here are some videos of parallel parking bots posted on YouTube. (I like the white bot the best :-) )
Google image search rocks, just type in a topic like "electronics" and get can find some cool pictures.
This one is cool, but what's uncool is how the site uses a huge image and then just sets the width= and height= in the <img> tag. Could make a cool background, that or a base for some digital art.
I'm never sure how copyrighted some of this stuff is, but since I'm not selling it I figured I can at least link it ;-)
http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/NR/rdonlyres/714522D0-1329-4A1F-B87F-CC50711CF863/0/Electronics.jpg
Finally! It's been such a pain looking for a new car. I've been so out of it I had to tap firewire to make some posts on GI. But the search is over, and I get the car this weekend. Which means I can focus back on GI and the cool hardware review that is coming up. Yup that's right, GI is going to be reviewing a PIC development board from SparkFun electronics. Not going to give any more info now but watch for it in a week or so. Also, remember Toorcon 9 is going to be held in San Diego again this year so if you can make it, try!
And here is a pic for all those who aren't interested.
