An Optocoupler Doorbell Notifier
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-optocoupler-doorbell-notifier/
Over the years we’ve seen several attempts at adding Internet connectivity to the lowly wired doorbell. Generally, these projects aim to piggyback on the existing wiring, bells, and buttons rather than replace them entirely. Which invariably means at some point the AC wiring is going to need to interface with …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-optocoupler-doorbell-notifier/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-optocoupler-doorbell-notifier/
Over the years we’ve seen several attempts at adding Internet connectivity to the lowly wired doorbell. Generally, these projects aim to piggyback on the existing wiring, bells, and buttons rather than replace them entirely. Which invariably means at some point the AC wiring is going to need to interface with …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-optocoupler-doorbell-notifier/)
Build Yourself A Set Of Glowing Wings
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/build-yourself-a-set-of-glowing-wings/
Humans didn’t come with wings from the factory, and most efforts to fit them after the fact have been at least as far as flight is concerned, largely fruitless. That doesn’t mean you can’t cut a devastatingly sharp aesthetic though, and [Natalina’s] fiber optic wings are a great way to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/build-yourself-a-set-of-glowing-wings/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/build-yourself-a-set-of-glowing-wings/
Humans didn’t come with wings from the factory, and most efforts to fit them after the fact have been at least as far as flight is concerned, largely fruitless. That doesn’t mean you can’t cut a devastatingly sharp aesthetic though, and [Natalina’s] fiber optic wings are a great way to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/build-yourself-a-set-of-glowing-wings/)
An Algorithm For De-Biasing AI Systems
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-algorithm-for-de-biasing-ai-systems/
A fundamental truth about AI systems is that training the system with biased data creates biased results. This can be especially dangerous when the systems are being used to predict crime or select sentences for criminals, since they can hinge on unrelated traits such as race or gender to make …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-algorithm-for-de-biasing-ai-systems/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-algorithm-for-de-biasing-ai-systems/
A fundamental truth about AI systems is that training the system with biased data creates biased results. This can be especially dangerous when the systems are being used to predict crime or select sentences for criminals, since they can hinge on unrelated traits such as race or gender to make …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/an-algorithm-for-de-biasing-ai-systems/)
Vintage Transistor Radio Gets Internet Transplant
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/vintage-transistor-radio-gets-internet-transplant/
The invention of the transistor revolutionized radio, allowing receivers to be made far more compact and portable than ever before. In the middle of the 20th century, the devices exploded in popularity, and pocket transistor radios took the market by storm. [MisterM] had fond memories of such times, and when …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/vintage-transistor-radio-gets-internet-transplant/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/vintage-transistor-radio-gets-internet-transplant/
The invention of the transistor revolutionized radio, allowing receivers to be made far more compact and portable than ever before. In the middle of the 20th century, the devices exploded in popularity, and pocket transistor radios took the market by storm. [MisterM] had fond memories of such times, and when …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/21/vintage-transistor-radio-gets-internet-transplant/)
A Spectrum Analyzer for the Smart Response XE
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-spectrum-analyzer-for-the-smart-response-xe/
Remember the Girl Tech IM-me? It was a hot-pink clearance rack toy that suddenly became one of the hottest commodities in the hacking world when it was discovered they could be used for all sorts of radio frequency shenanigans. Now they go for triple digits on eBay, if you can …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-spectrum-analyzer-for-the-smart-response-xe/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-spectrum-analyzer-for-the-smart-response-xe/
Remember the Girl Tech IM-me? It was a hot-pink clearance rack toy that suddenly became one of the hottest commodities in the hacking world when it was discovered they could be used for all sorts of radio frequency shenanigans. Now they go for triple digits on eBay, if you can …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-spectrum-analyzer-for-the-smart-response-xe/)
Robot Joints Go Modular With This Actuator Project
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/robot-joints-go-modular-with-this-actuator-project/
[John Lauer] has been hard at work re-thinking robot arms. His project to create modular, open source actuators that can be connected to one another to form an arm is inspiring, and boasts an impressively low parts cost as well. The actuators are each self-contained, with an ESP32 and a …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/robot-joints-go-modular-with-this-actuator-project/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/robot-joints-go-modular-with-this-actuator-project/
[John Lauer] has been hard at work re-thinking robot arms. His project to create modular, open source actuators that can be connected to one another to form an arm is inspiring, and boasts an impressively low parts cost as well. The actuators are each self-contained, with an ESP32 and a …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/robot-joints-go-modular-with-this-actuator-project/)
Developing Guidelines for Sustainable Spaceflight
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/developing-guidelines-for-sustainable-spaceflight/
In the early days of spaceflight, when only the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union had the ability to put an object into orbit, even the most fanciful of futurists would have had a hard time believing that commercial entities would one day be launching sixty satellites …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/developing-guidelines-for-sustainable-spaceflight/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/developing-guidelines-for-sustainable-spaceflight/
In the early days of spaceflight, when only the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union had the ability to put an object into orbit, even the most fanciful of futurists would have had a hard time believing that commercial entities would one day be launching sixty satellites …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/developing-guidelines-for-sustainable-spaceflight/)
Creepy Halloween Doll Might Make You Betsy Wetsy
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/creepy-halloween-doll-might-make-you-betsy-wetsy/
If you want to terrify your neighborhood this Halloween, you might go for the old standbys like skeletons or zombies. But you don’t have to go gory to find glory. Consider the talking doll. Those things are creepy enough already, right? Well, [cabuu] says no, the doll should be animated …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/creepy-halloween-doll-might-make-you-betsy-wetsy/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/creepy-halloween-doll-might-make-you-betsy-wetsy/
If you want to terrify your neighborhood this Halloween, you might go for the old standbys like skeletons or zombies. But you don’t have to go gory to find glory. Consider the talking doll. Those things are creepy enough already, right? Well, [cabuu] says no, the doll should be animated …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/creepy-halloween-doll-might-make-you-betsy-wetsy/)
Grind Your Welds With Pride, If That’s The Way You Do It
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/grind-your-welds-with-pride-if-thats-the-way-you-do-it/
To grind or not to grind? What a question! It all depends on what you’re really trying to show, and in the case of welded joints, I often want to prove the integrity of the weld.
Recently, I wrote a piece in which I talked about my cheap inverter welder …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/grind-your-welds-with-pride-if-thats-the-way-you-do-it/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/grind-your-welds-with-pride-if-thats-the-way-you-do-it/
To grind or not to grind? What a question! It all depends on what you’re really trying to show, and in the case of welded joints, I often want to prove the integrity of the weld.
Recently, I wrote a piece in which I talked about my cheap inverter welder …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/grind-your-welds-with-pride-if-thats-the-way-you-do-it/)
Building A Laser Head With High Speed, High Resolution
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/building-a-laser-head-with-high-speed-high-resolution/
Typically, when it comes to scanning a laser, it’s done with galvos or a rotating mirror assembly. However, these methods can be slow and cumbersome, or restricted due to existing patents. [Rick] aimed to find an alternative solution with the Hexastorm project, using a rotating prism to build a high …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/building-a-laser-head-with-high-speed-high-resolution/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/building-a-laser-head-with-high-speed-high-resolution/
Typically, when it comes to scanning a laser, it’s done with galvos or a rotating mirror assembly. However, these methods can be slow and cumbersome, or restricted due to existing patents. [Rick] aimed to find an alternative solution with the Hexastorm project, using a rotating prism to build a high …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/building-a-laser-head-with-high-speed-high-resolution/)
A Miniature Radio Telescope in Every Backyard
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-miniature-radio-telescope-in-every-backyard/
You probably wouldn’t expect to see somebody making astronomical observations during a cloudy day in the center of a dense urban area, but that’s exactly what was happening at the recent 2019 Philadelphia Mini Maker Faire. Professor James Aguirre of the University of Pennsylvania was there demonstrating the particularly compact …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-miniature-radio-telescope-in-every-backyard/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-miniature-radio-telescope-in-every-backyard/
You probably wouldn’t expect to see somebody making astronomical observations during a cloudy day in the center of a dense urban area, but that’s exactly what was happening at the recent 2019 Philadelphia Mini Maker Faire. Professor James Aguirre of the University of Pennsylvania was there demonstrating the particularly compact …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/a-miniature-radio-telescope-in-every-backyard/)
Steering By Touch And Haptic Feedback
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/steering-by-touch-and-haptic-feedback/
Scribble is a haptic interface lets you draw your way through traffic. In an environment where fully automated vehicles are becoming the expectation for the next step in transportation, Scribble provides a friendly alternative that allows you to guide your car around, while the automation makes decisions on how to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/steering-by-touch-and-haptic-feedback/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/steering-by-touch-and-haptic-feedback/
Scribble is a haptic interface lets you draw your way through traffic. In an environment where fully automated vehicles are becoming the expectation for the next step in transportation, Scribble provides a friendly alternative that allows you to guide your car around, while the automation makes decisions on how to …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/steering-by-touch-and-haptic-feedback/)
Advertise Your Conference Schedule Via SSID
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/advertise-your-conference-schedule-via-ssid/
Whether it’s been a Python script running on a Linux box or an ESP8266, abusing using WiFi SSIDs to convey messages is hardly a new trick. But for DerbyCon 2019, [vgrsec] wanted to do put together something a little unique. Dare we say, even useful. Rather than broadcast out SSID …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/advertise-your-conference-schedule-via-ssid/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/advertise-your-conference-schedule-via-ssid/
Whether it’s been a Python script running on a Linux box or an ESP8266, abusing using WiFi SSIDs to convey messages is hardly a new trick. But for DerbyCon 2019, [vgrsec] wanted to do put together something a little unique. Dare we say, even useful. Rather than broadcast out SSID …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/advertise-your-conference-schedule-via-ssid/)
The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear LCDs
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/the-futures-so-bright-i-gotta-wear-lcds/
Whether it was rays from the Sun that made a 150 million kilometer trip just to ruin your day or somebody’s unreasonably bright aftermarket headlights, at some point or another we’ve all experienced the discomfort of bright spots in our eyes. But short of wearing welder’s goggles all the time, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/the-futures-so-bright-i-gotta-wear-lcds/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/the-futures-so-bright-i-gotta-wear-lcds/
Whether it was rays from the Sun that made a 150 million kilometer trip just to ruin your day or somebody’s unreasonably bright aftermarket headlights, at some point or another we’ve all experienced the discomfort of bright spots in our eyes. But short of wearing welder’s goggles all the time, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/22/the-futures-so-bright-i-gotta-wear-lcds/)
Big Beautiful Vintage Computers, and Where To Find Them
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/big-beautiful-vintage-computers-and-where-to-find-them/
[Ken Shirriff] recently shared some pictures and a writeup from his visit to the Large Scale Systems Museum, a remarkable private collection of mainframes and other computers from the 1970s to the 1990s. Housed in a town outside Pittsburgh, it contains a huge variety of specimens including IBM mainframes and …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/big-beautiful-vintage-computers-and-where-to-find-them/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/big-beautiful-vintage-computers-and-where-to-find-them/
[Ken Shirriff] recently shared some pictures and a writeup from his visit to the Large Scale Systems Museum, a remarkable private collection of mainframes and other computers from the 1970s to the 1990s. Housed in a town outside Pittsburgh, it contains a huge variety of specimens including IBM mainframes and …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/big-beautiful-vintage-computers-and-where-to-find-them/)
Perler Printer Pushes Pixel-Art like No Sprite Artist Could
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/perler-printer-pushes-pixel-art-like-no-sprite-artist-could/
There’s something oddly soothing about the practice of laying down Perler Beads on a casual weekend to make your favorite classic Nintendo characters. But seriously, why use our grubby hands like a caveman when we could leverage a machine to do the heavy-lifting for us? That’s exactly what [knezuld11] did! …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/perler-printer-pushes-pixel-art-like-no-sprite-artist-could/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/perler-printer-pushes-pixel-art-like-no-sprite-artist-could/
There’s something oddly soothing about the practice of laying down Perler Beads on a casual weekend to make your favorite classic Nintendo characters. But seriously, why use our grubby hands like a caveman when we could leverage a machine to do the heavy-lifting for us? That’s exactly what [knezuld11] did! …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/perler-printer-pushes-pixel-art-like-no-sprite-artist-could/)
The Worst Greenhouse Gasses You Haven’t Heard Of
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/the-worst-greenhouse-gasses-you-havent-heard-of/
Carbon dioxide has long drawn the ire of an environmentally-conscious humanity. Released from combustion of fossil fuels, levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are higher now than at any point in the past 400,000 years. With the warming effects this has on the global environment, bringing these numbers down …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/the-worst-greenhouse-gasses-you-havent-heard-of/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/the-worst-greenhouse-gasses-you-havent-heard-of/
Carbon dioxide has long drawn the ire of an environmentally-conscious humanity. Released from combustion of fossil fuels, levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are higher now than at any point in the past 400,000 years. With the warming effects this has on the global environment, bringing these numbers down …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/the-worst-greenhouse-gasses-you-havent-heard-of/)
Creating a Bode Analyzer from a Microcontroller
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/creating-a-bode-analyzer-from-a-microcontroller/
Electrical engineers will recognize the Bode plot as a plot of the frequency response of a system. It displays the frequency on the x-axis and the phase (in degrees) or magnitude (in dB) on the y-axis, making it helpful for understanding a circuit or transfer function in frequency domain analysis. …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/creating-a-bode-analyzer-from-a-microcontroller/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/creating-a-bode-analyzer-from-a-microcontroller/
Electrical engineers will recognize the Bode plot as a plot of the frequency response of a system. It displays the frequency on the x-axis and the phase (in degrees) or magnitude (in dB) on the y-axis, making it helpful for understanding a circuit or transfer function in frequency domain analysis. …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/creating-a-bode-analyzer-from-a-microcontroller/)
Arm Allows Custom Instructions
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/arm-allows-custom-instructions/
We’re surrounded by ARM processors, which enjoy a commanding foothold in the consumer market, especially with portable electronics. However, Arm Holdings has never focused its business model on manufacturing chips, instead licensing its CPUs to others who make the physical devices. There is a bit of a tightrope to walk, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/arm-allows-custom-instructions/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/arm-allows-custom-instructions/
We’re surrounded by ARM processors, which enjoy a commanding foothold in the consumer market, especially with portable electronics. However, Arm Holdings has never focused its business model on manufacturing chips, instead licensing its CPUs to others who make the physical devices. There is a bit of a tightrope to walk, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/arm-allows-custom-instructions/)
Daisy Chained Seven Segment Art Display
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/daisy-chained-seven-segment-art-display/
This seven segment art display makes use of a 81 seven segment red common cathode LED displays. The LEDs are arranged onto 100x100mm boards that each contain an Arduino Nano and 9 seven segment displays, daisy chained through three-pin headers located on the sides of the boards. The pins (power, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/daisy-chained-seven-segment-art-display/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/daisy-chained-seven-segment-art-display/
This seven segment art display makes use of a 81 seven segment red common cathode LED displays. The LEDs are arranged onto 100x100mm boards that each contain an Arduino Nano and 9 seven segment displays, daisy chained through three-pin headers located on the sides of the boards. The pins (power, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/10/23/daisy-chained-seven-segment-art-display/)