BeagleBone Deep Learning Video Demo
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/beaglebone-deep-learning-video-demo/
BeagleBoard often gets eclipsed by Raspberry Pi. Where the Pi focuses on ease-of-use, the BeagleBone generally has more power for hardcore applications. With machine learning AI all the rage now, BeagleBoard now has the BeagleBone AI, a board with specific features aimed at machine learning. A recent video (see below) …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/beaglebone-deep-learning-video-demo/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/beaglebone-deep-learning-video-demo/
BeagleBoard often gets eclipsed by Raspberry Pi. Where the Pi focuses on ease-of-use, the BeagleBone generally has more power for hardcore applications. With machine learning AI all the rage now, BeagleBoard now has the BeagleBone AI, a board with specific features aimed at machine learning. A recent video (see below) …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/beaglebone-deep-learning-video-demo/)
Watch Legged Robot Run Circles Around Its Bigger Brethren
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/watch-legged-robot-run-circles-around-its-bigger-brethren/
[Ben Katz] posted about bringing the Mini Cheetah (center, above) robot to the 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) held in Montréal, where it shared the floor with others for a workshop focusing on real-world deployment of legged robots. Those of you who haven’t been keeping up with …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/watch-legged-robot-run-circles-around-its-bigger-brethren/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/watch-legged-robot-run-circles-around-its-bigger-brethren/
[Ben Katz] posted about bringing the Mini Cheetah (center, above) robot to the 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) held in Montréal, where it shared the floor with others for a workshop focusing on real-world deployment of legged robots. Those of you who haven’t been keeping up with …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/watch-legged-robot-run-circles-around-its-bigger-brethren/)
Getting the Heat On with A Thermal Camera
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/getting-the-heat-on-with-a-thermal-camera/
Need a quick way to tell your temperature before work tomorrow? Student maker [The Marpe] recently fashioned a sleek home-use thermal camera that even looks like a point and shoot. It works as an Android hardware add-on by integrating the readings from a MLX90640 far-infrared (FIR) thermal sensor with a …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/getting-the-heat-on-with-a-thermal-camera/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/getting-the-heat-on-with-a-thermal-camera/
Need a quick way to tell your temperature before work tomorrow? Student maker [The Marpe] recently fashioned a sleek home-use thermal camera that even looks like a point and shoot. It works as an Android hardware add-on by integrating the readings from a MLX90640 far-infrared (FIR) thermal sensor with a …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/getting-the-heat-on-with-a-thermal-camera/)
Hackaday Links: September 22, 2019
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/hackaday-links-september-22-2019/
Of all the stories we’d expect to hit our little corner of the world, we never thought that the seedy doings of a now-deceased accused pedophile billionaire would have impacted the intellectual home of the open-source software movement. But it did, and this week Richard Stallman resigned from the Computer …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/hackaday-links-september-22-2019/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/hackaday-links-september-22-2019/
Of all the stories we’d expect to hit our little corner of the world, we never thought that the seedy doings of a now-deceased accused pedophile billionaire would have impacted the intellectual home of the open-source software movement. But it did, and this week Richard Stallman resigned from the Computer …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/hackaday-links-september-22-2019/)
Control Lighting Effects Without Programming
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/control-lighting-effects-without-programming/
Working in a theater or night club often requires a specialized set of technical skills that you might not instantly think about. Sure, the audio system needs to be set up and managed but the lighting system is often actively managed as well. For simple setups, this is usually not …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/control-lighting-effects-without-programming/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/control-lighting-effects-without-programming/
Working in a theater or night club often requires a specialized set of technical skills that you might not instantly think about. Sure, the audio system needs to be set up and managed but the lighting system is often actively managed as well. For simple setups, this is usually not …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/control-lighting-effects-without-programming/)
The Miniware TS100 As A USB-C Soldering Iron
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/the-miniware-ts100-as-a-usb-c-soldering-iron/
Many readers will be familiar with the Miniware TS100 soldering iron, a lightweight temperature-controlled iron that is giving significantly more expensive soldering tools a run for their money. There is another model in the range, the TS80, which though it uses different tips than its sibling has the main distinguishing …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/the-miniware-ts100-as-a-usb-c-soldering-iron/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/the-miniware-ts100-as-a-usb-c-soldering-iron/
Many readers will be familiar with the Miniware TS100 soldering iron, a lightweight temperature-controlled iron that is giving significantly more expensive soldering tools a run for their money. There is another model in the range, the TS80, which though it uses different tips than its sibling has the main distinguishing …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/22/the-miniware-ts100-as-a-usb-c-soldering-iron/)
Windows 3.1 Screensavers, Now On Twitter
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/windows-3-1-screensavers-now-on-twitter/
Back in the early dawn of the GUI age, cathode ray tubes were the dominant display technology for the personal computer. In order to avoid burn-in of static display elements, screensavers were devised to help prevent this problem. Out of love for the software of yesteryear, [Greg Kennedy] has put …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/windows-3-1-screensavers-now-on-twitter/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/windows-3-1-screensavers-now-on-twitter/
Back in the early dawn of the GUI age, cathode ray tubes were the dominant display technology for the personal computer. In order to avoid burn-in of static display elements, screensavers were devised to help prevent this problem. Out of love for the software of yesteryear, [Greg Kennedy] has put …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/windows-3-1-screensavers-now-on-twitter/)
Speeding Up Drawing To MCU-Connected Serial Displays
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/speeding-up-drawing-to-mcu-connected-serial-displays/
Writing image data to serially connected (SPI/I2C) displays from a microcontroller is easy enough these days, courtesy of standards defined by the MIPI Alliance, yet there are some gotchas in it which may catch someone using it unaware. [Larry Bank] wrote up a good summary of how one can get …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/speeding-up-drawing-to-mcu-connected-serial-displays/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/speeding-up-drawing-to-mcu-connected-serial-displays/
Writing image data to serially connected (SPI/I2C) displays from a microcontroller is easy enough these days, courtesy of standards defined by the MIPI Alliance, yet there are some gotchas in it which may catch someone using it unaware. [Larry Bank] wrote up a good summary of how one can get …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/speeding-up-drawing-to-mcu-connected-serial-displays/)
FIDO2: The Dream Of Password-Free Authentication On The WWW
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/fido2-the-dream-of-password-free-authentication-on-the-www/
Of all the things which are annoying about the modern World Wide Web, the need to create and remember countless passwords is on the top of most people’s lists. From dozens of passwords for everything from social media sites to shopping, company, and productivity-related platforms like Github, a large part …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/fido2-the-dream-of-password-free-authentication-on-the-www/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/fido2-the-dream-of-password-free-authentication-on-the-www/
Of all the things which are annoying about the modern World Wide Web, the need to create and remember countless passwords is on the top of most people’s lists. From dozens of passwords for everything from social media sites to shopping, company, and productivity-related platforms like Github, a large part …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/fido2-the-dream-of-password-free-authentication-on-the-www/)
Punch Through Switches Gears, Shucks Beans
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/punch-through-switches-gears-shucks-beans/
Do you own a LightBlue Bean or Bean+ from Punch Through? If you don’t have one now, you probably never will, as the company has recently announced they’re no longer selling or supporting the Bluetooth Low Energy microcontrollers. The company says that after selling more than 100,000 Bean devices, the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/punch-through-switches-gears-shucks-beans/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/punch-through-switches-gears-shucks-beans/
Do you own a LightBlue Bean or Bean+ from Punch Through? If you don’t have one now, you probably never will, as the company has recently announced they’re no longer selling or supporting the Bluetooth Low Energy microcontrollers. The company says that after selling more than 100,000 Bean devices, the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/punch-through-switches-gears-shucks-beans/)
High-Speed PCB Design Hack Chat with Bil Herd
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/high-speed-pcb-design-hack-chat-with-bil-herd/
Join us on Wednesday, September 25 at noon Pacific for the High-Speed PCB Design Hack Chat with Bil Herd!
Printed circuits have become so commoditized that we seldom think much about design details. EDA software makes it easy to forget about the subtleties and nuances that make themselves painfully obvious …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/high-speed-pcb-design-hack-chat-with-bil-herd/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/high-speed-pcb-design-hack-chat-with-bil-herd/
Join us on Wednesday, September 25 at noon Pacific for the High-Speed PCB Design Hack Chat with Bil Herd!
Printed circuits have become so commoditized that we seldom think much about design details. EDA software makes it easy to forget about the subtleties and nuances that make themselves painfully obvious …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/high-speed-pcb-design-hack-chat-with-bil-herd/)
Is A Cheap Inverter Welder Worth It?
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/is-a-cheap-inverter-welder-worth-it/
We’ve all seen cheap welders for sale from the usual online sources, small inverter stick welders for a very tempting price. But are they any good? When my local supermarket had one in its offers aisle, I took the plunge and placed it in my cart alongside the usual week’s …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/is-a-cheap-inverter-welder-worth-it/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/is-a-cheap-inverter-welder-worth-it/
We’ve all seen cheap welders for sale from the usual online sources, small inverter stick welders for a very tempting price. But are they any good? When my local supermarket had one in its offers aisle, I took the plunge and placed it in my cart alongside the usual week’s …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/is-a-cheap-inverter-welder-worth-it/)
What’s Your Fidget Spinner Say?
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/whats-your-fidget-spinner-say/
The persistence of vision (POV) optical illusion is pretty common in cheap toys nowadays, but how cool would it be to have your own programmable POV message board? German electronics grad student [Matej] has luckily created an open source fidget spinner with a fully customizable POV display that lets you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/whats-your-fidget-spinner-say/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/whats-your-fidget-spinner-say/
The persistence of vision (POV) optical illusion is pretty common in cheap toys nowadays, but how cool would it be to have your own programmable POV message board? German electronics grad student [Matej] has luckily created an open source fidget spinner with a fully customizable POV display that lets you …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/whats-your-fidget-spinner-say/)
LoRa-Based Plant Monitoring
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/lora-based-plant-monitoring/
Croatian engineers [Slaven Damjanovic] and [Marko Čalić] have developed a wireless system for farmers to monitor plant conditions and weather along their agricultural fields. The system uses an RFM95W module for LoRa communication, and devices are designed to be plug-and-play, battery-powered, and have long-range communication (up to 10km from the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/lora-based-plant-monitoring/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/lora-based-plant-monitoring/
Croatian engineers [Slaven Damjanovic] and [Marko Čalić] have developed a wireless system for farmers to monitor plant conditions and weather along their agricultural fields. The system uses an RFM95W module for LoRa communication, and devices are designed to be plug-and-play, battery-powered, and have long-range communication (up to 10km from the …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/lora-based-plant-monitoring/)
Magnets Make This Panda Move
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/magnets-make-this-panda-move/
A single board computer on a desk is fine for quick demos but for taking it into the wild (or even the rest of the house) you’re going to want a little more safety from debris, ESD, and drops. As SBCs get more useful this becomes an increasingly relevant problem …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/magnets-make-this-panda-move/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/magnets-make-this-panda-move/
A single board computer on a desk is fine for quick demos but for taking it into the wild (or even the rest of the house) you’re going to want a little more safety from debris, ESD, and drops. As SBCs get more useful this becomes an increasingly relevant problem …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/magnets-make-this-panda-move/)
Secrets From A 1969 Analog Computer
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/secrets-from-a-1969-analog-computer/
Today, most of what we think of as a computer uses digital technology. But that wasn’t always the case. From slide rules to mechanical fire solution computers to electronic analog computers, there have been plenty of computers that don’t work on 1s and 0s, but on analog quantities such as …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/secrets-from-a-1969-analog-computer/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/secrets-from-a-1969-analog-computer/
Today, most of what we think of as a computer uses digital technology. But that wasn’t always the case. From slide rules to mechanical fire solution computers to electronic analog computers, there have been plenty of computers that don’t work on 1s and 0s, but on analog quantities such as …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/secrets-from-a-1969-analog-computer/)
RPi Tank Invades Living Room, Teaches OpenCV
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/rpi-tank-invades-living-room-teaches-opencv/
If you’re looking for a simple project to start exploring the intersection of OpenCV and robotics, then the RPi Tank created by [Vishal Varghese] might be a good place to start. A Raspberry Pi and a few bits of ancillary hardware literally taped to the top of a toy M1 …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/rpi-tank-invades-living-room-teaches-opencv/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/rpi-tank-invades-living-room-teaches-opencv/
If you’re looking for a simple project to start exploring the intersection of OpenCV and robotics, then the RPi Tank created by [Vishal Varghese] might be a good place to start. A Raspberry Pi and a few bits of ancillary hardware literally taped to the top of a toy M1 …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/23/rpi-tank-invades-living-room-teaches-opencv/)
Asynchronous Routines for C
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/asynchronous-routines-for-c/
[Sandro Magi] noted that the async/await idiom has become more prevalent in programming recently. According to him, he first encountered it in C# but has found examples of it in JavaScript and Rust, too. The idea is simple: allow a function to return but come back later to complete something …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/asynchronous-routines-for-c/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/asynchronous-routines-for-c/
[Sandro Magi] noted that the async/await idiom has become more prevalent in programming recently. According to him, he first encountered it in C# but has found examples of it in JavaScript and Rust, too. The idea is simple: allow a function to return but come back later to complete something …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/asynchronous-routines-for-c/)
Helicopter Chain Saw
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/helicopter-chain-saw/
Among the most dangerous jobs in the United States are timberjack and aircraft pilot. Combining the two wouldn’t sound like a recipe for success, but in fact it makes the job of trimming trees near pipelines and power lines much safer. That’s what this helicopter-suspended chainsaw does. And it definitely …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/helicopter-chain-saw/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/helicopter-chain-saw/
Among the most dangerous jobs in the United States are timberjack and aircraft pilot. Combining the two wouldn’t sound like a recipe for success, but in fact it makes the job of trimming trees near pipelines and power lines much safer. That’s what this helicopter-suspended chainsaw does. And it definitely …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/helicopter-chain-saw/)
A Virtual Tour of the B-17
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/a-virtual-tour-of-the-b-17/
The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” is arguably the most recognizable aircraft of the Second World War. Made infamous by the daring daylight strategic bombing runs they carried out over Germany, more than 12,000 of these four-engined bombers were produced between 1939 and 1945. Thanks to the plane’s renowned survivability in …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/a-virtual-tour-of-the-b-17/)
https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/a-virtual-tour-of-the-b-17/
The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” is arguably the most recognizable aircraft of the Second World War. Made infamous by the daring daylight strategic bombing runs they carried out over Germany, more than 12,000 of these four-engined bombers were produced between 1939 and 1945. Thanks to the plane’s renowned survivability in …read more (https://hackaday.com/2019/09/24/a-virtual-tour-of-the-b-17/)