hack a day: digital cameras

Monday 2010/03/22

Date/Time	Thread
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:00:35 +0000	More functional GPS in minutes [Sparky] notified us of his hack to allow interaction with the core of an Aldi GO Cruise 4300 GPS Windows CE OS. All that’s required is a few programs and registry edits to the GPS, which anyone can accomplish within a few minutes. But we suggest you go slow and double-check your work; nobody wants [...]
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:40:52 +0000	PIC based USB input devices USB is convenient and that makes it desirable in many many projects. [Simon Inns] has the process down and is sharing it with his recent PIC based USB tutorial. Prompted by requests for help on the matter after having published a post about his Commodore 64 interface, he set out to detail the particulars when [...]
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:00:22 +0000	Ask Hackaday: Now a regular occurrence A while back, we announced that we would be bringing new features to Hackaday. One in particular that garnished a lot of interest was our question answer type thingy. Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, that has not happened yet. Without divulging too much into the secret machinery that lies underneath Hackaday, I’ll just say [...]
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:20:37 +0000	Balancing skateboard/segway [XenonJon] got a lot of attention for a skateboard/segway style balancing platform he took to the Makerfaire in Newcastle. He decided to try to build it the cheapest and easiest possible way in an attempt to help others build their own. The build is documented very well, however you have to email him to request [...]
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:06:52 +0000	POV clock inside acrylic block This gorgeous persistence of vision clock was built a couple years back by [mb1988]. The housing is made of acrylic with a hard drive motor mounted in the center of the back panel to spin a PCB. The two-sided circuit board is home-made and includes a battery for power, ATmega32 for the brain, 32 LEDs, [...]
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:06:26 +0000	By popular demand: the OK Go Rube Goldberg machine We’ve received many tips regarding the OK Go video that features a Rube Goldberg machine. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out their video after the break. This is the rare instance when a YouTube video features an audio track with the full endorsement of the artists that recorded it. Our first thought when watching [...]
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:06:42 +0000	RoBo Blower sure to become Stephen King novel Snow removal ranks right up there with laundry as one of the least-enjoyed chores. [Herb Spencer] sought to automate the process while terrifying his neighbors as the same time by building a robotic snow blower, the RoBo Blower. The heavy lifting is still handled by a gas motor which propels the snow auger. Two batteries [...]
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:07:00 +0000	DIY Super Soaker With summer just around the corner you should try out a build like this constant pressure water gun that [JLspacemarine] put together. Similar to the commercially available Super Soaker toys, this isn’t just a squirt gun but includes a water reservoir as well as a pressurized air chamber. Pumping up the air chamber allows for [...]
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:06:17 +0000	Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor’s dream ride While surfing one of our favorite websites, we came upon this little jewel. We can’t really tell if this is hack-worthy, or just a deathtrap, so to help decide… Mechanics crawler + 80cc motor – safety concerns = deathtrap It’s really that final “Brakes? Why would I need to stop?” that puts this project over the edge. [...]
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:00:59 +0000	Flip-book style digitization This method of book digitization allows you to scan an entire book by fanning through the pages. It uses a high-speed camera that captures 500 frames per second to get a good look at each page. Processing software isolates each pages, analyzes any curve in the paper due to the flipping, and smooths out the [...]
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:38:52 +0000	Graffiti machine sprays for you [Ben's] father was a metalworker and the combination of being around metal fabrication for most of his life and getting a couple of art degrees brought together a satisfying combination of hacking skills. Above you can see a Graffiti Machine that he built, which we’ll look at in-depth after the break.. This isn’t the first [...]
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:00:48 +0000	Laser cutting solder stencils Do you have access to a laser cutter? If so, you can use [Riley Porter's] method to cut your own solder stencils. He starts with the Eagle files and exports the Dimension and tCream layers to a PDF. That file is then processed using Ghostwriter, Gview, and finally, Corel draw. The result is a 1200dpi [...]
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:27:33 +0000	Motion sensing camera hack Researchers at the University of Liege have developed an algorithm to separate movement from background. They call it ViBe and this patented piece of code comes in at under 100 lines of C. Above you can see the proof of concept shown by hacking the code into CHDK, a Canon PowerShot alternative firmware. The package [...]
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:00:43 +0000	Arduino based multiboot cable for Game Boy Advance [Steve] wanted to do some ARM development and set his sights on the Game Boy Advance as a development package. In order to get his code onto the device he build an Arduino-based communications cable. It is necessary to have a microcontroller involved because the GBA uses a peculiar 16-bit serial communications protocol. This cable [...]
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:00:11 +0000	Ditch the LPs and build your own 3D scanner Find yourself an old record player, a laser level, and a digital scanner and you can build a 3D scanner. That’s what [Rob] did. The camera and laser level are mounted on the turntable for steady rotation. The camera captures the vertical laser line traveling around the room by recording 30 fps at a resolution [...]