How many times have you said "Wow, I could use a warning sign right about now!"? If you’re like me it’s an almost daily event. Well despair no more blog readers, the ‘Net has the answer to your problems once again.
Simply click on a link below and choose your sign background, logo, and witty safety minded phrase and just as Bob’s your uncle you have a nice little graphic that you can print out and get into all sorts of trouble with. Go have a blast but don’t blame me if some people can’t take a joke and over react.
Category: DIY
Electronic Music Box Kit
I can see something like this being hacked to become a MIDI input device.
OTOKIBAKO, an electronic music kit operated by turning the handle at the side, plays melodies by reading the black and white melody data sheet with light sensors. In addition, the special software "Melody Factory for OTOKIBAKO" enables you to create a melody data sheet of your own melody (with 3 octave range (C to B) including halftones)! 8 tones and 15 melodies are already installed. The wooden outer box projects a warm atmosphere and inspires you to paint on or carve pictures on to create your own OTOKIBAKO.
RFID Stapler, Office Products of the Beast?
Looks like a fine idea to me, I’d love to be able to sweep a scanner over a stack of papers and find out if a lost report is in it. Oh yeah, don’t let the title of the post fool you. That ‘xxx of the Beast‘ crap is for silly ninnies that don’t want the trains to run on time and like constant turmoil caused by the stupid notion of what happens to you after you die. I just figure that by using it in a title it’s a good way to get noticed. Note to all my friends that believe in that sort of thing, sorry to exploit your beliefs but why shouldn’t I when it’s so darn easy?
Anyway, the RFID enabled staples are something that I’d buy now if I could. I’d staple everything. Papers, boxes, books, you name it! I’d never lose anything ever again. Ah, bliss! However, if I did have a cool high tech trackable stapler I’d more than likely invest on one of these fine DataSafe Security Wallets. It’s best to play it safe now and again, don’t you think? In the mean time I think I might have a closer look at this nifty RFID Experimentation kit I saw over on MAKE. Think about it, how cool would it be to run a scanner over a sealed box of books and then be able to tell exactly whats in side of it? Anyone with a closet full of stuff will appreciate this I’m sure.
[via SCI FI Tech | SCIFI.COM]
Popluar Science (click on the slideshow)
Soundgin Audio Synth On A Chip
Today on Retro Thing I saw that there is a new on chip audio synthesizer on the market.
The Soundgin is a serially controlled Sound Synthesizer in a PIC.
It produces complex sound effects, synthesizer style music and English speech with an unlimited vocabulary.
For use in manufactured electronics and home projects. .
The Soundgin is an 18-Pin Microchip PIC18F1320 that has been programmed to generate complex sounds by incorporating six oscillators which can interact with each other in various ways. The oscillators are configured by sending short serial commands to the Soundgin via the RX pin. These configurations result in the Soundgin’s oscillators continuously generating sound. The Soundgin also contains presets that can be used to configure the oscillators to generate predefined sound such as a Gong, Steam Engine, Etc… The six are spit up into two identical units referred to as Sound Engines.
The sample on the page are quite good. I can see this as an easy to implement addition to a lot of DIY music projects or a speech synthesizer for robots.
[via retrothing]
Soundgin
P-Box Kits Page
Wow, these kits bring back some good memories. When I was a kid my dad used to buy these all the time. I was too young to solder but I could plug stuff in the box. I’m not sure if he built all the kits that he bought, I remember him saying they were a good source of parts. At least I know where I got that trait from. 🙂
A few of these show up on Ebay from time to time but if your looking for some quality vintage plans the owner of this site has graciously scanned in the instructions. Time to get building the neon ‘goofy’ light!
Micro R/C Car Hacks for Model Airplane Use
This is a great example of what you can do with the right parts a bit of know how.
This article describes the construction of a rudder-only controlled model airplane that weighs 2.5 ounces. Total cost was about $35. For sure, I learned some interesting things along the way, all of which are shared here. The good news is that the electronic modifications are working well.Perhaps there’s something in here that you will find useful for YOUR own Micro-Sizer / BitChar-G airplane powered hack.
[via DIY Live]
RC-CAM Projects: Micro R/C Car Hacks for Model Airplane Use