Hot Hacks, Mods & Circuitry Posts
News: Truck Driver Reverse Engineers Atom Bomb, Rebuilds Little Boy
You're walking down the street, minding your own business. Then you see it—a large, bright fireball in the near distance. A tremendous heat wave speeds towards you at one thousand miles an hour, and before you can think, before you can even blink, the extremely heated wind pushes right through you. Your skin melts, your eyes liquefy—your face disappears into the wind. Before you know it, your pancreas collide with what’s left of the person next to you, your duodenum is dissolving faster than ...
News: Creepy Theremin Utensils Howl the Pain of Slaughtered Ghost Chickens
One of the creepiest musical instruments ever is undoubtedly the theremin, a device originating from the early 20s that emits eerie sounds with a just a wave of the hand. If you've seen the original movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, you know what I mean—freakishly creepy. Playing the theremin can be off-putting for some, since it's a relatively pricy gizmo, but a new geek gadget called the EaTheremin aims to make all of us professional, dinnertime theremists.
How To: Hack Frequent Flyer Programs
Screw the airplane man. Ticket prices are too high. Competitive consumer choices are pretty much nonexistent. And need I go into the pain of being crammed into those tiny seats, elbow-to-elbow, thigh-to-thigh with a perfect stranger? Even your average Richie Rich winces at the astronomically high prices for a First Class seat.
News: 3D LEGO LikeLight Shows You Facebook Likes in Real Time
Matt Reed, a web developer at Nashville interactive ad agency Redpepper, built a massive, real life Facebook Like "button" out of Legos, which lights up whenever someone clicks Like on his Facebook page. The programmer loves LEGOs, and draws an affinity between the legendary building blocks and engineering: "[Legos] are great for prototyping physical objects. I don’t manufacture things, but I do click blocks together. Plus, most things I deal with on a daily basis are pixelized. Legos are som...
News: New Ultra-Realistic Android Scares the Crap Out of Everybody
Holy… Lord, help us all—this isn't CG, it's for real. Meet Geminoid DK, the latest spawn from Osaka University Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro's legion of ultra-realistic Androids.
News: Insanely Epic Resident Evil Biohazard Case Mod
If you dig case mods and Resident Evil, it's fair to say you'll find Ron L. Christainson’s nothing short of epic. Inspired by the renown video game and movie, Ron—an artist and PC tech from Seattle—has already spent a year constructing the mod from scratch, and still has a couple months of work ahead of him.
News: Hacked Wristwatch Connects to Facebook
Too lazy to take your phone out of your pocket? If so, then here's a must-have: a customizable inPulse wristwatch that can check into Facebook Places. Created by inPulse designer Eric Migicovsky, the hacked watch uses Bluetooth to pull Facebook Places from a connected Android smartphone. The app sends real time latitude and longitude stats from the smartphone's GPS to Facebook, which then transmits nearby places to the watch, navigable by a one button interface.
News: Control a Video Game by Swapping Spit
Once there was Spin the Bottle. Then there was the embarrassing adult version of Spin the Bottle—on Wii. And then there was artist Hye Yeon Nam, who decided to skip all pretenses and go straight for the spit-swapping, no foreplay necessary. Hye Yeon Nam devised a method for controlling a bowling video game by French kissing. It works like this: "One person has a magnet on his/her tongue and the other person wears the headset. While they kiss, the person who has the magnet on his/her tongue, c...
How To: Understand capacitors and replace broken ones on circuit boards
The capacitor is one of the most recognizable and important electronic components, and a part of nearly every electronic device. This video will teach you the basics of capacitor theory and then teach you how to replace a faulty or broken on on a circuit board. This skill will help you fix all sorts of devices you thought were dead forever; try it out!
How To: Use a transistor or N channel MOSFET to turn any device on or off
The transistor is the most basic and important part of electronics, allowing small changes in voltage to turn things on and off. On, off. 0, 1. There's electronics. The grandaddy of them all is the N channel MOSFET, the most important transistor. This video will teach you how the MOSFET works and how to build some example circuits. This video is an absolute must-watch if you are interested in electronics at all.
How To: Use a function generator to make waveforms for electronics projects
A function or signal generator is an electronic device that can create different types of waves and send them through a circuit without building oscillators. This video will teach you how they work and how to build a basic LED dimmer that uses one as an example.
How To: Use an operational amplifier to amplify voltage and build a microphone circuit
An amplifier is something that amplified the voltage on a circuit. The most basic kind is an operational amplifier, and this video will show you how these work and how to use them in your electronics. As an example you'll learn how to make a microphone circuit for spying on people or listening to your heartbeat.
How To: Build a PWN circuit to control power that can dim an LED, control a motor etc.
Many types of circuits are useless and less useful if you cannot control the amount of power going through them. For that, you need a PWN (pulse with modulation) switch. This electronic component will let your control the power going through the circuit, enabling you to dim LED lights, control the speed of a motor, and other useful tasks. This video will teach you all PWN switches and how tom make your own.
How To: Craft a Homemade Digital Music Box with a Cheap MP3 Player
Musical boxes are best known for their kitschy designs and somewhat trivial renditions of musical masterpieces. They tend to frequent the dresser of young girls or elderly woman hanging on to their youth, and for the most part, they remain cutesy and harmless, but when featured in movies like The Silence of the Lambs and Black Swan, they become downright creepy.
How To: Build and use a voltage divider
A voltage divider is one of the easier-to-understand pieces of circuity in use in modern electronics. They divide voltage, and are crucial to most modern electronics. This video will show you how they work and how to build one yourself for your circuits.
How To: Use oscillators in circuits and electronics projects
Oscillators are basically just machines that make waves, but they are used everywhere in modern life and if you want to know electronics you should understand them as well. This video will teach you how oscillators work, what they're for, and how to make some simple circuits with sine and square wave models.
How To: Find and wire linear voltage regulators and make a 5V power supply
This handy electronics tutorial will teach you all about one of the most important electronic components: the linear voltage regulator. You'll learn how they work, how to wire them, where to find them, and how to make an awesome 5V USB charger to use your newfound skills.
How To: Test an electrolytic capacitor with a digital multimeter
If you're working with a capacitor and wondering whether it's working or not, this video will help you find out. You're going to need a multimeter, available at any good electronics store. This device is capable of testing many different electric devices, and capacitors are one you can test. Set the dial, hook it up and see if things are working! These multimeter devices are essential in the world of home electronics, so put one in your tool kit today!
News: 'Super Brite' LED Sneakers Basically Make Sneaking Impossible
Know how some people have a natural way of lighting up a room? Well, hacker i-am-jen has an artificial one—LED sneakers! Powered by a pair of 6-volt batteries and two teeny-tiny RBBB Arduino microcontrollers, the shoes offer a high-tech, DIY spin on the mass-market L.A. Lights of yesteryear: Interested in kickstarting your own LED shoe project? You'll find Jen's step-by-step here.
News: Pedal-Powered EL Wire Night Bike Light
Instructable user samsmith17's solution for riding in the dark is a lot snazzier than your typical bicycle light:
News: DIY Clap-Off Bra
If the whale tail cookies and edible undies weren't naughty enough, you've still got about 24 hours left before Valentine's Day to whip up one of F.A.T. artist Randy Sarafan's step-by-step clap-off bras. Inspired by the electronic singing panties and remote-controlled bras of the secret underworld of Syrian lingerie, Sarafan made a mission to "fast-forward lingerie technology in the West".
News: Self-Electroshocking as Art, Live
Daito Manabe is awesome. Last we heard of him, he was setting up Japanese school girls with glow-in-the-dark grills. Before that, he was playing himself like a human drum kit. And before that, he was just plain old electroshocking himself. In his most recent appearance, he takes his electro-pulsed facial twitches to the stage, with fellow artist Ei Wada, before an audience at Berlin’s Transmediale Festival.
How To: Hack a local wifi internet connection with your PSP
Play remotely with all your friends, stream videos and music from the Internet or even check your Facebook and email - all with your PSP. The PSP has Internet capability, but not every network will be available to you at all times. Here is how you can hack any wifi connection with your PSP.
How To: Get your PSP hooked up to the Internet without needing wifi
If you can't get access to a wifi hotspot or an Internet connection with your PSP, you can use this method to get online. You will need access to a computer that is online, and a USB cord that can connect the computer to your PSP. Then, open up the command prompt on your computer, configure your IP and then add your PSP as a device on the network. This method uses the DNS method of getting to the Internet rather than having to hack a wifi connection.
How To: Make a small robot gripper out of household items
A perfect project for the budding roboticist in you! This video shows you how to make a small robot gripper using basic household items. Press the button and make the robot's come together! You will need: a small blow torch or butane lighter, a glue gun, a dremel or rotary tool (along with several different bits), the free cutting pattern, a permanent marker, a micro servo, some small nails or pins, a small piece of Plexiglass and a paperclip. If you don't have access to a dremel, you can fak...
How To: Make a robot out of household items
This do it yourself robot can be made out of many materials you can find around your house. You'll need a few special non household items, such as an arduino and a class 3 laser. However, once you assemble everything correctly, you can make a sentry robot inspired by the robots in the game PORTAL. Even if you've never built a robot before, as long as you have a basic knowledge of electronics, you can start with this simple and fun project.
How To: Use the rattlesnake knot, square braid and other paracord braiding techniques
Paracord braiding is a popular technique used to make lanyards and ties for survival gear. There are many different techniques a braider can use - the most common are the rattlesnake knot and the square braid. This video shows you the nuances of both techniques, a few variations, and how you can decide when to use one or the other. You can also alter the appearance and tensile strength of your paracord braid by changing how tight you make your knots.
How To: Unify a junk hard drive and glass vase into an exquisite makeshift table lamp
Junk is not usually known for its usefulness. That's why it's called junk. If it were called anything else, it might have a purpose, but junk… well… it's junk.
How To: Turn a pen and film canister into a rapid-fire airsoft machine gun
Make a homemade airsoft machine gun with Kipkay! You will need a basic ball point pen, a film canister or medicine bottle, and an assortment of Airsoft pellets (6 mm size pellets work the best). You'll also need access to a drill, and a hot glue gun.
News: Trade in Your Grill for Japanese LED Teeth
In the far away land of Japan, gold is out, glow-in-the-dark is in. LED "grills" were recently conceived of by two Japanese designers/hackers for a winter advertising event at clothing store Laforet Harajuku. The LED teeth attachments quickly became a hot item. Foreseeably, one of the two designers demonstrating the teeth in the video above is the familiar Daito Manabe (our favorite "self-electrocuting" mad hacker). Manabe's partner, Motoi Ishibashi, came up with the idea when "he saw a video...
How To: Use a laser to pop a batch of tasty popcorn
Lasers really can do everything! Next time you want some popcorn, don't reach for one of those microwaveable bags! You can mod a laser to make it the ideal tool for perfectly popping a delicious, fluffy batch of fresh popcorn.
News: The Lazy Man's Beer Machine (Catapult Into Mouth, Please)
Purdue mechanical engineering undergrad Ross Wehner built a gadget Homer Simpson would envy- a working, arduino-powered beer catapult fridge.
How To: Hack Your Office Clock For Extra Lunch Time
Do you have one of those jobs where the minutes seems to stretch by like hours? Then shaving off an extra twelve might make all the difference. All you need is cunning (to kidnap the workplace clock for the night) and hacking skills (not to worry, creator Randy Sarafan will help you with that), and you'll be the office hero. Sarafan says:
News: Seeing 3D with the Aid of Epileptic Eye Movement
Do 3D glasses give you a headache? This might hurt more. As in, I think I'm going to hurl just watching. Below, Francois Vogel demonstrates his rapid eye blinking method for 3D viewing. ...as if the electrodes on his temples could stimulate his eyelids to open and close in alternating synchronization with the refresh rate of the monitor! View more vomit-inducing 3D viewing, sans the glasses.
News: Door Locked? Send a Text Message & Open Sesame
When choosing a security system for the office, Billy Chasen decided to ditch the traditional lock & key barricade for something a little more 21st century. He hacked together a device that uses a web server, servo motor and some parts from Home Depot to enable locking & unlocking via text message. Chasen maintains a list which gives access to green lit office workers, who enter by simply texting "lock" or "unlock"... and voilà, open sesame.
How To: Start a single phase induction electric motor
OK, you've got yourself a single phase induction electric motor, but you don't know how to start it. Check out this simple how-to to discover a few methods of starting this motor up. You'll need to know this unless you want to burn out your motor!
How To: Make a rechargeable light / mobile charger powered by USB or solar panels
Samimy is at it again. And this time, his ingenuity has tackled a clever way to take something old and broken and restore it to something new and useful. What are we talking about? Modding a broken hard drive and some busted cell phones into a useful rechargeable USB / solar-powered light, which also acts as a portable mobile charger.
How To: Build an Illuminated Star Map
It's what every astronomy-loving geek has always wanted... a beautiful, twinkling home galaxy. As Instructables user MrTrick rightly warns, this project is no small feat. Be prepared to get schooled in:
How To: The history and technology of batteries
Learn about the history and technology of batteries in this informative video, and learn how to make your own voltaic cells at home, along with other scientific experiments. Jeri Ellsworth demonstrates how and provides several informative facts about the history and technology about the battery.
HowTo: Boost Your WiFi Signal With a Tin Can
Budget Hack's cheap Wifi range extender works off of the age old concept of adding tin foil to your TV's rabbit ears. The materials are cheap, and the project is relatively easy (if you're willing to pick up some soldering skills).