Hacks, Mods & Circuitry News

News: How to Start Using FPGA Chips

The first steps will always be a little difficult, but that is the way everyone has to live his life. The same is true, when you start programming FPGA-chips. It might be hard to get started, therefore a introduction may be useful. I will explain all the problems you might encounter when you first start. Also a simple first project is included as a guideline throughout the video!

News: How to Choose a FPGA That Suits Your Project

A FGPA is chip that is programmable with the computer to create circuit. It is a totally different type of programmable board compared to an Arduino for example. The Arduino will follow lines of codes to generate the necessary outputs. A FPGA won't however read lines of code, but it is a circuit itself. When the chip is programmed, a series of AND-ports, OR-ports and many others ports are linked together. The FGPA will increase the speed and the possibilities of your designs! I assume that by...

News: Teens Pulled Over in Their Almost Street Legal (And Totally Cool) DIY Wooden Car

Getting pulled over sucks, even when you're in a normal car. Just imagine how these teenagers felt when they were pulled over for driving their wooden car without a license! They also got a citation for not having a speedometer or side indicator lights, but if that's all that's keeping their DIY vehicle from being street legal, I'm already impressed. Photo by WTF.nl/Zaanstreek-Waterland Police

News: Want a Drink? The Arduino 'Inebriator' Will Pour You 15 Different Cocktails

Who needs to go to bartending school when you've got the Inebriator to mix your favorite drinks for you? Want a cosmopolitan? No problem. Press a button. Want a tequila sunrise? Sure thing. Press a button. As long as you've got a good supply of liquor and mixers, the Inebriator is at your command. So, what exactly is this Inebriator thing? Well, it's a robotic bartender that can automatically pour 15 different pre-programmed cocktails. With 9 different liquors and 7 mixers on board, it's got ...

News: Artist Uses 300 Apples to Power 30 LEDs for 1 Electrified Fruit Battery Science Experiment

You've probably seen the classic fruit battery science experiment a thousand times, but I doubt you've ever seen it turned into an art project! Photographer Caleb Charland uses everyday objects like apples, coins and vinegar to create makeshift batteries, then takes these gorgeous long exposure photos. For the apple tree photo, Charland got about 5 volts for every 10 apples, so he had to wire 300 apples to power the lamp for several hours. He used a zinc-coated galvanized nail and copper wire...

News: Unencrypted Air Traffic Communications Allow Hackers to Track & Possibly Redirect Flights

Considering how often many of us fly on commercial airlines, the idea that a hacker could somehow interfere with the plane is a very scary thought. It doesn't help to learn that at Defcon, a researcher found that the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), transmissions that planes use to communicate with airport towers are both unencrypted and unauthenticated.

News: Analog Video Cam + Thermal Printer = Slowest Instant Camera Ever

Sometimes an "analog" result is highly satisfying when the means for producing it is just the opposite. Enter Niklas Roy's "Electronic Instant Camera" project. The endeavor combines an analog black and white videocamera with a thermal receipt printer. The outcome is something in between a Polaroid camera and a digital camera. Like the olden days, the subject must sit still for a quite a while—3 full minutes—as their image is recorded and printed directly on a roll of receipt paper.

News: Super Tiny (And Cheap) DSLR Intervalometer for Time-Lapse Photography

If you're lucky, your digital camera has a built-in intervalometer that lets you operate the shutter regularly at set intervals over a period of time. Why would you be lucky? Because you can create some very awesome time-lapse videos, like the horribly beautiful eruption of a volcano or vivid star trails in the night sky. You can capture the stunning display of the northern lights or even document the rotting of your favorite fruit.

News: Holy Pac-Man! DIY Light Painting Saber Is Pure Awesome

A few months ago, we showed you a pretty awesome light painting project that visually captured invisible Wi-Fi signals around town using a Wi-Fi detecting rod filled with 80 LEDs. With some long exposure photography, the results were pretty amazing. This project was inspired by those crazy Norwegians, but this build lets you do something even more amazing—capture pictures of colorful written text and drawn images, frozen in midair.

Cocktail Couture: Robotic Booze Generating Dress

Meet DareDroid: sexy nurse, geek couture and mobile bartender, engineered into an all-in-one technologically advanced garment. Created by fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht, hacker Marius Kintel, and sculptor Jane Tingley, the team calls themselves the Modern Nomads (MoNo), and their series of garments fall into Wipprecht's invented family of "Pseudomorphs". Pseudomorphs are tech-couture pieces that transform into fluid displays—which is exactly what DareDroid does.

News: Digital Picture Frame Snatches Photos from Public Wi-Fi Networks

You're sitting in your favorite café enjoying a hot cup of joe, then you open up your laptop or turn on your tablet computer to get to work, but as always you get sidetracked and head straight for Facebook. Someone just tagged you in a photo, so you check it out, then you see it out of the corner of your eye—your Facebook picture digitally displayed on the wall in a nice, neat digital photo frame.

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