June 2006

Electrocute, monument for the AI

Want to rule the world? Sprinkle some AI into some computers and give it a try. “My idea to expose this naive, simple-minded “brain” to the Internet and collect in this way an average internet personality was probably a little cruel, thousands and thousands of people were talking to the “kid” without any moderation, but the result that I got at the end was amazing. After being on-line for three

How to Build a Touchless Lightswitch

Ryan from Googlemarks brought us the NERF Rifle a short time ago. Well he is back at it, this time he has built a microcontroller based capacitive sensor. “Capacitive sensors have historically been regarded with fear and hostility among hobbyists. They’re notoriously flaky, unreliable, and difficult to design. Further, they traditionally fall in the “analog domain” which is something the casual microcontroller hobbyist can sometimes wince at. They usually require

X10 Hacking

If you are looking to play around with X10 technology, this project may be what you are looking for. “I was looking for a cheap way to interface my PIC microcontroller projects with my X10 home automation system. Plug-in serial X10 interfaces have to be … plugged into the wall, so I thought a good alternative would be to hack a wireless X10 remote. It worked… here are the details.”

Flexible Electronic Curtain

This product reminds me of a show I saw many years ago about strange washrooms. One public washroon was in a busy street and all four walls were LC. When the door is unlocked the glass is perfectly see through but as soon as the door is locked all four LC walls turn white. If someone finds a link please post it… “Yesterday Micro Reactor System was kind enough to

Old PCs = Sculptures

What to do with all this old computer junk? Don’t toss it into the landfill make something creative out of it, here are a few ideas to get you started. Here is another useful idea. “Don’t throw away your faulty computer or parts. Try to do something useful from it.You don’t know what ? Here you have some examples.I hope you’ll learn something useful from here.” Via: Make

Ford Super Duty Turret Gun

These must be some direct from the factory specials since I have never seen the Gun Turret option in the Ford dealerships. “This truck just looks mean. Check out the rear gun ports and you may be able to notice the armor plating on the inside of the glass. This is FORD TOUGH”

Fuel Cell Laptop

Not sure I would trust the prototype in my lap but I think this is a good progress to laptop usability. “The technology promises to supplement or replace today’s batteries in laptops. Instead of storing power, fuel cells generate electricity by breaking down methanol via an electrochemical process. The cells can be recharged by topping them up with methanol from a cartridge. Recently, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Samsung and Sanyo, among