March 2009

Tree Processing Maching from Hell

  This tree processing machine is some piece of work! I have seen lots of huge machines that allow a logger to use a joystick in a air conditioned cabin instead of use a chainsaw to fall trees but I have never seen one that was this all encompassing. The only thing it is missing is a conveyor belt that would transport the tree sections directly onto a waiting trailer.

IT Industry Observations

  Many of us who work in IT know these issues all too well. How many times have you had to use one of these when you are caught hanging around the water cooler a bit more often than normal? I love the programming one "Its compiling", that is so true!    

LED Sign Repair

  Keith has a good example of making a electronic repair with parts at hand. This 300 dollar sign was going to be thrown in the garbage because of a few burnt out and dim LEDs. After the sign was opened Keith would have replaced the 10mm White LEDs if he had some but he didn’t, his next idea was to drill out the rear of the 10mm LEDs and

Steampunk Frankenstein Computer

  Dana Mattocks has put together one of the coolest Steampunk Computers I have ever seen. Have a look at the pictures, there is intense detail on every inch of this beast of a computer. "Intel CPU Duo Core 2 E6600 2x Western Digital 320 Gig drives Linksys Wireless G XFi-Extreme Gamer Sound Blaster Corsair Dominator Memory XMS2 (2Gig) 3 Liters of "Fluid XP Ultra Green" liquid 2 Radiators –

LEGO Color Sensor

  If you need to add color sensing to your next LEGO project have a look at this RCX Input Mux & Color Sensor. Full schematics and circuit description is provided. "Color sensing depends on measuring the intensity of light at different wavelengths. A spectrometer does this by splitting the light with a prism or diffraction grating into its component wavelengths. However, spectrometers are complex and too difficult to build.

Full Body Sweater

  Here is a fun piece of clothing. 🙂 If it’s cold in your area how about a full body swearer to warm up with? There are a few items that need to be enhanced though. Instead of the front face port you need to have a 7 inch monitor tied to your AV system so that you can watch TV, play a video game or get some work done

SmartSwitch - Hard to Operate when Using Lots of Power

  We have seen lots of intelligent methods of monitoring and curbing energy usage recently. The hacked Kill-a-Watt comes to mind. This SmartSwitch device is a prototype device that would allow you to feel how much energy you are using. If the light switch is hard to turn on that is because you are already using lots of energy and the internal brake is on. This would hopefully make you