2010

X-mini II and X-mini MAX II Capsule Speaker Review

X-mini sent in a few speakers for review. I have been kicking the X-mini II and X-mini MAX II Capsule Speakers around for a few weeks now. The X-mini II is shown above, it’s a single speaker mono device, the X-mini MAX II is the one shown below and is a stereo speaker set. Both speakers come with a USB charging cable, audio input jacks and a carrying bag. The

Apple iPod Shuffle Headphone Remote Emulation

You may have seen the circuit board that is built into the headphones of the Apple iPod Shuffle. David Carne did a great job of reverse engineering what the iPod Shuffle Headphone circuit actually does. He also went as far as to emulate the circuit using a microcontroller on a bread board. There is an interesting frequency that is used at startup so that the iPod can determine what type

DIY Speaker Rebuild Kit Installation

I have taken a few speakers apart over the years to see what makes them tick but I have never rebuilt one. Keith Neufeld goes over the details of how to perform a DIY Speaker Rebuild Kit Installation on his Keith’s Electronics Blog. The process doesn’t look all that bad but it isn’t something you can knock off in an afternoon. There is some serious glue drying periods that drag

Name the Thing Contest - 119

Thanks to Screwpop for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing 8 of their cool Screwpop Tools to some lucky winners (2 winners will each get 4 tools). They sent me a few to try out and they work quite well, it isn’t going to replace my conventional screw drivers but it does a good job when all you need to do is tighten a screw a bit.

Noisebridge Launches Near Space Balloon

The team over at Noisebridge just launched a Near Space Balloon with some gear on board. They got some very nice pictures along the way! It sure seems that this type of project is totally within reach these days. I think my next challenge will be to round up a team of people in Winnipeg who want to attempt this up here. Might have to wait till the snow goes

DIY Single-Ended Tube Amplifier

Here is a nice DIY Single-Ended Tube Amplifier design with a bit of Transformer inspired artwork made from some painted copper clad board. Thanks Gio. “For the circuit I used home made (hand etched) circuit boards, but the tube amplifier is so simple it can be easily connected with point-to-point wiring, especially if you choose to heat the tubes using AC. The LM338K is mounted (with electrical isolation) to an

Arkanoid on uOLED-128-G1(GFX)

Anna Ceguerra has just completed work on Arkanoid which can be played on the uOLED-128-G1 display. If you want to have a look and give it a try all the code has been provided. “The ball bounces off walls, rectangles and the platform. The code and images work on the uOLED-128-G1(GFX). This is not meant to be a faithful replication of the original game.”