February 2014

Arduino Network Uptime Monitor via Twitter

  If you want to know when your network is having issues and have some Arduino gear kicking around this Uptime Monitor Project by www.hackshed.co.uk allows you to get instant Twitter updates as soon as there are problems. Thanks to Steve for sending this in. “It was actually surprisingly easy; we had the Twitter posting code from the previous project and we found an Arduino ICMP library so that we

Single Chip Provides 3D Images Inside the Heart and Blood Vessels

  When you want to make a project small you might grab an Arduino Pro Mini instead of a full sized Arduino board but what if your project needs to fit into a blood vessel? F. Levent Degertekin, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology is developing some miniature technology that will revolutionize how medical doctors will look at the heart and blood

Nibbler - Home Made CPU

    Steve from the Big Mess o’ Wires blog has built a Home Made CPU called the Nibbler. Why the name? Because it is a 4 bit CPU (half of a byte is a nibble). Other than a creative name the project is quite an undertaking, it is built using 7400 logic all wire wrapped up for easy debugging. 🙂 “Some specs: 4 bit custom-made CPU 12 bit addressing,

DIY Smart Watch

    Smart Watches are taking quite a while to catch on. I think when the price comes down to the $50 range or they are included with your smart phone I think we will see mass adoption but until then I think they will remain rare. But if you want one now and have time for a new project why not build your own! With a few well chosen

Open Bitcoin ATM

  This Open Bitcoin ATM might be a simply way to distribute Bitcoin in establishments that want to use it for sales. Just make sure no one walks away with the big box of cash. “Open Bitcoin ATM is the worlds first open-source automated teller machine for education and experimentation. Want to make one? Here’s a step by step tutorial. It takes about 7 – 10 hours to build with

Candle Powered Fan

  This Candle Powered Fan uses some small candles to heat one side of a TEC-module, this creates a voltage that will operate the fan. A CPU heatsink is used on the hot and cold side of the module and the result is enough power to spin a small DC fan. “Components used: • CPU-cooler (cold side): Zalman CNPS5X (Base plate: 33x33mm) • CPU-cooler (hot side): From an old PC

Time Plotting Clock

  The Time Plotting Clock mechanism is fantastically simple, 3 tiny servo motors allow the erasable marker to be moved along the drawing surface and raised when no contact with the surface is desired. This allows the pen to write the time. There is also a tiny eraser located in the upper right corner, when the next minute is ready to be drawn the pen grabs the marker and erases