DIY Hacks

Velocity Sensitive Digital Piano - Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontrollers Final Project
Complex Hacks

1

  The Cornell University ECE 5760 Advanced Microcontroller course is done! As usual there are lots of interesting creations that have full documentation for us to have a look at. There are 10 projects posted (2 of them still need the project details to be added). This time there is a great variety of projects, everything from realtime face tracking to this Velocity Sensitive Digital Piano by Chris McNally and

Button Code - Single Button Code Entry System
Cool Gadgets

16

 This is a project that I have been working on, it is just completed and ready to go! The video may be a bit dry since it is just going over the features and how to use the controller. If you want to see it interfaced to a rotary phone have a look at around 7:40 minutes into the video. The Button Code is a system that allows a single

Internet Enabled Cat Feeder
Complex Hacks

20

  If you are on the road or at the office and just remembered that you forgot to feed the cats what do you do? Drive home and feed them right? Well if you are Mathew Newton you can use your phone or your work computer to feed the animals. This Internet Enabled Cat Feeder project would have been a good addition to the contest that Cisco was running a

Flashing RGB LED Project
DIY Hacks

12

  Do you know someone who wants to learn a bit about electronics? Wiring up some components is the first step in starting the journey. Or maybe you just want to try out some of these cool Flashing RGB LEDs! With a total project cost of between $2.00 and $3.00 the time is right to try some of these things out. They can add some fun to the holidays that

DIY Laser Light Show using Speakers
DIY Hacks

4

  If you have a laser pointer, a few speakers, an old radio and some small mirrors you are all set to make your own DIY Laser Light Show. Alex Wiebe from Flyinglow created the project based on one he read about in the pages of Make magazine.  The first video shows the system configuration and it operating under normal lighting conditions, the second video is in the dark and

Solar Hot Water Heater
Computer Hacks

6

  I wasn’t aware that central hot water was rare in Brazil, here in Canada every home has central hot water and it is just taken for granted that every house has a large electric or gas heated hot water tank. Jacob Teater wanted to cut his electrical bill by installing a Solar Hot Water Heater and re-plumbing his home. Have a look at the video around the 8:40 mark

Miniball Solar Robot
DIY Hacks

1

  Jerome Demers who is currently an intern at Solarbotics created this Miniball Solar Robot.  Since it doesn’t just drive around it seems to have a mind of its own. "This robot uses a solar engine circuit. A small solar cell by itself generally doesn’t have the power to make a motor move, so you have to store this power up in a capacitor, which is a small battery-like storage