If you want to play around with some LEDs, why not hook them up to some brains (a PIC chip) and have some fun. Pete provides all the details you will need to create your own Serial Controlled RGB LED PWM Driver. The provided firmware will run on the following PIC chips: 12F629, 12F675 and 12F683. “If you want to build your own multiple RGB LED display that you
PC Pit Stop has made a standard laptop battery catch on fire. The fire is quite a bit larger than I would have expected. “We intentionally created conditions in which the Li-ON battery pack would explode inside a generic portable. The results are dramatic. There are numerous conditions where these fires can occur in real life. Faulty battery packs (driving the recalls), faulty protection circuits inside the PC, exposure
I would never consider purchasing a rental car once it is retired. The guys at Sloppy Mechanics have solidified my thinking. “Well we picked up the rental and quickly got to work installing the nitrous line and solenoid Easily found a grommet in the firewall pulled it out and ram the stainless line right out of the cab, Next we ran the line to the air box with ease,
By now I am sure all of you have heard about Blu Ray players. The heart of this innovative device is a special high power laser. Wicked Lasers is striving to bring cutting edge products to their customers. Steve over at Wicked Lasers was kind enough to show us how their new Sonar laser is developed. The crazy thing is that these lasers are so rare they must be harvested
Phillip Torrone from Make Magazine has put together a long list of open source gift ideas. Items include everything from a cool open source Home Automation System to their own POV device that’s only $18.00! Is there anything missing from the list, leave a comment and I will pass it along… What is open source? “There are hundreds of gift guides this holiday season filled with junk you can buy
This 65 HP Ultralight Helicopter demonstrates that personal helicopters in the back yard parked beside the family car may not be a far fetched concept. If you can’t wait to get your hands on the real one, you can always buy the model version for now. “Going back to the future of rotor craft design is the basic concept of the AirScooter VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) vehicle
Sitting in a 19″ rack the temperature monitoring unit that Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers built looks like it is worth several thousand dollars. When you have a look inside, the lack of components reflects on the power of the 1-wire communication technology. “I needed several sensors. The DS18S20 was perfect for this, as this device is designed for the 1-Wire® bus system. Actually this means that you need two wires, but these
