Surj Patel is working on a homebrew GSM mobile phone project – so far it looks like they’ve found a few candidates for the hardware to start tinkering with. Awhile back I was playing with the GM862 cellular module found in the Spark Fun Electronics rotary phone, and at $119 it might be another way to start building too. [via] Link.
“There’s a reason Beck has been so hush-hush about the video for his new single, “Hell Yes.” Actually, there are four reasons. They’re called QRIOs, so-called “dream robots” developed by Sony Japan as high-tech playthings for children. QRIO can carry on conversations, adapt to a multitude of environments and — most importantly — mimic human movements, including complex dance routines. Currently, there are only four working QRIOs in the world. And all of them appear in the “Hell Yes” video.” [via] Link.
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Here’s a great DIY Dance Dance Revolution “StepMania is a rhythm game. Arrows pointing in different directions scroll up from the bottom of the screen and the player must hit the corresponding button in time to the music. The game can be played with your hands using the keyboard, but the real fun comes when using a “dance pad” with foot sensors. StepMania has game types called “Dance”, “Pump”, “Para”, and “Ez2″ that are similar to other music games.” [via] Link.
Here’s part two of Jason’s HOW TO make a robot car – “This is the second part in a howto series about building a relatively cheap robot out of a radio controlled car and an embedded microcontroller such as the Basic Stamp.” Link.
“Silent Bob records all incoming music, streaming or otherwise, from the soundcard. When the user decides to record and pushes the button, no problem Silent-Bob has already started the recording 2 minutes earlier! Never miss the begining!” This could be handy for podcasters or anyone looking to record sounds to make their own ringtones. [via] Link.
Seems like a fun project to replicate “…a windmill with a diameter of just 10cm which works by flexing piezoelectric crystals as it rotates, causing them to generate a current. A ‘gentle breeze’ of 16km/h is enough to generate the 7.5mW necessary to power a small electronic sensor. Such windmills are designed to solve the problem of powering Wi-Fi kit in remote locations. Geologists, for instance, can monitor seismic activity using wireless-enabled sensors located across large geographical areas.” [via] Link.
Hans has a good how to on making a $45 hot air pencil for desoldering “Many types of surface mount capacitors will delaminate when soldered with a regular soldering iron, the main problem being the thermal shock and uneven distribution of heat across the component. Using a Hot Air Pencil solves this problem, by carefully raising the temperature of a component these thermal shocks can be avoided. So, I needed at least a simple Hot Air Pencil. Checking my favorite catalogs I found several, but the cheapest being $600! Need being the mother of inventions, and refusing to pay the price, I started looking for a way to make my own Hot Air Pencil.” Link.
