Technology

DIY Hacks & How To’s: Laser Tripwire Alarm

DIY Hacks & How To’s: Laser Tripwire Alarm

No security system is complete without lasers. We have all seen movies where the main character has to get past a high tech security system and there is always a room full of lasers somewhere.

So in this project, I show you how to build a laser tripwire alarm. All you need is a cheap laser point, a couple of mirrors, and a few dollars of electrical parts. With this you can cover an entire house with an array of light beams. If any one of them is crossed it sets off your alarm. And unlike in the movies, these lasers are practically invisible.

Let’s Make Some Noise

Let’s Make Some Noise

Ray Wilson has been interested in analog synthesizers since the first time he heard “Switched On Bach” back in 1968. After working at U.S. Steel, Intec Systems, Siemens Pacesetter, and Telectronics, he now runs his popular web site Music From Outer Space (MFOS) full-time. Most of his electronics learning has been hard-won and experiential, with hundreds of hours devoted to reading, breadboarding, experimenting, and appreciating analog synthesis.

Ray presents a free, one-hour webcast on the topic, ‘Using TL07X Op Amps in Analog Synthesizers,’ on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 10am PT.

Make Your own Cloud With Raspberry Pi and arkOS

Make Your own Cloud With Raspberry Pi and arkOS

Twenty-three-year-old Jacob Cook is on a mission to help you create your own small piece of cloud on the internet, freeing you from other providers for services like file storage and sharing, web hosting, e-mail, calendars, music, and photos. His project, ArkOS, is built to run on the Raspberry Pi, which means there’s only a small investment to get a server up and running in your home. It’s a Linux distribution that includes a web-based interface to serve and manage self-hosted cloud services.